chat with friends

20 july. Got Roshin on chat, she said she had met Prem and Venki just then. so I took the phone no from her and called them. It was nice to catch up with all three today and with Gladi on a short message. Hope the rest of you all doing great too. take care, keep in touch. God bless.

Condolences

Vimal Athithan wrote july 2012, on Facebook MCC group.
With great sadness, I wish to convey to all my friends from MCC, that our beloved friend Rajesh Pon Pandian has passed away and has gone to be with the Lord at 2.30 am this morning. He was the Prime Minister of St. Thomas's Hall in 1992-93. MCC has lost a son today.
Murali Krishnan wrote earlier On Fb it is with deep regret that I inform you that our classmate Jeeju George, (Zoology 81) passed away this morning. She was married to Lemuel Herbert, also from Zoo81.. Funeral at 3pm tomorrow at Barthalomeow Church, next to Mysore Mofussil Bus terminal on the B'lore-Nilgiris road.. RIP Jeeju... you were simply one of the best
 this is the site https://www.facebook.com/groups/thegutters/

May God be with their families and give them strength at this time. keep them in your prayers.

Our condolences

Rosh said she got a call from Prem. It is sad to hear his 3-year-old son passed away in April.
If any of you are in touch with him, please convey our heartfelt sadness, our prayers for strength for him and his family and friends.
God be with each and everyone of you.
Got mail from venki...
"yes really it was a sad news. i was very upset . but what to do we have to some time accept the reality.
he is recovering from the shock. the boy had many complications. prem had given all possible medication but nothing worked.
now he is ok.
there is a good news also parellely that his wife became a civil judge just days before the boy's death. the family had taken that as a gift of that boy.
family had come down to chennai on a day's visit to meet a senior judge in chennai and they had come to my place . they are ok now. any way let us hope for better."

Congrats on the good note. Thanks venki.
Prem. GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

Season's Greetings from us to you and family

Hoping that your holiday season is filled with lots of love and joy.

Wishing you a magical christmas and best wishes for New year.

God bless.

Obit Prof Gladson

Heard that our former Principal and head of the Zoology dept. Dr. Gladston passed away. I could not find any news of the death online. My mum said she heard there was a service at MCC and that his body was taken to Nagercoil for burial. He had lost his older son earlier on.
I could not get any new of it on the MCC website. And since none of you mentioned it, wondered if it's true?
Have any of you heard about it? Hello news personalities, busy?
May God be with his family. Too many sad news.
May he rest in peace. Another good person to be with God.

Beautiful park

This weekend had been busy like many other. Saturday morning I had to take daughter to piano, then cleaning, pouring water to grass at old home.
Then I get a "Hey where are you call, we have guests, come quick". Got home after picking up daughter for the next round of cleaning & cooking. Then the guests arrived. Wow! how different they all looked. Anybody recognise my nephew Verghese Cherian's brother Viju/Mathew (grey t-shirt) ?

Then home for BBQ, movie, leg pulling, frightening each other with scaring life stories.

On Sunday went to church, came home with guests, gave them lunch, cleaned, took a break, went to park, boating, kids then enjoyed the water.

One of the life guards.

Closing time, so we had to get out in 15 min! The sun is setting, so all out of water.

!

Went to one friend's home, while one car went shopping for fish. We started cooking , Bbq, then played some cards, chatted, watched tv. came home early morning 4. others still sleeping. i had coffee and blogging! Am I nuts? Fun, I say!

Boating, a venture which we learnt the hard way in our early days - how hard it's to steer if u don't have the knack for it. We nearly went down river too close to the waterfalls, someone had to help us steer it clear. Our hearts were in our throats. So when we went to the park and saw our friends on the boat, I warned my hubby to check out the leg padding kind (you see, above only 4 can sit). Our friends struggled and came back to shore. They still had time. So 2 men and kids went. Oh, how i laughed. Learnt my lesson the first time. So i sat and took some pictures.They came out saying the most stressful experience, boring, etc.

when they r ready to get out, they give these men instructions!Next time I should make them get it first.. so i don't hoot with laughter!

weekend

See, we managed to rope one more friend along the way.. who landed picking up dinner..see all the happy faces.They all enjoyed. It became late 11 and later when all reached back home.

hey, it was worth watching this birthday baby-shocked, when few mins behind me the whole lot came singing happy birthday to you..

come lets go.. before they disappear!

we r all set and planned to bounce on the next family!See all our mischievous grins!

Kids getting ready to cut next birthday ice cream cake.. after a park trip..

This is us inviting 3 families on the spot after church!The birthday baby (told us only 11 yrs) cutting ice cream cake with other kids..the candles refused to get blown out,we had to remove it and pour water!

after our on the spot guests left..!

..relaxing after the church party we attended,helping with food,cleaning!

Congrats, friends

A special post for the bloganniversary....
In the past few years, I've been in touch with friends or heard from them. Was thinking of everyone whom we come to know and how some are still in our thoughts and stay in touch with you.
How many friends are trustworthy was brought to my attention.. when an auntie visited and told us about few deaths in her circle of friends and family - who were killed by their friends due to jealousy! Sad. While some of us would like the best for them and feel proud of them, some get hurt.
I am proud of all my friends and they are all achievers in their own ways.
After a long time chatted with Rajeev. it was nice to talk to him. He used to be one of first ones to chat for long to us. It's great he is married and has a small child now to take care of. Got a PhD .(First in our batch, right?). Now we look forward to his poems, photos and blogging.
Life becomes hectic after marriage.
As Rajeev said, many of us are abroad. who thought we would go out of India?
Maha after marriage came to Canada, did her library course, is doing great in her field with a child and hubby, blogging, and still tries to keep in touch.
Suni, also has a career which seems to get her on the jet to see other places. a hubby and a son to take care of. Nokia (right?) . watch out for our budding friend.
Miller, Griz has been in touch most of the time with us from when we were in college. Its great to see Miller abroad and trying to help his family back home too and 2 kids who they both try to keep entertained without boring them.. always seem to be going out when i catch them on chat..
Rosh, upcoming in her Frontline work, got my.. 3 or is it 4 blogs, 2 kids , hubby, maid problems to deal with.. then editing all my typos (thanks to her i can leave it and am 100% sure she will put it in readable style!)
Of course, we are the only active ones on this blog. There are our other guests like the Hardy boys who make us more proud . as being Lawyers.. each with a wife and 2 kids . (i can hear murder in their voices for writing like this, if they get us alone, watch out for their teasing.. and rosh does not edit- i am in trouble). who when time permits tries to catch with the rest of us at lunch/dinner. globetrotting gypsy!
Annie , we hear from mostly Griz and every time i am in mds have caught up with her.. she is teaching in college and has a daughter, stays with her parents and travels weekends. and her hands full too. She said Venky,prem seem to be in touch with her too.
Usha Nair came , seem to have met Annie ; she is teaching abroad and has a family to take care too. Usha wrote once, then no news!
Murali was in touch with everyone, then he seems to have become silent. Rosh , go get him to comment , they r in the same building at work, don't bump into each other much. He seems to be going up in his career, seems to have travelled abroad for study/work/training?
Reba came and then no news from her.
Glady was busy shifting when we last caught up, hope he is settled in now, to catch up with the rest of us.
Shankar has blog which now i find he is not blogging on... any news of others?
congrats to our friends
Great, keep it up. God bless.

Rajeevnath says:

(In a chat with Usha)
Chitra & kid are fine. Hope ur kids are fine too. Am in touch thru the blog. Of course a silent reader.
You know, I visit the site regularly to catch up with all the news. Feels good to read all the posts, see us with family & kids in various countries. Great, eh! N'er thought all this will happen when we were in college. ha ha...
I can write all that's bothering me (in the blog) ... ha ha... it'll be a gripesnipe then. I think i shouldn't wait for the inspiring moment... will post even my poems (poetic jottings) if possible.
yup yup.... they (poems, photos) come soon. Give time till sun/mon for a post.
Olympics opening ceremony... watching it?
it was a hectic week.. had a cultural studies conference in our dept. Next week shd be ok (for a post).
yup couldn't spend time at home with the lil one.
will take a look (at the blog) on the weekend.
bye 4 now. nice chatting with u.

p.s. HEY! Rajeev is reading. Hoping that all of us can get him to join in.
It's almost a yr of our blogging. Are we celebrating? Good luck to all of you. Continue to blog, chat, comment. God bless.

Hospital chapel

We were invited to another wedding last Sunday.. it was different than the earlier wedding .. the bride is from North India(Dr.)her family and grooms fly settled here (DRs), she had jewels and her wedding clothes with lots of beaded and other work shade of red.... (sorry just got a photo sat at a corner.wonderful chapel.)

when both of us arrived at the wedding place.There was lots of fresh flower decoration at chapel and rec.Beautiful. .(well ..it was at a hospital chapel-which could seat quite a no of people-which is near the emergency ward.. so was feeling queer!)They told us to look for center lobby.. we went to that entrance and saw there was just few car parking spaces.. went to ask directions..a couple with a child .. spoke to me as i was walking past.. i did not get it .. i looked at the attendant (security).. he said it was wedding.. Only then it stuck me.. the couple asked me if the queen was having a baby or what?..i thought they were commenting thanks to almost same color(as rosh churi-orange) with green border Saree..Poor things saw the bride with her troop all dolled up walk by..with flowers etc!..And i think they were just getting discharged with a new baby!It must be a eye full for them.

Found the parking only near emergency..then had to walk in through that.. so felt a bit queasy.. when we reached the first floor walked through some wards..and seeing many well dressed guests felt better..then saw the groom and groomsmen..they directed us to the chapel entrance.. can't believe such wonderful work inside and looks like a big church.

Wedding went off well with a good no of representative from grooms side.. they had earlier in the morning a Hindu wedding..so most of them looked already tired.. we went only for this.. and reception afterward at a place which is 1/2 hr south drive..

The appetizer was all high quality.. it was in one of the 5 star hotels here,from that room one had to move to another.. where reception was held.. there sit on tables allotted to u.. some wise person messed up the hard work of others, hence we could all not find our table nos.. so it got delayed.. we managed to find ours and just went in.But many did not find and they just gave up.. finally hosts told all to find a seat and apologised.There is introductions of both immediate family then others in the group.. then toasts , songs, dances, slide show, bride,groom dance,parents and others join.,then it becomes a open floor.. it was so late , kids were not with us.. we finally left with out eating dinner.

Met our former Principal , (even before i came to study),spoke a few words with him. Sir, was happy to see us their kids are here.. they visit once a year .Also met some other members their who are related to our family. Met few friends from a church we used to go at first when we first came here.

Turtle watch

The turtle we saw on a Sunday just before going to church.
It was raining on that day.

View from outside

A bigger house to accommodate a bigger family.

A Kerala wedding in the US

We went to a wedding on Saturday at St. Thomas the Apostle church in Ann Arbour.
The church was built in 1835 or so. With stones outside, beautiful high ceilings, and pipe organs. Reminded me of the churches we see in Kodai/Ooty. They had a singer who did a wonderful job. Our full attendance at the reception.

There stands the bride and the groom. The bride sports the mantrakodi, the sari that comes as a gift from the groom. The mantrakodi apart from the thali forms the essence of the Christian marriage ceremony of Kerala.

Altar, the wedding register etc getting ready.

Here comes the bride.

Bridegroom and his best men arrive for the ceremony.

The part which is still is in our minds was when one of the best men fell flat. The noise is still echoing in our heads. We all thought he had a heart attack. Poor man, recovered enough to stand but he was swaying, so we called 911.

We happened to be in the front rows. So hubby helped. We had water, so gave it to him. None of us saw it happen, we just heard the noise.

It was a hot day and a long one at that! I suppose no one warned the poor man how long Indian weddings can be. Or how long the best men/bridesmaids get to stand!

Animals we've enjoyed visiting

The deadly Piranhas. But dont they look so harmless and paavam here?

White shark.

Dont miss the two leopards sleeping under the tree.

Our ancestor.

Ostrich. Hippo getting a sun tan.

Penguins.

Baby elephant enjoying a bath given by the trainer. They lifted their foot for washing.

A day's trip to the zoo

Some pictures of the animals in Toledo zoo. Our second trip to the place. It's a one-hour drive from our place.

This time we had a few friends joining us. It was cool when we started out. Later it became warm. There was lots of comments like: you going to visit our friends; say Hi; why go there? just visit our home, u can see everything. Another wise crack was that you visit this home, that home, that home and go back and say u saw the zoo!
After all this we reached the zoo, walked a bit, saw a demo of training seals.
The polar bears were showing off which was amusing - running and diving into water, really playful. Sloth bear was near the glass.

Tigers all came out to show off.

Oh! Peacock did its beautiful dance.

Saw some ducklings, some duck/swan eggs. all diff shapes, sizes. Of course, we can't forget the huge birds of prey, cute colorful ones, ostrich...
While one person imagined having roast duck egg and duck curry, another dreamt of fish fry, curry.

The white lions atleast was close by to look at. The leopards were lazing but did see them this time.

The reptiles did not see me. But the boys loved it!

We did not cover half the stuff we did last time. But this time we did the train ride; last time we did the boat ride.

Spent time eating of course with trying to hold on to our plates/food ..which thanks to the great wind was all over the place. We had to finally weigh down our plates with heavy stuff..

As usual the camera had its hitches. This time it was memory full! Another person's battery down. How the cameras know us!

Hope kids can enjoy these photos. You must have seen quite a few in your growing years!
The trip reminded us how old/unhealthy we were. Could not walk a few steps before sitting and relaxing. Ofccourse I had to top that list!

River walk

Nature and a warm spring morning around us.

The Canadian geese flew before we could get the camera... common..

p.s. waky, all of u, before Rosh comes. there should be lot of post for her to catch up on!

Wedding Anniversaries

Miller& Griz - sorry, (belated) wedding anniversary greetings. wishing u both the best.
Also to Annie and Sajan, Rosh and Vinod, Maha and Arul Sir...
May heaven's choicest blessings be with each and everyone of you ...
WISHING YOU ALL PEACE AND GOOD HEALTH..
And Miller's birthday. Next month also some birthdays - Annie, Venki . Wishing u all early happy birthday.
Birthday boys and girls ... May God bless you all too with the best in Health, Happiness. Good luck with everything.
HOPE YOU ALL HAVE EXCELLENT DAYS AND WONDERFUL YEAR AHEAD.

NEW LIFE? NEW WIFE?

Who is that?
aaahhhhhhhhhh.... open mouthed are you? don't worry, many did that to me already.

Upset- got that from hubby. He was first not too happy, but now he is enjoying all the reactions. heeeeee

hey mum u look like me. Noel just smiled.

Oldest was upset she was not there to tell them how to do the latest style and coloring.

Other comments:

"Hey that poor uncle is 80, don't let people fall flat and spoil his party."

"Who is Thomas's new hot date who looks like Sharon's sister?"

"she looks chic, nice, cute."

"hey , i knew u got a new home. did not know u got new wife or would get one."

"hey why did u not do it then before the house warming?"

"give me that hair. or don't throw that hair, u can use for dance."

Life is short. We need to help others, also enjoy ourself. This was reminded to me with a knock. so trying to make others to do a Aaaaaaah.

Let's keep the blog running. Hey contributors, come on. Help wake the rest of us with a post.

Housewarming party

Basement setting for the party. Food for the guests.
Final touches being checked by us.
All set.
Mouth-watering, aint they?

Blessing the home

Guests at the formal housewarming ceremony.

3 Achens (Priests) officiating the blessing of our home. This is the formal dining room, one entrance leads to pantry, other to the kitchen/dining/living(great) room.