Kayaking on a Kensington Lake

Now first time I saw a real Kayak was in 2004 @ Mohicans, in Ohio. Last time I saw it was again in 2007 when we went Canoe-ing to Mohicans. However this time with my better half and unfortunately for two of us they did not have two seat kayaks.

So all in all I have been dying to try this for quite some time now. Only Kayak that I got to use post that was kayak-dot-com for searching hotel & flight deals for use at various places that I have stayed.

So now as I am sitting in this summer season, and I chose to spend the weekends doing something different. So decided to start with a long pending item … ‘KAYAKING’ … 

Had a good time, 10 mins to get hang of it; 30 mins to sail 2 kms, loitering, resting, photos for 10 mins. These ten minute of rest unknowingly drifted me to some island in opposite direction half a kilometer. Was fun. Another 30 mins for leisurely return to rental station ...  

So finally Kayaking .... and luckily not in an Internet Browser !!

FTiL#1

Never stop looking

I have been through every technique known to me related to low-light photography over past horrifying 55 minutes. Before that I spent 30 minutes admiring what's outside my window. I knew this was not easily possible, but wanted to take a go anyways.

With this, I thought I saw it all...

I am typing this at 39,000 feet on way from Vegas to east coast in middle of the night. Scene that my eyes can enjoy can't be described but here is an attempt. I can see sporadic but organized city lights below. So in essence there is absolutely no light pollution. Beauty of what a marvel human eye is, I can also make out the thin line of horizon and from there starts the amazing sprinkle of stars.

I had a blanket over my head and my eyes glued to the window glass to ignore slightest of the cabin light. I am sure; people inside the cabin must be wondering what this guy is up to. Moment I have blanket over my head, trust me this random spread of constellations and beauty that it presents can loads better than dozens of Vegas put together. It’s funny that 3 hours back when this flight took off, I was thinking, I have witnessed the finest show of lights available to human, and then Someone can prove you wrong in a jiffy.

View I couldn't capture, but will keep looking..

I tried every attempt and camera technique possible, so that I could share this with Seema, but very minor luck. All I got on my camera is dozens of black squares. So here just a page to record that post seeing the brightest, and probably the fanciest  show on earth, I still believe one has to keep looking for the next show, that will mesmerize our eyes and refresh your mind again ….

Digital Video Discs ... from TPL

Since my solo stay started, I had been bringing 5-7 movie DVDs over the weekend and enjoy 3 or 4 as time permits each week.

For past few weeks, I have been just bringing DVDs and returning them back almost without seeing any or most of them.

Worst of all, last weekend was unable to renew 1 of 5 DVDs I had due to some technical glitch in Library system and ended up paying a good penalty on 1 item for multiple days over-holding.

Hoping never to pay again more for free service .....

Leisure of Fall Season ....

Right from probably grade I in my country’s education system, kids start interacting with names of seasons. It must be same age or a year here and there in other countries. We mugged up the four standard words, Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter again and again and again for the exams … and forgot about it during the school vacations. Post that for numerous years these words kept on playing hide & seek by means of poems, western literature, thriller novels and most of all movies.. 

Depending on where you stay in my country people generally tend to know only two seasons. Part which I come from is only known to have two seasons summer season and Rainy season. There use to be a winter in our school-text books, but rarely did we need to prepare for it like rest of the northern hemisphere prepares.

Now 10 years ago, I landed in an entirely new country at peak of Fall season. Thought this word never occurred in our bookish season name-chain I had no time or will to question.  Trust me, I was mesmerized by the view around me. Though it lasted for only first 10 days it somewhere has had a serious impact on my comfort with seasons. Today I am 10 years into future from my first Fall experience and I realize that this might be one of the last ‘Falls’ that I experience at such great leisure. To see green chlorophyll being dried splash red at mercy of cold winds is a phenomenon which I am going to remember only by way of photos.

What does Fall give us, perfectly pleasant weather, not as hot as summer, nor as cold as winter.  The colors draping all the trees around us give inspiration to a whole blend of Fall Collection. Fall wardrobe is a layers of vivid colors, fabric of eternal comfort which is mélange of lightness of summer clothing and burden of winter bulk.

While I was capturing all these colors in my camera today in a nearby park, each step reminded me … will I hear this crumble of leaves under my feet while I am watching these picture next year, will I pass by a pastry shop with pumpkin pie whiff as fresh as in these streets. For the record I hate pumpkin pie, and street food available in my country melts me way beyond pumpkin delicacies. But this unmistakable scent, the winter chill, the clutter of leaves and the contemporary fall collection on the street is a packaged parcel of Fall appreciation. These can’t be un-bundled and sadly can’t be re-experienced as a whole.

So I might visit this country or other countries in northern hemisphere, again on shorter and may be busier visits during fall season. But I might most likely not have the time to notice that whiff and that crumble. So before the teeth gritting cold and the white cover hits us all I wanted to record these thoughts, not sure when I might next fall for ‘The Fall’ season ….

Experience with Caching !!

TODAY scored my FIFTH cache. 

Recently started with a new weekend activity !! The activity is all about caching. Here do not refer to IT meaning of cache. Its some what similar but has a whole outdoor / sports dimension to it. Here word cache can be treated as a 'hidden treasure box'. Box does not contain any treasure .... with that background, here is a brief of how this is played.

Person 'Mr. A' decided to hide a treasure-box in any public park near his house or at a famous trekking / camping destination. Here he notes the GPS co-ordinates of this cache. Cache is nothing both a weather proof box of any kind. Minimum content of the box should be log-book. In the five that I have found one was size of a pen cap (micro-cache) and there was another which was a 15 litre huge container with lot of goodies in the container.

Sample Micro-cache

Then Mr. A goes to Caching website and registers his treasure and GPS co-ordinates & clues on how to find the cache. The caching website assign each cache a 6 character code (e.g. GXCYBH). 

Now let us say some like me goes to the caching website and searches for caches near my house, the website returns list of the same with few basic information published by Mr.A. I note all the details, feed the GPS in my phone with cache co-ordinates and go out for the hunt. All Caches can be of various complexity, one cache I got it in 30 seconds flat (it was a micro-cache) while there was other one that last weekend took me 20 mins to solve the puzzle and find the cache. Today had one experience where I searched for 30 mins, but still could not solve the puzzle. 

Once you find it, you got to put your caching website registered username in the physical log book in the cache. So that serves as a actual proof that you have visited / found the hidden stash. Many caches have some small treasure items in it, some figurines, special buttons, fridge magnets. Rule is you are free to take what ever you like,  but you must drop back a thing of equal or greater value in the cache. For starters, I am dropping a 1 RUPEE coin in all caches I find ($ people here might not have seen INR), but not taking anything in return right now.

Once back home, finder can log the website and register on above 6 digit character code that you have found it. Mr. A can validate or reject your claim depending on entries in the log book. 

Sample Log

Its a adult Treasure Hunt game and trust me its spread is amazing. How about some number gyan. There are 1.7 million hidden caches in 150 countries. Over 5 million registered hunter go around searching for caches. My city Troy and around areas have close to 80 caches, off which I have just found 5 right now.

So enjoying the newly found addiction, I haven't hidden anything yet for others to find but enjoying the hunting. While I say this I must acknowledge Mr. Peter Szasz who had introduced me this game while in Budapest. Though I had played then to find few caches in Budapest, I think now I can really contribute to it well .... Lets see how many I make this summer.

ALL to basically keep me out of the house over the weekend. Hopefully it should serve the purpose .... 

To know more / to play search KW: Geocaching. 

Njoy .... 

Unexpected Aromatic Energy!!

Fresh cut grass, have we urban folks ever bothered to stand in fresh cut. Do we have the option of standing in the fresh cut grass? In my current country of residence lawn maintenance is a huge business. Personal and business spend considerable expense on this stuff.


Now let’s leave the expense part aside. My current apartment (rental) has at least half an acre of greenery on our back yard. The day the lawn movers take their turns mowing our lawns, many Indian residents including my daughter is bothered by the huge sound they make. BUT all of us tend to ignore, the freshness, the aroma that sound brings to the air. It’s simply something that cannot be compensated by thousand dollar scented candle. The 5 minutes of standing cannot be compensated by all the anti-oxidants in 100 cups of tea. 

All my stay in current apartment I have selfishly wished they do this on weekends so that I can simply step out on my patio and take in the priceless energy charge for a mere paltry rent I pay here. Some say the aroma is a distress call by the grass to attract attention ... and here I am enjoying and hoping for more.  Today one of the few weekdays I am at home and it pinches me that I am going to miss this in my new apartment where I move 3 days from now. Imagine moving from acres of grass to a 20 feet by 4 feet of grass strip.


Anyways for two months now I am overwhelmed by the fact that at my new apartment I have to open my doors by my own hands, instead of the tiny hands that welcome me till date. So as obvious, bigger woes always overshadow smaller troubles and so must be the case with smaller pleasures, overshadowed by bigger gains.

But I am sure this minor energy boost, is one of the most natural dosage I have ever enjoyed. This will disparage me in my high rise apartment for rest of life, when I am sitting near a 1 square feet patch of grass in an earthen pot...

Greenfield Village BY Henry Ford

Lately have not visited any amusement parks or any historic museums but for the reputation that I had heard wanted to visit Greenfield Village a must stop before 3 Jun. Aaha it was an absolute delight not only for me but for Swara and my parents to see America period life happening right in front of us.

Experienced many things from pottery, glass making, old railroad life and so many beautiful things. Bust most important was The Farm Life. A 1890 farm life of Mr. Firestone's family (The tire company). Oh boy, it was a living enactment of their day to day life. Guys tilling the land for potatoes, potato plant being a protection mechanism for Corn plants and whole chain therein which goes from feeding pigs today to feeding the family on pigs meat 1 yr down the line. They had barns, carriages, hens and sheeps. To top it ladies of the house were making authentic period food. Mashed potato, grilled chicken and Apple pie on a real life coal stove.

NOW most important catch I realise as I reach home, hey man this is still the life of 1/5th Indian rural families even now who are primarily surviving on agri-income.
So experience to see the American way was enlightening in two ways;
1 - next time in India should visit and experience such life in India first hand
2 - what they are doing here is a 1890 representation and we are still doing it the same way, what has caused us to be stuck there ...

This is no blame game or quest to find solution but what an humble visit can do to your thought buds ... Leaving at this thought for all of you ponder further.

NJoy ...