Astrovelo

Ashwini showing off her new outfit. She wore it to school today and all her teachers just loved it.

Could someone please enlighten me with the meaning of this movie’s title? From the previews, it seems like a Bollywood version of ‘Zorro’. Is that a correct assumption?

• Ashwini has a little Bengali influence from don't know where. She says 'eat crackers' and also 'eat juice' and 'eat water'.
• She found out that in all the trucks that she likes to watch go by on the highway have a kaka (uncle) sitting inside them.
• She is associating 3 or 4 words together making sentences like "dada more corn please".

In preparation for our annual Thanksgiving gathering, we decided to clean-up around the house. Yesterday, we ventured into our pantry. There was so much stuff in that little room that we could barely stand but not turn around without knocking something down. After going through and combining bags containing multiple vintages of masalas brought from India, canned food, Sam’s club size packets of food-stuff and big bags of daals and flours, we made enough room for all the new stuff we are planning to buy for this year’s party. We thought that we had done a good job of cleaning and throwing old stuff away when we moved from NJ, a couple of years ago. But, there were various food packets past their expiration date. One packet of Gits ‘gulab jamun’ mix took the cake. It had expired in 1998. We must have bought that when we lived in an apartment in NJ. Moved it to our house in NJ and then moved it with us to Michigan. Thankfully, it lies in our trash-can now, on its way to a landfill.

This American Life is one of my most favorite programs on NPR. It is an hour of storytelling at its best. They cover a very very wide range of topics. I can listen to it all day long if they made that many shows. It usually airs on weekend afternoons. Check the schedule in your area for show timings. All the old shows are available at their website and can be listened to using real player.

“Not guilty” is not the same as innocent.

Wish you all happy Diwali and prosperous new year. May you have a year full of joy and happiness.


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When we put lights around the house for Diwali, Ashwini thought it was her birthday and wanted to blow the candles.


She is always at her happiest with a book in her hand.

Now, this is the best bloody blonde joke I ever read. Couldn’t stop laughing for hours.

Taken on the morning of Nov. 9th, 2004. Moon, Jupiter and Venus, from top to bottom.

Ashwini wearing her gnome jacket made from recycled plastic soda bottles.

• Ashwini doesn't walk anywhere anymore. She wants to run.
• She has fast-tracked into her "terrible twos". Knows how to get things done her way. Getting good at throwing tantrums.
• Her vocabulary has been improving exponentially. She repeats almost everything that is said to her just like a parrot. On many occassions she blurts out words that we thought she didn't know.
• She has learnt 'my', 'mine' and 'my turn' and applies to everything that she sees around her.
• She is learning Marathi words at the same pace too. She knows that 'sasaa' is bunny and 'chandoba' is moon. She combines both the words together when she wants to use them. She calls a bunny 'shashabunny' (she still can't say the 's' sounds, they become 'sh') and moon is 'chambamoon'.
• She demands to listen to her favorite songs in the car.
• She still has a problem with figuring out opposites. Can't decide which is up and which is down or which is off and which is on. So, she ends up saying 'updown' or 'yeshno' when she wants to say one of the two.
• Ashwini is into cars and trucks. She wants to see trucks while driving on a highway. Knows the difference between a big truck and a tanker. When we sing some rhymes she brings trucks and cars in. In 'Old McDonald', I ask her to choose the animal and these days she wants to make it about car and truck instead of cow, sheep etc. She does this with marathi songs too. rusoo bai rusoo; koparyat basoo; tikadoon aala navra; khudkan hasoo becomes rusoo bai rushoo; koparyat booshoo, tikadoon aala truck, khudkan hashoo

  I should buy her some truck toys.

• She eats almost everything that we eat. Now can use a fork as well as a spoon.
• No progress in potty-training, but that is due to lack of effort on our part.
• She makes a good helper while we do chores around the house as seen in these following photos...

Watched the Saturday afternoon Indian programs on International Channel after a long time.

According AVS TV show, these five are “awesomely bad movies”:

ajooba mela main prem ki diwani hoon jaani dushman aap mujhe achche lagne lage

It must have been very tough to choose only 5, considering 99.9% of all Hindi movies made are bad. Maybe, if I watch these, I won’t criticise other Hindi movies.

Also saw preview of ‘hulchul’ starring Akshaye Khanna. He seems to have grown a lot of new hair. Would like to know if it is a transplant or result of using Rogaine.

A few minutes before sunrise on Nov 6th, 2004.

Yesterday, I did a lot of yard work. Collected a lot of leaves. The bagger attachment on the lawn tractor is very useful. This work is just like lawnmowing. One gets the satisfaction of doing a lot of work without doing a lot of work. Then, it was the fun part. I started a fire with some brush, leaves and a tree that was cut last year. It usually takes a whole book of matches and more to start the fire because of all the rain that we get here. Even though it rained on Saturday, all the wood was dry and it took one match to start the fire. It almost got out of control. Thankfully, I had the water hose ready and could contain the fire from getting into the woods. Will have to be more careful next time.

This recipe was so good that we had to share it.

Serves 2.

1 lb bluefish fillet 1 small onion, minced 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced 2 tblsp olive oil 3 tblsp capers 1 large tomato, diced 2 tblsp chopped fresh dill 1 tblsp balsamic vinegar

Lightly saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Preheat the oven to 500F. Place the fillet in a lightly oiled baking dish with the skin-side down. Cover it with onion-garlic mixture and tomatoes, then capers and dill. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Roast for 15-20 minutes or till the fish becomes opaque.

2003 Rosemount Estates Shiraz is OK. Much better than the 2002 vintage but, not as good as 2000 which was the best year.

V has been away on a business trip since Tuesday. This was my first chance to be a single parent to Ashwini for an extended period of time. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with her, but it made me realise how much work and planning iis involved in taking care of a toddler. At this age (20months), Ashwini doesn’t realise the consequences of her actions. She needs to be looked after constantly to keep her away from doing something that will hurt her. With two parents around, one can pay attention to her while the other can be free to do cooking etc.

My respect for single parents (especially single moms) went up by another notch. It is so hard to do anything without planning it out first. Even going to the bathroom for a minute or two is difficult.

V is coming home tonight. Both Ashwini and I will be very happy to see her back. Hopefully, she’ll bring us something from San Diego.