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. . .