Lost and found?

I don't know where I am going
-that does not mean I am lost!
- though I know where i have been!

"Old Jungle Saying"

For some reason, this line is on my mind all day today - Be careful what you wish for, it might come true!

I am on a "Highway" to .......

"To boldly go where no man has gone before" said Captain Kirk..
These days when time is at a premium, i look back at my days in grad school and wish could have done some traveling then.. I guess $$$ were at a premium then;)...Nevertheless it would have been a great experience to go on those cheap trips and live in cheap motels..
This summer my parents are visiting me and i have been doing the rounds..
It was actually them, who probably got me into traveling, with our yearly trips to different parts of INDIA. Delhi, Agra, Goa, Gujarat, Orissa, Hyderabad, interiors of Maharashtra..and Kashmir. Hell we even made it to Muscat one summer..It was a pleasure. I am pretty sure if i were to visit all these places now, i would draw a different image.
I like to think of myself an obsessive "planner" - i love to schedule..and really enjoy it when things move like clockwork. With a "little" help of that thing called "internet", i can go berserk. I can go on and on and probably try every permutation and combination to "maximize" the trip (imHo ofcourse).
The other school of thought is how much spontaneity of the "fun" do you kill when you do such things? When things work out - they were meant to be - because they were planned out.. the reaction is satisfaction.If there is a slight deviation from the "planned" path.. then the reaction is a little disappointment. If i had gone with no plans and if things would have worked out, the reaction would be "awesome".. simply because i went with no expectations.
This summer i have done meticulous planning, and more importantly stuck to it and executed it with aplomb. We have so far crossed out local - Baltimore and other Maryland area attractions, Washington D.C., New York city, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyons. Every place was an experience in itself. I had visited some earlier and it was my first time at a few. I had read about all of them though, before visiting.
And you know what, "Seeing is believing". All of them were whatever i had read/ heard and a lot more. You might do your homework on the place you want to visit.. it will only help you and i don't think it will kill the spontaneity one bit. I hope to write lengthy chapters on each of these places.

For all my love for traveling.. i will still have a boring chicken sandwich to the local delicacy ;)

Random

Why do we always settle "down" ?

PG - Parental Guidance

I am pretty much on Cloud 9 these days.. Parents are here.. i get to play host and we are still in the "peace" phase..Good food, gappa - (long talks), tourism - sightseeing.. chillax..
So far we have been to Washington DC / Baltimore area and NYC... I think my parents were quiet excited to visit College Park .. i guess they wanted to know where most of their money went...
Our definition of "near" has become different. I think defining distances by time is the solution... They are used to the Mumbai traffic and so when i cover a distance of 50 miles in 1 hr, i can safely say... Borivli to Bandra -(I am being ambitious.. it is actually Borivli to Malad ;) )
So far "speed' has not been an issue..
It is very interesting to note their reaction/opinion to/of the things around them.
I have spent a lot of my impressionable years here in the U.S.A. and would really like to know their take on this country. I
I hope i can give them a great time because they sure are ready to have a good time.
The summer seems to be shaping up well.

Whew!!

I am disappointed with myself for not writing much (alright, nothing) this past month. I am supposed to be all excited and eager about "blogging" since i am fairly new at this.
And what a month it has been..
Moving into a new place....
Setting it up....
Having a ball of a time here and there (this alibi isn't valid)...
Not to mention work...
And now my parents are here...
Whew...
It HAS been an eventful month.
I could write chapters on each of these... eventually i may.. depends on my laziness quotient though.
I am excited about the summer.
I am pretty sure i will doing a whole lot of things and I hope i can "pen" them down at regular intervals.
Otherwise, i might just miss out on the little nitty gritties i took home with me on each occasion.

P.S. Welcome to the US, mom and dad. and
I am one hell of a U-haul driver.. Should i try my hand at driving the desi truck???

What do you want from me! ?

What do you want from me?.. goes a song by Pink Floyd. I believe this is one question you have to answer all the time. A “normal” person would say this line to his parents, to his wife, to his girlfriend, his boss, and to anyone else “he” cares about. My understanding of this statement is that it is an exasperated retort when the expectations are not fulfilled. Does it mean that he has already given his best and it wasn’t good enough? Does he not know what is expected of him? Or in his defense, the other person is just hard to please. The other tricky part is that the answer to that question varies all the time. An answer which was “correct” on one occasion need not be the correct albeit to the same person in another point of time. The one who knows the answer, I think will be the enlightened one. I believe “doing the right thing” is the correct answer all the time. But who does (who wants to?) do the right thing all the time!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy talks about the Ultimate Answer. This, I think would be in contention for the “Ultimate Question”.

Just a start

I have been trying to “blog” for some time now. I was just not sure about what I could incorporate in my blog. I wasn’t sure if I can comfortably write about my life. For one thing it would be real boring, and I wouldn’t be able to give justice to it anyways - me being a very private person. I have my own “high” opinion on a variety of things (I dunno if you are interested in it though). I love to travel and would love to write about it; however I haven’t done much of that lately – apart from the yearly INDIA trip. However I think I will go ahead with this random note for now and maybe continue to be inspired from my surroundings. I am sure it will be worthwhile.