6.01.2009
5.29.2009
i've got my iphone hooked up to my blog again now so now posting images to my blog is as easy as snap and send. woohoo. that means you'll be seeing a lot of useless images in the near future. aren't you excited? i haven't figured out how to add captions either so in addition to being useless, the pictures will have absolutely no context. lucky you. i wish i could read blogs like mine.
so what do you do when you have 8 lbs of cherries? you make cherry everything. cherry ice cream is where we started. it's a pretty simple recipe that is essentially vanilla ice cream with cherry puree mixed in. for the added cherry kick we cut up cherries into chunks and threw them in on top. we've sampled but not truly tasted the final product. it's in the freezer waiting for a "dessert party" next wednesday. yes, you read right. you can comment and make fun of me. i will be attending a "dessert party" and that too on a wednesday.
5.26.2009
today was a step forward for me in a way that many of you may see as being negligible. i admit, before today, i probably felt the same way. over the past few weeks i've been researching cars. i was looking for a car that would bring back what i was missing with my civic - small, zippy, fun. i also wanted to venture out of my comfort zone and get a manual transmission car. for so long, i've been living in the comfortable world of automatic transmissions. 3 pedals? you crazy? it should be as simple as gas and brake, gas and brake, gas and brake. where'd the haddi in the kabob come in - clutch. but lately, it's become more and more intriguing - not so much because of the transmission itself but because of the challenge. it's a challenge which i've been shying away from for years - so at a time when i've been losing motivation elsewhere - why not pick up something to get me going again?
5.07.2009
1000 words a day.
4.23.2009
3.20.2009
we're back. we arrived back in san francisco on the 21st of february. and so comes to an end an amazing chapter in our lives. more to come.
1.04.2009
As our time here in India winds down, Sumaiyya and I have come out to Darjeeling to enjoy the winter holidays. We've found it very comforting in these hills, with little to do, to take time to reflect on the amazing graces that God has showered on us - enabling us to travel extensively throughout the past year. We've seen so much history, culture, color, life, and more that we'll never forget. In our minds, India will never be the same. Long gone is the time when we thought of India as a 2 month fun filled summer vacation destination. Many of the things that bothered me about India and Indians back then I understand now. I realize why Indians are the way we are. I understand their needs and happiness more thoroughly. I have been lucky enough to explore these needs both in my personal as well as professional time.
In addition to learning about the general Indian public, I've also had the opportunity to learn about how Indians work. Don't get me wrong - Google is Google and anyone who has seen the Bangalore office can attest to that. The culture is very similar yet there are certain cultural nuances which give the office its own flavor. I won't discuss those here because some of them may be corporate identity observations. Suffice it to say, I'll never be the same after working with the people I've worked with in Bangalore.
Many of my posts early on were humorous in nature. A few detailed gripes that I faced day to day. I stopped writing a few months into my stay. Looking back, I realize that I stopped writing when everything became routine - when I felt normal living in Bangalore. I didn't take time to reflect on my travels in words as the pictures I took (or Sumaiyya took) really did speak those thousand plus words. There's a story behind each of those pictures that I would love to sit and tell you. Many of them will be "toothbrush" stories - the family knows what those are - but many of them could be stimuli for great discussions.
As I sit here in Darjeeling, in this wood walled hotel room, I can't help but wonder what life would have been like - what would I have been like - if I had decided to scrap my Bangalore plans a year back. What would I be doing right now? What would I have to reflect on? I thank God for giving us this wonderful opportunity and I know that in a year, in five years, in ten, and God willing beyond, I'll look back on this blogpost and remember how I was feeling while writing it. I pray that all of you are happy and well. God willing I'll be seeing you soon.



