hyappi budday to roo nanuuuuuuu

these are short 'birthday-greeting' clips from home for nanu (kripa joshi), home alone in new york (or so we thought!)on your 29th birthday.....First of all a poem written on your 12th birthday...

The Festivali remember the day the doctor nodded and confirmed your arrival
how happy i was, how contented!
i had felt you grow inside me
with every twist and turn, with every kick,my heart squeezed with joy, and did its own jig!
i longed for a girl,
i wanted a daughter, a living doll that i could call my own.
through the veil of pain...
numbed by excitement
i laboured for your arrival.
then with a push you slipped through
a wet, pink and slippery bundle of joy
i sighed with relief
i congratulated myself
it was a girl!
through exhaustion claimed my body
my mind refused to cooperate
to be drugged to oblivious sleep
for it was revelling in its own carnival
it was enjoying
the festival of the coming of the daughter!
and the revelry has continued unabated
through these past twelve years
watching you
stutter and sing
cry and crawl..
now on the threshold of womanhood
you are more a daughter than ever before
and my mind today still sings with joy as it did
on the day you were born a dozen years ago!


that was the crazy parents...

... and now the crazy sistra...



... muwa's wishes...


... and blessings from a grandma....


... the canine part of the joshi family, including the newest member...


what phupaju and phupu (and annochh too)have to say...


ganga has her say too...


.. and now hear jagannath's version of "hyappi budday to you"


.. of course how can annoch's barky barky greetings be left behind?


... tulsi's got more gusto than the others!


.. now radha's turn...


....tulasa's shy greetings...


.. grinning greetings from amar...


... and a final dhesyailo greeting from kutu...



and that was all we could say to you from this distance across the seven seas, nanu! know you had a great a birthday! wish for such great birthdays every year!

in princeton, philly, & lantic

our first outing from new york was to princeton where we stayed the night and zipped over to philadelphia before returning to new york. Then there was the day trip to long beach and atlantic city. the pictures speak the excitement we had during these hectic rushed trips!

we set out.. heading for the george washington bridge.. ravi on the wheels of the rented van



once in princeton.. we went to nici and flos's place....a beaming flo.. beaming because he had managed to find the way, after several missed turns, to the house where einstein spent his time doing research.







the green green grass inspired priya and owen to try to do the grassy angels move...













.. while kripa struck up a bollywood pose









the trees were awesome.. whether it was against the blue sky backdrop....













...or reflected in the dark green waters of the pond















ravi basks in the of the evening sun














while the others seem to be more enthusiastically expressive...



the blossoms looked lovely









... baba thought so too...














the backside of the revered place















.. the front...
















.. and inside.. kripa went and sat in all the leather bound armchairs in the place.. just so that she could say she sat where einstein once sat!











we were all intrigued by the special installation








even though we could not quite figure out what it signified















we walked through the campus and rested neath the archway






...posed in front of the burst of azaleas..
















...admired the architecture
















...and saw a cavemen taking his dinner home...















we even had time to play with sculptures































by evening we were famished.. but discovered that the restaurants closed early... so got a lot of take-away from the only outlet open.."hoagies haven"








at night most of us managed to sprawl across the living room floor














next morning was bright and sunny.. we had a scrumptious breakfast on the porch neath the buddhist prayers flags!











ravi also managed to sneak in some time to check mail and catch up with business...













nici's garden had a nice gulaphi guraans















kripa pens her signature.. nici hopes to make a million some day selling the autographed card!













walking down the streets of philadelphia.. ta ra ra ra.. na na na na ..














where it all began....
















proof that we've been there....














.. and seen it all...
















baba finds another statue that intrigues him...














a little bit of nepali donation --king and all-- for the restoration works at philly













ravi's "chacha shyam"
















the book that evokes benjamin franklin's ghost and answers all sorts of questions






stars and stripes ....















.. ote prote of patriotism for the deshis









gansta ravi...
















.. and owen..
















we tried to go back in time....

















































using the post office.. yup.. even in this day and age!













rocky's reborn!
















another rocky imposter...
































hard to fit into those shoes....
















baba tries...
















so does kripa
















... owen and priya don't even try.. they only tried to stare each other out...













statues galore...

































evening sets in
















sasura and jwaain take in the light before making a couple of rounds of the roundabout.. anad finally figuring out which to take to get on the highway back to new york.








the day we chose to drive to atlantic city via long beach was quite a day.. there was big forest fire in the of the pine barrens.. that caught us in a dreadful jam.. never seen so many ambulances and firetrucks headed in one direction...

owen drove...




.. while ravi took rest as we waited and waited for the jam to clear up because of the blocked highway...












.. and just as owen was about to turn the wheel and inch towards the exit to head back for new york, the highway was opened.. and we sped down south....

.. past smouldering pine trees and beneath still billowing smoke...







we went to long beach and paid our salaam to the atlantic ocean






the water was cold.. and wind too.. so ravi stayed off the beach..













priya and owen were a bit more adventurous, though.. and we comberd the beach for some substantial shells...












heading back for the car











we reached atlantic city in the evening.. we walked on the broadwalk...













...as storm clouds swirled overhead....



















soon it started raining....











.. and we entered the casino to get into the razzle dazzle world inside... quite strange to see the casinos filled with old ladies.. maybe because it was a weekday.. also missed the clanging noise of the slot machines dishing out coins...