Miami

Miami, a city, only 4 hours away from my place. Yet sometimes I miss visiting it. Last 3 years, I made frequent visits to Miami for visa, flights and cruises - yet never stopped even once to adore the beauty of this city. This time it was all about watching this beautiful city lightening up as the sun sets, restaurants filling up quickly to fill the place with joy and laughter. Dancers and actors performing their tricks on the ocean drive with mild summer wind blowing from the ocean's surface. Fancy cars stopping by the packed clubs to drop or pickup their fashionable owners. The city has its own charm like no other. 

Only this time, I didn't sit in a restaurant to get engulfed in conversations and laughter. I sat at a distance watching this beautiful city and admiring everything it has to offer.

Feeling accomplished

There's a classic Bollywood movie '3 Idiots', which most of the Indians have definitely watched more than once. I'm no different in this respect and must've watched at least 30-35 times. In the movie, the lead actor [Aamir Khan] sarcastically tells the girl [lead actress - Kareena Kapoor] not to marry another guy who has come to India for match-making. Aamir Khan tries to convince her by telling that this guy is a stupid fellow. "He did his engineering degree from India and then went to US and got his MBA degree. If he really wanted to get into Business or Management, why did he opt for engineering in the first place?". 

I'm feeling the same emotions after recently finishing my MBA degree (I opted for it after doing Bachelors and Masters degree in Engineering). Still all I see in front of me is a dark and long tunnel with no end. Moreover, even the actress got convinced in the movie with Aamir Khan's logic and left that guy for good. 

PS - I also got an expensive watch [as a graduation gift]. I never fail to announce its price tag anytime someone complements me for my watch.

Lohri 2021

Lohri has always been a special affair to me since childhood. Buying kites from a local store a day before and making sure all kites were dry [and ready to fly next morning]. Getting up early on Lohri morning and visiting temple to setup the Ramayan puja - another event so freshly engraved in my mind.

Coming home by 10am and seeking approval from Grandma to go on terrace to fly kites. She would try to postpone it by half an hour so it gets little warmer outside and in the meantime I'd finish my breakfast. Once the meals were taken care of and sun shining brightly outside the window, no one would disturb me until the lunch [another assumed promise]. I would fly kites [and lose most of my bought lot] until noon and then would take couple of hours of break to again visit temple.

Around 4ish - once the sun's brightness had withered down a bit - I would go on terrace for another round of kite flying. This time would come down only after finishing all my lot. Once in a while, I would get fortunate enough to come down from terrace with more kites. By 7pm, everyone would gather around the bonfire in back porch to celebrate Lohri. In my mind, I would still be counting kites which I can fly the next day. 

The day wasn't over yet. Dinner would be followed with yet another visit to temple to celebrate another round of bonfire and Lohri. By this time, it'd get considerably colder than daytime. Thinking about the kites I won and lost that day - and how I could have saved my favorite kite with a newly learned concept - I would fall asleep to enjoy another day.

The charms of Childhood !!