Rockville Pike and some movies

At last after 10 yrs!

My daughter has been asking me to visit her for so long and i have been dodging with some reason or the other to come to USA. Anyway after finishing my so called occupational busy schedule in India, i came to a decision to buy a ticket to US. i landed in DC on the night of 3rd May 2009

It was a cool day and was raining.
My daughter showed me a cozy bed where i have settled nicely. I did not think of getting up for the first few days!!.

Kavita, my daughter is trying to keep me busy so that i will not get bored here, as every parent who comes to US from India keeps complaining about , they do get bored in US since their children do not have time for them.

But i told my kavi that not worry about me and i am fine i will never get bored in my life that is my motto.

She got me lot of DVDs of different languages, also some books from the library.
After 3 days of good sleep i came back to my old self, fit to do any thing.
Next day i watched few movies while i was alone at home .

'Cave of the Yellow Dog' :
this is about a mongolian family, who are nomads, they have three children whom they want to get educated. The elder daughter one day by chance finds a dog. and she loves it so much. But her father is not keen to have it. When they are leaving that place for better conditions to live they start their journey, on the way the third child a son drops off the cart and reaches his old place searching for his people and the child finds the dog , he starts to fondle it meanwhile some vulchers come in search of the dead animals, they are about to grab the child, and this dog saves the child. The father not finding the son in the cart goes in search of the son . When he sees the dog barking at the vulchers and the child is safe ,he agrees to have the dog with them and they all travel to their destination.
The story ends here It was so touching.The action of girl ...No it was not acting she just lived in the character. One must see the movie.

The Return:
The second movie i saw was a Russian one. It makes us curious and a bit sorrowful. it is about a father who returns home after so many years.He has two sons. they wonder how he remembered the family after so many years. He takes them for a long drive and then to a far of island, where they explore and do hunting and other things in the forest.The father does not show much of affection to the sons, he is strict with them. the elder one gets on ok with father but the second son do not like the father. They do get into arguments on and often.Finally the father falls from a tower and dies,When he goes to try and save the father, the younger son who is on the top of the tower cannot come down. only then the boy realizes the father's love and affection.
this movie made me feel sad, it was pathetic that the two sons have to sail back the ocean on their own and drive home without their father. It was really sad. but what a movie!

Another movie i saw is a Iranian one and it is very good.we cannot compare the Indian bollywood movies to these.The name is - 'Fireworks Wednesday'.It is about a girl who going to get married, and does work in a rich man's house as a maid.the lady of the house is suspicious about her husband.She tries to spy on him by evesdropping.She asks the maid to go the neighbour lady with whom her husband has the connection.asks her to find out.The husband make her believe that he does not have any contact with that woman.The wife thinks that she unnessarily doubted him. Finally when the the maid comes to know about the affair for sure tries to tell her the lady about the husband. But then the husband does not give her a chance, to let her tell and sends her back home. A fine movie with a simple and normal problem of any family, taken in a fine way.I enjoyed watching it very much.

Dubai Days

30th April 2009 to 2nd May

I was meeting my old friend whom i first met in 1967 in Gorakhpur UP, India.

She is like my elder sister, from whom i have learnt few cooking recipes as i was a new bride that time. I have a great respect for her.By chance she is in Dubai, staying with her daughter. She invited me for lunch, so i spent that afternoon with her talking about old times.
It was very nostolgic. By evening my another friend's daughter Suja came to pick me from the Al Sheb locality.

Evening with Suja's family, we all went to the Dubai Mall which they say is biggest in the world and of course it is no doubt BIG & we could not see it fully but we saw the Aquarium in the Mall!! It was very beautiful. Along with Suja's children i too enjoyed very much watched the different types of fish. I like fishes. We had good food in a restaurant and went home late at night.
It was a pleasant day to remember later.

Next day we left early to another Emirate called Al AIN which is abut 250 km. from there. We went by car, Suja's husband Lionel drove, on the way we went to an ice skating ring. There the children Natasha and Nikhil enjoyed themselves very much. Then we went to another mall,
for some food since every one was very hungry.But it is my friday fasting day so i did not eat. Then i went to explore the Mall by myself as Suja is like my daughter and encouraged me to be on my own while they are having their food, she also gave me some Dirhams to spend. I cannot explain how i felt for that gesture she showed me. Of course i did a little bargaining and shopping and forgot to pick up her cell phone, she was calling me after a few hours , very worried !!.

Then we all went further on our journey. we went to the Hot Springs where the water has got minerals and chemicals. We put our legs in it and sat for some time. My foot which had a sprain in Hyderabad healed a bit .On our return jurney we went to the Zoo,which is in a natural environment. Along with children we elders also enjoyed . Finally we reached home at 10.30 that night.

Next day I went to the famous Gold Souk with Suja and her neighbour friend Aseem who offered to drive us there. It is very famous in Dubai. One will feel that the whole world's Gold is accumulated here ! So many designs it is mind blowing.

In this way my stay in Dubai, with Suja and her family, left me with heartfelt affection.

...next day i took my flight to the great USA and to my dear daughters.

EDUCATING MYSELF

I am Radha I am 62 years old , I am not a working woman, but I always worked on something or the other and I have kept myself very busy, either it was helping someone or doing my own household work, always busy busy busy

This busy word is used very easily by young and old, in this IT age no one is free and no one has time for others and of course TIME IS MONEY

Ya, some way I am also busy like others but there is a difference

I am busy without earning a penny, I leave my home in the morning and reach back in the evening, whoever sees me going out on my scooter thinks I am a working woman, some employee somewhere, no I am NOT, but I go out regularly…

To do some pending bank work, paying the bills of my older sister who is 80 years and cannot go out by herself, or to take her to the doctor, some days I sit with a friend who is ailing with cancer, I also have to look after the construction of our ancestral building and manage the workers and their needs…

Weekly I also go to recite community prayers with my prayer group, another day of the week I also volunteer at the Medical Room helping the colony doctor,

This way all my week days are totally booked, Oh I also have to practice my music,

I joined a vocal music class at this age of 60 plus, some decision!!

That is why I have no time to spare.

Still, I thought, why not? When Mrs Sastry asked me to help read for someone ….someone special :

"Blind Students".

I married very young. I had just finished my high school.

Though I have always been fond of education and dreamt of having BIG BIG degrees and doing research work and other important stuff .

Here I am married to a person who was always getting transferred to remote places….where I could not do anything that I wanted, could not work to prove my ability…those days there was no distance education available and my desire to study remained unfulfilled.

There was no help or encouragement from my husband whatsoever, that was the culture those days. So alas! there seemed NO ray of hope for me in the near future. I remained a sort of a BLIND PERSON , though a blind person with eyes to see.

In my opinion, No Education = Blindness

So when my friend approached me about her Trust for the Blind , Samrita Trust, I immediately got associated with them four years ago.When they started this trust, I was not very sure how this would work but I became the member of the trust and it has now become a part of my life.

In India there are many Blind people, especially from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, these Blind people are very young and come from poor background, but they have enthusiasm to study, their underprivileged condition prevents them from joining good schools…if they have to write an exam, they need the help of a person who can read the questions for them.

The government has provided separate schools , also they have reservations in private schools but this is not enough…they need much more than that…when blind students want to study any subject to appear in an exam they need someone else’s help to read out the lessons for them but when the volunteers are busy and unable to give time to the blind it becomes a frustrating situation to that motivated blind person.

This is where the Trust takes over and I come in.

I am a Reader. I read lessons from undergraduate textbooks into a PC and make an audio CD , these CDs along with the CD players are then distributed among the blind students.

There have been some days where I read the textbooks late at nite sometimes after midnight so that the CDs are made on time….despite my very hectic life I make sure that this takes priority ….

This gives me a lot of fulfillment and I finally feel that my abilities are being utilized and I am also useful to someone….especially when I get a call of thanks from my students after they clear their exams….my heart breaks into a song!

My Travels 2009 - Hyderabad-Dubai

Today is 29th April 2009.

After giving a big thought and having a discussion with my own self i decided to travel to US via Dubai where my friend Pattam is staying with her daughter and my friend's daughter Suja is also there.They invited me to their place earlier.So, this is a chance to see a new place. I finally left Hyd. on 29th april by Emirates. It is a nice flight. In 3.30 hrs i am in Dubai. My friends are here to recieve me. I am very excited. In the evening Lionel takes us, Suja, Natasha, Nikhil and me : for a drive to see Dubai - by - Night. Oh! it is lovely. I go to bed tonite with the satisfaction that i have done some thing which I have always to do....travel alone, visit Dubai, see the world!!