Thursday, May 29, 2008

Boston Trip

Hmmm…after a long time I am back to blog page, just could not resist myself from writing about my SMALL vacation and BIG relaxing break. After brainstorming a lot, me n my husband could come up with consensus where we can go during memorial day long weekend…yeah it is Boston.

Planning was perfect and homework was very good, hence we could enjoy the way we wanted. 240 miles from my home and we could cover it up in just 3.5 hours. (You have to consider NJ/NY trafficJ). And here I am really appreciating Holiday Inn staff for letting us check-in early by 3 hours!! Our hotel was in Woburn, MA, approx. 15 miles from Boston downtown. It came out little difficult to drive to Boston for the first time. We got lost but luckily we found somebody who helped us getting back to the right way. By the time we were in Boston, we were habituated with lotta traffic and continuous horn sound ringing your ears. First day we visited Boston downtown staring with Boston Commons. This garden is claimed to be the oldest public garden across USA. Nice walk-around observing different people from different culture. We hardly got to see any black people and Chinese were the most eye-catching in crowd.

Our plan was to wander about couple of miles on freedom trail, but it was still chilly in May hence could not go far with our idea and hey, parking also turned out to be very expensive. In a private parking, we ended up paying $20/hr for parking. So I would recommend using public transport. Our next stop was Charles River Esplanade, from crowded downtown to a peaceful place. Next we aimed for Carson beach, claimed to be the nicest one in South Boston. We got lost, after hunting for half an hour we settled ourselves in Olive Garden (An Italian Restaurant we always love) and this is how our very first day ended.

Next day weather and luck were favoring to us. Though we did not have proper directions, without getting lost we reached Cambridge. One among the top most universities namely Harvard and MIT, especially for business management are located here. You will get to see students across the globe, small eateries, lot of public gardens, crowded street, roads always jammed and small but expensive shops. After visiting university campus and Harvard art museums, we decided to go for Indian lunch. It was Indian food in buffet style, cooked by Indian and served by Americans!!
And finally is the evening we had waited long, yes, trip on Harbor cruise. We chose sunset time and it was an amazing sight, you get to see entire Boston downtown. Nice romantic music, splendid glory of Sun, bottle of chilled Beer..what else you need? 90 minutes passed so fast and most of the time we spent in taking photographs. Cruise was quite small with capacity of 25 people with sitting arrangement on deck and upstairs as well. It was fun to be upstairs, but as it was quite cold and windy, we ended up spending majority time on deck, roof covered and sides open. Once the trip was over, our worries started as we had parked the car in residential area, which is wrong as per law, but luckily we found everything OK. We were quite hungry and we decided to go for Mexican Restaurant near our hotel namely ‘On The Border Mexican Grill’.

Most of the major attractions have been covered and we do not have anything else on plate other than duct tour for the last and third day. We were little confused about third day plan and thanks to internet access in hotel, we found a beautiful place called ‘Cape Cod’ 100 miles from Boston. Duck Tour was something you should not miss at all. It was always difficult to get the tickets, but good that we already booked in advance. In a small duck shaped bus you will visit entire Boston and the same will go Charles River. Wonderful experience to see Boston on one end and Harvard on other with funny and lively narration of guide cum driver. So now the time is to say good-bye to Boston and head towards Cape Cod. It is farthest end of Boston covered by sea on three sides. They also offer ferry services from beaches like Falmouth and Haynes to Martha’s Vineyard. But as we had already been on harbor cruise, we decided not to go for ferry and spend time at beach. Our destination was Chatham, the farthest point in entire cap cod. And I must say vowww, mesmerizing hues of blue and white sand like silk, the most beautiful beach I have ever been. Though temperature was high, water was quite cold. Hardly any visitors and huge place to walk on beach just appealed us. We realized that world is much more beautiful beyond our thinking!!

Friday, February 29, 2008

I am Blessed...

I have been delaying writing about this post since valentine's day hence today I was determined not to start working before I write this! Kinda punishment teacher gives to her lazy student:)

Anyway, today I want to share my feelings for somebody I care a lot for, yes you guessed it right, my betterhalf! Before getting married, I always thought marriage as a social arrangement where two completely unknown persons are forced to stay, get acquainted and then finally love and care for each other. This gamble sometimes goes through and sometimes it still remains as a gap between these 2 persons which can never be bridged! My this belief started getting thinner after getting married and now it is completely vanished and the credit goes to other half..

He has accepted me the way I am, he admires and respects the way I lead my life, the way I make decisions about both of us, the way I think. In our Indian culture generally X-X chromosomes are supposed to compromise, but in my case it went little differently. I am not saying that it has been perfect for me or I did not have to compromise at all, but the way we handled it and the way my husband helped me tackle the situation, I do not regret, what I have missed out. He has always been calm and cool towards my anger and frustration, always sympathetic and concerned and willing to understand and analyze the situation from my point of view.

The result is, I have started believing in marriage with all my reverence and faith. It is not arrangement but luck and blessings which not many of us can have. I want to do my best to make him happy and always want to see him as winner.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Changing relationships...

Hey
What a good start of day! Clear sky and sunny day, on top of it healthy breakfast and yoga too..:)
Hence could not resist myself from writing this blog about my yesterday evening

It has been more than 2.5 year knowing my husband and his (our) family, but as just two of us have settled down in US, it has become difficult to be in touch with our 'huge' family other than immediate family members and his siblings. Friends often visit to our home, but in such cases, I do not have to be formal.

And yesterday I got a call about visit of few of our relatives from my in-laws side. Staying 10 hours outside home for job and then cooking for 5 of us on weekday sounded little scary to me initially. But my aunt convinced me to have dinner outside at Indian restaurant, I was hesitant because they come once in-a-while, so I decided to prepare nice snacks (Sort of an appetizer before main course at restaurant) and sweet dist too. But I guess it was their destiny to have food prepared by me and around 7:00 PM I came to know that we are not going out and I will be cooking only!!

She assured me repetitively not to worry and she would help me out once she is in. And trust me, she kept her word. She also had a long day (After job she was directly coming to my place), but she helped me in whatever manner she could starting from cooking to cleaning. I did not expect this from elderly aunt and that too somebody from in-laws side.

Guests visit you now and then is common in India, but not in US. (This is common scenario at my both homes).I was really grateful to her as she made my job easier.When I thanked her, she told me in US all are equal and more like friends. So never think about getting into such formalities. How wonderful!

I really doubt, whether my mother-in-law or even my own mom would have given me same sort of freedom or flexibility. People back in India always talk about poor relationships and selfish nature of people here in US. For those only, I want to say, when they talk bad, they should not forget to mention good side as well.
I have seen here relationships are changing the form and not the value!! And such values depend on your own moral and thinking, and not the place!!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Cultural difference........?

Got scared looking at such a heavy subject? Do not worry, I will be writing a review of a movie I have recently watched..'Failure to Launch'..A commedy series about 35 years old man still living with parents and hence unable to keep any girlfriend!
When, I read story on DVD cover, I simply wondered if this is the subject worth making a movie. A delicate matter, how much one should be independent and at the same time attached to parents? I really liked the direction, because if such subject matter would have been selected in India to make a movie, story would be something like this..A guy who wants to lead an independent life, but out of fear and social custom, he cannot live his parents, hell lotta emotions:)
Here, I do not mean to insult Indian culture or offend parent-child relationship.
What I have understood and my parents have taught to me is, becoming independent, staying apart, if you can still respect your parents, miss them and remember them for the rest of your life, you can win the war between independence and emotional attachment. Happy to have parents like these, giving me enough of freedom and explaining values of our culture.
It is more important to make your kid independent, explain him value of self-esteem than making him weak using emotional weapons!!!
Lov ya lot mom n dad.......