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

Goel Family wishes you a very happy diwali 2016

Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lie our growth and our freedom ”
Viktor E. Frankl

We are trying to survive being the parents of a high school freshman. Swati, after a rocky start, is finally settling down. She continues to follow her passion for debate and science and explore what she wants to pursue in the future. She challenges us and gives us a great sense of pride at the same time. We call her a quantum particle, as we can’t predict where she will be at a given time.

 

 Agastya continues to grow socially - he is forming deep friendships. He is crazy about playing video games especially Minecraft with his friends. Swati is his biggest source of inspiration and it is too cute to see him defend his sister unconditionally. He is into the Presidential election and it’s hilarious to hear some of his comments.

We have been looking for a wilderness place for years – finally this year we found one and we are excited. Though we have been there only a few times, it does help us unwind and connect with nature. Swati and Agastya enjoyed picking ripened blackberries from the bushes by the creek and floating on the river singing “Bare Necessities”

 

Ashish’s startup became part of Stripe. He will be spending a year at Stripe and is also looking forward to the next phase in his research with his crowdsourced decision-making platform. 

 

Ruchi is doing well and enjoying her work with Watson and finding occasional time to paint.

For the first time in past 14 years, Ashish and I went on a trip to the French Riviera sans kids. We had forgotten what a vacation is like without kids. Do we need to say more? 

 

Some things I wish could have gone better this year – Ashish’s own physical fitness, our parent’s health, and a bit more time for vacation. Well, good goals to have for the coming year!

Here’s to you and yours and to another year of hope, health, and peace. May your hopes be great and joys fulfill you. We wish you every happiness this Diwali and in the years to come.

Agastya, Swati, Ruchi & Ashish.

October 30^th, 2016

Happy Deepavali - 2015

Lost, between 2014 and 2016, one golden year, set with 365 diamond days

No reward is offered, for it is gone forever --- Horace Mann.

Namaste!!

This year will never come back again.  The memories we made during it, however, will live on.

2015 was an unusual year for us, as we explored much previously uncharted territory. It was an especially difficult year for Ruchi because she went through a process of self-actualization.  At the beginning of the year, Ashish and his student caught the startup bug and launched Teapot, which provides APIs for trust and identity. It is currently at a pivotal point – waiting to see where it will land.

Ashish once wrote a poem for Agastya. It went like this:

मुंडे मुस्टण्डे, गली के गुंडे

सुधर जाओ फौरन, वार्ना खाओगे डंडे

It is now coming true. Agastya and his friends run around the neighborhood all day, creating a ruckus. But while he grew more wild in one way, he also became more studious in another. Agastya went from a non-reader to an avid one, finishing the Harry Potter series before his eighth birthday.

Agastya and Swati had a super fun summer. Ruchi took a break from work to hang out with them, and her parents visited from India.  This meant no camps for the kids, a concept which they protested at first but ended up enjoying.

Our family also took two unique trips this year. During the winter holidays, we went to Peru and hiked the Inca trail, which is a 55km trek that goes up to 4200 m altitude. We could not be more proud of our family, especially Agastya, for making it.

In June, we went on safari in Tanzania. The experience we had of seeing millions of animals roaming free is indescribable.

Swati is now taller than Ruchi by a couple of inches, yet in many ways she is still the same as the five-year-old self we remember. She won second place in the science fair this year, and is serving as her school’s co-president.

We as a family also came to this realization – it only takes a little to be happy. We do need to simplify our lives - finding time with each other to just hang around, biking in the neighborhood, do walking in the field etc.

We look forward to next year with an aim to simplify our lives and focus more on ourselves, family, and friends. We all wish you a great festive season and a fun 2016.

                                                                           Ruchi, Ashish, Swati, Agastya

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, And next year’s words await another voice – T.S. Elliot

Diwali2014

नमस्ते! Namaste!

Another year went by in a jiffy. We want to reflect on the past year by being grateful and thankful to everything we have – truly a beautiful life; having each other for better or worse (married 15 years!), two wonderful kids who are growing up fast, and family and friends who give us love and support but also keep us on the straight and narrow.

We did our fair share of traveling this year. In a fit of weakness on Swati’s 4th birthday, we had promised her a pet when she turned 12, which seemed very far away at the time. But Swati remembered for 8 years, so we went to Hawaii for her 12th birthday to bribe our way out of that promise. Agastya, Swati, and Ashish tried surfing, with moderate success but enormous fun.

In the summer, we went to India for four weeks. It was hot and humid, but we absolutely loved spending time with parents, meeting family and friends, trekking in the Himalayas (which involved getting drenched in monsoon rains and having dozens of leeches all over our hands and feet), and watching kids play cricket. And since we never go to India in the summers, this was the first time in 20 years that we ate mangoes and jamun worth their name.

During the tail end of summer we visited New England, where we biked the postcard-perfect carriage roads in Acadia and hiked the ocean bed at Fundy National Park during their famous 50ft low tide. It was a laid back trip, a perfect way to recharge for the new school year.

This has been a year of change for Ashish as he quit his part-time Twitter position. He was also invited to a White House conference to present his work on the crowdsourced democracy project. Ashish and his students have also been involved in conducting participatory budgeting trials at various cities using their platform.

Agastya did his first theatrical performance in Jungle book and landed in the competitive soccer team and is also doing well in Tennis and Maths. He loves playing pool with his dad, and spends too much time on the ipad.

Swati scored a double whammy this year by being the state winner of the letter about literature and also winning honorary prize at Synopsys Science fair. She is continuing with her passion for theater and is doing Playhouse shows at Children’s Theater. And for those of you who are worried about teenage years, all the horror stories are true!

Ruchi is in a soul-searching mode. We will report what she finds next year!

दीपावली की बहुत बहुत शुभकामनाएं सहित| -

Ruchi, Ashish, Swati & Agastya, October 2014

15 years of togetherness

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore - By Kahlil Gibran

Amazing Women - Second Story

Hello All,

This is the collection of short stories dedicated to the women whose lives have influenced me in one way or another. Their stories are not very trans-formative but they do teach us something about life and its journey. And how these women found happiness and hope in their darkest hour. As a disclaimer, this is my interpretation of their feelings through conversations and by being an observer.

"M" - Her name literally means "fish". In Hindu mythology it is also one of the synonyms of "Parvati" who is Shiv's wife.

Life is a Journey

I met "M" during my first year undergrad in India. It was hard to miss her - she had the prettiest face, with curly hair, spotless complexion, and rosy pink lips. And on top of that she has such a sweet voice and personality that no wonder half of the guys in the college had a major crush on her.

She and I had different personalities. She was raised in lot of restrictions and constant being reminded about the boundaries that the girls had to follow. I was raised with no boundaries. She was sophisticated and I was a tom boy. She had folks who would take care of her and I was on my own.

To be continued.

Amazing Women - First Story

Hello All,

This is the collection of short stories dedicated to the women whose lives have influenced me in one way or another. Their stories are not very trans-formative but they do teach us something about life and its journey. And how these women found happiness and hope in their darkest hour. As a disclaimer, this is my interpretation of their feelings through conversations and by being an observer.

"S" - Her name is "Synonym of Saraswati who embodies wisdom and knowledge"

This is "S" story in her words. I met "S" in 2011 when I first heard her sing in Diwali function at work. She sang 'Bole Re Pipuha". She has this sweet melodious voice - a real pleasure to the ears. I reached out to her to see if she can teach some basics to my daughter who is also fond of singing. This is her story and her struggle with cancer.

Life is Beautiful

It was a sunny Wednesday morning in August 2012 and I was in a meeting at work when I received a call from the doctor who had done my biopsy. "You have breast cancer the next year is going to be tough".

I was young, had just turned 35, leading the quintessential American dream with a wonderful husband, a beautiful 7 year old daughter and an energetic 4 year old son, a house and good jobs. I could not believe what she was saying and just burst out crying. The next few days were a blur as I was still wrapping my head around the news. There were a series of tests that needed to be done that would determine my treatment plan. I just followed the flow and we came to a decision where I needed to have 6 months of chemotherapy, followed by surgery, radiation, a year's worth of Herceptin and hormone therapy.

I thought I started my treatment bravely but was still in a state of denial for a long period. After about 3 chemotherapy sessions, I started losing my long silky, hair accompanied with a sore mouth, metallic taste, loss of appetite, sleepless nights and mood swings. The doctors prepare you for all this but it strikes hard when it actually happens.

About halfway into the chemotherapy sessions, I started having hallucinations and went into severe depression. There was a point at which my family was more worried about my mental health than the physical aspect. There were days together where I would just lie in the bed, too depressed and weak to even get up. I did not feel like talking to anyone. One day my husband told me "Do you realize, you haven't hugged or kissed the kids since two months?" I was devoid of all feelings and somehow detached myself from everything feeling hopeless. But my husband, my kids, my parents, my in-laws, my relatives, everybody constantly kept reminding me that this was just a phase and I told myself the same though it was practically hard for me to believe it.

I hated to look at myself in the mirror with no hair, eyebrows or eyelashes but my husband would tell me every day how beautiful I was. He was there for each and every appointment. He was my guiding light! I could see the pain in my parents' eyes that used to put a brave face on for me, working tirelessly to keep me happy and taking care of my kids. I would in turn put a brave face on in front of my kids who just knew mommy was too sick. They would tell me that I would be better soon and I derived my encouragement only from them.

I was so happy when the chemotherapy came to an end. I was given a little break before my surgery. I opted for prophylactic mastectomy with reconstruction. My in laws were there to support me through this phase and radiation. They were a constant source of inspiration and support throughout my treatment.

The physical and emotional pain of losing my body parts was pretty intense but I was almost out of depression. I could see light at the end of the tunnel. Radiation came with its own baggage, my skin was peeling because of the burns but I took it in my stride since I was mentally much stronger. Days, months and finally a year passed and it was the final day of Herceptin. I could not believe I had done it! We celebrated by taking a mini vacation to the Niagara Falls and having a little family get together. I am now enjoying life with a renewed sense of purpose. As cliché as it might sound, I embrace every new day with full vigor and enthusiasm. I am looking forward to a long life filled with happiness with my family and friends.