The charm of old buildings

I have always had a thing for ancient buildings.....palaces,courthouses,temples,churches and the like.Not that I know much about the different styles of architecture or anything...it's just the beauty of the buildings that I seem to love so.Yesterday,I visited one of the universities in my city.It is an old institution in that it is celebrated its 150th anniversary last year.I went there to do some work at the library but I did end up spending quite a bit of time roaming around.The university buildings are simply awesome.Almost all the departments are housed in these ancient edifices....from what little I know they seem like the Gothic style of architecture.The windows,the doors,the door clasps and handles all excude a charm.....a charm of a goneby era.There are many little nooks and hidden entrances and exits which you get a glimpse of,if you are observant.The campus is huge and there are many buildings.What is appreciable is that almost all are of the same style even though they were not all built at the same time.A few of the newer buildings do stand out like sore thumbs,thanks to those architects trying to create something 'modern' (ironically,the library is one such 'modern' building).Being on the unviersity grounds made me feel like I was in some castle.Except for the incongruous attire that I was (jeans and t-shirt) everything else made the setting perfect.....the manicured lawns,the pink stone castle-like buildings with ivy growing on them,the chiming of the bell tower.....

Aahh...what would I not give to be part of such an institution.....to be able to spend my time within the walls of those magnificent buildings,to walk those broad,wooden stairs,to use those small,secret doors,to look out of those huge windows at the blue sky.......

Midnight calls and unknown callers

Last night 11.30pm - my husband and I are just falling asleep.Suddenly there is the shrill ringing of the telephone.Blurry eyed and very disoriented,I reach for the phone and try to see who was calling.My phone reads 'Unknown caller'.But I know only too well who it is.

You see this is something we have to live with.My husband co-ordinates a team of people in another country.....a country which is 10.5 hrs ahead central time.So when it is morning there it is the previous night here.As the folks there walk into work,we here are getting ready to go to bed.There are a few of us here,my husbands colleagues,who all live with this.And we wives just talk about it in passing....some are even proud that their men stayed up till 2am talking on the phone.There are others who see the humour in the whole situation.One of our friends often talks about how that call has,for all effective purposes substituted his wife.Taking that call in the last thing he does at night and many a time also the first thing he wakes up to in the morning.His poor wife!!

Most of us try not to make a big deal out of it and just try and accept it as a part of the job.....our husband's job,that is.But then there are times when it gets difficult.Many a nice,romantic moment has been spoiled thanks to the call.Of course,many nice,peaceful hours of sleep have also been lost,thanks to the call.Even dinners,picnics and other events that we try to organise....all have to adhere to the call.Hence,no one stays out beyond 9pm on weekdays and Sundays (it's already Monday morning there you see!!).

I was introduced to this whole state of affairs only recently.That was because I hadn't heard of such a thing till I got married and came to the US.I has taken me some time to get used to this.Initially I would mumble at the unearthly times these calls came but then my husband told me politely that there was nothing to be done about it.It was just the way things were.

The thing is my father works in the manufacturing sector and runs a factory.His hours are more or less predictable.Even though he stays late at work most of the time,he always gets a good night's sleep.A call at midnight could only mean something seriously wrong at the factory-a fire,an accident or some such thing.That is probably why it is all the more difficult for me to accept these midnight calls as a routine thing.I must give credit to my husband,though, for trying to maintain a somewhat predictable everyday schedule,considering that he works in the software industry.But these midnight calls are quite something else.

Anyway,like he says,there is little I can do about it.The only way to handle it is to learn not to jump every time the phone rings at midnight and the caller is unknown!!!

Aaah summer!!

Hello there!!Haven't written for a couple of days now...well it's just me back to my lazy self.But hey how does it matter now that I am back??!!

The reason I am back is because I just have to write about my weekend.Well,Friday was rather quiet with me spending 'quality' time with my dear husband....good,homemade food and some TV.Saturday was the day of activity.Vivek,Priya,Subu,Gayatri,my husband Uday and I all headed out to the Meramec river for a picnic.Yeah a real summer picnic.No,we did not have ginger cookies and root beer a la Famous Five style.But we did have sevai (rice noodles),tomato rice,sandwiches and curd rice.Of course man,what else could you expect....we were a bunch of thorough-breed South Indians.The men of course couldn't do without the curd rice though I would've been more than happy with the delicious sandwiches that Priya had made.I made the sevai....obviously 'cause it was easiest of the lot and required hardly any cooking time.We left around 10.30am and reached the river by 12.30pm....yes,we did get stuck in some weekend traffic.We first did the most important thing....have lunch of course.Then we rented tubes from the center there and set off.Initially we were told that the water was only around 4ft deep at it's deepest.We were sure we could manage that.....I mean how can full grown adults drown in 4 ft water right?Apparently we were misinformed.The water was about 12 ft deep at it's deepest point and there was no way we were going to risk that!!Oh yeah and I forgot to mention,none of us swim very well!!!We got some stained and old life jackets from the staff there and set off.

Now see this was a 4 mile trip.The river is pretty fast at some points and rather placid at others.You are given this tube in which you sit and float on the water.It's all nice and fun as long as there is a decent current and you are somewhat in the center of the river.But things start to get messy when you are pulled towards one bank or are simply not able to manoeuvre the float.We wouldn't have been on the water for 5 mins when Uday and I hit a branch (we were trying this romantic floating in tandem thingy!!!).His float actually hit the branch and since we were holding each other both of us were shaking from the imapct.And then Uday lost balance and fell into the water!!!!Gosh it was terrible....I didn't know what to do....he was holding onto his float with one hand and mine with the other.I was certain I would fall in too!!The strong guy that he is,he somehow managed to hold onto to his float and reach a point in the river where he could stand in the water.He then hoisted himself back onto the float and joined me.Whew....that was some incident.

As we were getting back into the groove of floating....we heard Gayatri scream.She had gotten stuck in some branches that were bending over into the river.None of us were close to her and could do nothing to help her.Her husband Subu valiantly tried to steer his float closer to her.The rest of us moved on as they promised to join us soon.Thus went our journey,from one bend to another,from one near disaster to another.There were other people on the river....on rafts,fishing or just lounging about in the sun.We were offered beer and soda many times along the way....a comfortable sense of camaraderie among total strangers.....that is one thing really unique to Americans.It may seem superficial but they really are a friendly lot.Anyway,after about 3.5 hrs we were close to the end of our trip.All we had to do was bring ourselves to the bank and get off the tube.There,the prople from the renting company were waiting to collect our tubes and vests.But then,how could it all end so tamely??

Uday and I were leading the whole group and saw the signs telling us where to stop first.It was like an interstate with one lane for those who wanted to end the trip and another lane for those who were going to continue further.And obviously,I was in the wrong lane!!Poor Uday kept shouting out to me to move to my right....little did he know that I was trying and trying hard at that!!But then I just kept floating on....nowhere near the bank.The poor man reached the bank where we were supposed to and started running towards me,float and all.Somehow I managed to get toward the bank and he pulled me off the water.The others followed us soon.We were all wet and very ready to return our floats.

As if all this activity was not enough,we then decided to play.We had a variety of sport equipment at hand.One could choose to play badminton,volley ball or frisbee.We all took turns and ended up playing everything.Was good fun.We then decided to head to Priya (an Indian restaurant) for Mysore masala dosa.Managed to get in just before they closed and had a hearty meal of dosa and Andhra thali (which was sweet!!) and mango lassi,of course.

Good fun,good food and above all great company!!!
Here's to many more summer picnics and weekends!!
So long!

My first posting

Why do I want to do this?What is blogging and why am I getting drawn into it?For one thing,I have been meaning to have a diary like forever but have never actually gotten down to writing one.Somehow,it's always been one of those things that I say I will do from Monday.But then,that 'Monday' never comes around!!Second reason is I find myself spending more and more time on the computer (of course there are many reasons for this-everybody has their explanations for this addiction right??).So decided to kind of marry both and here I am.Am still a little skeptical about how this is going to look and all 'cause it feels like I am just typing out this e-mail message but we'll see about that soon enough.

Another reason is my sister is already rather actively blogging on this very site.My younger sister,I might add.It's strange,you know....this whole big sister-little sister thing.I grew up believing that I will always be the one my sister comes to for information,support and advice on anything and everything under the sun...that I would always be the know-all,her personal reference guide to everything in this world.And then suddenly,when I wasn't looking,she is all grown up.She has her own friends,her own apartment,her own car,her job,her life.......totally different from me.Not that there's anything wrong with that.....just that there comes a time when you realise that your little kid sister is a grown woman and I know she can tell me a thing or two about life.Well the point is she told me about this and I think it's a good idea and that's enough said about that.

Well,that's about it for now.Am glad that I finally started writing and hope to keep it going atleast for a while.Will be back soon.