It was s(n)o(w) very good!

“Real snow at last!”, I exclaimed when I finally had the good fortune to view the pristine white landscape from the bus window and later on, on the ski slopes. The drive to North Lake Tahoe was scenic no doubt, but I was understandably fascinated by the whiteness all around since I had never seen real snow covering such a large area before. It sparkled in the sunlight and lay in smooth mounds all over like large scoops of vanilla ice-cream.

At short notice, my husband and I had planned to go on a trip one Sunday in mid-April to learn to ski. Those were the final days of a mild winter and we knew it could be almost our last chance before the next season. For a one-day plan, the Ski Bus from Bay Area, California to Lake Tahoe, California was the way to go for a hassle-free and enjoyable ride. We reached the ski resort called Northstar California at around 9 a.m. and collected our rental gear: snow boots, skis and ski poles. The large boots that we wore felt super heavy, as if the gravitational force had doubled when putting one foot in front of the other and made us awkwardly maneuver the way to the cable cars that took us to the top of the mountain. After we got off and looked around to see people whizzing down slopes on their skis and snowboards, our hearts began to tingle with excitement at the prospect of learning to ski for the first time ever!

Skis on my feet for the first time!

Our instructor Alex first showed our group of newbies how to clasp the skis to our boots and how to remove them. Having the skis attached seemed like having new extension organs growing out of our feet that we had to learn how to get used to. He taught us ways to walk up an incline and we learned the basic technique used to stop ourselves when skiing down, which is the “pizza” formation (like a ‘V’ shaped pizza slice) that is made with skis pointing toward each other. Cute little kids starting from the age of three took lessons alongside us and it was endearing to see many little ones bundled up in thick, warm clothes come fearlessly and effortlessly down the slopes.

Of course, our first time skiing was on bunny slopes. A carpet lift, also called a “magic carpet” carried us up. At the top, we got off and cautiously stood overlooking the small slope. The incline was not very steep and our instructor encouraged us to start. We positioned ourselves and … off we went smoothly down! Naah! That was not what happened. Let me try again. Off we went…and down we came in a matter of seconds, legs in a tangle, smack on our bottoms, heads pointed upwards towards the bright blue sky and the shining sun laughing in our faces! Hahaha! Gravity, inertia and lack of friction were our enemies!

Thus began the first of our numerous attempts at skiing down, each time falling down in comical positions, even bumping into other people on the way down and at times shrieking aloud as we realized we had picked up too much speed that was difficult to control. But slowly we began to get the hang of it and by lunchtime had backsides that were less sore (or maybe we had got used to it by then)!

On that day, which was the last day the Northstar would be open for skiing, to welcome spring, the resort had hosted their annual “Spring It On Pond Skim” competition. Loud music blared while competitors came down a slope on snowboards and made daring attempts to skim across a pond at the bottom. Here are two exciting videos:

(Please change the quality setting of these embedded youtube video players here to something higher or HD (via the Change quality symbol on the bottom panel) for a better viewing experience.)

After lunch break, we went up the ski lift to the beginner slopes where we were taught to control the pressure and direction on each leg to ski down in a zigzag way. It was very tough to do that and the snow melting, turning into slippery ice due to the harsh afternoon sun did not help matters. It should suffice to say that we fell down so hard and so often on that slope that we decided to call it a day soon after! Even after the ski equipment was removed and returned, we could not get rid of the ghostly sensation of still wearing (invisible) ski boots and skis and kept imagining the balancing motion of sliding ourselves over snow! We returned home by bus tired but happy and already looking forward to a ski visit next winter.

Our golden oldie

Imagine a household scene somewhere in mid-19th century. A family has brought home a fascinating apparatus called ‘the electric light bulb’. They eagerly try it out and squeal with joy as it performs the wondrous function of glowing and giving out light.

Now fast forward to the year 2012. Friends of a couple have gifted them a fascinating apparatus manufactured in Japan for their wedding in 2011. It was ordered by them online and came to the couple’s home in disassembled parts. The couple spent an enjoyable time assembling it together, initially with the help of diagrams because the instructions were in Japanese and it involved a lot of scouting before they found a funnily translated (but ultimately helpful) version. The machine is finally put together and is kept on display in a corner of the living room. But wait! There’s more to it. It is not only a pretty showpiece but actually works provided it has something to work on. It’s just that its time is yet to come.

Thus, another year passes and one day the wife’s father gives the couple the missing piece. They put it on and wait excitedly for the apparatus to work. But it does not. So the husband spends an entire Sunday morning tinkering with it, looking up YouTube videos for guidance and coaxing it to function. Finally it starts to make screeching sounds which then slowly subside leaving behind a clear melody.

The couple squeal for joy and the wife jumps up and down as usual, not unlike how the family in mid-19th century must have done (except that the demure wife wouldn’t have behaved like an excited monkey back then) when they witnessed a working light bulb! “Wow!” She exclaims, “A machine that can play music without electricity…how fascinating!”

That, my friends, is the story of our Gramophone.

And so, if the prediction of the 2012 apocalypse comes true with the world nearing its end leading to much mayhem including no power supply, we can sit in a make-shift shelter eating beans out of a can with our good ‘ol gramophone by our side playing sweet music to keep us company.

Short story ‘A Colorful Evening’ published!

A short story titled ‘A Colorful Evening’ written by me has had the good fortune of getting published online in the bi-monthly literary e-journal Muse India, issue 42 Mar-Apr 2012.

I had been notified by the editor beforehand and was looking forward to the story appearing in the forthcoming issue. As March 01 dawned here in the Unites States, I dreamed of it vividly as I lay asleep. In the dream, I was checking my iPhone eagerly to view my published story. I saw the link to the story on the homepage of the e-journal but my name was spelled in a wrong manner. For no sensible reason – in spite of the story being an online content and being the same on all devices – I pulled out the iPad in my dream and checked that as well but of course, it was the same incorrect name. Finally, I slipped out of the dream, opened my sleepy eyes, navigated through my iPhone and there it was (with the name spelled correctly, of course). Wow! Was that the fastest ever ‘dream-come-true’ or what?!

Anyway, here is an excerpt from the story, a teaser-trailer, if you will. For the full movie, please go to:

http://www.museindia.com/regularcontent.asp?issid=42&id=3262

Excerpt from ‘A Colorful Evening’:

                                                                         ******

The boy has an idea. He jumps from the raised platform below the ledge and runs inside, planning to return with small pieces of bread.

“Why did you leave me so soon?” Father is asking the ceiling softly, as he swallows a mouthful of whiskey in the darkening living room. Languidly, through half-closed eyes, he watches his son scurry into the kitchen and out again with something between his small clenched fists.

“Come here, little birds, have some food.” The boy stretches out a hand and coaxes the pigeons on the ledge.

The birds look at him with tilted necks and beady eyes while pacing up and down. He climbs up over the platform and onto the ledge. The earthen pots are in his way. He leans over a dry twig in the pot in front of him and reaches out to the birds. They fly away in terror just as his foot slips and he begins to wobble forward.

                                                                         ******

Those invisible multiple arms

International Women’s Day on March 8 comes once in a year (even though women’s rule continues for the entire year!) and although women all over need to be honored, this blog post specially wishes Indian women in the software industry a very happy women’s day by narrating an incident that highlights how such women work as jugglers in the circus called life by trying to balance career and family.

Working in the software industry is at times similar to working like a beast of burden plowing the earth on a farm from sunrise to sunset, with the whip of stringent deadlines and living up to quality standards cracking above one’s back. This software field just like the field that the animal is plowing, shows no mercy to any kind of human irrespective of class, creed, race, gender, nationality and neither does it care much for time zones.

I work as a software developer and the female QA resource from my team who validates my work lives in India. When the sun rises for her there, it is setting for us here in the United States. Once, when some critical work was going on, I was chatting with her online in the morning. I informed her that the task on hand was required to be finished by 3.00 p.m. U.S. time. What I forgot to say was that it was to be done before tomorrow. She misunderstood that it had to be done on that current night itself and her response naturally contained heavy concern. But it was something she said jokingly towards the end, switching abruptly to Hindi – something that came straight from her heart, a sudden wave of relief – that made me chuckle instantly and then reflect on it later on. The conversation on chat went something like this:

. . . . .

QA: What??? You mean I have to test all that before 3.00 tonight?

Me: No, no. Not tonight. Sorry, I meant it has to be done before 3.00 p.m. tomorrow, U.S. time. That means you have a whole day in between.

QA: Thank god! Accha hua, nahi toh sasu maa ghar se nikaal deti

(Translation: That’s good, otherwise maa-in-law would throw me out of the house)

Marveling at all the multitasking that is done, I tried to think of an Indian goddess with only two arms but none came to mind and I suddenly realized why they were almost always depicted with multiple ones!

My Valentine

Statutory warning: Insulin shots recommended, sugar content in the following blog post may exceed normal levels. Cholesterol check also recommended since the post carries a possibility of being cheesy as well.

But hey, it’s the occasion of Valentine’s day and a little binging on the sweet and heavy stuff for the heart is not only allowed but also encouraged!

Valentine’s day started to be of significance on a personal level a few years ago when, out of the blue, a great phenomenon rushed at me and hit me hard. The last thing on earth that I expected, it smacked me in the chest with such force that I fell in that exact way that it wants everyone to fall in – ‘head over heels’! To this day, I can recollect that magical time: the incredible feeling of falling in love.

My ‘dark’ knight came galloping on a white horse (alright, it was actually a black and yellow motorcycle, incidentally called Hero Honda Passion!) and stopped in front of me. He held out his hand and hoisted me up onto it. The motorbike no longer needed fuel but began to glide in the air on wings of friendship…

A creative photographic experiment by my husband, Valentine's day 2011

From the start, we decided to base our relationship on making each other a better person. There are countless details of the relationship that are worth praising and celebrating but on this occasion, this blog post would like to restrict bits and pieces that are related to the written word. During the early days of courtship he did one of the most romantic things imaginable. He wrote a poem about me and read it out. It was so wonderful that I floated upwards until I could touch the moon. Each birthday was marked by the gift of a good book from him. One included a subscription to the fantastic New Yorker magazine. An avid reader himself, he borrows books from the local library and keeps feeding me a wide selection. He encourages me to write and had egged me on to start this blog. Just like my parents had done since long before him, he continues to fan the flames and stoke the fire of reading and writing burning within me. Here’s wishing my special blog reader – the very first one reading every post in its draft form before the “Publish” button is hit – a very happy Valentine’s day!

Our love has stood the test of time and long distance with both of us being physically far away from each other, as international students, one on the east coast and the other on the west coast of the United States for around two painfully long years. However, a few months later we were joined in holy matrimony, the experience being documented in a previous post: My Best Friend’s Wedding and have now been married for almost a year.

Love, marriage, monogamy definitely do mean all those sugary sweet sayings that are out there but there is a nice, practical one which which goes something like this: “marriage or monogamy really means that you are willing to live with the imperfections in your loved one”. For a third person, the shortcomings in you or your life-partner will be absolute deal-breakers but for both of you who are made for each other, they will just enhance the charm of being an imperfect human.

“Fashion ki garmi” – Santana Row

Santana Row is an island. A posh, chic, elegant island in San Jose, California. There would be many similar places in the United States but Santana Row oozes a unique charm. It is just a single street actually, located in the middle of a busy area in San Jose. The high-end Valley Fair mall is right across and the creepy historic Winchester House stands close by.

Santana Row is inside a cocoon (an exquisite silk one!), surrounded on both sides by tall buildings. It feels cozy, as though it has its own personal, intimate space. Strings of dainty fairy lights hang from above and gorgeous seasonal flower beds brighten up the pavements. Walking along the length of the street, underneath the arches of the buildings beside it, expensive shops shout out their brand names at you: “Prada!”, “Gucci!”, “Tesla!”, “Burberry!” and fashionable boutiques displaying their beautiful goods lighten up the shopaholics soul.

What is also pleasing is the crowd passing you, dressed in its best, enjoying the whole experience to its heart’s content. Trendy nightclubs promise an entertaining time and a variety of cuisines – Thai, Italian, Mediterranean, Indian, Mexican, Japanese are available to cater to the cravings of taste buds. Restaurants and pubs offer pavement seating so that people can dine while breathing in the spirit of Santana Row in the open. Such a happy mix of sounds of people talking, glasses tinkling delicately and music playing in the background!

On such a narrow road, they have even managed to carve out a central area with cascading fountains, flower beds and benches. A large chessboard has been tiled on the ground with giant chess pieces and quaint chess tables stand invitingly under a vine-covered shade where people can play the game. Attached to the main street but still part of Santana Row is a patch of lawn where a stage is set up. People lounge around on the grass when the weather is good, listening to the live band playing in front of them. At the far end of Santana Row stands a small movie theater which shows documentary, foreign and art films.

Definitely worth keeping out a watch for, are the vehicles that pop up on Santana Row. People park or drive their luxury cars and bikes as if the street is a giant ramp and the vehicles are models proudly catwalking across it and strutting their fancy stuff. No wonder then, one chilly evening as we friends lapped up the atmosphere at Santana Row, warming ourselves near pole heaters that are placed beside outdoor restaurant dining tables, one friend remarked: “Fashion ki garmi – Santana Row!” (The heat of fashion – Santana Row!)

Dude, where’s my flying car?

There is a great article in the magazine ‘The New Yorker‘ in the November 28, 2011 issue about a Silicon Valley entrepreneur called Peter Thiel. He is a Stanford university graduate, was a math prodigy and a brilliant chess player, has studied at Stanford Law School, runs a hedge fund and a venture-capital firm, founded PayPal and was a major investor when Facebook started. The article is titled “No death, no Taxes”. It talks about Peter Thiel’s background, his influences, his beliefs, his way of doing business, what his friends think about his views and his hopes for the future.

What really catches the reader’s eye and makes him/her wonder is the content at the start of the article which talks of what was expected of science and technology in the future by people from the past and what it is in reality today.

The article says: The top twenty-five sci-fi stories in 1970 mostly went like this: “Me and my friend the robot went for a walk on the moon.”

What humans living decades and centuries before us thought about how we in the present times would turn out (from the technological perspective) leads to mixed emotions arising out of us. We are proud that humanity has achieved so much for us to enjoy right now but there is also amusement, pity and sadness when we look around us to realize that we did not meet some of their high expectations. We look at them as if they are wide-eyed, innocent children still believing in Santa Claus and fairy tales. We shake our heads and in our minds, we say, “Tsk! Tsk! You poor hopeful child! Wait till you grow up.”

The article informs us: Thiel’s venture-capital firm Founders Fund has an online manifesto: “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters“.

Peter Thiel seems correct in mentioning that over the past few years, progress has been made in leaps and bounds regarding gadgets fitting inside the palm of our hands and in the virtual world (the internet). But where are the larger (larger than life?!) things people before us dreamed of? The robots who serve us life-long, underwater or floating cities, the biological break-through that makes us immune to all diseases, the uniform body-suits that are temperature controlled?

Perhaps, we are a bit impatient. All those things from science fiction of the past are still just that: science fiction, but for the present. Maybe they will achieve reality only in the future for which we have to wait for a long time. In the meantime people like Peter Thiel will play a part in the whole process by investing in and encouraging biotech and robotics start-ups and companies.

The necessities of the near-future are different, as the article mentions. The scarcity and equal distribution of energy and water/food are urgent issues that need to be looked into in present times and people like Thiel offer scholarships to people who want to improve the world by trying to resolve these problems. On the other hand is his contribution to the progress of robotics and biotech which may reduce jobs for humans and also lead to population explosion.

It’s fun to watch videos like the ones below. But even though we may laugh at those people’s imaginations, somewhere at the back of our minds is a nagging feeling: “Dude, where really is my flying car?”