Today marks eight years since Arvind and I joined hands to venture into the journey of togetherness. Every up, every down, every twist and turn has been a thrilling adventure in his company thus far. To me having Arvind by my side equates to peace of mind. The peace of mind that comes from knowing that there may be hurdles along the way, but together we will overcome. That there is someone by my side who will keep the wheels moving should I slack. That we complement each other, in strengths and in weaknesses. That although it may seem like we take each other for granted, deep down we cherish each other's company. That there are no "your" and "my" parents, brother, or sister, just ours. That there is space in togetherness. So Arvind, for all these and more, I feel blessed to be your other half in life. Love in lots and Happy Anniversary to us.

It's hard to believe that eight years have gone by so quickly. Really, it doesn't feel that long ago that I went through the ponnu parkardhu, the nichaydhartham, the wedding, the move to Boston, the student life, Atul's arrival, and the move to our new home. Wanting to refresh some of my wedding day memories, I pulled my wedding album out this evening. As much as I cribbed about the huge crowd, the extravaganza, and the wedding politics eight years ago, today as I flipped through the pages of the album the pictures only brought back delight and fond memories - pictures of thathas and pattis still in the pink of their health, of my parents-in-law together as a couple, of my parents masking their concern with smile and cheer, of A and A scurrying around doing their brotherly and sisterly duties, of my little cousins wearing pattu pavadai chattai, of school, college and office friends gumbals, and of S akka who came all the way from Malaysia to participate in the wedding arrangements. An army of people gathered to celebrate our togetherness, and for that I am eternally thankful.

Arvind and I went to Shrek 3 this afternoon, our first movie together in a movie hall after Atul was born,  to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary. The movie was fun although my all time favorite is Shrek 1. Incidentally, that was the first movie that Arvind and I watched together when I first came to Boston 6 years back. So, the Shreks hold a special place in the corner of our hearts :-)

I successfully made my first oopu (salt) cheedai (deep-fried-marble-sized savories: there are two varieties of these - sweet and salt) yesterday. They were edible but not quiet as crunchy. We tried to dress up Atu like baby Krishna. The sparkle and naughtiness in his eyes made up for the lack of flute and peacock feathers.

Krishna Jayanthi brings back memories of my childhood days (now that doesn't feel like a long time ago). My dad, mom, brother and I would spend the earlier evening making cheedai. My brother was really good at making cheedai oorundais (rolling the dough the size of a marble)... his oorundais were perfect, all of them were of same size and shape. I used to make the maximum number of oorundais... on an average they would look good but the individual pieces were of different sizes and shapes. My dad would roll them for namesake... just to be a part of the ritual. And all of us would wait with bated breath when my mom puts them in oil... cheedais have a reputation of letting you down... they would break or dissolve in oil. And you cannot taste the dough before as it is for prasad. My mom would stay up late and finish rest of the bakshanam (savories). By the time we were back from school the next evening, my mom would be ready with the kolam maavu (rice flour for drawing Krishna's legs). Then we would have family prayer... reciting slokas with all our (my brother's and mine) thoughts on the bakshanam and fruits in front of us. The best part of the evening was we were not suppose to have any rice for dinner... imagine just snacking to our hearts content and no questions asked!

It is nearly 7 years since I celebrated Krishnajayanthi like this. And now I have to make it special for Atu... oh it was so much easier to be the kiddo of the house!