Monday, November 02, 2009

Uninvited guest

Sunday slumber was suddenly disturbed by an intrusion of a “guest”...that too in the ear ! Yes, my friend got up shouting that something went into her ear and it was trying to fly there………

As the “thing” was not coming out, intuition forced us to put oil in her ears. I guess she felt a violent shake followed by silence. As something has to be done to remove the dead “thing”, we got a bus at wee hours and ran to a near by hospital. Got registered in the emergency category oblivion to the poor service rendered. The “thing” stayed, so the hunt for hospital continued.

Being Sunday and ENT not considered as an emergency, the next two stops did not help either. Finally, we went to a fourth hospital in which we managed to get an appointment after 2 hours. By this time, my roommate was actually getting used to her guest!

Then came the traumatic part – first doctor could not pull the “thing” out from her ear. She tried pump-piston, water, forceps etc. None of the jazzy instruments worked and the doc got scared. It was easy to see the missing expertise and confidence.

Atleast, she escalated the situation and a “hero” made an entry. The look itself said that the new doctor was indeed experienced. With skilled hands, he pulled the “thing” out. He had to repeat the action to pull the “thing’s” legs as well.

The “thing” was a mid sized cockroach!

I salute my friend’s strong will to sustain the entire drama for 5 hours. The highlight is we got her registration plus ID card done for 6 months and 5 years in two famous hospitals respectively.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Thanks to M & B!

Another birthday, this time the bang was from M and B. So, here Iam dedicating this blog to them!

Thanks to M &B for making my day! The cake, flowers and gifts added to the garland of joys!

M was at her best asusual – getting up at 11:50 and opening up cakes/flowers from hideous spots. She was trying hard to make less noise as possible…I promptly got up though!
It was a quiet celebration and both of us were elated!

B came all the way to wish me and that was a sweet gesture! Iam sure he got up early than usual for this! Thanks for the thoughtful gift.. it will be used when I plan my trek to Sahyadris!

Next on the agenda is treat on one of the coming weekends. That will add another memorable page in the book of my life..:-) Thanks guys!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

He

It was such a surprise one morning to see Him seated outside our house. It seems that this was the first time He is here. Though He was not staring at me directly, I could feel his pervading presence. He was looking at a tangential direction from our house and Iam not sure if that was intentional.

His calm and composed nature was very attractive and it hit me with lot of intensity! He was such a crowd puller that I was jealous to see his huge number of fans coming from distant places to meet Him. They were taking my space and his undivided attention!!

Day 1 had lot of salutations and offerings. The place was fully decorated to celebrate his presence. He did not bother and I liked that!
Day 2 was almost a disco night with English pop songs blaring the speakers. This did not affect Him either
Day 3 had a movie screening allowing people to squat on the roads. They were whistling to the whims and fancies of the scenes. Movie did not budge him too!
Day 4 was sad as He left. He changed a sober street to such a happening place for 4 days. For the first time, I saw my neighbors and other people who live in the same lane. He moved with the crowd up and down the road to bid farewell. He vanished with a bang deserting the place and hearts of ardent fans like me.

Suddenly, I was feeling empty and hollow! I started missing him and so did my friend M.

Iam hoping that He would visit us next year as my wait has already started!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Open secret

“You are not traveling, you are being traveled!” that’s from the book “Open Secret” by Wei Wu Wei. That kept me thinking or should I say it stopped the thinking? If I try to describe the book, or discuss or do anything about it at all.. it would mean Iam just expanding the objectivism forgetting to remember the source. It will just be an addition to existing phenomenal world.

The conceptual “I” in me also want to add that this book has lot of contradictions because that’s the way “it” is. Does that mean truth is contradictory? The author is trying hard to make “it” simple by saying that “it” cannot be comprehended by mere abstract expression, logic or words.

“Seeker is the source and is noumenon” is the statement closer to truth conceptually.

I stop it here to save from the embarrassment of proving that “Iam” stuck in this dream.Catch the book and it may close “your” concepts forever!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Loooooooong Drive

Yes, it was indeed a very long drive from Greenville, South Carolina to San Diego, CA covering close to 2236 Miles rather 3598 Kms and 10+ states. No doubt that this is one of the best year-end vacations I had!

We were at Houston on Christmas Eve, traveled and chilled at San Diego beach, walked on Rodeo Drive at Los Angeles, gained/lost a few dollars in MGM Casino at Las Vegas, saw the last Sunset of 2008 at Grand Canyon. It’s quite exhilarating just to recap it now! We did watch the beautiful sunrise of 2009 at Grand Canyon too.

The other exciting feature of this trip is I got an opportunity rather privilege to join an amiable Chinese group. I may have missed some instant jokes, as I did not follow Mandarin/Chinese. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed each and every moment..its jus that it would have been more if I had known Chinese.
Two things you gain on a drive like this
- Budget, it was far less from what I had planned/expected!
- Countryside views are breathtaking and they slurp you without any mercy!

Other highlight of this trip is the perfect planning by my Chinese friends! Every hotel, show and tickets were booked in advance.

Not a minute was wasted on deciding what to see! Infact, the plan was more sophisticated than a multiphase project plan with percentages of fun, travel and hotel stay marked for entire trip! The photos were consolidated at the end, written into DVDs ad were distributed.

Phew..they are simply superb! One of my friends cautioned and asked me to think twice before I go for this!
The reason being that the group is new and I need to get engaged with them for almost 2 weeks.


On quick retrospection, guess I would have missed a lovely expedition by not joining them !!



Monday, July 27, 2009

US Visit

Recollection of places I have been...

· Atlanta GA (This was done very often even if one in the group needs to get groceries). Visited the Aquarium, Coca cola factory, Indian groceries, Hindu Temples (Balaji and Swaminarayana) "n" number of times
· Greensboro NC. One of my colleagues’ friend stayed here. This also had many weekend visits with "Cherry picking" as the highlight!
· Grandfather Mountain NC
· Smoky Mountain, Gatlinburg TN. The visit during falls here was amazing!
· Drive to west coast trip from Greenville, SC. This covered many states inbetween with "stop-visits" at Houston, Galveston TX, San Diego CA, Los Angeles CA, Las Vegas NV and Grand Canyon AZ More at http://trudgingthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/loooooooong-drive-yes-it-was-indeed.html
· Erie PA.This had amazing beaches!
· Niagara Falls, both from US and Canada sides
· Charleston SC
· Cincinnati OH
· Myrtle Beach SC
· Disney World at Florida
· Near by places from Greenville SC like Ashville, Ceaser's head, Table Rock, Chimney Rock and Cherokee hills

I met 'S'

It has been almost a year and then 3 weekends of “planning to meet”. Finally, it happened this weekend! Along with M, I went to meet S. The word “Shradha” led to confusion and we landed up in a wrong apartment. S came out and was having fun to see us carrying a big gift* and roaming down the street to find her apartment.

After quick call and clarification we went to her apartment. Guess, who was on the TV - it was none other than daily visitor named “Rakhi Sawant”. Iam not a big fan of reality shows and usually watch these to get a few laughs. On the contrary, my friends were dissecting each and every dialogue of Rakhi and her episodes. S and I agreed that M is almost making her way to get fame like Rakhi!!

S was the same except for her change in hairstyle!, that actually gave her a fresh look! After 3 rounds of Chai and one round of beer, the mood was highly elated! Crappy discussion made us to laugh out whole-heartedly. “Set up of a mini bar” in our kitchen and “Toyun” switch to tune FM in mp3 player were a few of them! There were lots of “LOL” and “ROFL”

Of course, the dinner menu - Pasta, Roti and Baingan Bharta topped all this! S’s Pasta was tasty and she did it with an expert touch! The taste is still lingering in my mouth! Chit-chat was on till 3:00AM with a quick touch of all common friends, treks, PGs, PG mates and PG aunties!

Though we hit the bed, none of us could catch sound sleep and morning was waiting with another round of Chai! This get together would stay green for quite some time! Thanks to M and S!!

M felt that I looked happy – guess that’s true for all of us. And it happens when friends get together!! It’s just that we need to do more of this to break the mundane work!
* Big gift is not for S though she did get other gifts!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Wild Dogs' Attack!

Darchen is a place in Tibet that you visit enroute to Mt.Kailash from Nepal side. When we landed there on a cold evening - the Tibetan temples, its structures and village setllement prompted me and my friend to explore the place by walk . This happened as soon as we reached the camp site.

We looked at the villagers subjecting themselves to idle-chats with their partners. Took snaps of inquisitive kids who fixed their eyes on us! I was merrily talking to my friend and next instant I was pulled down to the ground by a wild dog. Thanks to the layers of cold clothings I had! There were 3 dogs heavily enagaged in attacking us. Next thing I knew was the drooling tongue hanging out on a background of canine teeth right next to my face. I could feel the dog’s hot breath. For one second, it was like the world coming to to an end!

Suddenly, out of nowhere the villagers came with strong sticks and chased away those dogs! My friend was still standing unlike me and for a second, I was happy that no harm was done to her. The thought was shattered when she quickly informed that she did get a bite on her ankle. I could see the canine mark that went through tough layer of her “trek” shoes onto her skin. We just finished four days of the trip and were yet to start the main trek. Our guide strongly recommended her to go back for rabies shots.

The intentions , preparations and expectations of the trip made us to ignore guide’s suggestion and proceed with the trek. Need to take a moment here to appreciate the courage that my friend donned to make the trip successful!!She did take the shots after a week when we returned to Nepal and continued the doses even after reaching India.

KUDOS TO HER STRONG WILL!! S, U ROCK!

Still Iam wondering what caused the dogs to attack us and why the whole scene is fresh in my memory even after two years!