Travel Bug - Idaho - Potato State

It is hard for me to not travel! Only thing i guess i look forward in life is to travel to new places, see different culture/lifestyle and try new cuisines. 

Honestly admitting, I am not a fan of group travel to new places because that limits the flexibility of how I plan to explore the city. My small family fits the need of my travel in most sense. One of my vacation last year was to an unusual state - Idaho. It is not a very tourist famous state, however i must say that, it has been one of my best experience so far. I dont want to see a crowded place and take a selfie or a family pic and put it on facebook to show the world. I would rather enjoy the places that has many things to offer, isnt crowded and allows to take a selfie/pic for facebook ;)

As always we preferred driving down rather than flying and covered the length & breadth of the state in a week due to its proximity from Oregon. 

We drove for about 8 hrs to our first stop Mccall lake front, there was a nice live band playing. It was a wonderful place to hang out for drinks. Spent our evening enjoying and when it started to get cold we started for our night stop that was in Boise. Boise is just like any other big city with tall buildings, same stores and offices. 

Next day, we headed towards Bruneau Dunes state park. The idea was to try sand boarding, something we had never done before. It was a perfect sunny day to practice, we rented the boards and drove towards the sand dunes, saw some adults & kids trying it and it seemed like they were having fun. We parked our car, and started climbing the dune to get to some elevation, it wasnt fun! Climbing up is always painful no matter what. This one in particular as when you put your feet in sand, it slides down leaving you with no grip and making you put more energy to carry yourself further. After we reached some height (not at top) it was time to try the board. 

Don't know about other humans, but I always start with an assumption that I am pro and wait for reality to hit me! When i sand boarded, I slided smooth for first 15 seconds and being a novice I did not know which direction the body weight needs to be adjusted for continuity, so when my sand board needed me to adjust, i applied the wrong logic and next 30 seconds were rolling down the sand dune. It did not hurt all, only felt a little embarrassed. "Dont give up" my inner voice said to me and i climbed up again but only to put myself in more embarrassment. I tried third time and results were great, i was rolling much better! I tried and tried until my body & soul told me "Give up"! 

Why am I not in pic? I was already rolling down when camera clicked!

What better excuse can i have than saying "It became very hot & we were dehydrated". Returned the rented gear to the state park officials and told them it was fun. It indeed was fun if you minus the embarrassment. Our next destination was Twin Falls that was couple of hours drive. We grabbed lunch and drove endlessly. Best part of Summers is that the days are really long, giving more time to explore. I had researched the place and a blogger had highly recommended a restaurant to try "Elevation 486". It is a wonderful place to enjoy lunch with a very beautiful backdrop. We also were privileged to attend a wedding that happened 10 feet from where we sat and saw the whole ceremony take place. Did not want to leave until "I do" and "You may kiss the bride" was said. Our first experience of an American wedding that we were not attending but yet attending! 

We loved the place so much that we also had next day dinner to see how it looked in the night!

Elevation 486, Drink - Snake River Special

Next morning we went to check out Shoshone waterfall. It supposedly is Niagara of West, and they posters said it is higher than Niagara falls. I doubt but then who am i to question ;)

Shoshone Waterfalls

The last day before we started was reserved for White Water Rafting, my son is a water baby and loved every minute of it. He was enjoying class III rapids to my surprise. He wanted to do it on every trip he said!

There were only two weird thing that happened in the entire trip. One we did not see any diversity at all, we looked like aliens everywhere. Two, for some weird reasons, the restaurants in small towns kept the doors locked from inside and opened only after they saw from the glass who it was to let in. 

I loved the change in landscape!

Beautiful landscape of Idaho!

Color People - Welcome but not really!

When i used to hear about the racism, it all used to sound so weird. How can people think so low in in 21st century? It must not be true! Must be one of the media way of blowing things out of proportion to gain the TRPs.

I moved to the America's whitest city. Undoubtedly, a most wonderful experience in life - People so courteous, polished, law abiding, good at small talks and so non-interfering. Just looked a perfect world to me.

Perfect is so superficial! What lies beneath is an unimaginable horror. A subtle color discrimination exists even after creation of 100000 laws. You can counter everything that is written and said, but what do you do to things that are implicit. If you are not in STEM, you are 100% likely to experience it here in every form.

Its not about old punks but the new generation still dragging the shit and passing on to next generations as if it were a treasure!

My 4 year old started his pre-school. One evening he comes back and tells about his new learning from school - Its Peach! Not the fruit but the color peach. It was difficult for me to comprehend as to why teacher would move away from basic colors (Blue/Yellow/Green/Red) to a complex one as Peach. On further probing, he mentioned that his skin color is Peach, either kids are brown, black or white but he is peach. I was dumbstruck! I thought it was more appropriate for me to not encourage a discussion on skin color and make him learn the unwanted stuff.

The next time, we were in a park when I saw an older kid walking ahead of us. I told my son, to go say hello to him and play with him. My son looked at the kid and tells me - "Ohh do you mean that brown kid?" It was an Afrikan American kid. I was stunned the way color was making its way. It was definitely above and beyond the inquisitiveness of mind!I knew the very moment that it was time to make him understand things. I corrected my child and hopefully he will not repeat but out there are more kids who will grow the color schematics.

Wish there were more means to corrections of thought processes in the world! Perhaps some day..

Its all about Pain

The funny thing about Pain is - "Pain is not painful if you have spent some considerable time in it!"
Its Overrated in the beginning and underrated towards the end!

Another 30+ learning...

Have things changed?

When i published the previous post, i went to view how my blog looked like...i had changed the color, layout, fonts, pics & heading so many times in past. 

I started reading couple of old posts of mine and realised i had written some of them 10 years back...its really been long....i was wondering if its blogger that changed or is it me?

Why do i sound so different in those post? i can feel from the writings that i was young and carefree...i dont sound same any more...i still revisit my "hall of shame", i still do silly things, i still drop things clumsily and i still laugh at myself, but its still not the same!

i dont mind being stupid again, it was fun and i will trade off anything to be back in the same time...

and the year went by...

A girl who had it in her fate to move every 2-3 years from any location had finally thought that the stability arrived in her life as she managed to stay in one city for almost 7 years in a  row. The exception to the rule was it was not in the same house, trend of moving to new houses continued at the same pace.  As she fought with her destiny to not move from the city atleast, destiny decided to apply full force by throwing a stronger dislocation.

Yep i wouldnt call it a relocation. Relocation is always for a reason and may have a positive side to it (may not be the happy one though), on the contrary dislocation is when you arent sure what happened to you and why you moved.

I am not saying i wasnt aware of where i was going or i was forced to move, my fight and reasoning is to myself this time. I keep questioning myself - if what i did is what i expected to do in my life?

Exactly an year back, i left my country to move to states...i am still waiting to put an acceptable reason to it and move on in life by giving myself an excuse - "Atleast this good happened out of this!"

 It is definitely a bitter sweet experience to relocate at this stage...Its not about the age, but the stage!

Unemployed me!

For the first time I m out of job and that too without a time frame in mind...The decision to quit job and moving to US was not an easy one...giving up a career of 10 years that too at peak, takes lot of courage.

It's been an hour officially that I m out of job and I am feeling sick already...i hope this feeling subsides soon....

To divert my attention, I am doing a solo bag packer to bali...trying to create the excitement in me but...

:( :(

Vivaan - in DNA newspaper, for his school ad

DNA E-Paper (Story, Photo, Infographic, Advertisement) Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Pune, Bangalore, Indore

Arbit

i cant believe the arbit things i have started doing:

for example now: 11.00 am in the morning, i am finishing my lunch..god bless me!

Stressed out

I wish someone reminds me to blog tomorrow..feeling so very heavy..need to feel light and just seeing this as an option at this point of time...quite stressed wid my new routine..need a break too!

Relationship Priority Meter (RPM)

Sometimes it good to have priorities clear in life else one can screw all the things together. The same holds good even for relationships in life. One needs to understand and attach an importance to these based on which he/she can do justice. It's just like the mathematics weighted average concept. If we will keep on assuming that all people are of similar importance and we need to treat them equal then ofcourse all the people will remain unhappy from you because you wouldn't be able to match their expectations all the time.

If it's complicated to comprehend then do an exercise and you may be able to arrive at some number which may be of some help. You can have three/four parameters which you can consider in arriving at a logical conclusion like importance of the relationship, trust in the relation etc etc. an example of what came in mind is as follow:

Priority = Importance of the relationship (A) x trust in the relationship (B) x compatibility (C) x Future Support (D) x Dependency from them (E)

Post assigning weightages it will look like this:

Final Priority = (A * % assigned) + (B * % assigned) + ( C * % assigned) + (D * % assigned) + (E * % assigned)

Note:

Select a scale: 1 to 5 as it's neither too small nor too big for calculations. 1 = Poor, 2= Below Average, 3= Average, 4= Good, 5= Excellent

Weightages: can be assigned from a scale of 10 – 100% to each parameter. (Better to have in multiples of 10 for easy calculations)

For best results use excel sheet's columns and rows to quickly calculate your Relationship Priority Meter (RPM)

The sooner we understand this the better we are in dealing with the mess. People who realize this after trying to please everyone know what they have done and what they have lost in the due course.

Also another important aspect of managing the degree of relationship depends on the kind of relation you have with a person, how the equations have developed over last few years and what impact it is having now on you and people around/associated with you. We will always find people preaching on how to handle situations, how to manage perceptions and how to balance between varied relations but believe me the ones preaching are always the one who would have lost the game somewhere in life. J

How I came on the formula: I have been working with people who evaluate everything with number and facts so I was wondering if this can also be translated into the number game and can yield a logical conclusion. I can be biased because its my formula but would love to know if this formula helps in arriving at a logical conclusion…

Delhi!!!!!!

every place has an image to it...when I
think of shimla,  i have a hill station in mind...
think of varansi,  i have temples on ganges in mind
think of goa,  i have beaches and a chill culture in mind
think of bombay,  i can imagine people walking like ants on stations to board locals
think of Delhi, i had india gate, red fort and kutub minar as images

but oflate whenever i think of Delhi, it strikes as home for rapists :(


Its such a shame that there is no law & order in the capital of the country..we read all these news, watch all the debates over the news channel on what is to be done and then do nothing!!!They come up with another sensational piece of news which degrades the image of the place further! I know why we cant hang these ********, the movie No one killed Jessica explained it well -

"Delhi is about Power; everybody is somebody in Delhi and nobody is a nobody"

Double Topping

I am really happy and there is a sudden urge to see my friend (Reems) these days after she told that I am going to be Massi soon...though she is the first to become one :)...feels so good to see your friends happy...it was a double topping coz another best friend Ranji (school time) is also expecting after 2 months

I will be gng home soon and will see if i can catch up with Reems..it would be difficult for me to travel with my bundle of joy and knowing her condition i dont think i can expect her to travel just to meet me...even if i am not able to catch up with her this time, my best wishes are always there for her..and i will surely try to meet her in sept/oct types...

Now that papa is transferred to Delhi, i can hope some trips to Delhi..its been ages that i went to that place...

Work from home

Initially i used to think that work from home policy is such a relief...one can just to personal work and side by side work from home but offlate i realised the pain of working from home...some pains are as  follow:

1. in office u tend to meet so many employees/ppl that u find a change but at home u r stuck wid this dumb thingy and no one around to even talk!
2. For office, you tend to get ready, dress up nicely and look fresh (atleast try to) at home u r not even bothered to take bath unless u have got fed up of checking mails and that is the break item for you..
3. you have some timings to have breakfast, coffee, lunch and evening snacks..but at home since u r alone u dont feel like getting up and serving youself...i dont even count that as break because wid my plate i am still glued to lappy with food particle dropping in my key board..(gross i know, but i clean the same...)
4. facebook and other social networking sites seem like a burden which actually looks like a big craze when u hardly get any time for them...
5. Depression stucks coz everyone else around you is busy and you are the only one with some time margin in hand...

Good thing is:

1. Once u r out of depression you can find ways to cheer urself up..like watching online free movies while working which is ofcourse not feasible at office.
2. You can be more in touch with your friends through chat and calls...spend as much as time feasible
3. You can cook side by side on whatever u feel like eating..
4. You can actually take nap in between and no one wud ever come to know :)

So finding pleasure now in working from home...but to be honest i still would prefer working at office :)...miss my folks there and most importantly missing a life...

Sleepless in Bangalore

Never knew i would be awake just to finish my work till this wee hrs...Wish this performance cycle gets over fast..i guess now i am aware of all the processes and have had enough of handling the same for employees..

Whenever my system/Excel sheet becomes slow i come here to write 2-3 extra words ...thats how i got some time to blog today...

No title is a good title

I could not think of any title for this post as its a random one and dont have anything specific to write about. Just finished watching this movie called "How to loose a guy in 10 days". Yup a another chick flick..after all i am a fan of happy ending these days :) this was the only way i could burst the stress piling inside me due to work. Performance appraisal cycle started so hardly get time to chat/do things that i really wish to...as i understand the criticality of work..one mistake and i can screw someone's career/performance rating...isnt the work i really like (because of risk associated) but its supposed to be the best in HR...this is my second continuous cycle of handing it end to end without any support at bangalore center...hope this one goes smooth and i can go on my most awaited break...Gonna be busy for atleast next 3 weeks..work timings have anyways stretched till 9 pm these days and also need to count the hrs i log in from home to close the work...

Going to miss couple of weddings planned in family (both sides)...but in no luxury to attend any one this year...hope to attend some next year if ppl decide to get married again ;) or new ones plan for the same..

Completely out of touch with family and friends..nothing new though...miss going on outings and breaks...feel like going to some nice exotic place..once again...

i guess i better sleep else tomorrow some employee is going to curse me ..will write soon...this time for sure..(another promise made by me)

To Boss - With Love

I never thought i would ever like a female boss but fortunately i found one such manager whom i adore and respect from bottom of my heart. There are very few people who can create that place as a manager and you dont want to loose them. I wouldnt have realised "Deepa"'s importance untill i came to know that she has planned to move on. With the most beautiful work moments spent with her, I am sure i am gonna find it extremely difficult to adjust with a new boss (forget abt being a female or male). Deepa has always supported as a manager, elder sister and a mentor.

I still remember the day she had called me for interview and i was in casuals and had to tell her that i cant make it  because i was in jeans and couldnt go back home in such a short notice. Loved the way she said "its ok..u come" we wont mind. Her openness and her chill attitude was one thing that attracted me for sure. When i first met her she kept on smiling in the whole interview process where in the other manager was asking hell lot of questions. I was actually under impression that Deepa was a kind of person who would read in between lines or body language and then give her judgement...but later realised that she was just ever smiling person who would make anyone feel comfortable under her.

I am surely going to miss her if she doesnt decide to stay back. I would wish her luck in whatever she does but truly speaking i still dont want her to quit and go...

Wait

Its sometimes so difficult to wait for someone or something. Even though when you know that wait will not be for more than an hr. The heart beats go high...the tension starts building up..irrespective of the positivity, one still gets scared and one still hopes that this wait time gets over fast...

Diwali 2010

Finally I am excited about diwali this time..more or less all my shopping for the festival is done..its time now for some sweets..today being dhan teras, i am planning to buy a silver coin...not sure if i will get one..else utensils are always there in your ":to buy" list...

Tomorrow i have cards party at another friend's house..so hoping it to be a fun party...then diwali day i have to do lot of cleaning and cooking...Have invited some friends..so looking forward to the same..

Still thinking what should i make...:)

Chulbul Pandey

I happened to see this movie - Dabang!!! it was actually dabang :D

The whole movie was salu dominated and i guess the actress who made her debut did not get enough screen space. Salu's dialogues as usual were heavy and fun to hear. One thing i like about typical salu movie is you can leave your brain back home and proceed for his movies.

Mallika's munni badnaam hui was a hit number and which u just cant let got out of your mind...what a hilarious song...I was so impressed with chulbul uff salu's performance that i have named a manager as chulbul pandey and now my whole team refers to him with the same name. (including my bosses). Thankfully he doesnt know what is he known as else i am sure he will throw me out for all this :D

Trip to Yercaud

returned from the team outing from a place called Yercaud. Yercaud is in Tamil Nadu and is a hill top. Weather has to be good due to its altitude but the best part is the kind of resorts available and the view that you get. I did  not do much of exploring as was anyways tired of looking at hills and their view points.

Team outing had lot of booze, bon fire and obviously floor breaking dance by some guys who were completely sloshed in drinks, i m sure no one can identify the composition! People go crazy when they actually drink..i used to think that most of the guys will act mature when females are around but guess i was wrong. U get to see the hidden talent in all those shy guys who otherwise do not open their mouth in corporate life. Eye opener for sure.

Overall it was a fun trip and definitely a break from the stress ful life..wish to write more but somethings remain beautiful if they arent expressed.