Rekha's Ramblings

 Simply fascinated by their ability to shed everything each year, year after year and start fresh, anew each year, every year. Why weren't us humans given that ability???? Not only that, but it’s also perfectly ok for them to change colors year after year, get prettier right before it gets barren and come back even prettier and in this part of Virginia, with a vengeance!!! My Ramblings for this Friday.

 What does one do with them? I'm not that attached to the video tapes but audio.... yes. 21 years ago and for 5-6 years since then, they were the ones there when no one else was, in happiness, in sorrow, when homesick, when needed a little boost to get through yet another day, week or month before a trip back home, while driving in the darkness by myself ... Hindi songs by Lata, Asha, Rafi or Kishore Kumar or Marathi music. Little did we know that things were about to change, that the world was literally going to be at one's fingertips.... The question now is do I stay attached to them and continue to hoard a few more boxes or do I get rid of them?? Is this the difference between us and the trees?? I don't even think I have a cassette player anymore, yet I am dwelling on the thought of keeping them, as a keepsake of course. My rambling for this Friday!

   We moved recently and surprised at myself, found these in one of the boxes, I'm not into cooking and for me to even have invested in a recipe box and cookbooks...my daughter asked what was I going to do with them ; they never saw the daylight and needless to say, they never will, they are now at the bottom of a recycling bin. My sad ramblings on this Monday!      

Today is International Peace Day. While I personally have never suffered a true hardship as such (if you can call lack of electricity or running water 24/7, having to study in a candle light or having only a pair of flip flops as your only shoes for a whole year a hardship, then yes, I have had a hard life).  I did not have much while growing up but one thing I always had was a roof over my head, three basic meals, a loving family and above all, a place that I called home, I belonged to a village, a community. I had a sense of belonging. I was born in India and therefore an Indian, that was my identity.  Then opportunity knocked on the door, came to America and now I have not one, but two homes, my home where my family still resides and my adopted home, the United States of America. My children are privileged, they will always have a place that they can call home.  While I hear of the suffering of the refugees, I will never know what it is like to not have an identit...

  We as a family are non-athletic; I never played any sport and for some reason didn’t encourage my children to do so either. So generally don’t watch any sports however have made it a point to watch both summer and winter Olympic as a family. Back then, watched it with family whatever little appeared on Doordarshan (Indian TV channel) and familiar with only some athletes names and events. We got hooked on to watching Olympic Games after 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta where we watched a hockey match. But now that we watch it daily, some names such as Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt have become household names and watched all their events. I have felt happiness when Michael or Usain won as predicated but was also sad when some of them got injured during their event and what bothered me the most was disqualification due to a false start, all that hard work , some of them won’t get a second chance at the next Olympic. While some stories were simply heart touching such as when the Ame...

  One of my friends called me this week. She is that friend who I do not necessarily talk to every day but who understands me, who has known me for a while. We stay connected with each other with sporadic text messages, Christmas greetings etc. And although we would like to chat with each other more often, we just do not have that kind of spare time. For starters, we live in two different time zones and then she works full time, and I am a mother of three which is more than a full-time job. This time however, we had a few minutes to spare for each other, got talking, and had an actual conversation without interruptions.     After we had caught up on whatever was going on in our lives, she told me the real reason she had called me. She said she was listening to this song on radio," I don’t need a hand to hold, I got that fire in my soul" and she could not stop but think of me, about me. She said I was the only Indian friend she had with a fire in my soul, who wa...

  M y 9 year old nephew asked," Who is Thoreau ?" I, "he is a philosopher."  He," what does that mean?" I ," someone who lives alone, never marries , never has children , lives in the wild is a philosopher and he gets to advise the rest of us on how to live our lives, that advice is philosophy ." Philosophy rambling on this Monday!!!

 Road trips are so much fun now that my children are at such an age where they can take care of themselves; from hauling their own luggage, using the restrooms unsupervised, applying sunscreen to carrying their own water bottles and hydrating as needed.  Most of the stress that comes with traveling was already relieved as we were travelling within the USA where we can drink water out of the fountain (trust me, we have travelled to different places where the water is not safe to drink) plus the major stressbuster is dialing 911 if needed.  People in the US do not know how privileged and fortunate they are to have this service. This year’s road trip was going to take us to American southwest, through the states of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.   This road trip began with the usual airport and airline drama but ended with happy and precious memories. Whenever we travel somewhere which includes flying, there is always drama associated with it, for e.g., flight d...

  These days shopping for a car for our teenage son and remembered my days, twenty one years ago. I was new in this country, didn’t know anything about car shopping or buying , nobody to help; but a car was a must since no public transportation available in the little town of Thomasville GA. After six months of walking, hiring taxi cabs, rides from coworkers, it was about time to get one. All the other Indian friends said to buy either a Honda or a Toyota , they are good cars , economical, can last up to 200,000 miles etc. (trust me, I was clueless as to what that meant, no one from my family had ever owned a car ) Some of my friends who had arrived with me had bought used cars and were having trouble. So I decided to buy a new car. One of my friends drove me to the dealer one day, it happened to be a Honda dealer as it was near to the place of work .He had two civics left on the lot for that year , another one of my friends and I bought the same exact cars from the same dealer at ...

On this mother's day, the tragic loss of one of my neighbors is still fresh on my mind and the heart goes out to her children , I am grateful and thankful for my mother and my children but also can not help but think of some of the women I know; some of my friends who lost their mother at an young age, friends who have lost a child , friends who tried to be a mother for a number of years eventually giving up, friends who have adopted despite having children of their own and otherwise, and friends who simply chose not to have a child of their own so they could be a mother to the one who was left behind.. all off you are on my mind , I admire your strength , your courage , each one of you unique in your own way.. all of you lovely women !Ramblings of a grieving woman!!

  I used to think of myself as a very strong person, that I took decisions using my brain, not my heart, not emotional but practical and blah, blah blah ….. and now that’s what it has been reduced to, just blah, blah, blah. I was strong and then I became a mother , and have turned into this emotional wreck and find myself doing things that I would never have done otherwise , the “awwws”, the “ muaahas” , the “love” and “kisses” and “hugs”….driving was not an issue then , I drove myself everywhere but then they came along and I was responsible for not just me but the three of them in the backseat and when they were little , most nights would be sleepless nights as I would be home alone taking care of them, in a constant alert mode , responsible for their safety, couldn’t take a chance to drive myself and endanger their lives and so the driving stopped, just limited to grocery shopping and short distance . I had to go somewhere the other day, over an hour’s drive, no husband or frien...

  You hear people telling you about how life is short, advising you to enjoy and cherish every moment ; you hear them, you go on with your life and you get busy, my mom has not been well for the past few days and she is the one who is on my mind, and then comes this shocking news out of nowhere, it's not like we saw each other or talked to each other daily but knew she would be there in my time of need, always smiling, helping others, tending to her flowers, her garden, always paused to talk when she saw me passing by and you never think that you can feel and suffer this tragic loss..but you do. Lost one of my neighbors in an a car accident .Will miss her! These are in loving memory of my neighbor ! Pardon me, this is me amd my ramblings out of extreme sadness and loss!!

  Marked off one more thing off my bucket list, touring college campuses, a tradition here in America. Obviously I was more excited than the children ;wishing if I could go back to college all over and live in those college dorms , do all the things that I didn't have a chance to do then such as study abroad ; to that my daughter says, "but mom , you are already abroad !" ( I come from India) ya , but not the same , came here to work , studying abroad would be a different ball game especially if it was somewhere in Europe ... Ramblings of one excited Mom!

  This is what I wrote to President Obama and this is his reply.  Please keep in mind that I come from a land of a billion people where my voice would get lost in the bureaucracy, it's a big deal that I can actually write to the President and even bigger deal to get an actual response, an acknowledgement from the White House itself !!  Now that's what I am talking about, in my eyes, this nation was already "great". I had written it a couple of years ago but didn't mail it in until now, somehow I think this is the time to be hopeful than any other and hope that people choose the right person. My ramblings !!

  Coming from India and not ever having seen the snow, it was soooo exciting to see it , the very first year in the USA , that too in Atlanta ,GA, I thought I was "lucky"; able to go out with minimum winter gear. The novelty wore off quickly with one near death experience several years ago in the mountains of Pennsylvania (skidded off with several 360 degree turns ), had enough of the snow . Only time I ever venture out in the snow now is to take pictures on our street , walking , no driving and that's it ! Some of my family members who still have not seen the snow, said I was ,"lucky " when I sent them a video from this morning".... I got nothing better to do today but continue with my ramblings !