Summer of 2019...

The summer seems to have whizzed past, this time particularly fast! Just like that...before we even realized it, Raya is in third grade...Rayan is a big boy...finally potty trained😆and making us roll in laughter with his words of wisdom. Though he is not as much of a chatterbox as Raya, he does have an absolutely quirky sense of humor !

This summer was all about spending quality time with family and friends. Kids got to spend a lovely summer,bonding with the grandparents. Raya did her share of camps and socializing...and amidst of all of that, in case you were wondering, yes we did manage to appease the wanderlust in us along the way. No summer is complete without taming the travel bug in us, is it !?🙂

This summer wanderlust took us on a roadtrip along the Pacific NW of the United States. The beauty of the Pacific Coast of the United States along Route 1, south of San Francisco is much talked about, written about, photographed and visited.... Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, Saint Lui Obispo...et.al...What often gets overlooked is the beauty of the coast, the mountains and valleys north of San Francisco along Route 1, and beyond...Other than being captured by Hollywood and the likes of Anthony Bourdain, a major part of the pristine beauty of the Pacific NW is vastly unexplored by the larger masses(which may be a good thing or bad, based on how you look at it!🙂). The Pacific NW of the United States was indeed the destination of our journey this summer (yeah yeah it is meant to be paradoxical! 🙂 ). We had already done a road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco  along the coast a few years back.... this time it was about continuing to drive north of San Francisco....

Two weeks...more than 2100 non interstate  miles...coasts...cliffs...vineyards...mountains...valleys...beaches...lakes...hikes....trails...breweries...great weather...good food...great company (caught up with quite a few old buds along the way!). First leg...San Franscisco, Carmel, Sausalito, Napa, Sonoma, Bodega Bay, Mendocino...we were back in this area for the third time and it hasn't lost it's charm, for sure! "The Girl and the Fig" in Sonoma is not to be missed, if you are looking for a good meal. Mendocino and the drive to it was dreamy, misty, beautiful. That was followed by a tryst with the natural wonders of the Pacific NW...the surreal Redwoods...the beautiful Southern Oregon Coast ...Crater Lake....Mount Hood...Smith Rock...the quaint towns of Brookings and Bend in Oregon ! The "Riverhouse on the Deschutes" is highly recommended for a stay in Bend...so is this eclectic eatery in Bend called "Spork"....I could go back to Bend just for the pepper infused voda + basil based cocktail they served(was it called Maui Z!?)...ooooh! One of the hidden gems of the Southern Oregon Coast is the area included in the Samuel H. Boardman State park....pristine beaches and landscape...dramatic cliffs...gorgeous sunsets....Whaleshead beach and Harris beach are absolute must dos....Also don't skip the Redwood State Parks. While the national park trails are beautiful, groomed and well maintained, some of the Redwood Trees within the State parks had an element of surreality, unexperienced so far....invariably gave me goose bumps!

The last leg of the trip...Portland, Northern Oregon Coast , Mount Rainier and an absolutely wonderful , relaxing end to the vacation in Seattle with lovely family friends of decades !!!

DD and I have done quite a few road trips, specifically coastal drives in different parts of the world, over the years...each coast and drive is of course unique...but the one along Route 1 this summer in the Pacific NW ranks somewhere up there in the top of the list....

We often get asked how we end up doing such long roadtrips with kids. First of all it helps, that both 'DD' and I enjoy driving. So the driving aspect of it is really not stressful at all. We also love doing off the beaten path things, when on trips. Roadtrips enable that, to say the least. While a major part of our trips is planned, we leave quite a few things unplanned and a roadtrip provides the perfect avenue to explore unplanned paths. We wouldn't have discovered some of the beautiful pristine locales of the Southern Oregon coast  had we not just been aimlessly driving around🙂 This trip, we also discovered that our kids really enjoy hiking and nature trails, provided they are not too long. We also give kids their time to adapt and adjust. Roadtrips always invariably start with kids poking us every half  hour...."Mamma/Baba...when are we reaching our destination?" However, by the time we are into our third day of driving, the kids get pretty used to 3 - 4 hour drive times...all that they need is good music, some sugary treats and the bait of some promised time in the pool/beach at the end of the day!🙂....(Anytime there's news on the radio in the car instead of music, Raya invariably has a headache and Rayan a tummy ache...Oh well!!...Of course all aches go away as soon as the news channel transitions to music....LOL )....So yes, for now we do make sure every lodging we book has a pool to give the kids some water time....Also on any one day, we make sure driving time is restricted to 4 hours, to the extend possible...and of course, then we plan for enough days in between where there's no driving at all or minimal driving....this seems to have worked pretty well in all our summer road trips the past few years! So fingers crossed for future trips!

The following quote from Anthony Bourdain pretty much sums up how I feel each time we come back from one of these trips,"

"It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that’s enlightenment enough - to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go." 

Leaving you with some snapshots of the beauty of the Pacific NW....and with dreams of the next stop and destination....whenever, wherever that might be...Happy Friday!

Memories and Inspiration - Sister Victoria Nunes

Have any of you been super inspired by a teacher/educator, always being conscious of the enormous impact the person has had in shaping your life....Nevertheless being bogged down by worldly pursuits over the years, and hence losing touch...only to regret not having kept connected, till it was too late...far too late. I, for one, have been guilty of this. This specific teacher/educator(call her what you may), was Sister Victoria Nunes. She was the principal/headmistress of my high school in Guwahati and passed away last week.

I don’t believe it would be an exaggeration to say that Sister Victoria took the school by storm, when she took over as the principal/headmistress,  albeit a very good kind of storm ....a storm that causes the elimination of weeds, brings with it hope of a harvest and leaves behind only lushness and the opportunity for growth. She was ahead of her times...progressive...exuded positivity and had the uncanny ability to provide a sense of calm, even in the midst of turmoil. Most importantly she was a visionary leader. 

Just yesterday, I was having a conversation with my team about leadership skills and was emphasizing a key difference between a good ‘manager’ and a good ‘leader’. I was telling them how a ‘good manager’ sets good rules for a team, creates a framework to execute them and more often than not has his/her team’s back in terms of the execution path, but the focus is always on ‘execution’.....A ‘good leader’, on the other hand, is able to do all that a good manager does, while additionally being able to nudge a team forward towards a vision...is empathetic...is a good listener...accepts failures...is willing to inspect and adapt a vision, as essential...is fearless in having to change rules or the vision, all the while never letting go of the focus on his/her team and it’s needs. As I got out of this meeting/conversation with my team, I sat back for a moment, introspecting on what I had just spoken to my team about ‘managers’ and ‘leaders ‘....It was uncanny how my thoughts went back  all the way to my days in high school, when Sister Victoria brought about so many positive , progressive changes in school....to all the times when she listened with empathy to all students and not just listened, but figured out a way to do something about their concerns.  It was a revelation given it was for the first time that I realized my first lessons in leadership were not from a course I took in grad school or a book I read or a TED talk/Podcast I heard(believe me I have done all of these in abundance ). My first lessons in leadership, the importance of ‘emotional quotient’( much before it became a buzz phrase)  was from Sister Victoria Nunes... this serene, beautiful , progressive lady who I had the fortune of having as a teacher and who brought about some many much needed changes in school ...who led with so much empathy, positivity and vision. The nerdy nerd that I was in high school, she was one of the few who seemed to see something in me other than my academic merit. On multiple occasions, she nudged me to come out of my shell and do things outside my comfort zone. She encouraged/guided me and always had my back, as I took over as the head girl in high school. I believe she saw a spark in me that no one else did.  Above all, she nudged and encouraged me to write, and I will forever be grateful to her for enabling me to develop this therapeutic habit.

The kind of effect Sister Victoria had, particularly in my class of girls, was like the effect of a stone thrown into a lake. The stone disrupts the still waters of a lake and the effect is not only visible, but lasting. Ripples formed by the first plop of a stone in a lake expands until they can be felt all along the surface, and these ripples stop and die out only when they reach the shore. In Sister Victoria’s case, all the ripples created and propagated made all of us better in some way, I choose to believe.

Everyone , who’s known me since childhood, would attest to how I have evolved over the years ....In all of this, I am forever grateful for the lessons different people have taught me at different phases of life. I am often guilty of not expressing gratefulness, while there is still time ...and specifically Sister Victoria’s passing away drives home the point again about how unpredictable life can be, given I was planning to go see her in my next visit to India. But why do I have this feeling that had she heard me express this in person to her , she would just have had something witty to say, with that ever so serene smile, that would make all the regret and guilt go away in a jiffy. Perhaps it is because it was just the way she was....affectionate , beautiful, full of empathy and just happy about being able to contribute to the growth and progress of the youth, whose life she touched.

Rest In Peace dear Sister Victoria...and thank you...Thank You! I do hope my kids are fortunate enough to have at least one teacher, like you, in their lifetime.

The year gone by...

2018 has whizzed past…a lot to be grateful for as I look back at the year gone by…lot of lessons learnt...and another year to look forward to...

The little ones are growing up fast, which is always a bitter sweet emotion, but overall they are doing well, by God’s grace.

Raya loves school and continues to be the social butterfly she always has been…it’s quite a treat to see how she absorbs information about the "going ons" in the world and about different cultures and cuisines through her interactions with her friends and other folks around her. I finally introduced her to Enid Blyton. It’s lovely to see her enjoy reading some of the books I grew up reading. “Malory Towers” is her current Enid Blyton favorite. Reading, swimming and piano are currently her favorite hobbies . She does keep adding so many things to her list of “want to do” activities(singing, dancing, tennis and what not!!), that I often lose track and  feel like a really bad mom, when I have to ask her to pick between hobbies and activities .  Oh well, there is only so much one can do and do well at! Some of my friends tell me, it’s better to have a kid who wants to explore, learn and do stuff than not. But I guess, like everything else, there are pros and cons in this context too:) Ever since Raya was a toddler, when putting her to bed, I say a small prayer and ask her about her day. These days, with so many things going on, if I forget to ask my customary,”Raya…so how did your day go today?”, she is prompt to remind me I forgot to ask her something….and without much ado sets off on a prolonged monologue about her day. As exhausted as I generally am at that point of the night, this “description of her day” often has the ability to make all the exhaustion melt away and it's something I have really grown to look forward to. I have to say though, Raya’s sleep pattern has deteriorated over the years and she often wakes up multiples times a night. So we gotta work on that this coming year. Raya has also developed a love for  skiing, thanks to her dad. Last year around the Christmas holiday, when her cousins were visiting, we introduced her to skiing. This Christmas, ‘D’ and she made the most of the beauty of West Coast skiing with multiple cross mountain runs in the Park City and Canyons resorts in Utah. With my skiing skills , unfortunately I had to stay put at the lower slopes, but I believe and hope I will be ready for the more difficult “blues” next time around for sure!:)

Rayan has also grown by leaps and bounds this year…his vocabulary is exploding ...his newest obsession is cars!! He keeps us on our toes ,has become very expressive as well as naughty , and more often than not, he cracks us up with the use of words in the most unlikely of contexts. “Never mind” and “I didn’t mean to do it”  are his favorite phrases at the moment. To add to all the fun, he has quite the moves too:)He is super easy going and absolutely not as “high maintenance” as his big sister:) I have to say, for now, he is quite the mama’s boy!! ‘D’ always chuckles and reminds me that for  all the fun that I have made of “Mama’s boys” in the past(you know the ones one comes across in high school and college!) , I have one of my very own now :)….Oh well I am quite enjoying it while the cuddles, love and attention lasts. He is working on getting potty trained…and as you can imagine, I simply can’t wait to be free of lugging around the diaper bag, though I have a feeling, it may take him a bit longer than we would like! Oh well. He loves his preschool/day care, which is a blessing. We’ve been super lucky to have had a great child care center for Raya and Rayan, the teachers are affectionate and loving and the kids being happy makes it much so much easier for both of us to work and follow our passion. After all ,it takes a village to bring up a child!!

The kids also spent some quality time with the grandparents and their cousins this year. Both sets of grandparents visited from India and the kids made some wonderful memories with them. They also got to see and spend some time with their cousins over the summer. So that was great!

This year was also a terrific year in terms of satisfying the ‘wanderlust’ in us. Two ski trips(Snowshoe in WV and Park City in Utah ), a summer trip to visit family in Holland and then a road trip in the middle of “World Cup soccer fever” in “GOT” land, the  stunning country of Croatia (Summer of 2018), and then some smaller trips to quaint little towns(including Ashville, NC) on the US east coast. The kids seem to be loving the travel aspect of our lives, as much as we do. So fingers crossed that ‘that’ will continue. They however are not as excited about exploring different cuisines as ‘D’ and I are. I am hoping this will get better with age, or maybe it won’t…we will see!

On the professional front, it has been a mixed bag, but overall good! I have often observed, when ‘D’ is happy at work, I am not and when I am, “D” is not. While there have been various points of time when both of us have been  happy at work, fortunately so far there has not been a phase when both of us have been unhappy at the same time…as you can imagine, that could end up being stressful:) I currently lead a group of senior technologists at work, working at the cutting edge of technology and the rate at which technology is evolving, for me , at least, it leaves no space and time for boredom. There’s constant learning. So that’s really good!

On a more sombre note, there have been quite a few moments that have made me hold my family and friends closer to my heart…young friends diagnosed with serious health conditions, some of them gone way too soon…sudden deaths of family members and family friends, who have been a part of my growing up years…. all such moments driving home the point about how short and fragile  life is …how important it is to be grateful and content with what we have …and that nothing is more important than having and sharing, love, light, laughter and good health with all our near and dear ones, while we are around !

As far as resolutions for the New Year go, on the personal front I never really make objective/measurable resolutions for myself…my resolutions are always hazy ,more in the likes of read more, sleep less, write more, weigh less, dump the guitar, pick up the piano, work hard, party harder…you get the gist …none of my personal resolutions are such that I can look back at the year gone by and objectively declare their fruition/failure…it’s great that I at least have ‘SMART’ (in managerial lingo, 'Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timebound') professional objectives for 2019 …that will keep my life balanced as far as resolutions are concerned, for sure…a complete dearth of objectives for a new year could potentially deem life directionless :-) whereas too many ‘SMART’ personal and professional resolutions can make a year of life end up becoming one helluva marathon with no finish line in sight …robbing life of it's charm , of course, in the process … having said that, I do want to focus on fitness and writing , on the personal front.

As for what the year 2019 has in store for us…only time will tell…needless to say, it is a challenging world and environment to live and bring up children in …..Hopefully at this same time next year, I will have more good things to write about than bad ….fingers crossed!

For now…here’s a toast to the year gone by…to all the good times and beautiful memories shared with family and friends in the year 2018…no significant life events or changes, but good times nevertheless…

Wish all of you love, light, laughter, health and happiness this coming year!

Leaving you with a montage of the beautiful views and vistas from our ski trip this winter...the absolute wonders of nature!

Summer of 2018

Among the plethora of diverse and often mutually exclusive(if I may call it that) interests that ‘D’ and I have, one of the common passions that we share is the love for travel. We’ve tried to keep up the zest and enthusiasm for travel, post kids, as well. Sometimes just the thought of traveling with two kids under 7 years of age can make exhaustion set it, before vacation starts :), if you know what I mean. The running joke in the family is that subjecting the kids to long flights and travel schedules could have one of two effects: Either the kids end up loving to travel and continue exploring nooks and corners of the world, well after us….Or they get so fed up, that the only kind of vacation they end up enjoying or seeking out, later in life,  are the ones that involve couching in:).  Oh well…'THAT' only time will tell...Though I fervently hope, it will be the former. For now though, they seem to be doing well and enjoying travel as much as we do…So fingers crossed…

This summer , wanderlust took us to the beautiful Eastern European country of Croatia. Believe it or not, we were there right in the middle of World Cup soccer fever. You can well imagine the kind of excitement on the streets, and among the locals, when their country of a little over 4 million people (a population less than that of the New York burroughs put together) reached the World Cup soccer final! Inspirational and fun!

On our way to Croatia, we spent a few days with my cousin and her family in The Hague, in the Netherlands. Growing up in India, I have had a very close connection and relationship with both my maternal and paternal cousins. We were always in and out of each others homes, and there were so many occasions to get together as an extended family, it was quite amazing. With ‘D’ and my extended families spread all over the world now, Raya and Rayan are not as fortunate. So they always love spending time with the extended family, whenever they get a chance. And what a blast they had with their aunt and cousins. We also ended up making some side trips back to Amsterdam (‘D’ and I were there in 2010, before Raya was born…and it was good to be back). We also visited Bruges, the little 'fairy tailish' town in Belgium, where I  spent a significant amount of time in the early part of my professional career. It was lovely to take ‘D’ and the kids back to Bruges, exploring all my favorite locales, indulging in some creamy, garlic mussels with Belgian frites, and not to forget decadent chocolate covered waffles .

As for Croatia....Spectacular natural beauty…gorgeous beaches and islands….awe inspiring history and monuments…delicious sea food from the Adriatic Coast…Dalmatian cocktails to die for…’GOT’ land….amazing hospitality…friendly, laid back, happy people…small country…big dreams…that’s Croatia in a nutshell….

Talking of ‘GOT’, just a disclaimer that I haven’t watched all the seasons of Game of Thrones yet. Hubby is a big fan and binge watched all 7 seasons, while I have just gotten started.  Nevertheless, 'I' being 'I',  did not lose the opportunity to scout out all 'GOT' locations in Dubrovnik and Split...“King’s Landing”, “The Staircase of shame”, “The basement of the Diocletian palace, where the dragons were kept”, to name just a few. The icing on the cake was however getting to see the filming of a few scenes of the upcoming season in Split….so now, when I am actually watching the series…it’s literally that surreal sense of deja vu:)

We flew into Dubrovnik from Amsterdam, spent a couple of days there, exploring the old town, the surrounding islands and the gorgeous beaches. Thereafter we drove along the coast from Dubrovnik to Split. That’s a super scenic drive lined with gorgeous coastlines, wineries and fruit farms. The Peljesac peninsula between Dubrovnik and Split is famous for it’s sun drenched vineyards(specializing in a wide variety of red wines), dramatic coastline /scenery and local produce, jams , juices directly sourced from the local farms. We made Split the base for the next 5 days. In addition to exploring the city of Split, we made trips to the beautiful island of Hvar, the UNESCO heritage town of Trogir, The Krka National Park and the Plitvice Lakes National park. The day trip to the the Plitvice Lakes National Park ,was by far, the one I was most worried about, given that it was a 3.5 hour drive one way, and then another two hours of hiking around the park, without a stroller. But I have to say, the kids made me really proud here. Rayan, specifically, was so excited by the aquatic life in the lake that for a major part of the trek, he was oblivious to the fact that we had left his stroller at the base, as he got busy pointing out, “Mama….look fishie…..look fishie..”:) 

Croatia has the absolute best ‘gin’ based summer cocktails…in terms of local fare, the “Brodetta” (Dalmatian stew) and “Peka” were our favorites. The beaches are gorgeous pebbled beaches (so having tight fitting water shoes handy can be a blessing here).

We often get asked, how we manage long flights, road trips and multi destination travel itineraries with two kids in tow. Let me start by saying that once the travel plans are set in motion, it really isn’t as hard or challenging as it seems, when you are just thinking about it. Also we do not micromanage our travel plans. Of course, we always have basic stuff planned for in advance like flight bookings, lodging etc as well as overall timelines in a multi destination itinerary. However we never plan apriori or in too much detail, what we will be doing on specific days of the trip. We keep drive times/train rides limited to a max of 4 hours or less per segment. And every afternoon we make sure we have some time set aside for some water fun, be it a trip to the beach or the  kids just lazing around in the pool. Both our kids are water babies, and it’s not too difficult to keep them engaged in sight seeing or other activities that 'D' and I enjoy,  as long as they have ice creams, a boat ride,  the pool or the beach to look forward to later in the day. Lodging wise, we made sure we had picked high rated apartments with ocean views for our stays in Dubrovnik as well as Split. This ensured there was enough space for us to spread out and  there was always a gorgeous balcony with an ocean/lake view to come back to, at the end of the day, and relax with a book/ a glass of wine. We used Booking.com to book our lodging and picked ocean view apartments with a rating of at least 9.0/10 (with at least 300+ reviews). This seemed to work really well for us.

By the way, ‘D’ and I , who before the kids, would travel with two huge suitcases for just one week long trips, managed to make this two week trip with just one small and big suitcase between the 4 of us. That’s quite an achievement, given my past inability to travel “relatively” light. And then of course,  it’s super fun too see that the kids enjoy the exposure to a wide variety of cuisines  in all such trips!! When coming to food, Raya is the more conservative and change resistant of the two kids. Little boy Rayan is quite the explorer in this regard. Rayan , after getting back from Croatia, on being asked what he wanted to eat for dinner, promptly replied, “ Octopus” ! LOL

This summer , we also made a short late summer trip to Asheville, NC…quite a gem out there in the south , in the Blue Ridge Mountain valley, with a great music, food and art scene.

So overall, it was a fantastic summer. Raya is back in school. Second grade already and turning 7 next week! Rayan is back to day care and enjoys being around the teachers and friends during the day. 

Little man Rayan(all of 2.5 years now)  is also turning into quite a hilarious little guy. A few weeks back after getting back from Europe, at the breakfast table, I was asking Raya where her summer camp field trip was….our little man did not even wait for her to reply…and quickly pitched in with his two cents …”Mama I am going to Amsterdam and Crosia “(At this point of time, he has an atypical accent that makes 'Croatia' sound like 'Croasia':). All the football fever in Croatia also got to the little man….and every time now, on tv, when he watches a game of football, tennis or any sport for that matter, he loves using the phrase, “Oooo Baba, that was close!” . His other favorite phrases are “Finito”…. and “That makes sense, Mama?”/“That makes sense Baba?” , which he uses sometimes in the funniest of contexts.

So that was the Summer of 2018(which included some quality time with the both sets of grandparents, in addition to travel fun)!! 

Leaving you with few a travel snapshots…May the wanderlust in you thrive and flourish!