Awesome Atlantans Meet - Feb 23rd

Hi All,

Just wanted to share some memories of a wonderful day we had this weekend on Feb 23rd.

Four of us - Raji, Nivedi, Hema and I met for a potluck lunch at Raji's house. Raji very graciously agreed to host us all and she along with her husband Manee and daughters Akila and Sindhu were the perfect hosts...

Lovely, lovely house btw...the exterior as well as interior was beautiful!!

My hubby and I picked up Hema and we reached Raji's place around 1:30 pm...Hema very sweetly entertained lil Diya in the back seat whenever she was getting irritable (which was pretty often)...so a big thankyou Hema!!

We arrived to find a smiling welcome from Raji and her wonderful family...and that a beaming Nivedi and her hubby Gopal had beat us to it by 5 minutes! lol...anyways, we all sat down to have yummy crunchy onion and cabbage pakoras with an out of this world tomato and coconut chutney that Raji had prepared...I had to tell myself to leave some room for the main lunch but believe me it was quite a battle...:)

I know you guys are now waiting to hear about the food!! So here goes that info...

Raji had prepared Vegetable Biryani, raita and a big chocolate chip ice cream cake (which Diya ate with full gusto )
Nivedi had brought Bisibela bhaat and potato curry
Hema had brought home made gulab jamuns
I had brought cholle and puris

After the long drawn out lunch during which we did a lot of gupshup, chatting and laughing, we ended up in the living room where we spend a couple of hours just chatting and laughing some more...he he...:)

It was great fun and all in all we had a wonderful, wonderful time...I can't think of another day in recent memory that I had enjoyed so much...Good food, friends and interesting conversation - what else do you need to have a good time...

The IndusMen too got along famously and this time they were the ones who talked of having our next get together outdoors as a summer picnic...renting an RV and taking a joint vacation...talk about getting the IL bug...

Akhil and I stayed till about 5:30 pm after which we had to leave to do some last minute baby shopping for going to India next week...so even though we wanted to stay so much with others...Raji and Manee talked about getting pizzas for dinner...we had to leave...others stayed back and I am sure had a great evening together...

I forgot to take my camera so cannot post any pix right now...but others did take some pictures and once they put them here, you can take a look at some kodak moments of all of us...:)

The only thing that we wished that could have given all of us more enjoyment (maybe 25% more from the existing 175% already)..lol...was if more IL'ites could have joined us..

We have so many living in Atlanta and near by areas...maybe in the next one, we will have our numbers stretch a bit...:)

Anand Chitra - AC dear, you gotta make a trip up here one day...we all missed meeting you and talked about you...

Nidhi - We hope you can join us the next time...everybody remembered meeting you and your cute family...

SS - The new shining light of IL lived in Atlanta and we all were so interested in meeting you..Hope you can come to our next get together..and no, we will not put your pic online without your permission...

Nivedi - I love your sense of humor more and more as I meet and talk to you...lol
Raji - your graciousness and friendliness is unparalleled...I am amazed at how well your daughters are brought up...because of you and Akila and Sindhu, I could have an un-interrupted lunch for the first time when outsie with Diya...bless you...:)
Hema - you're a sweetheart...and I'm so glad that you could make it...

Please do add in your comments and thoughts about whatever I missed out on...specially the media and projector room and its hypnotic effect on Gopal...and how did the evening go after we left...

love to all of you,
Aarushi

Dear Aarushi ma’am

Wow! Wonderful!

Think Atlanta is trying to compete with Chennai.
My dear Chennai folks, I think we should all get alert!:hide

This is not fair ma'am.. Its 11.10 p.m here and you make me drool…
Thank God! You dint post the pics of your yummy dishes..

I now wish Chennai was somewhere near to Atlanta on last Friday jus for a few hours!. You make me yearn to make a visit to Atlanta to meet you all by your beautiful write-up!!

Great-going Atlantas!! Keep it up!

Waiting here for the pics..

(Dear SS ma'am..You can boldly go for the next meet..As Aarushi ma'am has mentioned nobody will put your pic without your consent..Note : I dont include myself in that 'nobody'..Pls do come to my home when you visit India next..I want to put dozens of your pics here in IL..If not that is possible, atleast i will be able to put your real name here)

Hi Aarushi

I thank you so much for sharing your memories and i am really glad that you enjoyed it so much. I am really glad that you came to my home and thankyou for the wonderful gift.After you left Hema's husband came and he joined us. We were talking and had a good time. We all had dinner and they all left only at 8.30pm.

It was really a lovely day this saturday. I never knew how time fly by. Hope to meet you guys soon. I wll try to put the pictures we took.
Have a wonderful and safe trip to India.

Raji

Hi Nivedi and Hema

Thank you for a wonderful saturday. Thank you for the delicious food. Once Aarushi comes back from her India trip we should plan for an outdoor picnic just as we planned.

raji

Thanks to Raji, Hema, Aarushi and their families - we had another good meet.

Raji's home is large, spacious and very well maintained. Raji's family were very gracious hosts.Each of us found a cozy corner and it felt like we were outside Atlanta. Their Media Room is the star spot of their home. Equipped with a projector, the room transforms into a mini theater when the lights are off.

Generally I have noticed men and women forming seperate groups, but here we were all eating and chatting together.

After a heavy meal, we were slowing down, when we went for a round of Chocolate Chip Cake Ice-Cream. The chocolate began to play havoc with our energy levels. Dia began bouncing like a spring ball, jumping on table tops and climbing stairs in lightening speed. Gopal who was enjoying a siesta in the Media Room came back to the group after receiving his shot of Chocolate fuel.

Hema's husband Prassana joined us in the evening. In spite of working all day on a Saturday, he drove long to join the group. What was supposed to have been a lunch meet soon extended into a dinner meet. We left home at 8.00 pm after finishing dinner.

I look back at our first meet which paved the way for all the later one's. See you all again at our next outdoor meet.

Dear Aarushi, Nivedi, Hema and Raji
Awesome you guys..i was waiting to hear from you all the MENU only.. i know you would have had a great time..If you read my recent blog thats where I was and you will be glad i didnt turn up getting lost and getting mad too..
The Big choclate chip ice cream cake sounds YUMMMMMMMMMY.. oh i missed it my friends..and bisebela bhaat and gulab jamuns and chole and PURRRRRRI's OMG what to do..
Will make it next time around..Thanks for writing all the cute infos..
BTW what DID you talk about ME..I know me being an innocent lady theres not that much to talk about hmmm??

Dear Meena,

Thanks for your sweet words...:)

I too wish that Chennai was an Atlanta suburb so that I could come and visit you all... and you could come and join us in our get togethers...

Ofcourse there is no way that we can rival Chitvish's mouth watering dishes and feasts that she lays out for each and every soul that is lucky enough to enter her door step...or Latha's delicious lunches that she gives for birthday girls...

But we do try our Atlantan best...he he...:)

love,
Aarushi

Thanks Raji! I agree, time just flew that day...good to know that the good times extended uptill late evening...:) Waiting eagerly for the next meet...

love,
Aarushi

Originally Posted by raji651

Hi Aarushi

I thank you so much for sharing your memories and i am really glad that you enjoyed it so much. I am really glad that you came to my home and thankyou for the wonderful gift.After you left Hema's husband came and he joined us. We were talking and had a good time. We all had dinner and they all left only at 8.30pm.

It was really a lovely day this saturday. I never knew how time fly by. Hope to meet you guys soon. I wll try to put the pictures we took.
Have a wonderful and safe trip to India.

Raji

Hi Nivedi,

I too am amazed that we have come so far in just a few months time...I can't believe it is just the other day that we all met as strangers in Olive Garden for the very first time...

And I totally agree about how nice it was that all of us sat in one big group and chatted...
Here's hoping that we have another super meet soon...

love,
Aarushi

Hi AC,

It would be GREAT to have you..I have read that you cook big time for temples etc..and are a pretty good cook... so you can't escape us foodies...lol...

Don't worry, we were just talking that it would have been nice if you would have been able to come since you are one of the enthu members of IL Georgia area...

Look forward to seeing you at the next meet...

love,
Aarushi