Namaste!!
We hope as always that this newsletter finds you in the best of health and spirits. The highlight of the year was Ashish’s parents “golden” anniversary. We celebrated the event on a cruise ship with the whole family. As an added gift, we compiled a book from the poems that Ashish’s father wrote over the course of his life. We also had a new addition in the extended family – Ruchi’s sister had a son in March and now this generation of baby making has come to an end. Phew!
Kids grow up so fast. Swati’s eleventh birthday (and her first exposure to middle school kids) turned our sweet, innocent little girl into a mature and responsible, if somewhat bratty, tween. We must say that she is doing a better job adjusting to middle school than her parents. She is keeping up with swimming, extra math, and theater. She is also playing the role of Mowgli’s wolf-mother in a local professional performance of the Jungle Book. Agastya turned six and started first grade, and has really gotten into soccer. He has been driving the whole family mad, kicking anything that comes within his reach. He also has a small part (including some singing) in the same play as Swati.
Ashish got promoted to full Professor, and has been spending the last six months thinking about what he wants to do next in his career. Ruchi changed jobs this year, and became a Director in eBay’s trust group. When we got married fourteen years ago, Ruchi was working for a networking company and Ashish was doing research in algorithms for networking. Now, Ruchi is working for a social commerce company, and Ashish is doing research in social algorithms. It is funny how the threads of life and career weave themselves. We will see what the future holds professionally. Hope it is something new and exciting.
This summer was full of small adventures and misadventures. We finished our house renovations, and finally moved out of our garage. We took a two-week trip to Japan and Vietnam. Kyoto was incredible – Ashish and Swati went jogging every morning along the Philosopher’s Walk, and we absorbed some of the peace and tranquility of the city. Tokyo was the polar opposite – more metropolitan than New York, Paris, and Delhi combined! The highlight of Vietnam was a long trek among misty mountains and rice fields in Sapa. The summer ended with Swati qualifiying for a debate team and Ruchi’s parents coming for a visit. On the flip side, Ashish almost severed a finger on his left hand when working in the garage (the tip of his finger got split down the middle), we had a fire in the house, and Agastya got a big scar on his forehead playing soccer. Luckily, neither mishap did any lasting damage to us or to our house. Ashish and Swati decided to turn lemons into lemonade, and wrote the following birthday limerick for Agastya:
In school there was a soccer star
He was hit while playing, and got a scar
But was he brave? You bet’ya
For his name was Agastya
And he scored on teams near and far
A very Happy Diwali, and please stay in touch.
