Tomorrow has come, Today

Friday, September 29, 2006

Heroes of Our Time

I'm not talking about the real kind of heroes that we hear about daily in the news; “2 year old saves doll from raging fire” or even “Man risks life to save cat” No, I'm talking about the sudden wave of super-heroes making their way into our homes via the media ... (Think- travel through fiber optic cables!)

What I like about these 'powers' is that they actually explain the how's and whys as opposed to the 'miracles' that occur now and then in the REAL world! (Hows that for being self-absorbed?!) Doesn't it make sense?- A few gazillion decades or so down the line, wont we as humans evolve ('cos the process is THAT slow!)? I'd settle for less body hair for a start! :-D

Another theory is that of cellular regeneration. Now this 'big word' is the root cause of the 'abilities' that the heroes of these myriad shows pocess. Some of which I'd not mind having... the ability to 'teleport' (another fancy word for 'travel-in-the-blink-of-an-eye') oneself to anyplace.

I think back to when I was growing up, the one power I would have loved to have was to be invisible. (I'd rather not have you guess as to why!) I loved cartoons and the “Bionic 6” was my favorite. It was about this family of 6 (duh!) who were ...well... bionic (double-duh!) Err, I guess it was a simpler time when the name gave away everything unlike now when we have movies like “Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind” (What the heck does that tell the to-be-viewer!?)

These stories stretch my imagination. (Some people may say its already stretched to the point it cannot swing back to normalcy, but thats not the point!) Now, if I could choose, I'd settle for the power to just have myself in 2 places at once; one of me at work and another whiling her time away, lost in a world of imagination ... flying high with the other heroes of her day. Not necessarily saving people or averting crime, after all since its in my imagination, heroes have the right to their days off too!

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Where'd you go? I miss you so ...

Its been a few months since I flew back from Anchorage and friends have asked me why I havent taken the time to write about it?

For the first few weeks I felt that I wasnt back home yet... it was almost like the home-sick feeling I got when I was first left on the hostel courtyard watching my Mom and Aunt walk away on the first dayof college.(That feeling was fleeting as I met them in a few hours, since my Aunt lived a few miles away!) But Seattle did not feel like my home anymore, it felt like I'd left my REAL home behind in Alaska.

I'm not even going to TRY to describe the landscape of the state.Whatever you have heard, read, seen in documentaries, book and pictures can not do it justice. When you climb upto and onto a glacier ice field, time does stand still. (Or maybe that was my watch battery running out...! Eitherways, it was deathly quiet until I decided that I would wear my sandals instead of hiking boots (since it looked sunny) and jump across 2 ft deep pools of melting glacial water! Going into the cavernous ice caves and whispering so as "not-to" cause the razor sharp icicles to pin us down took some effort on my part... the ice blue color is still vivid in my mind (and my digital camera memory stick)

I loved the idea of the 22+ daylight hours Alaska enjoys. The boundless energy it gave me compared to the no-effect-on-sleep it had on hubby! I was more restless than usual in the evenings. Hubby had to force me to relax by the fires we built, after scavenging for firewood along the Teklanika river. (He literally had to drag me bythe waist once when I caught sight of a campers stack of firewood!)Sweet corn never tasted so sweet until it was blackened by soot from the fire and spiced with cayenne from the pepper spray we'd bought to ward of bears! (Testing it caused my eyes to sting for hours... We'd forgotten to factor in the fact about wind-direction!)

And I thought I lived a simple life! The family in Joy, Alaska have a whole new definition for the word 'simple'. They moved to Alaska inthe 50's when they thought their children were troubled by 'normal' lifestyles. They couldn't have picked a better place.... You could get lost searching for trouble here! We spent some time with them on our way to the North Pole, they told me I looked like their adopted-Indian daughter. (I wondered if they could really pick out their kids from acrowd since they'd adopted 45 of them in a span of 30 years!)

That trip was a learning experience! Though hubby was visibly shocked to see the lack of 'the white stuff' at the North Pole, it thrilled us beyond measure when we felt the solid ice below the 6 inches of top-soil we were standing on. (Little wonder it was so spongy to walk on!) The Transatlantic Pipeline brought a whole new wave of people to Alaska and it was built with the outmost care so as not to disturb the delicate ecosystem of the place. I think they did a good job! At times it is difficult to spot the pipline from a mile or so away, as it blends into the brush and vivid fireweed of the tundra.

"Beary good bears!", is what I expected the Punjabi couple in our group to say when they ooh-ed and aah-ed over the mother bear and her 3 cubs. Boy! Did we waste a whole lotta time reading up on 'What to do if a bear ...?" They seemed almost unaware that humans existed!(Though I bet this was just after a feast of those huge salmon in theYukon river followed by luscious berry's for desert! Produce is abundant in every sense of the word here!) Oh and picture of the bears here isnt mine. (I was staring too intently at em to take a picture!)

My constant, "I hope we spot some bears" was soon replaced by, "Ok, so what else is new" afterthe 15th bear sighting in 3 days! Add Dall Sheep (not Daal), Moose(Yes, they ARE dangerous and huge!), Numerous kinds of animal which I can only define as "Deer", Artic Squirrels (not white please, if you thought along the lines I did!), humongous crows (I think they were called Ravens), Wolves and oh, did I mention bears, it was a veritable safari trip hiking in Denali.

Oh and we were'nt fortunate to see Denali in all its splendor, though we could see what the hype was about. (I refuse to refer to it as Mt McKinley, turns out this McKinley dude went ahead and named it after himself for no apparent reason! He hadn't even scaled it once!)

So what made me write all this now? I figured I'd better do it before I forget the details that made the trip so memorable. Like how it was hubby's chore to first figure out how to and then empty the 'waste' at the hookup stations for the RV each time! I ought not to talk bad about good ol' Winne (yeah, a not-so-original nickname for a Winnebago!) since she afforded us the luxury of choosing our picnic and rest stops with ease- On the banks of the Kenai River one day, the Alaskan Range the next and waking up to the sounds of the seagulls gliding along the waters of Portage bay.

I don't know whether to feel happy that there is still such a place,with its amazing landscape, rich culture and simple people so untouched, or sad that theres so few like it left ... If you haven't been to Alaska yet, I envy the journey that you have yet to seek ...

Friday, September 22, 2006

Lights, Camera, Action!

The Theater- The Glitz, The Glamor and The People... And I'm not even talking about the actual show yet!

Back stage
So after weeks of making Hubby realise that The Theater doesnt always correspond to the Opera (I think this stems from the singers in his home), we manage to get tickets to the hot, Bombay Dreams.

Scene 1- Take 1 (Far away look with laptop on my lap)
Day before the show. I go online to print out tickets and happen to notice they have a 'suggested' dress code. 'Perferably no jeans' they say! I see Red Flags and sirens going off in my head.

Will this be the deal breaker for Hubby? ...........

Scene 2- Take 22 (Number of shirts and pants Hubby changed in and out of while in cavernous closet)
Hubby lost weight recently (a LOT of weight) No dress shirt (he has so few of em!) fits properly and no formal pant in sight! And considerig that his closet goes deeper than mine thats a mean feat.

Scene 3- Give or take a few stores (Looking sheepish in Seattle...)
At the Express. We cant deicde on a shirt. The black one with silver threads or the grey shiny one??? Thats when hubby points to the "Mens Section" and tell me what we are really here for.

Scene 4- Take 1 (Halleilujah, break out the wine, we've ALMOST found IT!)
At Macy's. Men's Section for sure this time! (Is that the latest skinny jeans I see in thaaat corner?) Hmmph, "How about this pastel purpley-pink shirt?" "What? Why? Its hip, its cool! And NO, its called METROsexual now!"

(A dozen takes later we both ooh and ahh over the SAME shirt, so its packed and taken to go immediately!)

Scene 5- Take 3 (Outfits I changed in and out of)
All ready and I say "Letsss goooo" and I see hubby in sweats and curry stained tshirt. He says he's wearing that to the theater. Oh-o what did I do to make him mad now? :(

Turns out he was only joking and was making a pesto-bagel sandwich for himself (Correction to script- PESTO stained tshirt! Yes, I AM a perfectionist sometimes...)

Scene 6- Take 1 (And its PERFECT)
The production was all and more than I'd imagined! The colors, the dancing, the voices and this time I'm talking about the cast.

Ofcourse the people were all gussied up too, but then again... we dont care for appearances MUCH do we? :-D

Scene 7- Take 1-to-go (And its a wrap! Well an Eclair more like...)
Went for dessert after the show. The best ones in town and boy was it yummy! Can feel seams of skirt bulging but that a topic for another day, another post...