Happy Deepavali 2017

Wishing you a Happy Diwali and a Happy New Year

Life moves on and the year passes by, and before you know, it is that time of the year again.  The highlight of this year was a staged reading of “Raavan”. Our whole family got into it. The chief instigator was Swati, who wrote the script, based on Ramayana but written from Raavan’s perspective, reimagining him as a Macbethian figure. The production was immensely successful; the video is at https://youtu.be/eNOgEbARl60 . We are grateful to our friends, family, and the local community for their help in putting together the production.

Other than that, this was a year of small pleasures and continuity, as opposed to any major life changes. After a tempestuous start the year before, Swati has settled into high school life. She has a good social group, is working hard belying all stereotypes of lazy teenagers, and gradually figuring out what she wants in life. Agastya turned 10 and is enjoying his last year at his elementary school. He learned to code last year and has a close-knit group of friends he likes to hang out with.  Ashish has been taking flying lessons and is about to solo. He is currently taking time off from Stanford to spend time at Stripe, which had acquired their startup last year. Ruchi is doing well and enjoying her work, time with family, and herself. Of course, this is probably the calm before the storm as Swati will start looking towards college soon, and Agastya will move to middle school.

 

We took a cruise in Antarctica, which was breathtaking. Both Ruchi’s and Ashish’s parents visited us this year, and we cherished the time we spent with them. Ashish’s parents will be here for Diwali for the first time, a treat for all of us.

In stark contrast to our personal life, we cannot help but feel that this has not been a good year in the country where we made our home 20+ years ago. Politically, the country seems to be fracturing. Natural calamities like hurricanes and wildfires, worse than ever before in our memory, seem like dark portents as opposed to isolated freak events. Our heart and thoughts go out to all who have been affected and have been less fortunate. And it is a reminder that the increase in peace and prosperity during the last 40 years is not something we can ever take for granted; rather we all need to work hard towards leaving our kids a better world than the one we inherited. Please let us know if you have suggestions for concrete things we can do together to make this happen.

Finally, we want to end by honoring and celebrating the life of Ruchi’s Nani (her maternal grandmother) who passed away a few weeks ago. She had a long and full life. Her passing is symbolic in that a whole generation has now passed on; she was the last grandparent that either Ruchi or Ashish had left. Rest in Peace. You surely will be missed!

Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.

With Love,

Agastya, Swati, Ruchi & Ashish.

October 19^th, 2017