What next

For a long time now, I've been thinking more and writing less. One thing that I think a lot about, one thing that a major chunk of my time and money is spent on is travelling and tourist-ing places. Planning trips has become a major hobby for me. The US has such diverse landscapes and places, there is so much to do and see, I feel sort of an emptiness if I don't plan and make atleast one trip every month or so. For the past few days I've strongly felt an urge to document all the research that I do and all the work that has gone in to plan some memorable trips. And this space seems to be the ideal forum for me to put down all of that. Even though there is a lot of information available out there, I still felt while planning certain trips that I could not locate the exact to the point details, (such as best time to visit, points/landmarks/things not be missed when visting that place, cheapest accomodations around etc), which could have helped me plan the trip better. In that regard, maybe this information might even help someone else, or maybe even myself if I wish to re-do those places, to plan things better. Rather than putting these details on trip advisor or something, I just thought I'll put them here.

The trips that I plan to document are both, the short one's: 1-day trips that can be/have been made to some wonderful places in and around Seattle, as well as the long one's: 2-day or 3-day trips that can be/have been made to states other than Washington, and hence those that could have been planned and made even if I was NOT staying in Seattle.

Because the number of 1-day trips done in the past year or so is way too overwhelming, I'm going to start writing about the longer trips: Trips done to places outside of Washington. Then, gradually, I would move to documenting the trips made within Washington itself.

Hopefully, this new found hobby would be an urge strong enough for me to visit here on a regular basis and put down things on my mind more frequently.

Mission I-90

There are few times these days that I get so excited to express something: The 10 day road adventure of driving to Boston turned out to be something un-forgettable. Before the trip we were warned, it would get too tiring. Driving for 10 days would get boring and monotonous. Could there have been a more stark contrast! We enjoyed every bit of the 4000 odd miles driven, never for a moment did it feel like we were overdoing it or we did not want to do it. Yes, we were sleep deprived at times, yes we were forced to lunch-brunch-dine on sandwiches and burgers most times, confined to our "house on wheels" all the time, but to hell with it .... nomads we were and like nomads we lived. A week of excesses it was and all the excesses were totally enjoyable. There was a simple, fixed routine to follow the whole week: Check into a hotel late at night, relax, chill, chat etc., catch whatever night sleep you can, get up at 8 in the morning, get ready at 9, have breakfast by 10 and then hit the road. The routine almost sounds monotonous, but the places we went to and through had an amazing diversity: Cities, towns, forests, glaciers, caves, prairies, water falls, 4 presidents etc. for the record. Irony though was that the best time we had was not spent at/in any of those places. The best time we had was the time we spent in the car: We danced, sung, screamed, laughed, partied, talked non-sense, laughed more. The kind of bullshit we talked, all the silly jokes that we made up, cannot be put or explained. Its just that everything was incredible fun.

Now that the trip is over, it feels like a lull after the storm. Terribly miss our life on wheels. Not that I'm complaining though. In fact, this trip has kind of provided a motivation to plan out similar trips in both the shorter and longer term. As one of us aptly said, time's just right to plan another big one!

Cricinfo Quotes

Some hilarious fan comments on cricinfo during the recent India-SL test and ODI series, much more entertaining these days than the cricket itself:

"I wonder if this Test was just a big plan by Sri Lanka to see whether Randiv has the stamina for Test cricket"................ (opinions galore about the feather-bed in SSC, 2nd test)

"Idea to keep test cricket alive: In a situation like this, bowling team can choose one from viewers in the stadium to bowl...it will increase the number of ppl that come to stadiums and of course the bowlers get some rest from thrashing. " ..................... (a brilliant idea comes up as India struggle to bowl SL out in the 2nd test)

"Its not fair to demand for seaming pitches like in England. Bowlers then get used to getting wickets very easily. If you keep on grabbing mangoes just by jumping a feet high, u can't learn climbing trees ever!" ................... (another interesting thought comes out)

"Looking at the state of the match the discussion of mangoes looks more interesting, my favourites are the alphonso one, can jump 2 feet for that." .................... (the conversation gets interesting)

"My grandma makes the best mango chutney in the world" ............... (mangoes surely are a topic to discuss)

"The only way India is going to take 10 Sri Lankan wickets is by convincing Di Caprio and Co. to plant idea's in the Sri Lankan batsmen's minds" ..... (now the inception fever catches on)

"A Friday morning muse... "Wonder what happened to Jacob Martin... What is Sujit Somasundar doing now..Vikram Rathore... O, Brother art thou?" ........... (some dude gets nostalgic of the 90s)

"Jacob Martin and Sujith Somasunder are at this moment having a few beers with Devang Gandhi, Debashsish Mohanty and Prashant Vaidya."............... (more 90s nostalgia)

"Vikram Rathode is in training department of HCL technologies, as a domestic market specialist.. i attended his special session last week on "How to rule the domestic market"........... (the guy elaborates how Vikram Rathore has moved on in his life)

"Sri Lankans are a bunch of SORE LOSERS. If i was the Indian Captian, i would walk my team out of the series and go back home" ......... (someone's not impressed with SLs strategy of denying Sehwag a 100)

"Ravana bhakts have decided to emulate the Pakis!" .......... (more like it)

"Curious: Why do they call it a 'cow corner'? Randiv: That is the area where the bowlers get milked the most by the bastmen!" ........ (Randiv is a hot favourite among Indians these days)

"India's WC prospects depend heavily on Jadeja's performance in the upcoming matches, worse he performs, better would be India's chances, as they surely would do better without him" .................. (and Ravindra Jadeja is not too far behind)

"Ravindra Jadeja is Dhoni's surprise weapon for the World Cup. He will persist with him till just before, and drop him for the Cup. Then the other teams won't know where to run!" ........ (another Jadeja fan)

"Jadeja has taken out 1 nail from his own coffin and has put it into Kapugedera's coffin" ....... (who is better is the topic of discussion, just after Jadeja gets the wicket of Kapu)

Smitten by Office Space ....

.... a few quotes that I can't get over .....

**********************************

Bob Slydell: You see, what we're actually trying to do here is, we're trying to get a feel for how people spend their day at work... so, if you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you?

Peter Gibbons: Yeah.

Bob Slydell: Great.

Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh heh - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.

Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?

Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.

Bob Porter: Ohhhh

Peter Gibbons: The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.

Bob Porter: Don't... don't care?

Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.

Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon?

Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses.

Bob Slydell: Eight?

Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.

**********************************

Peter Gibbons: What would you do if you had a million dollars?

Lawrence: I'll tell you what I'd do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.

Peter Gibbons: That's it? If you had a million dollars, you'd do two chicks at the same time?

Lawrence: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I were a millionaire I could hook that up, too; 'cause chicks dig dudes with money.

Peter Gibbons: Well, not all chicks.

Lawrence: Well, the type of chicks that'd double up on a dude like me do.

Peter Gibbons: Good point.

Lawrence: Well, what about you now? what would you do?

Peter Gibbons: Besides two chicks at the same time?

Lawrence: Well, yeah.

Peter Gibbons: Nothing.

Lawrence: Nothing, huh?

Peter Gibbons: I would relax... I would sit on my ass all day... I would do nothing.

Lawrence: Well, you don't need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Take a look at my cousin: he's broke, don't do shit.

**********************************

The enigma called Little Apple

About 11 months back, I left Kansas for good and came to Seattle. Manhattan, Kansas is a very small city. Its not even a city, its hardly a town. Weather there sucks big time, too hot in summer, too cold in winter and rains too much the other times. The city only has as many restaurants as I can count on my fingers. No desi eat out place. No public transport. Nature wise, the place hardly has any scenic landscapes. One lake, if you count it, just for the sake of it. No mountains, the landscape is flat and dull and boring. Too few happening places, down town is almost non-existent ..... and I can go on ranting about how much the place sucks.

So then, 11 months back, I left Manhattan Kansas and came to this place in the Pacific northwest. In complete contrast to Kansas, Seattle has the kind of landscape that we tend to see only in films. Snow clad mountains surrounding the city, almost year round. There are tulip gardens, dense, ever-green pine forests, lakes here, there everywhere. Seattle lakes have a shade of blue color that only we know of, its just too pristine and beautiful. And Seattle is not only nature, it has a very happening down town. Variety that we get in food here is unbelievable. There are hundreds of good restaurants, literally, serving Indian and non indian cuisine. The Microsoft presence here makes the city very tech-savvy and developed as well. Really, Seattle is nothing short of heaven on earth. Its just perfect.

Needless to say, Seattle and Kansas are incomparable ........... Seattle is way, way, way better a place, its a place that one can think of only in dreams.

I ask myself, and I never get an answer, that in spite of this, why do I miss Manhattan so much ? Why have I waited so desperately, every single day for the last one year, for the convocation day ? Why am I already feeling sad that this is probably the very last time that I'll be going to Manhattan KS ? Why does it feel that these next three days should just never end ? Manhattan is chalk, Seattle is cheese why do I love the chalk perhaps even more than the cheese ?

I do not know the answers to these questions but one thing I surely know of is that the next four days, I'm going to have a ball of a time. Here I come, the little apple.

Pacific Northwest rocks

Just when I felt I'd seen everything that the Pacific Northwest had to offer, came the last weeked. Ever since I was a kid, I'd seen my parents, uncle, aunts and all elderly people in total awe of the "Dekha ek khwab to ye silsile huae" song. Not just for the melody or music, but also for the picturization. The tulip gardens in the song appeared truly mesmerizing then. Locations of Yash Chopra movie shoots were considered paradise and we grew up thinking how lucky one has to be to visit such wonderlands. Getting a glimpse of such places in real was nothing short of fantasy for us.

Then came the last weekend when we drove to Mt. Vernon, 50 miles north of Seattle. The tulips were stunning and made me wonder: Can anything on earth be more beautiful and colorful than this ? And of course, felt really lucky and fortunate to be living in this paradise that is the Seattle area. Pacific Northwest rocks big time.

Photo-shopping

Original:

Photoshopped:

We live in times where photoshop seems to be as important an art, as photography!

Adios 2009

Came across a very intersting read recently, which went thus:

A kid wanted to learn aiming his slingshot. A friend of his was an expert so the kid asked the guy to teach him. The two of them went to the backyard and the expert said “You see that small temple, right? We worship there, don’t hit it.” So the kid promptly took aim at the fellow’s dog, which yelped in pain and scurried off. The expert was livid with anger “Now what made you do that!” he fumed. The kid said “Why didn’t you tell me not to hit the dog also? Better, why don’t you just tell me what to hit, instead?”

If you think of our minds as the kid, our bodies and brains as the slingshot, our efforts as the stones aimed by the slingshot, you may realize we sometimes behave like the “expert” who knows what not to aim for, rather than the other way round.

This made me think hard and basically got me to a new year resolution: Not to think about what I don't want to do but find out, discover what I WANT to do. And just like on every new year's eve, hoping that THIS would be a year when I would "discover a passion".

Happy new year.