News in Malayala Manorama

Angame ente perum Pathrathinte front pageil vannu ;-) News about me and my Mars mission came in Malayala Manorama. Joysan and Manju found it in Mumbai edition.

School Prep

Ichu and Devu got their lockers assigned in their Pre school. They met their teacher as well. Ichu didn't want to leave the school after the appointment and Devu was the other way around.

Hugsy

Devu hugging Ichu when she fell down and became upset.

Ichu' Puzzle

Ichu proudly displaying the first puzzle she solved all by herself. Actually it is amazing as it was not an easy one.

Ichu at Starbucks

Took Ichu to Starbucks indoors for the first time. As soon as she entered she said "Yummy smell".

Mars One

Applied to go to Mars via the Mars One program, the first of its kind.

 

Indian Independence Day

Happy Independence Day.

Morning Rays of Hope

An awesome capture of Morning Rays.

Kids Names

Kids showing off their names written by them.

Pony Baby

Devu with her favorite Pony Baby.

At Bowling Place

Ichu and Devu attended P&R's Birthday at a Bowling & game place in Frisco.

Happy birthday,Ache

Today is our Ache's birthday:)

We gave him gifts and decorated a wall with pictures that we coloured for him.

Have a wonderful birthday,Ache....

Ready for Temple

Ichu and Devu ready for temple visit.

First Family Movie

Finally we made it as a whole family to the movie theater. Kids were super excited to have their Amma with them. Watched Smurfs 3D. Devu lost interest half way during the movie and started sucking thumb and started twirling Anjus hair. 

To Ichu and Devu

Open letter to Devutta and Ichippi...

This is an open letter from Acha to both of you to read when you get older, time enough to understand the real world...and if Acha is not there to tell you this , or if you ever get pissed off at Acha for taking certain decisions in your life that affected your life in terms of the places you live…

This will not be in any chronological order, it is written as thoughts starts flowing into Achas mind…..

Started writing this in Portland, OR, USA on 06May2011:

Life for Acha and Amma has come to a certain point where we have to take some decisions on where we should continue our lives - India or USA. The main reasons on considering a relocation to India:

• To start with it was difficult to take care of 2 babies at the same time, Yeah I know its not your fault or something you care, but we have to think of your well being and comforts - So we started shipping in Grandpa and Grandma back and forth, but they were hating it coming to US and getting stuck indoors with no social life…
• Acha had back issues, but Amma was the main person who was pulling our lives together with her extra support
• When Amma started developing severe disc related issues after the fall she had in India in Sep 2010, our main backbone was affected -- Devutta you wont remember that, she was holding you and going down the stairs outside the TVM home and she slipped and fell down, she held on you and saved you big time.. It was a scary fall and Acha stood there watching it…still feels the pain of it….
• Acha was not able to buy a house, as we were waiting on the Green card, yeah, you guys don’t care about that as you both are US citizens….
• Was stuck at the same job and place for a long time - 5.5 yrs, that was too much for Acha to take, but decided to stay put, till the Green Card comes in place
• No social life for Acha and Amma - actually that was our problem, we didn’t want to take you guys out too much and get exposed to too much germs..yep Acha was and is germophobic…
• We were always scared, whenever you guys get sick, even if it is a minor cold. Devutta scared the hell out of us with the Febrile seizure related to the first ear infection and we had to call ambulance in.. Then she cut her throat by jumping out of the bed with pencil in the mouth..

Inspite of all the above reasons, we decided to continue our lives here, as we knew it was only a matter of few years till the time you guys get to 4yrs… and we didn’t want to move you from your birth country without your consent…

But then to add to the mess, a big news came in --

Acha's company T-Mobile was being taken over by ATT, the announcement came in on March 20. This was a real concern as this would jeopardize all our plans.. As this will affect our base….

The risk of job less without Green Card was too much for Acha to take and hence decided to start looking at India as an option…

So if at all we moved back, those are the reasons….

8/2/2013 - Dallas

Kiddos, we moved to India, Acha couldn't take that job and place for more than 6 months and we all came back into Dallas in 2012. Now we are in Dallas for the past one year.....

My Business Trials

After going through a complete shakeup of relocating back and forth from India, I had decided to try something on my own, but didnt know where to start. So after coming back to US, I went around and explored any opportunity I had to pursue this dream. Following were some of the trials:

1. With S & A to start up and build up old "As" in full swing
2. With S &A on a software app to be developed by hiring people in India
3. With S &A on Cube
4. A then completely dropped off
5. S and I had a call with Cube person with no progress
6. Me with D on H. Dragged S also into this. Didnt go anywhere. We asked for a share in H which didnt happen.
7. Talked to V on joining hands. Started the first one by printing cards and paying visit to Rig manufacturers. Negotiated for a deal for weeks and got a great price point, but no luck from B in India.
8. With V on Oil Rig Part project. No advancement there as well.
9. With V on starting a Hyundai dealership.
10. With V using P bhai to start a tie up with Kochachan in India.
11. With V on starting up an Indian grocery store. This deal became close to cut, but the building owner backed out on the agreed rent. I went and negotiated directly with the guys in Arlington, TX.
12. V and S on another store.
13. Mutliple discussions with S from India - very lucrative, God knows where it will lead. Only project ongoing...
14. With A from Metro to start their US Operations.
15. With V again to work with B bhai - Meeting with him mid Feb
16. With V and H chet on something with an investment to get GC
17. With Lan for new startup
18. With Jeff on "Korean Chicken"
19. With Vij and B bhai at "On The Border" - a Big Positive meeting
20. From B on the GPS stuff
21. With B and V on being together.
22. Lan called again to restart the plans
23. With Vij Uncle and P chitt for a thermal paint project - Didn't go anywhere, seems to be a fake one
24. With B again, still hanging in the air - I lost interest due to their pathetic response time
25. With H chet on with V uncle
26. With Kish and his team on a telecom venture. Multiple discussions and ppts submitted.
27. With U on something together

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4th Birthday Party

We were not sure whether we will be able to celebrate Devu and Ishu's Birthday party this year due to various issues. But during one of the car journeys when we asked them about the Birthday celebrations, they were very excited on the thought itself and they demanded separate cakes. So decision was made, and venue and everything fixed in matter of days. I visited several places selected by Anju and decided to do the party at Bounce U, Plano, thinking that there wont be enough kids since everyone is in India. Send the evite out and it turned to be around 60+ people including 25 kids. Devu and Ishu enjoyed every bit of it and was soooo happy..... Some pics from Bipin. Starting with an old