Counting Days…

The ultimate marriage date was coming close. Preparations were going on. Indian marriages have lots of rituals before marriage. Those rituals started with a bang. We used to practice dance every night. Few years back, it was really easy to get people together, but now everyone is grown up. They have their own life and hence become difficult to get them together. Anyway, we still got a bunch of people to rock the stage. As per tradition, we asked everyone who would like to perform, some said no and others yes. Eventually, we had around 13-14 performances which were enough for fun.

I guess, I skipped some rituals before dance night. The first was “Jawara bona”. Plant wheat seeds, which are then considered as Goddess. By this date, house was filled with many guests. It’s considered good, people are taking time off to be in the marriage, to celebrate. Even with recent trend, there were enough guests. In night time, we used to have formal dance practice, followed by dinner and free form dance.

The second ritual was Haldi (Turmeric). It is applied 5 days in advance and then every day until marriage. It brings out natural color of skin and considered good. From this day onwards, the bride and groom are considered godly and are not supposed to do any of the household chores. It’s awesome. You are not even supposed to take water and drink on your own, someone will hand it over to you, quite interesting.     

The 3^rd ritual was Mehandi (Heena). A temporary tattoo applied to all the close family members. It was not applied on me as it was scheduled the next day being the Groom.

4^th comes a special one-which announces that marriage is near is Mata Poojan. All close family members’ visits a temple and worships Goddess and invite them to the wedding. It was cool, me and many family members gathered on this day. It was just 2 days before marriage, hence most of the people were there. We went temple dancing and came back the same way. We even danced in the temple.

Then mehandi was applied on me. It’s good to take some rest after that, so that we are not disturbing the wet tattoo and allowing it to dry for better color. The longer it stays, better it becomes. I also applied some oils on top, so that it remains intact. It’s said that more color means more love. Looks like it might be true.

In the evening, we worship the God with dance and colors. I was still sleeping by this time. Relatives woke me up and called down. It was a colorful atmosphere; everyone was dancing and blowing color.  Those are the best times in anyone’s life. This is the 5^th ritual, known as Satsang.

At first, there was no plan of dance night (Mahila Sangeet). Then we booked a small hall and in the end it was decided to take it to another level and book hall in the marriage garden itself. The hall was small, so people gave all their attention on the performances. Sounds like blessing in disguise. There were plenty of people even for the dance night. We tried to keep it small, but even these few people were enough to fill the hall completely.

On the Edge

It was time for another beautiful journey. I was traveling to change my life, to experience something which I had never before. It was something which I was prepared for. I was working on it from some time now. It is none other than but Marriage. Yes, I was about to travel for my marriage in Indore. I was preparing myself from long time for it. I had checked out at least 50 profiles, met with 9 girls and finally got married to the love of my life, the 51^st girl. It’s like you know when you find someone. You know that she is the only one for you. You know that she will change your life forever.

We were preparing for the marriage from 6 months now. Venue, food, ceremonial arrangements, Priests, dresses and many other arrangements were going on. Marriage is considered and is the biggest event in anyone’s life. You want to do it right from all perspectives; everything had to be planned in perfect way. While, these things were being planned with the help of parents and relatives, I was planning on my own for after marriage. I had planned everything in advance for the beautiful bride. I already completed court (legal) marriage with her in the last India visit in order to get her Visa. Her visa was set, tickets were booked. I even booked a house for us in advance, so that when we come back, we have everything set for us.

I prepared around 2-3 different kinds of invitation for guests which were loved by many people. I had to design a website for worldwide friends, an email for local office folks. A pre invitation video for whatsapp friends and last one, sent just 15 days before marriage. I must say, lot of preparation is required. While, I was preparing all these from US, my Dad was booking all kind of event management guys plus venue plus cater plus priest plus photographer and lot more. Mom was taking care of clothing gifts and Sis was planning for Music program-Mahila Sangeet. In addition, other relatives were planning from their end as well.  

The day, when I was leaving for marriage was the same day when I got the keys from apartment manager. So, I had to get the keys, shift all my stuff and board the flight-all on the same day. I must say, I live on the edge. I took the keys, transferred most of my stuff and got ready to leave. I had the liberty to move some stuff and leave the rest as I had good terms with Uncle-Aunty-the previous apartment manager.

I didn’t had any of my bags with me just a backpack. I had a relative bag. It was 15kgs as that’s the limit; I am allowed to take with me while traveling domestically (Delhi to Indore). I reached Indore and started preparing to get my clothes ready. I booked all of them when I came last time, but I had to go for trials to make sure they are tailored properly. It was marriage; everything had to be done the right way.

…To be continued

Bachelor’s Trip in the Wild Vegas

Posing at Death Valley NP

I am back again with some late posts and with the same reason. I always finish off the previous trips before making a new trip, this is the same. I am planning something big and hence thought of writing this one before. My Bachelor’s trip or I would say my last bachelor trip was organized, where it should have been. It was none other than Wild Wild Vegas. The trip was not planned to be a bachelor’s trip; it was started as a reunion plan and then eventually turned into Bachelor’s trip. We started planning as 4 people and soon, one guy dropped. It was due to that one person, that it was planned in Vegas and he backed out. There are some people who just don’t know how to understand what’s important. Our initial plan was to have the reunion in Minnesota, the same place where we all met. Then it was shifted to Vegas. There were 3 people in the plan-Khan Sab, Bhati bhai and me. Then after few days, we got one more-Dani bhai. Until, last moment-we were 4 guys. We booked flights-Spirit (TIP: I booked it on airport, which saved me around 30$, instead of doing it online) and hotel (TIP; Bhati bhai had some account in Harrah’s, hence it saved us some money) and then car-it became bit costly, but we got hatchback-Awesome.

New Year Celebration

I got married in Feb 2018 and we had New Year’s long weekend, so it it was perfect time to plan the trip. At the last moment, we got to know that Khan Sab has backed out but another friend came into picture few days before trip, so only 3 people were remaining now. We started, after finishing our jobs on Friday the 29^th and reached the same day. Picked up our car and then headed straight to Hotel. We were bit tired on that day, so just arranged some supplies and said Good Night. Everyone knew that it was a bachelor trip for me, but we got to know that it was for Bhati bhai as well. His marriage was also fixed.

Hotels

We planned to go for a road trip on the first day of our trip. We visited Death Valley National Park.it was a nice place with scenic lookouts and beautiful drives. It’s the hottest, driest and lowest national park. It was given its forbidding name as a group was lost here, which was also rescued later, but any way they gave this name. We stopped by at many places to get the feel of the place such as Dantes View, Twenty mule Canyon, Zabriskie Point, Furnace Creek, Badwater Basin and Permanent Springs. Our car was going at 80 and I thought of opening the top which was really a bad idea as it was about to blow out. (Tip: Never do that in a moving car). The best location was badwater basin-it’s the lowest point in North America. Its 282 feet below sea level and often gets salts from surrounding basin making it undrinkable and hence the name. It was lot for the day. So we just slept after returning the car.

We didn’t plan to do much on the next day as we wanted to see the fireworks and celebrate New Year in evening. So we were just hanging around the hotels, casinos and on the streets. I am not good at gambling, so I stayed away from it. I like the hotels, their decoration, so we were going to each hotel to see and admire the New Year festivity. Night time, we saw fireworks, which were ok. They should be planned in a better way. We were standing in front of Ceaser’s Palace which had the best fireworks. The 1^st of 2018 was the last day of our Sin City so we wanted to keep it soft. We exchanged pictures and Bhati bhai departed for Flight as he had the earliest one. I and Dani wanted to check out the Freemont. The street was just waking up when we visited there-around 3-4 PM. We saw some Magicians and different type of people showing their creative abilities in order to earn some money. That was all for Vegas, then we returned airport and came back home. I reached bit late and luckily found a taxi waiting at the station.

Cooolorado

So here it goes, I get a call from my Boss that there's an emergency situation and I may need to travel over the weekend. He knows, I am always up for a travel, I agreed in a minute. Next hour, I was booking a flight to Colorado. Since, I was out of time, that company can book the flights, so I just booked it by my own and next day I am in Colorado, crazy right.

Well, the crazier thing is, I found one of my college buddy over there. I had to travel on Sunday, but it wasn't sure that I have to visit office. So, we made a plan to roam around that one day. Colorado is a mountain place, it has many places to visit. I had a itinerary of all the places, I want to visit. I picked him up from his place and we directly headed to the Colorado Springs. It was already afternoon, so we had to finish everything fast. Also, it was hot and me being from Chicago, can't handle that much heat and my friend, well he just didn't wanted to walk much.

Our first point was Garden of the Gods, well we didn't find parking over there after taking 2 rounds of parking lot, so we moved on. We just saw it from outside and headed to next attraction: Red rock canyon open space, which was basically just an open area. Then we moved to Ghost town museum, this was the first place where we could find proper parking and stayed for some time. It was a paid attraction and I didn't find it worth. The good thing about the place was we got to know about the history of Colorado. It was a gold mining area and the gold was found in river water. Colorado is actually famous for gold digging, I was not aware of it.

Moving on to the best attraction of the day-Seven Falls. It's actually, one continuous fall, but water drops 7 times with stops in between. It is also a paid attraction, but its worth it. We reached there in evening, so Sun was also supporting our small hike. There is a shuttle that takes us from parking to the base and then there is a small hike. Also a shuttle is available from base to the falls if you don't want to hike. I was in the car from morning, so I had to walk a bit, so we didn't took the shuttle. We took some cool pictures while hiking up and then reached to the mesmerizing falls. I must say, it is beautiful. We have to take many stairs to reach to the top of the falls. It gives us picture of all the falls from the top. Once we are at the top, there are 2 hikes, shorter and longer one. I took the longer one, but my friend was tired by this time. So he decided to wait for me. As I started going up, I got to know that it is going to take around 40 minutes to return. I was already halfway through and could not go back, so I informed some people who were going down to let my friend know that I am going to be late. I tried to finish the hike asap and came down. Seven Falls was the only attraction that made our day successful. Then we had pizza on our way back and day can be called as successful.

I had to work in office on the following 2 days and then returned back to Chicago. Next day, I was working in office and my boss again reached out to me for traveling the very same day. No worries, I was back in Colorado in night. This time, it was a hectic schedule. I was working even on weekends. I tried to visit the garden again with my client partner, but no parking one more time. Since my friend was on a trip-a long weekend one, so I couldn't catch up with him.

Then I went back to Chicago and after a couple of days, back in Colorado. This was the 3rd visit and hence the name Cooolorado. This time, I didn't tried to visit garden but had nice Indian food everyday with my friend. Overall it was a good trip every time. I was able to view Colorado from different perspective in every trip which is really a great experience. Many thanks to my friend. Normally, I avoid visiting same place twice, but it was an emergency-Hurricane.

Niagara Falls and US trip closure

New York is too big to cover in a post. So here's another one starts in the city that never sleeps. When we finished the Intrepid Museum, my parents visited Statue of Liberty cruise on discounted tickets-courtesy of our guide. I had already been on that cruise and didn't wanted to go as it was not much there. Our next NY attraction was again an art place like the one in Chicago. This one was much bigger and beautiful than the previous one, so we thought of checking it out. It has really great architectures brought from all over the world. It is the largest Museum in United States. 

Then we moved on to the last but the best attraction of entire tour-The Niagara Falls. Well, before falls, we visited Niagara Fort and understood its history. It was originally built for New France, then fell into British hands and now comes under US. The fort has few actors who shows how the attacks were performed during their era. They even shoot a cannon sometimes and we were lucky to spot it. Then the guide showed us different parts of Niagara falls, origin, middle and the actual falls. We took the famous Maid of the Mist boat tour which goes close to the falls and comes back. Frankly speaking, it was in my bucket list but when I saw it, it was not beyond my expectations, may be I have seen enough that even Niagara doesn't excites me much or I have become mobiholic or in Love. I guess the last one.

Once we finished the one and only Niagara, the tour came to an end. There was just one last show remaining. It was Native American Dance show, it was related to native people near the Niagara. It was a good show, just to relax yourself after such a long trip. There was nothing remained for us to visit anymore. We started our return just after the show. Our aim was to complete some distance before taking rest for the night. 

The last attraction of our tour was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there was just one person from our tour who opted for it. Since, it was part of the package, we had no choice but to stop there. We enjoyed the Cleveland harbor in the meantime, that Bangalore guy was visiting the museum. It was a good museum, even from the outside. Then we returned Chicago, this concludes our East Coast Tour by GetBus Tours, looks like that company is closed down now 😳.

The next day, we went to get some souvenirs and parents took India flight after one more day. To conclude, it was a short and sweet trip. We completed it with God's grace. My parents don't keep well, but they completed this trip without any health issues. Thanks to God. Jai Shree Krishna.

Baltimore, Amish Village, Philadelphia and NY

Charging Bull

It was another long day of the trip. Usually, we used to start early in morning and return late evening. This day, we covered, Baltimore-just the harbour. Then we moved to Amish Village, it's a different culture, different (old) lifestyle which still exists in certain parts of America. They showed us their style of house and the guide girl made me try dresses. Also, I was the translator for this guide too. She even suggested me taking it as a job which I am considering.

The Times Square

Then we moved on to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell-an iconic symbol of American Independence. Next was the Stock exchange in New York, followed by the Charging Bull/Wall Street Bull. Last but not the least for the day the one and only Times Square. We spent plenty of time in Times Square. I believe it is the most famous place all over the earth. People from all over the countries come to visit this place.

New York Skyline

It's located in midtown Manhattan section of New York. Once we completed it, we had a nice dinner in a nearby Indian restaurant. Just before moving towards our hotel, we stopped for night view of the New York skyline. I must say, its worth watching. The night view is like a cherry on top. With this we concluded our day. But hold on, it was completed wrt tour. My day had just started as I called one of my old friend from New Jersey with tea. As father wanted to have tea, I called him and he was also so friendly that he traveled 40 miles to bring tea, actually to meet. We had tea and went for a Pan. Then, as per tradition, called our common friends and remembered the great old days.

Enterprise Shuttle @ The Intrepid

Next day was also dedicated to New York. By this time, guide was so happy and grateful that he decided to buy breakfast for me and parents. As I helped him to drive this tour till the time. He would have gone mad as it was already difficult to manage the Chinese group and then on top an Indian group with language barrier. Our first attraction for the day was the Empire State Building. We skipped it as we already visited Chicago 360. It also gave us time to chill a bit and have breakfast for free. Second no. goes to Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. I had been to this place, but it was easy for parents, if I could just escort them through it at a faster pace and explain them whatever possible.
More to follow about New York in next post.

To Michigan-Pittsburgh and Washington D.C.

Presidential Limousine

As we were heading towards our first city-Michigan. The guide informed us that in US, odd numbered routes are from North to South and even number east to west. We were on I-94 which means we were going towards east. A good piece of information.

Our first stop was The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, MI. It houses Presidential Limousines, Thomas Edison Lab, Wright Brother's planes and many other interesting historical exhibits. It is the largest indoor-outdoor Museum complex and worth visiting.

Next we visited, General Motors Heritage Center in Detroit, MI. The cool thing about Detroit is that its a bridge distance from Canada and you can actually see it easily from Detroit. The not so good part is that its bankrupt, there are houses available for $1. It's a less preferable place to live due to its alarming crime rate. Our next stop was Pittsburgh-the city of bridges. It was followed by the Capital of the United States of America-Washington D.C.. We visited the Lincoln Memorial, the White House and National Air and Space Museum.

General Motors HQ

It is said that time flies when you are having fun and believe me we never knew that it has been 2 days already with the group. By this time, the group became like a family. First, me and MH couple became a unit and later the entire Indian community became one. Also, the Chinese people became another group but they always used to leave one or the other member behind.

The White House

Whenever we used to stop on the way, we had to stop at a rest are and they dont have much to eat for my parents and even MH couple. In the beginning, the couple had some namkeen puri and pohe to offer, but soon they ran out of it. So, when we used to stop for lunch, I used to quickly go through all the shops and order for both the couples and me. We always used to have a bag of namkeen and pickle. If we don't like anything, just get a burrito (treat as chapati), get salsa (treat as tomato sabzi). When we used to stop in the city to eat, we could easily get an Indian restaurant and had proper food. Still food was a challenge for parents.

Chinatown-Chicago

Our actual US trip started from Chicago or I should say, when we left Chicago. All the Chinese tours starts from Chinatown. The tour company took us from our hotel to Chinatown and then they divided us in different groups, some people were put in a big bus and others in a van. As we were about to board, a girl came to us and asked about my parents and inquired about us. She was sending her parents on a trip and was looking for a company. I said, don't worry, I am accompanying them.

Let me describe the passengers in van. There was an old Chinese couple, a Mother and daughter, an engineer from Bangalore, an old South Indian couple from Africa, then a Maharashtrian couple and in 3 of us. Last but not the least, a Chinese guide and driver. So in all there were 14 people. I would say, the passengers were mixed properly. I am not sure, it was their intention or not but whatever happened was good.

As we started the tour, the guide introduced himself and set some ground rules for the 5 day trip. Like will have stop every 2-3 hours for restrooms and lunch/dinner breaks. We were informed to choose the attractions and pay money for the attractions selected. We were also told to stick to the schedule.
I was sitting next to MH couple and hence they started inquiring what the guide was saying. I had to translate for my parents anyways so I started explaining both of them together. Now, I was taking care of them and my parents as well. It was fun. I felt as if it was my duty and a good deed to explain and help MH couple. Whenever the guide used to say anything, I will start translating it. The guide understood that the trip required someone like me for its success, else it would have become difficult for him.There was no way for him to manage it alone as my parents and MH couple cannot understand him. He used to speak in English first and then translate in Chinese for 4 Chinese people.

Parents BAPS visit

Day 3

Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

The 3rd day was supposed to have some free time and just relax, but we had a change of plan. I called one of my friend, who helped us to visit BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Chicago. It is one of the best temples of Chicago area and largest in Illinois. We visited temple early in morning and in afternoon we had a nice lunch buffet in a restaurant called as Tava. Parents loved good Indian food. Next we visited Hanuman Mandir of Greater Chicago. That was all for that day.

Shri Hanuman Mandir

Day 4

We visited Shedd Aquarium. It has been one of the largest aquarium in the world for some time. We started later in the day, so that I could attend office in the morning. Still we were able to complete it before the closing time easily. I thought that we may not be able to complete it, but we were. I guess, I would have rushed parents a bit. 

Shedd Aquarium

Day 5

This day was supposed to start their East coast tour, but they just picked us from airport and dropped to a Hotel. At least, they were supposed to take us to the Fashion Outlets of Chicago, but they didn't and hence I didn't pay tip to guide for the day. But, we visited ourselves to the outlets and saw the stores. Then came back for a subway.

The Cloud gate and Chicago Skyline

Day 6

It was the starting day of our trip. The tour guide took us to lot of places in Chicago including- The cloud gate, we were able to get a good picture as there was no one around. Next we visited the Chicago 360. Dad didn't entered for 360 view. Then we had a beautiful boat ride for Chicago Architecture tour. It was raining, so were sitting inside the boat for first half of tour. Since the guide was speaking in English and I was also not following her, it was just a boat tour for Mom and Dad. We also visited Navy Pier followed by Chicago Theatre. Theatre was a good place to visit due to its architecture. It's stairs were copied in the movie Titanic. Last and least we visited Chicago Arts institute, it was not much of fun, as we dont enjoy arts that much.

Smile Please

Parents US visit

It's been sometime, I have written anything. It is due to a mix of factors which includes my girl and my travels obviously. This July, I had my parents visit US for a short duration, 14 days to be specific. In that short span of time, I managed to have them a tour of US east coast. The planning of US tour was being in progress from an year. After such a long time, finally my parents made up their mind to visit. I had booked their flight and tour 2-3 months in advance and if I book flights, there is a rare scenario that I am going to cancel it. This way, I knew that its going to be a success this year. I had prepared an excel which allowed me to book everything in advance and plan each and everything smoothly. 

I had to book separate flights for domestic and International, so that they don't have to wait for long in Delhi. They had few hours between flights, which made situation tensed. They were bit late which put them in pressure as they were trying to cross security at Delhi airport. I was also in tension, as I had no contact from them after Indore. With God's grace, they were able to board the International flight successfully and I was able to make contact with them. Now, I was relaxed. They easily passed immigration at Chicago port and then I met them. I posted a picture over the family group to let everyone know that they have arrived. 

I kept the first day of arrival free without any travels. They came home and relaxed. Father had a tea and mom-coffee. Aunty prepared some snacks. We spoke for some time and then I told them to relax. In night, we visited nearby local shops. So that they get to see US a bit. The next day we planned for shopping, I didn't wanted to buy anything while we are traveling to avoid carrying and bringing it back to Chicago. Soon, we finished shopping and came back home, then we had some time to relax before going to Chicago downtown.

Evening, we visited Chicago downtown starting from Chicago Board of Trade, Cloud gate, Buckingham Fountain and ended the day with marvelous fireworks at Navy Pier.

City of Bridges

When a city has over 400 bridges, we can call it a City of Bridges. Recently, I got an opportunity to visit Pittsburgh. I must have passed at least 6-7 bridges in a day of my stay which justifies the name. At a point of time, it was the 3^rd industrialized city of US, after NY and Chicago. I was there on a business trip, just for a day. I flew from Chicago to Pittsburgh in the morning and rented a hotel nearby airport. The benefit of booking an airport hotel is it’s cheap and convenient. Also, you get the shuttle pick up and drop off. As soon as I entered the PGH airport, I was greeted by a Mesozoic era being-Dinosaur. PGH is the home of Carnegie Museum and hence the display. I called my hotel and requested for the shuttle pickup, they gave me directions to stand outside pillar 8. Soon the shuttle came and driver asked me “app Indian hai”, he had a different accent, so I was not able to catch it first time. I said “sorry”, he replied back-“app Indian hai”. Then I understood him and said “ha bhai, me Indian hu”. As I entered in the shuttle, he offered me if I wanted to sit in the front seat. I said, ok, and then we had a little conversation and got to know that he is a refugee from Bhutan/Nepal. He was born in one country but his ancestors were from another country. At 18 years of age, that another country denied keeping them and he could not move back to birth country. So, he had nowhere to go and hence fell in US. The hotel room wasn’t ready when I checked in, which is understandable as I was too early than check in time. I was on call all the time while checking in and traveling from Airport to Hotel which is also understandable. 

I spent some more time on the call and then took rest before heading to office. I called Uber and reached PPG industries where my office was located. It was right in downtown. That building was the best building in PGH. It was surrounded by similar type of buildings. As I was hungry, I had a sandwich first and then entered office. I completed my office work and then I was roaming around downtown to get a gist of PGH. I visited Point State Park and Fort Duquesne (in Point State Park). The Three Rivers Arts Festival was also going on in the park. I sat down and enjoyed some songs, although I wasn’t able to understand everything, still it was good listening to those bands. It was Wednesday, but crowd was enough to make the environment lively. Then I took my dinner and headed straight to hotel and returned back to Chicago the very next afternoon.

Humid Houston

Summer Trip 3

HPE

Out of the blue, I get a call from one of my manager to check if I wanted to go for training. Being me, obviously, I said yes. I mean, who doesn’t want to learn something new, right. It was in house training which barely happens in my company and hence I was excited for it. I have attended one more training in past in India, but I had to bare all the expenses for it. It’s okay as I consider it as an investment. It was one of the major reasons, me being here. But this time, it was different.

Into Space

There were 4 people chosen for this training. Out of them, 2 were my all-time trip friends which made this trip even more exciting. This was the 3^rd trip of the summer series and the longest one. It extended an entire week. There was no clear idea about the training and it didn’t matter either as it was a chance to learn something new, explore a new city, meet cowboys and visit the space. Training was conducted by HPE-a sub part of HP. I was sent to the training to learn storage, its essential for me in order to manage my infrastructure efficiently. Some people were raising questions and making fun on why we were being sent to training, but its okay. We know that when one person wants to move up in life, there are 2 people trying to bring him down.

Entering in Houston Downtown

So, we raised travel requests, booked hotel and flights and soon we were in Houston with little bit of hiccups. It was an official training with no time to explore anything but to learn and return. Even then we/I were able to steal a day in order to check something out. These are the things that should remain out of the blog. I hope you understand. Training was exhausting, it used to start at 8 A.M. and finish 6 P.M.10 hours, that’s long. Even office has 9 hours. Training was more of sales event, they were trying to train and sell their products and eventually we can sell them to our clients. Clients expect us to learn and know whatever is new in the market and bring it to them. Hence, it was a win win situation. Seller gets to sell his product, my company earns commission from seller and client and Client gets a new product which improves their environment. I get to learn new technology.

View from Houston Office

We used to come back from training in evening and then spend sometime in the pool and hot tub. Then go out to get some food and finally sleep. I used to awake till late night to attend some calls. We were trained from Monday to Friday. I had a special day in the middle of all this. It was Tuesday, when my parents visited Ujjain to officially confirm that I am no longer single. My marriage was fixed with a gorgeous girl. I am no longer available. It was an exciting day, I could not believe that my life will take such a serious turn. I was ready at some point, but I still don’t believe that everything has fallen into place at right moment. It’s all God’s grace.

We were there from Monday to Friday. Friday was bit relaxed day as we were allowed to leave early. Everyone left, excluding me. I had to work on something else before I could return back to Chicago. Thursday, I get a text from my supervisor stating that I had to speak with him before leaving. When I called him, he explained me about some new thing that I had to complete. I extended one more day, completed my job and finally returned.

Tulip Time Festival

Summer Trip 2

Tulip Time Festival is an annual festival held in Holland, Michigan. Tulip festivals are held in many cities around the United States of America that were founded or largely inhabited by Dutch settlers. It is celebrated every year in mid-May and is currently the largest tulip festival in the United States. Although, we didn’t knew this till now still we planned to visit Holland just to get a taste of something new, to enjoy summer and live life.

I was having discussion with my friends to go someplace where we can enjoy summer and one friend brought up Tulip idea. I have been to a Tulip festival, so I knew it’s not much but again, let’s go out and enjoy. So I started making plan of going there. Soon, we were 5 people all set to go and then it became 7, then final count reached 8. It was right time to book a car. When we were planning the trip some people got to know about our plan and started talking about it. I understood, I can never have a silent anything. If I do something, it will be grand. My Boss also got to know about the trip. Even though, he was going to the same place, he made me carry my laptop with a hotspot so that I can start working even from there in case something falls apart. How workaholic I would look working from there hi hi hi.

We planned everything one day before, which was already late as per my planning. I asked everyone and whoever agreed at that time became part of our plan and whoever denied was out. One of my friend called to confirm in night but by that time, everything was booked and it was difficult to change. Even then I told him, come will adjust, but he was not ready and backed out. Morning, I got ready and got the rental car, it was cool. We thought that will get a 7 seater as per booking but fortunately we got 8 seater Kia Sedona. We were behind schedule at this time. Once we picked up car, we went to our friends place for snacks and then picked up another friend. These people were also not ready which caused more delay. Anyways we started from here and directly stopped at Michigan.

It’s a big festival and hence no parking. Locals opened up their backyard to provide more parking by taking 5 bucks which was pretty interesting. After searching for half an hour, we finally got a place to park. Then we saw the parade which was okay. They had paid sitting, I don’t get that part. Then we moved onto an attraction called as Windmill Island Gardens, a park with Tulip Gardens and a 250 year old windmill. We spent majority of our time here and then we wanted to eat something as we didn’t had lunch yet and it was around 6 P.M. We thought of ordering something, but then we saw a Pizza buffet. Greed of buffet made our trip costly and added more time to our already slow plan. We spent lot of time eating and hence we were not able to see anything afterwards. Then we spent some time chatting outside pizza hut. Afterwards we checked out some shopping places and then some people wanted to spend some more time hanging around and others wanted to head back home. Choice was made by voting. Everyone was tired of taking photographs and walking. Finally we headed towards home around 8:30 P.M. I was home by 1 A.M. This concludes our Tulip Trip.

Warren Dunes

Summer Trip 1

Dunes

A dune is a hill of loose sand built by wind or flow of water. Beach dunes are different than desert. Desert dunes can be 300 m while beach are 5-6 m wide. We got an opportunity to visit one of the dunes called as Warren Dunes, Michigan.

Group Picture

Summer initiates a series of trips, it mostly not about where you are going but about an outing. It’s about getting up from your bed and going out somewhere. I believe, we should travel and meet new people as much as possible. It is required for our holistic growth or at least I think so.

Initial plan was to go there, doesn’t matter how many people comes up. As the plan was coming to end, more and more people wanted to join. Finally we had 3 cars, that’s the maximum no. of people I had collaborated since ILP training. ILP was a totally different ball game. When there are people of same age, culture, language, schedule, age and even home, it’s easy to agree on things. But when you have people of all ages, cultures, nationalities, status, race it becomes difficult to make them agree on a single point.   

3 Musketeers

We had 3 cars and the plan was to meet at office and start from there, but due to different timings we were able to run 2 cars together and 3^rd one was going separate. So we thought of meeting at Subway or some restaurant. We were able to get 2 cars at subway. I moved to 2^nd car and sent one guy from that car to ours. Finally we made calls and aligned 2^nd and 3^rd car. Although, now 1^st car was separated, anyways I moved from 2^nd car to 3^rd. We had a mix of Americans and Indians. I moved over to an American car and sent an American to Indian car. This mix gives us a possibility to learn new things. Eventually, I was able to ride in all 3 cars. The Americans were a family, a father, her daughter and her friend.

Gabby

Soon, we reached Warren Dunes. It was bit cold over there enough to make us feel cold as well as bit hot. Beach was colder, so we moved over to dunes quickly after taking some photographs. As we were climbing up, we took more pictures and further more on top. I also tried somersault from top which came out to be pretty amazing for my neck pain. Then we rested on top and played with sand. Some friends started pouring sand on top of my head and then one another girl. Then we rested for a while and came down. We had an interesting member in our trip called as Gabby-friend of daughter, she made everyone angry and at the same time kept the trip interesting. One of our friends eventually became babysitter for her.

We also made a quick stop at another place called as St. Joseph Harbour few miles away from Warren Dunes; it was closed as we were before actual summer season which starts from Memorial Day. We spent some time over there and finally wanted to come back. When we were coming back, the father and daughter had left for a restaurant and we were left with Gabby. We were bit worried to have her with us and the father wasn’t even answering his phone. All of us decided to visit a gas station to attend nature calls. At this point we were able to make contact with father, handed over Gabby to him and took sigh of relief. Then we came back to home sweet home.

Come and Go

People come and go in your life, but the right ones will always stay. People may come in your life for small time or for long depending on the destiny. Small time may be an hour, a day, few months, while long may be an year or few years. It is said that, if you are friends to someone for more than 7 years, you become friends forever.

My father always say "aao to welcome, jao to bhid kam". It is said in terms of our house/place. I find it applicable in life as well. We should invite anyone who comes in our lives and let go of people who wanna leave us. Don't hold on to anyone or anything. Believe me, they were there for that time period and now they are not destined anymore. Let go off people or things that are gone. Move on to new places, people, culture and things. It is often said that, we should not be materialistic, we should not hold on to things. Well, I believe it's not just materials that we should let go, it is people as well. I am not saying that things are equivalent to people, what I am saying is we should be ready to let go whatever it is. 

I always say "Shit happens, be ready for that". It is true, shit happens all the time, it's part and parcel of life. Example: You might have been using a cell phone for a long time, it becomes your life. To see it go away, is really painful but it happens and you should be ready for it. Another scenario, you might have a pet-a dog and it dies. I understand it's the most painful thing in your life, but it happens. Don't hold on to it, let it go. let it rest in peace and you be in peace as well. Just understand that it was in your life for that time period and move on. 

Well, this does not mean that life is all about leaving people and things. Enjoy people in your life while they are. Whoever you meet has a certain part in your life. let them leave their mark in life book. You can always revisit those pages and cherish the time you spent together. Go to malls and buy stuff, don't think too much. Buy it, if it gives you happiness. Cherish little things in life.

Now don't be confused. Enjoy everyone and everything in your life at the moment. If they are there, it's for a reason and if they are not, that's also for a reason. Simple.