Here's a scenario: what do you get when you combine America + sunshine + a shimmering lake right in front of your house + amazingly delicious food + 2 extremely entertaining kids for company + a cute li'lle birdie to play with when you get tired of the kids + family atmosphere + waking up at 12pm in the afternoon + watching 2-3 movies everyday?
I think i just gave you the definition of heaven. And if you are searching for hell ... go nowhere apart from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ... coz its the capital of Hell State. Ok ... it does not really mean i don't like Pittsburgh ... its undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and photogenic cities in the world ... its just that its a 'little' colder than the north pole ... and every attempt to reach college in the morning is a 'little' worse than climbing Mount Everest in a blizzard.
But come christmas ... and i had different plans. I was set out to make a journey to a place where sun shines even during winter ... Dallas, TX! The sun shines ... 'what big deal is that' you ask right? We tend to call Pittsburgh an infertile city ... coz its got no son (sun, actually) ... its a joke ... get it? A joke ... ha ha ha ! Awww ... forget it !
So my 14 days including Christmas and New Year's were to be spent at my sister's and cousin's place in Dallas ... spent in watching movies ... outings ... restaurants ... eating ... more eating ... and playing with the kids of course. Let me introduce the characters ... Shreya of course ... i don't know whether she runs on batteries ... or her source of energy is something different from ours ... or she's always connected to an AC outlet ... but she's hyper ... her day starts from jumping on the bed ... and her jumping continues throughout the morning ... noon ... evening ... dusk ... night ... and when midnight hits ... she shrinks into a tiny little sparrow and drowns into a deep slumber ... and morning ... the routine starts again. The elder sister Sneha is more somber ... currently a 'Twilight' fan ... she's read more Stephenie Meyer novels than what Stephenie has read herself!
My sister ... she's the Hermione of the house ... creates magic with her wand (or spoon or whatever) and prepares amazingly tasty food! And my cousin ... he opens up a Dallas tourism page every morning and starts marking off all the places he wants to take me to ... making my stay there memorable!
This post begins from where the previous post ends ... where i was shedding my previous confused, lost, lonely attributes as the circle of time rolled over. The happiness that one gets when standing atop Empire State Building looking at the New York skyline is very little when compared to events like 5 people sitting on a single couch ... munching good food and watching an animated movie ... happiness comes from the simplest of sources ... thats one of the most important things i genuinely began to believe when i came here.
More than 24 jamoons must have bounced into my tummy ... atleast 20 Badam burfis have made their way into my digestive system ... and combine these with poori-saagu ... chapatis ... muffins ... pancakes ... raagi balls ... brownies ... chaats ... idlis ... dosas ... sambhar ... samosas ... chips ... bean soup ... and the list goes on! There was even a diarrhea-medicine ready in case my digestive machines over-heated because of the excess pressure.
And then there were the restaurants ... Rainforest Cafe ... Denny's ... Burger King ... Taj Chaats ... Five Guys ... Marble Slab ... and the places ... Galleria Mall ... Grapevine Mall ... AMC 30 ... Ripley's Believe it or Not ... Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum ... J F Kennedy's Museum ... Mirror Maze ... Grapevine Lake ... Ice sculpture exhibition ... Texas downtown ... ice skating at Galleria ... University of Texas at Dallas ... temples ... and finally the New Year's party.
But the part i most enjoyed was with the kids ... Shreya's laughter and Sneha's books ... that's where i read Twilight and watched it too ... its hard to imagine that i have to be satisfied by just hearing their voices on phone for maybe a long long time. The 14 days flew past so quickly ... and returning back home to Pittsburgh was much like leaving Bangalore ... it took atleast 4 days for me to get out of homesickness. Anyway ... it was a memorable vacation ... and if you want to get to know of it better ... visit this link for pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/ksuhasu/DaysInDallas#
There are nearly 500 photos ... including some new pictures and videos that i have uploaded. Look at 'em only when you have time ... when you are lazy and jobless ... like when you are at office! Don't forget to read the captions.
I think i just gave you the definition of heaven. And if you are searching for hell ... go nowhere apart from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ... coz its the capital of Hell State. Ok ... it does not really mean i don't like Pittsburgh ... its undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and photogenic cities in the world ... its just that its a 'little' colder than the north pole ... and every attempt to reach college in the morning is a 'little' worse than climbing Mount Everest in a blizzard.
But come christmas ... and i had different plans. I was set out to make a journey to a place where sun shines even during winter ... Dallas, TX! The sun shines ... 'what big deal is that' you ask right? We tend to call Pittsburgh an infertile city ... coz its got no son (sun, actually) ... its a joke ... get it? A joke ... ha ha ha ! Awww ... forget it !
So my 14 days including Christmas and New Year's were to be spent at my sister's and cousin's place in Dallas ... spent in watching movies ... outings ... restaurants ... eating ... more eating ... and playing with the kids of course. Let me introduce the characters ... Shreya of course ... i don't know whether she runs on batteries ... or her source of energy is something different from ours ... or she's always connected to an AC outlet ... but she's hyper ... her day starts from jumping on the bed ... and her jumping continues throughout the morning ... noon ... evening ... dusk ... night ... and when midnight hits ... she shrinks into a tiny little sparrow and drowns into a deep slumber ... and morning ... the routine starts again. The elder sister Sneha is more somber ... currently a 'Twilight' fan ... she's read more Stephenie Meyer novels than what Stephenie has read herself!
My sister ... she's the Hermione of the house ... creates magic with her wand (or spoon or whatever) and prepares amazingly tasty food! And my cousin ... he opens up a Dallas tourism page every morning and starts marking off all the places he wants to take me to ... making my stay there memorable!
This post begins from where the previous post ends ... where i was shedding my previous confused, lost, lonely attributes as the circle of time rolled over. The happiness that one gets when standing atop Empire State Building looking at the New York skyline is very little when compared to events like 5 people sitting on a single couch ... munching good food and watching an animated movie ... happiness comes from the simplest of sources ... thats one of the most important things i genuinely began to believe when i came here.
More than 24 jamoons must have bounced into my tummy ... atleast 20 Badam burfis have made their way into my digestive system ... and combine these with poori-saagu ... chapatis ... muffins ... pancakes ... raagi balls ... brownies ... chaats ... idlis ... dosas ... sambhar ... samosas ... chips ... bean soup ... and the list goes on! There was even a diarrhea-medicine ready in case my digestive machines over-heated because of the excess pressure.
And then there were the restaurants ... Rainforest Cafe ... Denny's ... Burger King ... Taj Chaats ... Five Guys ... Marble Slab ... and the places ... Galleria Mall ... Grapevine Mall ... AMC 30 ... Ripley's Believe it or Not ... Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum ... J F Kennedy's Museum ... Mirror Maze ... Grapevine Lake ... Ice sculpture exhibition ... Texas downtown ... ice skating at Galleria ... University of Texas at Dallas ... temples ... and finally the New Year's party.
But the part i most enjoyed was with the kids ... Shreya's laughter and Sneha's books ... that's where i read Twilight and watched it too ... its hard to imagine that i have to be satisfied by just hearing their voices on phone for maybe a long long time. The 14 days flew past so quickly ... and returning back home to Pittsburgh was much like leaving Bangalore ... it took atleast 4 days for me to get out of homesickness. Anyway ... it was a memorable vacation ... and if you want to get to know of it better ... visit this link for pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/ksuhasu/DaysInDallas#
There are nearly 500 photos ... including some new pictures and videos that i have uploaded. Look at 'em only when you have time ... when you are lazy and jobless ... like when you are at office! Don't forget to read the captions.
1 comment:
that thing about standing on empire state building, and watchin movie with family being better...i totally agree!... i'd say watching hellboy on a firday night, wen its freezing outside was also equally fun :)
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