A small Tamil New Year celebration

We are in June.. it has been a month and a half since the Tamil New Year rolled in. After that trip to SLO and the knee getting all inflamed, it took me a few weeks to just get back to walking.

So the Tamil New year was a muted celebration. However we did have two potluck parties to attend and had fun chatting with friends. For once I had company from my friend and guru, when it came to wearing a dhothi. 

When not in dhothi.. it was this..

Now that the number of folks coming to Tamil New Year party in a Dhothi has increased by 100% , there is a plan to double that coming April !! 

Wishing one and all a belated Tamil New Year! This years name is Sobakiruthu (google says Dhunmukhi which was I think the year in 2016). Apparently a good year for me.. time will tell.. 

We can always check the blog post next year same time!

Tamil New year - a delayed photo op

My mom got me a few shirts and pants to wear for this years occasions on my last India trip in December. This year we were not exactly in celebratory mood for Tamil New Year two weeks ago. 

We had just finished 30 days under lockdown and were at the stage where everyone was ready to kill each other within the house. The good news is we are all doing okay and are all healthy. 

I have been pushing the family to come for a photoshoot to get a family picture and tonight they obliged.. it was not possible to make everyone dress up as some folks expect me to be happy for them even showing up for the picture. 

We did have some good eats on April 14th to celebrate but we were in stay-at-home clothing.

Here is last years photo..

and this years photo..

and another photo to remember this time and this year..

Next year Jr. will be in college and given Tamil New Year falls on April 14th, chances are she will not be visiting.. it might be a good  8 years before we see the family in one place for this. . . which is why I was pushing for these pictures in the first place!

This year started in quarantine and has set the bar very low for any year in our lifetime. We sincerely hope that things will get better and we get back to at least 50% of our routines.

Given my grumpiness and the actual day being spent in back to back zoom meetings and calls...

I wish you all a better year! 

Hope by next April we are all back to normal! 

Tamil New year 2019

Another year rolls by.. and this year I had to explain to kids why Tamil New years day is as important to me as Jan 1st. They saw it as something less to celebrate.. the world turns irrespective of our celebrating and all these days are random markers in time .. birthdays, new years based on different dates.. etc.

I had to tell them about the history of New years on Jan 1st and how things have changed just in 2000 years with respect to Jan 1. The Tamil year system is more complex but the new Years is April 14th. 

We went to the temple yesterday given it was Rama Navami and decided to stay put at home today. There is 4 temples in the area and they are all super crowded. So we prayed for a good new year on "new year's eve" I guess! 

We were glad to have some friends visit us for lunch. The highlight was San's friends parents who came and blessed us with all their heart. To me, that is always what I miss about Tamil New Year here. When in India, you go to older relatvies and get their blessing.. Here I look around and realize that I AM the older relative!!! (when my MIL is not around). 

My MIL was happy today as well as she was superseeded by folks who could bless her! 

and what is a new years post without a family portrait?!

I am not exactly jet lagged but tired. It was time to turn on the sprinkler system today and I have not spent much time in the backyard in ages.. so went to check on things and ended up pulling out a lot of weeds.. some of them got to me. So I had puffy eyes for the pictures.. 

My saluations to all the elders on New Years and my blessings to all my younger family members.. Yes, I am now old enough to start blessing people as well as receive blessings.. 

This years name is Vihari, which is the 32nd of the 60 year cycle.. Wikipedia may not be the best source for this information (whenever westerners get to write or rewrite history..  a lot is lost in factual accuracy and translation)..but for what it is worth here is the link..

Given 2019 as a year did not start well for me.. counting on Vihari being a good year for me.. we can always count new years different ways, no?! 

That alone tells you that it really does not matter where the count starts. It is a good reason to celebrate, thank your stars and more importantly thank your elders and make sure you understand your responsibility as an older person to set an example for the young ones on this pretext.

The earth continues revolving and that is a good thing..

Happy New Year - the Tamil one..

This year Tamil New Year day came and went before we could blink. This in spite of my moving a biz trip off by a week to spend the day with family. We both got super busy at work that week. So we decided to dress up over the weekend and take pictures to celebrate!

Jr. with her signature pose (apparently is is the new posing standard)

 She finally obliged me with a normal smile

The little one looked her happy self but refused to put a "pottu" after repeated begging from me. 

The little one said "you get two tries and that is IT! I won't stand for more photos". So two tries it was. 

They might not realize the value of these photos or blog posts now.. someday when they are my age they might look back at this and smile! 

 Last year was a good year for us. Nothing spectacular happened but nothing really disastrous either. Life moved on at a steady pace with things moving on without too much drama in the house. 

This post was to go online last Sunday.. a belated Happy Tamil New Year to all of you! May this year bring peace and happiness to one and all! 

Happy Tamil New Year !

Time flies. We are at yet another Tamil New Year this weekend. The girls dressed up nicely to celebrate. San also did a marathon effort in the kitchen this morning to make some amazing food. I must have added 4-5 pounds just at lunch and to compensate for that did three hours of hot yoga instead of the usual 90 minutes.

The back is also hurting after being squeezed in cramped quarters on long flights next to oversized folks whose bottoms spread laterally into neigbouring seats. My strong recommendation to the good folks who make the 74(+)7's and Airbus equivalents is to create a solid barrier between seats instead of the hand rests. Then again, if a skinny guy like me is suffering, it cannot be too great for said oversized folks. As usual I digressed at the first paragraph.. Tsk!

Where were we? Ah, the new year! Got back home just in time to see the cuties dress up and have fun. To celebrate the new year, I got myself a pair of Bose headphones that are expected to do wonders for future air travel. Don't ask me what Bose has to do with Tamil New Year. It has as much to do with a Toyota or Ford Car sales event has to do with Memorial day! 

This year we celebrate the girls growing older by one more year and the fact that they still pose for daddy when begged to do so.

Had to capture the earrings she is wearing.. they are made of Terracota apparently! 

For once I wished there was a picture of me with the kids to post! Maybe we will take one over the week. 

Happy New Year to all of you. May this Tamil new year bring peace and happiness!