Hello again,
Welcome to this year’s edition of the Idnani household newsletter. We wish to share with you how the family fared in 2011 and welcome 2012!
Taran and Roshan turned 7 this May. They are happy 2nd graders. Recently Roshan directed and acted in a “Ramayana” skit in his class. But he is still not convinced about the reasoning for the battle between Ram & Ravana. He insists the non-violent way to resolve the conflict would have been for Ram to get Ravana’s wife since the latter had taken the former’s wife! The boys also continue to progress in chess with Taran winning the North American championship in the U8 group. The win resulted in FIDE (World Chess Federation) awarding him the title of “FIDE Candidate Master”. They are also enjoying tennis lessons though they seem to focus more on imitating Djokovic’s court histrionics than on tennis skills. Nidhi couldn’t help analyzing that Roshan has been spending 38% of his rather expensive tennis lessons on bouncing the ball!!!!! Can anyone please ask Novak to stop bouncing the ball 22 times before serving?Ritesh went back to school to participate in an Executive Education program at Wharton. He kept describing how intensive the course was. Interestingly he made these calls from the Wharton bar where he was apparently discussing the case study for the next day! He was also selected by SSON, the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals as part of their G6 list - the top 6 outsourcing visionaries in Europe and North America for 2011. The kids instantly imbibed best practices and attempted to outsource their homework to their mom!
This year Nidhi took up the position of “Treasurer” on the PTO of The Albrook School organizing events and managing the finances for the school. Reminds her of her banking days and keeps her away from retail therapy, thereby saving Ritesh’s tiny treasury. Nidhi also tried her hand (and legs) at kickboxing. As a result, Bob, the kickboxing dummy’s obituary was published in The New York Times. Ever since, Ritesh and the kids are very supportive of her Friday lessons.
Ritesh and Nidhi have started running!!! No, not away from each other but - towards a common goal! They ran together at the Rutgers Big Chill 5 K – a fundraiser for children. They hope to participate in many more runs next year. They will be happy to have more running partners so give them a shout if you are interested.
Sports continues to be a big part in the Idnani household with Football nights becoming sacrosanct. But cricket still takes the number 1 slot with the family holding a World cup finals party and the boys having a “Kids vs. Adults cricket party” on their birthday. Needless to say, the kids wiped the adults out. Shhh! We didn’t mention anything about match fixing!
This was also the year of a few more new experiences - the kids watched their first musical at Broadway (Mary Poppins was enthralling) and their first Jazz festival in Montreal. Ritesh and Nidhi also watched a few comedy shows in New York City with a wonderful group of friends. They also went for their first camping trip to Vermont with family where apart from hiking in Quechee valley and sightseeing, they gorged on s’mores and handmade ice-cream, the results of which were prominently displayed on the weighing scale.
The Idnanis spent time with friends and family in Toronto, upstate New York, Dallas and Virginia, paid their annual visit to Washington D.C, explored Montreal (Old Montreal was stunning as was the Bio-dome), relaxed for a week at the Wildwood beach in the summer, enjoyed a few nights (and museums) in New York City and travelled within the state and outside for chess tournaments.
2011 has been spectacular and we hope that 2012 is even better. We wish you and your loved ones lots of happiness, good health and good luck in the New Year.
Stay in touch!
The Idnanis
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