The little one and her violin

The little one has been learning the violin for one more year. She has definitely grown in confidence and has improved in spite of not practicing enough (we agree, her teacher agrees and most importantly, she agrees!) 

Here are some photos and a video snippet from the Winter Recital from the Music school.

There was a big surprise at the recital! Haik, who had come to the US to play on Sunday to a sold out concert came to encourage the students. 

Imagine you are warming up in your schools playground and suddenly the gym teacher says "kids, I have a little surprise for you. Usain Bolt happens to be a family friend and he is here to show you how he runs the 100m and will also answer questions on how he trains and anything else you might want to ask him and you can take pictures with him after the recital! " In violin terms, that is what happened !

The kids loved it. They also saw "how easy" it was to play like that if you practice for only 25 years! 

We enjoyed the evening with the little one doing her recital without mistakes and Haik's little cameo. Next year, if she practices well, the little one might be going on to doing more nuanced pieces. We wait with bated breath... 

Bad designs

Electric kettles seem to have one fundamental flaw! The cords are too short. Be it the one in the Chinese hotel or the ones you get at the local Target here, they all seem to have a cord that is at the most 18 inches long. 

This means the kettle has to be practically close to the wall or the thing doesn't sit on the base well. That also means that if someone has recently used it or if you are trying to unplug it before removing the vessel, the probability of getting burnt by the hot vessel or steam puffs still coming out every now and then is high!

My MIL has already gone through heat boils many times.. for me this is happening after a long time. 

This happened bright and early yesterday morning. So I skipped Yoga yesterday. Thought I would give it a shot today and by the time the class ended, the thing went from being flat and wrinkly to almost popping. Think by tomorrow's class it will pop and will get this over with. 

The body is amazing in the way it directs the recovery crew to a specific site and the hot room accelerates the process is my guess. 

and on a side note, given my recent realization that my bald spot is no longer a spot but more like a bald field, went for a new look. All the ladies in the house unanimously hate it. Have never managed to unite them like this on anything before! 

Life is full of little quirks.. for now I am happy to be blogging again! If any of you know why these kettles have such short power cords, let me know! 

Never miss a chance to say hi..

I had three days in India. One was to go shopping the day before Deepavali. One day was to celebrate Deepavali and visit relatives. One was to visit more relatives, pack (yes.. stuff as much as possible within one suitcase. Threw away old clothes which were worn on a business trip mind you, and replaced them with sweets and savories!) and do the other must do things.. 

Which was to visit two of my two favorite temples. Did a whirlwind visit to Kabali kovil on a rainy morning. 

 Have written many posts about this place.. it always brings back amazing memories, mostly of my grand father and mom and playing with my brother.. meeting my wife for the first time.. long list.. (read this old post and got happy tears thinking of grandpa)

Took a couple of snaps on the way out. The Gopuram has been freshly painted and the inside of the temple has got a face lift of sorts! 

A stone base from the 7th century with freshly painted statutes on the top! The contrast is interesting and is pretty much symbolic of everything in Chennai, when I see it with my own filters of what is new and what is old!  I could spend hours with my kids, describing the stories those statutes tell, but that has to wait for another trip, when they visit the temple. 

Spent only 30 minutes inside, but Kabali always gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside, no matter how short the visit.

Until next time...