The Outsider's Journey

Now on janinthesky.com

Dear Readers,

This blog has moved to janinthesky.com 🙂

See you there!

Not two days ago I met a silver fish. I don’t like to share my shower stall with little creatures but I can’t harm them either. Carefully I showered so he wouldn’t be washed into the drain. He kept climbing to drier parts of the wall to make it through the thunderous storm.

After this episode I was hoping he we would’ve moved since he was shown just how dangerous that spot was to hang out in. But when I went again to shower today there he was again. Hello my friend I said. I was more comfortable with him being there, less afraid of his sudden movements.

There was one large splash which almost swept him into the water. He should know a silver fish can’t swim. I said, sorry! I didn’t mean to splash you. He seemed annoyed nevertheless.

In some time there was one more splash and he stopped moving. His body seemed twisted and indifferent to the water. My little shower companion was dead. The poor creature. How easily he perished. How fragile.

SVL 1.14: Atlanta Florida Trip

25th January 2015

Hi everyone,

Recently I’ve been working on a few of my own projects apart from the environmental stuff so I’ve been putting this trip update off. But here it is at last!

21st December

We used Uber taxis for the first time on the 21st of December to get to the airport in fifteen or eighteen minutes. We flew to Atlanta through Vegas which had slot machines in the airport! The family we were visiting had names all beginning with M – M1, cousin of Santosh, M2, her husband and M3, their five year old son. M2 picked us up from the airport and we spoke to M1 and M3 on the phone. M3 was very eager to see us and had been excited about our visit all day. Santosh asked him to count to 10000 by which time we would’ve reached their house.

When we did reach, around twenty minutes later, we found M3 lying asleep on his mothers lap exhausted from the very sincere effort he had put into counting. M1 had recorded this on her phone to show us. He had gotten tired and sleepy and asked if she could take over counting for him for a while so he could rest. When he finally gave up to sleep, he said he would wake up with a jolt when we ring the doorbell. But poor thing, he was too tired and so he was carried to his bedroom for the night.

22nd December

The next morning, we were woken by small footsteps near the bedroom door and small bespectacled eyes peering in, wondering whether we would mind if he entered. We said hello and called him in. He attempted to sleep next to Santosh for a while but he was too awake, kept whispering and moving so we ended up getting up. As Santosh was working from home, M3 and I spend a lot of time together – playing games, ball throwing, magic tricking the ball from upstairs to downstairs, karate, piano, yoga, telling stories, and watching a animation movie in the afternoon together though I dozed off. M3 and I also spent some time drawing boats, playing tic tac toe, taking pics on his iphone, and doing a tiger puzzle. By the afternoon, M3 got very friendly, saying ‘I love you’ to me and giving me affectionate hugs. That evening, Santosh made him a special ‘M’ shaped chapati.

23rd December

This day started very similarly with a five year old wandering into our room looking to start playing for the day. He even told me I sleep too much though I had slept much later than him and I was still on California time. It was interesting trying to convey jetlag to him. Most of the second day was spent in making the cookie house that was to be eaten on New Year’s Eve when other family members from the East coast states would also join us. M1 was the one who did the most. I helped make the sweet glue with corn syrup, and powdered white sugar with a little vanilla extract. Later we made coloured versions of this because the coloured icing they had in tubes was a little dry for decoration. The design changed a few times and M3 was happy to give inputs. Santosh joined us after more work and made some impressive flags with crackers and Smarties. Though I had gone without refined sugar for a month before that and felt comfortably resistant to all the chocolate initially, prolonged exposure to the oreos, hersheys, kitkats and smarties, especially when I was cutting blocks of them to make the fence of the castle tempted me into eating small pieces.

We got done just before dinner and with a sense of satisfaction, the final product was photographed and wrapped in foil to protect it for the next few days.

24th December

M3 and I started playing a game that had until then only been one among the many games he liked. He called it rocket ship. We sat on the sofa in his toyroom, he would be the captain, of course, and we would go on adventures from Pluto to the Sun and back. He created dangerous scenarios like volcanoes and tornadoes made of disgusting stinky spaghetti in space and evoked his ‘dust power’ which worked only in sunlight, to solve the problems. We discovered that there was a naughty boy on Pluto that was making all the chaos in space so we went to ‘teach him a lesson’ (making sure M3 understood that when someone does something bad, you have to discuss it with them, not destroy them). He gave voice to that naughty boy and we negotiated that he would come with us to point to another naughty boy near the sun who had been teasing him because of which he ran away to Pluto. After sorting out the fight between these celestial boys, we decided there are too many boys in the ship and we need to add more girls to equalise the ship’s population. M3 suggested we go to pick up some girls in Hawaii. Then he also brought his parents on the trip with us. This resulted in some discussion about where my parents were and what they said about my marrying Santosh.

He had been processing the idea of marriage for quite a while before he got to know me. They had explained to him that Santosh was a big boy and no longer lived with his parents, but he also got lonely so he needed to get married. M3 had said sweetly that he would send Santosh a teddy bear and he won’t be lonely anymore. When Santosh and I got married, M3 said, ‘Santosh has someone to live with now but I get lonely too, so I should get married too.’

We also discussed that in every star ship, the captain has to make the big decisions but the admirals would be the bosses of captains. I told him his mother is his admiral and we have to listen to her. He asserted that he is the captain so he still gets to be the boss of me. More discussions followed on who is the boss of everyone. That his dad could be the boss of his mum and that Santosh, because he is so tall, could be the boss of everyone.

After we, or should I say I, got tired of playing rocketship, M3 retreated to watch TV. We packed for the upcoming trip to Florida and played a little more rocket ship before we slept.

25th December

We woke at 5:30 to leave the house by 8, but it was probably closer to 9 by the time we left. The change of car seat upset M3 and it took a lot of convincing to get him into the car. The bright sun shone in our faces as we made our way to Jacksonville where to see Santosh and M1’s cousin’s family. Though we slept a little in the car on the way there, I still felt a little phased out that day. We gave the 1 year old girl a soft toy echidna (that others called a hedgehog) and she was quite taken by the enormous soft green triceratops MMM had gotten her. We gave an operation kit to the four year old and watched as M3 and he got to playing various things all over their house. Santosh spent most time with the kids, carrying them, asking me to take pictures and videos of himself with the 1 year old who he and his sister often compete over. There seemed to be a close cousin connection between the adults and the whole atmosphere was very friendly. We enjoyed lunch together and they started a movie called Kalyana Samayal. With all the activity, most people only noticed parts of the movie and asked for parts of the plot they missed. As the conversations between the adults were mostly in Kannada and I hadn’t slept properly I found it harder to concentrate on conversation than usual. Santosh and I do this thing, not too seriously, where we compete for children’s attention and affections. While most boys prefer him, most girls prefer me. The exception was with this one year old girl. She preferred Santosh over me so clearly that I got jealous. Her mother and M1 tried to comfort me that it was about his height and that he was wearing red and that children like bright colours. Next time I see them, I will wear the shiniest and brightest of clothes. We slept there and had another early start to the day going to Disney.

26th December

The next morning, M3 and I disagreed in the car about kicking books. We had tantrums and mini-fights every once in a while when we spent long periods in the car together but the great thing was how quickly we’d get over it and get back to playing. The original plan had been to drop me and Santosh off in Epcot and take the car to Magic Kingdom. But the traffic to Magic Kingdom was so horrible that the car was parked in Epcot, and MMM took the monorail to Magic Kingdom.

In Epcot Santosh and I headed to Mission Space. We selected the level Orange – for intense training. The whole of Epcot had background music so as we waited in line it felt like we were on the brink of a great space adventure. When we got in, were were given safety instructions not to move our eyes away from the screen. Indeed, it was disorienting to move your eyes. There was lots of realistic G force, and I screamed during the intense movements to let out the thrill and exhilaration.

Next we went to Soarin for which we had a Fastpass (a system in which if you prebook the hour in which you want to enter a ride you get faster access into it – no extra charge, just planning ahead). Once you buckle in, it lifts you up for a ride over the Californian coast with huge screen spanning all your visual field. Though they warn riders that if you are scared of heights you should be wary of going on these rides, I found it quite manageable.

Then we went to Captain EO – to watch Michael Jackson in the first 3D movie made in the 80s. I found it quite impressive for that time, they certainly knew how to use 3D to maximum effect.

As the lines for Captain EO had been relatively uncrowded we didn’t use our fastpass for it and wanted to use it for a different ride.

While we waited for our allotted time on Spaceship Earth, we explored Project Tomorrow and the Disney Art Shop. Spaceship Earth was a slow ride through time – the models and sets were very realistic and well done. There were sets of cave men, civilisation, paper, books, communication developments, computers, and where we will go in the future. It was very beautifully done. It landed us back in Project Tomorrow where we played a few more games on energy distribution (reaching the level of Paris), checking our reaction times, memory and hand eye coordination and looking at Siemen’s ideas for the future in health, energy etc.

Next we walked around the world show case. In Canada we saw a short documentary with surround screen of scenery and cities with one of their comedians. In France also we saw a documentary and ate an eclair. We went onward to Morocco, Germany, Norway, China, Japan, UK (where there was live music) and some others possibly. Each country had some Disney associations. We charged our phones in the Aztec pyramid of Mexico and made our way back to Morocco for food. Since we still had time we decided to go wait in the Chevrolet line to try their fast cars. When we got in, we were asked to design a car and the specs of our car would be tested on the track. The ride is a self-driving car which runs into obstacles, makes sharp turns. The final is for speed. It was just thrilling to go that fast without a windshield! By then my headache, which had started with the G-forces that morning, had become worse, but I had lots of fun so I couldn’t complain. To end the day, we sat at the edge of the world showcase, along the lake and watched the fireworks-water fountains-laser show. Just as it was ending, we headed to the car to meet MMM.

We got to hotel late, M1 gave me a roll on headache thing that smelled like Amrutanjan. Though I had been comfortable outside, I felt very cold before I fell asleep because in the hotel, they had the AC automatically on. We turned it down.

27th December

The next morning again we got up relatively early to go to NASA! This was especially exciting for M3 who had been wanting to go on a real spaceship. Santosh and I were also quite excited. It was a two and half hour drive in the morning and we saw the rocket garden as we approached NASA. We went for the tour of the launch control and moon mission rockets. When we came out we saw the massive rocket and as we walked around the various parts there was a rock brought back from the moon which we could touch. I was so so SO excited by this! Then I touched a MOON ROCK!!! wowowowowowow!!!! It felt so real and unreal at the same time. I had made up several stories as a child about being an alien, flying into outer space, doing to different dimensions of reality, floating on the clouds, etc. and not too long ago, I was obsessed with Star Trek, Star Gate and other space related entertainment. But touching the Moon Rock was the closest I’ve really come to anything outside earth. It was dark and smoother than I expected. It reminded me of the first chapter of ‘Fragments of Reality’, a book I browsed through in my friend’s house in Edinburgh (or maybe it was her boyfriend’s book) which illustrated the universe in a way that I felt closely related not only to our whole solar system but our galaxy cluster!

After checking out all the displays of that mission, the documentary, the real launch control used for the moon landing, and learning more about the whole moon story, we went back to main NASA by bus as the driver told us more about the area, alligators and birds. Then we waited in line for an hour for lunch – Mediterranean pizza which was the only vegetarian option.

Having refueled ourselves, we went for the Atlantis show which consisted of two 12 min documentaries and then the unveiling of the shuttle itself. I really grew to appreciate all the hard work, effort, brainpower and human enterprising abilities involved in NASA’s work. I almost cried when they showed us the real shuttle retired after so many missions. What an amazing machine. We saw the displays, played a shuttle landing game – terribly – and then went for the shuttle simulation which was a bumpy ride with some G force but not as intense as the orange level training in Disney. M3 was too short to go, so his mum and he went on the rocket slide. I felt very disappointed for him because he had been looking forward to this. But he seemed happy enough afterward and Santosh remarked that the ride would probably have been too much for him anyway.

Then we went to IMAX 3D to watch the Hubble story. It was a pretty awesome story of discovery and while MMM went to an Angry Birds-Space area for kids, Santosh and I checked out the gallery of photos taken by Hubble and some more meteors that had fallen on earth! Overall it had been a fascinating, stimulating, and inspiring day. I wanted to see, and learn a lot more about our universe. Santosh is very passionate and interested in space anyway too. It would be fun to learn more together. We stopped at Giovanni’s for a pasta dinner on our way to the hotel. In the car M3 had been telling me many Miki Mouse stories in a lot of detail. He would turn my face with his small hands and maintain eye-contact as he talked endlessly about the bad guys and the good guys, starting new sections of the story with “and, and, did you knoooooow…”

28th December

We were heading back to Atlanta. We left in no real rush. The weather was great! Slightly humid, warm weather. It was hard to believe it was December! We stopped at beach to enjoy the wonderful temperature that reminded me a little of parts of Tamil Nadu or Sydney beaches. We collected shells, got into the water and enjoyed the beautiful waves and soft sand. After the fun at the beach we got back into our ‘rocketship’ again, stopped for lunch in Panera bread, where I had pumpkin soup and Mediterranean sandwich. After driving some more, we took another break in the rest area where M3 ran around, hopped and jumped to feel less cranky. Then we stopped for dinner at a Subway on the outskirts of Atlanta and got home in the night.

28th Dec was the day Santosh and I met in person for the first time.

29th December

The headache that had come with less sleep, bright lights and overstimulation disappeared the previous day. I don’t normally get headaches so I was a little taken aback. Being back in Atlanta and expecting the big group only in the evening, I got up late. We opened the Christmas gifts we had left under the tree on the morning we left to Florida. I got a very pretty colourful handbag, Santosh got an interesting puzzle which is known as the world’s toughest puzzle(?), and M3 got a tent! 🙂

The family in the van arrived in the evening, a little later than expected but with a lot more energy than expected. The energy level of the whole house went up exponentially. S1, M1’s older sister, also brought gifts – I was very touched that she had knitted a pair of colour blended fingerless mittens for me. The four younger kids – ages 10, 14, 14 and 15 brought songs invented in the car, catch phrases, a lot of jokes and unsuitable nicknames. The two older ‘kids’ also participated in singing a song for the rest of us called KarvaChauth involving the 10 year old girl’s recent obsession with the ‘Saas-Bahu’ relationships in Hindi soap shows. This led to playing a round of Antakshari. M3 got into it with his made-up song ‘Dady-hee-haaaa, dady-hee-haaaa’. It pleased him to sing it for such a large and attentive audience.

The kids settled themselves in the basement entertainment room for the night and we watched a couple of episodes of Korra together. Last visit the kids and I had bonded over Avatar and Korra was still in its third season. Now that we had all finished the series recently, there was major discussion on some insights revealed in the blogs of the makers. Santosh had been introduced to The Last Airbender by yours truly and taken to it to such an extent that he often makes comparisons and points in other conversations using characters and examples from the series. He was keen to start Korra with the kids and those of us who knew the story were careful not to reveal too much to him.

30th December

The next morning S1 was being pampered by her niece from her husband’s side – hair being oiled, feet being massaged, I joined in and gave a 101 on foot massages. That morning was also when M3’s cousin from his dad’s side arrived in Atlanta.

That day we went for a heavy lunch at Sweet Tomato. I piled on a lot of Salad and told M3 veggies will give me superpowers. He didn’t want to believe me. I told him just like Korra, meditation will also give you super powers. He said no, that’s make belief; it can’t be true in the Real world.

After some time digesting, not just salads, but the ice-cream, mousse, muffins and hearty soups and pizza slices, we went to play in the school grounds nearby. There was a little bit of fuss adjusting to M3’s size and understanding of the game. I don’t think he is used to team sports. The fact that he was so young worked to my advantage several times because he could free us from our prisons and no one had the heart to catch him. V, S2, M3 and I were on one team. A1, B, D and Santosh were on the other team. S3 had a foot injury so A2 had taken her back with M1, M2 and R. So when she came back, we switched from playing ‘Capture the Flag’ to football on the field.

Football was a lot of exhausting fun that day. Santosh and B were a formidable team on the offensive with S2 and A2 on the offensive and M1 as a goal keeper. M3, D, A1, V, M2 and I all together took our time to get our act together, though R as our goal keeper did a great job. M3 got upset a few times that the other team was winning so we took two minutes to pretend that he was scoring a goal to get him participating properly. There was some falling (I slipped on the ball) and a lot of chasing, strategising and then we finally reached an equal level with the sporty duo of B and Santosh.

As it was getting chilly as soon as the sun set, we headed back. The group of us were working on different aspects of our dinner. S3 and A1 cut up some vegetables for the salad and veg pulav. A2 amused everyone by bringing out goggles to cut onions. Santosh worked on (his all famous) akki rotis and M1 and S1 worked on the pulav and side dish. As major cooking was going on, the kids also started a discussion on competition, who they were being compared to, what parents expected of them etc. This continued into dinner and when the venting and discussions were over, we gathered the few of us who had gotten deep into a philosophical discussion last time in Michigan about differing Hindu philosophies and went to the basement to get into this discussion. There was V, B, A1, S2, R almost like a mediator, Santosh, S3 and me. What followed was very interesting. We managed to see almost every branch of discussion through to the end. The one we spent most time on was meditation. As I had found a yoga book in M1’s house and had been reading it, and with my recent experience with the google mindfulness course, I shared some points with the others. (I had also tried to teach M3 meditation and apparently he tried doing it recently and told him mum that I taught him that. It was very sweet:)) The discussion went on for a few hours and after the sisters came down to the basement to join us and remind the kids to sleep, some did, and some of us shifted into a smaller room to continue. In the end, there was B, V, S2, me and A1 who rejoined us after a break. I was very happy to have been able to finish the conversation which started so long ago and hear about these topics from younger people. Some very interesting insights and analogies emerged using the contexts and frames of references they were most familiar with, like Harry Potter and other movies. We made a list of topics left to discuss and decided to create an email group to share links and books later on.

31st December 2014

The next day was new years eve. Many in the family went to the temple for ‘Sorgavaasal’ that morning. There was some debate on whether or not to venture out into the city to visit Coke, CNN and other touristy areas. B and I was all for staying indoors and bonding with the people. She and I had an interesting discussion on Any Chua’s Tiger Mom philosophy of raising children. Some of the others did choose to go out to the city. So the morning was pretty laid back. In the afternoon we left much later than the previous day back to the school grounds. We played Kabaddi and again my team lost against the team Santosh was on – he would just surround my team members, grab hold of and pin them to the ground until they stopped saying Kabaddi. We had no such muscle on our side. We went home pretty dusty, all feeling a little sad that the next day, the group that had come south in the van would be heading back.

We finished the rest of Korra Season 1 after dinner and had half hour left of 2014. We made calls to Dubai and India who were already in 2015 to wish them a happy new year. Then we counted down with the people in New York.

1st January 2015

We woke early to visit a temple together in the morning. The first day of the year is often the most crowded. Though the plan was to be done with the temple soon, they didn’t open the god doors until 9:30. We went to see the Vishnu and the Shiva temples and took some group photos outside before the group heading north left. MMM, Santosh, me and D were left and we visited another temple before we went back to the house. M3 had developed a great liking to hide and seek by then and knowing Santosh and I were only staying a couple more days, he was very eager to play as much as possible before we left. D and I also had some nice chats and played with M3 together.

2nd January

Playing was still at high intensity and when I created a pause or found him before he thought he should be found, he immediately wanted to accelerate to the next round. Then finally he had a meltdown and cried about how much he is going to miss us when we are gone. I felt so bad. Later he recovered and played with D as Santosh and I packed to leave the next day. We were also making arrangements to have dinner with an old flatmate of mine who had come from Germany to Atlanta for a semester abroad program.

Santosh and I left in M1’s hybrid and were impressed by its smoothness. When we arrived at Bhojanic, too early, we liked the jazzy atmosphere. We went to browse in the shop nearby until my flatmate and his companions arrived. He is the first of my German friends I have seen in person since I left last April. It felt simultaneously like no time had passed and like it had been a very long time. We talked a lot through the meal, about changes to life since we last talked, goals we had for the future and we reflected on how we had grown since April. He told me I looked happier and more grown up. I told him he seemed to have become braver and more responsible. We told the others stories of the time that he had tried something I had cooked in the flat and ran to the bathroom with a carton of milk to make the spice go away. Santosh warned him to check the spice level of what he ordered and both he and the other German went to change their order to something more mild. Listening to them chatter away in German by themselves was familiar and felt good. The two other students who we met also told stories of their connection to Germany. At the end of the meal, I handed my flatmate a gift that Santosh had picked out for when we meet him given his love for old forms of music and resistance to mp3 players.

The group of us went looking for frozen yogurt after dinner and found the shops were closed except a cupcake ATM which we were very fascinated by. It was a short evening but very pleasant to see my old friend again and meet his new friends.

3rd January

M1 packed us lunch for the long flight back home and we drove together to the airport. We reassured M3 that we will meet again soon and that he can come visit us in CA. He was tempted to hop on the flight with us and leave. A sense of sadness came over me as we said our goodbyes. It had been a fun and wonderful trip.

Tags: atlanta, Atlantis, avatar: the last airbender, ball drop, bhojanic, Captain EO, Chevrolet test drive, cookie house, Disney, Epcot, florida, florida beach, hindu philosophy, Hubble, jacksonville, korra, Magic Kingdom, mission space, moon landing, moon rock, NASA, orlando, playing with kids, Project Tomorrow, shuttle, soarin, spaceship earth, sweet tomato, world showcase

SVL 1.13: Starting the New Year

15th January 2015

Hello,

It’s a cold but sunny day in Sunnyvale as I write to you. The past three weeks have been filled with activity.

Santosh and I had a wonderful time in Atlanta and Florida, thanks to his wonderful cousins and their families there. I’m writing about it in more detail but it will be too much for one email so here is the short version of the Atlanta trip. The detailed version and photos will follow in a separate update which is work in progress.

2 week Atlanta Trip in 2 minutes (deep breath):

We went to Atlanta, stayed with Santosh’s cousin’s family, played with her five year old son, made a cookie house, left to Jacksonville, Florida, stayed with another cousin and her family including two more kids – a four year old son and a year old daughter on Christmas day. The next day we spent at Epcot, Disney which was a LOT of fun and the next day at NASA. On the 28th we stopped at a really nice beach on the way back to Atlanta. The very next day more cousins, nieces and nephews arrived from other parts of the East Coast and we had a lot of fun, singing, playing, watching Korra that night, going out for football and late night philosophical discussions the second day and playing Kabaddi on new years eve, finishing a Korra season and counting down together to the new year. The next day all 15 of us went to the temple from where the big gang started their long trip back. Santosh and I left on the third.

Birthday

We celebrated my birthday at home. Santosh made me an elaborate meal – pandigai sapadu – festival food (consisting 10 items! -2 kosambaris(type of salad), thogayal (lentil mash), urlakazhangu kari (potato fry), arachhu vitta chinna vengaya sambar (baby onion sambar with sambar podi made fresh rather than using a stored one), ambade (look it up), rasam (similar to a soup), thayir (curd), sadam (rice), and golab jamun (one of the most popular indian sweets) ). He didn’t let me look at the kitchen let alone help! I was totally surprised because I had been getting conflicting smells for the previous 4 hours. Surprised, touched, special, loved. I ate so much, I couldn’t eat again during the day!

I got calls, messages, mails etc from lots of people from so many places. It felt very special.

Through the week

I went for the final session in Stanford on Monday. There is a farewell this Thurs for the postdoc who is leaving but any more of the work is minimal and I will be doing it remotely.

I started to work on a new personal project during the week. Thursday there was a meeting of Sunnyvale Cool to discuss the successes of last year and the aims for this year. I’ve been offered a leadership position in the land use campaign. I also went on an outreach to spread awareness about the proposed Dedicated Bus Lane on Friday which was fun but exhausting – a bit like a game – catching and maintaining people’s attention as they walk by and convey as much important information in as little time, getting their support in the form of petition signatures. I went again to bus stops to collect more signatures. The City Hall meeting about this proposal is tomorrow evening – there’s quite a bit of tension about how it will turn out.

Birthday Party

On Saturday Santosh and our niece arranged for my birthday party – my cousin’s family, his cousin’s family, an old friend of Santosh and a neighbour came to the party – each with at least one kid and the house was full of cuteness and fun! There were two cakes – black-forest and chocolate, and lots of food from Chaat house. I had a playlist filled with Ghazals, karnatic vocal and instrumental, Phil Collins and Pink Floyd, and to make it more mixed up, some celtic music. The kind of background music which takes you around the world. Our niece had made a game called ‘hot potato’, also called pass the parcel in some parts of the world – There was a box with instruction chits she had cut up. When the music stopped and you have the box, you have to open the box, close your eyes and pick one. Examples of dares were –

Say something special about yourself

What is your favourite number

Recite ABCs backwards

Sing

Dance

What did you do over the holidays etc.

It was fun 🙂 Before the party, she had also helped me pick what to wear and accessories. She has a good eye for colour, and combinations. I wore the bracelet and earrings my Aunt and Uncle gave me in LA along with a blue, green and while skirt with a double top of green and blue sparkly butterfly. It was an unexpected and imaginative combination. She also asked me to wear my hair partially down for once and I did the same for her hair. We have a picture somewhere of us standing together with the same hairstyle 🙂

During the party her 3 year old brother and my 2 year old nephew got along very well, played with the spinning chair, shared it, sat on the floor thumping the ground and laughing. When the 8 month old girl wailed before her nap, the spirited 3 year old started saying ‘it’s ok, it’s ok’ to her from the chair and then got down to try and comfort her. He was also very gentle with her when he went around the room distributing otherwise enthusiastic high fives. He also did a new thing called ‘konji’ which means he will approach your shoulder carefully and kiss next to it. This is his way of being affectionate 🙂 Both the boys cautiously tasted the cake when I first cut it and fed it to them. My nephew kept going back for more.

City Hall

It takes a long time to write update emails. So on Tuesday, the City Hall meeting happened. When I went there early and overheard a bunch of older men speaking of how the BRT project will take away space for cars and picking up Speaker cards to address the council, I realised I need to speak against them. In the end, with many late comers, 16 people including myself spoke for the Dedicated Bus Lane project, and 9 people spoke against it. Felt pretty exhilarating and dramatic.

My speech was jotted in points on the back of the Meeting Agenda. I spoke about how so many countries have enhanced public transport, so why not the Bay Area? Traffic problems are going to get worse as new projects bring more people to this area because everyone wants to drive. Cars cause congestion. It’s a very car centric growth, we have to be more people centric – So many people benefit from it including the elderly, children, disabled, students and poorer people, many of whom are coloured and live along the ECR corridor. I talked about the cool new features which would be in this project and how sitting in a car with a dedicated lane for buses would make people stressing out in cars wish they were on buses, relaxing, using the WiFi or sleeping. My time was almost up so I mentioned that the younger generation is choosing against driving so alternatives need to be good. And urged the council to consider these things while thinking about the direction Sunnyvale will take.

I had several other points which I tried to give to others I knew would speak but even without coordination, the people who spoke for the project covered the crucial points! 🙂 One of the people who spoke against BRT added a snide remark ‘what would India know about public transport when they have people hanging off the sides of them’. This was clearly a jab at me and I was feeling a bit shocked at this when Santosh told me the only time someone will target you is if they feel threatened by you. I felt proud and happy at that. My brother and parents said similar things about it and I felt happy again to have made an impact.

That about brings us up to date. I will send the detailed Atlanta Story in the next update.

Hope your new year has also started off well.

Best wishes,

Janani

Tags: atlanta, BRT, city council, City Hall, Dedicated Bus Lane, Disney, ECR, el camino real, Epcot, florida, georgia, jacksonville, korra, NASA, orlando, sunnyvale, Sunnyvale Cool, TransForm

SVL 1.12: Winter and Holiday Greetings

19th December 2014

Hi everyone,

Winter Solstice is just around the bend. Christmas decorations and songs are in all shops here. But it doesn’t look much like winter. It has been raining (making up for the 3 years of drought in CA) and it’s much colder now but according to German standards, this could well be Autumn. I keep waiting for it to get worse. In many ways though, CA is much less built for the cold. Almost no double glazed windows lets the heat out much too easily. I wear my fuzzy comfy house shoes and Santosh wears socks and we put ‘space heaters’ on to be comfortable indoors.

We will head to Atlanta to spend the holidays with Santosh’s cousin’s family, and others who will visit from across the East Coast. I will meet an old flatmate who will be in Georgia at the end of this year and around new years eve, the house is expected to be overflowing with cousins, kids, family and friends. Looking forward to that trip 🙂

In other news, the environmental activities have been happening and in January the decision on the dedicated bus lane will be made at last. I was asked by TransForm to write a letter to the editor of San Jose Mercury News to voice my opinion. It got published. Here it is: http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_27165724/dec-21-readers-letters-el-camino-real-would. Pretty excited by this. I didn’t think it would be so easy. I feel encouraged to write more.

The project at Stanford is also going to end in January. I’ve made some friends there now and two of us are thinking about what next. The third is pregnant and is happy to take a break.

Happy holidays and a happy new year to you and your families!

Warm hugs,

Janani

Tags: autumn, BRT, CA, christmas, letter to editor, new years, San Jose Mercury News, solstice, stanford, writing

SVL 1.11: The City of Angels and San Diego

6th December 2014

Hi Everyone,

On Sunday night we returned from a memorable and wonderful trip to southern California. Since ‘Merricans celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November, it becomes a long weekend perfect for travel. Santosh was in LA for several years for his studies and work and wanted to show me many of the places he had enjoyed over his years there.

Here is the short version:

We went to LA and SD during Thanksgiving week. In LA we stayed with my young uncle’s family and in SD with my old school friend and her husband. We saw great beaches, places of nostalgic value for both of us, amazing views, and enjoyed the company of very wonderful, inspiring, lovely people. Pictures follow every section below.

The Drive to LA

Day 1

We started last Saturday, on the 22nd of November. It was raining as we left the Bay Area. We stopped in Aptos for a small break and continued on the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). The first sight of the ocean felt magical. It only got better from there. We went to Monterey where we stopped for a falafel lunch at Paprika Cafe. Later we went to the beach. The little ponds on the beaches had little snail-like shelled crabs that move a bit and stick themselves onto rocks so they can stay when the tide comes in. Because of the rough weather, the waves were really dramatic as they crashed onto rocks. Pelicans flew above, we even saw a vulture/eagle or some sort – very black wings and graceful flight. We saw crazy people putting food on their shoulders and heads so seagulls will fly close to them to pick up the food. It was actually scary even to watch! This was in Ocean View Boulevard, in Monterey Bay.

At Lovers Point we climbed onto the large rock structures. The view was great. Then we continued on Sunset Drive and down the ’17 mile drive’ where many fancy houses are and stopped to see sea otters/ lion seals at a distance on a rock through a viewer (Bird Rock, Pebble Beach). There were such grand beaches along the way – so beautiful! The coastline is truly breathtaking. The sea turned gold as the sun set.

We stopped in Monterey for some coffee at a very European shopping area – there were quaint little shops with antiques, fancy dresses for kids, wine tasting centres etc. We explored an antiques shop with old clocks.

We drove on to Bliss cafe in San Luis Obispo for dinner – healthy vegan food 🙂 We took a walk around the nearby streets (around Higuera street)and Santosh showed me some places he had been before when he had stopped here, especially pointing out the place where they charged exorbitantly for haircuts. This little town, he told me, was the happiest in all USA. I wondered if that had anything to do with their street boards being written in Frodo font. Maybe they all think they live in the Shire. Loud drumming emanated from several cafes and bars where there were live performances. As we walked in a quieter shopping area where loony tunes was being played on a large screen, we met an old man who smelled of cigarettes who claimed to look like a french artist and believed himself to be his reincarnation.

We then made it to Baywood Los Osos for the night. The AirBnB host there was very friendly, welcoming and seemed to share many of our interests including Yoga and meditation. She had left some related magazines in our room and chocolates on our pillows. The mattress had adjustable firmness with buttons next to each side. She also had two cats who were very shy but with my allergy, I did feel their presence. Otherwise the stay was very comfortable, and enjoyable.

The Drive to LA

Day 2

The next morning when our host told us that she loved the morning walks along the coast, with the dew hanging from spiderwebs, I commented that so many people along the coast seem interested in Yoga, nature and other things that would otherwise be construed as Hippie. She told me that she hadn’t liked the green layer of pollution in Long Beach where she had been earlier that week, that it was about a sense of calm which you can get away from the big cities. She is a financial consultant and was planning to go on a bike trip with her biker friends. I don’t know if she’s a hippie. She and Santosh also discussed the history of politics in the US and India.

Soon after a soft cinnamon scone and fruits for breakfast, we packed to get back on the road. We passed more beaches and then headed further inland. We saw a great lake which is close to a dam in that area. This area had been recommended to us by our host and the old man. Santosh got me telling an old story in a lot of detail and at some point we slowed down and right out of the window I saw a sign for Oakgrove School. I stopped talking and looked from the sign to him in shock.

For those who don’t know, Oakgrove School is a Krishnamurthi school much like The Valley School where I studied. It is the only one in the US, part of KFA – Krishnamurthi Foundation America, which I had never heard of before – being familiar only with KFI (India). We have had visitors from this school when I was there and I believe this continues even in the years after I finished. I have been wanting to show Santosh my school for a very long time and here we were in a sister school. All I knew until now was that this school was in Ohai – little did I realise that Ohai’s correct spelling is Ojai (spanish J is H) – like San Jose is pronounced ‘San Hosay’. Santosh had planned this visit with a member of the school and had given me no clue. He’s getting very good at surprises! I was stunned, I felt my pulse quicken, lost all ability to form coherent sentences. He just grinned with satisfaction.

He showed me the email exchange between himself and the school. The lady had told him we’d be welcome to visit and look around but as she is not in town, we wouldn’t have a guided tour. We walked around the school campus by ourselves, the art centre, the junior and middle school. Came to the playground from where we could see the spectacular surrounding mountains. There was a sense of peace and quiet here. I almost felt like I was in the Valley again, and had traveled back in time to when I was a child. I sat still observing the stillness, the majesty of the mountains. I didn’t know which oak tree was K’s favourite – he has mentioned it in some talks. The place felt safe. For the first time I was sharing this particular feeling with Santosh. We sat for a while, then looked around the rest of the campus, which is not as big as Valley, and got back to the car. We explored to reach the K Retreat and then decided to go eat somewhere. We found Hip Vegan in Ojai itself. It was great food and we ended it with a strawberry chocolate cheesecake made with no refined sugar. We ate it slowly, relishing every bite.

There were no more stops until we entered LA. I got a little bit of the feeling I got in NY – that many TV shows and movies had been based here and that the names were familiar. But it soon passed. We stopped in the Walk of Fame where many stars had stars on the footpath and some even had foot and handprints with their signature in slabs of concrete. We then walked up several floors for a clear view of the Hollywood sign.

From here we headed to my relatives’ house. They have a three year old daughter who’s birthday it was that day. We gave her her present. She was shy with us at first but started warming up quickly, playing with the blocks on the floor with us. Her speech is at that stage where she is able to be very clear about some words but still muddles others up in the cutest way. I was enchanted by her smile too. It was great to be there, felt so comfortable with family.

The Stay in LA

The first day of our stay in LA, I stayed home with the wife and child. I hadn’t had much detailed interaction with them in the recent past so we spent much of the time talking, sharing stories and playing with her daughter. After lunch we went to the park where there were many ducks and tortoises. She played on the slides, being careful to wait for younger kids more hesitant about sliding down. I thought what a thoughtful, kind child she is. Later she asked to go on the swings. She had never liked the swings before but this time she sat there quietly and objected at the suggestion of leaving. We pushed her gently and I used my dupatta to shade her against the low sun. Then we turned her around on the swing to face the water and she enjoyed that for a long time too. Then her mother really wanted her to walk or run around so we coaxed her out of the swing despite her protests and walked towards the tortoises sunbathing. As we walked around, the mother spotted a baby tortoise on it’s back in the water. I went to fetch a stick to turn it back on its front but even after that it seemed to be uneasy in the water. I took him out and placed him on some large leaves. We took him to a place with less foot traffic close to water and land. I hesitated but left him there and soon after he seemed to be swimming fine again. Maybe he just needed a break from swimming. I had some pictures and videos of this encounter. Soon, we left back to the house and talked about dinner. She was curious about Akki Roti and I had never made it myself before so I decided I would surprise Santosh with it when he got home. (He was working from the Pasadena office where he used to before his move to the Bay Area.) So that night we had a new version of Akki roti and some dosas, including cheese dosa, to finish off.

By this time, the kid was into a game of blowing up balloons with the pump and letting them fly around to release their air. Santosh did it for her so she warmed up more to him. But she gave only me goodnight ‘uppa’ (kisses on the cheek). It seemed we were competing for her affections.

The next day we went to his office together. He introduced me to his colleagues and I did my own thing as they worked. We went out for lunch together and talked more. I started to get preliminary impressions of the startup team spirit that Santosh has told me so much about. After he finished for the day, we packed up our stuff and headed towards his old apartment where he lived for six years. There was a sense of nostalgia for him and it felt like I had a window into a part of his life I hadn’t seen. From there we went to his campus. As we walked around he pointed out different buildings and where he had worked or gone for classes. From there we also got a peak at the place he had stayed as a student before we headed to dinner together. Din Tai Fung – really nice food, similar to what my friend in Oldenburg and I would make together. I wished she was there. There was something special about working so hard on a food – it tastes rewarding. Santosh and I enjoyed veg dumplings and red bean dumplings and ordered other desserts to go – which we shared at home.

On Wednesday, again I went to work with Santosh because at lunch we were to meet the professor who founded the start up he was part of. We met him at Cal Tech in the faculty dining area. It looked pretty fancy and Santosh said it probably fed many Nobel laureates. We decided to go for the salad buffet and talked in length to the prof about his latest work, our interests and work, where I volunteer, etc. Despite his brilliant mind, he was so genuinely friendly and open with us. I came away from that lunch inspired.

Later that day, shortly before we left, we had an interesting conversation with one of his colleagues about his musical interests. I shared some of my old work with him.

Extraordinary San Diego

On Thursday we packed our things and drove to San Diego and because it was Thanksgiving day, the beginning of the long weekend, we got delayed in traffic. I managed to navigate us through some lower traffic zones and we took a break from the highway, enjoying the coastal air and scenery. We reached my friend’s house three hours later and were welcomed by her and her husband. Their friends were just stepping out for a break. We sat down to a warm, nutritious, elaborate and mildly exotic meal and pleasant conversation. In no time, their friends were back and a lively discussion on world history and European prejudices began. Then we began to play a game similar to Taboo, called Million Dollar Password with 5 words to describe using other single words with a 30 second timer. With every 5 points we scored correctly, we get increasingly difficult challenges of 90 second timers and 7 words on the money cards to describe. Though our team got more right, we fell short twice on the money cards so the other team ended up winning. Soon, their friends had to leave. We had had good fun together and spoke of staying in touch.

We chatted some more with our hosts before heading to the Coronado Beach at night. We climbed down the soft sand slopes to the wet sand. It glimmered like gold specks under out phone lights. We made some attempts at capturing the beauty of the moon just above the horizon. It lit up the calm pacific ocean in a line of it’s reflection as it hung like an orange wedge in the sky. We walked and talked as they pointed out some fancy resorts to us. It had been years since I had last seen my friend and as we spoke I began to re-understand why I felt so close to her. She is wise and just gets things. She is inspiring, more positive, and strong, almost defiant about her positivity. In the recent years under constant need to defend my optimism, I found that I almost took on a tinge of cynicism and a sense of defensiveness about my idealism. Though we walked in the night, I felt a rekindling of brightness in me as I walked with her. By the time we got home, we were tired from a long day. We ate a light dinner and slept. Their guest room was cosy, clean, neat and whether it was our friends or the room we couldn’t tell but both of us felt a sense of peace, calm and comfort.

The next morning we had coffee and my friend made us all Dosas with Molaga Podi (Aachi) and home made Pudhina Chutney Vendakka sambar 🙂 Yum! Then ensued another interesting conversation about astrology, reality matrix, vipassana meditation, yoga, acupressure, formal systems and the system of science. We headed out to a Mexican restaurant to have ‘lunch’ which was pretty light but great since breakfast was so filling. There I found out my friend was related to a royal family and I teased her by calling her ‘your highness’. We talked about family, childhood and stories of how we found each other. They got married a few days before Santosh and I got engaged so they are newly weds too! She told me June brides are the happiest and that itself made me very happy 🙂

After lunch the boys dropped us off at a shopping centre and went to play golf. We explored some shops with beautiful cups, plates, some clothes and household trinkets and as we browsed we talked more about India, life here and there, and other interesting things. From there, we joined the boys and had just enough time to go to Loma Point to watch the sunset. The views were breathtaking. The trees were windswept. We had only half an hour from entry to closing time because the place also had some military base close by. As we left we looked at the view not only of the ocean but also of SD city. The mist had set in over the hills and the big buildings had their lights on. It looked like a layer of fairy feather silk covering very bright gems.

For dinner, though I was still not actually hungry yet, we went to a place called Extraordinary Desserts. My eyes grew large at the sight of those beautifully decorated and presented desserts. We decided to eat some appetisers as our dinner and end with a dessert. After much thought, Santosh and I ordered Torta Misu (coffee cake) to share and our friends had blueberry icecream and Au chocolate. A discussion began on syntaesthesia and eidetic memory on our way back to their place. As we were ready to leave, they gave us a very precious gift. We felt quite overwhelmed with affection. It indeed it felt like we had visited a long lost sister of mine rather than just a friend. And then it was time for us to leave with full stomachs and even fuller hearts. We packed and they gave us desserts to take with us. The drive back was smooth.

The Way Back

On Saturday we decided to take it easy and so after a lazy morning and Bisibelabath for lunch, we went to the Flee Market with my family in the car that the little one didn’t prefer. (I told her electric is the future and Santosh said that’s probably not what she wants to hear) At the flee market we got some great bargains and I felt very pleased with myself! We got back, had Pav Bhaji for Dinner and played more with the kid. Then as we packed her mother suggested we tell her that we will leave the next day. She seemed to understand. The next morning we were aiming for an early start to beat the traffic. We got packed breakfast, lunch and snacks. She also gave me a plant which I could take home which we had potted the previous day, and some spinach from her carefully grown garden. We managed to leave the house by 8:15am with a lot of love in the trunk. We waved and waved as is the family tradition until we couldn’t see them anymore.

Traffic was pretty good on the way back and we made good time even with breaks. It was raining just as it was when we left, possibly more heavily. We went to see the elephant seals along the coast and had lunch near there. We also looked out for the zebras near Hearst Castle but they must’ve been seeking shelter from the moderately cold rain. Real extravagance, to have zebras brought here on a whim. We got back on our way and I called LA to thank her for the delicious meals. She told me it had started raining soon after we left and the kid cried a lot. I felt immediately bad and wanted to go back to hug her. Apparently the little one went to sit quietly on the bed where we had slept those days and her mother had let her process the fact that we had left. Kids, I have said earlier, can break your heart with how easily they forget you. But it’s also so surprising how easily they get attached to those who play with them.

We had a few more breaks on our way back and reached home tired. I didn’t realise it because I was running around unpacking, making order of the house. But when I sat down I suddenly felt a wave of tiredness. Santosh had work on Monday but Stanford had cancelled it’s Monday session so I went only Tuesday onward. It’s been raining quite a bit and unlike southern CA, it’s colder here. Yet when I look at the leaves change colour and fall, I don’t feel the same melancholy that I have felt in the years before. When I step out with my scarf, hat and jacket, I realise, this is CA, it’s never that cold as to warrant all the precautions I’m used to taking in Germany. This winter won’t be so bad. And this rain that falls almost every day, the land is so parched, it needs it badly. So I’m happy.

Hope everyone is easing well into the coming winter.

Take care,

Janani

Tags: 17 mile drive, AirBnB, aptos, Baywood Los Osos, Bird Rock, caltech, Coronado Beach, Din Tai Fung, Extraordinary Desserts, flee market, hippie, Hollywood, KFA, krisnamurthi, LA, Loma Point, los angles, lovers point, Million Dollar Password, monterey, Monterey Bay, Oakgrove School, Ocean View Boulevard, Ojai, pacific coast highway, pasadena, Pebble Beach, san diego, San Luis Obispo, santa cruz, southern california, sunset drive, thanksgiving, Walk of Fame, yoga

SVL 1.10: Alterbridge Weekend and East Coast

11th November 2014

Hi,

Hope all is well with you. Yesterday was a special day because it has been exactly a year since I met Santosh. In the time to follow I will often think ‘this time last year…’ and remember the winter which was all spring in my mind.

To update you on what’s been happening with me there are three main things:

1) I joined Stanford as an RA in a group that studies Emotion Regulation in children with autism and ADHD. A lot of the principles and measurements they use are familiar to me because of my work in Oldenburg (for eg, they use ECG, ICG, skin conductance but no EEG) and it is interesting working with children and a clinical population for the first time, but not as challenging as I expected. It is a temporary preoccupation though, primarily driven by my affinity for the campus feel, being around intellectually driven people. I often find myself missing my supervisor in Oldenburg. They use hospital ECG, ICG and SCR ‘stickies’ – with gel already on them. They also use EMG to measure smiles and frowns on the face, skin temperature on the little finger, pulse measurement on the thumb, and a respiration band around the waist. My interest in the clinical side is deepening as my writing has taken a backseat for now.

2) The weekend before last, Santosh and I went to SF for a concert by Alterbridge. I have liked them since their first album which we have on tape at home. They have released 3 more since. Their lyrics are often very positive and call on the individual to awaken the strength within to find one’s own path in the face of adversity or obstacles. They also have songs criticising the way we treat our environment (Bleed it Dry) and on the harsh realities of war (One by One). Santosh found them a little too loud and I must say the audio wasn’t well equalised during the performance but I was able to fill in the gaps because I know the songs so well. I had a good time. Put into perspective of the rest of the weekend, I also started to realise I don’t hold the same rebelliousness I used to. So while sometimes I can feel and resonate with the aggression in the sounds, I do so less often than before. The value of their music is still high even after taking the harder elements out.

I will write in more detail about that weekend – including walking around Berkeley, staying in Oakland, meeting some interesting people – below.

3) The past week from last Saturday to day before night Santosh and I took a trip to Boston and New York. It was very interesting, full of new and fascinating experiences. We met Amartya Sen, Santosh presented the demo instead of his boss’s boss in front of 5000 people, we walked the Freedom Trail, went to the UN building, Empire State Building, Metropolitan Museum, ate at Vatan, Grimaldis, Lombaris Pizzerias, walked around to see some well known buildings. Very memorable. Again, details below.

The AlterBridge Weekend

As the concert was in Warfield auditorium in SF, we decided to make a weekend of it. We left on Saturday after fixing the wipers on the car to Oakland. In exploring where to stay, hotels, hostels etc, Santosh remembered AirBnB. It’s like couchsurfing but paid and safer because users are verified. We picked up the keys and were shown our room for the night. It was neat, old style high ceiling with fluffy red towels laid out for us. The locks on the door required special instructions too. The hosts were friendly and we saw they had a young daughter.

We then drove to Berkeley to have late lunch. We made it to Cha-Ya, a Japanese vegetarian restaurant. We were so hungry and we ate well. Once our stomachs were happy, we started to walk leisurely along the road. I noticed that the weather was quite different there than in Sunnyvale. It was misty, with a slight chill, the hills had green trees and buildings that looked like an Indian hill station from far away. It felt like in a short time we had traveled far. And definitely the anticipation about the concert made me easily excitable. Everything was making me happy; the food, the changing colours of the leaves, the lighting, the clouds, the big black beautiful dog we saw on the way, little children sharing food with their parents.

We stopped at a Celtic jewelery shop which had an old golden Labrador and had a chat with the younger man there about the meaning and history of certain pieces and patterns. The older man was an artist who made most of the pieces from patterns he saw in old pictures/photos, memories of his own grandmother. We then stopped at a plant shop briefly and then at a Tibetan shop. The shop had little to do with Tibet though, and more to do with medicinal herbs, their uses, books and products based off them. We observed the large jars filled with dry leaves, roots and fantastic smells and Santosh said it would be nice to have a large kitchen with so many spices. We also wandered into a comic book store. I had never been to one before and was fascinated by the variety, genres, styles and lengths of some of the work there. After some browsing we went further to into a used book store where we browsed and bought some interesting titles. It also gave me an idea of what I will borrow on my next visit to the library. Do you know that joy of spending a long time surrounded by books and coming out with good deals on the ones you liked? Books are awesome.

We had only a little time left before we had to leave for the concert. Though we had initially planned to wander around the Berkeley campus, we had indulged in the book shop so we walked on the other side of the street, stopped for some gelato in a very authentically Italian place and made our merry way back to the car. We saw many pretty gardens in quaint older houses, smaller cosy streets, a cat sitting gracefully on the steps and the beautiful sunlight made mild by the rain clouds, passing through the colourful leaves. The magic of autumn was in the air. What a perfect day.

We drove to SF and listened to two two other bands before Alterbridge arrived. They were good but unfamiliar. The appearance of Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti on stage was a crazy moment for the whole crowd. The people on the floor standing rocked, jumped and swayed with the music. But they also got crazy, with aggressive pushy forms of head banging and carrying people around. The people in the higher seating moved less. The collection of songs were a good mix of hits from all four albums. They were careful to avoid many from the 3rd which didn’t do so well. Everyone loved the Fortress (4th album name). I think if they had equalised the sound better so we could hear it like in their studio recordings, it would’ve taken it to a whole new level of enjoyment. We got to Oakland and crashed because it had been a very full active and exhausting day.

The next morning we had breakfast with the host family. The little girl said she wants to feed her bunny so she took some salad to her room. I asked if we can see her bunny. Santosh expected it to be some imaginary friend or a stuffed toy but there in her room was a real bunny! 🙂 She told us we could touch it and so I did. It was very gentle and soft, its name is Nora. Her mother was pleased that she had cleaned her room up a bit before she had come out that morning.

Sonja, the hostess had moved from Berlin 22 years or so ago and found love in the US. She settled there and became a citizen over time. She and I discussed the limitations of the H4 visa and a little about her family in Germany. Things got even more interesting when her husband started talking to us. He showed us his photos from his travels to the Indian subcontinent. He then started sharing stories of how he smuggled himself into Tibet to see things tourists aren’t allowed to see because of the Chinese occupation. The friendly Tibetans who showed him around, hid him below boxes to help him around despite the lack of common language. He told us of his serendipitous experiences with a Kundalini master etc. I observed he had a whole shelf on Buddhist and Hindu philosophy. He said he had no idea why we lived in a place like the US. This is the second time I’ve heard that from an American who studied something about meditation or Hindu philosophy (the first being Dean Ornish who encountered skeptical medical students in Delhi when he tried to lecture on lifestyle changes, meditation and yoga.) Santosh and I later discussed that perhaps this is the future of the culture. That those in India may neglect and forget but it will be taken into new forms by those curious from other cultures. Sonja’s husband Robbie indeed suggested that more people here are recognising the merits of meditation in a practical mainstream way, rather than in any fluffy mystical way. There is a growing interest in Buddhism because it is practical and it fills a need here. Things tend to go a full circle in our desires. We aspire for material comforts and abundance until we reach a point where we understand that though they are important, they in themselves don’t fulfill our souls. Then we seek it in intellectual pursuits or philosophy/spirituality, try to wonder about deeper questions in life. We may do this in one life or as a society over generations. We seek what we have less of, perhaps following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

After we left their house, we drove to see the giant Red Wood Trees in Muir Woods National Forest. Ever since my dad had visited this place years ago on one of his visits and brought back a book for me, I had dreamed of seeing, touching and walking among these trees. We walked in main circuit and took some pictures. We sat on one moist fallen tree over looking a stream and had an introspective conversation that drifted from the culture of rock to rebellion. It had just rained so the place was more beautiful with some moss and the smell of moisture.

We made it back to SF to grab a late lunch at Gracias Madre, a vegetarian Spanish restaurant. Santosh had planned where we could eat and since this area has so many types of cuisines, it was easy to find fully vegetarian restaurants with good reviews from different places. The food was good and we ate our fill! We then stopped by at a famous bakery called Tartine to pick up something for our visit to my friend’s old friends in Oakland (P and T). We got there a little later than expected because of the terrible traffic. My teacher/friend had offered that I connect with them when I move here since she is close to them. We knew very little about each other and they were a generation older than us but we had very interesting conversations about Santosh’s work, P’s work, Bicycling, the importance of paying attention to breathing (not within the confines of sitting meditation), depression, children (reliving innocence which is so precious and shortlived), languages and how they change over time and as people travel. We hope to get together for some authentic Indian food and more good conversations in the south bay sometime.

When we got home that night, it felt to me as if we had been away for longer than a weekend. What a full and happy weekend.

During the week, apart from the days I was needed at Stanford, I went for a meeting at Sunnyvale City Hall. It was my first venture into the streets on my new bike. I found it a lot less scary than I had read it would be. People watch for bikes, and google suggests safe routes. I felt good at the exertion and my bike felt solid, sturdy and stable on the road. I visited the library, returned the children fantasy books and borrowed entirely non fiction books – on learning to read Tamil and a few more on hypnotherapy, acupressure and reflexology, and on the importance of drinking water. I made it on time to the meeting where a competition was announced – cities compete in how much they can engage their citizens to reduce their energy consumption by improving efficiency within their house in the coming two years. It was a brainstorming session and I found a way to integrate the ideas onto a platform of a webpage that very day after I got home. They were impressed at my speed and the integration of ideas. I don’t know what has become of the process after that. I rode back before sunset and lifted my bike back to the apartment.

The evenings during the week were spent preparing for the big trip to the East Coast.

Week at the East Coast

Santosh’s demo was a success at the previous conference so he was asked to do the technical part of it again at another at Boston. This time I was going with him and apart from our time in Boston, we were also going to take a few days in NY as a miniholiday. When we got there, his boss called him to let him know that the manager further up who was supposed to present it on stage was sick and so Santosh would have to present it as well. This required some extra preparation but it went very well and I was there to watch it – 5000 people saw it happen and I was probably the loudest clapper, beaming with pride, taking so many photos.

This was on Tuesday. Let me start with Saturday. We left to SFO in the morning to catch a noonish flight to Boston through Atlanta. During the stop over we called his cousin who lives there who we will visit over the holidays. The flights were eventless and we checked into the hotel where the conference was to happen by nightfall. It looked quite fancy but the facilities were limited and they even asked guests to pay for WiFi unless you were a ‘preferred guest’.

On Sunday, we woke up to swirling snow and rain. A fantastic view from the 24th floor. The city looked busy and cold. I was glad we had brought our gloves, hats, scarves. When we ventured out, Santosh found it unpleasant. Both our faces froze until we reached Kashmir, the restaurant with North Indian buffet. We ate all we could eat and started out all bundled up in our winter clothes onto Newbury street. We stepped into a few shops partly out of interest, partly out of wanting to be warmed up again – including an original poster shop, sound systems shop and some others. I was clicking away (I’ll add pictures to this so you can go through them as you read). Boston seemed busy but at a comfortable pace. We passed a park where there were so many squirrels running around. And they weren’t as shy there as they generally are. They would come right up to your shoes to check if you have food. We walked pretty fast when we realised this to avoid being bitten by any of them. The lake we passed was glinting in the autumn light and the colours of the leaves, both fallen and still on the trees were brilliant, bright and scenic. They contrasted against the greys and blues of the buildings.

Then we reached the beginning of the Freedom Trail. It was a trail that led through the most important historical landmarks of Boston, marked by a vertical brick path leading across roads, on footpaths, taking on more distinct colours when surrounded by other brick flooring. The Boston Skyline was lit up by the long setting sun. I got some great shots. We walked into a Starbucks to take a break from the cold and after hot coffee and hot chocolate we resumed with new energy. As it got darker, I discovered the amazing capacity of the SLR to capture night scenes without using flash. I had better let the pictures speak for themselves. We took photos of the oldest house – of Paul Revere who, by warning the people of the upcoming attack of the British, saved many lives. His house has been preserved. We crossed the bridge into another park and decided we have covered most of the important sites so we can head back and have Pizza on our way back to the hotel. Pizza Regina. Great stuff 🙂 We managed the coldest day of our trip quite well. Just a note, you may notice in some photos that the flags are at half mast (I must say, the‘Merricans tend to put their flags everywhere more so than any other country I’ve been to which is not competing in a major sporting event at that time. It’s almost as if they are reminding everyone constantly of which country they are in.) This is because the former Mayor of Boston had just passed away. The people definitely cared for him because there were big ceremonies and signs of it everywhere. He must’ve been good.

Monday onward it was more reasonable weather. Still cold but during the day there were times where just one sweater would be enough and gloves weren’t necessary. Monday morning was the highlight of the trip because it was the day that we met Amartya Sen. I had gone earlier to Harvard across the river in Cambridge with two books Santosh had which were written by him because Santosh wasn’t sure if he could get away from work long enough to come from Boston to Cambridge to meet him himself. I was sitting there for sometime hoping to go in a bit late so if Santosh could make it, we could go together. Prof Sen walked from the elevators towards his office and asked if we were there to meet him. (There was a student sitting on the same bench too) I got up and said yes, thinking he might ask one of us to come in with him. He said “Sorry I’m late. I have to take a call, could you come in 2-3 minutes after I go in?” So I waited 4 minutes to be polite and went to the door. Another man stood there with his files and said he just needed to drop it off so I let him go before me. Up to this point, I had been texting Santosh asking if he can make it. He told me he was on his way. I went in after the man came out. He asked me to sit as his phone rang again. I sat on the chair opposite him at his desk and he excused himself mumbling about how busy his morning had been. His office was full of books from floor to ceiling on two sides and on the other two sides were windows. I had my camera with me and I tried to gesture to ask him if it was ok to take pictures. When he didn’t catch my eye, I started taking some of the room and the view outside. He told the person on the phone that she could say something because I was happily taking pictures. I asked if someone else was coming to meet him, he said no. I asked if I could take pictures of him. He said, “Sure, if you’d like”. So he leaned on his desk and gave me a charming smile. I was very pleased. I had not expected to spend so much time in a relaxed way with him, nor had I any clue how friendly he was. A Nobel Laureate and highly respected scholar and writer, you may expect some airs but there weren’t any. When he got off the phone he asked me my name, what I do etc. I told him then that I’m here for my husband who is the die-hard fan. I asked if he could sign the books. He confirmed Santosh’s spelling and wrote his best wishes on both title pages. I told him more about Santosh’s interests and work. He was as sharp as ever at 81. I told him that if Santosh makes it on time, they could have some great conversations. He said he hopes he makes it by 12 after which he would have to leave. I asked to take a selfie with him, to which he agreed openly. Then we shook hands and I said I would wait outside until he came. I went back out and texted Santosh again. He was almost there. The student went in to meet him and soon after, Santosh walked through the doors. I was over the moon that he made it with fifteen minutes to spare. It meant so much to him to be able to even say hi to Amartya Sen. So, as soon as the student walked out, I led him to the door, had him knock and hurried him inside. He walked in and said hi. I entered right behind and introduced him as Santosh, my husband. Prof Sen got up from his chair and came to the center of the room to shake hands with Santosh. He invited him to sit with him on a wide couch next to a window and they had a conversation. I took so many photos. Santosh’s voice sounded a little nervous to me and he seemed a bit flushed. I kept out of the conversation and only added in the middle that I am also a confused combination of Tamil and Kannada when he asked. As the conversation wound down (because his secretary had come in) Prof Sen told her that I am taking pictures. The secretary smiled politely. I switched it off and mentioned that this is a very special event because Santosh looks up to him so much. Despite all his achievements and praise he must’ve received, he still got humble at praise from us. We left the building to catch the bus back and enjoyed the after effects of having met such an awesome renowned person.

Santosh went back to work and I explored the neighbourhood for lunch. Wound up hungry at a place called Ginger Exchange. Great Asian food 🙂 and I soon returned to the room to escape the cold and read. There was a TV in the room which I browsed simply because I had never seen American TV before! Santosh came back to the room for more practice with his boss in CA. We said hi to his boss’s cute little daughter. I went out to get us dinner. The leftovers were my breakfast the next morning on Tuesday. I ate it as I got a surprise call from one of my flatmates in Oldenburg. We caught up after a long time and then I got ready and went down in time for the event. I had plans to meet my old mentor at Harvard square at 2:30 so I was hoping to leave by 1:30 find the right stop to take the bus there. I watched nervously as previous events took their time. At exactly 1:30 Santosh was introduced by the CEO of his company. A full slide had his picture on it (one that I took during our visit to the redwoods) and he was called on stage to explain the new technology and show a live demo. I clapped very loudly and stood to take pictures. The people in the audience in front of me might’ve thought it odd that I was clicking away. There was going to be a HD video of the whole event anyway so I didn’t take a video too. As soon as he was done, I packed the camera and left for the bus. I got there a little early (excellent connection in Bus 1 on Massachusetts Avenue)

This mentor I met was the person at NIAS who I did part of my term paper with during my undergrad. He introduced me to Wendy Doniger, Roberto Calasso and some other stimulating books on mythology, and philosophy. I have kept in touch with him since and been remotely part of some of his activities on moving education to the next level, citizenship programs in Bangalore etc. I consider him a mentor because he seems to understand the polymathic nature of my interests and is able to give me useful guidance and insight. I wished Santosh could’ve been there for the conversation but he was still at the event and was responsible for the equipment afterward. My mentor and I had coffee and discussed how our paths have changed since we last met. We discussed the mixed nature of our identities when we live away for a long time, how his daughter is coping with it. He said the best investment these days, is in one’s own growth, expertise and adaptablity. No one stays in one job for too long anymore, and not in one role. It’s necessary to have a wide range of interests and skills and the openness to explore, be thrown out of one’s comfort zone and still thrive. It can be a lot more difficult than a generation ago but that much more rewarding too. He himself has interests ranging from computational modeling, myths, to data mining and education that he has developed after his PhD in Math from MIT. He told me about how he’s at a point now where he’s moving out of academia to start a business and it’s his time to explore – fall out of the security and give everything he has into this enterprise. I told him where I think I’m headed and also about Santosh’s job and interests. I hope to connect them since he knows Santosh’s CEO from the early days of the company because they were both in MIT at that time. He also has tried some of the things Santosh aims to do later. He seemed to understand our goals and the spirit of them. He is a kindred spirit 15 years ahead of us in life. He left to pick up his daughter and told me of some bookshops to kill time as I waited.

I went to Raven’s Used Bookstore and started browsing. They had excellent background sound which encouraged focus. In some time Santosh walked from his office headquarters to where I was and we walked around together exploring the shops as I caught him up in as much detail as possible on the conversation he missed. He told me I missed the Q and A session where many questions were directed at him. I watched part of it on video later. We went into an actual Tibetan shop and played with the singing bowls there. The lady in the shop was the daughter of refugees in India. She explained and demonstrated how hand made bowls had richer sounds than machine made ones. We also walked into LUSH which is an all natural and environmentally and socially responsible cosmetics shop. They have wonderful smelling moisturising bars, soaps, handwashes, scrubs, shampoos etc. Then we then met my old classmate for dinner. The conversation flitted from her ongoing PhD to mine, Santosh’s work, travel plans in the near future, family, our brothers, classmates who are about to get married and our own married lives, directions in our careers, and our food. We went to a frozen yogurt shop on our way to the bus stop and parted ways. It was nice to spend time with her after many years.

The next morning, Wednesday, we left to NY by a 4 hour bus. Luckily Santosh had left the equipment in the headoffice so we had fewer bags to carry. Ambitiously we went from Penn Station to Brooklyn and tried to make it back into Manhattan where we had a booked tour through the UN building. Since the subway system was new to us, it took us a while to figure it out and walking blocks took longer than we expected. We arrived at the UN, panting and sweating from the rush. This was our entry into the city. It was fast paced, crowded, dangerous in traffic, rushed (while we were buying our tickets for the train, the people behind us got impatient with my trying to find the right change, I would’ve liked to snap back but decided not to). The UN tour was interesting and we asked many questions about the different branches, what they work on, how effective they are. I also took pictures of the art there. Santosh was particularly excited to be there and we got some souvenirs. We had risen early to make it on time to the bus stop so to slow down from all the rush we walked to Vatan. It’s an oasis in the otherwise chaotic city. When we entered, it was quiet, they had patient, well informed waitresses and an ambiance that felt like perpetual twilight in a village in Gujarat. We took our seats in a hut overlooking a courtyard as music played in the background. Our waitress’s name was Vidushi and she introduced all the items in every course and asked if we’d like more of anything. Every item was delicious. It was relaxing and calming. If anyone is going there, I recommend that restaurant. It’s a bit on the fancy side but really worth it, especially if you go in during off peak hours. It’s like we transported back to India for that time and walked out a magic door back to NY. Then it was time to visit the Empire State Building.

As we walked there, we saw views of it from blocks away as it towered above brightly. We entered and were impressed by how solid, smooth and shiny the walls, floors and elevators were. The flooring especially was of coloured shiny granite. They had recently renovated parts of the building to make it more energy-efficient. Good job 🙂 I was fascinated with the building itself and then we reached the first level of viewing. It was cold and windy outside but we were protected with our gloves and hats. We stopped on every side of the building taking pictures, looking for buildings and places we knew or heard about. We spotted Times Square and the Statue of Liberty. The scene was beautiful – watching the bright city lights like stars far below, far from the chaos of the city in the peace and quiet of height. There are benefits of zooming out and taking in the larger picture 🙂

When we got back to Brooklyn, it was late and we were very tired. We just fell asleep as soon as we wound down. On Thursday we got out of the AirBnB later and made our way to Grimaldi’s, a pizzeria that serves typical New York Style pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge. It was thin crust, brick-oven baked, very even and great cheese and toppings on it! After enjoying that we decided to walk into Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge catching the skyline on our way. Just as the previous day from the Empire State Building, we spotted the Statue of Liberty. We made our way to the Freedom Tower in place of where the world trade centers stood. It was misty so we couldn’t see all the way to the top. They had two ponds lit up with water falling into them. Around these were the names of all those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks. In general I felt a bit sad but as I saw more of the names I got quite emotional. What pushed me over the edge was a white rose stuck in the name ‘Wade Green’. Someone still misses him, even now, 14 years after he died. For some reason I always thought of the attacks as the buildings falling and the people as numbers. But not about each person. Every name had friends and family, a life. And there were still roses.

We then went in search for the NY public library which led us to China town (google will send you to any nearby libraries). We decided to shop on our way to Canal Street subway stop towards Times Square. China Town had the best offer for a cover for my phone 🙂 We walked to Times Square from the closest subway stop. It was extremely bright and we were mesmerised by all the ads. There, in the middle of all the flashing bright colours, lights and costumed people was a young man holding up a placard that read ‘TV brainwashes people’. We went and talked to him asking him what his agenda was. He said he thinks American news keeps the people passive and docile – prevents revolutions. I was happy he got a chance to say this at Times Square – he had a very serious face, almost defensive. From there we walked to Marriott hotel and ate left over pizza and oats. Walked to Rockefeller Building, past St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York Palace and Waldorf Astoria which are just fancy looking hotels to Grand Central Station.

The next day, Friday, we went straight to Central Park. Had brunch at a Belgian Cafe (Le Pain Quotidian) and went to Met – Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Note to potential visitors – they have entrance fees marked up but when you go to the counter they tell you anything you give is optional – it is just a donation. By then you are usually prepared to pay what category you are but you don’t have to. You can enter even for a dollar. We paid adult price. Was it worth it though? Yes.) It was so beautiful. We went through the Roman and Greek ancient parts, then to the European French areas and American part. Then we realised we had limited time to see everything so we rushed through Medieval art, Native American, Australian arts and spent time in the Asian sections – the Chinese collection and parts of the Indian collection was impressive. Japan was nice too but Asia was kept in a corner harder to access unlike the European artifacts. By then my feet were begging for rest. So we took a break to sit and massage my feet and made our way to Lombardis Pizzeria – the first ever pizzeria in NY, or all of the USA, for dinner after the museum closed. We had eaten a sandwich and had some cake and coffee during our roughly 8 hours in the museum cafes too for breaks between sections. The next day was our trip back to Boston by bus. We woke early and dragged our luggage through the cold morning air to the same Penn Station bus stop.

Throughout our visit to New York we realised how many movies were based here, how many series. Friends, How I met your Mother, Castle, Spiderman (reminded by a park close to Broadway), The Day After Tomorrow, Sleepless in Seattle and several others. It felt like I had already been here but now I was coming in 3D in my own life story with Santosh. He had been there before though. The amount of walking we did felt good but also tired my feet out, despite me wearing my most comfortable sport shoes.

Once in Boston on Saturday, we had sandwiches for lunch at Cheeseboy and took a taxi to Cambridge to pick up Santosh’s equipment. They had trouble accessing it so we had to send the first one away and get another cab for the journey to the airport. There we took the rental car and drove to Cape Cod. Despite the hecticness of NY, having seen the art in Met and this drive away from the city, a sense of peace and calm settled into us. The autumn leaves bordered the road as the sun set. We found the cosy sea captain’s home and the hosts were very friendly and welcoming. They went out of their way to make us comfortable. It felt almost like they were long lost family. While they went to a concert, we freshened up from the travel and headed out to Bookstore and Restaurant for an Italian dinner. Great food! We couldn’t finish it so we packed the rest for the next day. We discussed the pros and cons of big city and small town life. The types of people in those places, the value of human connection in each and how my experience in Oldenburg created an affinity in me for a slower paced town where you run into people you know where ever you go and people are warm, welcoming, friendly and helpful.

While I was putting away the food in the fridge, I ran into one of the hosts and we got talking about my work, interests, his experience with the concert, authors who write about why we need god, etc. Then he noticed I was walking around without socks and he apologised and tried to end the conversation. Santosh came down the narrow steep steps wondering why I was gone so long and after he showed us how our room connects to their side of the house we went back to our room and slept. We had an idea of waking early to see the sunrise but when I woke for it, it was raining so we went back to sleep. It was comfortable, quiet and very restful. Santosh and I had breakfast with our host couple and enjoyed a stimulating conversation about his work, the lady’s art, crafts, photography, the gentleman’s interest in creativity, children’s imagination, childhood stories, recipe for Indian tea (which is redundantly called chai tea out here). It was a very pleasant and I got the feeling they really cared about us. While we went out to the beach, they filled our water and when we got back they helped heat our leftovers, and packed some cheese sticks for us! I hope we stay in touch with them. Santosh and I discussed how nice it would be for our parents to come with us on trips like these and meet such nice people too.

We got to the airport smoothly and the flights back through Chicago were eventless, and cramped if anything. When we got home we were very tired. It was 4am in the east coast by the time we cleaned up, ate and slept.

I started writing this update yesterday at Santosh’s office. It would’ve probably taken very long for you to read it too. I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Hope to hear from you sometime 🙂

Affectionately,

Janani

Tags: ADHD, AirBnB, Alterbridge, amartya sen, autism, berkeley, boston, Boston Skyline, Brooklyn Bridge, buddhist philosophy, central park, children, china town, clinical population, ECG, EMG, Empire State Building, Fortress, Freedom Trail, giant Red Wood Trees, Gracias Madre, Grimaldis, harvard, hindu philosophy, ICG, Lombaris Pizzeria, manhattan, Mark Tremonti, Metropolitan Museum, Muir Woods National Forest, Myles Kennedy, new york, New York Palace, oakland, Paul Revere, Pizza Regina, pulse, Raven's Used Bookstore, respiration band, Rockefeller Building, skin conductance, St Patrick's Cathedral, stanford, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, UN building, Vatan, Waldorf Astoria, Warfield auditorium

SVL 1.9: Palo Alto and Cousins

13th October 2014

Hello everyone,

How are you? Hope you are doing well 🙂

Here the weather is getting so cold (13C) in the evenings and mornings that we’ve started keeping the windows closed at night. Some trees are turning red or their leaves have a touch of orange, yellow or brown. Autumn is slowly coming in. But Summer is not letting go without a fight. It still reaches ~30C in the middle of the day. I’ve heard from people who’ve lived here for many years that it stays very warm well into autumn before temperatures suddenly drop. There is a term for this – something like Golden Autumn. If any of you know it, please tell me, I’ve been wondering about it for weeks.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the library one day and borrowed a lot of junior fantasy books (much more interesting than teen fiction) to get back into the habit of reading fiction. After all, how can you write fiction if all you read is non-fiction? (I’ve been listening to Jared Diamond’s Guns Germs and Steel as an audio book – fascinating history of human development and why certain conditions caused some parts of the world to develop technologies that others didn’t- leading to today’s scenario of inequality. I recommend the book to listen to – it may be more difficult to read.) I read many Harry Potters recently to understand what Rowling does right in her style and also Spiderwick chronicles and related work.

The very next day I went to Palo Alto – Stanford for a talk by Dean Ornish hosted by James Doty of CCARE. CCARE is a center for compassion and altruism research and education (the largest donation the Dalai Lama has given to a non-Tibetan cause is to this). Dean Ornish was a guest in this lecture series because of his work on reversing heart disease, diabetes and recently telomeres/aging etc using lifestyle changes and diet. They discussed his motivation, life stories and observations in his years of medical practice and research. It was a very stimulating evening. Here is the talk – recorded and uploaded by Stanford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J8g9RuoYVA.

I was especially excited to be in a university environment and only realised what a special place this was when I saw in person, a building I had only seen on online lectures before.

Two days after that I went to meet a member of TransForm – an organisation that works on improving public transport

http://www.transformca.org/landing-page/our-approach

because one of the events I had previously attended was hosted by them and I had taken a short survey saying I wouldn’t mind being contacted for more information/clarification of my ideas. So I was called to have a cup of coffee and discuss my ideas and now I will be working with a group of students on collecting residents’ opinions and initiating a business association of those who run shops on the main El Camino Real (road) so they can voice their needs in a more organised manner. There is talk about change in land use – if people use less cars, or don’t need to park their cars (using car share) parking space can instead be used for more dense and diverse land use. And most importantly, possibility of a dedicated bus lane (which is the focus for now), increased intersections, slower car speed limit to increase throughput of the road and brainstorming to make it more bike friendly too. Pretty exciting.

Last week Santosh was away from Sunday morning to Wednesday night at a customer conference in which the previous weeks of hectic hard work finally paid off in a flawless demo of the new technology they developed. He had fallen ill a few days before the conference and worked for home for a day and came home early the next day. He was trying to push because the demo was very important. Others on the team were also working like crazy. Luckily he recovered a day or two before he left. My strong inji melagu kashayam (crushed ginger and pepper in boiling water with jaggery for sweetness) and frequent steam inhalation helped.

While he was away, I spent Sunday with his cousin nearby – her nine year old daughter had asked me to come for a sleepover! I did her hair in a french braid and she painted my nails with her collection of nail polishes. It was sweet and girlish. We also read some fantasy books. She enjoys reading. Her three year old brother wanted to play and loved all the extra attention.

After the sleepover, on Monday morning I came back to pack and leave to my cousin’s place further north. Palo Alto was the last bus stop, from where I took the Caltrain. My cousin picked me up from the nearest station. They had just returned from visiting a new baby of the family in Indiana over the weekend. My nephew was very excited for the first day or so that I was there and was constantly trying to show off to me which I found very cute. I played with him and went with him and his mum to the library. He is very well behaved – he puts away his toys before he takes another one out to play something different. He is open to instruction and suggestion from his parents and communicates very well for a two year old. Theirs is the first family I’ve stayed with in which both parents work. I found this a very interesting dynamic to observe. On Tuesday when they were out at work and day care, I worked as I would have here at home. Tuesday was particularly productive as I got started on my second chapter. When they got back, I browsed their book collection and borrowed some. On Wednesday I started to feel ill myself. I worked less and watched Collapse – documentary based on a book by Jared Diamond on youtube. I also watched Pannaiyarum Padminiyum, a sweet newish tamil movie. I had some nice conversations with my cousin during the time there and great food. That night Santosh came from the airport to pick me up.

As he had been working so hard, he got Thursday and Friday off. Initially we had planned to use the time to visit some places, but because my cold got worse and we had a backlog of tasks to finish around the house, we spent time doing that instead. We relaxed yesterday, watched The Day After Tomorrow and Ferris Bueller’s Day off. Santosh took back the kitchen,

restocked, talked to his family. We went to see the Glass Pumpkin show in Palo Alto and walked around after dinner at Oren’s Hummus on Friday

and to Sunday Assembly (http://sundayassemblysiliconvalley.org/) yesterday which I had heard of from James Doty after the lecture at Stanford. I practiced driving after more than a month.

There was a mini fire in the kitchen when he was converting butter to ghee. While Santosh tried to beat it down with a towel, I soaked another towel and lay it on the flames. I’m pretty sure using water would’ve been a bad idea as oils and fats float on water and water would only cause the flames to spread in area. I remember this vaguely from fire drills in Sydney in my school. They did a good job preparing us for various circumstances – swimming classes were necessary for eg, because most Australian cities are coastal and beaches are popular places to visit. It would be dangerous being around that much water and not knowing how to swim or at least tread water, float and signal for help. They also gave us special classes in my 5th grade about the dangers of smoking, drugs and alcohol. Even the basics of human sexuality were covered so students could get proper information before they were misinformed by ignorant classmates. My parents taught us about what kind of touch is appropriate and inappropriate so we would be able to report to them or a teacher if something bad seemed like it was happening – teaching kids these basic things can prevent child abuse.

During my time in the Valley, I learnt how to behave around wild animals – avoid wild elephants – they are more dangerous than panthers – which if you encounter, make yourself large, loud and threatening and back away slowly from those type of predators. If there are bees around, move away slowly because jerky movements are perceived as threats by them – which will provoke them to sting you in self defense. To leave snakes alone and they will leave you alone. No animal is dangerous out of intent and most of them are more scared of us than we are of them. After all, we are the most dangerous species on the planet.

The reason I mentioned all this is because I think it is important for these things to be covered as part of education. I would include first aid (which I learnt the basics of only during my Masters) because simple information tailored towards action can often make a huge difference in the outcomes of some situations. Especially if at that time you don’t have the luxury of ‘looking things up’. Keeping a cool head is also vital and I think Santosh and I did a great job at that.

In other news, I got my bike (my niece has named it Stormy Greycloud), I’m still waiting for a helmet so I can start riding it. My youngest cousin was born on the same day as his brother 7 years ago and with two others in the close family being pregnant I started getting curious about birth types/methods. If we lived in joint families I would probably know a lot more about the whole process by watching others over time. Reading substitutes. My cold is mostly gone now. We expect rain in the next few days after which temperatures will drop to mid to early 20s. Santosh and I have decided it will take going to classes to create a yoga routine for both of us after all. We finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender together (my second time). And we have a Deepavali potluck party in our house the coming weekend.

Hope to hear something from you soon,

Janani

Tags: autumn, avatar, caltrain, CCARE, collapse, dean ornish, el camino real, emergencies, Ferris Bueller's Day off, Glass Pumpkin show, guns germs and steel, Harry Potter, james doty, jared diamond, orren's hummus, palo alto, Pannaiyarum Padminiyum, stanford, summer, sunday assemblies, the day after tomorrow, the last airbender, TransForm

SVL 1.8: Bike writing

22nd September 2014

Dear all,

How are you? The last couple of weeks have been quieter but no less busy. I’ve been looking for a bike and may get one soon. The safety and rules here are quite different to Oldenburg. Bikes ride on the road with the cars instead of elevated next to pedestrians. In many roads there are no separate lanes and you have to share a lane with cars. The rules say that you should keep as right as practical but the safety tips on several websites say that if you ride without taking as much space as you need, the chances of getting hit by doors of cars parked on the road or even cars entering the road from driveways is much higher – as drivers are going to look further into the street for other cars and could easily miss a bike. But on the bright side, Google maps shows which roads have bike lanes and recommends very different routes to what you would take if you were driving a car based on safety.

What happened to learning how to drive, you may ask. Weekends have been too busy of late so it’s been a while since I practiced driving, but I still intend to learn and get the license. It’s just that the joy of riding far beats driving in a car. Maybe it’s the same joy that I get out of boating – canoes, kayaks, rowboats, rafts, coracles – all powered by your own energy, quiet without motors – unintrusive on the water to other creatures. More relaxed pace than motor boats. You may feel exhausted afterwards but in a very happy way. (Remember the canoe ride I took in Germany – https://janinthesky.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/log-1-22-boats/)

Apart from the bike, I also need a helmet here (not by CA law but Santosh’s) and I’m getting attachable lights for night rides – which I’ll try to avoid as much as possible. Finally I also need a bike lock – the bunch of these I’ve shortlisted on Amazon and will order once I have the bike.

Bike hunt apart, my writing is going well. Got into the flow quite a few times in the last week. My novel is split into three parts as of the structure I have now – book 1, 2 and 3. Each book will be subdivided into roughly 20 chapters. Each chapter will be a story in itself with around 5 subparts but will offer the development of the larger story. There are several characters and I’m trying to keep an equal distance from all of them so I don’t go too deep into any one person’s head/perspective. But in each story I will select one person who’s POV will get slightly more attention – I’m hoping this will help in characterisation.

I’m finishing the last two subparts of my first chapter of the first book.

I was particularly excited to get feedback from my brother and Santosh in the last few days on these two. Though critical, I found it useful and very encouraging.

Intro to Krishnavani and Dorai-

This was written as a children’s story based on a bed time story I told my six year old niece.

Intro to Mimi and the Blue Globe –

I think of this more as a concept story now and perhaps writing practice. It was based on a dream and could do with a lot more development. It may have the potential to be another book if I explore her world. Let’s see.

Socially, we’re meeting some friends every weekend, going out to eat sometimes though we’re cooking a lot more now than before. I went for some more meet ups, and environmental activities the week before too. We’re also trying to get into a daily yoga routine. Quite amazing how important structure can be to productivity.

That’s it from me for now,

Hope to hear from you soon,

Janani

Tags: bicycles, bike, bike safety, boats, canoes, fiction, letters, letters home, sunnyvale, writing

SVL 1.7: Mount Madonna, Davenport Beach, San Francisco, Yosemite

4th September 2014

Hi,
Here is the next update about our recent travels and experiences.

This email is long (‘megalang’) and it’s taken me all day to upload and organise the pictures and write it out. So take your time reading through it. I’ll start with the weekend that Santosh’s uncle and aunt came to visit us. (They are his Bada Papa and Bada Mami – who I will refer to as BP and BM.)

BP BM visit weekend
Day 1: Mount Madonna and Davenport Beach

They arrived on Friday the 22nd of Aug, in San Jose airport and we picked them up there. We had prepared thoroughly and had everything set up before they arrived. They had eaten on the way or we would’ve made them adai for dinner with tomato chutney and kothamalli chutney (yum! :)). After some chatting, we went to sleep. The next morning we got ready, made upma and took home made thayir (curd) to eat on the way. We drove to Mount Madonna (Remember the Hanuman Temple I wrote about and sent pictures of a while back? Same place.) The day was clearer than our previous visit and we were able to see the Pacific coast from the top.

Next we went to the Vietnamese Buddhist Monastery and walked around.

With BP and BM’s company we had interesting conversations and saw things in the same places that we hadn’t noticed before. For eg, there was a Sampige flower tree there which BM pointed out! The last one I’ve seen was in my house in Bangalore. Smelled great! BM is really quite the expert with plants. BP entertained us with many jokes and puns in general, and interesting facts for eg. about the most popular Buddhist author from Vietnam Thich Nhat Hanh . We exchanged gifts at the gift shop – which included a book by TNH.

From there we went for a drive along the coast. We had intended to go towards Monterey but as it was such a perfect day out, everyone seemed to want to go there. There was a long traffic jam on Cabrillo highway for about 20 miles. So we decided to try north of Santa Cruz. We asked a guy at a Strawberry shop and he told us of Davenport Beach which is primarily used by surfers.

We drove there and stopped to eat our lunch as a beach picnic, but in the car because it was too windy outside. We had collected some crunchy sev from the temple (BM’s idea) which we combined with the upma. Great idea!

We walked past an unused railway track and onto a cliff. Then because we liked the beach so much we decided to cancel our other activity planned in Santa Cruz called the Mystery Spot to stay longer at the beach. We drove back a little and went down to the sand itself where the four of us put our feet in the water.

I found it very cold and squealed and jumped to avoid the bigger waves – this amused the others. I observed how caring and romantic the older couple were. I also took pictures of birds as they flew past:

After some time we walked back up half way, sat at a bench and drank the tea we had brought in a flask. Then we returned to our place to get ready for dinner with BP and BM’s old friends who were visiting their son’s family in San Jose, Evergreen. We talked with our counterparts – I with the daughter-in-law, Santosh with the son, and BP with his best friend and BM with her’s. We talked about Geographical Survey of California where the daughter-in-law works, the environment, my activities, stories, writing, underlying philosophies etc. Then we had dinner with them and came back without them. They enjoyed more conversations and chess games with the two grandsons of BP’s best friend. The older grandson is into barefoot running and he told me and Santosh about it over dinner. Quite interesting.

Day 2: San Francisco
The next morning we made and packed Takkali sadam with chowchow poriyal and waited with tea for BP BM’s return from their visit. After morning tea (we had packed more this time in the flask which BM had taught us how to condition) we left to San Francisco city. While we had listened to Thiruvilayadal songs and Balamurali Krishna songs the previous day, the music system was quieter this day and we talked more. As we reached SF city we noticed the cute houses on the side which seemed from another age. We made our way to Golden Gate Park where after looking around at an art show and the fountains, we made our way to the Conservatory of Flowers.

I must add here that the SLR we bought is only 2 weeks old and we went a bit crazy capturing almost every plant we saw there.

There were such beautiful orchids, tropical, aquatic plants there (many that were native to India) and also there was a special show of carnivorous plants like the Pitcher Plant, Venus Flytraps, etc. of various sizes. The place was temperature controlled and quite hot and humid in some sections. Once we were out, we sat at a shaded bench while Santosh went to get our lunch from the car. We had some interesting conversations then about the PhD, science, religiousness at various levels, environmentalism etc. Santosh had tried to bring back a four-seater bike but unaware of the one-way systems in the park only belatedly realised it would take too much time. He returned it and got back to us. We ate lunch and headed back to the car.

I noticed to and from the conservatory that no motor traffic was allowed within the park. There were relatively wide streets with just bikes, roller bladers and pedestrians. And bikes came in singles, tandem doubles and as four-seaters – where it looked like a cart which all four seated people contributed to the speed of. I couldn’t help but think it was Utopia. Imagine where the only motor vehicles on the streets were Ambulances and other emergency vehicles. Every one else maintained their health and the environment by riding bikes everywhere. No noise, no smoke/pollution and safe for everyone. Even kids were having a great time with their little tricycles and babysized bikes.

From there we went through Golden Gate Bridge. Though we had caught brief peeks at the red bridge, we saw it close up only as we approached to cross it to Marin county. It’s really something. We spotted Alcatraz island off to the side and made our way up to the view points. Since that was why everyone was there, it was hard to find parking but we got lucky. We took some pictures and then had the hotter tea from the conditioned flask. (For those who don’t know, in order to get the flask to hold a hotter temperature for longer, it is possible to condition it by storing very hot water in it overnight.) The tea was a perfect experience. You don’t get days like that in SF very often – clear skies, relatively warm, no rolling fog until very late evening by which time we were well on our way back. We wore an extra layer only in the view point because of the wind. The slight chill only made the tea that much more enjoyable.

We then went to Lombard street. I had heard from my dad that it was an extreme sloped street and from Santosh that it is very crooked. They were both right. On the way up, I was particularly scared of the car in front of us rolling down and hitting us, as it was a crazy upslope. On the way down it was broken by the crooked diagonals, pretty houses and gardens until we reached a straight downward road. I’m scared of heights. I’d be fine if I never go there again. Or if we do, we go when there aren’t so many people stopping on the slope every few seconds to take pictures from outside their cars!

Next we stopped at Ghiradelli square for chocolates. They had a nice fountain there and we got free samples are we walked into the shop. We parked for $2 a few blocks away (relatively cheap parking for SF) and enjoyed the fancy antique and other shops we passed on the way to and from the square. BM and I sneaked into the loo of a pub on our way! We weren’t sure if non-customers were allowed to use it but we did anyway 🙂

After this we went to DeeDee’s for a Gujarathi dinner. Filling good food. The next morning since Santosh had work, he dropped the rest of us off at his cousin’s cousin’s place – who were going to host them for their last day in the Bay Area. They had arranged for a religious event to take place in their house and we helped out by chopping veggies and taking pictures for them with their SLR. Their four year old son grew fonder of me and Santosh joined us for lunch there. We dropped off the priests and assistants before we got back home.

During the week

One day I went for a writers workshop conducted by the Sunnyvale Library and the very next evening, I attended a panel discussion about growth without gridlock on how better to use parking spaces. The aim was to reduce single person car usage, replacing it with car share, car pooling, public transport (which the ‘Merricans call public ‘transit’) and increase efficiency in space usage, while simultaneously bringing down carbon emissions. I finally met the head of Sunnyvale Cool Cities team member/leader. We had a mini-brainstorm of ways in which I can contribute to the group. Santosh picked me up from both events. He worked late the whole week to prepare for a presentation on Friday. I worked on packing and preparing for the weekend in Yosemite as well as on my writing.

Long weekend in Yosemite

Santosh had been planning the trip to Yosemite for a long time – since shortly after our engagement! He had seen the Milky Way for the first time from here and wanted to share it with me. We were to stay at Lake View Lodge in Lee Vining just east of Yosemite area. Camping areas had booked out within seconds of them becoming available especially for this weekend. So on Friday around 1:30pm we left to Yosemite. The dry yellow grass of Californian hills gave way to more and more trees as we entered the area of Yosemite mountains.

The traffic was only bad upto Livermore. It seemed that everyone was interested in an early start to the long weekend. (‘Merricans and Canadians celebrate Labour day on September 1st instead of May 1st which is also called International Worker’s Day.) The drive was long, roughly 7 hours, not including breaks. We had packed food again which I made as Santosh gave his presentation in the morning. We reached Olmstead point just after sunset and made our way towards our lodge. We stopped to eat a late lunch/early dinner (linner as we have started to call it) under the stars near Tioga Lake. We had been watching the weather and Santosh was worried about the cloud cover predicted. We saw half the sky full on stars on that night itself.

The lodge was a cute little cabin which had made efficient use of the space. Wood furnished, neat, fresh pine scent in the air, storage space for clothes and a fully equipped kitchenette that my parents would’ve just loved – microwave, toaster (that we discovered in the shelves later!) gas stoves, utensils, tea and coffee kit, enough mugs, bowls, plates and cutlery for a small party. The bathroom too with a hair drier, 3 towels each – face towel, hair and body towels, bath mat, as well as ginger tea soap and shampoos. All switches modern, large, ventilation and optional thermal control. Bed lights and fans too. The bed was too bouncy/springy and probably not good for the back in long term use but comfortable enough for me. We freshened up a little and made our way 11 miles south to a spot the lodge receptionist had recommended for star gazing. On our way, Santosh said we may be being followed by a lone bike. Normally I’m not scared about such things but after watching so many crime series about the US, esp the Mentalist which is set in California, I was scared of psychopaths with guns which I believed were not so rare in the US. Once we reached the side of Mono Lake I said we should stay in the car with the lights off for another five minutes, make sure that no one followed us here and then get out to see the sky. Another car came to that point. We waited in silence. They got out. I saw a kid and a dog, and declared we were safe. I explained my reasoning to Santosh about the Stephen King book I had tried to start reading in which there was a guy who could tell the future with his dreams and another guy who was so mean that he killed a dog when he saw it. I told him that psychopaths wouldn’t go around with kids and dogs so we’re safe. I’ve never touched another Stephen King book since. Anyway, then we got out, realised that there were no stars to be seen so we got back into the car and drove back to the lodge.

The next day, Saturday the 30th of August, we stopped at a Diners called Nicely’s to get some food for the road. It was such a typical American diner like I’ve seen in Quantum Leap and in many American movies. It almost felt like I was stepping into a movie museum of some sort. We ate the rest of the previous days packed food for breakfast but that wasn’t enough. We sat for a long time enjoying the view in the first lake (Tioga Lake).

I thought about how such an experience given to those who cause violence in the world may teach them some peace. We got hungry and decided to eat an early lunch right on the banks of Tioga Lake. We picked a spot between trees which were the best born wind breakers. Next as we continued driving, we decided I had to put my feet in the lake water. We stopped at Tenaya Lake and walked along it’s beach. Balanced on fallen trees to cross a stream and found a spot to put our things down and get into the water.

It wasn’t as cold as the Pacific water from the previous week which seemed to freeze me and draw out all my body heat as each wave withdrew. It was refreshingly cold. There seemed to be either gold or mica pieces in the sand which rose when it was kicked up. We fooled around there for some time, taking pictures of each other with the sun behind us to look like gods then went back to the car. We decided to see May Lake too. It was quite an uphill climb but we took it more easily – we stopped to take pictures, chill out, talk, we even stepped off the path a few times to sit on the warm rocks once and once to nap! The old man who started the climb at the same time as us was on his way down when we got back on to the path. We caught some rare views of Half Dome Peak from the height.

We spotted many squirrels and some blue woodpeckers on our way up. I got used to saying ‘hi’ to other trekkers on the path. We got up to see a large pristine lake and overhear some loud camper stories. The views were breathtaking in all three of the lakes. We made our way down quickly because it was getting chilly as the sun was going down. We decided to go back to the lodge to freshen up and eat before we ventured out again for star gazing. We ate a veggie sandwich at a unique Mobil ‘gas station’ which also had a novelties shop and restaurant attached. They gave us an extra portion of vegetables because they liked us?/Santosh tipped well. We went to Toulumne Meadows area – Lembert Dome area for a Ranger talk on the Stars. Santosh got out of the car first and asked me not to look at the sky. In trying to find our way to the talk in the dark I did end up seeing parts of the sky. I grew excited at the prospect of seeing the Milky Way for the first time in a place with no light pollution. As we approached the place of the talk, Santosh told me to stand still and close my eyes for a minute. I found it really hard to do in my excitement but I tried. Finally he let me look up… I have no words to describe the beauty I saw. The Milky Way lit up the forest as bright as the moon would’ve. Luckily the moon had already set (Santosh had looked up phase and setting time of the moon before booking!) and the sky was clear. Each star was a twinkling bright spot in the sky. I don’t remember the last time I saw that many bright stars. Perhaps in the Himalayas or Western Ghats but with the lack of humidity and absence of clouds, they truly filled up the sky beautifully. The soft voice of the Ranger talked about various constellations. She had just started the talk and used a laser pointer to direct our eyes to different parts of the sky. Santosh and I settled down next to the group with our foldable chairs. Santosh had taught me how to use Big Dipper to spot the North Star already. She pointed it out, as well as the Small Dipper, Corona, Key Stone, Vega, Deneb (I was reminded of Dr. Phlox from Denobula) and Altair which form the Summer Triangle. She pointed out the constellation along the Ecliptic line – an imaginary line along which the zodiac constellations rise and set. She told stories of Andromeda, the daughter of an Ethiopian queen and other Greek god stories relating the the stars and constellations. It was engaging and educational. After she took some questions, she talked briefly about how this is becoming a rare experience – to be able to see a sky full of stars. How light pollution is increasing much to our loss both in terms of the beauty and the reflections the stars can give on the scale of the universe and our place in it, not to mention how artificial lights ruin our natural sleep cycles. We’re part of something so much larger and the stars can remind us of this every night if only we could see them. Santosh and I stayed longer despite the cold (might’ve been around 5 C at that height!) and looked at the stars. We left reluctantly.

As Santosh had been driving and exerting himself the last two days and his eyes were still red from the long drive on Friday I left him to sleep as I got ready and read my book out on the porch. I put my foot down and asked that we take today easy with no driving. I added that I was also tired and wanted to relax for one of our days here. We came up with a plan which was relaxed. We would go out only in the evening for sunset and star gazing. We made sandwiches with things we had bought at the nearby grocery store – whole grain bread, cheese, tomato, cucumber and hot salsa 🙂 and ate a heavy brunch. We read our books (he read the camera manual and I ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’). We took a nap and got up refreshed around 6pm. We grabbed cheese pizza and ate some at Mobil again listening to Beatles being played live. Good friendly crowd. I told Santosh we will be eating super healthy to make up for this in the coming weeks. We made our way back to Olmstead point (which I had first heard as Homestead point before I saw the map) and climbed down to a hill top primarily made of rock and some patches of sand. We were playing with the camera settings and soon were joined by Jon and Danny who were there, just like us to take pictures of the Milky Way. Since they carried tripods and showed us some previous pictures we knew they could really teach us a lot. They told us about the basic settings that influenced night time photography – ISO, exposure time, aperture etc. Santosh went to get the rest of our stuff since he realised we will be there for some time, as Jon explained the settings and where to find them to me. After the sunlight ran out, the moon got bright. We realised that it will only set around 10:20ish pm because there weren’t any trees near enough to block it. They complained about the moonlight interfering with the Milky Way brightness but soon we all realised that the soft moonlight was perfect for landscape photography in the night. Danny was used to overlaying scenery pictures taken before sunset/at twilight with star pictures he took later. He realised that moonlight made it unnecessary to process them like that.

We were so excited about taking our first shots of the night sky and were very impressed with our camera and ourselves 🙂 We explored other parts of the hill top and different peaks. When our battery grew weak we decided to lie on the rock and wait for the moonset so we can take some shots after it was brighter. Jon and Danny had spare batteries – serious amateurs! and we could hear their excited technical chatter as we stared up scanning for shooting stars in the Perseid meteor shower which is happening now. Soon after moonset they left. We were still talking – the night wasn’t as cold as the previous. And suddenly the background silence scared me a bit – all alone in the wild with gun crazy Americans… Ok, I am a bit paranoid, esp in a place like Yosemite where such nice nature loving people, I doubt there’d be anyone lurking in the dark trying to mob us. But we decided to pack up and leave too. We spotted Jon and Danny near Tenaya Lake trying to take the reflection of the Milky Way on the still lake surface. We made our way back to the lodge and saw two deers and a fox next to the road.

The trip had been so perfect and memorable. We were going to leave the next day back to the city life. As the green of the mountains gave way to the dry grass on Monday morning, I hoped rain would come to drought ridden Californian land soon.

That brings me to the end of the update. I’m writing from Santosh’s office which I find a place of a good productivity. Last time I was here, I wrote a whole short story! I’m getting more work done on the novel and it feels like good stuff even when I look at it after a gap. Good sign.

Now it’s time to go home. Hope to hear from more of you soon. Even short emails would be great!

Be healthy, be happy, look at the stars.

Tags: adai, alcatraz, barefoot running, bicycle utopia, bikes, birds, Buddhist Monastery, cabrillo highway, california, chutney, conservatory of flowers, Corona, Davenport Beach, deer, Deneb, diner, drought, forest, fox, ghiradelli chocolates, golden gate bridge, golden gate park, half dome peak, hanuman temple, hike, Key Stone, labor day, lake view lodge, lee vining, lembert dome, Lombard street, marin county, may lake, milky way, mono lake, mount madonna, mystery spot, olmstead point, photography, pitcher plants, rain, ranger talk, san francisco, santa cruz, SLR, Small Dipper, squirrels, star gazing, stars, tenaya lake, Thich Nhat Hanh, tioga lake, toulumne meadows, Toulumne Meadows area, trek, US, Vega, venus flytraps, vietnamese monastery, walk, woodpecker, yosemite

September 4, 2015
Environment, Letters, Letters from Sunnyvale, Nature, Photos, Real, Travel, USA
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