Appreciate your Support

It has been humbling seeing all your messages, your emails, texts and phone calls. We all deeply appreciate your expression of sympathy. Thank you is a very small word for the support you all have shown us.

It has been tough, and I cannot comprehend how hard it is to come to terms that I don’t have my Amma anymore. I pick up the phone so many times to call her and realize that I will never ever be able to talk to her in my remaining life.

The only consolation is that my Father is staying with me at this point. I get to take care of him, cook for him, console him and share my grief with him. He is devastated. I still see the undeterred faith he has in God and Rayaru. It truly amazes me, since I myself am devastated and question so many times even the existence of God having seen this tragedy.

Once again, I am truly grateful for your support, thoughts and prayers. I am not sure how soon I will start posting here. I am still having trouble getting to terms that my Mom is not there. I am not interested in anything, so might take a few more months to be active here.

Stay safe, stay healthy and stay isolated.

May God and our beloved Rayaru bless us all.

Miss you Mom

A day which has etched like none other in the Rao household – 02/24/2020. This is the day we lost our dearest Mother. The loss is unbearable, very raw,  and the deepest sorrow a heart can ever bear. 

A mom who was an exceptional daughter to her parents. A daughter who lives behind her 104 year old Mother in deep grief.

A mom who was a doting Sister to her siblings. A sister who left her brother tear up every time he talked about her, and was quite eager just before her passing away to spend her time with her brother and Mom in Mysore.

A mom who was truly a devoted wife to her Husband. A wife who never left her Husband even for a single day alone. A devoted couple who were married close to 60 years.

A mom who was a role model to her kids especially her daughters. A mother who was a trail blazer showing her kids how to push for their dreams, how to make a mark in this tough world, how to work hard, how to be involved in your kids, how to balance work and home.

A mom who was truly proud of her Son-in-laws. A mother-in-law who was like a Mom to her Son-in-laws who adored her.

A mom who was an amazing grandmother to her grandkids. A grandmother who showed unconditional love towards her grandkids and cherished all their accomplishments.

A mom who was an amazing relative and friend to so many of her relatives & friends. She was there for everyone that needed her during their good and tough times. And yes, we need someone to support us during tough times.

A mom who was an incredible professor to her students. A professor who supported all girls studying in her college and helped them succeed by paying their fees, by providing them emotional support and many a times talking to parents to let the girls continue further studies.

A mom who was kind to anyone she worked with. To the auto driver, to the watchman, to the care taker, to the construction worker next door, each and everyone she touched, loved her for her generosity and empathy she showed.

A mom who will be dearly missed by one and all she touched in her life. A mom who will be dearly missed every second. A void in our life which will never be filled.

Who do we call Amma/Mom now? 

Where do we find the loving arms which waited for us to fly to India?

Where do we find the mom who kept counting not days but minutes for our arrival?

Where do we find the mom with whom we could share anything and everything?

Where do we find the mom who was proud of our achievements?

Where do we find the mom who never ever judged us?

Where do we find the mom who when said “Amma I love you” said “Me too”?

Where do we find the mom who was a fighter and showed us incredible resilience by saying I don’t have anything to worry when she was battling sickness?

A void in our life which will never ever be filled.

We love you MOM. We pray and wish we get a Mom like you in every life, and wish we can be a mom like you to our Kids.

Rao Family

Some Updates

It has been months since I wrote any blog post or even replied to any comment. It has been very hectic the past few months ever since 2019 began. Traveling across continents and quite frequently literally took a toll on me.

I had no energy and just didn’t have the will to do anything else. Most comments were approved automatically so didn’t even login into the blog.

I am back home now, and hopefully don’t have to travel at least for the next two months. I needed to stay home and was missing home really badly.

I hope you all had a wonderful summer and hope to see you all more often in the blog.

Thanks once again for all the wonderful comments and asking about me. I really really appreciate the same.

Hope to continue posting in the coming days.

Some Updates

It has been almost more than a month since I wrote anything in my blog. October was a tough month for us. October 19th Friday we performed satsangha at my house. I was hoping to post pictures and the details before flying to Nice, France to speak at a conference on Sunday October 21st.

On Saturday night our time 9.30 PM, we received news that my Husbands eldest brother had suffered a massive heart attack and lost his life.

My brother-in-law was a staunch devote and performed all festivals, rituals as dictated in our scriptures. On Saturday which has ekadashi, he had fasted. Dwadashi, he woke up early morning at 3.45pm, cooked chaturmasya food, and was performing Devara pooje. He was about to perform Saligrama pooje, when we suffered a massive heart attack, collapsed and lost his life in front of God, doing god’s pooje.

It was a huge shock for all of us. Everyone I talked to said they had never heard anyone who lost their life performing God’s pooje. My brother in law was crazy about God. Never ever in my 27 years of married life did I ever hear him complain about God. He always said ” we are reaping what we did in our previous birth, why should we ever blame god”. I have never seen anyone filled with so much Bhakthi and loved doing anything and everything to God.

It was a huge shock, we attended all the 13 days rituals and returned back to USA on November 8th. We didn’t celebrate Diwali. It was too shocking to even light lamps. When the mind is not in the right frame, what festival can you do?

It is almost close to 4 weeks, and we are slowly accepting the fact that he is no more. It is so unbelievable, how can you just lose your life one day, just doing pooje, I cannot even think about it. The more I relive that day, the more I become depressed.

Life is so short, you are alive one day and dead the next day. It has been tough. Many of you asked why there were no updates, hence I thought I should share the challenges we faced the past 1 month.

I will start posting soon, especially the Tulasi Habba coming on 20th. Even if we are not allowed to celebrate, we can perform  festivals on a small scale.

Make sure you tell your loved ones every single day, you love them, you miss them, and you care for them.

Thanks so much for all your support.

Blog Hits a New Record -1 Crore 10 Million Views

January 16th 2018 will be etched in my mind like none other. Today, this blog, which truly has become like my second child reached 1 crore or 10 Million Views.

I am not sure what made this so very popular, everywhere I go, I hear about the blog and how it has helped many celebrate festivals, prepare food, be a better person, and or in many cases pushed them to do more. To many of you I have met personally, many of you I know through this blog, many of you are my ardent followers, many of you told me I inspire you, many of you who love me unconditionally a VERY BIG THANK YOU!

It is just mind blowing to know the popularity of this blog, the nook and corners of the world it has reached, the group of people it has reached, young, old alike you all have written to me, inspired me to be a better person each and every day. I owe a lot to this blog to have made be a better person.

I am still not sure what’s next for this blog? What other records will it break? What way I can help others? What way the blog can be made use of?

I need sometime to think about all of the questions above.

Once again a BIG THANKS TO ALL OF YOU. THIS BLOG WOULDN’T HAVE REACHED WHERE IT IS WITHOUT ALL OF YOU.

And it goes without saying, my sincere namaskaras to Lord Almighty and our beloved beloved RAYARU.

MAY THIS BLOG CONTINUE ITS JOURNEY TOWARDS REACHING 2 CRORES OR 20 MILLION HITS.

 

#BeBoldForChange

Today is International Women’s day. The UN theme for 2017 is Empowering Women: Empowering Humanity #BeBoldForChange. What better way to celebrate it than by writing a blog post about breaking the stereotype messages we hear all the time?

I am bold and strong being a woman.

I am bold and fierce being a Senior Principal Consultant in the Security Consulting world, which is dominated by Men.

I am bold and loving and caring being a Mom, in spite of having missed a few award ceremonies and a few tennis lessons for my Daughter.

I am bold and a loving Wife, and still cry on the shoulders of my amazing Husband.

I am bold and still scared while driving at night, and call my Husband.

I am bold and an amazing cook, but still crave for a plate of food to be handed to me when I return from a long day at work. I enjoy every bite of it when handed to me by none other than a Man my Husband.

I am bold and a woman, and Mentor many men at work.

I am bold and a Hindu, and still believe in the Supreme Lord Krishna.

I am bold and a staunch devote of my beloved Guru who is again a Man.

I am bold and a confident woman, and speak at many events and conferences which is filled by Men.

I am bold and adventurous and travel alone for Work.

Who says that being a woman means doing the stereotypes? I have broken several barriers, and push my Daughter, my Mentees, woman I work with, woman I met in my everyday life to break those barriers, and still be a woman.

To quote from the blog I wrote for my Company with minor changes:

This International Women’s Day, based on the theme I want to challenge women around the world to be brave and bold. Be BRAVE and be BOLD, sign up for new challenges which you have never accomplished. Challenge yourself to break the stereotypes.

I will close this post by a famous quote from our 44^th President of the United States Barack Obama “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

 

Kartivirarjuna Mantra – iPhone

Since I posted the mantra for recovering lost items in 2009, I have seen hundreds of comments on this post. You can read the post here:

• Prayer for Recovering Lost Items

Last Saturday, we went to Costco the wholesale shop near my house to buy a few items for my Daughter Sneha who was home for Thanksgiving holiday. Just like all other girls, Sneha was excited seeing all the clothes and items on sale. We went around for almost an hour stocking up the cart, and when we were almost ready to leave Sneha says ” Mom Dad where is my iPhone?”. We were like it is with you, and we hurriedly went through all the items in the cart and the phone was found nowhere. we looked in all of our coats, pockets and handbags. Being a Saturday, Costco was jam packed with people. we were very sure we will not find the phone.

We were so upset, and I told her “Sneha, let us recite our Kartivirarjuna Mantra”. We started reciting the mantra and went to the main entrance and started to trace back our steps. I told her, have you enabled Find my iPhone, can we test it? She took my iPhone, entered the required details, and it showed us the phone was in the store and we started walking towards the direction the phone started giving us. And there it was ringing in between 4 pairs of jeans. My Husband was close there, and he immediately got the phone.

So, our great Kartivirarjuna Mantra and Find my iPhone helped us find the phone. All is well that ends well.

Just wanted to share with you all this incident. We have to do our part and leave everything else to God to help us.

South Indian Vegetarian Low Carb Diet – Our Progress

It has been almost a month since we started the low carb diet. I wrote in great detail why I wanted to go on this diet. You can read all about it here:

• South Indian Low Carb Diet

We have continued the diet, have not eaten Rice or any rice items. No Upma, No Avalakki, No Dosa, No Idli or No Chapathi(just me). And No Akki Roti  or Sabudhana Khichadi which we love. 😉

Initially for a day or two, I used to have slight headache, now even that has gone away.

We threw away all the bread, Pizza dough, all the potatoes we had. We visited my Daughter for Mothers day, but didn’t visit any restaurant. I am surprised how we always combine any celebration with food or going to a fancy restaurant. I told my daughter instead I wanted to go hiking, and we went on a hike and walked almost 7 miles.

It has been easy doing this diet since even my Husband stopped eating any rice or rice products. I make or sometimes he himself makes 1 or 2 chapathis.

So, if you wish to do this diet, make sure you have a buddy who is willing to do this with you. You definitely need a support system.

I still make all the south Indian dishes, Rasam, Sambar, Vegetables, Khadi, Yogurt, Raitas, lots of Kosambaris.

Yesterday, since it was Pushya Nakshatra if it was my normal diet, I would have made a sweet dish. However, yesterday I made Nucchina Unde, Kosambari, Majjige Huli or Khadi. No sweet dish, instead recited Rayaru’s name a couple more times.

It has also been easy doing this diet since I have not traveled anywhere. Starting next week, I am going to travel again until almost end of July. I hope to continue doing this diet.

I have more energy, sleep better, and am happy losing weight. I have no portion sizes, I eat as much as I want. Since I am eating lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains, I feel full soon. I should warn that this diet is expensive, since you need to buy lots and lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and pulses.

The one fruit which we have not eaten is Banana. The one vegetable we have not eaten is Potato. Other than that, all fruits and vegetables can be consumed. We have not skipped breakfast even for a single day, and breakfast has been oats every single day.

Share with me your experiences.

P.S: If you really have chronic illness, please consult your Doctor.

South Indian Vegetarian Low Carb Diet – Red Kidney Beans Salad

Quick and easy Red Beans Salad with colorful red and yellow peppers. No Onion. You can eat it raw, but I like it cooked for a few minutes. The pepper still has its crunch.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 Can washed and rinsed Red Kidney beans
• 1/2 large red bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 Large yellow bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 large green bell pepper (optional)
• 2-3 green chillies
• 1 tsp oil, mustard seeds, Jeera and Hing
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pan, add oil and when hot mustard seeds, jeera and hing
2. Add bell peppers and green chillies
3. Fry until translucent
4. Once done, add red kidney beans and cook covered until soft
5. Add salt, cilantro if you wish and lemon juice.

 

South Indian Vegetarian Low Carb Diet – Day 4 Lunch

A simple day 4 lunch which includes lots of proteins and really colorful vegetables. Colorful, delicious and completely healthy. This was prepared on a Thursday, so no onion was included.

So, the plate has Red Kidney beans Salad with lots of colorful bell peppers, Carrot and Cucumber Kosambari, and Cucumber Raita.

You can find recipes for a variety of Kosambaris using both Channa Dal and Moong Dal here:

1. Channa Dal Kosambari
2. Carrot Kosambari
3. Cucumber Kosambari

You can find several recipes for Raita variations other than the plain cucumber ones here:

1. Badnekayi Mosaru Bajji or Roasted Eggplant Raita
2. Carrot and Tomato Raita

I will post the recipe for Red Kidney Beans Salad soon!