Things to do

Look at the stars more often.
Watch the sunrise (with a cup of hot chai in hand )
Bask in sunlight.
Run out into the rain and jump into all the puddles.
Catch snowflakes.
Smile more , and spread it.(Smiles are contagious , aren't they?)
Find a cause that makes life worth living(to live instead of just existing)
Bungee jump.
Go backpacking in Europe.
Laze out in the backwaters of Kerala.
Search for that child-like enthusiasm for life that I seem to have misplaced somewhere.
Learn to recognise and appreciate beauty that is all around but is always beneath the surface.
Learn from those strong willed people who have seen so much in life and yet trod on like "Today is the best thing that happened to me".
Dream more (effectively Sleep more)
Cook one meal where all ingredients are in the right proportion.
Fit 48 hours into a day.
Try to make sense of silence, to appreciate the melody that is silence.
Find that silent corner in my head where all is clear.
Find all the friends I lost contact with.
Read more poetry(make an attempt to understand the finer things that life has to offer)
Drive a car down the West Coast Road.
Plant rice on a paddy field.
Swim in that stone walled village well.
Go to a river side tea-stall on the Himalayan mountains and have a cup of hot chai(nothing can beat the sight of snow capped mountains and the running river)
Go to the heart of a volcano.
See the Mona Lisa.
Go down a secret passageway in a fort.
Time travel.
Go on a helicopter ride.
See a kangaroo hop.
Go into a mine(lets make that a gold mine)
See how a diamond is cut (the transition from the rough form to that beauty which traps light within it)
Meet Maddy(Last minute entry ,influenced by : Pachandaname from Sakhi playing right now)
Extendable list!

Valentine Day ...

"Beep beep beep" , my cell phone alarm went off. Turned it off , pulled the comforter closer and sank right back into dreamland."Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" , now that's my alarm, and that's not in the bedroom.Waited for all of 3 minutes for it to turn off. No such luck.It went on and on tirelessly (and let me tell you , it is a very very irritating sound) , so , dragging my feet , went and turned it off . No , I wasn't ready to open the windows , let in the sun and make some chai yet.I went back to sleep.(Wild horses cant drag her out of bed types).I think I was making a plan to travel back in time and murder the person who invented the alarm clock. Satisfied with the plan , I was just about to move on to better dreams where I .... the darned 2nd alarm went off. So much for trying to steal some more sleep.
Chai on stove , I pull out the shades and see everything is frozen , like someone put my backyard into the refrigerator(the freezer part of it) overnight.Everything had capital frozen ! There were icicles hanging from the balcony railings.All the trees had ice on their branches, it was like a glass coating all over. The sunlight diffusing through them made it such a pretty sight .It literally looked they were dipped in some sparkle-powder, shimmering like diamonds.So , there you have it , I have diamond trees in my back yard .(Hey , if money can grow on trees, why cant the trees be made of diamond?)That poor Christmas-tree looking shrub looked like some one sat on it ! honestly , all the branches were bent in different angles.That must have been the precursor to the day.
Turned out that there was a bad case of sleet/ice-rain/snow all night.The roads had disappeared , cars were peeking out from below white curtains.There was one word for it all , WHITE . White white white everywhere! It really is a sight watching people with mini-pickaxes all bundled up trying to clear out the ice from the cars.There was a 2 inch thick ice formed.Doors were stuck, sealed off because of ice. I saw two cases of broken windshields (how do u know if you are breaking ice or breaking glass!) , 1 broken door-handle , cars skidding off the road onto the other side (where thankfully there was no oncoming traffic).
Went to work 2 hours late(no , did not get a holiday) There's something really nice about being in school and hoping that it will rain sooooo bad that a holiday will be declared. As you grow older , you are supposed to understand that it is your responsibility that you get to work , come hell or high tide, and finish all tasks on time (or earlier if you want better assessment remarks ;) ) , so in the big scheme of things , deliveries aren't delayed (even if God wills against it.). I think I forgot why/how I started this sentence. Oh yes, back on track , I wanted a holiday to be declared. Turns out , it will be a holiday only if you have a laptop and can work from home. Well , you can take home out of work but not work out of home(Wow , that is a profound statement)
Anyways , got to work , dint walk to the reception , think i sort of skated / skidded on the ice .. Everyone moves in slow motion , like someone lessened the speed at which the movie is being played. At lunch I saw something that I doubt I will ever see again.
Everything was still , (of course the wind was blowing like it was nobody's business.but there was a calm). Let me describe the scene : A mile of a frozen river curving along snow-laden banks with diamond trees with icicles.
The sun started to shine , the icicles on the trees started to melt .The water dropped down , drop by drop. Like after rain, trees always have some water and if you shake the tree hard , you can have a mini-shower.This was exactly like that, except around 30 diamond-trees suddenly started melting. The wind picked up speed ,and the trees started swaying with water still dropping off.Sparkling trees , swaying to silent music and rain. Sigh!
With no warning , the sun disappeared , everything became 'grey' and then the flurries started, as specks at first, growing bigger with each passing second.And then , the flurries turned into rain , ice-rain . And then it all stopped and everything was still again. All of this happened in less than 10 minutes.It almost felt like seeing Summer, monsoon and winter in fast forward.
The drive back home was less treacherous. Got off early too ("Weather conditions are expected to get worse, it is advised that all employees leave as early as possible" is one memo that brings a smile).
Another cup of chai(I think I will shortly turn into the Tea-Monster) later , there was a 1 year oldie's birthday party to go to. (after confirming with the hostess that the party was still on and was not cancelled due to the weather) . Went to a toy store , It looked more like a science exhibition. Everything was a learning tool, there were no toys. Why did they stop making meaningless playthings? Toys are toys , they are meant to be carried around till they look dog-eaten (and then , they are to be stored). Well , to give them due credit , they did have soft toys. :D

That done, set off for the party . It is an amazing experience to be in a gathering where you know exactly one person.(and no, I did not even know the hostess)(and no, I did not crash the party , my roomie was invited and I was thrown in the "Your room mate is welcome too" category.And who can resist cake?) Then , you do what is best,you hang out with the kids ,I mean you dont have to make 'intelligent' conversation with them (and they are a lot more cute). But you cant compete with "Gauri is my best friend, I want to sit with her" and they kick you out of their world , back into the adult world.
After a few awkward "Where do you stay?" "Where do you work?" "When did you come here?" type of questions , I realised , every single one of them was married. The first question I got was "Did you come here with your husband or are you here on a H1?" Standard line.Like "I am Bond.James Bond." Well , anyways I came away with a whole lot of phone numbers and hopefully a lot of new friends.
And another Valentine's day passed by ...
And where does Valentine's figure in all of this! Other than the roses at the desks, and news reports about people braving the weather to get something special for their valentine , Valentine's is really like any other day. But it is nice to choose a day to do something a little more special.
Happy Valentine's day ! Here's to new friendships and affections. . .

Freeze!

Its been weeks since (proper)winter started, each day seeming to be as cold as the day before , maybe worse but definitely never better.When I got here , I remember calling up home and saying I was out in a temperature of 0 Degrees C and felt like I had done something exciting :D . Now , a 0 seems like a daily occurrence. If you thought the temperature is bad enough, Someone decided to have some more fun and threw in the chilly wind that make the temperature feel 15 Deg lesser than it actually is(How do people survive in Chicago!). It is very very sunny(most of the time) even on a cold winter day, a miracle I will never understand.I mean, it is cold because the sun is not available right ? or so I thought until I came over here :)
Well, once you are all warm and snug inside, the wind does provide lot of entertainment .It starts up mini-whirls of all the leaves lying around .My workplace overlooks a (now frozen) creek.Its looks like a big sheet of glass (nope, no one ice skates over it) .Right after it snows , there is an amount of snow that settles on the surface of this glass.If there are strong winds before the fresh snow melts or freezes into the creek , it makes a really beautiful sight. The winds blow the snow all over the place and it seems like the snow is skating over the ice(i know what you just thought , what weird imagination!) , Its like blowing fine powder off a smooth surface. It forms such pretty patterns, there seem to be winds blowing in all directions and the snow is not really sure which way to go . It makes people hold onto their flying umbrellas , pat down their Einstein-hairstyle , keep track of the papers in hand ( and this with all of two hands) and of course hurry in faster.
Hurrying from the parking lot to the warm Reception area takes exactly 2.5 minutes. After walking in one day , I removed the winter gear off my head and was trying to set my hair into place , unfortunately , what i touched seemed like a hard mass of some sort . My hair had actually frozen !! Serves me right for going in -25Degrees C weather with wet hair ! It had me laughing half the day though , imagine your hair turning into ice !! All the people around me had a field time 'tut-tut-ing' and giving advice about "You will fall sick like that!" . But believe me it was so amusing that I think I was a little :( when it thawed out !
and yes, it was -25 Degrees Celsius(and the sun was shining!)

My hometown

A quaint little town tucked away in the hills .A pretty river running by on one side and lush green forests all around hiding it from outside view.The beautiful temple around which the town grew, the path to the temple with stones on either side.The majestic AnjaneyaSwamy statue by the steps before entering the main Rama temple.
The Rathotsavam in the evenings , waiting with ammamma at the gate,with the arathi plate with camphor.. or going down the gutta and then waiting with everybody ... and finally the chariot passing us by stopping at every house ..

Running down the stairs of the temple right into the Godavari .. Picking up the baked mud from the river banks and using it (as clay) to make matchbox-lorry's wheels and all other types of playthings.Playing for hours in the water , picking up multicoloured-multishaped stones and stowing them in places where Tataiyya cant find them (he would always pull our legs about throwing them away but year after year , when we would hurry back there for the next vacation , we would find them kept as safely as we left them)

Nights on the terrace,in the cool breeze , waking up to the sound of parrots or the sudden showers where the poor parents and grandparents wouldn't know if they should put the mattresses in first or all the monkeys who are having so much fun in the rain that they refuse to get inside the house.Talking of monkeys ,there was always an endless stream of them , having the bath-house outside the house on the other end of the courtyard, I remember the day when a cousin stayed inside even after the bath because there were monkeys on top of the 'sajja' :)

The time we used to spend 'gutta-meeda' in the evenings , the walks till there and then just running around or 'exploring' the Ramadasu Mandiram or by that pretty-flower tree , collecting the white flowers with the yellow insides that we used to bend inside out and make it look like a designer flower ...

The guy who used to come down the road selling the (paper) 'rekulu' to make that yummy sweet (which is one of my favourites to date!)
The day I saw little pieces of ice fall with the rain (yes,in that hot little town with scorching summer heat of at least a 40 Degrees C and going up to 50 never seen ice-rain again to date)
The April 1st when I fooled my mom about the aakkoora guy (my first Fools Day prank)
The small little street behind the temple where ammamma would take us to shop , and I still have those 2 circular magnetic 'deity-snaps'
The coin with Sita-Rama Kalyanam scene on one side and Hanuman on the other that I carry with me .

The fateful day I found out that the dhobis use the mud by the riverside to wash clothes and when I went "EWWWWWWWW" , my mom said what do you think your Rin soap is made of !! (Trust me ,I did not believe that for a very long time !! )

The Chicken-pox dominated summer where 6 cousins went out flat with chicken pox , all the neem leaves in the house ... 6 cranky kids getting on the nerves of the moms :)) (Should have listened to them and shouldn't have scratched my nose :D)

Going to the theatre which had the Shri Krishna design on the wall , remember seeing a movie where Chiranjeevi had worn this weird pink shirt , and of course he was the caped-crusader (Kondaveeti Donga I think)

The goli soda in the break with the colored marble stuck in the neck and the vendor pushing it in with style and the pop sound ! and how could I forget the Gold Spot !! Don't think they make that anymore , I remember, going out with Tataiyya and getting to have that was like a treat .... Oh and there was this time , when a cousin decided to go in for soda and said that it was the same as goli soda but just a little bit stronger , and he also added that there was the art of keeping it in your mouth (without swallowing it) (who'll manage to do that for the longest period of time) , should have never tried that , it felt like the insides of my mouth were being torn apart or being attacked by something . :))

The fights where we would stop talking to each other for a while or perhaps stop talking till the next vacation , (there were no mobile phones or perhaps even telephones in those days, and of course letter writing has always been an art )
Then again ,we would get back to 'stealing' the yummy mango pickles 'drying' on the terrace , finish it off and make all sorts of innocent expressions when ammamma used to pull us up for that :))

Sigh , summer vacations must have been the best part of my childhood ...Long nights with story telling ,evenings on the hill , mornings by the river , temple visits , nights on the terrace .. Seems like it was ages ago .. and yet , the memories are just as fresh ...

Happppppppppppppppppy Birthday !!!!

Yummy Cakes , awesome gifts , pretty presents , a big party and laughter all day long .... This and all the happiness in the world , I wish for you doc ...

Many happy returns of the day :)