C'est moi

One of the best things about being in a place like Bay Area is access to opportunities. No, I am not talking about Silicon Valley, I am talking about opportunities to getaway every weekend. One such weekend destination is North America's second deepest and alpine lake, Lake Tahoe. At an elevation of 6225 ft approx. Lake Tahoe, is easy to get to, and gorgeous as heaven. It has two seasons - gorgeous summers and snow-clad gorgeous winters. My nephew is visiting from the east coast and instead of doing a trip to the city again, this time around we planned on a day trip to Big Sur, the past weekend to Lake Tahoe. Not that these two places are not the usual to-do's but at least I hadn't been to either before. We live in the south bay so its about a 4 1/2 hr drive keeping in mind a pitstop since we were traveling with a toddler. Up until Sacramento and Folsom, it was just a regular drive through the US cities but once we hit the hair pin turns and mountainous terrain of Eldo

The day I The day I was like WTF?: As I sat on the throne synonymous for quality personal time, e coli layered gadgets, political cogitation, and optimizing your mobile phone space, I took a deep breath much like the gorilla in the cadbury ad as Phil Collins went about the air tonight, and broke into "mmmmm... yeh duniya yeh duniya pital di, yeh duniya pital di" Yes, I did that! The day I fractured my leg: The top rope belay systems were in place, I was free climbing with minimal support somewhere deep in Yosemite when I spotted a tiny lamb stuck in between. Heeding to the animal lover in me, I reached out and tried to help him/her down but instead fell to my fate of a fractured leg. Sounds heroic right? A little bit like me? I mean seriously I totally could've been in that position. Nope, thats definitely not how it happened, I went down a smoothened stone slide in a children's park pretending to have fun with my son. As we approached the bottom of t

The first time S mentioned a trip to Hawaii, I was excited but it never happened, the second time I heard of us going to Hawaii, I was still excited and it never materialized so when the third time Hawaii came up, I said 'Sure, we'll get right on that!' I just got back and boy is my son relieved! Not because he didn't have fun wading at the pool never wanting to get out or playing with his sand toys but because on our last day we also dragged him along damn close to 4 year old, 10ft, 1000 lbs bottlenose dolphins, and took him on a 1500 ft altitude helicopter ride amid waterfalls and active volcanoes. So you know how much screaming was involved - I am sorry Nahale (Dolphin) & Mr. Pilot. You have been traumatized for life. The trip was planned for our 5th anniversary by the one I shall refer to as my 'better half' just for the sake of this post and making this trip happen. I like to keep that title for myself usually. After overpacking and under plan

This article by Urvashi Butalia is one of the many articles (Read original article here.) and opinions I've read about, for & against the trophy of motherhood ceremoniously handed to women. I have a 2 yr old son and I can't think of a world without him now. The operative word being 'now.' I don't think of him as somebody who will pay for my bills when my husband and I retire (at least not yet), I don't even think of him obligated to give me grand children with my genes to play with (we live pretty close to SF, not being judgmental but simply being open).  Having said that, I know quite a few women, acquaintances & close friends, that don't really dream of motherhood. I see a lot of people around me being appalled by it but I cannot for the love of god understand why. I don't see you guys going around asking sadus why they are celibate. Isn't having sex the natural thing to do? In that sense, aren't you going against nature? A couple o

This is an attempt at a series of things that I think you might face with your offspring whatever age they are at. Mine is currently 2 1/2. I am looking at calling it ‘What Would She Do?’ After my son turned 2, I started getting a little confident about traveling with him and taking him to places. No fault of his, he is a great kid. Very flexible and easy going but like most new moms, I constantly worried about whether any external factors would cause him discomfort right from the availability of food, weather, place, people, etc. I started getting a little bold and my first steps to that was to do my 24hr journey with him to India. I had zero cabin strollers except for my backpack which was stuffed with books, games, electronics, & his food. This post is more for moms like me that are keen on getting started on traveling around with their toddler but are nervous about what to take along with them and what not to. Here are a few things that really helped me through my 24hr jou

We measure our lives based on these, we are guided by these, & we change with these sometimes. Your first steps, your first words, then for the longest duration in between its about how much you scored, how many you scored or how much you made for your self and your next generation but there comes a time when you truly start living for yourself. My dad turned 60 a few weeks ago and so I promptly tucked my son into my arms and braved the long journey to India with him alone. I've been fortunate to travel back and forth to India once every 6 months from the time I moved to the US considering most NRIs are known for their rather infrequent visits because of visa issues and sometimes their personal preference. Me, I am a sucker to go back every 2 months if I could. Hopefully in the long run I don't have to do this and will move back permanently. Friends and family say that will change with time. This trip was very important to me. I wanted to be there to see my dad turn 60