Keep going and fight on

You are not feeling too well. And you're asked several times, if you're feeling ok.  "Yes, I'm fine" is your response.  "We're concerned" says the voice that seems to care. "No. I'm fine" you insist.

You're working quietly, relentlessly. Trying to enjoy your work. You are being held high, very high for your work, and you execute to your best ability. You take it all in. You enjoy the scene. You enjoy the quietness at work. "I could get used to the silence" you say. A small gift for all the hard work and you treasure it.

Fleeting nearby is the company of a strong man, and you're glad that you have that company. He's in charge, an authority you accept unquestioningly, and you work well together. You enjoy his company, country music and all.

You have identified problems ahead of time, but they had not listened to you earlier. Finally, they say "We should have listened to you earlier", and you are at task to unravel the problem and find a solution to what should not have been a problem to begin with.  You go ahead and  find a solution to the problem. But before they even remember to congratulate you, there are bigger problems ahead, that you are to face, most of them not of your making. And yet you take the blame for them.

You're trying to face the trouble, but you are afraid. Nothing so far has prepared you for this. You are glad to have his company at this point.  He's stronger and seems to know more than you.  You know that the small talk and the banter will keep you afloat and sane and you need that the most when you are in distress.  You want him to keep talking to you. Not abandon you, even in a seemingly self-righteous move. You know you will do everything to hold on, and not let go. You don't want to let go no matter what.  However, there come those moments, when you are left by yourself, with not a voice in earshot, nor a face within your view that might help you.

Ultimately you know deep down that the only person to help you pull yourself out of  the deepest trenches  and soar high is yourself. You emerge strong,  you reach down into the deepest reserves of strength and give it all your might. You conjure every pleasant thought, find strength in the faintest of a Baby's laughter, to push yourself and fight back strong.

You don't give up. No, not so easily.

Keep going and fight on.

To the everyday Sandra Bullock nee  Dr. Ryan. Stay strong. Happy Women's Day!

..........

Boy that had a lot of Gravity. Now time for some levity. Enjoy!

I want to call you Ma

One weekend a few years ago, in the midst of the weekend morning routine, I dialed to call my Mom in India.  The phone rang.

"Hello" the answer came back, the voice a little dull.
"Hello Ma" I said.
"Hello Papa" she said, Papa being a generic word for daughter or a girl in my native language.  Mom typically called my older sisters that. In my case, she usually used my nickname when talking to me.

"Are you ok Ma? You're sounding a bit down. Is everything ok? " I asked, concerned.
"Yes I'm ok, just dealing with a minor bout of cold. Otherwise I'm doing ok" she said.

"How's the pain in your knees. Have you been taking the medicines on time?" I asked.
"Yes. I'm doing ok. I did run out of them, but I got a refill yesterday. How are the kids doing?"

"They're doing ok. They're playing outside, do you want to talk to them?"
"No it's ok. Let them play. I don't want to disturb them".  And we talked some more about weather and the like.

Before I got lost in the chit-chat, I wanted to make sure I discussed an important matter that I had earlier discussed with my older sister, who lived in the same city as my Mom. Now, I was not sure if my sister had already called my Mom on that matter.

"Did Akka (older sister) call you today?" I asked.
"Which Akka?" she asked.

"Jyothi Akka, I spoke to her yesterday, she said she might call you or come home" I said. (Jyothi is my one of my older sisters).
"Which Akka?" she asked again.

I knew she was under the weather, but I was irritated.
"Akka  Ma.. Jyothi Akka" I said, the irritation evident in my voice.

"Papa .. " she said slowly. "I am sorry, but I don't know who you are talking about".

I was confused.

"Ma .. is that you? My name is Suneetha" I said, now not sure if it was indeed my mother at the other end of the line. She did sound different. I thought it was the cold.

"Sorry Papa.. you may have dialed the wrong number. " she said, realizing the mistake her end too.

"Oh I'm so sorry Ma'am, I thought I was talking to my Mom. You sound so much like her. I must have dialed the wrong number indeed."

"That's ok." she said, laughing gently.

"It was nice talking to you Ma'am. It really felt like I was talking to  my own Mom.  You have  a nice day" I said.

"I felt that way too, I thought you were my daughter. You have a nice day too, my dear" she said and we both hung up.

I later called my Mom, dialing correctly this time and told her what had happened. We both were amazed as to how similar probably that mother's conversations might have been with her daughter, that we kept up with the wrong call for a good 5 to 10 minutes before realizing the mistake.  My Mom said to me that day, that I might have made the other Mom's day, by calling to check in on how she was doing.

That was a few years ago. It's been a while since I lost my Mom now.   I was reminded of this conversation today, when I was thinking of her. I wish I could dial her number and hear a voice at the other end of the line again, even if it's not her.  I wish some Mom would make my day. I want to call you Ma.

2014 Winter

2014 has been a winter to remember so far, and we're not out of it yet. Here are some shots that I took this winter in my backyard.

Snowfall

Deer in the snow

Icicle forest

Icy fingers

Icicle up close

And this is what an icicle looks like up close.

Icicle Magnified

On the positive side only 30 more days to spring. Here's an early bloomer.

Spring blooms

Personality type test

Do you

1. Receive the most calls from yourself  i.e. your home or work phone,  to your cell phone, in your attempts to find it's last known location?
2. Build in an extra 20 minutes before your daily commute, to allow yourself multiple trips from the car back into the house to retrieve forgotten items, one at a time?
3. Find yourself grocery shopping with your daughter, and get a call from the softball coach who's not very happy to have your son on his field instead?
4. Forget what you had for your last meal, which was like 2 minutes ago?
5. Respond with a lost blank stare when asked what your hobbies are?
6. Find yourself in mismatched socks like your 8 yr old daughter wears, except that your attempt at such fashion, was not exactly planned?
7. Pay the waitress the bill and a $20 tip, and then a few seconds later ask the bewildered lady for the check again?
8. Ask your son to warm up the pasta in the refrigerator for exactly 30 seconds?
9. See your family use  "tell me something new" as a fairly regular chant?
10. Share posts  like this?

So what personality type are we?

Resources to teach kids!

I will keep this list updated as I find resources that I have found helpful for teaching my kids.

Reading:
Fry word list - Most common words
Prefix, Suffix, Root Word Master List
Word lookup -  Dictionary   and OneLook.  Onelook extracts definitions from multiple sources so you may compare definitions.

Writing:
Thesaurus.com  is a good resource (you can also get to this from dictionary.com)
Grammar sites - JackLynch's grammar site from Rutgers University
Grammar and Writing
Common Errors in English language

Geography:
Found these sites for print & color maps for kids:
 http://www.coloring.ws
http://www.coloringcastle.com/state_coloring_pages.html 

Dictionaries:
Sanskrit: sanskritdictionary.org

Math:
Multiplication made easy the Japanese way - YouTube video

Don't have a scientific calculator at home? No problem - Use this link:
http://www.meta-calculator.com/online/ 


CMT Resources:
https://sites.google.com/site/sciencecmthelp/ 
http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/student_assessment/cmt/2013_grade_8_tem.pdf
http://newhavenscience.org/8currpage.htm
http://qworkbooks.com/CT/samples/CT_RAS_Sci_8.pdf

SBAC Practice Test: (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium)
https://sbacpt.tds.airast.org/student/

Discussion on feeder schools to the Ivy Leagues. Some practical advice in there:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/43718.page 



Religious Books:
Indian Mythology:
Mahabharat in a simple pictorial  form
Mahabharat - An easy to read abridged version in English
Links to complete Mahabharat - All 12 volumes can be found here