Oh B(r)other!!

Has any new year ever drastically changed your life? I mean drastically as in extremely, severely, excessively, extaordinarily etcetera? No? Well mine did, very drastically about 21 years ago. I wasn't my parents' sole laadli anymore, nor my grandpa's only aankhon ka taara :-D. Yup, you guessed it. That was when my beloved brother Darsh was born :).

I don't remember being jealous of him in the early years ever. I was only upset that I didn't get the sister I wanted ;-). I guess I wanted a baby living doll to dress up and carry around. But I got a different doll - a boy doll. I remember when I was 5 and Darsh was 1 year old, I used to carry him every damn place. He was chubby and one of the cutest babies I ever saw. I can't believe he's turned into something we***, oh lets just say something other than chubby and cute today :-p. Don't believe me? Take a look yourself of the then photo:




As we grew older, we didn't grow any wiser :-p. We fought a lot. Lot as in many number of times, more, often, always :-D. God!! Darsh still had milk teeth and he used to bite my arm, real hard. Also due to my long hair, I was easy target. One day, mom adviced to bite him if he bites me ever again. Needless to say the bite marks on my arms vanished. But the fights weren't obviously the only part of our childhood. I had a bus pass and Darsh loved watching the bus driver. His dream was to become a driver then ;-). I would take him along for bus rides. I would proudly show my pass and Darsh would enjoy watching the driver. I would also buy him 25-50 paise lollies :). As time grew, we both learnt to ride bicycles and would always go together to a park nearby. It was our favourite activity on weekends. The next favourite would be to pester dad to take us to Jayanagar 4th block for bhel puri, ice cream cones, sugar candies and balloons :). Meanwhile the physical fighting continued. It stopped suddenly after one day, when mom saw our scratch marks and said in a sad voice "Should I go to work or not? Maybe one day you'll kill each other?". After that the fight continued in arguments and never in actual beatings :-D.

Darsh was a very active boy and was into lots of stuff from early on. I guess I was never like him in those ways. By the time he was in high school, he was in the basket ball team, he was into JAM and Dumb charades and guitar playing. He was also the head boy for the school in his 10th. He taught me the basic rules of basket ball. I watched him win Dumb Charades twice, though he actually won many times. His dumb charade team was named, get this, "Phantasmagoria" (!!!) and consisted of him and his best friends Pritam and Amit, who are best friends of his to this day :). Once the prize he won (1st prize) was a ladies watch ;-) and I enjoyed the fruits of his labour :-D >:). We had a computer at home in those olden days and I can shamelessly say that I got the hang of it only due to him. I learnt DOS, Basic and later Windows\Word\Excel through him (I didn't have computer classes then like the kids do now and he used to pick stuff from his friends). We used to play 2-player games and basically have a great time on the comp. And since he played guitar, I would be the singer for him. We both were into English music by then, but he was the first one to get into metal. The first time I heard that, I almost threw the head phones off. But slowly I got adjusted to it and I would sing songs of Metallica, Guns n Roses, Eagles etc while he played the guitar. We both worked well as a team, though I'd get scoldings from him if I got the pitch wrong somewhere and likewise he'd get scoldings when he missed a chord ;-).

Extra activities didn't mean he was any bad in studies. Good marks in 10th ICSE and better in 2nd PU. He got 100/100 in Maths in 2nd PU public examinations. I was and am proud of him. But he has become a bit negligent of his engineering studies, but what the heck? He has already secured a good job in a good company through campus selection :). After working for more than 3 years, who else but me can know that none of the bookish knowledge is of any use in our practical s/w engineer lives?

Meanwhile, I also learnt about Soccer and F1 through him. He was and still is crazy about Barcelona and I learnt to appreciate the players and their techniques (nope, I'm lying, I still haven't learnt to appreciate soccer :-D). F1 became a rage only because he'd support Mika Hakkinen of McLaren. Just out of spite, I started supporting Michael Schumacher of Ferrari. We'd watch the qualifying sessions and the final races together, never letting anyone else near the TV during that time, shouting at our respective idols to win and basically having fun. Later, I admit, it got boring when Hakkinen retired. But we'd somehow still watch those together.

In engineering college, one of Darsh's long time dreams came true. That was of forming a metal band. I am proud of the songs he wrote even though they are titled "Come back to death", "Hallucination theory" and what not!! Its a deep-rooted philosophy that any metal song should bend towards the tragic :-p :). He was the rhytm guitarist of the band and the back-up singer. I always thought that he should be the singer too, but he always insisted that singing was too much work for a rhytm-guitarist. I was obviously not a member of the 4-membered all-guys band, but I was still the first listener of his experimentations, major critic (mouthing off whatever I found wrong in it :-D), sometimes trial singer (after 100 corrections I'd croon the song exactly the way he wanted it sung :-p) and major fan :). I saw him and his pals Vicky, Subbu and Bhaskar on stage only twice, but I was oh-so-proud :). Right now the band's on a break what with these guys in the final year of their studies, but his guitar still shouts in his room through the electronic amplifier and computer speakers and is still the source of major ear aches/head aches to my parents ;-) :-D.

Now, I am far away. Never thought I'd miss the rogue so much. Darsh is careless, has a loud voice when things don't go his way, is totally insensitive sometimes and is downright a pain other times. But somewhere along the way, he became much more than a boy doll/enemy/brother. He became a friend, a pal, a buddy who I'd watch english thriller movies with, listen to the weirdest songs and sing them too, see football/F1/tennis/cricket with, share a pizza (He was/is crazy about pizza while my parents and I weren't, but I still would share a pizza with him) and even later learn his bike with him as the tutor. Talking of his bike, here's the now photo (not exactly now, about 2 years ago one):




Life changes oh-so-suddenly sometimes. I'm so far away from him and my parents now. But I still chat with him, talk to him, get ragged by him. In fact the jeeja-saala combination of Sri and Darsh sometimes gets after my life :-o, but its fun nevertheless. And today, 31st of December, is his birthday. New year has always been special to me not only because of the obvious new year - prosperity, hope etc, but because of the fact that new year, is the beginning of a whole new year in Darsh's life. Moreover, this year is special as he turns 21. Darsh, buddy, now you can get married anytime you want to ;-). I couldn't resist the marriage gibe, because Darsh always claims that he'll never get married, ever!! Me and mom always retort "Kalla Sanyaasi" to that ;-) :-D. Ok ok, here it is, the birthday wish:

"Happy birthday pal :). Hope your birthday brings you lots of new joys and a bright new start of career. Hope it also gives you enough brains so that you don't trouble dad and mom so much and take more care of them and yourself (couldn't resist that either :-D). Love you and miss you, man :)."

And as for the rest of you,

"Wish you a very Happy and a preosperous New Year :)."

Immor(t)ality?

What's the fuss all about?

It all started once upon a time ago (actually only last week :-D) when my cousin Dineshanna contested what has been the belief of my life, since I've some to understand a little bit of what life is, "Death is the ultimate truth". He asked me one thing - "Are you sure that death is the truth? What if people can be immortal? What if death is just a mind set?". Did the question rock the foundation of my belief? Nope ;-). But it did make me read up on some of the new theories being circulated and thats what this post is about. As usual here's my disclaimer:

"I'm neither supporting the Immortality theory, nor denying it completely (Basically am doing the cat on the wall thingy :-D). This post is just my opinion on the theories that people come up with and the possibilities if such a theory is proved (what am I talking about? :-D). The post and author of the post are again not to be held responsible if any of the readers feel like following the rules of the Immortality theory or feel like opposing it (!!). I'm open to healthy debates :-D."

What is the (in)famous Immortality theory?

im·mor·tal·i·ty
n.
1) The quality or condition of being immortal.
2) Endless life or existence.

Since humans have evolved, they have had the desire to live forever and this is what immortality signifies. As the wikipedia site says in detail, immortality is different for different people. But this post is about a particular immortality - the physical one. There have been theories circulating on internet about how you can physically and mentally become immortal. Just searching for "Immortality" or "Longevity" in Google will give you so many sites/results/support groups that you are bound to be surprised. These are people who believe that "Aging is an enemy"!! I dunno about you, but I was like "Aging is natural, so why should you consider it an enemy?".

The basic theory is that the genetic scientists are very close to finding results to living forever. So the people who support immortality claim that all we have to do is "live long enough to live forever". Absurd? Wonderful? You decide.

What needs to be done to live "long enough" according to the immortalists?

According to the Longevity Meme, the steps you have to follow not to age are:

• Stop Damaging Your Health - Don't eat junk food, don't smoke, see a doc regularly, exercise.


• Adopt a Better Diet and Lifestyle - calorie restriction diet, Take supplements, exercise


• Support and Advocate Medical Research - Fund people who are researching on non-aging :-p.

Some things do make sense. I don't like smoking and generally try to avoid anyone who smokes. And since I've started working out, I do believe in regular exercize. And, yes, visiting a doctor and having regular check-ups is commendable and is necessary. And yes, avoiding junk food is also a good idea (even though when it comes to bhel puri and ice creams, I can't think straight ;-) :-D).

The problem is not when you decide to follow the rules. The problem is when the rules turn maniacal. People stop eating basic things like sugar and salt, avoid coffee altogether (guess its good to some extent :-D), don't eat vegetables that are non-organic and survive on salads completely. All this to avoid old age for heaven's sake? And after doing all this what if you do get old and do get diseases? Probably curse that all the dieting was for nothing? But it will be too late for that. For Eg: say I don't eat sugar (ice cream) and salt (bhel puri :-D) for years. Later I do end up getting blood pressure and diabetes. So I can't eat these then anyways. So I'll have the regret continuously that I could have enjoyed something, but I did not. All the sacrifice was for nothing. This might be a childish view, but I'd rather enjoy what I have now rather than not do it and regret that tomorrow! Be it just a matter of bhel puri and ice cream :-D. I would do it moderately though ;-).

What about people opposing the Immortalists?

Every "to" has to have a "fro". So there are obviously people who oppose the immortality theory. One of the sayings that I loved was:

"Immortality:
A toy which people cry for,
And on their knees apply for,
Dispute, contend and lie for,
And if allowed Would be right proud Eternally to die for."
- Ambrose Bierce

There was also another article in BBC by S Jay Olshansky which impressed me with its content. It does take all kinds of people to make this world :-D.

What's my take on the whole thing?

Do I want to be immortal? I don't know. I don't think so. I know one life is too short for me to see all I want to see and for me to do all the things I want to do. But still I don't want to be immortal. I might sound idealistic, but thats what I am. To me whats important is my family. If I consider my parents, its probably too late for them to follow the non-aging procedures and be immortal. As for Sri, my brother Darsh and myself, well maybe we can implement it and achieve immortality. I probably would want all of my family with me forever, but I cannot predict the same of my kids. They might not want me around once they are all grown up and might consider me as a pain in the neck ;-) (I am that most of the time anyways :-D). So what do I have to be immortal for? There will come a time, when I'd want to rest and die peacefully.

The following was a story I heard in my childhood:

It seems there was a king who once after severe meditation, pleased the gods and got the potion of longevity. But the condition of the gods was that he drink it himself and not share it with anyone. So he did that and was very happy for a long time.

But happiness does not last long. The parents he appreciated so much die. The queen he loved so much also dies in the passing time. Now his kids are older than him and will probably die tomorrow too. Whats the use of his youth when he can't enjoy it? He again prays to the Gods to grant him death.

Don't know whether he got his 2nd wish or not ;-). But this is the theme that a film also focuses upon to state the difference between robots and living beings - Robin Williams's "Bicentennial Man". Yes, the difference is the difference between immortality and death. That was one of the movies that touched my heart. What I mean here is that immortality will come with side effects. Maybe we will become like robots (as if we have not already turned into semi-robots, what with our software working cultures :-D)...

But more than that, immortality basically feels like greed to me. You have a life and you've lived it, however may it be. But you still want more. You plead "Nope I don't want to die, I don't want to age, I want to live forever". Is this anything other than greed? And haven't we all been taught that greed is evil? Why always the need for more? Why can't we, for once, be happy with what we have and what we get?

What's the end to it all?

What I don't see, I can't believe in. I've seen death all around me, so I believe in it. I haven't seen immortality anywhere, so I can't really believe in that. Maybe it exists, but until I get a "living" proof of it, I can't sacrifice little pleasures for what might not be that big a pleasure for me. You might ask me - "Hey you don't see God, then how come you believe?". Thats because every little thing around is a proof that there's a super natural power beyond our imagination. We are living proofs for God :).

Moreover, I think what is born has to die. Call me old-fashioned, accuse me of not being open to new ideas, but that is the truth. When the old dies, thats when there's new. You may really not want the old to die, you might want to hang on, but the old has been there for many years. It has seen many things and its tired. It wants to rest. Forever.

I'd like to say only one thing to the so-called immortalists. If you don't accept death and keep hoping/thinking that you are immortal, when death comes to you, in that last moment, you are bound to be disappointed. You are bound to have regrets. But if you accept that there's death, then if immortality happens, its like a bonus, is it not? ;-) :-D. So isn't it better to live life to the fullest, rather than save yourself for the tomorrow that is still a stranger to you?

Another quote before I end the post:

"We are immortal until our work on earth is done."
- George Whitefield

That I guess brings the post to its end. Thankfully, the post is not immortal eh? :-D

Learning to Fly...

Learning to Fly..

Baby bird says to her mother, Ma bird,
"I say I do not want to go!!
I do not want to learn to fly!
Mother, why do you force me so?"

Ma bird says "Child, that is not so.
You have to learn how to fly
You have to reach higher and higher
To embrace the peak of the sky."

"But why mother? Why can't I be here?
Why can't I be warm in the nest?
Why do I have to be like others?
Why am I being given this test?"

"Thats the way of the world, my child.
Thats what all birds have to do!
And I want all other birds to know
That my little one can fly too."

Baby bird reluctantly steps out,
Reaches out and jumps from the tree.
Though she falls, she doesn't mind
She's now on a learning spree..

Soon she learns how it is to fly,
She learns to soar high and high!
She starts to fly out now and then
Without even bidding Ma bird goodbye.

Ma bird, one day, says with tears in her eyes,
"Now that you have the sky to explore,
You'll probably make new friends
And may not want to come home anymore.."

"Don't cry mother", baby bird replies,
"Many new wonderful places I may roam,
Many new exotic birds I may meet, but
Every once in a while, I will come home"

"Mother, I'll never forget the way home.."

Moooooing to new pastures :-D

Well what can I say? We have already moo(v)ed to a new apartment ;-). But the process of shifting is unlike any shifting I've seen in India. In India, we have 2 options. One book a matador van and move all the stuff into it. The driver drives to the new place and you move all the stuff out. You can opt to hire some labour for the moving. The second, you book one of these packers and movers who do everything for you, with a bit of a higher cost. Here in US, both are available, but the cost of manual labour is very high, no matter whether its about driving for only about 5 miles or carrying stuff in/out. So most people living in US prefer only one thing, U-HAUL.

As the name suggests, you haul all your stuff. They just rent out either a container which you can tag along with your car, or a min-van, or other different size trucks according to your stuff requirements. The fact that the renting itself costs a lot, is another thing altogether. But its of lesser cost than anything else.

When Sri first told me about it, believe me I was scared. Not for myself, but a truck is a huge thing on road. Just a small turn and you can hit a poor car. I asked him repeatedly "Are you sure about this?" as he was the one who was driving :-D. So many times, that probably he got fed up with me, but he never showed it. What he did show was a kid-like amazement at the thought of driving a truck. I guess every boy's dream is to drive a truck :-D. I have never seen that kind of enthuasism on his face before, not even when we bungee-jumped :-D. Though I was reluctant, I said "Ok this is another adventure" and went for it. This is the truck we drove - a 14' Thrifty Mover:




Not a very good photo, I know. Its taken from the uhaul website. I wanted to take a picture of it, but our camera was packed somewhere, so couldn't. Anyways, thankfully it was a bit smaller than I expected, I really thought we were going to drive one the size of an Indian lorry. This one was a bit bigger than one of our Indian tempos :-o ;-).

We had started packing everything on Friday, 9th December 2005 night, so we had only last minute fridge-items packing remaining. Moreover since we were moving to an apartment inside the same town, no elaborate packing was required. On Saturday, 10th Decemeber 2005 morning, Sri went to the U-HAUL office to get the truck. I couldn't resist taking one last photo of the lawn in front of our house as I had taken one similar in the summer before. So here's the summer one:




Here's the one I took, before we shifted, at the same place:




Look at the bare trees!! And yup, thats snow on the lawn. It had snowed the previous night, but thankfully the day was bright and sunny. Still we did have a couple of difficulties as we moved our things from the house to the truck. One was that the house was in first floor, so the stairs were one big hurdle (or several hurdles :-D). The second was that we had to walk quite a bit to the parking lot. The paths were a bit slippery due to ice formation. But somehow we did manage do get most of the stuff into the truck. The only really heavy items we own are the bed parts i.e the bed itself and the box its kept in. These we had to double up (i.e me holding one end and Sri another) and transfer them to the truck. Rest were all ok. I am so thankful that apartments here come with a refrigerator, washer and drier. Otherwise, I don't know how in the world we'd have managed to carry those!!

After moving all the stuff came the adventure part. I was a bit apprehensive as I sat next to Sri in the front of the truck, but it was much easier than I imagined. The lanes are very clearly defined on the roads of US and hence Sri found it pretty easy to manage the truck within a lane. Moreover it seems that all the other people driving in cars recognize an U-HAUL truck when they see one and keep their distance :-D. I guess they have a right to be more apprehensive than I was :-D. Anyways the move was very smooth and we didn't encounter any hinderances as such :).

After we reached the new apartment, it was pretty easy to move stuff inside as the house is in the ground floor and right next to the parking lot. We dumped all the stuff inside (only kept the fridge items inside the fridge) and were off to U-HAUL to give the truck back. We returned the truck, finished all pricing formalities, had lunch at the nearest Pizza Hut and went back to the old apartment.

To clean it up ;-). Most of the apartments in US (I think, all) are owned by a group rather than a person. So they clean it, repaint it and rent it out immediately to somebody else. And if there's major cleaning/carpet replacing required then all that cost is cut from the deposit the previous resident would have paid. So we had to make sure that the kitchen and bathroom counters were all shining. Basically, make sure that the house looks and feels clean. We didn't have any carpet stains, so that was good. We finished some of the cleaning and completed the rest the next day.

Meanwhile, we didn't finish it on the same day since the internet guy had fixed up that time with us for the internet connection at the new apartment. So as soon as we reached the new house, he came along and was done with it. That was the best part of the move. The internet/phone were working in a matter of hours ;-) :-D. Then we still had the unpacking to do. But we finished almost everything within the end of saturday. Phew!! But it was worth it :). And here's the photo of the new house:




The new apartment name is SteepleChase apartments :). And we live in the ground floor, right side apartment on the photo :). Everything's settled now and is as comfy as it can get. So that was it, yet another adventure to yet another perfect end :).

What is it? :)

What is it?

As I go out of the house for a walk,
I notice something falling from the sky.
Oh, my god, it is rain, I think,
I don't want to get wet as I walk by.

But they do not look like rain drops,
Rain is definitely not white in colour.
Are they many white insects, I ask,
rushing past, 'cause of the cold weather?

One of the white things touches my face.
Its not an insect, for it doesn't fly away.
Maybe they are cotton bits, I wonder,
Maybe some flew out of a truck going my way?

But cotton is certainly not cold
And does not feel like crushed powdered ice.
They were snow flakes, all along I knew, but
wrote a poem, as prose just wouldn't suffice.

Hehehehee. Kinda silly poem I know (sounds almost desperate to be a poem :-D). But there was no other way I thought I could justice to my first snowfall. The flurries are very hard to describe. I can only say that they feel very nice. They feel like a shower of oh-so-soft small cold thermocole balls :). But they look like small strands of cotton. You long to catch them, but most of them are so light that they sway to and fro with the slightest breeze. Even if you do manage to catch one or two, they melt in a matter of seconds leaving you with nothing. But I honestly had a wonderful time trying to catch a few. The snowflakes I have seen till now have been very slight (haven't seen heavy snow fall yet, so looking forward to it) and thats why its difficult to catch them :).

The snow deposit has also been only upto 1 to 3 inches, so no snowmen/women till now. January is supposed to be the coldest in Kentucky and thats when max snow fall is expected, so my first snowman (or something looking like a snowman) will be built only then ;-). There's one post definitely due when that happens :).

Pittsburgh yaatre :-D

Ok its been sometime and things have happened. I'll just give a glimpse of few before the main Pittsburgh post.

• One was the thanksgiving black friday sale (For ignorant people like I was previously, Black day sale happens right after Thanksgiving day where stores offer hugggggggge discounts. That day most stores open at 5 AM in the morning!!). God!! We went at about 8 AM and you should have seen the rushes. All the parking lots were full. We had a few fixed items (jackets, sweaters) in mind, so we had a good time grinning at the queues ;-).


• Later we went to Pittsburgh, where I had darshana of not only Lord Venkateshwara, but also of my first snow fields :-D. This story will be continued in detail later :-D.


• Saw my first snowfall last thursday (1st Dec 2005) and the feeling is indescribable but will try to do justice to it in my next post :-D.


• My Parents-in-law' gruhapravesha went on great and so did the shifting.


• As our current apartment lease is getting over, we were looking for another and fixed on one 2 weeks ago. We signed the agreement on saturday and will be moving next week.


• A major re-shuffling going on at my workplace. I was working under a manager, but will not be working under him, but another guy from next month. Things are muddled right now, but cross my fingers and hope everything's positive :).

Now that I've got them all off my chest, onto the Pittsburgh post :-D.

25th November 2005:

We left Lexington at around 12:30 PM on Friday. Pittsburgh is about 5 hours drive away from Lexington. The route we took had us actually crossing 2 states - Ohio and West Virginia. Pittsburgh is in Pennsylvania state. I packed a lunch of rice, some curry and curd. We also had a few other fruits and snacks with us. So we set off.

Stopped for lunch at a rest area in Pennsylvania. We actually planned to have lunch outside on a picnic table, but I was feeling too chilled, so we went back to the car. It was then I noticed the small white patches on the ground. "Yes that's snow", was Sri's cool response :-p. Man, I was thrilled and touched one of the patches immediately. It felt like crushed ice powder, thats what it is anyways :-p. From then on, we started seeing snow on the roadsides. They evolved into complete snow fields after sometime into Pennsylvania. We stopped at a petrol bunk where I took this photo:




We reached Pittsburgh at around 7 PM and landed at the hotel. Since there was an Indian temple here, we knew that there's be Indian restaurants around :-D. Sri had previously researched and fixed upon a restaurant called "Namaste India" and we set off to the place to have dinner.

I must accept that in first look, the restaurant was a bit shabbier than any of the Indian restaurants I've been to in US so far. But the smells coming from the kitchen were lovely. We hesitantly ordered mirchi bajji as the starter and were ready to get out of the place if the dish wasn't good. But all our fears turned out to be nothing when the food actually arrived :). The bajji was delicious and so were the veg noodles, veg fried rice and the gobi manchurian we ordered later ;-) :-D. This hotel was a typical south indian restaurant we find in Bangalore. The noodles were pukka desi and I almost cried as I had my first bite. God!! Its been more than 7 months since I ate noodles like that!! Needless to say, we both thought that the food was excellant and enjoyed it very much :).

26th November 2005:

Next day, early morning we set off towards the Sri Venkateshwara temple of Pittsburgh. As I mentioned before, its one of the earliest Hindu temples to be built in US. You can find more information on their official website here.




The temple is beautiful. It seems it was modelled based upon the Tirupathi temple in India. The SV temple is actually built on top of a small hill. We went inside and it was exactly as if we were back in one of the Indian temples. The first god we saw was Ganesha. After doing namaskara to him, we went around the main gudi. There was a sathyanarayana pooja going on at one place. It was all very serene and peaceful. Next we entered the main gudi and saw the Venkateshwara idol, very big and exactly like the one in Tirupathi. It seems all the idols were brought to US from India!! We got an archane done in both our names, did namaskaara, took teertha and prasada of bananas that the poojari gave us and sat in the temple for a few minutes. The temple is being renovated from the inside. The only sad part for me was that photography was not allowed inside the temple ;-).

Then we found out that we could buy prasada. Since we hadn't had breakfast, we decided to make the prasada our breakfast and bought Puliyogare, Pongal and Boondi laddu. As the temple is exactly like Tirupathi, I almost expected the Tirupathi Laddu too, but I was disappointed ;-).There's a hall in the temple premises where the devotees eat the prasada. I guess the hall is also used for functions. We both ate the prasada and bid goodbye to the temple. As I walked outside taking a couple of more snaps, the thought I had in my mind was, its all like India except the snow fields and the posh cars :-D.







We immediately started on the drive back home. There's actually nothing else around in Pittsburgh for a visitor, so headed back. The drive back was again, thankfully Sri would say, without snow fall. It seems snow fall is hazardous to driving. But there were snow fields in sight until we crossed Pennsylvania border :).




So thats it, that was the short trip after a long time. Its getting too cold to go out on treks/hikes etc. Forget treks, its getting very difficult to continue our daily walk in the night after dinner :(. So, good that we were able to go to a place atleast when we did have holidays. We actually had planned to go to Chicago that weekend, but it seems its very windy and extremely cold out there. So shifted the plans to Pittsburgh :). Glad we did, for it was one of the most beautiful trips so far :).

Lovvvvvvvvvvvvo Lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvu :)

I know I promised a post on Pittsburgh, but I just had to post this one today. Next one will certainly be on Pittsburgh :).

Saw this on Shubha's blog sometime back. It seems its a Titan Valentine Day's ad!! Since I really liked it and since blogs don't last forever and God forbid something happens to her blog, I wanted a copy of my own ;-) (these days I seem to talk of blogs like people :-D). So I stole the wordings, changed the format, converted it to a picture, added 4 pairs of hearts and voila!! Here it is (Click on it for a bigger picture):