It's amazing what a little fresh air can do!!!!

One thing you must know about me is that I love the outdoors, and by that I mean mother nature. I love the forests and the mountains. So, having come all the way to San Francisco, there was absolutely no way I could go back without visiting the Yosemite forests. So, being all enthusiastic I booked this tour to Yosemite. We were supposed to take a van up to the mountains. When we got on to the cab, I ended up in the last seat squished between two big guys. And there began my nightmare. We were not even out of the city and I wanted to turn back.

You see San Francisco is all about ups and downs and by that I mean the roads are all steep and of course they are all one way streets. So, we ended up going up one street and down another.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that I have motion sickness and it's the severe kind. I remember a time I used to walk all the way to school, just to avoid traveling by bus. That's when my parents gave in and bought me a bicycle. And since then, I have always been a two-wheeler person. From bicycles to scooters to motorbikes, I've had them all. I had a problem traveling by car too. Though I used to force myself to travel by car whenever we had to go a long distance, I can barely remember a trip where I didn't get sick on the way.

Then I decided enough is enough and that I had to get over it. I love the mountains too much to give them up ( I know I can ride, but not possible always).I came up with my own coping strategy. I always sit next to the window and I need a lot of fresh air. No sir, no air-conditioning for me.

And today when I was on the verge of throwing up, I suddenly remembered. I haven't travelled by car in a long long time. And I explained my situation and thanks to Dave (the guide and driver), I came and sat in the front seat with the windows open. He helped distract me and asked me to put my head out the window, every once in a while. Ten more minutes into the drive and I began to feel better, I enjoyed the drive even. Life was good again.

One more thing I've learnt on this trip is that I need air. Time and again, I need to remind myself to breathe. And that's exactly what I'm doing now. Breathing my share of fresh air!!!

And the whole thing was so worth it. I'm so glad I came.
That's Yosemite for you! Up in the clouds, literally.

The long haul

It all started on a Friday morning at 6 am, when my colleagues and I set off to the airport to catch a flight to San Francisco. We were all very excited about this trip and it had very little to do with the conference we were supposed to attend. We were all very chatty in the cab and kept talking all the way until, my colleague realized she hadn’t brought our conference posters. (These posters are basically research presentations that grad students like us present at conferences and the very reason why we get funds to go) By the time we realized this though, we were so close to the airport and we didn't have the time to make a trip back again.

My colleague called someone and asked him to get the poster to us at the airport. That smart person though, didn’t want to make a trip to the airport and put our posters on a cab and asked the cabbie to deliver it to the airport. I find it strange that the cabbie agreed to do this because if he was late, we would have left and he would be stuck with some posters and no fare. Anyway, the poor cabbie sped all the way to get to us just in time before the check-in gates closed. You see, we couldn’t hand-carry these poster-tubes. They look like some kind of weapons. So, we had to check them in.

And then, we had to run to board our flights. And when we were at immigration, we saw these excruciatingly long queues of people. Turns out that the automated system was down and only manual immigration was possible. This almost never happens in Singapore. After requesting a few kind people, we moved ahead and then ran all the way to our boarding gates. We were the last people to board the flight. In the end, whew, we made it!

When we reached Hong Kong, the flight kept circling around the airport for half an hour. It seems they didn’t get clearance to land or something like that. And we had a connecting flight to catch in an hour. Guess what, the mad rush started all over again. We made it by the skin of our teeth. But yay, we made it.

After all this, I was really tired. After almost losing my conference notes, almost missing my flight, I found myself sitting next to a cranky old lady on the long haul flight. It must have easily been the longest flight of my life and add to it, some really bad weather. The worst turbulence I’ve experienced, ever! At one point, I almost said my last prayers, thinking to myself ..."What a way to die!".

When we landed in SFO, it was then that I realized that it was Friday, the thiteenth. I am not a superstitious person but after what happened all day, I would have believed anything. But thank God, it was over now. But then, wait a minute I travelled the whole day and when I land in the USA, its still Friday the thirteenth! and only morning at that. The whole day is ahead of us. Oh boy, has it been a really long day!!

After flying for 19 hours straight, I really dread the flight back. Thank God that I'm gonna be here for a while. I didn't think I would be jet lagged and SO jet lagged at that. My friends are fast asleep and I don’t feel sleepy at all. I am amazed by how little sleep I can get away with and still remain functional.


I am still up at 4am. I have not slept a wink since we got here and it has been 42 hours since I got here. It's amazing that I'm still functional after that. Do forgive me if this post makes no sense at all. I'm sleep-deprived and can't think of anything else to do!!

Nostalgia

Ta na na Ta na Na na Naa

Ta Na na Ta na Na na Na

Ring a bell?

When I saw this book in the bookstore, I just had to pick it up. And although I am not a short stories person, this was one exception I was willing to make.

This has been one of the books I’ve most enjoyed in the recent past. And I don’t mean just reading it.  The memories that they bring back are another treat.

R.K. Narayan portrays the extraordinary stories in the ordinary life of the common man. He almost paints the stories in your head. The short stories are all witty, some are ironic and all of them very simply written. But why this book is also special to me is because of the sweet memories they bring of the old episodes of “Malgudi Days” on DD.

As I read through the stories, images of those particular episodes flash through my eyes. That was one hell of a production not to mention well cast. Whether it was Anant Nag as the Mithaiwalla or master Manjunath as little Swami, all of the characters stayed with you. My favorite episodes back then was “Swami and friends”. I really enjoyed watching them as a kid. What I didn’t know is that Malgudi is actually a fictional place and is not actually on any map.

The book and the serial definitely made a lasting impression, not to mention the cartoons by R.K. Laxman. But what I’ll probably never forget is this music. I’ve been humming this tune from the last few days. If you heard me, now you know why.

Now you don’t see it, now you do

It so happened that we had this safety audit at work and so we were all being briefed regarding some of the safety aspects of the lab.

While discussing fire-safety, the person in charge mentioned this particular fire-exit in one of the corridors. All of us were thinking the same thing, “ Wow, Is there a door in that corridor??” Try as we might, none of us could actually place it.  We all refused to believe her. And just to prove her point, the safety warden actually took us down to the corridor and pointed it to us. We were all amazed that none of us had noticed this door before, even though we pass through this corridor a hundred times every day.

It is true, isn’t it?

Many a times in life, we just don’t see what’s right under our nose until someone points it out to us. 

Going Incommunicado

So, a colleague and I were scheduled to go to the US embassy to apply for our visas. As we were making plans to meet up at the bus stop before going to the embassy, we came across this set of instructions, which said the US embassy does not permit cell phones or ANY electronic devices inside. “Please leave everything at home,” the website said.

My colleague: How can we manage without our cell phones? What if one of us is late? What if we miss each other?

Me: Lets just try not to, ok. Lets try and be there on time. And, we might have to spend about 2-3hours waiting there, you know. So, bring something to keep yourself occupied.

Her: Oh,That's not a problem. I’ll just play some game or listen to music.

Me : It says, no electronic devices. That means, no laptop, no iPad, no PSP and definitely that means no iPod as well.

Her: (with a look of terror on her face) Whaaaaaat? The horror!! So, how?

Me: Maybe, you should just take a book.

Her: a book, huh? But I have all my books downloaded on my iPad.

Me: They still have the print versions, you know. The ones with paper and all

Her: Umm, yeah. Maybe I should buy one of those.

Her (still, terror-stricken): Oh God, oh God! How am I going to manage for a few hours like this? Nobody can reach me. I can't communicate with anybody at all!!

Me: This is how it used to be about 10 years ago (probably lesser than that for some of us), you know!

        

And we managed pretty fine. 

Life's Little Pleasures

I can’t quite describe it,

This feeling that I get.

Brings a twinkle in my eye

Adds a spring in my step.

On Wednesday it appears,

But it’s ever so slight.

On Thursday it’s more intense,

This feeling of delight

On Friday morning, it is definitely there

And it lasts all day.

By evening, it reaches a crescendo

The feeling is here to stay...

What more can I say…

Thank God It’s Friday!!

The weekend’s finally here!!

The madness that is cricket!

Picture this: A country with a population of over 1.2 billion. It’s a working day but lots of office goers are suddenly on sick leave. There are not a lot of people on the street. Shopkeepers not interested to sell you stuff because they are busy doing something else. Crowds are thronging outside electronic stores and tension is in the air. All is quiet and suddenly you can hear collective roars of applause or sighs of dismay. What else can this be?

No prizes for guessing what triggered this post. It’s world cup time and whats more, there was an exciting India versus Pakistan semi final match that India won last night! I should have posted this last night but I was busy, you know doing what.

Cricket has always been special to me. It was the one thing my dad and I bonded over. I can’t say that about a lot of things but cricket was one passion we shared. I can remember how he would jump up and down when he saw India scoring that last run or taking that last wicket to win the match. And that grin on his face, it is something that I can associate only with cricket. I can think of few other things that made him respond like that.

So, my colleague and I were discussing the popularity of the world cups yesterday: cricket versus soccer. 

“So, every one in the Indian sub continent is watching this cricket match?” he asked.

“ Well no,” I said. “ I think every Indian, no matter wherever in the world he/she is, is at least following this cricket match”

Non-Indians at my workplace are amazed to see so much enthusiasm amongst us. Is it your National game, they ask? Errr no, that would be hockey. But I can’t name all the hockey players nor do I remember where they played last, which is sad, but true. No other game in India gets as much importance as cricket does. Though we do complain, we are all party to that.

But one thing cricket does, is bring out this deep sense of patriotism whenever India is playing. Or how would you explain smiling at random Indian strangers and sharing that look of pride, whenever someone is making conversation about last night’s match. Tomorrow we shall all be strangers again, but for today, we’ll celebrate together. India won last night’s match and that too against Pakistan. We are all united in one thing. We were cheering for India to win and we are so excited to be in the finals.

I can imagine the tension that would be back home in India. One of those times when I wish I was back home. Back home to be a part of that frenzy.

But wait, it’s here too. Watching a game in India amongst our own people is fun. But what I realized is, watching it with people of different nationalities is fun too. Especially when we’re doing well. Its fun to go to work in the morning and say, “We won, you lost. Tough luck, eh?” The Singaporeans have no clue what we’re talking about. Even though their team lost, the aussies are still are good sports. I say that because they are now supporting India. My British boss enjoys a good game of cricket too. Thank God, we had a tie with England. My boss and I were both happy. I know how important that match was to him. It was to me too. If we’d won, I would have had to stay out of his way for a week.

And what’s more. We’re in the finals. It doesn’t matter whether we win or not but I just hope we can give them a good fight. May the best team win. But, I sure do hope that team is ours.