Just Another Day (Week one Post Two)

Just sometimes, on those rare mornings,I get up with a “not so good” feeling – for no rhyme or reason. And today’s wasone such morning… a very gloomy one at that. And I knew it wasn’t going to be avery good day either.

I had overslept through all the alarms and the snoozes.  Spilled almost half of the tea when I was away just for a split second - talk about that! Other small things like these piled on which added more to the irritation - for the lack of a better word.

Preoccupied with the thoughts associated to that unsettling feeling, while driving, I almost skipped a pedestrian signal – only to realize that an elderly woman gave me a scornful look while crossing the road on her electric wheelchair giving me a sting of guilt.

Reminding myself to focus, I reached office with a disheartened spirit.

If “not feeling good or happy”was a good enough reason to call a day off, today would have been mine.

Alas, that’s not possible in thereal world!!

Early morning hours are sometimes unusually quiet at my workplace. Usually that haunts me, but today it felt calming.As I settled myself at my desk, in no time work took charge of me. Lots of emails suggesting a lot more work at hand. And as I started working, focusing on each transistor that I was placing, I could not help but listen to the rhythmic clicking of mouse and the tapping of my own keyboard. And to my surprise, the more I focused on the work at hand, the more peaceful and cathartic I felt.

It worked like pranayam on me.Strange but true!!

And now when I look back, it dawns upon me that in all the trying times and the insanity around, it was this work in some or the other form that kept me sane.

 I wish we all could always get to do the work that we really enjoy doing!!!

  

Week one - post one !!

Ever since I got Iphone over 2 years back now, the one thing that I religiously checked every 10 minutes was – tada – Facebook, no prize for guessing that!I checked the news feed from friends, commented on their photos and status messages or posted some pics myself and commented on the comments that I got – so basically I was on FB – all.the.time!! So this summer, when I took my blog break, I also tried to stay away from facebook as much as I could. To my surprise, it was such a big relief. I started getting so much time to do other things than checking my FB page every 10 minutes. Obviously - it’s simple Math right?? But staying away from FB was not that simple.These are some of the things that I did instead :  
1. Learnt how to swim: Yes, at the ripe age of 30. Nope. I did not know how to swim until now. It’s such a shame to not know it for where I live. As a kid, I failed to learn every time I tried to.

In summer of 2010, M’s cousin’s wife gave me some introductory lessons on how to float. And I guess that was a huge learning step.

Let me give you a small example during our trip to Catalina Islands last year . Along with its lovely beaches, it’s also quite famous for the water sports activities. It was then, when I and M voluntarily decided to go snorkeling with a guided tour. We paid the fee, changed into the snorkeling gear after which I posed happily for the pictures and then – swoosh – everybody was in the waters exploring the marine life except me. I sun burnt myself waiting on the shores for M who came back but only with a rich experience. Not only did I repent wasting my bucks to see nothing but later it took almost 2 months for all that uneven tan to recede.

I tried my luck again this summer. But this time I was determined. Under M and Dad’s supervision, I took that first plunge, and only after few sessions was able to progress from floating to a few strokes holding my breath with my head inside the waters. And now I can swim the entire breadth (width) of the pool.  I know I have a long way to go , and I am not at my gracious best , but who cares , I can “officially” swim now *wink !!

2.      Beaches and more beaches: I hated going to beaches until this summer. I mean I liked to go and see the sunsets or take a stroll in the sand but that was about it. I never liked jumping with excitement with every wave in the sea and getting drenched. Last year, when we visited Laguna Beach, M was having a ball of time in the deep waters, while I stayed far away (again), on the other side of waters, clicking his pictures trying to read a book.

And by the way why wasn’t I in the waters? I hated getting wet, changing, and all the sand that sticks to your feet and wouldn’t go away.

So basically, I was left with no choice but watch the people around me having fun.

But this summer changed things. With my parents and sister here, we hit the beaches like crazy. And this time all prepared. The beach umbrella for the shade, the tarpaulin, the folding chairs the non-comodegenic sunscreen, big hats and itsy-bitsy clothing! With the swimming lessons on full swing, I have also started enjoying getting swamped by the waves. Malibu, Laguna, Newport, Aliso Veijo were just some of the beaches / waters we tested!!!!

We are officially the beach people now!! On a sunny day in California what more do you really need?

3.      Food :

For the past entire year and a half now, I have been watching out what I eat. With the help of running, zhumba and yoga and with strict portion control, I had finally lost all the weight that I wanted to. But after following this regimen quite religiously, this summer I finally gave in –for what you ask?

For the pure bliss that’s called “ma ke haath ka khana” (home made Mom cooked food). And for once, I did not think twice before gobbling down that extra puranpoli with a spoonful of homemade ghee.

Well, as much as I enjoyed hogging all the food, I have begun to regret it. Yes, all the food is showing up on me and I begin my workout routine again from today J

With coming back to blogging, I will be back to FB too and I will try my best not to check it every 10 min … ;)

Let's wait and watch !!

After bidding a teary eyed adieu to my parents at the airport last night, we drove back home.  Usually, I don’t cry that easy but last night, I sobbed heavily until a little over midnight. M put up with me quite patiently. He probably heaved a sigh of relief when I was finally asleep. 
So yes, that was that. My parents visited us this summer and for me, yesterday was officially the last day of summer obviously marking the onset of winter starting today. No, we don’t have fall in this part of the world L !
 This summer, I was consciously away from this space. When I first started blogging about four years ago, I was in a very different mind space. Struggling through the climatic extremes, geographical barriers and equally complex coursework (ha-ha! Even though I can laugh at it now, but then it was the most significant aspect of my life)   , I took this place to vent out everything that I went through at that point in time.
This blog took a back seat when I had to find an internship or a job later, when I got married and had to commute every weekend to see M. Through changing jobs and places and struggling through the hectic schedules, I am guilty of ignoring this space. 
After posting intermittently for some time now, and then feeling bad over not posting regular enough, this time, I decided to stay away, on purpose, asking myself what is it now  that I really want to write about. 
Because, there’s going to be something, good or bad - always, that will keep us busy. Question is how much of this do I want to write and share about? I know I have tried keeping this a personal blog – sharing it with only a few readers.  
But moving on , if I choose to keep this blog alive , I want to grow it , post as often as I can , at least twice a week and if I cannot commit this much , then probably the best thing is to quit.
That being said, it’s not easy for me to just go ahead and delete this blog, so what I am going to do is give it a fair chance.
So let’s see how well I behave for the next four weeks – in terms of posting.  All I am aiming for is at least 2 posts a week. 
Let the trial run begin!!

Book Review : Room

Room – by Emma Donoghue
I wanted to read this book for a while now. I am glad I could.The story is innocent and dark at the same time. A five year old boy Jack stays with his Mom in a small dark room that has a small tub, kitchen, bed, wardrobe and a TV. This is their world. They never go out and see the world outside. For Jack, the outside world doesn’t even exist. 
Even for nothing else to do, they have a routine that they both follow religiously. In that confined room, Jack’s mother teaches him all that she could to help him blossom. She teaches him discipline, good habits, how to pray, do math; improve his creativity to mention a few - all this without letting him know that there is a world outside this room. Their only connection with the outside world is Old Nick, who comes in every night to see his Mom, takes the trash out next morning and brings them the basics for a living as part of Sunday treats. But Jack has never met Old Nick – all he has done is try seeing him through the slits of the wardrobe he usually hides in when Old Nick comes.
The book opens with Jack’s fifth birthday and how his world begins to expand after that. How he gradually finds out the story of his Mom , the Old Nick , why they are where they are , that the room that they live in is not a real life , that there’s a real world  where they ideally belong to outside of the room and it’s for real.
His Mom suspects that their life is in danger and they need to escape before it’s too late. But it’s not easy. She has already tried all the things she could think of even before Jack was born and had failed. But this time since Jack was a big boy already it was his responsibility to save them both.
I personally liked that the way the entire story is narrated by Jack – they way he sees things, perceives them. How for him, Ma and the room are his entire world. The way his Mom is trying to bring him up. The bond between the two is depicted beautifully. How Jack truly believes that he is a part of her and knows no other way of living, the way he carries her broken decayed tooth all the time. At no point does it get boring, not even when the boy describes the everyday routine in much detail.
What happens to the boy and his Mom? Who is Old Nick? I don’t want to give away the story for those who are keen to read.All I would say is that it’s a story of courage and survival!
Go ahead and give it a try. 

Movie Review : Teri Meri Kahaani

This is the first time I am trying to review a movie on this blog. I wanted something to break the big blog break.

So why did I even dare to go and watch this movie.  I wanted to give one last chance to Kunal kohli .. Who made one of my all time favorite Hindi movie –Hum Tum.

The movie narrates 3 love stories from different eras. The director probably wanted to convey the message that in love  where , how , when doesn’t really matter , what matters is the all encompassing feeling of love .

The movie starts with the 1960 love story between Govind , an aspiring musician from Poona and a famous actress Ruksar from Lucknow who meet in Mumbai. Though lot of efforts were put in creating the details of the 1960 era , it lacked the depth , emotions between the main characters and fails to justify why would Ruksar fall for a guy like Govind , mainly because of the poor script and a very comical direction which infact fails to tickle the audience spoiling the emotions at the same time.

The contemporary 2012 story between Radha and Krish comes later which has nothing different to offer. There’s hardly any chemistry between Priyanka and Shahid in this story. Two unknown people bump onto each other in Stratford and end up hanging out over a couple of beers only to realize that they have a deeper connect somewhere. If only it was that easy to find true love !

The third and last thread of this braid is a love story between Javed and Aaradhana from the pre independence era 1910. Though the characters and story sound very unreal , I kind of liked this one. At least you feel the love between the two characters. And besides , loved watching our very own  Daulatabad fort near Auranagabad in the Allah Jaane song.

There was an age and phase when I would have loved such movies , but thankfully that’s over now. 

Though the story boasts of good actors and above average music, what it lacks is a strong convincing script. I would give it 2.5 stars. (The extra half star is purely for how lovely Priyanka looks).

Alas this movie has nothing interesting or different to offer.

Big Sur

Whenever I visit any new place, I always feel I was destined to see it. Somehow. But I always feel so. Like for example, growing up, the only things I associated with SFO was the city of Golden Gate. And until very late, never knew that Golden gate is infact a bridge. So when I actually came to CA and visited the Golden gate bridge, for the first time and then many times to follow, I realized that, you are somewhere meant to see a place. Maktub maybe. Like every person you meet in life, you meet for a reason.

On the other hand, you get attached to a place. You fall in love with some place almost instantly. For the beauty of it, for the look and feel or the way you spend your time while at that place. And unknowingly you get emotionally attached to a place.  

When you read about a place you just know where they lie on the map but after seeing it when you take a moment, close your eyes and think of it, you realize that every single place has been associated with a feeling inside of your head. Like now , when I close my eyes and think of Aurangabad , Hyderabad , Pune  or Chicago , SFO , San Diego , Las Vegas , Seattle, Boston or Newyork I get one particular flash of picture in front of me. Does it happen to you?

Okay, philosophy apart, I thought of starting the picture post of the places I have been to so far. What I liked about it and what memories I carry from there.

Hope you guys like it.

I am going to start with Big Sur. It’s a place I have been to at least 5 times so far and absolutely love it. It has and will always have a special place in my heart. It’s a wonderful getaway for those who love the beaches and also for those who love the mountains.  The splendid view of the cascades rising from the ocean is breathtaking.  Its ideal for a long drive if that’s all you want. Or for camping near a campsite either overlooking the ocean or in the dark woods besides the Big Sur River. Hiking, whale watching, biking are some of the activities you can engage yourself in.  That’s just few aspects of it.

But in spite of all these activities going around, it’s also an ideal place for a romantic getaway for those sweet nothings. You will find ample of options for resorts and spas without compromising the beauty of the place.

And that’s what I love about his place. You can choose to be in all the hustle and bustle but at the same get all the solitude you need, if that’s what you want. This place has an amazing calming effect. Go for it, if you are looking for a stress free, relaxing weekend / vacation!

How to get there: It’s about 150 Miles down south of San Francisco (US 101 Hwy) – an absolutely scenic drive. 

Bridge on 101 

This is Pfieffer  Beach 

Sunset captured through it

This is the famous 17 Mile Monterey Drive 

Snapshot of our vacation , literally !!

Still not out of my Vacation mode , I am dedicating this post to the sporadic pictures of the trip. After all , a picture is worth a thousand words !

The view near Hoover Dam - our first stop. 

The picture says it all :) 

 The bridge joining the two states - Arizona and Nevada.

The Hoover Dam : 

 A closer look :

 The clear skies on our way to The Grand Canyon. You can see the Mohave Desert / Forest on either side :

 In the Canyon - very close to the Colorado River. They say touching the River brings in the good luck :)

The mighty muddy River says it all. The story of the Grand Canyon.

 The Sky Walk :)

 The Eagle Point :

 Guano Point - My favorite View.

 The Sun and Shadow play hide and seek creating the wonderful colors.

 Las Vegas - First Look !

 The city view from the Stratosphere Observatory.

 

You can see the "Strip" Street. Well , it doesn't look that glamorous in the day , I know !!

We had a wonderful trip. Hope you like the pics :)