Barnum and Bailey circus at Arco Arena.

We decided to take Dhruv to the circus on Sunday last week. He was supposed to meet his friend Riya and eatch the circus with her. I love going to Arco Arena. The last we went was to see Lakers and Kings play. We got reasonably good seating. The show started with a big bang. All the characters and animals paraded around. The aerial acts were to see for sure. The act with 8 motorbikes in a little globe was stunning. The animal act was a little bit of a torture for all of us to see. I wouldnt go as far as calling myself a PETA rep, but to see tigers jumping on two feet and rolling around to "kitty, kitty", is not a fun site. D was crying a lot and kep asking what happened to the tigers. The elephant act was sad to watch too. Riya ended up crying and Dhruv ended up wanting to follow her. The highlight for Dhruv was the train ride outside. We ended up beating the crowds by leaving early.
Over all: **
Will I go again: May be.....if I get Amnesia before that!

bfn

Kanyakumari/Embar Kannan performance, Sac State.

Dhruv and I along with my students attended the concert. It was a "paisa vasool" concert. Dr. Kanyakumari, in one word is an "easy" artist. This is for many reasons, in one of the ragamalikas in the end, in within 3 minutes she transitioned across 10 ragams. She "easy"ly played Saramathi, NasikaBhushani and Shree. I loved her old white violin. The sound was perfect. I gave the introduction and vote of thanks! I feel really nervous everytime I have to do it.
Two more reasons I really loved the show were:
1) Dhruv sat for 2.5 hours next to me in the second row to listen to the concert. Did not bug me or ask to leave even once!
2) I looooooooooooove Srimushnam Raja Rao on the mridangam! I think he is the Zakir Hussain of the mridangam. In his thanniavartam, he played the notes of Saramathi on the mridangam. You could distinctly hear it.

I dont know how much my students enjoyed it as this was a practical exam for them. They were busy figuring out the ragams and answering a question paper I prepared for them.

I hope D continues to co-operate in the future too.

Kasbah Lounge

A and I have not seriously considered going out on dates. We hardly get to see Dhruv in the day and we think leaving him along in the evenings would be too much for him to handle. Also, we use the added advantage of us working together in the same place. Our dates are mostly lunch.
Sandhya invited us to a med cuisine in downtown Sac. This is Kasbah Lounge. We were a little early coz we wanted to find parking. We expected a bigger place coz we were intensely looking at their website to see if kids were allowed. The place turned out to be much smaller than what we expected. It was happy hour until 7pm.
What we ate:
B’stella Rolls: Crispy baked almond, chicken and egg filled phyllo cigars.
Impression: All of us loved it.
What we drank:
Mojito and pomegranate juice.
Impression: Yummy! Slurp! Slurp!
Ambiance:
The place was cozy. Its really romantic. Good for kids too.
Rating: 3 Stars.

Web Site: http://www.kasbahlounge.com/about.html

Cant wait for Kanyakumari's concert today. I will be giving the "vote of thanks" so I better be all alert!