Digital expressions by Priya Shilpa

Today is a very special day, for two things... My mom turns 50 and Arun completes a year on his first job after Ph.D ! Just want to jump up high and celebrate ! So cheers to you Mum for the wonderful person that you are, and so much that I have learned from you and still do... And cheers to my husband for his accomplishments so far and wish that you have many more milestones and successes in your career ! Love you both soooooooooooooooooooooooo much !

This time the top 5 girls from "So you think you can dance", performed for Shuba Mudgal's Dholnaa... and boy o boy, they did such a good job ! I missed it on t.v.... but then again, there is always you tube... So for those who missed it like I did.. here it is.. NJOY!

Yesterday, I was flipping channels just before dinner, and the "Brahma kumaris" were on Aastha... They were talking about relationships. Here is a gist.. All of us always get into a relationship because we want something from it, and when we don't we feel that it is not worth it. But their thought is, realization of one's own inner value is through our experiences in our relationships. All of us have this one person who makes us feel wonderful when around, but that is not just what that person brings to the plate, but the energy that we radiate when we are around that person that bounces off to give us this sense of feeling wonderful. It doesn't happen so with everybody else around us, because we roam around by affixing labels on people we meet... "this person is bad", "this person is good"... We then are addicted to this one person and it suddenly seems that life without them does not exist, this they say is like addiction to coffee, alcohol o...

The state of Georgia is so naturally beautiful... You need to live here a few months to say "Georgia on my mind"... We wanted to visit Savannah,GA last year when Appa and Amma were here, but that couldn't happen... hopefully we will get to go there this year... There are many scenic drives for the fall colors which is between the last week of October and first week of November... One of the scenic drives which would be great to drive by is Scenic Drives of North Georgia - Georgia Highway 197(Scenic 197) Hope we will get around to doing it sometime !

We got a call this morning that Arun's grandmother, mine too has passed away.  I have not known her for long, but for the brief period I knew her and from the stories I have heard from family, she was a courageous and strong woman, who loved and held her family close. Extremely energetic, until the last few years when she became bed ridden and lost her sight completely in one eye due to glucoma. It was her wish that she should be around for Arun's wedding and I am happy that it could be fulfilled.   When in Gopalapuram, I have seen her move in and out of her senses, and during one of those times when I was sitting by her side, she said, "I see light, somebody is at the door, Shilpa go open it".... When I said the door was opened she was not convinced and sought after Jayanthi Chitti, Amma and Uma Chitti... She has suffered so much in bed, these last few years, it is  hard to explain. I have seen her being washed and scrubbed, fed timely and being given medicines and t...

In the spirit of women in recent public eye who have stood by their partner through thick and thin... Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the presidential candidate John Edwards was on the news lately after the much publicized affair of John Edwards. She has recently published a book 'Resilience' that talks about her life thus far, her fight with cancer and also her relationship with her husband and how it has evolved. I listened to her interview, in which she talks with so much clarity and explains how she reacted to the affair and how she and her husband are coping with it.  In part of her conversation she says  “ He made this one mistake, so do I throw out all the good stuff and say, ‘That doesn’t matter, only this matters?" She mentioned that he (John) had a weakness for a brief moment which he is trying to overcome and neither can abandon their life and kids that they so carefully put together. She explained how it takes work and commitment to stay in a relationship for a long...

I left for school early this morning as always... There is this little kid in the house opposite where I live, and he is usually riding his little bike overlooked by his nanny.... I've seen quite a few times before, but today he called out and said HI ! and I replied hello with a smile.... It just brightened my day.... It is surprising how small gestures can go a long way... 

It's 12.53 am, what am I doing up so late..... checking on my laptop to make sure I can plug it in so it doesn't die on my running matlab code....  And then I began to wonder, out of no where about times, when you read a name in the paper, or on t.v or  were even introduced to someone and you thought... "Man his parents must be out to get him/her, having named them so..." There were quite a few instances, who can miss "Dick wolf" the producer of Law and Order, "Dick Cheney"... (an apt name to spring up at midnight, :P) And then I began to wonder, what does my name really mean, so I looked it up.... "Priya" means loveable or darling, and "Shilpa" means perfectly made, to sum it all up, my parents called me a darling so perfectly made... I don't know about perfect, but just the thought that they gave me one that means so much makes me feel special and wonderful. Anyways, lookup yours and you might be pleasantly surprised, or m...

I have been wanting to read 'Gitanjali' for a very long time... I finally am reading a translation of Tagore's work this summer. Hope to share some of the poems here on my blog.. Here is a poem that most of us might have read in school... This was written during the time when India was fighting for it's independence.  W HERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Most of the poems in 'Gitanjali', are conversations the poet has with God, and his ever striving attempt to be one with him.  More soon...

Thanks to the conversation with Arun and  his post about the Sirens and Odysseus(Ulysses)... I am now reading "The Odyssey" by Simon Armitage, which narrates Homer's epic in a more condensed manner, in the form of dialogue. I was meaning to read some form of Homer's epic for a very long time, and now I finally am.. Sometimes a simple conversation is just what it takes.

The other day I was getting ready for school, packing my breakfast and lunch when on NBC news they were talking about how much a mom would earn if she were to put in that many hours at a workplace... In today's world it seems like everything's worth is measured by a number ! But every mom, and every wife knows that all the hardwork she puts in, the sleepless nights, the body aches before retiring to bed with the laundry yet to be done, the concern to have the perfect meal on the table cannot be measured with a number !!! no matter how HUGE .. I don't think by sending my mom a check for a million dollars is going to show my appreciation for that she did and is still doing for me and our family. All that we wives and moms need is a hug and the precious three words once in a while "I love you"... Sometimes we don't say it enough, but at times these three words can really make somebody's day, specially the one who breaks her back so we can feel taken care of. ...

Yesterday was such a lovely day ! I am finding it hard to explain how much I enjoyed it... Mostly because Arun took so much time to plan the whole day for me, including buying me that lovely black dress and "Gucchi" sunglasses :D :D The musical play "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was absolutely beautiful. The characters just came alive, each scene brought back old memories from when I first saw the movie... The artists were extremely talented... And what a better way to end the evening than a "Bruce Springsteen & the E-street Band" concert !  I have never been to a live concert before, and was excited about it from the day he told me he had gotten the two of us tickets :D It was completely worth it, though I did not know many of the songs, it was fun standing with Arun, swaying and clapping to the music. I loved it ! Thanks da Arun, it was the most wonderful birthday, and best of all I got to spend it exclusively with you.... Love you !

So, where did you go shopping on your trip to India this time? I have always visited the little handloom shop in Pondy Bazaar, Chennai. I buy my share of handicrafts that come from Orissa and Bengal which I gift to my friends here in the U.S. Jayanthi and Uma, aunts from my husband's side took me to a handloom fair in Chennai to shop for my kurtis. This fair was put together by Co Optex(The Tamil Nadu handloom weavers cooperative society) to bring an awareness among people by presenting, not branded products but designs from local weavers and small handloom businesses from all over India. The designs were beautiful, affordable and above all the quality was good. I ended up buying a few saris too ! There are three important sections involved in the handloom industry, the weaver, the trader and the government. Of the three sections involved, due to the increase in prices of raw material the most affected in this industry are the weavers. The government provides policies for the forma...

There have been days in our lives when we have been in so much pain because of our own or somebody else's actions.  What one does or thinks is beyond another's control. We cannot stop people from acting the way they do, the way they propose to think and harbor feelings. Then why dwell on their actions and words and afflict yourself with pain. Those times are hard.. Some of us stand up and shout while others refrain and hold back. It is hard for that pain to go away as they are so deeply etched in one's mind. Some of us think that in today's world what goes around comes around... But here is a thought that says differently..  Every action, thought, and feeling is motivated by an intention, and that intention is a cause that exists as one with an effect. If we participate in the cause, it is not possible for us not to participate in the effect. In this most profound way, we are held responsible for our every action, thought and feeling, which is to say, for our every inte...

In my last post I had mentioned that I got married on February 22nd and it has been a month and 11 days. In these many days I have had many ask me, "so, how is married life ?" Of course, I smiled and let it pass, but this has gotten me thinking... For somebody like the two of us, who have been in a relationship for the last ten years what changes now?  we have seen each other through thick and thin we planned and lived every day like we would have if we were a married couple we still occasionally call each other with a 'da' and a 'di' (it spices up your conversation, you should try it) we still surprise each other at times by the way we react to new situations, but have learned to accept it we still treasure every moment we spend with each other Even today our eyes sparkle when we see each other, like it is our very first time At this point I am sure, a married veteran might say, "let me hear you say this after another ten years at the most".. well t...

My trip to India this time was very special, considering I was to be married on February 22ND, 2009. I flew into Hyderabad,which is where my parents are after they moved in October from Chennai. After a pre-wedding function we all travelled by train back to Chennai. No matter when or where, nothing can beat a train journey along with your family members. We had such loads of fun, just chatting, playing cards (rummy) and of course munching on snacks sold on the train. After we reached Chennai, of course I had to shop for my wedding clothes and all that went with it.. There is nothing more fun, than walking into those huge Saree shops and browsing through the great designs they have... Kudos ! to our weavers and designers.. As we walked from the shop to where our car was parked, we would each buy cones of newspaper stuffed with Bhel puri, or hot boiled peanuts..  And who can miss the tinned restaurants on wheels.. yes, I am talking about those you find outside BT (Brilliant tutorials) in...

I like many others was really thrilled and happy for the recognition that `Slumdog millionaire' brought to Indian cinema, the many actors, A.R. Rahman and its contributors on a different stage. But I have heard accounts and have noticed how many Indians refrain from talking about the movie or appreciating it. Though I haven't yet had a chance of seeing the movie, the synopsis of it revolves around a boy in the slums of Mumbai who is on the show "Who wants to be a millionaire" and people attributing his success to cheating... The movie's central theme is focussing on how this young lad faced extreme circumstances to get to a certain point in his life. We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that slums do exist in India and so does conflict between different communities from time to time. I feel it is rather, better that people get a glimpse of what harsh reality can be for some of us and a different perspective, than still think that "elephants roam the streets ...