Hello, I am still here !!!

Yesterday, I needed some information about my travel dates in 2006 and went to check my old posts. To my surprise, I saw a couple of comments on my old posts, dated April 2009. Two were just information type and the third one, someone wanted important information and it was too late, because I saw it on Aug 29, 2009 and their comment was on April 1, 2009. Moreover, I normally don't read my old posts. I set up an e-mail alert long time ago - evidently it is not working.
Anyway, my request is 'Please write the comments under more recent posts which I see almost everyday'.
Currently, I am focusing more on my dreams blog. Here is the address again, for those that are interested. www.padmasdreams.blogspot.com and don't forget to comment.

We attended Srinivasa kalyanam at the Shiva-Vishnu Temple in Cleveland yesterday. Our grand daughter Geethanjali accompanied us. Before leaving she asked me 'what is special today?'. I said Lord Venkateswara and Padmavathi are getting married. She wanted to know why they were marrying again (she must have attended one before). My spontaneous answer was 'some people could not attend before and some want to see the wedding again and again - so God wants the priest to perform it on special days.' She appeared satisfied - but do any of you have a more appropriate explanation? Mind you, she is 4 years old. Pretty soon, my other grand daughter Sharanya will start asking questions. So, I should be prepared !!!

Krishna Ashtami - Aug 13th

I woke up with a dream. A young family wanted to have a Bhajan session as we were leaving their house. I felt that they were not prepared. No altar, no Swami's photo in the vicinity. I started walking towards the door. Rao lingered a little. Then I said to myself 'well, we can put a chair, cover it with a beautiful saree or cloth and put Swami's picture on it and that should be enough to have a bhajan'. I walked back and woke up.
Later on when I mentioned my dream to him, Rao said he also woke up with a very peaceful feeling.
The day went by, the two of us doing our own things. Rao suddenly suggested, why not we go to the Shiva-Vishnu Temple. We always have bhajans from 7:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday nights. Even if there is only one person in the house, we allocate that time for the bhajans. This, we have been doing since 1975 October. We don't attend anything else on Thursday evenings. Of course, while traveling, it is an exception. Anyway, I checked the Temple calendar and they had listed Krishna Janmashtami pooja at 9 p.m., Bhajans at 10 p.m. and Arti at 12:05 a.m. We live 45 minutes away from the Temple. I felt lazy to go at that hour. Then, a flash of my dream came - so, I decided to go.
Around 7:20 p.m., the phone rang. It was from a friend in New Jersey. Their daughter was diagnosed with brain tumor just two weeks ago and since then, the family, their relatives and friends have been praying for her health. The doctors, Radiologists, surgeons everyone (some with 25 years of experience in their field) thought it was a large tumor on the right side. Now they called to tell me that she had come home and that there it was never a tumor and what they saw in the MRI was only an infection of some kind. I have to check with the specialist in my family - my son Gopal when he returns from India next week. I got tears of happiness !!! I felt more urge to go the Temple. I thanked Baba for this miracle.
Glad I went. While Rao was driving, I thanked Hanuman and recited Chalesa 12 times. At the Temple, there was not a big crowd. Just a few familiar faces, besides those of the priests and the management. All the five priests participated in the pooja of Sri Balakrishna. There was a curtain behind the Balakrishna and they announced that it will opened after midnight and prasadam will be distributed around 12:15 a.m. I don't know what was behind that curtain.
After the pooja, Bhajans started promptly around 9:30 p.m. Three groups of people sang bhajans. A young man (pre-teen) sang solo, a Purandara Dasa's song. he had divine voice. We left at 10 p.m. There was some sweet prasadam made of sesame seeds in the hall. We were in the car by 10:06. On the way, we sang more Krishna bhajans.
I missed Geethanjali. She would have enjoyed this very much !!! But she was having lot of fun with her cousins in Atlanta !!
We saw the most beautiful sunset while going to the Temple along lake Erie. It reminded me of the Sunrises, Sunsets we enjoyed during our Yatra 3 in India. It was around 8:30 p.m.
On our way back, I looked at the sky to watch Meteor showers mentioned by the Astrology community, perhaps due to clouds, I did not see any. Or perhaps, there weren't any last night.

The grand daughters and some random photos from yatra 3

Sharanya wants to go with us. Backpack is ready !!!!




Geethanjali, the Princess

Into the future !!!!!!!

I just could not sit around for the next yatra to commence. It is not in the near future. But it is already in the planning stage. Suddenly, the three of us get this feeling - Oh no, we are getting older by the year. We need to finish visiting the difficult ones first. We have two on the list. Vaishno Devi and Amarnath. The best fit among the three of us is Rao, my husband. And, he is playing Tennis regularly and keeping himself more fit and active. I come next. I am trying - taking regular walks. To motivate me, my son and his family bought me the best pair of sneakers I ever wore. Nirmala is still thinking about the walks. We console ourselves saying 'we still have plenty of time'.

If any of my readers have already visited these places, I would appreciate comments and helpful hints on do's and don'ts.

In the meantime, I would like to diversify my Blog and write about my other personal interests. My daughter Gayatri is the one who came up with this suggestion. Hope you all walk with me there.

All ideas and suggestions are welcome.