EoA

Last week into the hike I was preparing all summer. This is getting real. I am a tiny bit nervous because I don't want to pickup injury here. There are a couple of niggles still. Some stiffness in the neck from last weeks incident. Slight hamstring tightness. Hoping to iron them out in few days time.

I was dog-sitting for 2 days at a professor who is travelling. Hera was such an adorable dog. He loves human presence. He had demeanor of an elderly gentleman. He would follow me around the house like satellite. That expression on his face!

I received 5 rakhis just in time (actually 1 day late) for Rakshabandhan yesterday. My sisters love me too much :) And they keep putting stuff on facebook about me. Even some photos. So even though Im not on facebook, my traces are there. They just love me too much. To be dead honest, all this attention makes me nervous. I am trying to do justice in the amount of pride they take in having a brother in me. Do I deserve all this?

End of August.

Breathe the mountain air

In the next two weeks I am going to attempt the Mt. Whitney hike. These mountains are one of the most preserved natural parks in the U.S., devoid of all human activity. I am very excited to see such a place. Sources say that it has breathtaking views of the mountain and the sun, and all that nature has to offer in that terrain.
I have grown to like breathing the mountain air. They are so pristine. I get transported to a different epoch. The serenity and calmness that the magnanimous scale of the mountains bring is just humbling experience. I cannot describe it. You have to see it, feel it, smell it. I don't know if I will ever live in the mountains. Or if I will still like it as much if I do. But this is the feeling I have at the moment.

The hike involves walking 11 miles up to the peak of Mt. Whitney with an elevation gain of 6200 feet. The summit is 14,500 ft. And then return on the same trail. This has to be done in a single day because we don't have a permit to stay longer than that. Entry is highly regulated into the reserve. All in all a very strenuous activity for my lean figure. But I hope the view from the top will be worth it. The feeling of accomplishment combined with the sheer beauty of mountains is what I am thinking right now. There is no feeling parallel to it. I've been preparing for it throughout the summer. I've heard stories about people attempting it and coming back mid-way for various reasons. Someone told me about a guy who completed in his fourth attempt. This puts a little doubt in my mind but I have to quickly dispel it before it grows. I have realized that a good part of physical capability is mental. So I can at least get that going. :)

Currently I am nursing a pulled muscle in the neck. It shouldn't last more than a week; which gives me enough recovery time. The D-day is September 7. Wish me luck! Or at least wish clear skies.

Who are we?

"Who is but the for following function of what, and what I am is a man in a mask?"
 -- V

The fun thing about initiating conversation with strangers is that it tells you a lot of things about yourself. When meeting someone without any prior contact it is easy to be what you want to be without an pressure of what you are expected be. And if you are not going to see these people again they are not afraid to just say their opinion about how or who they found you to be. That makes me like connecting to strangers. There are billions of them!
Quite unlike my former years, with increasing numbers on my age, I have learn't to express and be more open about my feelings as long as it does no harm to anyone else. I realized that everyone is as afraid about initiating connections with people as I am. That makes all of us on the same page. So we can just skip the deadlock and start connecting.

Side note: I successfully completed 10k race on this weekend with a time of 53:02. :) I was faster than I expected. I like surprises. I like to surprise myself. Never mind the pain in lower leg that followed. Still doing the cold compresses. :\

Scenes from an Italian restaurant

Keeping up with the social norm of celebrating ones birthday, I was out with a dozen friends to eat at a nice Italian restaurant. They had interesting pictures framed all over the walls. We brought back their menu with a finny picture of Mona Lisa with the noodles. This is in our living room wall now.

I was certainly made to feel important on this day. So much that I was embarrassed at one point to receive this much attention :/. I usually like to live low. There were even gifts. Birthday apart, it was a fun evening and we all enjoyed gormandizing on Italian cuisines. It was nice to see some friends after long time. Here is a picture (with poor lighting. apparently Italians like to eat in dark) to freeze the moment.

(In case you didn't realize I borrowed the title from a Billy Joel song :D. )

I was born

So I complete integral number of revolutions around the sun. For 29th time in history. I always wondered what significance does it carry and why or whether we ought to celebrate it. And be crazy happy about it. But it feels nice to be important among your coterie of friends. So in order to commemorate this feeling of gloating self-importance I will follow the traditional ways.

I cannot imagine a whole lot what kind of day it must have been. I was born this day on a rainy morning. That's what my mommy told me. I was in a dingy hospital so it must have been a dingy smell I was smelling. Phenol or other disinfectant. (I visited this hospital countless times and my nose has the most of the recollection from that place). It was probably dimly lit. My mom was calm and relaxed, as she also told me. My family visited. I can guarantee it was a happy day in my family (or so I hope :D). So I will 'remember' that day today and hold a toast for my folks who created me and made me the man I am. I'm thankful to have the opportunities in all these years that let me learn and love so much!

I envy not

Following is a poem which will hopefully convince you to follow that whatever you desire in your heart. The love of having tried-and-failed versus having not-tried-at-all.

In Memorium Arthur Henry Hallam by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Canto XXVII

"I envy not in any moods
The captive void of noble rage,
The linnet born within the cage,
That never knew the summer woods:

I envy not the beast that takes
His license in the field of time,
Unfetter'd by the sense of crime,
To whom a conscience never wakes;

Nor, what may count itself as blest,
The heart that never plighted troth
But stagnates in the weeds of sloth;
Nor any want-begotten rest.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all."

Thanks to great English teachers and all the poetry classes I took in high school that I can actually make sense of these classics. Mrs. Gandhi and Mrs. Chatterjee, thank you. It has taken me about six years to actually come to terms with the above wisdom. Wiser and older I am willing to let go things. "To hold, you must first open your hand. Let go." Lao Tzu.

Camping

Camping is one of the favorite summer things to do in the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin. It has kind of grown onto me. I went back to the same woods we were last year. Brought back some old memories and made some wonderful new ones. I won't see some friends in a long time so I will remember this for quite some time. On both nights I saw the sky filled with stars. The kind of starry night I haven't seen in years! There were shooting stars to spot every now and then. I spotted 3 on each night. They say that whatever you wish for with the shooting star comes true. I made a few. You are not supposed to say out what you wished else it won't work. I think mine will not come true. It is long ask and I already see it in troubled waters. :|
I think last time I saw was in my old town where I grew up as a little kid in India. When the power was out we would hang out under the sky in big group of my extended joint family. I might have been 10 or something. More memories.

I tumbled upon the page www.theminimalists.com. I have always been attracted to the idea of minimalism but never quite formally adopted it. I cannot claim to be true minimalist but I try to include it in my lifestyle.

In relation to what I posted earlier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4cV8yfgNyI