Snowflakes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes...
...These are a few of my favourite things !

Innocent and Dreamy as it sounds, while one part of me was enchanted by the beauty of snow trickling down everywhere, another part of my brain was telling me that my toes were cold, very cold, almost numb. Snapping back to reality, I realised that the winds were howling up the mountain and visibility was down to zero. Inspite of the chilly breeze, I adjusted my gloves, pulled down my woollen cap, grabbed my poles, and started the descent down Spruce Mountain.

Although I have skied several times before, our trip to Vermont last weekend reminded me that this sport can teach you some valuable lessons, drawing an analogy to life, exemplifying life if I may...

Lesson #1 : Speed is thrilling, as long as you are in control
(and aren't heading for the edge of the cliff)

Lesson #2 : Don't take it too seriously, enjoy yourself
(but don't forget to slide off the chair-lift at the top of the mountain)

Lesson #3 : Don't fall !!!
(Okay, so this doesn't qualify as a life lesson... regardless its very important...only people who have fallen and tried to get up {aaarrrgh} know how important it is to stay on your feet, umm, ski's)

With this ski vacation we kept our pledge alive, improved our ski-skills, lost a couple of pounds, gained a few sore muscles and returned home with beautiful memories.

H2O

Pure Water, chemically H2O, is more synonymous with Hard2Obtain these days.

$7.99 read the label on the 8oz (250ml) bottle of "Spring Water", eight dollars?! Rs.360 ?! Stunned as I was, after a quick calculation of frugality versus thirst versus health, I opened the bottled and gulped it down in seconds. It was only then that I gave the situation a little more thought as I sat down in the hotel room overlooking the Hudson, on one of our overnight trips to New York City last year. Of course, the price we paid was partly owing to inadequate planning on our part, but hey, who knew that we would have to spend four times the cost of a crate of a dozen bottles on just one.

School taught us that water is one of most easily available, naturally-occurring commodities on our planet. Seventy-one percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water and it is sometimes also called "the water planet". So, how and when did we become slaves to these water purification and bottling systems?

Just a few years ago people would have scorned at the thought of paying money for drinking water. Yet today, most homes have some form of water purification system for drinking purposes. Our intrinsic concern for health forces us to make a choice, a choice which is safe and healthy, for us and for our family.

Our efforts to tactfully avoid water-borne illnesses lead us to trust labels which say "pure distilled water". Misleading labels and deceptive marketing strategies lure consumers into believing that bottled water is safer than tap water... which is true in most cases. However, there have been cases where bottled water has been unfit for drinking and has lead to an outbreak.

Nevertheless, water is the way to go, essential for human existence. Drinking water has numerous benefits, from digestion and metabolism to body cooling and even weight loss. After all, it is recommended that we drink eight to ten glasses of water a day for optimal health.

Wait a minute... if water is so polluted today... what about air ???

If we take a sneak peak into the future...
Do you think we will be installing oxygen filters into our homes?
Carrying air purifiers and oxygen masks in our backpacks?
Or buying O2 tanks when we go on our vacations?

Love Actually

Here's wishing a Happy Valentine Day (albeit belated) to all.

Valentine Day can be
....Beautiful for those in love,
....Depressing for those who have lost in love,
....Just-another-day for those who are single,
....Stressful for those who still need to ask her out
....And very lucrative for florists and restaurant owners.

However, personally I can't understand why its such a big deal. C'mon get over it, don't wait for that one day to profess your love or go on that fancy date... do it anyways !

Are we getting lazy?

...Or are we getting more efficient?

This is a question I have often asked in the past couple of years. This is not the typical procrastinator-couch-potato's lazy I'm talking about, its the one where we (which here refers to our generation) are being offered everything on a platter, a one-click byte-sized-platter.

Right from 24-hour online banking to 24-hour grocery stores, from home delivered pizza's to file-your-taxes-online, from e-commerce websites to match-making on the Internet, there are a plethora of examples out there which seem like a boon to the average individual. Is it really?

Further, I take this argument home, to India, where inspite of a steady rate of progress, a lot of systems aren't in place yet. One still has to go to the sabzi mandai (local produce market) to buy vegetables and one still has to stand in the queue to pay the electricity bill each month. Super-stop-n-shop-online and using credit cards to securely pay monthly bills is still a far cry for people there.

I have lived through both these "worlds" and that's what gets me thinking. I have to admit that I owe these conveniences and flexibility to technology and intelligent ideas and I truly cannot imagine life without them. Its an addiction for which rehab centres are in the process of "Coming Soon".

However, what are we doing with all that extra time we save? Are we really gaining efficiency?

We seem to be harnessing the true potential of the Internet, but at the cost of what? Are these point-and-click services severing human relations by replacing in-person with on-line?

Is technology replacing the otherwise active lifestyle we could have had? Do we have that maturity to embrace the technology and become competent enough to take on the responsibility we are being handed?

What do you think?

Winter Wonderland

Actually its more like, "Geez, I Wonder where the Winter went!?"

This winter has been rather bewildering for us in the northeastern part of the country. It ranged from being one of the warmest Decembers (the fourth-warmest according to statistics*) to one of the coldest Februarys in several years.

While avid skiers and snowboarders eagerly awaited the white powdery downpours and sub-zero temperatures in November, the weather-God's were leisurely enjoying the balmy breezes, scoring high with golf enthusiasts instead. It was not only disappointing for those who thoroughly enjoy the season, it was also unnerving for those who owned the Ski Resorts. They get about a third of their business from November through January, and this year seemed like they were getting no assistance from Mother Nature.

Not for long though! Come February and suddenly the mercury plummets, the wind starts biting and the freezing air blows mercilessly across the continent. It's here, it's cold, the cold winter is here. Not a big "yaay" factor with me because I categorize myself as more of a warm-weather person... but this time I welcomed it.

Friday evening was the first real snowfall of the season and with wide-eyed almost enchanted, magical wonder (yep, it happens every time) I watched the snow flakes glide lazily to the ground. I guess the child in me always gets excited at such flawless beauty and (inspired by Zach Braff from Scrubs) I immediately imagine myself out there, in the moon light, surrounded by the glistening snow, twirling with pleasure, arms outstretched, smiling, happy... very happy. I don't need moments of epic proportions, for me its these few moments of simplicity and beauty that remind me: eventually it's all worth it.


*Facts mentioned according to the government's National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.