Skip to main content

Writer's Block

It's been six months since I put pen to paper, rather, fingers to keyboard, to put up a blog post. Talk about a writer's block.

Highlights of the hiatus include;
- Rivika and Riaan turning 10. That they are unrecognizable now compared to their 1st or even 5th birthday shows Kirti and I how fast they have really grown. Fine little pre-teens they've become, with their varied interests in sports and dance leading to a hopefully and potentially fulfilling childhood and beyond.
- A splendid trip to Cancun (Mexico) to ring in the kids' milestone birthday.
- The hottest Christmas in recent memory (celebrated in Mexico, that is). A trip to the ruins of Chichen-Itza (these folks knew what they were doing, mighty impressive I say), a stroll through the city center of Valladolid (one might say the place bears a striking resemblance to Panjim (Goa)), a thrill-seeking dive through a Cenote, copious amounts of watered-down unlimited alcohol at an all-inclusive resort, which in itself was great, were some of the lasting memories of a trip "down under".
- Parents and Parents-in-law (or as an old colleague used to say - the "Outlaws") getting keys to their new house in Mumbai (India) - Oh, did I mention the houses are in the same apartment building! Knives ready, battle-lines drawn!! The next India trip would be something to experience as we don't (rather Kirti doesn't) have to keep moving between Mulund and Thane to visit parents. Life works in mysterious ways.
- A grueling 15-hour each way, criss-crossing through 6 states, 'get the van for an oil change pronto' road trip to Pensacola, Florida. It had been a while since we did a road trip (2017 Niagara Falls was the last one with 10+ hours driven each way), so was looking forward to the journey and experience and ironically, that turned out to be better than the actual stay down in the Florida Panhandle. Not-so-friendly and not-so-warm weather greeted us during our stay but all in all, a good break from the routine of Work-Life imbalance!

And now with the writing cobwebs out of the way, more writing and more stories are in store as we look forward to Summer 2024!!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Peculiar Observation

Had been to the Hindu Temple today. One of the first things that I noticed about the temple parking lot was that it resembled a used Honda and Toyota car showroom. These two Japanese auto powerhouses have to thank the Indians all around the US for their exceptional sales. And this observation is true about any temple in the US. Pittsburgh Balaji Temple, Aurora Balaji Temple, Lemont Rama Temple etc are the few huge temples that I have visited and have been pleasantly shocked to see the number of Hondas and Toyotas in the parking lots. Lexus and Mercedes are also catching up. Seems the Indian diaspora is not gravely affected by the recession. They were/are smart about the money they earned. Talking about car sales, almost everyone from GM to Ford to Chrysler to Toyota to Honda to Nissan have seen their car sales decline by double digits. American automakers are struggling to sell their "bad" products to the consumers and this time unlike earlier years, the consumer knows better...

Of Snowfalls and White Winters

It snowed this weekend for the first time. Enough said, this is going to be a white Christmas and a long winter to look forward to. With every snowfall comes great complaints about short days and never-ending nights. Depressing to say the least. However, with all those years living in snow-clad regions it is about time we embrace and appreciate the beauty of all things white. Christmas and snowfalls bring about the colors from all the cities across the country with decorations lasting a few weeks to months into the new year. Winter wonderlands come up at communities inviting suburban folks to have a few smiles and gawk at the decorations. Heavy snowfalls are no reason to stay indoors. In fact, they are to be enjoyed outside by building a snowman and having snowball fights with close friends (and enemies if you can find them and entice them for a fight). Snowfalls are to be enjoyed on mountains where ice-tubing and ice-skating are as eagerly looked forward to as a sizzling summer aftern...

India Diaries

The  India  Diaries - Part I After leaving K behind, Mother, Father and Son left the  US  shores for  India  (Yeh jo desh hai tera from Swades playing in the background for dramatic effect). Thanks to V's help with the luggage (and everything else as well, can't thank him enough) and my cousin's support, the exit from the  US  was seamless. The Eagle Has Landed: After a grueling 20 hour ride from  Chicago  to Mumbai (with a rushed stopover at  Abu Dhabi ), the party of 3 arrived home on the morning of May 20th.  My first complaint: As soon as we stepped out of the airplane, the stench of garbage was just too overwhelming. This is one of  India 's premier airports, for God's sake. 35 degree weather did not help matters. Incredible  India ! - Certainly not. Thankfully, the events at Mumbai airport were pleasantly uneventful (no bribes asked, none given)....