Darjeeling to Napa

This weekend was quite delightful, with a welcome break from the rain and storm. The sun was bright, with patches of white clouds painting the blue sky. Although the temperature was on the colder side, still couldn't ask for a better or brighter weekend. To grab what the weather gods had to offer, B & I drove to Napa on Saturday to indulge into our favorite hobby, photography. Unlike our usual long drives, we did not turn on the music in the car. We commenced the 1.5 hour drive by digging out some really old memories and sharing them with each other. During the conversation, i drifted and plunged into one such sweet travel memory with my parents.

The travel destination was Darjeeling, which is the highest hill station in India, and extremely picturesque. The year was 1997 I think. The four of us ( my parents, brother and me) were staying in a beautiful cottage. I still remember the breathtaking views of the lush green hills, the widespread tea gardens, the clouds looming over the valley below us! Everything around was so beautiful. Not sure, if you have felt it while traveling to a hill station, but your metabolism becomes really aggressive at higher altitudes, since the oxygen levels are not extremely high. The result is , the insatiable hunger :-), which gets further aggravated by climbing the slopes up and down to get around the hill station. I remember being hungry all the time. That time, there were not very many North Indian restaurants in Darjeeling especially within walking distance of our cottage. However, we finally stumbled upon this place called Hasty tasty (almost 90% sure about the name, since its been so many years can't trust my memory completely :-) ). They used to have chole bathure. All 4 of us used to eat 1 plate each every day in lunch, and it used to cost 25 Rs per plate. The amusing part was, we all used to be hungry even after finishing it, but used to tell each other that we are full. Since the food was so expensive (100 Rs for a meal in those days was a lot of money! ), we all used to repeat the act of lying (to our stomachs :-) )every afternoon. Now, if i look back it seems so amusing. We even visited the Pashupati market (again 90% sure of the name) on the Nepal border on this trip. The views were amazing. Dad & I used to get ready at 4am, that would have happened couple of times, to go for sunrise to Tiger Hill. However, the funny part was that it used to start raining even before we would hop on to the jeep to get there, and we would end up going back to bed. I guess my mom and brother were smart enough, to not even attempt waking at 4am , only to go back to sleep half an hour later. They used to ridicule us every time. This whole trip has many precious little memory associated to it.

So, just sharing some fun stories like this, 1.5 hrs dissolved into nowhere, and we were in Napa amidst the green vineyards.

Getting back to routine

After almost 6 weeks in India, i am having a hard time adapting back to my life here. 6 weeks sounds like a long vacation, although the last 2 weeks were ruined by some anxieties due to some visa issues. However, all is well that ends well, after each testing situation, we come out a little stronger than before. So getting back to life here has been made challenging due to homesickness, contributed by the memories formed with parents and sibling over 6 weeks. I wish there was a way i could always have them around!
I havnt cooked in like 2 months now, since around mom & dad thats never needed. This might have been my longest hiatus from cooking in the last 5 years, when i started cooking for the first time in my life. Ofcourse, i could prepare excellent maggi noodles since i was practically a kid. Now i need quite some motivation to stir the ladles and get back to the old days when i used to cook to get some refreshment and enjoy it as a creative activity. Other than the cooking woes, jet lag has been another misery keeping me away from getting into my routine. Social life here is composed of some friends, however its nowhere close to India, where you have your family sticking out for you all the time. So it seems, i again have lot of time for myself, and should start indulging into my old hobbies of reading, cooking, playing guitar...
An India trip always has some soul awakening elements to it. Every time there is something new discovered in your own soil, around your own people. I hope i can implement my learnings from this trip without letting them get tarnished with time.

She

She is the one who worries about me relentlessly. She takes care of me so well, that around her i find myself in an utterly surreal place. I never find an opportunity to ask her for anything, since she knows it all and gets me the right things at the right time. In her world, there is nothing about her and all about me. She still thinks that i can get lost in the crowd, or get robbed at the airport.

She comes from work early for me, and calls me many times a day if she has left me alone at home. She is amusing, innocent, selfless and very cute. She is someone who hasn't changed over the years. If i look at her, i find myself an extremely selfish person. Time with her passes in the blink of an eye.

She
May be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day...
(Notting Hill song , ofcourse in a completely different context)

You should have guessed by now, who else could it be ...
Adorable Mom..This one is for you..