Thursday, October 16, 2014

WiFi ties

Constant consultations with my psyche (my mishter) has bought me to learn something very realistic. In the age of WiFi  we are maintaining ‘WiFi relationships’. I mean wireless ties/radio alliances. For some basic reason I was made to understand, that when someone is upset or not in agreement with me or my behavior, they talk to a set of people… which makes me think, I don’t have that spark…which will make them talk to me as happily as he/she talks to them. When I proposed this behavior makes me Jealous my better half explained very justly. 

We always have some sort of wireless connections with the people with whom we have shared our lows in life. Somehow they are the ones with you always rest your head upon and contract comfort. It is because they were there for you in your unhappy times; they had unconditional affection for you even when you did not have an upper edge over the otherwise competitive world. They treated you the same when you failed, when you tripped or even when you were wrong. It is that progression of building a connection with them, which can’t be broken whether you are close of far away from them. That bond can never be disrupted
due to low connectivity. Customarily, it justifies why a child is more prone to talking to its mother. The unconditional love and nurturing makes you in sync with her. This can happen with fathers too I guess with times changing, this metaphor would also be applied to fathers!

Our friends are mostly the ones to know, dude this guy just needs to be listened to. No need to give suggestions, just a patient ear is enough for him/her. For instance, a 3 year old friend of my daughter… we stay in the same building. They happen to share the same school and same school van as well. Both her parents are working. She comes home to a ‘Maavshi’ whom I happen to know as well. That’s the best they can do for their offspring. So this baby  girl spends most of the time with the Maavshi, eats with her, sleeps to her gentle embrace and cuddles, eats to her dotingly served plate of food, takes comfort from Maavshi’s lap when the poor girl has fever or an upset stomach. In little girls brain…something has made her understand Maavshi will always be with her in thick and thins of life…she takes all her orders, looks forward to seeing her every day and confines more in her than her own parents. I have seen the little girl’s mother feeling left out, being jealous of all the attention and thunder the Maavshi steals away from her. When asked her who loves you the most…Mummy or Papa?…she very affirmatively answers…”Padmini Maavshi”!

Very aptly quoted``
“The ties that bind us are sometimes impossible to explain. They connect us, even after it seems like the ties should be broken. Some bonds defy distance, and time, and logic. Because some ties are simply… meant to be.”

M.G.
  
 

Monday, October 6, 2014

Trip from Sunnyvale CA to Yosemite

Last week I visited Yosemite valley with my family and I must say it is a wonderful place for vacation. Now I regret because I planned for only two days.
I started on Friday morning at 8:30 and I chose US101-CA152-CA41 because I planned to enter Yosemite from south entrance and spend some time in Mariposa grove. There was almost no traffic and with couple of stops it took me 4.5 hours to reach Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.
I did not find any parking in the Mariposa grove so the park volunteers asked me to drive to Wawona , park the car there and take the free park shuttle to come to Mariposa. The park shuttle was very comfortable and convenient.
Below are some pictures I shot in Mariposa with giant sequoia trees.










We did not have much time there so instead of walking (which would have been the best option) we took the tram tour, it was about 1hr 15 mins tour which covers major points of interest including all of the big sequoia trees in the grove.  Tram also stopped at few place where we could click some pictures with giant trees (as shown above). After finishing the tram tour we came back to Wawona, also known as Clark's station, where we parked our car, using the free valley shuttle and then drove to our hotel Yosemite view lodge which is near the west entrance of Yosemite valley. I must say that driving in the valley was not at all difficult (which I was thinking before coming to the valley).
We stayed in the hotel for the night. The hotel was two miles before the west entrance and was decent hotel. But I would personally suggest to stay within the valley, preferably in a tent. In morning we drove to Yosemite valley. The entire road was very scenic and we stopped at many places to click some snaps before we reached the Yosemite valley parking. This is the place where we should have stayed for atleast couple of days but we had only one day because we planned to drive back to Sunnyvale by evening. Anyway, it was very cold and the tram tour was not in operation so we again used the free valley shuttle to visit all the spots in the valley.
Below is the route map of the Yosemite valley free shuttle


I really like the free shuttle, we could get in and out of the shuttle at any stop. In our next visit , which we will plan soon, we will stay in the Curry Village (they have low cost tents) for at least four or five days. And every day we will go on some trail. I think this is the best way to enjoy the Yosemite valley.
We left valley and started back to Sunnyvale in evening and this time we chose CA-120.This route is more scenic and we exit from the west entrance of Yosemite valley. And I took about 4.5 hrs to reach Sunnyvale from this route also.

This trip was short but after this trip I realized that Yosemite needs at least a week to enjoy. Next time I will take a weeks off to visit the valley.

~Manish

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