Riding the train of my thoughts

Friday evenings are beautiful, you have the promise of the whole weekend ahead of you. Friday evenings are also dreamy where you don't have to keep applying the brakes on your thoughts and force yourself to stay focused on the next task to be accomplished. Sitting here I think of the question a work colleague posed to me when we briefly talked about my vacation in December. She asked me if I vountarily came back. Now for a split second my mind raced through all the great times I had during my vacation and I was at a loss on what should be an honest answer from my side. It was clear that a part of me wanted to stay back home and a part of me wanted to come back  home. Home as in both India and Germany!!! I don't know if she quite understood that. Anyway the meeting went well and on the walk back to my office I continued to ponder on that thought. Well, and today being Friday evening I continued to ride that train of my thoughts. For the sake of this post I will get off the train at a station called Kollur.

A place I had the chance to go back to, once again last December. Kollur is home to the famous  Mookambika temple which dates back in time to more than 1200 years.It was fascinating to soak in the sights around the temple and inside. The long colorful and fragrant flower garlands eagerly waited to adorn the Gods.

The sculptures and statues were elaborate and grand, drenching in a shower of ancient folklore. The paintings on the walls looked very symbolic with a very specific kind of style that I have not seen elsewhere.

 A scene that will stick in my mind's eye is of this cow quenching its thrist from the taps installed in front of the temple.

A great trip and some great memories too!!

Multitude of hues and colors

Its vacation time in India and I wish there was more time in a day to absorb the multitude of sights, the sounds, the colors, the smell of the place, the crowds of people. I felt that I have been using a lot more of my senses in the last few days than ever before.

So much to absorb and take in at every nook and corner of every street and side road. Little bunny points to each and everything and brings up an association to what she knows and understands and comes up with interesting comparisons.

Loved drinking the water from the very tender coconuts, actually something that I look forward to everytime I am here and plan to consume a lot more during the rest of our vacation.

I promise myself not to get paranoid everytime I see a speck of dust on the kids fingers but then I keep breaking my promise. Well, well welcome to India, amazing India!!! Some pics here and many more to come.

Distant past, not really

It seemed like its been ages since our June vacation visiting family in the US. Especially with the sudden dip in the hot summer humid weather here in the last days, I was more than once reminded of the perfect weather we had during our vacation.

Most of the time the kids were in the backyard, even setting up camp in the garden and enjoying nice big pieces of fresh watermelon.

Little bunny had such a roll with her cousins. Today when she started singing the song from Big Time Rush which she had learnt from her cousin brother I knew that the vacation was definitely not something from the distant past for her. The song has some nice lyrics too, especially like the part which goes like:

Go and shake it up What you gotta loose, Go and make your luck with the life you choose

If you want it all, Lay it on the line.It's the only life you got,So you gotta live it big time

You can find the complete lyrics here.

Food

Vacations are always a good time to reflect on things that sometimes you don't think about too much. Since the 25 May I am on vacation visiting my brother and family in the United States. I had a great time visiting Washington DC with the family and seeing some of the most amazing buildings and sights. Enjoyed some awesome food in some great eats in the city. Talking about food, every now and then my mind keeps wandering back to this art piece at the National Mall in Washington DC. Now I don't consider myself a serious meat eater but I do enjoy an occasional indulgence every once in a way. But this trip for various reasons have gotten me to think seriously about the whole affair with the kind of food we put into our mouths. Even thinking about where your food comes from and what kind of processing happens before it is presented sometimes can trigger a lot of mixed emotions that is not always appetizing.

Post vacation blues

Really wish vacations lasted for ever. The week spent in the Czech Republic was gone in no time. Guess that's what happens when everyday is packed with different activities. Now it is back to the grind but everytime I sit down I think about the last week. Missing the snow capped mountains, missing the long walks in the Sumava National Park, miss the yummy hot gulasch soup, miss making snow cakes with little bunny and missing the huge spread for breakfast and dinner. Need to definitely go back there soon!

Skiing in Železná Ruda

On vacation in the beautiful region of Zelezna Ruda in the Czech Republic. It is white all around me. Yeah the place is surrounded by snow capped mountains and fir trees whose branches are drooping low heavy with snow. Its plain beautiful! Today was a big day for little bunny and me. We received our first ski classes for the week.

The instructor said that bunny was the coolest three year old he had met.

She was scared but at the same time paid careful attention to what her teacher explained. She definitely will be good at it if she gets more practice. I fell couple of times but all bones are intact for today.

My ski instructor told me that I definitely need to build some leg muscle :-)

Unplugged from the world

It is Friday night (18Sep2009), another half an hour to go for midnight. Actually seem to be in the middle of nowhere. A quaint chalet in the middle of the blackforest. Am waiting for the clock to strike 12:00 so that I can wish hubby dear a wonderful birthday and then climb into bed beside little rabbit and bunny who are already fast asleep. This midnight tradition has been our thing for the last 10 years. Anyway I guess I will be publishing this post only on Monday when i am back to civilization back home :-)
Yeah there is absolutely no access to the internet here, our blackberries dont work here. Wow it has been a long time since we went to a place where we did not have connection to the rest of the world. Feels interesting actually. This place was a complete surprise for hubby dear, he had no clue where we were heading towards when we started from home. When the roads got narrower and narrower and the sun already set he was not too sure if he wanted his surprise, neither me actually. But when we finally reached this place and checked it out we were smiling again. Plan to take pictures of the place and will post them too.