Drunk on Chocolate !?!

God... I know I am here after a very very long time... I know its been a while and I havent posted anything concrete since... Yes, to be honest I have missed being here - believe me, I have. I see people writing and blogging - on and about anything and everything left right and center and I wish I could be half as good with my teancity on keeping with my presence in this blog world. Well...

Today of all days, I agreed to meet up with the 70 year old Patricia O' Hara - a friend of mine from my volunteering group at the healthcare for a movie. The movie picked and chosen by her was Capitalism: A Love Story. I had no idea as to what the movie was all about till then. We had some time on her hand, so we went browsing in a near by Bartell Drugs store where I picked up a Hershey's (16 pieces) milk chocolate bar to munch in the movie. Into the theatre and seated ... one thing I realise is that I've finished a good whole chocolate bar watching just three movie trailers of the forthcoming releases being showcased. The real movie was yet to start and I was done with my chocolate! The real movie started ... and with what came on the screen, I could tell that it was a documentary - a documentary on the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans and by default, the rest of the world. Ten minutes into the movie and I was drowsing all the way. My eyes kept shutting all the while, the movie was demanding lot of attention, most of it I gave my ears to rather than my eyes, hoping that Pat wouldn't notice as to what was going on with me in the dark of the movie and I was just waiting to see the end soon. I was glad that it got over. I was hopelessly embarrassed at my state. I blamed myself for the chocolate I ate. I love chocolate and I eat it all the time but that does not mean you eat 16 blocks all at once! This time it was different. I realised that a little too much chocolate is just less than about right.

Post movie at home afer a solid 2 hour sleep off ---> still having a fight with the slumber ...Aah!! Painful! I figured out that the Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar accounts for 600 calories consumed and contains a combination of chocolate liquor (not alcohol), cocoa butter, sugar and milk or cream. Milk chocolate must contain at least 10% chocolate liquor and at least 12% total milk ingredients. Could not imagine myself fighting cho-co-late! After delving into it, I garnered that a combination of tryptophan (amino acid) and carbohydrates induce sleep. Eating carbohydrates with tryptophan-containing foods makes this calming amino acid more available to the brain. A high carbohydrate meal stimulates the release of insulin, which helps clear from the bloodstream those amino acids that compete with tryptophan, allowing more of this natural sleep-inducing amino acid to enter the brain and manufacture sleep- inducing substances, such as serotonin and melatonin -the neurotransmitters that slow down nerve traffic so your brain isn't so busy. That's what happened... I was drunk on cho-co-late and hence the cho-co-late hangover!

Into the New Year

New Year's eve was a little different this time - simple and fun - that's what I would call it.
Went to a cozy Thai restaurant called 'Typhoon' for dinner along with a couple of friends and then drove to downtown Seattle for the fireworks show of the Space Needle. As 2009 made its grand entrance at exactly midnight, the fireworks shot into the air and we were among the crowd estimated at between 5,000 and 7,000 at Seattle Center who ooh'd and ahh'd. Although it lasted for a very short time it was good.
You can watch the fireworks show here.
Then drove to our place for coffee and kept chatting till almost four in the morning. That was it.

Into the new year... I feel relaxed, full and complete - I had just gorged on a lovely mixed vegetable and rice platter and it really feels good after the meal. I had lots of cleaning to do - guess was tired and so was hungry. I may watch a movie now.

-Manasi


It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

Happy 2009!

Its been an eventful year - this year 2008 - we moving to Seattle from India to this moment now - time just flew in a jiffy for us. Over the telephone, with the fireworks cracking in the background celebrating the start of 2009 in India, I was telling mom about it and both of us remembered how last year we spent the new year's eve together along with my granny at my place in Hyderabad and how time has just rolled on too fast. Looking back on the months gone by, as a new year starts and an old one ends, I contemplate what brought us joy, and I think of our loved ones and family. Recalling all the happy times, remembering how they enriched our lives I am very happy to welcome 2009 in my life and hopeful to see better things happening to myself and around me.

I wish for you a holiday with happiness galore, and when it’s done, I wish you Happy New Year, and many more.

-Manasi

An encounter with the Birdman

We had to rush through long queues of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to make it to our flight to Houston with Continental Airlines.

After being seated comfortably in the middle seat I noticed that the person sitting beside me was working heads down on his lap top with his side of the window shut. I grew restless in no moment as I wanted to see Fort Lauderdale from the air. It was an uncommon scenario for someone like me, as I always found myself occupying the window seat and for once it wasn’t mine this time. Oh! How I longed to be seated there. I was wondering as to why people occupy window seats and not have their windows open. There was a pressing urge in me to request him to exchange his seat with mine. He would have done that for a lady I’m sure. But then I just contained myself and requested him to open up the window for a while so that I could view the city from the top. Just then a hostess appeared, called him a Scientist and addressed him to shut his laptop and pull his seat forward. The plane took off and after a brief exchange of pleasantries I came to know that he was a Scientist at Stanford and did a lot of bird watching. He was an ornithologist which was not that common a field to encounter.

I asked him simple questions about birds, his likes and dislikes about them, the way they migrate, about his studies, surveys and contribution to human life, role of environmental pollution and diseases, extinction of birds, scope and limitations of bird watching, wild life photography, his frequent travels to various countries, his life as a gypsy as he had traveled more than 60 countries - to which he went copiously answering each and every aspect related to my query with utmost interest and earnestness. It was nice to hear him talk. He showed some of his pictures of the different birds shot in the wild looking at which I was completely awestruck! I guess he talked for more than an hour on the same lines. He was radiant and open, open and flowing, filled with light that he generously shared through his words, smiles and gestures. Completely authentic and too young to be a scientist.

I walked out of the flight feeling like a million bucks - not only because he was highly competent at making me develop interest in his talks, but because he naturally knew how to make a layman understand the importance of his subject too, he knew how to add value to the moment, to our encounter – genuinely, just by wholly and truly being who he was. We talked and connected - it was easy - a simple being to being sharing, enriching.

I had a nice flight. God bless him and all the birds on the planet.

-Manasi

"if you're not willing to be changed by a place, there's no point in going."

Missing Keys!

Kudos to a police officer from Miami Police Department who found us our missing keys to the rental car hired to drive during our trip to Miami and Key West. It was almost after nine o' clock at night when we were coming back from the Bayside Marketplace that we realised that we had dropped the keys somewhere along the Bayside Miami and could not figure out where. After a frantic search in the moon lit night on the twenty minute walk back to the market place again we lost hope of finding them. We then called up the car rentals for their help, but in vain. They said the insurance doesn't cover the lost keys. They in turn asked us to call up the lock smith by furnishing some numbers. Tried calling them for help. Nothing turned out. Nothing happened. Nothing helped. It was getting very chilly as the night progressed and the tension was obvious. We had our belongings in the car and were figuring out the worst possible case that could befall that night in a new place like Miami. Hovered near the car for a long time making phone calls to people from the parking lot where the car was parked at the Intercontinental Miami right in the downtown. And just then we saw a Police Officer beeping the car keys and trying to figure out a stranded car. I ran towards him - who finally found the keys to our car. God! we were so relieved to see them. He said it was a gentleman who found the keys lying at the park and got them to him and he then was going through each and every parking lot in the downtown area looking for the car before he finally found us. We thanked him a ton for being an angel - blessed the guy who found them and responsibly handed them over to the police. All this happened at the bayside - an area prone to crooks, looking for such opportunities - who might have misused and played with them if they had found them. Anyways...All's Well That Ends Well. We had a peaceful sleep that night.

I am just back from Florida which was very pleasant, warm and nice and its snowing like crazy here... Kirkland looks all white now with several inches of snow piled up. The temperatures are subzero and the cold is unbearable - what a dramatic change in the weather condition from where I had been, to where I am right now. And I must say I'm already going through some kinda missing syndrome. I have an emormous hangover of the great vacation we just had in Miami and Key West and I loved everything about my trip. There were so many things that happened to be the 'first time in life' for me on this trip to Key West.
- tandem parasailing trip - twice
- snorkeling adventure
- jumped into the middle of the ocean to swim to the waverunner/jet ski and ride it
- went on the banana boat - fell in the the middle of the ocean - an adventure by itself
- went on a sunset cruise for a spectacular sunset celebration
- playing in the waters of the ocean to my heart's content












Could this be more pleasurable...I'm urged to unlock my heart's lock with Florida Keys... I loved the Keys... I loved Key West. I miss them dearly.

Ever absent, ever near;
Still I see thee, still I hear;
Yet I cannot reach thee, dear!

More about my trip in my next post.

-Manasi

Another Year

I am celebrating my Anniversary, and its the eighth year of our life together ... Here's wishing me

Another year to create

precious memories together.

Another year to discover

new things to enjoy about each other.

Another year to build

a life rich in love and laughter.

Another year to strengthen

a marriage that defines "forever."
Happy Anniversary!

Rainy Vancouver

A word or two on my trip to Vancouver, BC, Canada - where the mountains meet the sea -future host of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. A cosmopolitan mix of culture, culinary delights, fashion, fresh air, and walks along the sea wall that go on and on and on…

On a Friday morning right after the thanksgiving day, mounted on a high stool in front of a clean and glossy glass wall of the Moonpennies Café in downtown Vancouver’s West Pender street, munching on a crunchy vegetable baguette sandwich and spooning the creamiest of the lentil soups, watching people walk across the busy streets holding up their colorful umbrellas against a steady rainfall was one of the most refreshing vignettes of life and its shades in rains, making me feel as drenched in my memory at present as it did in that particular moment. The rain was kinda cozy. It was surprisingly rejuvenating. Vancouver has a vibrant independent cafe culture which fascinated me. Contrary to my visit in summer, this time Vancouver appeared to be a rain-saturated city, where umbrellas were a part of everyday life and the sun seldom peaked out. All wet and rain soaked everywhere with thin coffee infused air …I say, into every life, a little rain must fall.

-Manasi

My Favorite Sounds ...

With senses, we discover the world around us - our amplified powers of perception, expanded sense of hearing and reception, our mounted sense of touch and feeling, our distended aptitude of olfaction, our heightened gift of taste and piquancy, our increased capacity for reason, love and happiness, all of which are qualities we develop over time.

An enlightening pastime is to make a list of favorite things that impact the senses. Not only does it provide a challenging exercise for the mind and memory, but it sharpens our appreciation of these golden moments in time… Besides the sound of music there are sounds that make me exhilarated and alive or quite and calm… Let me share with you my ten favorite sounds.

Melodious singing of the Koel (Nightingale) in the dawn or at dusk in the month of May during our summer vacations.

Geet and Sangeet are the soul of any Indian wedding. We as kids always scurried to our gates to the sounds of a ‘Baraat’ – A marriage procession passing by for their loud band, dance and merry.

The shrill sound the aero plane made every time, passing over our heads when it either took off or was about to land long back when we lived very close to the airport.

The sound of a cheerful baby chuckling in amusement for something it doesn’t even know or recognize.

The sounds of the water in a running stream or a gushing waterfall or lapping by the shore.

The harmonious notes of the wind chime coming from the patio of a house on the top floor in the lane opposite to mine.

An overcrowded stadium singing the national anthem.

The gentle breeze of the wind whooshing through the trees.

Sounds of silence – utter and complete. Perfect silence while watching the moon and the stars. Absolute silence in the mountain lake at sunset.

The softness in Love calling ‘Sweeto’ when back home after work.

-Manasi

“All of nature begins to whisper its secrets to us through its sound. Sounds that were previously incomprehensible to our soul now become the meaningful language of nature.” - Rudolf Steiner

Aromatic Nostalgia!

Today I was frying Rava (Semolina), a little more than usual quantity, in good amounts of fat, so that I could use it whenever needed for my future cooking - saving time on frying it each time. The aroma from the frying Rava softly tickled my olfactory glands and made me so nostalgic of the good times spent at home with my parents, back in India. As the Rava kept frying in the pan, it effused a strong, sweetened, savory and scrumptious aroma pulling out the sweetest memories from my pot of yester years!

Diwali is just around the corner and I go back remembering how by now my mom would have finished with making of all the sweetmeats like Karanji- Rava Ladu- Anarase- Thelchi- Shankarpale- to be savored on the day of Diwali. My sister and I were potential helpers of my mother in this endeavor. It was such fun to sit through all the lengthy procedures of making the Diwali goodies. It wasn’t easy at all. Each and every item stated above needed a pre -preparation with lots of culinary ingredients to be cleaned, sifted, sieved, soaked, fried, roasted, simmered, cooked- not to mention the culinary experience and excellence needed that went with it - an undoubtedly and a truly time consuming affair - all this for the simple pleasure of delectable indulgence which occurred only two or three times in a year on some special family occasions. So there was this absolute participation and contribution from each and every one of us in the family to celebrate this festival of Diwali - making it more of a deliciously rich festival per se- what with all the fat, sugar, jaggery and the dry fruit stuff which went in preparing these mouth watering delicacies. And later after relishing them, we collectively bantered on seriously shedding those extra pounds we actually gained after the festivities.

The aroma filled in my kitchen here, as I recognize, was so similar and as intoxicating to the ardent aroma coming from my mom’s kitchen whenever she prepared those sweets. I miss her a lot today and her sweetmeats a big time. Her love infused creations of all these delightful sweets always unfailingly filled my heart, and later my tummy, with joy. I will always love you Ma!

Mood of the day: Serene

-Manasi

"The act of smelling something, anything, is remarkably like the act of thinking. Immediately at the moment of perception, you can feel the mind going to work, sending the odor around from place to place, setting off complex repertories through the brain, polling one center after another for signs of re recognition, for old memories and old connection. " -Lewis Thomas

Where did my childhood go?

Little did I know when I was young that I was probably living the most beautiful part of my life or that the bygone days of my childhood were to be remembered as the golden period of my life.

Why is that today I just want to live my childhood again? Why is that I am missing my carefree life of my past? Why is that the moving pictures of my childhood are so vividly flashing on my mind today?

I miss so many things of my childhood today that if I were to be given a choice I would just roll twenty years down the memory lane and embrace those wonderful years of my life and would never let them go.

Where at all did my childhood go…

Where it was fun to even wait on water for hours to get our pots filled when water was scarce in the city.

Where it was fun to drench in the rains and consciously jump in the mud puddles on our way back home from the school.

Where is was fun to flock around the murmura/phalli wala (puffed rice and peanut vendor) with coins in our hands to get our pockets filled with the peanuts.

Where it was fun to bully my sis and and then laugh our bellies out while we went asleep.

Where it was fun to ride my Sunny with my sis seated at my back and speed up to hit on every available bump on our way making her jump behind and go wild.

Where it was fun to plan and pack for a month’s summer holiday to be spent at our granny’s place in Pune.

Where it was fun to go to sleep on Granny’s tales.

Where it was fun to fearlessly walk the brink of the terrace of our building at midnight.

Where it was fun to eagerly wait for the Monday outings which meant go movies and eat out.

Where it was fun to sleep with a small transistor on which almost needed a blow to get it back to function every now and then.

Where it was fun to play ‘chikkad-billa’ (hopscotch) once back home from school.

Where it was fun to show around places of interest whenever there were guests at home

Where it was fun to go to school only to meet up with friends and play antakshari whenever and wherever possible.

Where it was fun to just hide behind the door and scare and ‘bhow’ at Baba when he returned home from work.

Where it was all fun and laughs to play on the toy game of a ‘chicken laying the eggs’, where all four of us strived to get highest number of eggs from a moving chicken which laid eggs at the press of a button.

Where it was fun to cuddle up at night and listen to Baba telling us magical stories of of Dumbu and Chotu going to moon!

Where it was fun to build imaginary houses with the pillows and cushions to play a girlie ‘house-house’ with the toy kitchen sets or arrange dolly weddings or get decked up in mom’s sarees and play ‘teacher-teacher’ with a little blackboard and duster.

While writing this post I’ve realized that its very difficult to capture, share and synopsize so many years of treasure into one single page. Life had brought all these simple pleasures and many more in everyday life of my childhood that they just happen to remain as wonderful memories for me to look back and cherish them.

They say memories are golden and may be that is true.Though there’s volumes to speak on my favorite people, favorite places, favorite memories of the past...These are the joys of a lifetime...These are the things that last. To me it’s my travel bag for the lifetime.

Manasi

If it weren't for flashbacks I'd have no memory at all.