A big dream come true

CHAPTER 3

A big dream is coming true!

I can’t believe I’m even typing this blog post right now, but I have been SO anxious to share some super exciting news with you! Like bursting at the seams with excitement and couldn’t hold it in one more minute!

A big dream is coming true for my family! WE ARE BUILDING A HOUSE!!! I repeat, WE ARE BUILDING A HOUSE!! EEEK!

To say this is a dream come true is truly not an exaggeration. Anthony and I are coming up on 20 years of marriage this Summer, and it’s something we have talked about off and on since before having kids! We always thought it would be “so cool” to build!

We have been in our current house 12 years and it has been a FANTASTIC and perfect home for our family in so many ways. However, that dream and that nudge never went away even after all of those years!

I know some of you know about this dream, and some of you are totally surprised! So, let me tell you a little bit about what led us here and what’s going to be happening! This was my family the first time we went out to the lot that we started to pray would be ours one day!

For the past 9 months or so, we started really looking in our area at neighborhoods, lots, etc. and during that time we fell in love with a neighborhood and a builder less than 10 minutes from where we live now. The problem was, by the time we decided to try and go for it…there weren’t any available lots at that moment.

We were told it may be late Summer or early fall before they released more, so we pushed our dream to the side for a minute and put it on pause. Until…just recently when the PERFECT LOT FOR US got released!

There were SO many God moments and details that led us to that day, that it’s honestly too much to type. But just know, that his timing and his plan felt totally right and perfect!

We walked through and looked at all of the floorplans a million times over and there was one that we just couldn’t shake! We were able to walk through one that was being built (and was almost complete) in that floorplan and every time we would go there, it just felt like “the one” for us. A true dream come true!

So, this past week, we got the lot and officially went under contract to build our dream home with Drees Homes here in TN! We are so thankful for how awesome they have been to work with so far and SUPER thankful for our awesome realtor, Kristan Westmeier with Reality One Group!

Anthony and I on our way to our contract appointment!

SURREAL!! SOMEONE PINCH ME!! Can you tell I am over the moon excited?!

You know I will be documenting this ENTIRE process from the ground up and I can’t wait to take you on this journey with us! So many more details will be coming, but for now I wanted to get the news out there to you!

Here’s a few pictures of the lot and my family on the day we went under contract!

More details on the house itself coming soon. But for now…here’s the top 10 things I am MOST excited about (in no particular order)

The lot and layout! The lot is a great size and backs up to a tree line, so we are thrilled about that! And the layout of the home is perfect for my families needs and so many Wilshire needs as well. WIN, WIN!

A big kitchen island! If you know my cereal dreams, then you know how happy this makes me!

Storage! So much more storage than our current house from closets to walk in storage space!

HEARTH ROOM! This may be a southern thing (I’m not sure), but a hearth room is like a little sitting room off your kitchen. I have always loved them, so to be able to build a house with one is a true dream!

Wilshire space! This home will have lots of space for all things Wilshire and will make everything from working to storage to decorating much easier and more fun!

Master bedroom down! Ours is upstairs now, and we aren’t getting any younger lol

The outdoor space! We will have another covered porch, which is one of my favorite places in our current home!

The creative use of spaces! There are a few features in this home that I am PUMPED about. They have thought of everything and I can’t wait to share more with you on some creative kitchen and laundry room spaces!

A working master bathtub! (If you know the story, then you KNOW the story lol)

The fact that we are making a dream come true! In all honesty, I am just pinching myself a bit that something we have talked about for YEARS is actually happening. We have both worked so hard and sometimes those big dreams do come true and they end up being even bigger than you imagined. I’m so thankful and just so so excited!

Dreams do come true

Girish Mathrubootham

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Sometimes Dreams do come true. And when they do, our hearts overflow with joy! I have been fortunate enough to have seen many of my dreams come true, but what happened today was something completely surreal and a feeling that I have never experienced in my life before. I met my Hero, Inspiration, our Thalaivar, SuperStar Rajinikanth.

Our appointment was to meet Rajini Sir at his residence at 9:30 AM. We started from home around 9 AM. There were a hundred things running in my mind — What should I ask him? What will he ask me? I am sure he will ask me about freshdesk. How can I explain to him what we do at freshdesk? Can I invite him to our office? Will I be putting him in an embarrassing situation if he has to say no? I wanted to ask him if I can give him a hug. Will he agree?

We parked outside in the street and walked into his house. We were welcomed into the house by his staff and made to wait in his reception. It was almost 9:30 AM. It could be any moment now. We were asked if we would like to drink anything. We quickly refused not wanting to waste any time. But we were told that Thalaivar is ready but won’t meet us unless we have something. We were offered some buttermilk. We all grabbed the buttermilk quickly and finished it in a gulp. My son who doesn’t like buttermilk usually also gulped it quickly, because he understood that the buttermilk was the ticket to see SuperStar. We are then ushered into the home. We picked up all the awesome gifts that Ruchi Shah and the Freshdesk team had created for SuperStar and walked inside.

The house was beautiful like a temple and as we entered we could hear the divine “Om “music playing softly in the background. There are photos of Babaji, Ramana Maharishi and SuperStar everywhere. We are taken to a large living room and there he is — the man himself welcoming us. His shocking simplicity hits you hard. He was wearing a simple white long-sleeved shirt and a dhoti. A chain of rudrakshas adorned his neck and he was wearing a slim leather-strapped watch with a black dial. It looked very elegant.

The simplicity shocks you!

I just wanted to keep looking at him. I had no agenda. My mind was blank. We were seated in the sofa opposite to him. The friend who had got us the meeting was explaining about me and how Rajini adorns our office walls. Rajini Sir was listening with genuine interest.

I wanted to show him the gifts that we had brought and explain the story behind it. He summoned me to the Sofa next to him and I started showing him the album we had created. I also used the map on the chocolate wrapper to subtly tell him that a 1000 people “Anbu Kootam” is waiting to see him in our office.

He asked me about Freshdesk and how we started. This is a story I have told a thousand times and inspired the audience every single time, but for some weird reason I find myself choking on my words. I was tongue-tied. I stopped my answer mid-way and apologized to him saying I cannot find the words to talk. I also told him I usually don’t blabber like this but I don’t know what happened to me today.

He must be so used to this situation. So like an expert interviewer trying to calm down a tensed interviewee, he asked me some easy questions like what are my hobbies etc. I felt happy and stupid at the same time.

He turned to my wife and asked her if she was a housewife and where she grew up etc. Now it was her turn to draw a blank. She simply could not answer him. She just couldn’t believe that she was having a conversation with SuperStar. Tears started flowing from her eyes and my friend had to tell SuperStar that she was getting very tensed and emotional.

He then turned to my kids and thankfully they answered his questions quickly without choking.

He spotted that Sanjay had the gift in his hand and said — Oh you have brought me a gift. Let’s take a photo. He summoned someone to take photos. It was very clear that he had seen this movie several times and knew how the scenes should progress smoothly from one to another.

What a start to the New Year!

He posed with enthusiasm for several photos with the kids separately, with the family, with me alone and with Shoba alone.

When I was standing with him, I asked him if I can touch him. He grabbed my hands and put it around him and placed a hand on shoulder and posed for the picture. I was really, really happy and I guess it shows on my face in the photos.

Thalaivaaa!!

After the photo session we sat down again and now the talk moved to the book that Shoba had brought as a gift — Learnings of Ramana Maharishi. He asked Shoba if she was spiritually inclined and followed Ramana Maharishi. It was a difficult question for her to answer — she said her uncle was a staunch devotee :)

Now it was time to leave. We absolutely did not want to leave. I just wished we could stay there and spend more time with him. We didn’t want the meeting to end, we just couldn’t get enough of him.

After we came out for the next couple of hours we just didn’t know what had happened to us. We tried to get some breakfast, share some pics with friends but were just overwhelmed by the sheer emotional burden that we had never experienced in life.

By afternoon, we felt very tired and exhausted — it was like the fag end of a pilgrimage trip — like a Tirupathi trip or Vaigunda Ekadasi trip — you are exhausted, but beaming with pride that we got a “Super Darisanam” (Dharshan)

Today for half an hour, I was not my usual self, I realized that the Thalaivar-fan in me had taken over completely and I was living the dream of every Rajini fan — seeing SuperStar in flesh and blood, feeling his touch, spellbound by his words and touched by the warmth of his heart. Two words sum up the experience — Jenma Sabalyam!