Roma

Today was our 'rest' day in Rome ... we landed around noon and took a cab into the city center and got to our hotel by 2:30-ish. The Rome airport, btw, is quite disastrous. We ended up exiting in the wrong terminal (a couple other people from our flight did the same thing) and ended up at a baggage claim that didn't have our baggages ... had to walk back 2 terminals and go thru security again just to get our stuff ...

Our hotel, the Romanico Palace Hotel & Spa is a five minute walk from the happening Via Veneto (and just a 15 minute walk to the Spanish Steps) but somehow being off the main road by just 5 minutes gives it such a different feel. Apparently all of Rome is gone on vacation this week, so it's exceptionally quiet in the city ... except, of course when you hit up the main touristy areas. The Spanish steps area was really crowded, but I couldn't believe how clean the streets and sidewalks were. The heat was really oppressive -- it was nearly 100 degrees around 3pm -- and we hadn't eaten (all restaurants were closed for lunch), had just gotten off a 12 hour journey (albeit a very comfortable business class for 10 of those hours) ... the heat kicked our ass. After a gelato (really good) and some walking around we decided we had to head back and take some rest -- there was no way we could stay awake until dinner.

After a 3 hour nap (which felt soooo good in the A/C) we decided to go to a small local joint for dinner -- still away from the touristy area. It was decent food ... I wouldn't say bad, and I wouldn't say great either. I was obsessing over trying 'cacio e pepe' (cheese & pepper) pasta, which I saw on an Anthony Bourdain 'No Reservations' episode on the flight over and got that -- it wasn't as authentic as his one from the show (was missing some components) but still a good dish and something totally different than what I would have normally tried and ordered. The pecorino and parmagiano was so tasty. Kingsuk got a carbonara, and then we split a tiramisu which was fantastic. King's table red wine was also really good he said.

We walked around the more happening area for the next two hours ... without any particular agenda -- just enjoying the 'raunak,' and the warm evening -- I love that I could wear a sleeveless dress at midnight and not feel cold.

I'm glad we're not doing Rome on this trip -- it's just too freakin hot. I also realized that I prefer humid heat to dry heat -- it's dry here and really kicked my a$$.

Ok, off to bed ... taking a train to Naples tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll blog more about this trip!

Nausea free!! (knock on wood)

... And just in time for Italy!! Last week at retreat (which I really should've written abt) was the first week I went puke free since week 7... Will Complete 16 weeks tomorrow, nearly 4 months! At the airport now, abt to board flight to Rome. Just stopping over in Rome for a rest day, then 3 days in sorrento, 3 days in positano, and 3 days in Venice!!

12 week ultrasound

This week was the 12 week ultrasound. Priti had come and spent the night before at our place, and we did our first trip to a maternity store and bought some essentials -- like the button extenders for jeans & pants (what a genius idea). Anyway, I was so distracted with Priti, that I forgot that I was supposed to drink a whole lot of water an hour before the appointment. I was really hoping that I hadn't messed up our ultrasound, bc I really wanted to get these measurements taken, so we could get the test results and finally tell everyone that I'm pregnant! 

Luckily, the lady still had a good view of the baby despite my deflated bladder. It was sooooo exciting to see the baby! I mean, it's just hanging out there, in my tummy ... and I don't even know it. I couldn't believe that it had a proper head, arms, legs, and you could even see the profile of the nose and mouth and chin ... and the most surprising part is that it's only 2 inches big -- the size of my thumb! Overenthusiastic first-time dad took 20 minutes of video footage of mainly white noise, of which sometimes you can make out the baby's shape. Anyway, I'll try to edit the video down to the 'exciting' parts and post that next.

9 weeks Completed.

It's been exciting telling a few people -- Guru ji, Celine didi, Rachna and Rina. Udayan sensed that something was up, and kept prying, asking Kutu what's wrong with Antara ... asking Brahma the same ... so that Brahma had to tell him. I'm so ready to tell everyone else, but we're just waiting for the tests to come out ok -- which will be around 12-13 weeks, after our NYC trip.

Have been battling vitamin induced nausea -- which I figured out today is because of the plant based DHA supplement that I've been taking. My Bengali fish-eating baby wants me to take the fish oil DHA supplements -- he's got no problem with those! I just threw up my dinner, and prenatal along with it.

Today's also the first day of summer camp and it kicked my ass. Teaching 4.5-6 year olds for 7 hrs a day is so hard ... keeping their attention span for that long is totally kicking my ass.

It's 10pm and I'm in bed. The baby hasn't even arrived and look how much it's changed my life. I haven't danced in so long. I haven't felt normal in so long. I just feel fat, bloated, and exhausted all the time. The second trimester is supposed to be awesome, but I have a hard time imagining how all this is suddenly supposed to change practically overnight. Then again, it came about practically overnight as well.

Still, it's all very exciting. Yesterday I was at Mona's baby shower and I was so excited at the thought of being at that phase myself. And then having a friend whose baby will play with own -- how crazy is that! Sapna didi needs to have her second so Baby Brahma has a cousin his/her age. I think Risha will be kinda close to his/her age -- less than a year apart -- that's pretty good. And Ria will be 2 yrs older -- that's a crew right there! Awww, that's so cute to imagine!! So many fun times ahead, knock on wood.

Ok, off to bed if I wanna survive another day of Summer Camp.

Here's a pic of Baby Brahma at 7 weeks -- looks like a dot within a dot to me. The bright dot is the heart, and you could see it flickering as it was beating. The doctor said 'the baby's looking beautiful,' and I thought to myself, 'ok, if you say so ...'

BFP -- Big Fat Positive

The morning of May 27th I was leaving for Mexico for my best friend Priti's bachelorette party. As usual, I left my packing to the last minute and went to bed at 1:30 am -- I had to wake up at 5:30 for my early morning flight. I had decided that I would take a home pregnancy test to make sure I wasn't pregnant so that I could drink all that I wanted in this upcoming, debaucherous weekend. I was 99% certain I wasn't pregnant, but knowing would just make me not worry about it.

Low and behold, I got a BFP -- a Big Fat Positive. By the way, there are a million acronyms that us normal people don't even know of in the TTC (Trying To Conceive) world, as I soon discovered. I had no idea what that positive meant ... I ran over to my snoring husband and asked him 'What does this look like to you??' He thought I was showing him a flight itinerary or something ... and then registered the stick in front of him ... 'Oh ... ok, I guess you're not drinking this weekend!'

My flight got cancelled that day (after spending 3.5 hours at the airport yelling at one person after the other) but the upshot was that I came home and scheduled a dr's appointment and was able to confirm the pregnancy!

Though I had never imagined that this would be a phase to share, the first person I told was Kutu. I sent her the MMS of my HPT (Home Pregnancy Test) and she was totally shocked! We both started planning how we were going to tell Mom & Dad. I didn't wanna do the desi 'You're about to become a grandmother' dialogue ... eeeeshhh ... but wasn't sure how to tell them ... we seriously had not thought this through very much.

I remembered that when Shilpa didi had gotten pregnant the first time (hahahaha!) ... she had told me by saying 'Hey, check out this new book I'm reading...' and handed me the 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' book ... and I remember screaming with excitement. I decided I would do the same with Mom & Dad. Kutu was excited and said, 'Make sure you video chat me at the time, I wanna see their reaction too.'

So I went down to Santa Cruz with my new book in tow. We got all of us on video chat ... at some point, Mom decides to leave the room. Kutu looks at me, and tries to gesture, 'what do we do now?' Daddy notices that us two are trying to have a private convo over video chat and leaves the room saying 'You're having you're private talk, I'll leave.' I finally had to demand 'Everyone come back to the room! This is family time!!!'

We segue the conversation over to the new books we're reading, and I say to mom, 'Lemme show you the new book I'm reading,' and hand her the book. 'Oh, achchha...good.' and awkward silence. Me and King were so confused -- were they not happy? Do they not showcase happiness for this kind of stuff in our family?? Finally I said 'No one's going to congratulate us?' And then Mummy's eyes widened with recognition and she screamed with excitement and hugged us. Talk about anti-climactic.

So far it's been pretty good ... going to the bathroom more, having disturbed sleep, and eating a lot more. Anyway, it's an exciting time, and I'm staying positive. I've decided I'm not going to have nausea!! I'm going to be the 25% lucky ones.

I can't wait until the 12 week mark when I don't have to keep this huge secret anymore! 

Player hater ... hate the game, not the player

What does that even mean??? I never understood that.

Anyway, after days of being frustrated with the logistical nightmare that is the production the size of Chhandam's RAMAYANA Dance Drama ... I am FINALLY excited about it!! What's crazy is that 24 hours from now, this performance -- that we have worked for hours and days and weeks and months for -- will be history! Such is the nature of performing .. "Once you get on stage, you're history," as Guru ji says.

But it feels pretty freakin' awesome while you're up there! 

A simple Tweet, and her life is complete

I was rolling my new foam roller on my IT band, practically screaming in pain at every juncture. It was 10:30 in the morning, and I had already rehearsed for 1.5 hrs, and done a 1 hour pilates class, and now was stretching my poor, broken body. I have another 2 hrs of dancing ahead of me in the evening, and I'm already feeling the dawn of plantars fascitis in my left heel -- it's not looking good. As I took a break from the torturous stretching, I looked at the News Feed on my FB, and saw this status update: 

Ohhh my god..! After much time, energy and devotion...Abhishek Bachchan finally tweeted me back directly on Twitter!!! I wished him a "have a great day today AB!" and he said "thank you and the very same to you too"...AHHH!!! My life is complete. ♥ (followed by 27 likes and 15 comments of how amazing this girl is, how lucky she is, congrats, etc. Who knows how much this number will grow to by the end) 

Now, had this been a teenager who had posted this, I would have laughed it off. I would even extend it to an undergrad student -- I remember being pretty ecstatic when Jackie Shroff randomly phoned me one morning in my Berkeley apartment because I had written an email on his website -- though there was no Facebook back then, I doubt I would have publicized that to the world, but that's just me. 

But this is a young woman in her mid-20's. Those who are responding to her are also in their 20's and even 30's. This is our next generation of  professionals who will run the world in various industries -- doctors, lawyers, businessmen/women, scientists, politicians -- the creme de la creme of the Indian community that makes us the most affluent immigrant group in the United States. This generation will be defining the values upheld by the future generation of Indian Americans to come. The fact that getting a TWEET from Abhishek Bachchan -- validated this girl's self-worth and made not only her feel like this was the happiest moment of her life ... but also made her friends envious of her 'star status,' is completely beyond comprehension to me. 

What is it with people's obsession with Bollywood stars? I understand being a fan of the movies, the actors, the music, etc -- but where does one cross the line from simply appreciating something, to starting to define their own sense of self around these stars? What really do these people achieve by taking a day off work, to stand all night in the cold, outdoor shoot in Healdsburg to see Shah Rukh and Kajol shoot for MNIK? Ok, they saw them in real life ... even got a picture with them ... now? खेल ख़तम पैसा हज़म. 

Firstly, what kind of values are we upholding if we are basing our self worth (and deeming other people's worthiness) on who they know, or who they mingle with? As if getting a tweet from Abhishek Bachchan is really knowing him, but the idea that's making everyone salivate is the fact that this girl could possibly, someday, know Abhishek Bachchan. Oh my f---ing God!!!!! (followed by squeals of giddiness)

Secondly, what kind of values are we propagating if we are idolizing a mediocre actor whose only claim to fame is his last name -- Bachchan? Even Abhishek Bachchan said at one point in an interview that his last name was the only reason he was getting any movies, he'd be an idiot to remove that from his name (as his numerologist advised). I guarantee you that none of these girls drooling over Abhishek right now would turn twice to look at him if he was named Abhishek Banerjee and offered to buy them a drink at V Bar in Santana Row (then we'd see standard bitch Indian girl behavior, but that's completely off the topic!) Perhaps this idolizing of the 'son of a famous person' is just an extension of the first issue, where we base our self worth on who we know. Actually, it would be the other way around: because we value others only on who they know (in this case, valuing Beta Bachchan based on Papa Bachchan), we, in turn, do the same in our lives with ourselves and our friends. 

Where is these people's self-esteem? Do they really validate their superiority or luck in life on chance encounters from celebrity stalking? And what do they achieve by that brief encounter? What if I'm the one who is in the wrong, by not finding a meaningful happiness in a 38 character typed message sent from 10,000 miles away from a person who has never met you, and could never be bothered to meet you in their life? 

Anyway, I was feeling really upset about this, and felt the need to vent. I read a few articles about celebrity worship, and found a quote from a Blogger named Jennifer Gibson that I liked on the subject: 'Idolizing or admiring someone for their accomplishments, and then pushing yourself to excel in the same way are positive elements. But, are we worshiping celebrities for the sake of being famous, or are we worshiping true heroes? ... If we confuse heroes and celebrities, we are depriving ourselves of real role models. We should admire those who are famous because they are great, not those who seem great because they are famous.' 

That, in the bold, is the crux of my issue with all this.