Happy Deepavali 2013

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.

First converstaion about familiarising Agastya about Hindu Gods

I did not realize how complex Hindu Gods and Goddesses system in till I made an attempt to get my son familiarized with them. You can even read it as how little I know about it. This is verbatim of the conversation that happened between me and Agastya while walking him to school.

Me - Agastya do you remember the names of main Gods that I taught you.

Agastya - No. I just remember that there were 3 boys and 3 girls. What was their names again?

Me - Okay so the first one is called Brahma and he is the creator. He created everything.

Agastya - Not everything. You made me. So what does it mean he created everything.

Me- Just remember the names first. His wife is Saraswati. She is the Goddess for wisdom

Agastya - What is wisdom?

Me - which makes us intelligent.

Agastya - No, books make us intelligent. How does she give us wisdom?

Me - Agastya let's just remember the names first. Next is Vishnu and his wife is Lakshmi

Agastya - Oh I remember the money God.

Me- Yes

Agastya - so if you are not nice does she takes the money away.

Me - Yes possibly

Agastya - That's nasty

Me (I am really irritated now by my inability to put any logic in this)- Next one is Shiva and Durga

Agastya - what do they do?

Me - Durga is a symbol of power. She destroys bad people.

Agastya - How?

Me (I opened my mouth to say by killing them but then stopped and just paused)

Agastya - where do they live? In the temple?

Me - In the temple we just go together as a symbol but no one knows. God is really a power or energy which just make things happen that we do not understand.

Agastya - I know Mom they live in clouds.

And that was it. We entered his class and he forgot all about it and ran in. I just kept thinking how I never asked these questions and accepted.

Ruchi's travel Adventures

As a kid when I used to read in geography about waterfalls,glaciers, valleys, gorges, canyons, etc. - I would wonder what they will be like for real. At that time my life was limited to the 15 km radius of where I lived with an occasional trip to my grandparents house, which was not too far away. And also, their place was not any different than my own 15 km radius. When the teacher talked about grasslands and rain-forests and about all the gorgeous creatures and plant life that lived in them, I would dream for hours about visiting such places. In history books when they talked about Pyramids and the caves of Petra, of Ajanta and Ellora and magnificent castles in Europe, I would make my own vivid imagination of those places. From whatever I remember of my childhood, I had this strong desire of being able to go to different places, experience them, feel them, and get immersed in them. So I guess deep within I was always so passionate about travel, and through these years a lot of my passions have come and gone, but the passion about travel has remain unchanged. For me, traveling is not about going places and taking pictures. It is about connecting my dots and my childhood dreams together.

The last 17 years have been very eventful for me. I was able to see the world. Now as I am approaching my forties, I am realizing a lot of those memories are fading away from me. So I have decided to write whatever I remember of from my experiences at various places. I will start backwards as that is how I remember them most.

2011

Spring - Bodega Bay
Summer - China, Cambodia

Winter - Orlando, Florida

2010
Summer - Yellowstone and Glacier


Winter - India (Bangalore, Tirupathi, Kanchipuram, Hampi, Ajanta & Ellora, Agra)

2009
Spring - New York
Summer - Mt. Shasta and Lassen Volcano National Park
Winter - Costa Rica

2008
Summer - Europe (Paris, Loire Valley, Amsterdam, Belgium, Iceland, Switzerland)

2007
Winter - Las Vegas

2006
Spring - India - Rameshwaram, Mahabalipuram
Winter - Australia, New Zealand

2005
Spring - Florida
Summer - Brazil, Argentina
Winter - Copper Canyon, Mexico; El Paso, Texas, Big Bend National Park and Carlsbad Caverns, and White Sands

2004
Winter - Cancun, Mexico

2003
Summer - France - Paris; Switzerland, Germany

2002

Summer - Idyllwild, CA; Central Coast, CA

2001
Spring - Alaska
Summer - Italy, UK, and Greece

2000
Spring - Portland
Summer - Boston
Fall - Havasu Canyon
Winter - Hawaii

1999
Spring - NY, Washington DC

Concert by Margaret M. Kvamme

We attended an amazing Organ concert today with Don & Jill Knuth. The organist played "The Child's Book of Beasts" composed by Richard Proulx and "The Transporation Age" by Carson Cooman. Beautiful imaginative pieces. Music can totally transport you into a different world. This is one regret I will have in my life - not learning music as a kid and not trying enough as an adult either :-(

Happy Deepavali 2012

Namaste,

We sincerely hope this Deepavali finds you in the best of health and spirits. 2012 can be described as “Fast and Furious”. Soon after Diwali we put an offer for a beautiful house on Stanford campus which got accepted, and we rolled the process of selling our past house and buying our current house. We wrapped 2011 with a fun trip to Florida where the highlight was visiting Harry Potter theme park. Then spending a few days on Sanibel Island.

1st Jan 2012, was a big bang as we got stranded on the Orlando airport after our flight got cancelled. We made it home somehow after more than 20 hours of delay, all exhausted. To get our house ready for sale, we moved into a one bedroom apartment for a month with almost no furniture. It was quite an experience to go back living in an apartment.

As this was not enough excitement, Ruchi got an offer from another company with a promotion which she decided to take. As it turns out the joining date fell exactly on the weekend after we got possession of our new house. We canceled our Japan trip twice as too much was going on. Ashish’s career has been going steady and busy as always. Swati discovered her passion in theater and made it to the auditions of Children’s theater in Palo Alto and got to do a few shows this year. She seems to have been enjoying it a lot. And not to mention it's keeping her extremely busy. Agastya started kindergarten. We can’t believe that he is not our tiny baby anymore. In Agastya’s words “I am a big boy now, but mommy I can be your pretend baby”.

Summer travels took us to Spain (Andalucía), Morocco, and Italy (Tuscany) for a wedding. We are looking forward to our house remodel in the coming year. Hoping that we will be able to enjoy the coming year a lot more with leisure, we wish you all a very “Happy Deepavali” and best wishes for upcoming holidays.

Goel Family (Ashish, Ruchi, Swati, and Agastya)

Agastya's comments

Agastya is finally making some friends. I asked him one day - so Agastya who are your friends. And then he said "You know mommy when I meet some girl I am usually nervous for the first time. But after that I am fine" And I just chuckled.

Eat One, Eat Two, or Eat All Three by Swati

By Swati Goel, Grade 4, Hoover Elementary School
Submitted to Children's Theater for Playwright competition
(Based on an Indian Folk Tale)

Characters:
Son

Mother

Uncle

Fairy 1, Fairy 2, and Fairy 3

Grandma the narrator

Scene I
Grandma: Welcome my friends. Today, let me take you back in time. To a time
where there were small villages and kingdoms, separated by forests where
robbers used to live. To a time where there were no cars – your only choices of
transportation were by foot or by horse carriages. To a time where there used
to be magic, fairies, and monsters. In that time, there lived a young boy with
his old mother. This is their story...

One fine day, a bright young man and his mother ran out of riches so
suddenly that the mother was forced to send her son to a neighbouring village
to find work.

Son: Do not despair dear mother. Soon I will be back with some money and we
will no longer go to sleep with hunger in our stomachs.

Mother: It is not that I do not trust in your capabilities dear son. It is just that I cannot bear to lose my only child.

Son: You will not lose me dear mother. Dry your tears for I will return soon

enough.

Mother (sigh): You are right dear son. I will pack three pieces of bread with
some water for your journey tomorrow morning. However, be aware of the
robbers and do not travel in the dark.

Son: Okay mother. I shall start with the first light of dawn.

Scene II

Grandma: And so, early in the morning the son began his journey. He only
travelled until mid-day when he felt the need to rest.

Son: Oh I am so hungry, thirsty, and tired that I must rest. I see a well. I will
stop there.

(He trudged over to the well and took out his food and water.)

Son (opening his lunch pack): Oh I am so hungry. I wonder if I should eat one of
them, eat two of them, or eat all three of them?

Grandma: What the son did not know was that there were three fairies living
in the well.

Fairy 1: Who said that?

Fairy 2: May be a monster!

Fairy 1: Why would he want to eat us?

Fairy 2: Didn’t you hear? It is very hungry.

Fairy 3: May be if we gave the monster a magical object which gave him food,
he wouldn’t want to eat us.

Fairy 1 and Fairy 2: That’s a great idea. Let’s go!

[The fairies appear in front of the son]

Fairies: Do not eat us. Do not eat us. We will give you a magical bowl which
will give you food when you get hungry. All you have to say is “Oh my pot, I am

your master, Cook me food, cook it faster.”

And when you are done eating then just say “Oh my pot, you have done well,
End my food, and then all will be swell.”

Son (murmuring to himself): Hmmm it seems that the fairies have mistaken
me. (now speaking to fairies) Very well. I suppose that it does not matter as
long as it tastes good. I will make this bargain with you.

Fairies: Thank You.

Son (talking to himself): I should go back to my mother. However, I will have
to stay at my uncle’s house for the night because the woods are full of robbers
when it’s dark.

(Walks over to his uncle’s house and knocks on the door)

Son: Uncle, please open the door.

Uncle (opens the door): Oh dear me. Another mouth to feed. Come in, I guess.

Son: Oh no dear uncle. You will not have to feed me. All I need is shelter. I have
enough food to feed us all.

Uncle: Well, I do not see you carrying any food.

Son: Because it will come out of this magic pot. Watch “Oh my pot, I am your
master, Cook me food, cook it faster.”

Uncle: Oh my! Oh me! Oh may! This food looks delicious. But it’s too much.

Son: Do not worry. “Oh my pot, you have done well, End my food, and then all
will be swell.”

(They eat)

Uncle: Wonderful. Simply wonderful food my boy. Let me show you to your
room. Good night.

(In the middle of the night, the uncle visited the son’s room)

Uncle: Where has the boy put a pot of his? Aha! Here it is. Let me replace
it with this pot which looks exactly like it. The boy will never notice the

difference until it’s too late.

Scene III
Grandma: The next morning, the son left his uncle’s house and came back
home to his mother.

Mother: How come you are back so early?

Son: I found a magic pot which will feed us all our lives. Watch. “Oh my pot, I
am your master, Cook me food, cook it faster.”

Mother: My son, I do not see any food. Someone must have tricked you.

Son (angrily): I can’t believe that these fairies tricked me. Mother please pack
me three pieces of bread again and I am going to get back at them.

Grandma: So the next morning, the son started off again and reached the same
well at mid-day. He sat down and repeated.

Son (opening his lunch pack): Oh I am so hungry. I wonder if I should eat one of
them, two of them, or eat all three of them?

Fairy 1: Why is this monster back?

Fairy 2: Let’s ask him.

[The fairies appear in front of the son]

Fairies: Why do you want to eat us now? We gave you a magic pot to feed you
and your family.

Son: Magic. That only served food once at my uncle’s house where I spent the
night. Now I am going to eat you all.

Fairies (talking among themselves)

Fairy 3: Hmmm... seems like someone in the Uncle’s house must have stolen
the magical pot.

Fairy 2: How do we prove it?

Fairy 1: I have an idea. Let’s give him a magical rope and cane to catch the

thief.

Fairies (facing the son and giving him a rope and cane)

Fairy 1: Young man take this cane and rope and go spend the night again at the
same place.

Fairy 2: Things will sort out by themselves.

Fairy 3: Make sure you tell at your uncle’s house that the cane and rope are
magical but you do not know how the magic works.

Son: Very well. However, if this magic pot does not start working then I will
come back and eat you all. No matter what you say.

(Son walks over to his uncle’s house and knocks on the door)

Son: Uncle, please open the door.

Uncle (opens the door): Welcome my nephew. What brings you here again? I
see you carry something.

Son: Yes, I hold two other magical objects. However, their magic is secret. Can I
spend the night at your place?

Uncle: Of course.

Son: Thank you Uncle.

(In the middle of the night, the uncle visited the son’s room carrying an
identical rope and cane)

Uncle: Where has the boy put his cane and rope? Aha! There they are. Let me
replace them with this cane and rope. The boy will never notice the difference
until it’s too late.

Grandma: As soon as the uncle touched the magical rope and cane, the rope
wound itself around him and the cane started beating him while singing a
song. “Oh my deary rope, hold him tight, While I beat him blue and white.

Until he returns what he stole in the night, Oh my deary rope hold him tight”

All this commotion woke up the son.

Uncle: Dear nephew, please save me from this cane. I admit it. I stole your
magic pot. Please stop this cane and I will return your pot to you and promise
to never steal again.

Grandma: The son understood why the fairies gave him the cane and rope.
The son got back his magic pot along with rope and cane and came back to his
village to his mother. From that day forward, he and his mother lived happily
ever after.