Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

Receiving people at the Air Port is a pain and I have been doing a lot of it this past year. First it was Surabhi’s wedding where everyone was arriving by flight and of-course since none were arriving at the same time I ended up making a lot of trips to the airport. To add to the ‘fun’ they were arriving at all times of the day, including one particular arrival at 3 am. After the wedding it was relatives coming to visit, Surabhi & Vinit’s flights in and out of town and a whole lot of others. Its gotten to the point where I don’t need to think about the way, I know it by heart.

I think its a rule somewhere that if I manage to get to the airport at time the person I am receiving would get delayed making me wait for a couple of hours and if I am running late then the flight would be on time.

Today Vinit and Surabhi arrived in Delhi and I had to go receive them. I made it there on time so they took ~2 hours more to get out. The airport parking is expensive so I usually stop before the Airport and wait for a call from the person I am receiving. Today I did the same but for some reason luck wasn’t on my side. At first I was parked on the road with my blinkers on (there was hardly any traffic on the road) and was reading a novel. About 1/2 an hour later a tow trunk approached me and asked me to move along. So I drove off and after a few mins of driving I found an area with a lot of buses and taxi’s parked so I decided to stop over there and wait.

After about 15-20 mins the same tow truck showed up and the guy told me that my car had been flagged for un-authorized parking and they would have to tow me. So I told the guy that I was waiting for my sister and would move the car if it was causing a problem. They told me that a call had come in for them to tow the car so they had to do it. I then told them that I would put it in the parking if stopping here was that much of an issue so he told me that he would tow the car to the parking lot and I would have to pay 700 Rs. as a fine. After arguing with them for a good 15 mins they let me go.

I was told that my car no had been flagged and if I stopped anywhere except in the parking they would tow the car forcefully. So I drove to the gas station and after filling up the tank stopped for a little while at the store over there. Then spent a little time just driving around exploring the area. Finally Vinit and Surabhi arrived and I could pick them up. It was the first time I had so much trouble over there. I guess it could be because I was driving the Honda City instead of the Esteem.

Then I drove to Connaught Place and spend 1/2 an hour baking in the Sun while Surabhi and Vinit finished some work in the Bank. Once they were done we we drove home without any futher issues and I was back in my AC room. Atleast the AC in the Honda City is very effective so I didn’t boil too much in the heat, plus the weather wasn’t that bad either.

Well that is all for now. Will post more later.

– Suramya

Yeah I know its been a while since I last posted. Been a bit busy.
The medicines I was taking fixed the intestinal infection so now I can eat without throwing up. Gaurang visited last weekend and we had a lot of fun talking. He had brought his new laptop over so I got to try out Vista in a controlled environment and guess what I still think it sucks. I will log my ‘WOW’ experience in a separate post.

Redid some cabling in my house and bought a new UPS. So the router and DSL modem are now back in the Study and my Vonage line is hooked up to all the rooms separately. Earlier I only had it in my room (Because I had moved the router/modem over there).

Well this is all for now. Will post more later.

– Suramya

The past two weeks have been interesting (as in the Chinese curse). On the 27th I fell sick, it started with my vomiting a lot all day along with a slight fever and giddiness. So we decided to go see a doctor as it had gotten to the point where I couldn’t drink a sip of water without throwing up. Instead of going to a regular doctor we decided to go to Swami Ramdev’s clinic where they prescribe aurvedic medicines. We did this because we thought that antibiotics usually have side effects and aurvedic medicines have helped me before.

The guy over there looked at me, poked a pen in my palm a couple of places and in my stomach and told us that I have hyper acidity and gave me some really horrible tasting medicines to eat. At first they helped and I stopped throwing up but today I started getting worse again with the same symptoms as before along with abdominal pains.

So this time we went to an actual doctor and got a whole lot of tests done because the aurvedic medicines had failed. This one did a lot more poking in my stomach and took my BP etc. So far we have no idea whats wrong. the Initial diagnosis is that I could have either of the following: Acute Appendicitis, Early version of Hepatitis, Mild Jaundice or a intestinal infection.

So far we have ruled out the Appendicitis after an ultra-sound. I will know more when the results of the rest of my tests come back. Lets see. I am getting tired of throwing up.

Had to give blood for the tests. Hated that part. (I am scared of needles).

Well this is all for now. Here’s hoping for the best.

Update (Sep 2nd): Well… its official. I have an intestinal infection. Taking antibiotics so that should help. On the other hand my hemoglobin is at 16.1 which is good news. Must be because of all the spinach I eat. 🙂

– Suramya

This year Rakhi was a lot of fun. I was still in India so I got to meet some of my cousins when they came over to tie rakhi. Usha Buaji (Dad’s sister) was the first on the scene at ~9 am and she was the first one to tie Rakhi for my dad.

Usha Buaji Tyeing Rakhi

Then Rakhi Didi (Yes that is her actual name) and Jijaji (her husband) joined us along with Ria (my Niece) and both Rakhi Didi and Ria tied rakhi. (Ria did it because she wanted to… usually only sisters tie Rakhi).

Rakhi Didi Tyeing Rakhi

Ria Tying Rakhi

During this time Richa had joined us so she also tied Rakhi.

Richa Tying Rakhi

Then we all had some Kheer and talked a bit before everyone left due to other commitments (They have a lot of brothers 😉 ).

At noon Padmini Buaji joined us with her family. She had just moved to Delhi and she was personally tying Rakhi after 28 years (or was it 22 years… ) Usually we were posted at different locations so she had to mail her Rakhi to dad so this was the a big event for her. She got all dressed up and she even made laddu’s and Kheer herself for us. The laddu’s were great. I got to eat three of them, Two of them at once (Courtesy of Neru and Nritia [Sorry if I misspelled the names]) and the third a little later (One each for the both of them and one for Maithili Buaji’s Daughter).

Padmini Buaji Tying Rakhi

Apparently they have a custom in the South where after the girl ties rakhi she then proceeds to touch the brothers feet for blessing. It was a surprise for us because it was the first time we heard of it. But it was also very touching to watch/have someone touch your feet.

Padmini Buaji Touching Dad’s feet

After Buaji her daughters tied rakhi on my hand then they also proceeded to touch my feet. I think I like this custom. Surabhi: The next time you tie rakhi you also have to touch my feet. 😀

Tying Rakhi

Then touching my feet.

Tying Rakhi

and touching my feet.

Was very touching and fun. Unfortunately the rest of my cousins couldn’t make it as some of them were sick, some out of town. When I was a kid I had Rakhi’s all the way up to my shoulders. I think I have a couple of photos of me with all the Rakhi’s but I will have to search for them.

Well this is all for now. Will post more later.

– Suramya

PS: For those of you who don’t know what rakhi is here’s a summary: “Rakhi, commonly called “Raksha Bandhan” is one of the most popular festivals of India. The Rakhi festival is a celebration of the pure and sacred bond between brothers and sisters. ‘Raksha Bandhan’ or ‘Rakhi’ is a very special day for brothers and sisters, when the sister celebrates her emotional bonding by tying a holy thread around the wrist of her brother. This thread, which symbolizes love and care, is called the ‘Rakhi’. “Rakhi” means the bond of protection. The Raksha Bandhan festival also connotes a broad significance that the strong must protect the weak from all the evils and dangers. ” (Source: Rakhifestival.com)

This weekend was a lot of fun. Piyush had come over to Delhi for a day and he stopped by at my place on Saturday. It was great fun meeting with him and we had a lot to catch up on. The last time we met was during Surabhi’s reception in Bangalore and as you can guess we didn’t get a lot of time to talk. Juhi is in NJ right now, so Piyush has to eat his own cooking. Having eaten his cooking, I feel slightly sorry for him ;).

Once Piyush left for Bangalore I came back home and crashed. And I do mean crashed… I hadn’t slept all night on Friday night/Sat morning because his train was arriving at 7 am so had to go receive him and then couldn’t sleep all day because he was here and I preferred talking to him. The day before (on Thursday) I had only have ~4 hours of sleep. So once I got back from the airport I was barely awake and went straight to bed. (This was at ~8 pm) and slept till sunday evening about 8 pm. (Yes thats almost 24 hours). I had needed it.

Then spent the Sunday night reading and watching old TV shows. Well that was it for my weekend, will post more later.

– Suramya

PS: All timings in this post are in IST.