Update

Currently on the longest planned vacation of my life so far-Jan 1-Feb 18 2008. Just passed the half way point. Brief summary of long vacation:

Week 1:Spent hibernating at home, in a rajai. Delhi winter after 4 years-very cold indeed...

Week 2:Dashing like mad from place to place, catching up with school friends (a cumulative of 20 years of catching up to do!), going to Auto expo (Nano was worth fighting the crowds for) and doing some fact finding at the Indian patent office (New office in Dwarka, very cooperative people)

Week 3:More friends and family. Day trip to Agra & Fatehpur Sikri (The first view of the Taj is still jaw droppingly gorgeous, Sikri sandstone's simply superb), Short sojourn to Chennai (met friends, including a new CEO, went to the beach, had dinner in a treehouse and enjoyed not wearing a sweater inside the house)

Week 4:School reunion (My kindergarden teacher remembered me!), trip to Bangkok (pink toyotas, tuk tuks and shopping!) and aborted trip to Myanmar

That actually sounds like a lot, written down. I still have 2 weddings, more reunions and UK to look forward to. This is turning out to be the vacation of a lifetime.

Feeling

If I had to pick one, I would choose to be deliriously tired. Nothing compares to the sense of accomplishment and exhaustion after a day of hard work. Of course, somnolence often accompanies this state as well. So a good night's sleep is just what the doctor ordered...

All you need is, All you want is...

Love. And DMB, friends and the night sky

Perfect :)

Summer's end

Sigh. It went by too quickly. Contrary to an earlier post (was it that long ago?), it was less about reading and more about doing. In fact that was the biggest achievement this summer -realizing that I prefer practical applications to theoretical principles.

All in all, I had a fabulous time.It felt nice to have the weekends and evenings. I enjoyed having enough time to things I liked and have some more time on top of that to waste :)

Okay, back to school now...

pH level

Warning: This may sound really corny to everyone out there but I don't know how else to put it.

My brother got placed in a company that he was very keen on today and I was feeling so happy that I started thinking about how happy I felt. Since the last book I read was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (now you know where I am heading...) , I felt I was happy enough to produce a Patronus. My pH level i.e. patronus Happiness level was very high (you can stop cringing now, that was the corniest part)

I was trying to recall the other times when I was this happy. They include the time when I was on a college trip with people who would later become my closest friends, when I was back home after two years and just relaxing lying on the rooftop and staring at the starry night with my closest friend, midnight ice cream walks with the "Delhi cousins" amongst others

Anyway, the point of this post to express how happy I am right now, sitting on the couch, listening to music and drinking tea. What a great, GREAT summer :)

Spine Chilling

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places

--Desert Places by Robert Frost

For some reason, these lines kept popping into my head today evening. Strange, given the absolutely wonderful weekend I had...

Sated

My quarter is over and I just performed my end of quarter ritual. I went to the library and borrowed books for the next three months. Spent a couple of hours just walking and browsing amongst the 3rd floor of Green Library. This for me is the ultimate luxury in life- to have both time and books at your disposal.

I had completed my online research before going and had a list of four books but came back with nine! They are all lying in a crooked pile on my study table and just looking at their spines is sending shivers of pleasure down mine.

Here's to a summer full of Blue mangoes ,Wilt, Shopgirls,and ironically enough, being Bookless.