Yesterday night we had a get together at my friend Saritha's place at Cambridge layout. One of her childhood friends Bhaskar, who is working with the Indian Navy had come with his wife Kajal.

We heard about lots of interesting things that happened in their lives.

1. The cycle trip that Bhaskar and Saritha did 10 years back. Bhaskar had come from Bombay to Bangalore cycling for 7 days. En route to Chennai he stayed at Saritha's place. When he was leaving next day morning, Saritha also decided that she will cycle along with him to Chennai. They took 2.5 days to reach Chennai cycling almost 120 Kms per day! What was discussed in our conversation was how it changed both their lives. Bhaskar was calling it a crazy adventure, but I think it shows their endurance and willpower. Hats off!

2. Kajal is a mother of two kids. She was proffessional choreographer and had a break when their kids were born. Now their second son is almost two and she has got back to work. One thing about her which made me admire her is that she took up scuba diving training when her son was 4 months old and got her license for 21 ft diving in two months time. She was telling that she used to come to the room to feed her son between every dive for the test. Amazing.

We also talked lots about the country - economy, military strategies, politics etc., etc.,

One thought provoking thread was - why do dignitaries who visit India also visit Pakistan? Is Pakistan looked at as a threat or is it to set the perception that India does not mean anymore than Pakistan to them? What if our dignitaries who visit China visit Japan or May be Taiwan also? Will India take that position to send these varied perceptions to other countries anytime in future? I doubt it. What about you?

I've been eating out a lot here. My comments on some of the places.
Indi Joe: Bang opposite to my office and hence most of the group lunches happen here. Their buffet costs Rs.425 and heard that the menu remains almost constant. Not worth the money, especially if you are vegetarian. I enjoyed the Fig pudding though..

Royal orchid park plaza's limelight: this again is close to my office, but landed up there with couple of our friends from US for dinner. It is also buffet costing Rs 500 (inclusive of taxes.). Spread was excellent. South indian karela fried, koottu, poriyal, salad spread are worth mentioning. The rasamalai was really yummmmmmyyyyy.

Parika, Indiranagar: Had ordered food from there for dinner at a friends place. Pretty decent food.

Merry X'Mas and a very happy new year 2007 to all of you.

Its a long time since I wrote anything. Arrived at Bangalore on 27th November. Started coming to office from 6th December.

I've come to Bangalore after almost two years and the changes in the part of the city where I live is unbelievable. the stretch of CMH road starting from CMH hospital till 100 ft road junction used to be a peaceful one. Now I see that it is filled with shops of varied kinds. I went to Urbanite (a family shop) where I bought lots of stuff for Kimaya. MK Ahmed's (they used to have a shop near Viveks further down CMH road) 4 floor shopping mall is really good. I have seen only the first two floors and am pretty impressed. Nice experience!

Traffic is maddening. Unlike Chennai, the number of cyclists are less and you need not fight with the autowallahs for fare. I'm currently pretty close to my brothers place and office and hence have not been on road for more than an hour yet. Touch wood!

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Kimaya seems to have adjusted to me not being there at home during office hours. I dont worry about her too much because we have left her with my parents. The moment I enter the house she wants to be with me - I feel great about it now, but soon it may become a problem!

Am leaving today from Chennai. I never thought that I will miss anything, but today I could think of 101 reasons why I would miss this place - being able to talk in tamil, autowallahs, food, music on FM, Surya sweets and greens etc., etc., Hmmmmm...

Anyways - will soon start posting from Bangalore. Till then, Ciao.

When you transfer from one place to another, if the movement of household items are taken care of, then it is a BIG relief.

We are shifting house for the sixth time in the past three years - across cities and within cities. I seem to know the Things to be done (TTBD in short), by heart! All the shifting has been done by movers and packers so far and we are not worried about moving our stuff anymore. Our experiences have been very good.

All you need to worry about is the associated things like (I just can't stop myself from listing it down :))

• Pay your maid /doodhwala (milkman)/newspaper wala
• Redirecting your mails
• Cancelling all your phone (landline/mobile) connections
• If you feel like it, throwing off the unwanted clothes/storage materials/papers etc.,
• Transferring your gas connection/ration card (Why we dont need to do this qualify for a separate post. One of these days I may end up writing that sob story :( )

Today we went to Hutch shop and Airtel to enquire about the cancellation procedure. Was very surprised that they dont insist on written requests anymore. Hutch, for example says that your bills will reach you by email and when you get the new connection, you can email them at hutchcare.chennai@hutch.co.in to cancel it. Pretty impressive development I should say!

Bought a new mobile phone /handset today. It is a sony ericsson - model w700i (walkman series) costing Rs.12,500.

So far, I always have had handsets that serves the basic purposes - to talk and to send/receive text messages. And was loyal to Nokia.

Have done the basic exploration of the new handset - it has got

• 2 mega pixel camera
• FM radio
• walkman
• expandable memory etc., etc.,

We decided on this after looking at w550i(rejected because of no expandable memory) and Nokia 7610 (no FM).

I've been listening to FM in the new phone and I've one comment - sound quality not very good if it is on speaker. The head phones is great!

Yesterday we went and bought woollens for Kimaya from Lifestyle in the Chennai City center mall on R.K Salai.

This mall is a place we frequent, especially to Landmark and Lifestyle - even before the food court and other shops like health and glow, Reynolds etc., started off. I think they have recently opened the movie screens also - we saw the INOX ticket counter.Parking facilities are good (Just after the rains we went there on a Saturday night and had to park at the basement 2. Not a very great experience. But if you can park at B1, then it is cool.) Food court is spacious and the variety that is offered is good.

I was freaking out at the kids section of Lifestyle - we bought lots of stuff that she needs and a few items because we both wanted to :) . If the items are not imported, I found the prices reasonable. So far, whatever we have bought from here - clothes / accesories / household items / kids clothes and toys - quality is great. I just love shopping here and am happy that they have got branches in Bangalore also!

Today I added the 'as a mom' to the existing title of this blog. I think that will be apt as I'm going to start back at work from next month.

Hope sharing my experiences will be of some help to working-mothers and prospective mothers !

Kimaya is four months old. She makes all sorts of noises and wants us to understand. She rules my life. Latest is that I can't talk to people if she is not okay with it. (She expresses everything by crying / screaming).

Have been at home for almost 5 months and will be back to work from Dec 6th. I've now got used to doing things when she is asleep - planning unconsciously. Dont know what will be the status after going to work.

We are moving back to Bangalore because as if I've to continue to work, I needed a good support system at home. Leaving the child with a babysitter without any supervision was a definite no no. I dont think we can work peacefully. This is an advice that I had got from several working-mothers. We are yet to look for a baby sitter in Bangalore. The process will start only after we move there.

Awareness about various investment options has increased over time. Getting the right information at the right time, due to technological development has made it possible.

Bank Fixed deposits have lost their focus as the interest rates have fallen down. Everyone is calculating ROI on every investment made. Hence for the higher risk takers stock market has become a key area to invest and for the moderate risk takers mutual funds has become THE option.

For those who are investing in India in stocks and mutual funds, http://www.hdfcsec.com and http://www.mutualfundsindia.com are good reference sites.

Off late, gold (in the form of biscuits) is looked at as another investement option. I've heard of a person who buys a sovereign of gold every month once the car loan emi got over and another one who buys almost 8-10 sovereigns per year for her daughters.

Now, where should you buy such gold biscuits - should it be from jewellers? or should it be from banks? or should it be from the commodities market itself? I dont know, but for those who want to choose, here is an interesting 'must read' article I came across! It is a real eye opener.

Today is world Diabetes day. Both my parents have diabetes. Detected almost 3-4 years back. They started with allopathy, having dianil (or one of those brands with same composition) everyday morning and night. Blood sugar level reduced, but they started having other side effects. My dad's body heat increases whenever he has any sort of allpathic medicine, which happened with this also. My mom had guiddiness in the morning and frequent hunger pangs. They were following the prescribed diet carefully.

After sometime they really got fed up and started to look for some alternate medicine to keep it under control. In my home town they heard that siddha medicines is working for quite a few people and started having that (powdered medicinal herbs filled in a capsule instead of the 'kashayam'). The person who was giving them their medicines was not a qualified doc in alternate medicines but an assistant to a doc. And hence their blood sugar level did not reduce, but atleast it did not increase much and they did not have the side effects.

When they had come to Chennai few months back one of my mom's friends told her that her diabetes is fully under control after she took medicines from a Siddha doctor in Vadapalani. So my parents also went there and started taking the medicines - in four to five months time, both their blood sugar and urine sugar have come down (almost 30 points per month) and their health has improved visibly.

Though I'm not a firm believer of alternate medicines, since this has worked for my parents, I wanted to share with you all.

For those who are interested, the doc's address is given below:

Dr. Balan,
15/12, Thiruvengadum Street, (Near MM Jewellery)
Virugambakkam,
Chennai.

Telephone number: 91-44-23774240

This post is a cut and paste from Mr David Appasamy's blog (a member of chennai metro bloggers site). I enjoyed it thorrroughly!!!

This hilarious article was apparently written by a Dutchman who spent two years in India, as a visiting expert. Not only did he survive two years of traveling on Indian roads, he did so with his sense of humor intact! Read on and enjoy!

“For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for survival. They are applicable to every place in India except Bihar, where life outside a vehicle is only marginally safer”

Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where you do your best, and leave the results to your insurance company. The hints are as follows:

Do we drive on the left or right of the road? The answer is both! Basically you start on the left of the road, unless it is occupied. In that case, go to the right, unless that is also occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed. Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasional fatality. Most drivers don't drive, but just aim their vehicles in the generally intended direction.

Don't you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except for a belief in reincarnation; the other drivers are not in any better position. Don't stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us not talk ill of the dead.

Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. We horn to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust (two brisk blasts),or just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of the road. Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may read them during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister's motorcade, or waiting for the rainwater to recede when over ground traffic meets underground drainage.

Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking colored lights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminated bus, full of happy pilgrims singing ‘bhajans’ or religious songs. These pilgrim buses go at breakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty, often meeting with success.

Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi): The result of a collision between a rickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an external combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil and creosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengers three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare. After careful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed into these auto rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are pushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisions with other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course, the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learn Newton's laws of motion en route to school.Auto-rickshaw drivers follow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur, and are licensed to irritate.

Mopeds: The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes a noise like an electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol and travels at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and are often "mopped" off the tarmac.

Leaning Tower of Passes: Most bus passengers are given free passes and during rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengers hanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and the overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity but obeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so many Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steer clear of these buses by a width of three passengers.

One-way Street: These boards are put up by traffic people to add jest in their otherwise drab lives. Don't stick to the literal meaning and proceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that you cannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive as you like, in reverse throughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I sound hyper critical; I must add a positive point also.

Rash and fast driving: in residential areas has been prevented by providing a "speed breaker"; two for each house. This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that residence and is left untarred for easy identification by the corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting.

Night driving on Indian roads: can be an exhilarating experience for those with the mental make up of Genghis Khan. In a way, it is like playing Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst the drivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turns out to be a truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, just pull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenon passes. The roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blink your lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truck in the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has had at the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little more than a naught.

Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and are licensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about six feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approaching you with a single light on, usually the le ft one. It could be the right one, but never get too close to investigate. You may prove your point posthumously”.

Dutchman or not, you have to admit this is a brilliant, satirical take on driving on Indian roads, peppered with some exaggeration!

Was just wondering about a few things yesterday. This post may not be coherrent or make any sense. Pardon me for that.

If you think that you want to be happy, whatever happens, you will still be happy is what I started to believe. But what I found out is that if you are not destined to be happy, then you will never be. Something or other can come up unexpectedly to put you back in the worrying/negative state of mind.

When your daughter is crying because a cut which is bleeding, how much ever practical you are, your heart rules. And when two people, who are close to you are suggesting two different things at that moment, you are really confused. Atleast I was! Balanced decision and being diplomatic are no where near!

It is very cloudy outside and my mood is also like that. Dont feel like doing any work including taking care of Kimaya. Hope it will get better as the day progresses.

Forgot to mention about developments of Kimaya. She has started to turn on her stomach quite often. She seems to be very impatient in life. The moment she perfected the turning part, she wants to move.. As she is not getting it, she starts crying. As a third person if I look at it, I really feel like laughing. As a mom, it is very upsetting to see her frustrated. I dont think I'll ever get bored in life for sometime now!!

And in Sa re ga ma pa - little champs, which got over a week back, Sanchita won and Diwakar was the first runner up. As the weeks went by, his expressions became better. And I guess he will be indebted to Zee TV Sa re ga ma pa and Alka Yagnik for this amazing change in his singing. I feel happy for him.

Today had been a busy day. Went to lots of places with SIL and family. Thought about Kimaya only when she needed a feed. Shameless!! Actually did not want to additionally crowd her when already so many people were around her.
I particularly liked Toys R here which is on Nungambakkam High Road that is diagonally opposite to the Park hotel. Never take kids there - you will have your pocket empty :-). Too many choices. You get everything for kids that you get in a place like US. Amazing... One problem is that you have to go there more than once to familiarize yourself first about the things that are there. Cant go in a hurry. ( May be it was because we went while they were about to close the shop)

Have changed the template of the blog. I like it, Do you??
While I was reviewing the details of my profile, I just realised, ever since I started writing this blog, there has not been much happening at work :-). I will soon join work and then there may be lots to write up to match the blog name.
Wait and watch!

When I got transferred to Chennai, the music fest was just getting over. The way things are shaping up, I may be going out of Chennai before the music fest is starting this year...
Anyways, planning to attend a few of the programmes in the November fest. For those who have not heard about it yet , this is the link - http://www.hinduonnet.com/novfestx/who.htm.
Going to check a few things on search engine optimisation. Want to improvise my blog and make people visit it :-).

Have been doing this and that and keeping myself busy and hence no blog.

Today I went to Dwi which is a place that conducts prenatal and post natal classes. It is owned by Rakhi who is a physiotherapist by profession. She has got a neat studio on TTK Road close to Focus opticals.
It is a one hour consultation and she charged my 200 bucks for that. Even though the stretches are all the normal ones, I think her USP was that she makes you feel very comfortable. After several months, just going out on your own for an hour felt like heaven.
Hoping to do the exercises daily to keep myself fit.. Let us see....

In the meanwhile, I've been eating out a lot. I specifically liked Eden (which is there in Besant nagar and in Nungambakkam) after tasting their pumkin peanut soup and milagu sevai shaslik and Benjarong (on TTK road serving Thai food) for the appetiser and fried icecream.

Had gone to Trivandrum and came back today. Too lazy to write though have been thinking about writing a lot. Will sort out my thoughts and start writing again tomorrow.

My boss, who is in Mumbai wanted to go to Thiruppathi. I was calling those agents to check out the rates and other details. One of them told me that it will take 3500 Rs for A/C car and Rs 500/ person for darshan. And then my friend told me to check out tamilnadu tourism packages. So called them up and found out they have A/C coaches running everyday and have a separate queue, so you can finish the darshan in maximum three hours.
Went to their office at Walajah Road. Service is very good. Also found out that we can book online. url is www.ttdconline.com.

Repaired my grandmas harmonium a week back. This was given to my grandma by her dad when she was 8. Now she is almost 80. I really felt thrilled when I saw her so happy when she played it again.
Inicidentally a couple of days back, I was chatting with Mrs. Uma Devarajan, who is a founder member of Vishranthi - a home for destituted women. She was telling me the story of how this was found with just one patti who was made to stay in a rented house. Now there are 160 pattis there. when I told her my wish to visit them sometime, she was telling me about how glad the pattis are when someone come to the home to visit them and the amount of enthu they have in doing any kind of activity. Planning to visit them with Kimaya.
I always have a great respect for old people as I've lived with my grandmas and grandpa. They are really fun to live with. My grandma for example can relate more with this generation than my parents do. You learn a lot from them.

So since the harmonium is back, I have started learning carnatic music again... ( I dont know how long my interest will last this time!!).
Started understanding the funda behind raga and thala. Trying to practice atleast once a day.

Day before yesterday, our house owners younger daughter came and told us that her sister is unwell. She said that the doc has said that her sister has some kind of phobia and she may come to our place and demand that she will take the rent from now on... In five mts time, the whole family came upstairs and as the younger one had warned, her sister told my mom that she will take the cheque and demanded for one for the current month. My mom spoke to her nicely. After a while, she just roamed around the house and went of. Since I was feeding Kimaya, I could not speak to her.

Later the house owner mami came to our place to check whether we are shocked. Since we knew that her elder daughter had some kind of psychiatric issue, all in our family took it as just another incident of the day.

Gist of mami's talk was this - Her husband had been very strict and dominating in the house with his wife and kids. There had been incidents where he had beaten up his six month old child because she took one of the papers he had kept. They are all completely under his control and starting from who should they talk to, where should they go and when etc., etc., - everything is done as directed by him. Because of which the elder one is really scared about everything and anything and the younger one is slightly better because of the friends she has got.

I really cannot understand what makes such people act the way they do. Was he treated the same way in his childhood? What is it result of? Before his daughter is treated, I think he should get treated.

Kimaya's first travel by train on Aug-27. Went to my home town Mettur (Near Salem) with her. First one hour was terrifying as she did not stop crying. Once she settled down, journey was okay. Stayed there till Sep 13th. That's why no posts. Mettur is still just more than a village. When I was studying computers and email were unheard of and while the world is talking about WiFi, net cafes are still on dial up. I feel life here is healthy as you get fresh air, fresh food, do lots of physical activity, and less stressed. I realised that how much better you can be with less of TV and shopping. (Cable gets switched off every time it looks like it is going to rain and shopping here means only for necessity. ) Can u believe that a couple can live lavishly if they have 2K per month!!!!
I think Kimaya also enjoyed her stay here as she could see more open space. amount of time she spent in the cot in the verandah would have been more than the time she spent inside the house.
My brother and I feel that whenever we come to this house, our mind becomes calm.
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Kimaya has been trying to turn and lie down on her stomach. Amount of effort she puts in to acheive it is amazing... Her complete focus is only on trying that. This single mindedness and hard work seems to wane once a child grows up to become an adult!

She turned on 11th September. Felt really proud that she could turn :-)

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My sleep cycle has been affected so much because of Kimaya's timings. As a result, I've been lazing around all thru the day for the past few days and hence no posts...

I watch Zee Tv's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa very regularly. Past few weeks it is a challenge hunt for little champs - that is kids. One child in the final six is Diwakar and he is blind. He is very talented and one of the comments he constantly gets from Alka Yagnik is that his expressions are not good. I really wonder if someone cannot see the world as we all do, can the person express the emotions right?

Todays episode was very sentimental as the kids sang the songs that are thier parents favorites and the parents commented on it before the judges did. It was very nice to see that on the 'frightful friday' no one got eliminated.

Am also glad that for this selection, Zee did not use viewers poll to select the kids. I dont like the talent hunts that selects the winner based on audience poll very much.

It is sad that the Eng-Pak test series ended with such controversy. I support Inzy and his team with my whole heart if they have not tampered with the ball as Darrel accused. Such accusation without any proof, at this level is unacceptable. I think Pak board reps were trying to be diplomatic and made their team to come back to the field. If the team has really not tampered with the ball, then the umpires should apologise for what they have implied!

Kimaya has started to look at people and bright coloured objects(that's what we think). It is really nice to be recognised by your child and see them smile at you. It is also very fascinating to watch her change expressions when she sleeps.
Slowly am enjoying motherhood and am happy about that.

Women of the past generation - Cant imagine how they can live life like they do (Hey , am not a feminist). They got married when they were very young. Never questioned anything. Kept their thoughts to themselves for they have been told that they should not raise their voice! Men dominated and took them for granted and never appreciated them for anything. May be I'm generalising too much, but I think it is true in most of the tamilian families.
Just found out that my mom is afraid of telling what she thinks to me or my brother because we argue about most of the things that she says (as we try to be logical and practical) . And she has got the stupid idea that she is not 'good' enough to please anyone in the family - talk about being insecure in life!!
This is what triggered the lines in the first para...

July 13th 2006 4:55 pm - excitin day for both of us -we became parents of a lovely baby girl. have named her Kimaya - meaning divine in sanskrit. It is more than a month after she entered into our lives. My whole life has changed. Mood seems to be oscillating from one extreme to another. Yet to come to terms with the fact that it is a whole new responsibility - a big one at that!
We found the book 'First time parents by Dr. Miriam stoppard' extremely useful. Money well spent.
My advice to expecting parents - Dont educate urself too much on the subject - just stick to the docs instructions. That helps a lot.

She was really surprised by the way he had planned the celebration. Restaurant was a seaside open air one. he presented her a bouquet of red roses wishing her happy anniversary. With misty eyes he looked into her eyes and said ' I want to spend the rest of my life with you'. She will never forget the moment till the end of her life.

For the past two days have been visiting lots of blog sites. chennaicentral.blogspot.com and others listed in this. some of them are very interesting...
Weather in chennai is getting better. It has been drizzling since yesterday night and pretty cloudy. What a relief from the heat!

Going thru the last month of pregnancy. My patience level seems to be waning away day by day. Started writing this two weeks back, but did not find the enthu to finish it till today.
Though it is normal to be tired, sleepy and restless at this time of pregnancy, I find it very irritating. Just waiting for the d-day! Going to be on leave from 3-Jul and so am hoping that I'll blog more regularly. Let us see...

Thinking of having a separate blog for writing my experience with Chennai autowallahs everyday! Latest is the guy who asked me how much I'll give to go from Nungambakkam to St Mary's Road - when I said 40, he said that I should give 50 when the normal rate is something like 35-40! Everytime I meet such a fellow, I feel that I should take them around the whole of CP Ramaswamy/St. Mary's Rd and then should reach my place and handover the 50 they ask!!

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My in-laws had gone to Srinagar for a holiday. I was talking to our BIL about the situation there. He was telling us about the Jawans and their life. I realised that because of them, I am able to do what I want to do in life without any fear. What do I do to help them.... Nothing...Pathetic.

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Am 8 months pregnant. Baby has been kicking and I think that there cannot be a nicer feeling than this... Just cant wait to hold the baby in my hand.

I'm at Chennai and commute by auto everyday. I just cannot understand why people want to save a few seconds by crossing roads while the signal for crossing is still red and drivers who just cant wait the signal to completely turn to green!!!
What they do not understand is that saving those few seconds may actually caused them their/someone else's life. Distressing!!!!!

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My brother is buying a flat and the registration is tomorrow. He has been struggling to move forward in life (because of the mistakes that he made while studying!), and it is a BIG moment for him. I'm very happy for him and also proud to see how he has grown.. Congratulations and good luck to you da.

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Very excited about going to start invest in stocks and cant think of anything else all through the day. I've a bad feeling that I'm going to be addicted to this... Hopefully should not blow up too much money.
Have been referring to www.mutualfundsindia.com a lot and also www.hdfcsec.com. Very informative....

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Lots of things have happened ever since I last logged in. Some good things - Moved from Mumbai to Chennai, travelled to Mettur and Trivandrum, had a nice 'valaikappu' function at Trivandrum, slowly settling down at Chennai...
One very sad event - the demise of my close friend Sowmya on Feb 27th. On one side I think that God had been very cruel to her by taking her away from this world, but on the other, he had been kind to her by not letting her suffer any more with her terminal illness! May her soul rest in peace and May God give her husband and family the strength to come to terms with this.

Visit her blog:http://jlt-chumma.blogspot.com/