I love helping out with the cooking…. usually. My specialties include beverages, grating and … the chutney – a minced paste of coconut, onions, chilly, ginger and some greens. It was my task to do the honors tonight and I started off great – no looking at the recipe; just straight off the head cooking. After carefully grating the coconut (someday I’ll let ya all know how I break the coconut) I put the mixture in a bowl and switched on the mixie to blend them together. The mixie roared into life as I turned on the power and it seemed strangely smooth… yup…. very smooth – because there wasnt anything in the jar!! Yes – I’d forgotten to put…

Home needed two things for the night –1. Idli maavu (for dinner and breakfast)2. Tomatoes (for lunch tomorrow)We decided to scoot to a shop 10 minutes away and get our supplies. It was drizzling a ‘little’ and we felt it was OK. 30 seconds after we roared off on the bike the drizzle was a steady rain and it was getting worse. We literally rode into a shop just across the road where Becky jumped in to check for the idli maavu and I drove on to a small vegetable shop further down the road. The veg shop unfortunately did not have good tomatoes and I rode back to see Becky standing at the other shop entrance – empty handed;…

I love making tea. Today Becky was held up at work and I came home a few minutes before her. So I decided to make some tea for both of us. Simple task! Pour in the water and the milk and the tea leaves and some sugar and it was lying there on low heat on the stove. Then I got the phonecall – it took me 2 minutes to complete it. And yes… those 2 precious minutes was all it took to forget about the tea simmering on the stove. Soon the house was filled with the aroma of burnt tea and I hurriedly switched off the stove and attempted to clean the mess. The countertop and stove were…

Oh! The joy of mixing and matching and ending up with something awesome…. and the joy of sharing it with someone you love! I was hit by a brainwave after lunch and whipped together dessert from whatever we had at home. Heres the menu:1. Slice bananas brought from the local streetside market into cute looking cups.2. Take the few pieces of cherry still lying in the fridge and throw them in.3. Scour the kitchen cupboard, locate resins a few cashew and some walnuts and literally chip them in4. Top up with honey stolen from Motherin-Laws house in Kodaikanal.5. Place them strategically on the table, take a picture as proof of the effort.6. Offer it to someone you love with a…

On friday Praburam said he wanted to be on duty this weekend which left Becky and me with nothing to do over the weekend. So we decided to surprise her parents with a trip home to Kodaikanal. We spent Friday night hunting around for a cordless phone which we finally got just as the last shop was closing!! We hurried through Saturdays OPD and soon we were on a frightfully slow bus to Dindigul where we barely caught the connecting bus to Kodaikanal!! Soon we were climbing the winding roads and felt the wind start to chill!! As we took a taxi home I made a hurried phone to Athai with a story about my friend who wanted to drop…

Beckys parents were visiting us for a few days and it was amazing to have them around pampering us with food and stuff. I was on call, but that did not hamper the excitement except for the few times I had to scamper off for C-section calls and emergencies. 30th June was our 1 month wedding anniversary (if there is such a thing) and we all decided to go to an exhibition on the outskirts of Trichy. I was a little worried as I was on call and we prayed that I wouldnt have to rush back.And wow! Did we have fun @ the exchibition. The stalls were crowded and there was some great good. We especially enjoyed the lime…

1+1 = 2This is is just to show you that by mid-day I had 1 patient in the paediatric ward and 1 patient in the nursery. This is the lowest census I have ever had and it is worrisome. The wards need to fill up soon and I’m trying as hard as possible to do that! 48Thats the total number of children I saw in OPD today. Paradoxically that’s one of the highest i have ever seen!! Guess the inpatient and the outpatient numbers dont relate! 16That was the number of idlis I discovered in my dinner carrier after I picked it up from the mess and opened it up in my room. The normal number of idlis I eat…

The day started off fine with very lazy rounds and just as I was bout to pick up my lunch Sandeep called me and went off to his house and hogged on great rice and chicken with ice cream.But that wasnt the best part of the day!I then managed to sleep well in the afternoon and felt very refreshed. No calls to disturb me.But that wasnt the best part of the day!Had a long chat with Joyce who was leaving Vellore and was working on her US visa to start off with John Hopkins and get married. We discussed CMC, gowns, wedding etc etc!But that wasnt the best part of the day!Also had a loooooong talk with Becky as she…

I reached chennai after a slow journey quite late in the night and slept with the excitement of knowing I’d meet Becky tonight.We met at church and the service was awesome.Back at home we sat and discussed the invitation cards and made out the format and the words. It felt really good sitting with her and talk about the wedding. The whole day was awesome – lovely lunch by Amma, a looooong chat on the terrace about marriage, kids, the future, work and lots more….. and suddenly it was time for dinner and my train. We cosied up in the backseat as Appa drove us back to the station where I got off and bid her goodbye. That emptiness gripped…

Becky’s birthday!! And there I was 320 kilometers away and all alone at home when i should have been standing at her doorstep with flowers and gifts and whisked her away for lunch, a movie and more!! But God made the day reallllly special.At the stroke of midnight we were on the phone and I wished her and then sang a song I’d written for her! She loved it. She went to work in the morning and then went home to spend the evening with Appa and Amma. I’d couriered some gifts to her and my parents had bought some cake etc. I loved the way she sounded so excited over the phone. They went shopping and bought her a…