Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness : Happy New Year 2021

For such a simple statement, it has different meanings for all. Our love for Hamilton lives on strong in our hearts. So glad that we were able to watch it streaming from our couches this year (multiple times). We have had nearly a year to try to practice the words from our favorite play. Here is our take on it (2020 edition).

Life: The most basic of rights. The right to be yourself. This, we all have mastered. We are definitely not trying to please each other in any way. However, Milan, Ayush and Avnie argue that the restrictions being imposed upon them by “authorities” aka parents are oppressive. Their asks range from: 7 hours of Madden or Minecraft in a day, unlimited screen time, pizza daily and the occasional epic board game contests. We gave in with 3 hours of screen time, pizza once a week and are giving them a good battle with Risk, Monopoly and charades.

Liberty: The ability to accomplish goals without feeling constrained. We remind each other that liberty is not something we automatically receive.

Pursuit of Happiness: Go for what you want as long as you are not infringing on anyone else’s happiness especially Mom’s.

Ayush (11) started 6th grade at Wellesley Middle School. In normal times, this would have been a monumental year. A bigger school, more independence, more academic workload. However, given the remote start to school, it was just not the same. Nevertheless, we were lucky to have a hybrid schedule early into the year. Ayush loves the two days he is at school. He refuses to take lunch
from home as supposedly the pizza at school is the best. He continues to love sports especially soccer and football. He has forgiven Tom Brady for leaving the New England Pats and has a newfound love for Cam Newton.

Milan (13) celebrated becoming a teenager in the COVID times. Luckily, it was summer and still the early days of the pandemic thus he had a few friends in the backyard to help celebrate with. He loves being at BB&N and the commute to Cambridge does not seem so bad now. He plays squash when he can and is an expert at Minecraft. There is a lot of coaxing required to get him out of his room and then there are times when we shut WIFI off completely to help get all the kids off screens. When he does come out of his room, I am keen to take advantage of it and try to banter of as much “mom advice” as possible. To his credit, he is doing great on his zoom school days and has the routine down pretty solid without being told what to do.

Avnie (8) is a 3rd grader at Fiske Elementary School and loves, loves, loves the two days that she gets to be at school. She is not a good candidate for remote school at all. I have found her watching you tube while “in class” which now means that she has to be supervised during class times. She is following in her brother’s footsteps and is a wonderful soccer player. She is playing basketball as well again this year and really enjoys it. Her Christmas list had “dog” listed five times, on the 5th line, she made it clear that it had to be a “Live Dog”. We managed to explain that Santa just cannot bring dogs into the sled. We are now on the search to find the newest member of our family. If you have recommendations, please share!

Atul has been working remotely for Hamilton Lane since Feb. He started off in the office on the 1st floor but realized he was way too close to the “action” of the kitchen, dining rooms etc. He has now shifted to the attic where none of us wander. When we do, it is a similar feeling as to being called to the principal’s office. Atul also is keen on decluttering as much as possible. There are epic moments to remember such as the time when Ayush was enjoying the sun during a remote school day on our patio table to only be asked to move from it as the table had been sold to a nice couple who patiently waited until I shifted him to our deck. 

I am still at Fidelity and working on Indelish. It takes up a lot of my time, but I love to grow something that is truly my own. Please do subscribe to Indelish.com and stay tuned for news upcoming soon.

I am going to assume that you, like me, love your children and are happy to have them home with you safe and hopefully healthy. I love having our family together, but I miss my quiet times and my routine. I have always been the “nurturer” in the family – it is somewhat of my job to try to make sure everyone is happy. It is my “job” to worry about everything full time. While everyone is under one roof, I have been striving to make sure everyone is taken care of. I want to make sure there is plenty of food on the table, everyone has clean clothes, clean sheets and they are never bored. Oy vey- that will not work for much longer because I am tired and there is just too much to worry about.

Wishing you and all of us a start of a year that is COVID free and the ability to meet and greet openly once again. To your health, joy and prosperity: Happy New Year 2021! 

 

Welcome 2020

During my walk this cold morning, the one thought that filled my mind above all was that time is so valuable. With Milan six years away from going to college and *gasp* , approaching his teenage years this year, I really do want to hold time still some days. If we had a way to look backwards from our old age, what would we change during the course of our life? I would think that quality time spent with our loved ones would seemingly win the majority of us. And since this letter hopefully finds us all in good health, we still have that gift of time with us. The end of a year is neither an end nor a beginning but a way for us to keep moving with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.

Thus, with a nearly a teenager in the house soon,  who seems to sometimes think that I am feeding him what he refers to as “glob”  ( I call it brain fuel) or with a sassy seven year old who claims the chair in her bedroom is certainly where the dirty laundry belongs or when a ten year old can easily school me on the fun in “rough” play. During all those times, I promise to take a deep breath and do “light” explaining after which I will gladly succumb to spending quality time together.

The new year has certainly bought plenty of changes for us.

Milan started at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School as a 7th grader. He did great at the transition and is thoroughly enjoying the change in pace offered there. The long commute though continues to be a challenge. Either Atul or I usually rush out of the house with him , shoes half on, at 6:50 to make the bus 10 minutes away in Newton. If we miss the bus, we are in for over two hours of commuting time roundtrip. Milan’s biggest benefit comes from the offerings for various level and types of sports. He is doing squash currently at school and absolutely loves it! We are happy to see him enjoying being active. He does complain at limited screen time at home but has somehow figured out how to undo any parental locks. I suppose that’s the power and price of education 😉

Ayush is in his last year at our beloved community school, Fiske Elementary. I hardly ever am sensitive and am feeling quite overwhelmed at seeing him nearing his graduation as a fifth grader. Walking to school and the opportunities for me to volunteer in the class are nearly over. Ayush lives on as our sports loving, kind and completely adorable child. Ayush plays in the band at Fiske and recently had a great performance in which he had to play a small solo percussion. He was nervous but great! His current favorite sports are basketball, football, soccer and cricket. He can be found at any given time reading up on how to improve his skills. He claims playing Madden on the xbox makes him a more tactical player. He is also over the moon at the thought of being remotely related to Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar (like sixth cousins somehow adjoined by same geographic regions).

Avnie is very proud of being a second grader at Fiske. She still claims her favorite subject is recess. She loves art, soccer and as of recently basketball. She loves to write stories that sometimes are hard to decipher without some sort of phonetic language code however she is happy to ready them to us. She cannot sleep without reading to us a book at night. Both Atul and I have “Interrupting Chicken” memorized by now incase you would like for us to recite it next time we meet.

The year has bought Atul lots of quality time with the kids since he was at home taking a break from finance. He started our meal kit venture “Indelish” together with me. Working together, I think did us a world of good as well ( I would like to believe so). It has definitely taught us patience in ways we cannot have imagined. Indelish is a labor of love and as any good thing , it is taking its time . We have not officially been able to launch yet. However, we hope to soon! So, please show your support by subscribing to our website https://indelish.com/. Atul will be returning to the finance field next week. He is excited about this wonderful opportunity and it is a position that is challenging enough to be eager about. It will be difficult for us as a family as it involves commuting from Philadelphia to Boston for Atul. However, we are blessed to be surrounded by the support of a wonderful community of friends.

For me, that means, running Indelish and managing the kids hectic schedules during the week while Atul is away. I am taking time to focus on things that bring me peace , my workouts, nutrition education and on all things related to meal kits. My mornings start with 5:00 AM walks listening to podcasts to help me along on self improvement and business related. If you have any good tips on great podcasts , please post in the comments below!  I finally convinced my parents and brother to take a vacation with us this Christmas. I am glad to check that off my “to do” list. I am hoping to make that a tradition as they have never really taken vacations in the past 15 years of running the restaurant in Pittsburgh. It was a nice break in the fast pace they are used to & allowed us to set some goals together as a family.

Wishing you all a year that is filled with journeys that strengthen your goals and desires. May we all always be surrounded with good health and the love of our family and friends.

Happy New Year 2020!

The Varma Family

Manisha, Atul, Milan, Ayush, Avnie