"Hello, we are a party of 7 and would like to inquire about a cabin for the week of July 2 to July 5 - Amit"
"Dearest Amit, We are sorry but we are booked for that weekend - XYZ"
50 such conversations later.... came the most beautiful response.... "we do have cabins for the period"...10 more back and forth emails and the deal was a seal.....
And out came the icebox, the grilling tools, the grocery lists, to-dos.... Stuffing all that in the back of the car, shaking the last bit of sleep from the spines, the Septet headed towards Acadia... for a symphony with the nature...
Guzzling down coffee at Dunkins, fighting for our right to buy some spirits and hogging icecreams like theres no tommorrow, we made our way into Acadia. Several wrong turns later finally we made it to the Cabins. Nestled next to the Bay, nice, cosy, comfortable... the cabins made for an ideal gateaway...A nice long lunch, followed by a lazy stroll in Bar Harbor and the Acadian spirit set in....
Back to the cabins and out came the grilling tools.... the marinated food...Armed with freshly blended Margaritas, an awesome night out in the open night sky commenced... perfectly warmed by the fire of the grill...When I was talking to the owner of the cabins earlier in the day about the lack of light outside the cabins, she started lecturing me about a concept of light pollution... when I told her I did not know what she was talking about she gave me a look as if I was the dumbest person around... the look which I have not received in a while since completing my engineering... well good thing was no one was around her antique shop, to magnify my dumbness.. she proceeded to tell me what light pollution was all about... and why the lights used in Acadia are designed so that they don't block the natural light...
All that talk made sense.. when I just took one glance at sky above... And mind you... just two glasses of Margaritas and one glass of coconut rum and orange juice don't make you start seeing things....Well that did not stop me from singing Twinkle twinkle little star... Salman Khan style from Maine Pyar Kiya....The black veil of the night... adorned by zillion sparkling jewels.. each shining brighter than the other.... watching them.. talking with friends... you never know when seconds get converted to minutes and minutes to hours... And when the clock struck 1 AM did we realize that we had an appointment with Mr. Sun at 4 AM at Cadillac Mountains.... Most of the group decided to catch some sleep before then.. But since I being the propagandist of the entire sunrise watching on our itinerary.. I knew that once I crashed on that Bed... My appointment is gonna be rescheduled to noon... where in I wont be able to look eye to eye to Mr. Sun... literally... who goes gazing at the Sun in the noon??? So a couple of my friends and myself decided to go by the bay and light ourselves a nice cozy campfire to spend the couple of hours and continue our tryst with the beautiful night.. As if to compliment our chivalry the stars started playing games for us... I have never ever seen shooting stars...in "pooooore hosh aur awaaz"... the effects of the blended spirits had disappeared by then.... The melodious sound of waves silently crashing onto the shore... a light breeze just tickling by your ears... and vast horizon to gaze at... with a crackling fire to give you company... it struck 3 AM and time to wake the lazy bones from their bunkers...
The drive to Cadillac Mountains is as if you are driving into the heavens... curly winding narrow road...clouds next to you... with a hint of orange on the horizon...And then we waited and waited and waited... for the first sunrise in the USA... watching over a vast expanse of water of the Atlantic... small islands dispersed throughout.. into the orange shade.... clouds travelling in all forms and shape...and then finally at 4:20 AM.... a tiny speck of bright orange came up... as if a celebrity makes an appearance on the red carpet.... well in this case it was a white carpet of the clouds... but you get it right?? But it was the most beautiful view I have seen in a long long time... One South Asian was so delighted he started clapping... stupid as it may seem... one must see it for themselves to believe why he clapped.. why we did not sleep through the night just to be there... gazing at a spectacle, a phenomenon which keeps happening every day.. Satisfied with our expedition we made it back to the cabins and crashed until noon...
After a hearty breakfast we made our way to Schoodic which is a separate part of Acadia National Park... This is a peninsula.. home to the crashing surf of the atlantic... Whilst we were watching the waves come crashing onto the rocks... we saw another beautiful sight... a pair of dolphins playing in the water.. up and down.. round and round.... another beautiful surprise, a gift of nature.... Beholding those playful images we went back, to another round of grilling, frisbee and volleyball... today however the sky was cloudy and not a single star could be seen on the horizon... despair not.... there were zillions and zillions of fireflies spread across the lawn in front of our cabins... as if the veil had fallen down from the skies... and the silver jewels replaced by bright yellow ones... moving around excitedly... Popping open bottles of champagne, by the crackling campfire.. each one of us sat there.. listening quietly to the waves and remembering the beautiful images... until the party was broken by howling wolves... and the sounds of bell ringing from far away... well kind of creepy to send most of the group scampering back to the safety of their beds... well if the sound came from nearby I would have scampered too... nonetheless.. seeing them scamper away I made my way back and bid farewell to another beautiful night...
So goes the rendezvous... tons of beautiful images.. which one cannot always capture in their digicams... but to recollect them...one needs to close their eyes and reminiscence...
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
And the Eagle soared the Poconos
Trudging home from the daily routines and the phone rings….” Hello… whts up… whts the plan for the long weekend… nothing yet…. Wanna come to the poconos…. “ You bet I want to….. downloading my “munni badnams, sheilas jawanis, dhink chikas, tinku jiyas” I was ready to hit the road…. Driving my way out of Massachussets into Rhode Island…. I reached my first pit stop.. connecticut…. Picked up my friend and back on the road into New York to Pennslyvania…. That’s right 4 states in one trip…
As the hunger set in decided to take a break on one of the exits… fueled up the car and drove the car into a McDonalds. The M sign which we all know so well, was blazing in its full glory… so obviously it is open right… naah…. As soon as I enter…they turned off that yellow shining M sign.. full on popat…. Anyways… poor hungry soul.. back on the road…
The thing with cabins in the woods and the GPS is that they don’t like each other that much… as soon as you get off the main road… the nice sweet little voice of the GPS lady starts screaming at you…. Recalculating… after a while she is so fed up of finding the route… I am sure she must be giving me her choicest of good words… lucky for us this time we did not end up on the gates of a cemetry… the village roads in the night are awesome…. Dark night…. Headlight beaming straight up… creating a halo in the emptiness.. the twist and turns of the snaking road…. Ekdum bhoot ka picture types… suddenly a rodent crosses the path… a deer hops in the woods… scared by the sudden disturbance to his peace… bloody tourist he must be saying…. Finally after a tons of calls, gps lady fun and iphone maps we finally made it to our cabin.. to a welcoming sound of the stream flowing nearby…
Next day was reserved for enjoying the bustling white waters of the Lehigh river…. Class 3 rapids.. with no guides on our rafts…. It was like “Sindabad the sailor chala mere yaaro sunlo sunlo”…. Only difference was Sindabads naav was going in circles and lefts and rights…. We finally managed to keep the nose of our raft in one direction... I am still amazed as why no one from our raft fell in the water…. We got so professional in the end that instead of avoiding, we aimed for one rapid which was between two rocks and got through it without getting stuck, or falling off… 12 miles of paddling and I could realize that I had arms and legs and a torso…. back to the cabins….back to melodious sound of the stream…and grilling fish… and jack daniels and the old monks…
Paintballing on Sunday…. Amazing setup … the bullets come whizzing at you and when they get you they really do…. It hurts ouch…. I was also reprimanded for taking my googles off on the battle field… the guide took off the nozzle of my gun and made me sit out for a game…. Dicto school types… where time was spent less on the benches.. more facing the walls, or outside the classroom…. With everyones heart content with shooting … it was time for more of the heavenly spirits and the mutton currys…..
Monday morning was time where everyone went along their merry way…. I decided to visit the Bushkill falls in Stroudsbourg before heading home… and then suddenly… awakened the Eagle…. Subdued for so long… its wing’s clipped…. Its heart fluttering desperately to be set free…..a twinkle in its eye… for it saw the sign for Skydiving…. Without hesitation the eagles car made way to the airstrip…. I was supposed to be the first one out of the plane… So I got in and was sitting near the exit.. when the plane reached 11000 feet altitude…. The guide who was sitting next to me just opened the damn door of the plane…. And there I was looking at the great expanse of the mountains of Poconos, the delaware water front, the blue skies….. 13500 feet… 60 seconds of free fall…. The moment you hang your legs out of the plane…. That is when you realize.. this is really happening… and then you just fly…With wings of happiness, thrill…. Like an eagle… soaring the skies in circles….
As the hunger set in decided to take a break on one of the exits… fueled up the car and drove the car into a McDonalds. The M sign which we all know so well, was blazing in its full glory… so obviously it is open right… naah…. As soon as I enter…they turned off that yellow shining M sign.. full on popat…. Anyways… poor hungry soul.. back on the road…
The thing with cabins in the woods and the GPS is that they don’t like each other that much… as soon as you get off the main road… the nice sweet little voice of the GPS lady starts screaming at you…. Recalculating… after a while she is so fed up of finding the route… I am sure she must be giving me her choicest of good words… lucky for us this time we did not end up on the gates of a cemetry… the village roads in the night are awesome…. Dark night…. Headlight beaming straight up… creating a halo in the emptiness.. the twist and turns of the snaking road…. Ekdum bhoot ka picture types… suddenly a rodent crosses the path… a deer hops in the woods… scared by the sudden disturbance to his peace… bloody tourist he must be saying…. Finally after a tons of calls, gps lady fun and iphone maps we finally made it to our cabin.. to a welcoming sound of the stream flowing nearby…
Next day was reserved for enjoying the bustling white waters of the Lehigh river…. Class 3 rapids.. with no guides on our rafts…. It was like “Sindabad the sailor chala mere yaaro sunlo sunlo”…. Only difference was Sindabads naav was going in circles and lefts and rights…. We finally managed to keep the nose of our raft in one direction... I am still amazed as why no one from our raft fell in the water…. We got so professional in the end that instead of avoiding, we aimed for one rapid which was between two rocks and got through it without getting stuck, or falling off… 12 miles of paddling and I could realize that I had arms and legs and a torso…. back to the cabins….back to melodious sound of the stream…and grilling fish… and jack daniels and the old monks…
Paintballing on Sunday…. Amazing setup … the bullets come whizzing at you and when they get you they really do…. It hurts ouch…. I was also reprimanded for taking my googles off on the battle field… the guide took off the nozzle of my gun and made me sit out for a game…. Dicto school types… where time was spent less on the benches.. more facing the walls, or outside the classroom…. With everyones heart content with shooting … it was time for more of the heavenly spirits and the mutton currys…..
Monday morning was time where everyone went along their merry way…. I decided to visit the Bushkill falls in Stroudsbourg before heading home… and then suddenly… awakened the Eagle…. Subdued for so long… its wing’s clipped…. Its heart fluttering desperately to be set free…..a twinkle in its eye… for it saw the sign for Skydiving…. Without hesitation the eagles car made way to the airstrip…. I was supposed to be the first one out of the plane… So I got in and was sitting near the exit.. when the plane reached 11000 feet altitude…. The guide who was sitting next to me just opened the damn door of the plane…. And there I was looking at the great expanse of the mountains of Poconos, the delaware water front, the blue skies….. 13500 feet… 60 seconds of free fall…. The moment you hang your legs out of the plane…. That is when you realize.. this is really happening… and then you just fly…With wings of happiness, thrill…. Like an eagle… soaring the skies in circles….
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Trip down the memory lane....visit to the lovely Syracuse
As I turned on the ignition, pulled the car out of the parking space and made my way on to the 300 odd miles of I-90, I could not help but think about the alacrity with which the days disappear. A year back I was prepping up for the same day, walking my way to the dias, walking into a world made of equations full of variables and no constants.
The first day in the US, the orientation, the on campus job hunt... the groceries, the assignments and the grades... applications and rejections and rejuvenations.... the memories just flashed by... mile by mile... day by day....
The following goes out to the wonderful extended family... my friends
With each passing mile
Tons of memories pile
Roads once untrodden
Have become a beaten path
Anxieties, apprehensions were galore
Never had it in them to suppress the roar
Of friends and fun and frolic
Memories that have become a relic
With a glass in hand, toast in the air
Its time to let down your hair
Trips down the memory lane
Feels like drops of rain
After a dry parched summer
And everything looks like a bummer
Rejuvenating, revitalizing, reviving
Today the equations have changed and the variables even more complex..... broiling experiences to be cherished in the next trip down the memory lane
Khub jamega rang....jab mil baithenge teen yaar.... aap, mein aur _____________
The first day in the US, the orientation, the on campus job hunt... the groceries, the assignments and the grades... applications and rejections and rejuvenations.... the memories just flashed by... mile by mile... day by day....
The following goes out to the wonderful extended family... my friends
With each passing mile
Tons of memories pile
Roads once untrodden
Have become a beaten path
Anxieties, apprehensions were galore
Never had it in them to suppress the roar
Of friends and fun and frolic
Memories that have become a relic
With a glass in hand, toast in the air
Its time to let down your hair
Trips down the memory lane
Feels like drops of rain
After a dry parched summer
And everything looks like a bummer
Rejuvenating, revitalizing, reviving
Today the equations have changed and the variables even more complex..... broiling experiences to be cherished in the next trip down the memory lane
Khub jamega rang....jab mil baithenge teen yaar.... aap, mein aur _____________
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