Petrichor

This was what I started 2007 with, in the presence of a few other friends. A mini backpacking trip to Angel Island with the sole intention of catching 2007 by the minute: Fireworks in San Francisco. We got to see all the action without actually being there. How cool is that? It was a quiet New Year! Added to it, I saw a shooting star for the first time in my life! Got an intro to some of the constellations in the sky. Walked for 25 minutes in the moonlight. Well! I got up to 37F foggy morning too! Probably nature's way of telling me what's 2007 in store for us :-) All accepted with happiness! Life deserves all this!

I always believe that something started well will end well too! I wanted 2006 to start off in a serene, quiet atmosphere. We made it possible..2006 dawned for us at Anza Borrego desert State Park camground. It was special! Lots of camping trips followed: Morro Bay, Oregon coast, couple of SF trips, Lassen National Park, Catalina Island & of course, the highlight- a week trip to Hawaii! I started writing since May 2006- still on with my travelblog & blog. Pursuing my interests in photography; Accomplished my first backpacking trip to Grand Canyon(thanks to my hubby) & worked my way out in a kayak in the Pacific Ocean! Life was very patient with me in teaching its lessons. Met Swamiji in person for the 1st time & got the privilege in joining him for a hike; Successfully completed my Tai Chi course & got my yellow belt in Karate(my childhood dream), in the process learnt a lot of things. Trying to leave my anger behind & see the positive side of life. Becoming a l...

Me & my hubby were out camping at Catalina island last weekend. We went to watch a late night movie and it was a long cold walk back to our campground. But there were this two people, whom we did not know, probably were on a fri date, I do not know, who stopped on seeing us walk all the way. They offered to give us a ride back to our campground informing us that it was a long way. We were hesitant, but finally took the ride on their golf cart. If not, we would have reached there 30-40 min later. It matters if it was 10.00 pm at night. This is the second time; Earlier, we got lost while hiking in Henry Cowell State park. It was almost dark and we had at least 5 miles to go, all uphill. From nowhere, this couple met us & offered us a ride to our car. Only we know what it meant to us that day! All of this reminds me of the movie " Pay it forward". One of the sweetest movie I'd seen. The logic is, if I do a good to you, you do good to 3 other people, not to the person...

The past couple weeks have been all very happy. We threw a surprise baby shower for a friend, a family friend delivered a baby boy, got in touch with a lot of my school friends, mom's busy with her music concerts, falling in love all over again with my hubby, an amazing weather, beautiful fall colours(even now), not too much rain, did not come across too many accidents, learnt my share of new things & not to mention that we are packing off for a small weekend getaway... Let's see! Apart from the fear of global warming, there is a lot to be thankful for. Isn't that what Christmas is all about? Merry Christmas!

One of the very few poems that was not a part of my English syllabus at school, but made me go out of my way to read it while still at school!(my eleventh grade to be exact) If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, ...

My husband took me to this authentic restaurant on our 3rd anniversary. My first try at Greek cuisine. I am not a big fan of trying new cuisines, but this place is good . We tried the Veg stuff: I had a moussaka & my hubby had a garden salata. Moussaka comes in with greek fries(no french, people!) & the Garden Salata comes with warm pita wedges, French bread & Dip of the Day. Out of the world! It is not very expensive and leaves you with a satisfied heart & stomach.

I am currently reading Robin Sharma's "The Monk who sold his Ferrari". Interesting book! I was just reading the part where Julian talks about fear and how to overcome it. He says, for a person who has the fear of public speaking, to sign up for 20 classes of public speaking. ie., he says, face fear in the eye and do often what you fear the most. This way works for me, for sometimes, that is my only way out. But is this feasible at all times? At some point, are not all of us scared of being intimidated? But fear drains our energy. I've heard it before too! We have to let fear pack its bags. We hardly have time to lead a happy life, why let fear take a part of it? There was this other thing I really loved from the book: There are no mistakes; only lessons, in life! All these lessons should be oppurtunities to create milestones. There are so many things(like this book) to make our lives so easy. Wish I could set my hands on everything and make my life more worthwhile!

Saturday, 2nd Dec 2006! One of my most tensed days! My Yellow belt test day! I am not a white belt anymore. I really learnt a lot in this fall semester! Got to know so many new people. Learnt a lot about life! I am indebted to my Sensei(Japanese for teacher)for having faith and trust in me. I can never thank my mom and husband enough for backing me up all the while through this semester, listening to all that happened at class & of course medicining my wounds anytime I got hurt in the day's work. Karate had been my childhood dream and Swamiji(Swami Sukhabodhananda) inspired me to go ahead, despite my age. Never too late to learn anything! Swamiji is a brown belt now and started music classes at the age of 44. Maybe I will learn music some day! A day well ended! As my Sensei says, there are always people below us, but also above us too; I would always remember that and want to be thankful & grateful for where I am today. One of those days, when I feel really blessed and happ...

Hmm... Now, I have the time to sit back and relax. But what comes on to my mind? Wars, corruption, anger, hatred, bomb blasts, lay offs, accidents, deaths, killings, pathetic politics everywhere: Isn't it really a fight for survival? Too many negative thoughts! I relax my mind a little more. The first thing that comes to my mind is 'clear blue sky beyond a beautiful beach, palm trees swaying in the wind'; Now, I am completely relaxed. I look around me now. People smiling at each other, greeting one another for thanksgiving, people having a vacation, people working their backs off to make sure their kids are well fed, a Safeway employee smiling when she says she still has to work on thanksgiving, a child smiles at me, I look out the window and see the tall trees that have survived a thousand storms,...a lot more that I cannot find space to write down. It is the same me, feeling completely opposite things. How? I wonder! That's where I get to know, there is nothing more c...

Some hate it, some love it, some are indifferent about it; Some go out of their way to despise it; Still a lot of us Orkut! Well, it has become like "google it", hasn't it? With all that said, I was evading it for a long time too! A lot of friends kept sending request; One fine day, I just accepted the request; and I am glad I did. I got in touch with all my old friends from School. There was no other way, I could've got in touch with them. It feels so good to relive old memories, especially when you love your childhood(indirectly my school too). Who knows? Maybe we might have a reunion sometime! How great would that be, huh? I don't know how long Orkut is going to be around, but I am getting what I wanted(all my friend's contacts)..Well! that was what Google wanted too :-) It may all go overboard in while soon (Orkut already has a community "people who hate Orkut") My policy: Enjoy it while it lasts! Happy Orkutting! (God! Why would I even say that?...

Blogging helps me to read more. Its been 3 yrs since I came here, to the US. But I have never really bothered to know what is the story behind it. This year did some reading. Pretty old tradition! Since 1620!!! Happy Thanksgiving!

I just came across this piece of info about USA. In 17 states, the capital city and the largest city are the same. Did surprise me...Always thought they are never the same, to make a small capital city more popular. Never too late to learn a few things!

I just cleaned all my husband's hair from the bathroom floor, for the nth time. Are all guys this capable? The list seems endless: toilet seats up(my husband recovered from this...hopefully!!!) bags not in place, the dumbbells right in the center of the room, opened containers, bed not made up, car perfectly dirty(all the time), comfortably say, "I forgot" when they don't even work on remembering it, remotes on the sofa/coffee table; wet towels on the door(hello!the same door has a hook! too difficult??? gosh!) The best of all: Where are my keys/cellphone/bluetooth? That one never fails!! Just wondering out loud: Is this gene defect? Gender defect? manufacturing defect? or marriage defect? I am sure a lot of wives/room-mates who stay with guys have this problem. Seeing hair in the shower/faucet still makes me puke! Should have got over it by now :-( Wish I had a brother to grow up with-would have known there will hair everywhere... I am not the cleanest of people, but...

My mother brought this news to my attention. Three young software engineers were killed just by sitting in their car in Chennai. At least after reading this, we all will be a little aware of where we are and what we are doing! I hope the link works!

Oct 31st: Halloween! Day of the dead!!!! I've always wondered why would everyone celebrate Halloween. What's the story behind dressing up in ghostly costumes? I came up a very interesting piece of info: The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year. One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with ...

I am a brahmin by birth. There are a lot of customs that come as a free gift with it. As a kid, I just did what my parents did. Never questioned if they knew what they were doing. But as I grew up, my mind was boggled with a million questions. Some got answers, some never. Religion is always a debatable topic. Recently, I had friends come over for a Diwali dinner. I do not remember how the topic shifted, but we were talking about our religion. All of us were Hindus there. A friend narrated about his wedding and how he made the shastrigal(prohit who performs the wedding) explain all the meanings to him. I felt good. How many of us know the meanings(or even the proper sanskrit pronunciations) of what we say in any ceremony? He narrated that all the wedding mantras literally explained how one should lead a married life. Well! All is fine until then. But, in those days, marriages were different. There were so many people to help in wedding; the women were home makers(strictly confined to...

I maintain a travelblog . But I've had this urge to say my share of something to the world for quite a while. So, here I am, in the blogging world. Maybe a spec of dust in this massive blogging storm, but at least I am here. Whatever I am today is because of my parents. So, I dedicate my writings to them. Namaskarams to my Appa and Amma.