Travelled from Bangalore to Trivandrum by flight on Wednesday. It was around 4:30 pm when we reached the airport and it was buzzing with activity as lots of flights were leaving that time to various parts of India (in a 15 mt duration there were three flights leaving to Tvm itself.) .

Inspite of being called the IT hub and with so many business people from the world frequenting this, the domestic departure terminals facilities - as I experienced were not even of average standard. We had sandwich and puf after security check, in the waiting area and it was stale. Then was the ultimate - the restrooms - No light, flush was clogging, there was no one to clean - yuk! even now, if I think about it, I feel like puking....

Dont know whether anyone has experienced the same, but i heard from my husband that this airport is the worst!

Long time and lots to write... Where do I start?

"Kuzhal inidhu yazh inidhu enbar tham makkal mazhalai sol keladhavar" Says Tiruvalluvar - Meaning "People who say that flute and veena are sounding sweet and nice would not have heard their babies talk (gibberish stage)". Kimaya's speech (if I may call it that!), reminds me of that every day.

When I come back home, she starts narrating everything that happened to her (I assume as thats what it looks like) with all kinds of expressions and tones, i understand nothing of what she utters - but it is absolute fun. She attempts to speak everything she hears and she even sings. I am so proud of her :).

Just testing whether email bloggin works!

Sometimes things that Kimaya do makes me think that this generation kids want to be independent right from this age. For the last one month, when she starts feeling sleepy, she used to sit on the swing, close her eyes and start singing 'ah ah ah ' in the tune that makes her sleep. We used to sing that for her and for a couple of weeks, she was doing it herself.

She is having a cold, she takes her hanky and wipes her nose herself. Yesterday night was the most hilarious one - She normally has her feed at 5:00 in the morning. She wakes up and starts crying and immediately one of us prepares her feed and give it to her. - Yesterday she woke up, she got her bottle and then brought it to me and woke me up! I was stunned. After drinking she did not want to lie in my lap, got into her cradle and slept.

I'm just waiting to see what is next!

Kimaya turned one year as per her tamil star on July 4th. We had a party without involving friends as there are too many close relatives around in Bangalore. In the morning we had the Poojas and in the evening a small party with a birthday cake and all...

What I realised is that Mallu and I had to think, plan, organize with our parents inputs but she was oblivious that it was all for her :) So at the end of the day it is all our wishes fulfilled - starting from the candle that was blown till the dessert - It was all our wishes. Am sure she is not going to like it when she grows big and understands how it was celebrated!

We also tonsured her head in Tirupati on 14th, just a day after her birthday.

As she is one year old now, am just looking back my life after her birth. The feeling is sort of mixed. In the intial months, I really doubted whether it was good decision to have a child! It was painful, depressing and I was extremely stressed by the lack of sleep as she had to be fed several times in the night. Though every site about babies and child talk about the depression due to harmonal change after delivery, you dont realise anything till you cross that stage. I've had fights with almost everyone in the family and have felt that noone cares for me. I've given sleepless nights to Mallu. When I look back, I think why on earth would I think like that and it seems very funny.

Once she started sitting, crawling and babbling, things looked brighter. Nowadays she wakes up only once in the night and my husband and I take turns to feed her. Motherhood is enjoyable now. From 8th month onwards, she is learning lots of things and there have been somany developments - her teeth showing up, she started standing up without any support, tries to make us laugh with her antics and in the last few days she is non-stop walking. It is really is enjoyable and she is a stress buster. Everyday when I come back from work, she laughs and just jumps on me and starts blabbering quiet a bit. For that one moment, all the trouble seems worthwhile.

What I've learnt in so many months is to not believe in perfection. I am doing my level best at both work and home but am not trying to do everything on my own. I've some help at home to take care of Kimaya under our parents guidance. It hurts when that lady advices me what I need to do to make my daughter happy, but am trying not to get bogged down by it and take any drastic decision. I feel guilty when I am not at office when my team is working their asses off, but then again, am ignoring the guilt and try to move on.

One other thing is to get some sort of exercise for atleast 30 mts a day by walking some distance from office, or doing some activity with Kimaya. It makes me feel damn good. Mallu and I have decided that we will have our own space and time atleast once a week. When she was not around, it was there in abundance - we had taken it for granted. Now we realise that it is very very important to have some quality time for ourselves to keep our relationship alive and healthy.

It has taken me really a year to realise that motherhood/parenting is an enjoyable experience if you adapt yourself well and try and be happy with the additional responsibility. Happy parenting...

I cleared my PMP exam on 30th May. I really am feeling great about it as I've done this with Kimaya as 10.5 months old baby, with office work and with Mallu's preparation to go to US. If I've to thank someone BIGTIME for helping through out, that will be Mallu. For all the trouble he took over the weekends to spare me time to study, to take tests, encouraging me when I was down about the whole thing - Thanks a ton.

For all those who do not know what PMP is -- this is a certification - Project Management Professional - provided by PMI. This is valid for 3 years and focuses purely on project management.

There is a 35 hours compulsary session that you should have attended on project management by recognised trainers and that started it all for me. When I was Chennai, there was a session conducted by PELCON, Pune. I attended that and immediately apped and paid for the certification. Could not finish it while I was there and just after delivery. After so many months, the motivation factor was that validity period for the application and fees I paid was going to expire on June 1st week.

Started reading through Rita and PMBOK in April, but was not too serious until I fixed up my exam date. I went through Rita alone once and then took a mock test from pmstudy tp just gauge where I was. Then I went through Rita and PMBOK simultaneously once more. Took another couple of practice tests from Kim heldman's CD. I did not have time to do anything more as it was 30th Morning already :) and the exam scheduled at 9:00 am.

I could complete the exam and review in 3 hours. During the practice exams I found that 20-30% of the my errors were because that I was not reading the questions completely. As most of the questions were situation based in the exam, I think the ones I had made mistakes were becuase of this. Most of the Input, Tools and Techniques and Output questions were from quality, risk, time and procurement. I had done several reviews of these and I think I got all of them right.

Though people were advicing me against taking tests as it unnerves you (Which it did when I passed my first test!) but it gives you a feel of how to get through the 4 hours. It is really tough to have your concentration prolonged for so long! And the tips provided by Rita about the exam day was helpful. I took a break after 100 questions (there are 200 in total), had my breakfast and then did the rest of it. It helped a lot in relaxing a bit.

Thanks to everyone around me who have contributed in this success in some way or other.

Mozhi - Means language in Tamil. And the movie was awesome. I heard rave reviews about it and was itching to have a look at it and it happened on last Saturday. From the beginning till end, it was beautiful, flawless and it was a joy to watch the movie. Very few movies have touched my heart like this - movies like kannathil muthamittal. They come very rarely and stand in your mind for a long time.. Yes, yes, I will stop going on like this and will give a quick, neat review...

Story is about two friends who are doing background music for movies. Their funda of love is that if you meet THE girl you will have a light above your head and bells will ring :) And our hero sees such a girl, obviously the heroine and falls in love instantaneously. He finds later that she is deaf and dumb. Because she is physically challenged, she feels that noone should take pity on her. Additionally she hates the idea of marriage because of her parents. Then it takes the typical line of hero proposes, she refuses, finally comes out of her cucoon to accept.. In the story to add some spice there are side tracks about the hero's friend, heroine's friend, the apartments seceratary, the professor - May be unwanted, but given at the right amount hence it has not exceeded its limit.

Now, you can say, "Okay, What is great about it? Slightly different story but then the same masala!" - Direction and the cast - Thats what makes it great. Prakash raj and Jyotika are really good. Jyotika just had to act and not talk (rather move her lips.).In the last but one scene where she just breaks herself free of her fears - she cries - that few seconds were amazing - she really is talented!. Prakash Raj is who I call as a complete actor - he can do all kind of roles with ease and in this movie he has done comedy in the supporting role. Total entertainment :)

PS: I started writing this review when I watched it the first time, And finished it when I watched it the second time today. Last 30 mts are dragging and typical tamil movie 'shtyle' and I think it is Prakash Raj's delivery of jokes that made me watch the movie again.....