While you go on many trips with family ,nothing is more memorable than a trip with your besties!

Our original plan was a two day long drive to visit the famous shiva temple -Thiruvannamalai.Since that didn’t work out,we did an impromptu day outing to ‘Ghati Subramanya temple’ an ancient Dravidian style Hindu temple located around 60kms on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Typically people visit here to offer prayers to Snake God.

After a short delicious breakfast (Idli ,Vada ,coffee) break we reached the temple around 10am.

Offered prayers to the snake god and proceeded to the main temple. Though it was crowded (due to holiday season), we were very effective in utilising our wait time by chit chatting!

Another nostalgic part of the visit is breaking the coconut shell and eating, reminds me of my dad!

After Dharshan we explored the surrounding areas. Got to know about the local village ‘Jathre’ (meaning festival). Another reason for the crowd.Cows and bullocks were brought from various near by villages for trading.We could see many tents,makeshift shops etc,.

We were not the only one to get lost in the crowd!!

It was also an opportunity to explore local food and shopping!

The wooden ladle and veggie cutter are making its way to Dublin!(Thanks to our shopping)

Since we had almost half day and we were determined not to go home early ,decided another impromptu ride from Ghati to Isha foundation Chikkaballapura.Our dear Google showed about an hour and half as the ETA, but we never expected it to be a bumpy ride in the middle of nowhere!

Nevertheless we got to explore the cluster beans ,rose , marigold and grape farms.

The ride uphill was like dirt biking in Sandunes.

Thanks to our expert on wheels reached the hill safely.

Last but not least -this is us ‘Selfie with Lord Shiva’.

Write to you soon about yet another exiting place !

While 9/11 and 26/11 are days to remember in the World and Indian history , 4/11 is an important date in my Dental 🦷 history!

The credit goes back to my ancestors. Our clan is known for irregular tooth and almost many of us in our family have had braces or ‘tooth clips’ as we call in India. In fact during childhood fights with neighbouring kids they used to name call as ‘clip family’.

Growing up I had frequent visits to the dentist office. I still remember my first Silver Amalgam(Mercury) fillings which is perfectly intact even now after many decades.

When I lost my wisdom ( which I didn’t have anyway!) tooth ,my dentist had warmed that if don’t replace, my jaw line will come down after sometime which I happily ignored for years. That’s when my implants journey started.

For the first few implants( I have many) I was the specimen to bunch of interns/house surgeons watching the procedure and taking notes.

Few years back following the Valentine tradition (Rose day,Teddy day etc.) I decided to celebrate our engagement day (4/11) and ended up in an emergency room.

We were in a nice fine dine Indian restaurant and had ordered a special dish for the occasion ‘Kotthu parota’. After finishing the dinner I felt that something was missing and then realised both my crowns were missing and I had swallowed.

Panicking rushed to the near by ER and were redirected to a Dental ER. Though google maps were existing that time , reached the ER after a long drive. Duty doctor was so cool that he said that since I didn’t choke nothing to worry which was a big relief.

While it was an eventful night, had to look for dentist for the new crowns since the implants can’t be left exposed for a long time .

After couple of visits and negotiations zeroed in on an dentist for $2k and got the crowns fixed.(original estimate was $5k for which I could have travelled to and fro to India including the dental procedure)

From then one no more 4/11 celebrations and Kotthu Parota!

Have you had any such experiences on a special day!Happy to hear !

Do you know who my daughter hates the most?Alexander Fleming! Wondering what did the 18th century scientist had to do with the millennial?.

Few years back a simple sore throat resuled in multiple doc visits .After juggling between multiple Ortho,General Physician and Paediatrician it was concluded as ‘Rheumatic fever’ and she needs to be on Penidure (penicillin) 💉every 21 days for 5 years.

Thus penicillin became part of our life ,so as hospital visits and the associated challenges.

Started with searching for availability of injection. Penidure is not in general stocked by pharmacist and big hospitals doesn’t sell for out -patients.

Since penicillin can cause allergic reactions it can’t be given in a clinic and had to be administered in a hospital. Every time we go to a bigge, need to get a paediatric consultation and then injection which was not sustainable.Cost of the injection is very negligible compared to OPD fee!

Finally found a nearby hospital and we thought things were going fine until the nurse over there quit.Though trained not every nurse is comfortable administering an IM injection.It has to be a single jab,else will result in multiple pricks which is really painful.

Since my daughter was also comfortable with her we moved hospitals whenever she changed her job.

Another challenge was the test dose.Every new batch had to be tested which results in extra pain, Had to procure a batch which can be used to at least 1+ years.

In addition to the physical pain,it was an emotional roller coaster.Every visit will have a reward ranging from lollipop,Gums to pizzas and burgers. Initially it was easier to convince her.We used to tell her just a few more. As she entered into her teens it was challenging to convince her for the hospital visits and we had to explain why we are doing what we are doing.

👨‍👧Papa could not stand his princess going through this ,so I had to be the strong person.

Then came the pandemic 😷and it was all the more important not to miss the shots.(You may be thinking ,hey don’t you know the difference between bacteria and virus???).With stringent CAB rules,I wasn’t allowed inside day care and she had to handle on her own.

As the pandemic was/is at its peak,it was really risky for us to visit a hospital every 3weeks. Thanks to my sister’s General Physician recommendation switched over to penicillin tablets for the last 3 months.

With this the pain of shots ended.Still had the challenge of ensuring tablet is taken everyday since the tab works for 24 hours only and can’t be missed. There is no “Good morning” -only “Tab morning”😀

And finally we are here…Today marks the end of 5 year penicillin saga!Thank you my dear for being a strong girl and getting through this.

Thanks to all my friends,family, docs and nurses (of course Alexander Fleming!) who supported us in this journey.

.

What’s the big deal about getting a shot?If you had asked me this question 2 years ago,my answer would have been -no big deal!

In this pandemic your only hope (other than divine intervention!) is getting yourself vaccinated. So I decided to get myself vaccinated

After doing some googling ,discussion with friends ,reading forwarded messages on which one to take , side effects ,efficacy etc, my planning started.

When I was eligible ,I could walk in to a nearby clinic for my first dose.Luckily was back to normal after couple of days -had the usual side effects.

May be I overdid ,that I ended up taking an alternate vaccine and not the one I planned for!(I got to know after a week!!)

Then the fun started when my second dose was due.I did hopping around clinics near my neighbourhood and none of them had stock.

In few days I had done enough calls and search to publish a dictionary of clinics near by ,their availability etc. and finally got an appointment in a clinic a bit far away from my home which was worth the visit!

Thanks to google maps (not at the fault of maps though), I reached my destination after lots of rounds in narrow lanes. I was asked to go to the near by branch. I parked my car on the main road and decided to walk.

The clinic was sparkling like a glass ,excellent service.After the waiting period I came out with great satisfaction that I am fully vaccinated but to see my car 🚙missing!!!😥

Believe me,the road was pretty wide,and I didn’t notice no parking sign.Got to know that my car was towed away, The area was pretty new to me and I had no clue about what to do next. Thanks to an auto rickshaw driver who dropped me to the nearest Traffic police station.

First time in my driving career of 2 decades got a ticket!Worst part was that the officer wasn’t available. I was already like a zombie after a long day.Trusting the assistant who promised me to send the receipt (which he did) I paid the fine and drove back home.

Though it was an eventful day, planning for a vaccination and ending up in police station, it’s worth the cause.

If you have an opportunity and eligible do take the shot and reduce the burden on the front line workers who are working relentlessly to save us.

#stay home #stay safe #getvaccinated

While the pandemic had changed everything,many months of WFH and running around (within the house) took a toll on my knees.

My home office being in second floor made it difficult to answer the door for maid,endless Amazon and other online service delivery!

Visit to the Doctors office confirmed ‘early osteo Ortho’ and was informed to avoid staircase’ which was nearly impossible.

I was contemplating why to live in a duplex house??My better half quoted a saying in my mother tongue meaning ‘Why burn a house for a bed bug’ and thus my search for a home elevator started.

After researching various types zeroed in on Vaccum lift which can be installed without a pit in an already constructed home.

And then the fun began….

The Taj mahal (that’s our nick name for the multiple capsules) arrived after a long wait of 3 to 4 months ..

Sales pitch was that the lift would be operational in a week ,which actually took more than a month due to various reasons.

The worst part was that We were trying to bring the capsules from the garage and figured out that it doesn’t fit our main entrance door .Such a basic requirement mis-match .Sales team had no co-ordination with the installation team.(Imagining Dilbert would have drawn a nice cartoon!)

After buying such an expensive equipment there was no going back.That’s when our Carpenter’s Jug-gad came handy.

We had to break our window and weld it back.

Next step was dia-cutting which almost took a day

I still treasure those small little cylindrical pieces. And then to plaster the area before installation which we were not informed before .That’s when my husband took the role of a frustrated customer and things started to fall in place .

Plastering and drying took few days and finally the installation began.

After Lots of trial run was finally handed over,But still our journey wasn’t over .

The area which was cut had to be covered by a panel for which we had to go through another vendor.

Thanks to the support engineers (they come to check periodically and uupdate known issues in the software/board) our Taj Mahal is up and running and attracting visitors too!!

Way back in 2013, we relocated for a while from the garden city Bangalore (India) to Dallas due to my spouse’s job assignment. After being in IT industry for 15+years, I thought getting a job after landing there would be a cake walk!

My first assumption was ,that my profile is good enough to land a job! Plano is a land of application developers, health care and Telecomm industry (at least at that time). No one bothered about my kernel and operating system skills.

After 4 months of frustrating search, registering in various job portals and W2 consultants nothing seemed to see ray of light.

Finally 5th month I landed up as project manager for a major telecom company.I experienced what it takes to work as a consultant than a badged employee. I couldn’t survive there for more than 6months and my search journey started again.

Meanwhile ,had the chance to attend F2F interview for the search giant. I had the best interview experience ever though I couldn’t clear the final rounds. On a lighter note ,If I had made it, my spouse was ready to be the ‘house husband’!

Ex-colleagues and contacts I thought who would support did not.One day out of blue ,through my spouse’s colleague got connected to Paddy (figured out later that we were living in the same housing community in Bangalore!) and landed up in a job again!Thanks to him I had a wonderful experience until we relocated back to Bangalore.

Whoever is looking out for an opportunity, don’t loose hope. Expect the unexpected! Somewhere , someone will help you.

Last but not least .I was fortunate enough to join back my previous company when we relocated back to Bangalore.

Finally the D-day is here!

This two weeks have been filled with experiences. When I started penning down was wondering “Is Virus Masculine or Feminine?’ As per Wiktionary ( Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/virus) virus is neutral gender. But like me the French people are debating whether its “La covid 19” or “Le covid 19” (Source: https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/25/808589)

Nevertheless, I would go by neutral.

Corona is totally Inclusive and doesn’t discriminate! Anyone can get! My word of caution ,if you fall sick get medical attention within first 3 days to avoid complications. Though there would be initial panic , channelize your energy on things you can control and engage yourself.

Talk to friends and family , get enough rest and take medication as needed.

While I don’t have a brave heart, I had no other option but to learn and administer a blood thinner subcutaneous injection(similar to Insulin) on my own thanks to YouTube tutorials.

Speaking of engaging myself, added ZEE5 and Hotstar to my list of OTT(over-the-top) platforms this week. Though couldn’t find anything interesting in ZEE5, added CHHAPAAK to my hotstar watchlist.

Watched Kangana Ranault’s ‘Pangaa’. If you like absolute no logic, time pass movie watch Akshay kumar’s ‘Laxmi’.

I also tried some off screen -pencil sketching ,though it was a disaster.

If you are nature enthusiast , watch some tutorials. I learnt how to make “moss ball”- a Japanese Garden Art called “KOKEDAMA”

Last but not least, there is no better stress buster than good food prepared with love and care. Thanks to all my friends and better half for the yummy food and taking care of me for last 2 weeks.

May this Festival of Lights bring happiness, prosperity and wellness to everyone.Happy Diwali and stay safe!