Footprints

Page shifted! :D

For all those who r still checking this page, I ve started writing more frequently, here .
Sorry for the incovinience!!

Well...a good 8 months, since my previous post and boy! has life changed!! Starting from my marital status to the city I live in; from my "occupation" to my daily routine, everything has undergone a 180 degree phase shift! :) and I am loving it!(ok, most of it!) So, as a part of the "change", I am re-christening my blog!

The US of A has not been as different as I thought it would be (except ofcourse the dollar to rupee conversion, which kept its promise!) Trying to cram in 3-odd months into a single post is ridiculous, but I ll take a shot at it, nevertheless! Or may be, I ll break it up into episodes, and give Ekta Kapoor a run for her money! ha ha!

Chicago-Bloomington (2nd August - 9th August)

We landed here amidst thunderstoms! There was really no need for the dramatic set up, on our arrival, but He thought otherwise! :) Our connecting flight from Chicago to Bloomington( where my cousin Ajitha stays) got cancelled, and he and his wife had to make a 2 &1/2 hr drive in the rain to pick us up from Chicago. We ended up paying for our suitcases' air fare ( we could have taken them with us, but the dumb things didnt get off the plane!). The journey from O'Hare to Bloomington was awesome! The land is completely flat (corn fields all the way), and we could see lightning hit the road in front of us. There were fireworks all around, and the minivan ( which is really sturdy!) started swaying because of the wind. We reached his place by 4 in the morning, and the poor guy left to work at 5, after a full mug of coffee!

So much for our arrival! We spent a nice 5 days at their place. Harsha, my cousin's wife is an awesome cook, and their daughter Gouri , who recently turned 2, made both of us forget that we actually had to go to Tempe, and to ASU!

Tempe

We landed at Phoenix 's Sky Harbor airport on the 9th of august, around noon, and as soon as stepped out of the plane, we could not help but think - "this has to be the hottest place on earth"! It was one of the hottest days this year, with mercury hovering around 47 degrees C !
And after the cool of Bloomington, the heat seemed unbearable! Mahesh picked us up and we drove to his apartment. He had prepared lunch for us ( very sweet of him!) and we went to the university, setting up our college and bank accounts. We moved into our new 'home' that night - and there was not a stick of furniture, except the stove and the refrigerator. The 8' X 12' living room looked huuuuuuge!!

The next couple of days went by in a blur. We were busy registering for classes(rather, FIGHTING to register!) , getting settled at the apt, and finding our way around the campus with a green colored map! I was home sick in 2 days, and exhausted a $10 calling card in a couple of days! Amidst all this, I managed to do the "mangala gouri vrata", and had made shavige payasa! :)

I cant believe it now, that I used to cook three times a day!! I loved it, and it's MY first kitchen! :D In fact, I nearly exhausted all the recipes I knew, in a month. And then, the real grilling started - course work - relentless stream of homeworks, assignments, quizzes, tests, mid-terms....and it's still continuing...and will probably do so for the next yr and a half atleast!
And as expected, cooking has come down to once a day, that too at night, and "cereal" has become our regular breakfast! sigh!

So, thats been most of what's happened here, from the time we set foot in this place, till now...and there ve been a couple of interesting "events"( u knw I am studying too much of probability!) , like our visit to the Tempe Town Lake, the Town library, and ofcourse the extremely enjoyable trip to Oak Creek Canyon. Will write about each of them separately!

Surely you must be joking!

I am reading "Surely you must be joking Mr. Feynman", and the book has influenced me/my thought process more than I would like to admit. I am always amazed at the "timing" of the books/articles that I happen to read..Somehow, what I am reading has a direct or an indirect meaning/implication on what's happening in my life at that point of time. This has amazed me for quite some time now, and I have even tried to make use of it in a very weird kind of way! :)

Now,it might come as a surprise to most ppl who knw me, coz really it defies any rationale!! ok, this is what I tried, when I was in my I PU( I guess)- I started reading a book and got this idea that with any luck, the book might contain answers to the questions I had at that point of time... It wasnt as simple as the same questions plaguing the protagonist, so this is what I did - I thought of a question, then opened the book at random. I was very very surprised to find, what was there on that page somehow correlated with what I was looking for.... I got a kind of kick out of this, and did this whenever I felt like and whichever book I was reading at that time. AND IT WORKED!! The only constraint I followed was that I shd really like the book, and its a genuine question...

Thats my story. I stopped doing that a long ago, and I just remembered it now, when I was reading this book, "Surely...Feynman" . The book per se has no preaching, no morals, no serious amt of physics either! Its just a collection of incidents, as narrated by Mr. Feynamn himself. It gives a rare insight into his psyche, and I dunno if I shd be saying this, but many times while reading the book, I felt EXACTLY the same way as he does! :) ( and no,its not abt any theory in physics!(that's expected anyway, right? afterall he's a nobel laureate :D))

There is one more thing that I realised while I was reading this book - my definition of a "maverick" changed. I always associated it with someone who 'did' things the way he wanted, without confining himself to any kind of 'norms' ( well, i just realised, it fits the definition of a 'rebel', equally well! :)) but I realized, a maverick can be someone, whose 'thoughts' are his own! U can be classified as a maverick, if u 'react' to a situation, completely based on what u feel and not on what anybody else feels either abt the situation or ur part in it.

And, since then, I have tried to see what I do, given a situation - do I react the way I do, coz i feel so? or do I react to others' reactions?? well, its not been easy, mind u ! just the observation is quite a difficult exercise, and am not yet through with it.
But looking back at a few incidents, I feel, it makes things a lot simpler if u just think as if there's nobody else who ll be influenced by ur thoughts/action. I resigned from my current job, today. And the reactions of ppl to it have been as varied n different as the number of ppl itself! Some feel sorry for me ( which I HATE!!!!) , some feel this is a hasty decision, some others feel I shd ve atleast got another job, b4 resigning....all this makes sense, but I am happy with what I am doing! Now, I have to CHOOSE between reacting to what these ppl ( who r close to me, and whose opinions matter to me! ) feel, and acting as I feel. And trust me, its quite a fight!! :D

So, coming back to where I started from- "Surely...." , there is a third outcome of reading this book, I am going to dust my copy of " Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick" and read it at leisure.. :) I am really really looking fwd to this! Reading physics, without having to worry abt any exam, and just to know/learn more!
hee :) I love physics!

QUAGMIRE

Though u might not ve set foot(literally) in a marsh, its a phenomenon most of the ppl ve experienced - quagmire or more commonly known as quick sand....and its most dreaded quality-
the more u struggle, the deeper u go....
It is so natural to struggle, to fight, when faced with danger/oppresive circumstances....but that very tendency ensures that u dont get out!!
And the only way, anybody CAN get out, is with someone else's help...and lucky r those who have such a helping hand...and i am one of those lucky ppl! :) Thank u dear !

hey ppl!
aparna said she's not able to comment .... guess i had tampered with some settings...i tried now and its working...u r welcome to comment!

My trip to Shimoga and Lagadamane.....

Before starting off with work in july, i went on this wonderful li'l trip to Shimoga(akshu's place) and Lagadamane(her native).
It was just as good, or even better than my previous visit to these places in the beginning of second year of engg...i went there after 3 yrs to find little had changed...

I stayed at akshu's place for i dunno how many days! And had a wonderful time with aunty....i ve always told akshu, her mom is better suited to be an engg student than her!! :D

We went around shimoga on scooty, ate masala mandakki, watched sunsets over Tunga, visited a meditation hall - a pyramidal structure(really!!!), and chatted non-stop!! and when akshu slept , i talked with aunty! got a few tips abt painting from her.....(btw, i am HUGE fan of her paintings and i ve taken pictures of them!! can u beat that!!) we also went to Gajnur dam, with uncle chauffering us around! :) Had a whale of a time!!

And then of course, we went to Lagadamane......its just so difficult to not go there, and once there, it is even more diffcult to leave! Its a wonderful, wonderful place, with wonderful people- ajja and doddamma living there! The stay there is simply beyond words!!
So, i tried to capture as many details as possible...so that, looking at them will actually be close to reliving the whole thing!!

I have put a few(yes, a few- tho it is 50 odd snaps, coz i took close to 300 pictures!!) of those wonderful memories up here....dont complain if u dont have as great a time looking at them, as i had, living them!! :)

Me and akshu went to this temple in Bhadravathi.....really beautiful!!

Look at the 'star' platform, it is a Hoysala temple...not fully complete though!

Krishna..

All these flowers were present in akshu's place.... this was the first to catch my eye...a lovely flower and a lovelier colour!! :)

diving into a flower.....i am Alice for a few mins!! :)

a solitary beauty... :) my first attempt at a proffessional looking photo!! cant believe, i actually remembered to blur the background while taking it!!!

as usual, i could not stop myself from taking this pic! I just love the way those dew drops stay on leaves...

dew and petals...

Tunga river... I could spot the heron only through the zoom!! :D

Aunty n me! :) In the background is of course Ishwara!!

a white li'l beauty..

well...no guesses here!!

Water, frozen in time !

The confluence....

Koodli - where Tunga meets Bhadra...

Akhila and akshu at their best...akhila is trying to look as tall as akshu btw, in case u r wondering what they are upto! :D

Spot the 'not- so -obvious' butterfly! :D

On our way to Lagadamane....thats one of the gates!!

Us, the awesome threesome...walking from AraLasurLi bus stop to Lagadamane..

A tiny waterfall, on the way....

dont u think the journey itself is worth the visit.......?!! :D

Lagadamane...

Lagadamane....one of the places, i would love to go over n over n over again!!! It has a quaint beauty of its own....It is hidden amidst trees, has no power supply for the greater part of the day during monsoons, the only approach is by a 2 &1/2 km walk from the closest bus stop......it has stayed untouched by the outside world!! For me, it is the closest i ve come to living in a paradise.... once u get there, u lose your sense of time.....eat when u r hungry, sleep when u r sleepy....walk around in the green....and stay in the presence of Ajja and Doddamma! The experience is just beyond words!! I am really lucky to ve been there....all thanx to akshu n akhila! :)

This is how Lagadamane looks from inside...a open to sky quadrangle, with a Tulasi katte in the centre and the entire house around it...

Ajja and Doddamma....

Inside Lagadamane....'angala' and the dining..

we were lucky that it rained! visiting malenadu, without experiencing its rains is definitely not what we wanted......
Sipping hot coffee and listening to the pitter patter of the rain drops, you can spend hours watching the rain... sigh!!

Malenada MaLe....it is an experience in itself....no amount of description will do justice!! It is one of the "MUST DO" things in life.....enjoying the rain!

Its the most primitive form of rain water harvesting and even today, works most efficiently! the channel (made of beetelnut trees ) runs around the length of the house, collecting water from the sloping roof and finally delivering it to either a tank ,or to the plants....not drop wasted! wish we had such simple designs even now...

pitter patter rain drops....

rain water, forming tiny whirpools.....wish i could record the soft gurgle of the rushing water as well....sigh!

It had just rained, and we thought it was the best time to look around the 'thota'(garden). So we set out, wearing hawaii slippers and literally slipped our way through.....

thats the way to the garden( mind u ,its no petite Queen Anne! it is a typical 'malenadina thota' , with scores of leeches, red mud and a lovely feel of fresh, wet leaves...)

wow! what greenery....and so fresh!! phew!

akshu n akhila, having an umbrella fight!! :D

proof that we were there too... :) it was still drizzling and all three of us were trying to hold on to our umbrellas, keep our balance AND protect the camera !! :D it was quite a task!!