Simple things and Joy.

There's something highly calming about early Bangalore mornings - the cool breeze flows into your system, simply, instantly calming the senses.

I'm at the Cantonment station waiting for the train to Chennai, to arrive and take me on my journey; to help me revive all my memories of "Train and Me"...The train arrives at the platform, stirring up a heavy cloud of mixed odors, the ground below my feet cheers merrily to the rhythm of the iron wheels braking on the rail lines...(*this is the part where 'boards-train-settles-down' is merrily skipped, well, almost....*)

The lifting aroma of steaming hot idlies, dosas and masala vadai with the chutney (a mouth watery delight you'd never wanna miss on such journeys) wakes you up to 'BREAKFAST!'...I hold myself back with great difficulty because I have milagaipudi (gunpowder) covered idlies my mother so loving made, at 5 am...(well... So much for the drooly-excitement - Sigh!)

Trains journeys are always a pleasure and there's always so much to learn from it.
Feel good factors: Returning lost smiles and waving merrily to random kids and passers-by...
You always see something unexpected - a weird colour of paint on a house, 'hilarious-but-absolutely-unacceptable' spellings of words, unimaginable growth in rural areas and what not?

Train journey's, I feel, are one's own council - it teaches you to value certain things that are usually neglected in the daily hustle.

The View and my Nokia XpressMusic fone:

        I was lucky enough to get a seat by the emergency exit window, giving me an all access pass for perfect photography...Pictures of passing trains, the beautiful landscapes, random sights, vehicles parked in the oddest places...self photography...and a 360 degree snapshot! What more could I ask? My 2 megapixel phone gives me decent pictures, making my trip so much more memorable!

I saw a monkey sitting on platform with an empty water bottle in hand - who knew Katpadi JCT could actually surprise you with such rarities?

Hunger strikes right on time when you rise early... I quietly, but joyfully wipe down my spiced up breakfast -all wrapped in foil and banana leaves - doubling my eating benefits...A juicy apple makes its way in to my tummy for balance..(*chomps quietly*).

I turn up the volume on my I-pod and play my favourite songs - occasionally, smiling away at memories that ran through my mind...It's such a simple thing - to travel by train - and as they say, one does find joys in simple, little things!

Another day - another sight.

I was on an electric train to my uncle's house in Chennai, when I came across a group of middle aged office-goers who were celebrating the end of another working day. 

As I pulled my suitcase and sat beside them, trying to balance my bags in the train that just jerked for motion, I couldn't help but overhear their conversation; and as I did that, I began to observe that these men were no different from us youngsters; they joked, shared, and cared just as we do, when we're in our own little circles; the rants and ramblings; the fun and the picking; teasing a friend about a call from his wife, among other little things; showing off one's multi-lingual ability; sharing experiences out of the 'work-sphere', chatting and laughing about the day, making sure politics was arguably the most entertaining conversation of the evening, while the semi-humid evening Chennai breeze brought much relief to mood after the topic. I also noticed that during all these wonderful moments these men shared, they also merrily 'high-fived' and 'low-fived' each other generously!

As the train blew it's horn, braking and coming to a halt, one of the gentlemen was very nice to invite me into the conversation by asking me for the time - unfortunately for me, it wasn't the right time to make small talk.

My turn to get off the train and miss out on a whole lot of new conversations made it sad; but I learnt that not all middle aged people are boring or stuck up - they still have the fun in their blood, but somehow choose not to exhibit them for reasons galore!

Thoughts that pass....

There IS an inverse relationship with thoughts and timing!

The best of thoughts can creep in, during the most unlikely times.

Most deep, smart thoughts pop in during a nice, relaxing shower when 'noting it down' becomes annoyingly difficult (unless you have a waterproof/steam proof white board put up in your shower)!

'Blog-worthy' topics, crawl in quietly at the middle of your 'most-blissful-sleep- night', while you're in the transition from 'sleepy' to 'divine slumber' mode.

These trying times are your best lessons on decision making - unfortunately, you miss your class, because you slept!

While such instances happen, there are some oddities too - Our brain chooses to process funny things only when you're in middle of a heated conversation or other emotionally trying moments - when you can't just focus on pulling a serious face, totally messing up the 'already-messed-up' situation!

Then there are other ways in which the mind tests your strength; to hold on to or let go of a thought - for instance, you want to share something really witty on a social network, but your brain can't hold it long enough until you can reach your internet connection; or the person you want to convey something to, is simply out of eye contact!

Thoughts are quick at grabbing opportunities - When the speaker you face is trying his/best to zone you out, it opens endless possibilities to conversations with self, that sadly, but eventually, drift away too!

Here's wishing for a smarter, quicker and less lazier brain! 

The lesser the slip, the better the blog!

A wonderful Christmas!

So we were at Eagle River, spending the evening before Christmas Eve warming up in front of a fire place with friends, planning to spend Christmas Eve snowmobiling! Fun, frolic and snow! Chilling our cola's in the snow that had accumulated in the log cabin's balcony, playing cards, enacting dumb charades - well, we tried and sometimes enthusiastically succeeded and otherwise failing miserably, which always ended with an 'awww!!!' but having a good time altogether…. Christmas Eve was something to look forward to! SNOWMOBILING - The craziest thing I had ever done in my 22 years of living…Boy, was I thrilled?! The excitement had rushed up so much that I just couldn't get a wink of sleep…I was thrilled.

The day of Christmas Eve had dawned upon us and oh! was it wonderful?! It was snowing and we all were hurrying with our warmest gear out to the snowmobile rentals…once there, we suited up in bib and boots, jackets and helmets and came out like firemen and pilots…so proud of nothing! An instructor gave us all the details we had to know about driving, including how to start and stop the engine - yeah, real amateurs - us! The thing about snowmobiling is that it is so close to riding a bike; something that one cannot easily do in the United States of America, as much as we can back in India, so this was the 'REAL DEAL'. Trust me, the feeling  was worth every penny. 

We were four couples, each one with a two seater, set off to one of the most memorable days of winter time. It was breezy, snowing and the handgrips on the vehicle, toasty warm for the biting cold weather that we were rushing in to…the day passed with a lot of enthusiasm, the cold was unbearable but we drove, zoomed and wheeled without a care in the world, for over 30 miles; sometimes stopping and crossing over into a different trail, meeting other bikers, taking pictures of the wonderful setting, nature had given us, filming videos of each one of us driving the vehicle, zooming on to doing even crazier things - for instance, me doing a 'wheelie' on a snowmobile with my husband at the backseat and at times the situation being vice versa too! There is something simply incredible about being thrilled out of one's wits!

Also, there is something wicked about nature - just when we were soaking up in its beauty, we were driven to take its call! And where are we? right in the middle of the woods, with nothing but snow around us and not a snack shack in sight! Nature tested us real bad until we finally found a gas station to relieve ourselves - THAT was after we got lost in the woods, a couple of times, going out of the trail looking for some place to attend to ourselves…Shew! the things we did and said until we got to the blessed gas station! The tracks also led us to try out something courageous - bike on the frozen lake, but due to all the trial nature caused us, we were headed in the exact opposite direction; Now that is something I am going to catch up on during our next  wild ride! We drove until the evening sky dawned upon us calling dusk, making us head back to the lodge, tired, hungry and obviously longing for more on the mean machine! 

Saying goodbye to the 'hunk of metal', the next morning, was the most tearing thing we ever faced; well, that's why the statement holds good every darn time - "All good things come to an end". "Nooooooo", I said, "this is not the end…we still have a lot of snow and a couple more months of winter…this can't be…I'll be back!"; Well, tantrums - sometimes they work and at other times, you just have to live with it! Goodbyes are always sad, and I still miss the number 21 ski-doo. 

Deciding to get back on road as soon as we could, we dropped off the vehicles and started driving back home; all of us were too hungry to drive any further and too tried from searching desperately for a place to eat. It was Christmas Day, and what were we thinking by not stocking up on some food? All the stores were closed, gas stations too, so even the thought of filling ourselves with chips and chocolate wasn't even the closest we were getting to… as we drove a hundred miles,  we were praying to practically everything we saw, the one lonely dog that was trying to cross the street (yes, it did happen - a very unusual sight, though), the trees that had shed their leaves, the strange guy who was jogging out in the cold - I still wonder 'why'?, and to the Lord letting him know that it was Christmas day and he isn't helping!, until we came by a tiny town whose streets were filled with stores, restaurants and what not, but yeah, all closed - and then the spotlight!, I spotted this one quaint little restaurant called 'Two Angels' with the lights that said "OPEN"…boy, could we heard the angelic bells ringing in our bellies, I mean our hearts or what? We had no second thoughts and I parked the car and hopped off into the restaurant clicking my heels in joy! Now, that, my dear people, is a miracle! Who knew that something like this would ever happen? This lovely, blessed restaurant beat all the big, fancy, food giants that proclaim a 24 hour service - where were they on Christmas day? The food was BEYOND awesome and the warmth that was in that restaurant drained all the blues and pain out of us and sent us back home, happy, refreshed, full and in divine spirits!

Blame it on the mummies

I was at an exhibit in Milwaukee on 'Mummies of the world' which had on display to the public, mummies from all over the world and of all ages - fetuses to 50 year olds; it was a magnificent event to be at; and being so close to such fragile history was nothing short of an honour! I must, however, add that it had a dash of spookiness to it - just imagine being surrounded in a dark room, by mummies with not such pleasing body language - need I mention the odor?

As I walked through every aisle, reading information on how 'disease' got them 'deceased', made each one of us feel fortunate to be blessed with antibiotics and other modern medicines.

During and after such exhibits, there's usually a HUGE impact of watching History Channel and movies related to mummies that leaves you wondering, nail biting, fingers crossed, pondering, troubled, especially when you've heard about 'the curse of the mummy' - true story from archeologists... As if I needed that on a Saturday evening!

Moving over from the eerie ambience to dinner is always refreshing... After all, mystery makes one hungry - for fresh air, water and reality - I mean food. Right. (Gulp)....

But let me tell you, this concept called life is really a tricky one... It does everything to freak you out but it always 'seems' normal and makes it look like 'coincidence'...

As I was wiping off the hot aaloo palak with my extremely soft and flaky garlic naan from my plate, the lights in the restaurant decide to flicker and scare the hell out of me!!!

Really? And you say it's normal for that to happen in US? I think not!

I'm definitely blaming this one on the mummies! Not a word more...

(shivers....)