been too long...

As the title reads, it had been too long for a lot of things including the last time I actually read a blog. The list that follows is not exhaustive but just some of the few things that were a long time coming (or not) and happened recently - 

1. India - finally this summer, I managed to make my way back home albeit for a short 3-week duration. It was pretty exciting. In fact, I was on the road more than I had bargained for which took me from Pune to Leh to Srinagar and then back to base in Bombay. There were other places that I wanted to go, but there is only so much your body can handle and time can provide. The highlight of the trip was the vacation with the family in Kashmir, the home cooked meals and meeting up with friends with whom you had the honor of starting sentences like, " you remember when... " (figuratively). With all the meetings there accompanied a peculiar realization - no matter how long it has been since you spoke to them or saw them, it takes all but five minutes for things to go back to the way they always were and supposed to be.  

2. Florida - Thanks to some initiative by ACS( a certain someone), and a lot of abuses from a certain Maadu sitting in Gainesville, found myself heading to Florida one fine morning towards the end of the last year. By the time morning turned to evening, the temperatures rose and so did the humidity levels. At the end of the longest drive in my driving history, I was sitting on a table sharing rice, Sambhar, and some very delicious vegetables with ACS, Bloke, Suri, Agent S, Malpani and Riteja. It felt good - lots of food and friends on the same table! Plans to go to Orlando and eventually celebrating the New Year in Miami got chalked out while Bloke decided to iron his laundry. And so it came to pass that New Year was welcomed looking for South Beach in Miami! But when you have friends, who needs to get out of the car. 

 

  

3. Went North - it has been almost two years, and I barely get a chance to get out of Raleigh, for lack of initiative and the general laziness. The occasions that I did get to do that, I have traveled in the southern direction - Florida. So, when the Con decided to make his East Coast trip, it was the perfect reason to go north in the summer and last week I was sharing the same room (after 3 years) with Vattal and Rushil. We went looking in Obama backyard and found ourselves stuck with stuffed animals, neanderthals, Mr. larger-than-life Lincoln, each other, and a busted manhole pouring out sewage on the streets of Washington, DC. The next day included a trail, waterfalls and torn shorts! It presented Vattal the perfect opportunity to show off his DSLR and more. Anybody who is reading this and knows Vattal, please do ask him to give me permission to put his pics up. 

  4. Write - all I can recall writing in the past two years is, let's see - reports, homework, assignments, more homework, more assignments, on-occasion exams, codes, more codes, and wait-for-it, youguesseditright - codes! And today, finally managed to write something more than just one or more of the things from the list above. There is something very liberating about putting your thoughts into words and then trying to ascertain the extent of insignificance it exerts. 

Nothing more is popping into my head right now, but I am pretty certain, when I began the list there was more that i had intended to write about. Presumably, it would be futile to attempt to stretch this any further. But the hope remains, that soon I shalt find the time, the energy and the words to put my fingers on the keyboard, again, for this very purpose.