All For This One Moment

Flying back to India after a two-week looooonnnnnnnng trip to the US. Unlike my previous trips , this time around in one single place all along, Burbank off LA.

The business trips are fun and not-fun. Fun for the work that gets done in the face-to-face meetings, thrill of going to new places and meeting new faces. And not-fun for the trouble of being away from the family. But then the not-fun part morphs into the greatest joy of a travel when you are packing your bags for the return trip. I have my bags packed, hotel bills settled and will be shortly on way to LAX to catch the return flight.

The feeling of anticipation of getting back to one's family is something special. As a leading airlines puts it, 'All for this one moment'.

Daughter

On a hot day, sitting alone in a hotel room in LA had few options but to surf channels. And doing so chanced upon a movie, 'Knocked Up'. Enjoyed it. For good reasons, was moved by a song in the movie. Takes only a little over 3 minutes. Highly recommended for fathers with daughters.



Credits

By: Loudon Wainwright III
Lyrics: Peter Blegvad

"Everything she sees
she says she wants.
Everything she wants
I see she gets.

That's my daughter in the water
everything she owns I bought her
Everything she owns.
That's my daughter in the water,
everything she knows I taught her.
Everything she knows.

Everything I say
she takes to heart.
Everything she takes
she takes apart.

That's my daughter in the water
every time she fell I caught her.
Every time she fell.
That's my daughter in the water,
I lost every time I fought her.
I lost every time.

Every time she blinks
she strikes somebody blind.
Everything she thinks
blows her tiny mind.
That's my daughter in the water,
who'd have ever thought her?
Who'd have ever thought?
That's my daughter in the water,
I lost everytime I fought her
Yea, I lost every time."

Kerala and Back!

After a long time, made a quick trip to Kerala covering Guruvayur, Chottanikara and Ambalamugal over the weekend. In all, 1200+ kilometers in a span of 60 hours. Not bad I think, looking back.

I am not a big fan of pilgrimage trips that too covering a series of ones in one stretch but a trip to Guruvayoor was something I had promised my better half a long time ago. And since any way we were going up to Guruvayoor, it made sense to cover the other two places as well. We had been postponing our long distance trips for a while now because of the pending car upgrade. Now that the car upgrade is itself being deferred, wanted to cover whatever we can in the smaller car. And the fact that we have at home a new I10 of my SIL is helping matters, of course. For me, any trip (any day for that matter) is incomplete without something to say about food, so this trip also had some fond food memories. Especially the meal near Alwaye with steaming brown rice and beef!

First leg of the drive from Bangalore to Thrissur was a breeze with nice roads all the way up to Palakkad. Though the stretch from Palakkad to Thrissur which had a lot of potholes scattered all around the place considerably slowed down my averages, we were well in time in Thrissur for a relaxed lunch at the Spoon restaurant. The last 28 kilometers or so from Thrissur to Guruvayoor had it's scare though with the multi-coloured private buses zooming past through the comparatively narrow roads. They come at you at 80KM or plus from behind and honk like hell till you give way. I soon realized it is a battle I should not get into and religiously gave way every time I sensed a rainbow (in the form of a bus) behind me. I sorely missed our dear vehicle inspector Srinivasan ...



We were off to Chottanikara and Ambalamugal the next day morning and the drive was a pleasure. Driving through some plantation areas in Ernakulam were really energizing. The drizzle lashing against the rubber trees were an awesome and priceless sight. The only disappointment was that in the hurry to cover all places in our agenda we could not stop to savour the environment. No photos either! Back in Guruvayoor in the evening and after a darshan and a Thulabharam with Nidhi on my lap, we called the day off.

Sunday morning gave opportunity for another round of darshans at Guruvayur and we were off to Bangalore by around 7:30 in the morning. The drive back was uneventful and by evening we were back in Bangalore, with a heavy heart.

Missing Kerala. There is nothing like one's own home land, I guess.