R-Rated

Ah, what a month it was that just went by. Summer turned to Fall and the weather oscillated from hot to cold to hot again. It shouldn't be a surprise to most of you as to why September would be my favorite month of the year (This is your Captain {Obvious} speaking) but this edition of 2023 was a season of many firsts.  Lords Krishna and Ganesh - hello, my good relatives (#IYKYK) - blessed us in the same month for the first time in many years. While the R3K household generally does not do elaborate preparations to welcome our Gods to our humble abode, with the recent shopping spree in India, there were some feel-good moments to cherish. To make matters fun (for the kids), we all got to witness Lord Ganesha bid goodbye to Earthly beings as he was lowered in a tub full of H2O to hopefully resurface with even more pomp next year. Another first. Master Riaan and yours truly got a chance to visit the friendly confines of the famous Wrigley Field - Home of the Chicago Cubs Baseball Team

August 23, 2023 will go down in (ironically) Earth's history as the day the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) super successfully soft-landed the 'Vikram' lander in its Chandrayaan-3 mission to Dombivli...err... the Moon - on the 'never-landed-by-any-country-before-India' South Pole. Long statement to read? Well, turns out going from Sriharikota to the Moon wasn't a short ride either!  While Indians all over the globe were thrilled about the much-anticipated mission, for at least one kid in the R3K household, because it was an early morning telecast in the States, the mission may very well have been dubbed, the Chandra-yawn ! Brother couldn't stay awake if his life depended on it. As we tuned into YouTube to witness this momentous occasion, couple of things caught my eye.  First, the announcers - a gentleman (explaining in pure Hindi) and a lady (alternating in good layman's English) gracefully explained the current situation, ISRO's past succ

You know how many humans have been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and the condition manifests itself at intervals depending on the situation; a similar behavior is seen among man's best friends, especially the strays. First, a first for us (among many other firsts during this trip). As my father, Kirti and yours truly watched Rocky aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani last night and got off the theater at 1 AM (yessir - my father, Kirti and I is a trifecta one would normally not associate as the group going to a movie with a 10PM start), the logical idea was to look for an auto to take us home. As soon as I trudged off in the direction of Mulund station where autos are normally available, a small hitch! A few stray dogs, who normally would be well behaved during the day, figured now would be the best time to put on the Manjulika avatar and display their beastly best behavior. Wrong turn, Rajesh. And so we decided to walk the roughly 10-12 minutes. Brilliant decision, says Kirti,

H_LL_ M_MB__ No, your eyes aren't playing tricks and this is definitely not my version of Wordle. If you are looking for the missing "A, E, I, O, and U" that make up the Hello Mumbai title of this blog, well, I got news for you. They have fallen in one of the million different roads that make up the potholes in dear old  Aamchi Mumbai . Hard-working Mumbaikars might as well hold their backs as they get off an auto or their choice of torture mumbling "AIYYO", day in and day out, to and from their place of business. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. I now think that the glitzy high-rises that dot the city's skyline is nothing more than a smokescreen to divert attention of the occupants of a vehicle to avoid looking down at the craters that might put their lives in jeopardy! Hell, screw the moon, ISRO can land the Chandrayaan-3 near Airoli, if it chooses to. Same difference! Rightfully so, we pride on the fact that cashless payments have made humongous strides to make pe

As I eventually made the nearly 20-hour flight across the Atlantic and Indian oceans to land in Mumbai after a 7.5 year gap, there were quite a few firsts that I wasn't expecting. #1: Dear Emirates Airlines, if you are reading this blog, may I request that you provide a vegetarian meal with NO BRINJAL (EGGPLANT) please. It isn't the most popular veggie by any means and one that I stay away from even if my life depended on it. What happened to good old #Paneer? #2: Dear Mumbaikar (or at least I think you are one) to whom I requested making a phone call, I asked to make a call, not steal your kidney. Where was the famous #SpiritofMumbai that's been advertised as true? #3: Dear Monsoon, please let up a little bit. I don't recall a brutal stretch of downpour ever. Is this the true face of the renowned #SouthwestMonsoonWinds? In the first 2 days of being here, I did notice a world of difference but very little change - at least in my backyard of Mulund (East). Too many under

I assume there comes a time in everyone's life when you think that you are out of options, out of luck, staring at potentially life-altering uncertainties. You wish, you hope, and you pray harder than you have ever prayed, that you get an answer, any answer that will provide some clarity and direction. Days drag on, weeks turn into endless months building anxiety that I never really felt before.  Then one day, you wake up and find yourself with an unexplainable stroke of good luck. An event that has never happened, only that it happens to you and miraculously, happens for you. Let me explain. The year is 2020 and the back-story goes as far back as 2016. Yes, the year, we came back to Chicago. As a person from India, working in the US requires you to be on a non-immigrant visa, of which there are several types. Without going into the complexities of the US visa system, let's say for the purposes of this story, all we need to know is the term "H-1B". In late 2019, I go

Nearly seven and a half years since my last blog post, and now with the family in India (and me about to join them in a couple of weeks), I am reviving or at least attempting to revive, a passion of mine - blogging. So many things have changed since I last posted; parents visited twice (2016, 2019), in-laws visited once (2017), bought a house (2019), kids grew up (thank you Google photos for reminding us time to time what we created), re-connected with old friends, visited my brother (2021), changed jobs (2022), stayed State-side without a chance to visit India (until now) and of course, a world altering event in March of 2020 that brought everyone to their knees and reset how things are meant to be. While I am eternally grateful to have escaped Covid without any long term repercussions, especially with the family, near and dear ones, all in decent health - there were moments that were truly scary and confusing.  The kids, now 9.5 years old, have grown up so fast - and to see them do w