Grand Mother..how perfect..

As soon as my dad comes in, the living room would be empty.."bhooma enga irukke??"krishna inikku school poniya??"(bhooma where r u..krishna did u goto school)would be the first call..inikku enna paduththal (whats today's share of riots??) wud be the next few words..Right at that time ,paati would sneak in and give him a long list of stuff we did and which were not supposed to be done..acc..to her standards which she had set for all the grandkids...out of everyone.. we were "THE RIOTS"..God knows how many times I cursed at what she said...until very recently i realised that she is the best of disciplinarian....going back to those days when she took real care of my health as i always had some kind of stomach problem..I remember once when i was sick she had carried me all by herself all the way to Thiruvarur from the place where we lived called Vedaranyam..this was about 2 hr of bus journey..She was about 60 then..She wudnt have even thought about what I wud do in return if I wud do it at all.. now that I grew up I dont even know if I would be 1% as self less as she was then....the only thing she wud asked me was "eppo varuve?" whenever I call her..after so much of pushing and arguing she decided to ask me for a "pen torch" that she would use when she gets back in the nite from the temple this time when i visited India....Knowing her liking to stock things I got her 3 and I saw that gleaming smile in her face..little did I know that I am seeing this beautiful smile for the last time...my aunt was saying that the whole of Triplicane knew that my paati got her torch from her grandkid from USA.. Yea my dearest Paati breathed for the last on Sunday..

I was always on a tiff with her whatever be the issue..and this time when i visited also i did something similar..My association with her is for more than 20 yrs now, almost as long as Iam alive in this world..and every activity that i do revolved around her..Not in the mood to cook I tried to search for some dry food today that I packed from India and ..to my agony it was she who made everything for me when I visited India...I havent even completed them before which I cant realise that she is gone forever..She would never like us to sit and crib about anything that doesnt work..She always believed that "If it has to happen it will happen"If I sit and weep for low grades or a quarrel with my friend she would yell at me for idling around..It seemed so rude on me then but now.. I realise the importance of those lessons when I stay alone.Though she dint want me to leave her for the US she had unknowingly trained me to be on my own..She was full of lessons all the time,commitment,love,strength...."Grand Mother" is ofcourse the best definition of her..But for her efforts I would have never made it to my college starting at 7.30 am in the morning carrying lunch and finishing my hot and delicious breakfasts..We share so many different interests from my childhood and she almost grew up with me for the second time..She would get everything I like from flowers,bangles..food items and what not.. As i grew up knowing my interest in the decoration and art at temples everyday she would come back with a short story for me....At the same time she was the most pragmatic woman I have ever seen.For her orthodox ways she agreed to let me go for a haircut which is still prohibited in our family and is something that my Mom wouldnt agree still..There are several occasions which I can keep quoting ..But the most I cherished and remembered is something weird..Our occasional quarrels after which I go back to tell her a sorry (wantedly or otherwise) and to my surprise she would never have wanted one..I guess these had been the reasons for having gone so close...Life moves on but just with such a big gap which can ever be bridged ..I would forever cherish this first quarter of my life which I spent with her....

17 letters long surname..Srinivasaraghavan..

Little did I think about making an attempt to find that I have 17 letters in my surname until I reached the US of A....there was an american friend of mine here who decided to challenge himself to get my surname right without seeing my id card....he took 10 days !! it all dawned on me when I stepped into Germany the first time I ever visited a place outside my country..I now go back to remember my uncle's words to "shorten my surname" in my passport..alas..its late now..here goes the German immigration inspector.."ma'm can i have ur last name please??there i go spelling 17 alphabets continuously...initimidating him to the rest of his life about indian names...well i dont blame him..i get tired when i have to spell this long name of my Dad..worse comes ur immigration check -in at washington..this guy takes an unusually weird look at my passport, i20 and the screen in front of him...I sweat with imaginations running from deporting to...loss of shelter..until he gets back with a wide grin.."thats a long last name!!"..i can see the feeling of victory in his face (and ofcourse a great relief in myself) for having finished reading those in 3 different places..its 2 years now and there are umpteen such occasions.I was working as a tutor during my first semester..all the UGs are told about their tutors by their last name..except about me..a great advantage of that was I had more foreign friends than others in a short span of time..for i talk to all my UG tutees on first name basis... even now.....there i go to my tutoring school one day to see my boss frowning at me..."Linda r u ok?? Is there anything I can help u with"...She goes"For 3 years now I never changed this word template of mine..But..I gotto change it to accomodate ur surname.."From then on my name went much longer.."Bhooma with the long last name..."I changed jobs and my current boss is an italian..Looking at my resume he goes"sringavasagaravan!!!"..ok...I end up bursting out in a laughter in a so called serious technical interview..:) ..From then on I take one front up to start before anyone takes a courageous attempt to pronounce my surname....The unique question came in when I went to the health center recently..This receptionist have to pull out my chart and she asks me for my last name..I look for something then get hold of a piece of paper to write my last name..She comes back with the chart and asks me"Long ago When u were 5 years old..and ur teacher was trying to teach u to tell ur full name..how long did she take before she got it right??"good question..With a wink I answered her back.."see thats y we dont use surnames ..I was always S.Bhooma until I came in here.."She give a big smile and from the next time whenever she sees me she hands in a paper!!! On a positive note its nice to see someone make u laugh in the health center where u goto complain about some sickness..thank you Dad or rather grandpa...u indirectly made me feel at home at an alien land!!....Since last 2 yrs everyone of my american friends take pride in telling my fullname to its fullest..my boss called me into his room just to say that he finally added my full name to his contact...interesting....For a change I saw my boss smiling at something other than data...results... ..Great way to begin ur day...

Spring Breaking Up.....

Stayed almost for 2 long years in USA as a student working almost like a full time employee with my doctor boss…I am still not able to cultivate the concept of break Yet another Spring break.. comes and guess will pass by without any events..I always keep wondering at what we break up from..Are we supposedly trying to refuse to look at the mundane work that we would be doing otherwise..what stops for the break..to me and to many other of my fellow NRI students break is a chance of extra work and more money. the other day my Prof stops me on the pathway to ask what am I doing for spring break..I was going to say “may be your research L…firstly it is not yet spring for buffalo’s weather to feel the softness and freshness..secondly my payroll doesn’t work acc to the school schedule to say iam taking off for spring break..Over all I don’t see anyone having a gala time in the nearby neighborhood..no kids outside and no parents having an extra walk (work doesn’t go for a break..)in the day..for spring break is only for the UG/Grad “kids” and not for the “high school kids” at the same time....One significant difference I see is UB being apparently vacated for our comfort..I can park anywhere in the campus..even just outside my lab J…have the choicest of the computer…play my music slightly at a higher volume…talk on the phone in my lab at my privileged time..
The concept of meeting parents is far fetched for the NRI s ...and to meet friends at other places I wonder how synchronized is the break for the other univs..one of my friend is done with her spring break..and the other one is starting next week..Y got o a different place but even inside buffalo there r schools which have breaks a little apart..I wonder at all the possibilities and finally take my guts front to talk to my Prof about taking off for a day before the weekend esp. because I had a long vacation last month to visit India..Surprisingly my boss is in the loveliest of mood and says a straight YES!!! Now I have to think where should I go..Iam looking out of the window to see snow flurries going so strong…I wanna goto a place where there is nothing white..no cold..lets go to CA,Portland..oregon…Arizona….half the day passes in pondering over where to go..Finally I decide I should be going to CA as my uncle calls up and says..”hey honey..y don’t u come home ..u shud be having ur Spring break now..”yea may be..now comes the next tremor….tickets..shud I tell him..”yea if u wud sponsor for the tkts ;) …One month prior booking would cost as high as 250 bucks..for some reason we students never seem to be not cribbing for money anytime..probably the conversion takes its wild gigantic look when we spend something lump…finally I hit at a website which allows me to bet on the tkt and voila!!!!!!!…iam fortunate for a change to get something normal for such a distance…yea I decide to click on the “Buy Now”..my dearest friend calls me over fone…”hey dear..its been long.. we have nt met for a while and we seem to be moving apart ever since u were back from India…lets spend as much time together as possible this break..no excuses no reasons..”cling..goes the fone down…yea that makes sense.. haven’t met this guy as often as we used to…. after I was back..we gotto catch up..….Wow….So nice to find the sweetest of ur friend to have some plans remembering your spring break….The fact that Iam not sure of my whereabouts after my graduation seemed to make more sense to spend time with him now…the page expires by the time all the action is over..Toss for the ticket..250 bucks saved..say bbye to my uncle..we can meet in the next break...”someone is knocking on my door..somebody is calling me “bhooma…may be its my friend who called up sometime back ..he decided to come home straight. So sweet of him…how loving..”as I slowly get up ...and there goes the alarm...”its 8’o clock..u gotto get to work..i made tea for you already…”..I open my eyes to see that everything was happening in a completely different world....that was a dream which strikes everyone on a Sunday nite….i see my beloved roomie there keeping the hot cup of beverage on my table.......its yet another Monday Morning. The Monday of my Spring Break Starting….Ghosh…I am gonna be late to work ..I got a meeting …I can imagine how my boss would stare at me with his list of duties….we go over those blues every Monday morning… Yet another exciting spring break week…….