Cast of characters during CWG - An epic (Mahabharata) analogy

Manmohan Singh - Dhritarashtra
Sonia Gandhi - Shakuni
Kalmadi - Duryodhana
USA NRIs (pre-1980s; retired; drawing Social Security) - In swargaloka
USA NRIs (1980s or later; still working) - In Trishanku swarga
IBN CNN, ITV etc (not telecast in USA) - Sanjaya

A Mahabharata weekend

It all started with a ploy to get Katya motivated in her football (soccer) game. This is the third week of the current season, and - after two weekend games and a weekday game - Katya's team was still scoreless. As one of the older, taller and swifter girls on her team, the coach had put her in the center forward or flank position in all those games; however, the team was yet to score a goal.

So, in order to motivate her and to try to make her understand what she was missing (a razorlike focus on the goal), on Friday morning as the kids were getting ready for school, I decided to tell her the story of Drona's test for the Pandavas and Kauravas; how Arjuna displayed his focus on the target and did not let outside distractions to stand in his way; how Arjuna never looked away from the target and was even unaware of the tree that the target was hanging from.

Given how well that story telling session went, that evening on a car-ride home from the local Indian grocery store, Mrs. Porcupyn decided to tell Katya a story as well. For some reason, she picked Abhimanyu's story and finished it by the time we got home - after many interruptions by my (for corrections and, in general, comic relief) and Katya (for extra knowledge). it appeared that Katya finally got the import of this story also and it whetted her desire to learn more about the great Pandava warrior.

With the backdrop that Katya has not really been exposed to our vast treasure trove of religious texts (in any format other than Amar Chitra Kathas, which do not go too much in depth), I was surprised at the eagerness with which she devoured it all and wanted to learn more. We have the entire set of Mahabharata DVDs at home; however, until now, she had been interested in watching one and only one episode - "Krishna jumping on the snake," DVD #3. Whenever either of us parents had hitherto brought up the Mahabharata  DVDs on weekends, her refrain was "Krishna jumping on the snake."

Now that the opportunity appeared to have presented itself, I took the next logical step and reminded her of them. So, yesterday afternoon, after her football (soccer) game, I got her to watch the Abhimanyu episode with subtitles. There were many pauses along the way where she stopped the DVD to ask questions about what was happening and why. We watched the gruesome scene (in all blood and gory detail, Indian movie style) of the disarmed Abhimanyu being killed and mutilated by the Kaurava warriors. Later, we went shopping, daughter and I. Along the way there and back, while we window shopped in the local mall, I was peppered with question after question about Abhimanyu, why he was killed, why he was defenseless, why Arjuna was pulled away, why no one tried to save Abhimanyu, what the Chakravyuha is, etc.

After a second (late night, for her) session with more Mahabharata episodes, Katya got started early this morning with her Mahabharata marathon. Folks who go on a James Bond or Indiana Jones or some similar all-nighter binge will appreciate her concentration and desire to sit through the whole epic. [Latest update: we are now at the end of the tale, only Duryodhana is alive.] Questions have been streaming from her all day; the DVD remote pause/play button has seen a lot of action. Now, I can safely (and, I must add, happily) say that my daughter has become a Mahabharataphile.

Oh, and BTW, Katya's team scored its first - and, as of now, only (but, hopefully, the start of a deluge) - goal of the season yesterday. No prizes for guessing the scorer (and I would like to hope that the story of Arjuna was the catalyst). :-)

Katya and Tennis ...

So I was at the doctor's waiting to be called in for my back to be checked up. Because of the logistics involved, I had taken Katya from her daycare and brought her with me to the doctor's office. Bad move - the office TV had a talk show going with Ellen Degeneres. Let me tell you folks - you do not want to have this show on if you have kids around you.

Anyway, I tried to distract Katya. DIdn't work. So, I had to be more forceful and ask her to read a magazine or at least look through some photos. When she did not demonstrate an inclination to do so, I picked up a tennis magazine and asked her to thumb through it.

Today, as we were driving in to her day care, we come across a advertisement board for a dance class by Some Murray. She glances it and reads it and exclaims, "Murray! I know that name."

I was thinking that it was the name of some classmate of hers or something, when she explained, "I saw the name in the tennis magazine yesterday - Andy Murray!"

Looks like we have a new Tennis fan in the family :-)

A Tale ... of two kids

He was scared of his naughty nephew, who was prone to have 'accidents' with household objects (especially toys) that led to the decimation of said object. So, he would always keep nephew at arm's length.

Then one day, he fell off the stairs* and hurt his back. He needed hugs from his little daughter for comfort; however, daughter being the diva that she is, refused to give him one (after her tolerance limit was reached).

Seeing him pleading with his daughter thus, naughty nephew said to him, "You can hug me whenever you want!" and won him over!

* - only three steps and all is well now :-)

To California - and back - Part 3 (Day 2 of travel - Kettleman City to Sequoia National Park)

From Kettelman City, we drove up to Sequoia National Park. Enroute, we stopped by to get some munchies to make sure that the kids were not shortchanged :-). Even before we got to the main entrance of the park, we spotted a beautiful lake with scenic mountains in the background and decided to make a small stop. Everyone in the party got to wet his or her feet (except the one person who was wearing his shoes and was too lazy to remove them, aka yours truly). Katya fell in love with the lake because the water temperature was just right. However, we had to move along and so left the lake behind after a few minutes.

At the park entrance, after purchasing an annual pass to the National parks, we got to interact with folks who were taking a survey aimed at improving the customer service. We got out of our car, and got photos with the Sequoia chief's signpost. Also, got a good look at the stream flowing right by the road and the mountains surrounding the park.

The giant sequoias are the most massive trees on the planet and among the oldest as well. Some of them are estimated to be over 2000 years old. Can you imagine seeing trees that were just starting to sprout from seeds in the years of Alexander the Great?!

The unique environment of this area of the country lends itself to these trees. According to the guides and the signs all over the park, though the Redwood trees elsewhere in the state are taller, in terms of overall volume, nothing beats the giant sequoias. Many of the trees have been given names after hardy American generals of the past. The most famous among them is General Sherman (most massive of them all) and General Grant (most wide at the base). Tourists typically spend time walking around the Sequoia groves marvelling at these giants that dwarf the humans. What is really surprising is that apparently the roots of these trees extend only a few feet (or a couple of metres) underground. On the other hand, they do spread wide - as wide as an acre, we were informed - and the reason they go straight up is to quickly gain access to the sunlight in competition with their neighbouring sequoias.

To California - and back - Part 2 (Day 1 of travel - San Jose to Kettleman City)

The first couple of days in CA were spent in the company of relatives and extended clan. Not much travelling happened, if you discount the trip to Angel Island from Alameda on a ferry that had been booked for the junket. It was fun being on the ferry though the wind was cold even for folks who had come from as far as London, England!

<a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1461.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1965" src="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1461.jpg?w=300" alt="Ferry in the Golden Bay" width="300" height="225" /></a>

<a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1495.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1966" src="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1495.jpg?w=300" alt="San Francisco Bay Bridge" width="300" height="225" /></a>

<a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1548.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1967" src="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1548.jpg?w=300" alt="Bird &quot;over&quot; the Golden Gate Bridge" width="300" height="225" /></a>

Once we were done with the (in)formal engagements, we left our cousin's house one Sunday morning later than I had wanted to, but late enough that others in the group were still complaining about how early they had to get ready (Baab and Katya, I am referring to you two!).

We first headed towards the coast to get onto the <a title="Pacific Coast Road Trip" href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/road-trips/california-pacific-coast-road-trip/" target="_blank">Pacific Coast Highway (PCH)</a>, a road that parallels the Pacific Ocean. It was fun for my mother to have her first view of the Pacific! We exited the road at Monterey and spend some time at the beach there. For some reason (maybe because of the really really gentle waves or because how the waters were surrounded by land from three sides as far as I could see), I didn't realize that we were actually on the Pacific Ocean.

<a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1656.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1968" src="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1656.jpg?w=300" alt="Monterey beach" width="300" height="225" /></a>

<a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1648.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1970" src="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1648.jpg?w=300" alt="Wave washes ashore Monterey beach" width="300" height="225" /></a>

Once we got back on the PCH, I unilaterally decided that we needed to go on the <a title="17-mile drive" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17-Mile_Drive" target="_blank">17-mile drive</a> next. Though this was my third time on this drive, the amazement is undiminished at the sight of the ocean and the sea creatures that you see along the drive among the many vistas. For us Floridians, the water was definitely much colder than what we were used to, based on our limited trips to our Atlantic coast. But we still had a <a href="http://porcupyn.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/img_1719.jpg" target="_blank">fun time</a>, literally getting our feet wet in the water.

<a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1710.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1971" src="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1710.jpg?w=300" alt="Pebbles at ... Pebble Beach(?), CA" width="300" height="225" /></a>

Back on the PCH, we stopped every few miles along the way to take in the sights of the Pacific Ocean meeting the mainland cliffs. The <a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1832.jpg" target="_blank">Bixby</a> bridge at Big Sur is a tourist attraction and so are other similar vistas where huge rocks in the Ocean close to the shore rend the ocean waves into giant explosions of spray.

<a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1787.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1974" src="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1787.jpg?w=300" alt="Creature" width="300" height="225" /></a>

We were headed towards a waterfall (almost) on the ocean that had been recommended by a couple of my friends including Sundar - the <a title="Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Pfeiffer_Burns_State_Park" target="_blank">Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park</a>. After a couple of <a title="Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park" href="http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=570" target="_blank">false alarms</a> (I thought that we would be reaching the place much earlier than we actually did), we finally found the right location. Nestled against a cliff and the Ocean is a stream of water that falls on the beach just out of reach of the Ocean - well maybe it falls into the Ocean during high tide, but we did not stay long enough to check that out.

With darkness fast approaching, we decided to turn around from the PCH as quickly as we could; however, because of the layout of the land, there was no good way to cut across the mountains until San Luis Obispo further south, so we kept heading in that direction. While a couple of pairs of eyes were peering towards the left at <a title="Hearst Castle" href="http://www.hearstcastle.org/" target="_blank">Hearst Castle</a>, Mrs. P and I noticed a vista point on the right where a bunch of cars had parked. Figuring that something might be afoot, we did the same and it was good that we did - once we approached the beach-head, a stench engulfed us, but that led to the realization that we had probably been here before in the late 1990s ... to look at <a title="Elephant Seals" href="http://www.elephantseal.org/" target="_blank">elephant seals</a>. There were scores of them lying on the beach, throwing mud at themselves and at one another, making loud groan-like sounds. That sight alone (if not the McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park) made up for the long drive. We had fun looking at the animated animals, if I may say so :-)

<a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1892.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1978 aligncenter" src="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1892.jpg?w=300" alt="McWay Falls and the glorious ocean colours" width="300" height="225" /></a>

<a href="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1914.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1980" src="http://porcupyn.org/imgs/2013/img_1914.jpg?w=225" alt="Close-up of McWay Falls" width="225" height="300" /></a>

After a few minutes, it was time to resume the trip. We turned on US-101 and proceeded northeast for a while. Then, we took the exit to State Road 42 that would lead towards Fresno, which is where we had originally planned to halt that night. However, because we had taken more time than planned along the PCH, we had to find a place much earlier than Fresno if we wanted to sleep at a decent time. So, it was that we pulled into a motel at Kettleman City for the night,

To California ... and back - Part 1

Kids had not been happy with the fact that though their parents had been to California, they were yet to see the state; so, when a clan convention was planned to be hosted in the San Francisco area during the summer, we jumped at the chance to plan a trip to the golden state. The planning was planned to start in January, but knowing that countless hours would be wasted in "discussions" and haggling with Mrs. Porcupyn (full confession: we are the yin and the yang of trips and/or trip planning), I was smart enough to unplan for the trip. I sent myself an e-mail titled "Preliminary Plan" which is reproduced in its (almost) entirety below; I made doubly sure that the plan did not get within sniffing distance of Mrs. P, else both the plan and I would have been history!
<div>Thursday - open day - picnic, meet friends</div>
<div>
<div>Friday - clan convention</div>
<div>Saturday - clan convention</div>
</div>
<div>Sunday - local sightseeing and/or drive down to San Luis Obispo on the SR 1</div>
<div>Monday - leave for Kings Canyon/Sequoia</div>
<div>Tuesday - Yosemite</div>
<div>Wednesday - Lake Tahoe</div>
<div>Thursday - Crater Lake</div>
<div>Friday - Mount Shasta/Redwoods</div>
<div>Saturday - local sightseeing</div>
<div></div>
<div>On the face of it, it does look like a daunting trip plan; however, we had accomplished something very similar to this over a decade ago but for the preliminary trips to Redwood and Mount Shasta, and that too in spite of a close encounter with a full-grown buck who happened to jump across two lanes of I-5 and land up on the car's engine and windshield as I drove in broad daylight!</div>
<div></div>
<div>So, though it was doable, the X-factor this time around was the presence of the kids and my mother, who was visiting us for a couple of months. Either way, to be honest, I did not think we would be able to do all of this (which is why it was a preliminary plan) but I wanted to use that as a springboard for our 'unplanned' expedition out west.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Now that we are back, I am glad to note that we managed to visit most places listed above, except for the Redwoods and Crater Lake which, in hindsight, was really an overreach. On the other hand, we did see more places than we had done on that previous trip.</div>

Comparison of fractions - a Katya Tale

It happened this morning. Mrs. Porcupyn was trying to explain fractions to Katya.

<em>Mrs. Porcupyn</em>: Which is larger: 1 over 2 (or one half) or 1 over 8 (or one eighth)?
<em>Katya</em>: I don't know.

<em>Mrs. Porcupyn</em>: OK, let me explain. If I divide a pizza into eight pieces, how big would each piece be?
<em>Katya</em>: One eighth.

<em>Mrs. Porcupyn</em>: If I divide a pizza into two pieces, how big would each piece be?
<em>Katya</em>: One half.

<em>Mrs. Porcupyn</em>: So, if I give one half to (big brother) Baab and one eighth to you, who would I be giving the bigger piece to?
<em>Katya</em>: Baab, (and continues without a pause) You <strong><em>ALWAYS</em> </strong>give him the bigger piece!

To India and back in ten days (part 1) - a Katya Tale

Last year, we had made elaborate arrangements for travel to India. Baab and I would fly to India first - we would attend a 30th anniversary reunion of my Xth class passout buddies (KV HEC Ranchi) then take a train to Aurangabad. After spending 10 days with my parents, I would return via Mumbai. A week after my return, my father-in-law would come to Aurangabad and take Baab back with him to Bengaluru (where they live). A few days later, Katya and her mom would fly to Bengaluru where they would all spend a couple of weeks before travelling to Aurangabad. In the meantime, I would fly to Aurangabad and meet them there. We would return from Aurangabad to Orlando (together from Aurangabad to Munich, where we would take separate flights to Orlando - Baab and I via DC and Katya and mom via Toronto). Elaborate travel arrangements balanced on a dime, in chronological order of planning.

Ticket combo 1a (Baab and I) MCO-YUL-ZRH-BOM-DEL-IXR

Ticket combo 2a (Mine alone) BOM-FRA-MCO

Ticket combo 3a (Katya and mom): MCO-YUL-FRA-BLR

Ticket combo 2b: MCO-FRA-BOM

Ticket combo 1b: BOM-MUC-IAD-MCO

Ticket combo 3b: BOM-MUC-YYZ-MCO

And then it all got unhinged when my father was first admitted to the ICU, then passed away. As a result of that, we first postponed my return flight (ticket combo 2b), then cancelled it altogether, cancelled ticket combo 3b, and got a separate one-way return trip for me. Katya and mom got a whole new set of (last minute mucho moolah) tickets, which had to be coordinated with a separate one-way only ticket purchased  (also LMMM) for Baab, so all three of them could return together. Because we were all back before the origination date of ticket combo 3, so we thought it would be pretty easy to just cancel them. Think again. We learned that because of the specific class of tickets that we had purchased, there was no option to cancel the tickets. The only option we had was for them to use the tickets - on the <em>same</em> itinerary - within a year of <em>ticket purchase</em>, not travel!! Consequently, instead of travelling during the summer vacation this year, they had to complete the flight by March 1 (this is where our elaborate planning of last year got me).

Targeted by Target Photo Studio

I got an e-mail from Target Photo Studio with an early Happy Birthday greeting for Katya and some coupons. Unfortunately for us, the local Target closed down a few months back and so the nearest Target Photo Studio is nearly an hour away. So much for that.

That said, I have a suggestion for Target Photo Studio. It would have been a nice touch to have included Katya's photo along with the e-mail instead of some generic model kid. After all, if they have the programming to use Katya's name in the subject of the e-mail, surely they could also link to the latest Katya photo that they (hopefully) have saved in their archives?

The cookie is flat - a Katya tale

Inadvertently, Katya has come up with the title for Thomas Friedman's next book. It happened yesterday ...
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Katya has been under the weather the last couple of days (for that matter, Orlando has been under the weather the last couple of days; this morning, finally we got to say hello to the Sun after a two-day hiatus). As school is reopening on Monday, Mrs. Porcupyn and I decided that we might as well get her checked by the doctor to ensure she is fit to go to school.

After checking out Katya, the doctor gave me a prescription for her and added: "Make sure she is hydrated. no milk, only clear fluids; something flat like ginger ale or gatorade should be fine."

I just double checked with her (the doctor) to verify that I understood what was allowed and what was not allowed. The overarching rules translated to No Dairy and No Soda.

As we were on our long drive back home, based on her next question, I realized that Katya had started feeling hungry: "Appa, can I have a cookie when we get home?"

Porcupyn: "Sure, Katya! But why do you want a cookie?"

Katya: "Didn't you hear what the doctor said? She said that I should have something flat."