Fall Colors

Detached Attachment

Nothing better describes the secret sauce for a happy life than the water droplets on a lotus leaf ..

An amateur attempt at capturing the beauty of the lotus leaf !

Artsy

Happy Happy birthday Krishna , Hope you had a blast :)!

 What Caterpillar calls the end of the world, the rest of the world calls it a Butterfly !

In the end, it is all a matter of perspective

While we cannot control others or given situations in life, 

What we can control is our perspective towards any given situation.

 While choosing a positive perspective in any given situation will enable us to deal with life's situations in an effective way;having an unique perspective towards any given problem/situation is the key to the ability to think outside the box or being creative.

From this below story we can see how Shankar's different perspective enables him to be creative and stand apart from the rest of the crowd. 

Once upon a time, there lived a young boy named Shankar. Unlike most boys of his age in his town Shankar had an immense interest in music. His talent became evident when he started to learn musical instruments like violin. Besides that, in his spare time he also wrote lyrics for songs. In fact, he was even good at composing his own pieces of music by mixing tunes of a couple of songs  of very different origin.Thus the inherent creative talents of Shankar became evident through his musical interests. Friends and strangers alike were enthralled by the tunes that Shankar played on his violin.Constant support and encouragement from friends and relatives motivated Shankar to come up with novel musical compositions.

Lost in Thoughts

 One day, Shankar picked up his violin and went to a scenic spot. He was lost in thoughts. As many might guess he was not thinking of any existing or new music compositions. His mind was instead preoccupied with thoughts of altering his violin to invent a new musical instrument that would enable him to come up with even more better and novel musical compositions.

Counted Cross Stitch and the Bhagavad Gita

Experiment with Counted Cross Stitch

Life is like a journey on a train. Be it a train like Hogward's Express or an ancient chariot driven by many horses, the journey is best experienced only when the vehicle is on it's track ;)!

Am sure knowing this truth was Arjuna's secret to success in his role as a warrior prince, and will be to any human being attempting to live in this modern world filled with challenges. The only difference being, not all may be as lucky as Arjuna to have Lord Krishna as their charioteer and have to instead only imagine his presence ;). 

Pura Vida The End ...

I felt like I learned a lot of lessons through observation during my Costa Rica volunteering trip in particular. I am tempted to jot down the lessons in bullets as below.

Life Lesson 1
Sunburn Experience
During surfing, my skin became terribly sunburnt. Even though I took the necessary precautions by applying sunscreen etc, my skin(especially near my shoulders) got terribly sunburnt

Lesson 1
Sunburns are not necessarily the best thing to experience. However, experiencing it without resistance would enable us to uncover the hidden positive end result in any situation; like in this case the appearance of new healthy skin after the ugly unhealthy old skin is peeled away.

Life Lesson 2
Carpentry Experience
While doing carpentry we were searching for a sharp pencil to make markings on the wood. However, all that we found was a blunt pencil. One of the fellow volunteers skilfully used the saw as a sharpener to sharpen the pencil.

Lesson 2.1
Make the most of existing tools by thinking of innovative ways to use a tool for a slightly different purpose. aka. TOOL REUSE

Wood Sawing Experience
To saw wood skilfully we had to make gentle and slow saw strokes initially. Once a groove is made in the intended marked position we can apply more pressure and draw swifter saw strokes to saw wood based on available time.

Lesson 2.2
To let the saw to do the work for us. aka KNOW YOUR TOOLS

Lesson 2.2.1
To be cautious at the start of any project with slow measured/calculated steps when unsure and later on proceeding with greater involvement depending on results obtained from initial steps. aka LEARN TO BE PRUDENT AS OPPOSED TO BEING IMPULSIVE/RASH.

Life Lesson 3
Bon Fire Experience
After reaching Costa Rica we saw the first sunset by the beach alongside a bonfire we had set up.
Must say, I could not help but observe the parallels between setting up a bonfire and successful team collaboration. It is a group activity that enhances team collaboration through its diverse tasks such as gathering wood, assembling it in a pile, lighting the pyre and continuously feeding/ flaming the fire by blowing air until the fire grows. It shows how great tasks cannot be achieved by just one person and that it requires a team of diverse people to get together to successfully accomplish any task. We worked together as a team to collect wood and splitting the other tasks amongst each other to get the bonfire started.

Lesson 3
TEAM BUILDING

Life Lesson 4
Zip-line Experience
The Experience: While on zip-line tour I met a fellow tourist who was also taking part in the zip-line adventure. However, he was fairly old and overweight as well and found it difficult to complete the zip-line tour; that he needed a guide to help him successfully complete the zip-line journey without difficulty. At the end of the line, I heard him say that he had been like a brave fool in trying out the zip-line adventure.

Lesson 4

 It is important to understand the fine line between bravery/foolishness.

Life lesson 5
Jaguar rescue center visit
The Experience:
We got a chance to visit the Jaguar Animal Rescue center. The guide showed us different species of reptiles, birds, and mammals. She also explained how the rescue center management "loved the animals enough to let them go" once the injured/diseased animals gained their health back.

Lesson 5.1
Love animals enough to let them free. This made me ponder on the truth of the statement of how letting loved ones be free to live their lives in their own terms is the highest expression of love as opposed to trying to set rules/ restrictions(thinking it is in their best interest) on what loved ones like children/ spouses/ close friends and relatives can do and cannot do.

Lesson 5.2
 We got to see a friendly deer(unafraid of humans) which cannot survive in the jungle on its own as it would be easy prey for hunters. This made me draw a parallel to the importance of prudence while making friends

 Life Lesson 6
Cleaning the Beach Experience
The Experience
 As part of the volunteering trip, we set out to clean a beach which was filled with plastic junk/rotting leaves and coconut shells.

Lesson 6
Environment friendliness. Got to observe the detrimental effects of only taking from any source. How giving back in this case in terms of service actually brings about inner fulfillment/ joy of accomplishment.

5 Ways to work with one you dislike

Stumbled upon this interesting article published in Times of India June 14 th edition. Thought would be a good idea to quote this article in my blog.

Am sure everyone working in today's corporate world would be able to relate to this post.

"5 Ways to Work with One you Dislike


1. Understand them
Instead of harping on the negative, focus on having a productive working relationship with the one you dislike. Closely examine the person and find ways of working with that person. The key is to understand the styles of others as well as being aware of your own style. Such understanding lays a solid foundation to develop mutual understanding and improves working effectiveness.

2. Build Trust
Try and be patient and tolerant. While dealing with people you do not like, always start with trust. It should not be blind trust, but one that fosters a productive working relationship.Small demonstrations of trust established over a period of time eventually lead to business success and development of strong relations that build dependability. The time will soon come when the person himself will start liking you.


3. Don't let dislikes rule
In life, you keep facing such situations that we need to handle with maturity and wit. You need to decide upfront whether it's a personal or professional association. If it's the latter, then you must be comfortable on the work front. So unlike in a personal relationship, a like or dislike should not be an important part of the equation.


4. Embrace Diversity
Working with people with different preferences, age groups, ethnic groups, personalities, working and communication styles is about embracing diversity. Working successfully with a diverse set of people is an important factor in modern workplaces. You must be comfortable with that if you wish to succeed.


5. Focus on Core Tasks
Likes and dislikes are usually temporary and change depending on the action taken. None of us has the luxury of working only with people we like. Instead of wasting precious time and energy, focus should be on the core tasks and completing them within the timeline."
                                                                                   - Source: Times of India News paper article!
                                    

 

Surfing and the game of life ...

Day 1: Sunday , the first sunrise we saw at Costa Rica

Surfing is one of the hardest sport to try. It is fascinating how parallels can be drawn between being  successful in Life and being successful in Surfing. Many virtues essential for living a good life are also needed to being good at the Surfing sport. 

Patience: It's a very hard sport to learn and could even be considered as a sport that would take a lifetime to learn. Ie. The level of pro cannot be reached within a set time limit unlike other sports. 

The more you surf, there is always something new to learn depending on the tide we encounter. 

Perseverance: Every body who tries to surf would fall the first time and umpteen times over. The ratio of successful surf could even be as bad as Thomas Edison's route to electricity discovery. i.e.: falling 1000  times and riding the wave succesfully just one time

Opportunity:  Part of the trick to successfully surfing is to wait patiently for the opportune/right wave to take the leap and attempt to surf without falling. 

Growth: The "right" wave could be compared to life's challenges or problems one can attempt to take or solve depending on one's maturity level. ie. An experienced surfer can leap on the big tides whereas a beginner would patiently wait for the smaller tides. 

Courage/ Ability to fight fears: The tides can be dawnting. Especially for a beginner who is not very familiar with swimming in the ocean. Part of the trick to success at learning to surf is to be unafraid/ avoid negative emotions such as fear of the rising tides/ fear of the unknown and taking the leap with mere trust in self.  

Practical experience:  No amount of reading alone would help one get good at surfing. No amount of training/ core conditioning/ practicing paddling on the board outside water would help as much as actually diving into the water with the board. The only way to successful surfing (just like life) is to actually take the plunge and DO it.

  

Risk: A high risk sport. Can fall off the board and sprain an ankle/ knee. The board can hit your head/cut your face. If the waters are too rough/ if we are in too deep we may even drown. 

Luck: Somedays the weather may just be plain bad with lot of high tides. This could even make it not possible to surf for the day/days in a row. Similar to life as to how we never know for sure if we will be alive the next day to get a chance to play the game of life :)!

 It is definitely not easy to understanding these realities , to accept them and keep going on and on !

But the reward, the sweet reward of doing so ................................  

  .........................is to discover your capability to Surf for Life ;).

Pura Vida! Aka 'Real Living' ....

On popular request am writing this real quick prelude post on my recent Costa Rican volunteering trip.
The trip has been the "Week of my Life" trip till date for several reasons which I will pen down in future posts soon.

However, the top most reason for me to make such a statement is mainly attributed to the wisdom/experience I feel like I gained from the trip. This below picture rightly summarizes the wisdom I gained from this memorable volunteering trip.

Wisdom from a Costa Rican Tree

Recapturing these above pearls of wisdom in case the lettering is not clear in the picture for chance blog readers !

Stand tall and proud

Sink your roots into the earth

Be content with your natural beauty

Go out on a limb

Drink plenty of water

Remember your roots

Enjoy the view!

And yea, the reason for such a short prelude post about such a super hyped trip that totally psyched me?
Hmm .. have 'nt you read about the profound statement made by great Shakespeare in Hamlet ~ one of the most powerful ancient plays?
                           
                              Well it goes something like this, and guess it makes a lot of sense too ;)

...................................................................Brevity is the Soul of Wit !!

Nurturing Girl Cells and Remembering the International Women's day

International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is celebrated today on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements. 

Watching this below video today in particular inspired me to write in this post in a spirit of remembering Women's day. This is one of those rare videos where am able to completely relate to each and every word of the speaker.


These below words in particular caught my attention!

Embrace your inner girl!
Embrace the Girl Cell which is a composition of compassion, empathy, passion, vulnerability, openness, intensity, intuition which is essential to balance, wisdom , which is in all of us, which is the future of all of us. 
Indeed compassion informs wisdom, 
Vulnerability is our greatest strength and 
Emotions have inherent logic which lead to radical appropriate saving action.
Capacity for girls to overcome situations and to move on levels is mind blowing! Being a girl is indeed so powerful!

I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE
I love being a girl.
I can feel what you're feeling
as you're feeling it inside the feeling before.
I am an emotional creature.
Things do not come to me
as intellectual theories or hard-shaped ideas.
They pulse through my organs and legs
and burn up my ears.
I know when your girlfriend's really pissed off
even though she appears to give you what you want.
I know when a storm is coming.
I can feel the invisible stirrings in the air.
I can tell you he won't call back.
It's a vibe I share.
I am an emotional creature.
I love that I do not take things lightly.
Everything is intense to me.
The way I walk in the street.
The way my mother wakes me up.
The way I hear bad news.
The way it's unbearable when I lose.
I am an emotional creature.
I am connected to everything and everyone.
I was born like that.
Don't you dare say all negative that it's a teenage thing or it's only only because I'm a girl.
These feelings make me better.
They make me ready.
They make me present.
They make me strong.
I am an emotional creature.
There is a particular way of knowing.
It's like the older women somehow forgot.
I rejoice that it's still in my body.
I know when the coconut's about to fall.
I know that we've pushed the earth too far.
I know my father isn't coming back.
That no one's prepared for the fire.
I know that lipstick means more than show.
I know that boys feel super-insecure
and so-called terrorists are made, not born.
I know that one kiss can take away all my decision-making ability
and sometimes, you know, it should.
This is not extreme.
It's a girl thing.
What we would all be if the big door inside us flew open.
Don't tell me not to cry.
To calm it down
Not to be so extreme
To be reasonable.
I am an emotional creature.
It's how the earth got made.
How the wind continues to pollinate.
You don't tell the Atlantic ocean to behave.
I am an emotional creature.
Why would you want to shut me down or turn me off?
I am your remaining memory.
I am connecting you to your source.
Nothing's been diluted.
Nothing's leaked out.
I can take you back.
I love that I can feel the inside of the feelings in you,
even if it stops my life
even if it hurts too much
or takes me off track
even if it breaks my heart.
It makes me responsible.
I am an emotional
I am an emotional, devotional,
incandotional, creature.
And I love, hear me,
love love love being a girl.

So true! Very well said Eve Ensler!

These below thoughts raced across my mind as I watched this video in total agreement. Well I am not afraid anymore to openly admit that there has been those

Days where I had not been comfortable with my emotionality. 

Days when my tears were washed away in restroom waters or wiped away secretly in my pillow at bedtime.

Days were I wished I was little more light hearted like I was told or expected to be. 

Days were I hoped that I could have cried little less and perhaps saved some energy over every real and imagined problem/hurt. 

Days that made me wonder what is all this intuition, passion, openness, intensity, empathy, compassion, vulnerability within me for. 

Am sure every girl out there would agree with me (atleast to some extent) on these above thoughts. But over these years as I travel a bit and see reality around me, listen to some heart wrenching stories of people around me and watch inspiring videos like the above one,  am indeed amazed at my ability to feel what other people feel whether or not I have directly experienced the same emotions. Am realizing these very qualities of a real girl are indeed her source of strength and not something to be embarrassed about.

Am glad have finally moved over my fears and am willingly admitting embracing the Girl Cells within me. 

Yes, This is indeed what makes 

the REAL ME !

Every girl a REAL GIRL! and ....

Every human being a REAL HUMAN BEING!

In fact, having tasted it's power I feel like going one step further now. I feel like nurturing these cells and hope they thrive and grow to become my entire being, nay the entire cosmos as opposed to just being a single chip/ cell within me :)!

This realization has indeed made me Awaken from the delusional expectation that some outside entity might come to turn every tear of mine into a smile or every dream of mine into reality. 

Must say, I value each and every tear drop I have had to shed in my life so far as much as I cherish the moments of laughter in my life. I understand it might be weird or frightening to value/cherish tear drops just as much as laughter. But the reward, the sweet reward of doing so ................................

 .........................is to discover your capability to convert every tear drop into a waterfall ;).

This one is for all those girls out there who have not realized the power of embracing their Girl Cells.
This one is for the few good men out there who have their inner Girl Cells activated.
This one is in the hope that every chance blog reader realizes the importance of nurturing their inner Girl Cells just like I did :).



Being a girl is indeed great since I know for sure that I can get away by writing such an honest open emotional post. In fact I may even be more appreciated than ridiculed by society for being open and emotional as opposed to these coming from a guy  ;)

And yea, a real girl knows that this one kiss can take away all her decision making capability and like Eve Ensler says it probably should! ;)

                                                             Happy Women's day folks! 

Paasamalar Times Aka Sibling bonding ...

Paasamalar was an old Indian movie depicting a lot of sentimental love between a brother and a sister. I would say, the amount of drama done by me and my brother in Austin,TX rightly earned us that title/nickname amongst his friends.

Am sure anyone with a genuinely loving sibling would agree with me on this one. Having a sibling is indeed a unique relationship. Especially if they are around a similar age group for the extent to which they can relate and unconditionally guide you.  I feel like sometimes we never realise or tend to take people who really care for us the most for granted. 

Of all the many many gifts my brother has unconditionally given me I feel like the words on this card below is what I would cherish the most :). I wish I had the bird feathers from the NCC cap he had saved for me in the tiffin box way back home.But I do remember vividly the day he handed them to me after returning from the rigorous camp.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder who has been a better sibling between the two of us.

I feel at times our genuine love towards each other has sometimes even gotten our parents jealous ;) . I feel like I am blessed with a brother who has been more than a brother any sister could have ever dreamed of and sometimes I do not even know if I truly realise the difference his presence has truly made in my life.

I feel like inventing this below quote now :)

Behind every successful sister there is an even more successful brother saying she is wrong

And since these words are coming from the sister am sure the brother would magnanimously correct the statement like below ..
Behind every successful brother there is an even more successful sister saying he is wrong :P .

I am writing this post in a spirit of brotherly love for Valentines day. And yea, I do take the pleasure of embarrassing him many times  ;). But hey, what else are sisters for :P.

Dear brother,
This might sound silly, and I know I might have said/done real mean things to you, not realising your value. But all I can say is I find it hard to thank you/appreciate you for the little things that you say and do for me. I may loose the ipod you gave me long back but the words "Apple of my eye" engraved in its back, will be engraved in my memory for ever.  I hope to never take you for granted ever.Am glad am finally getting to write this post out :).
                                                                                                             As Always
                                                                                              A silly loving little sister :)

Sense and Sensibility : Adam & Eve in prospect

The Karnaugh map (K-map for short) is a method to simplify Boolean algebra expressions. The Karnaugh map reduces the need for extensive calculations by taking advantage of humans' pattern-recognition capability, also permitting the rapid identification and elimination of potential race conditions.

I am starting this post with a definition of K-maps to give some context about a recent blog post written by a friend, which compared the Boolean states of variables used in  K map to the bread winning(1) and homemaking(0) roles that Adam and Eve would play in their family lives. The short gist of the long post was that couples would evolve and transit across these states 00 01 11 10, ie. end in a state where Eve would be the bread winner and Adam would be the homemaker of the family. 

The blog post was probably attempting to solve the equation of happy marriages (analogous to Boolean Algebra Expressions) by assigning Boolean values to roles Adams and Eves would play after marriage.

Link to post if interested :) 

Whether or not the above post made logical sense to me, I must say that I admired the creativity involved in tying together boolean algebra concepts with the views of how relationships would be in the future. I feel like if this Adam indeed followed the words in his post he would end up being a frustrated/grumbling homemaker ten years down the lane, only to see all his cherished career dreams crushed and probably pining over children who have outgrown their childhood lives and have instead moved on with their own adult lives. 

With these thoughts I am tempted to redefine the Boolean states as below with genuine hopes of sharing my 2 cents worth realisation on relationships.

True state(1):

Adam(1)

 With all due respect, the well meaning friend was probably writing the post in a great spirit of feminist liberation. I am tempted to define such kinds of "Modern" Adams as "Adam: the extreme feminist" or 1 or true state! :)

 False state(0): 

In my recent trip to India I overheard this below conversation in a temple premise in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. I am sharing this to introduce the other kind of Adams  "Adam: the anti-feminist" or 0 or false state! :)

 Adam(0) : Sir, I am looking for a bride for my friend. He has a good job and earns pretty well.

Foo : Wow, good for him. So what kind of bride are you looking for your friend.

Adam(0) : Sir, nothing in particular. A girl(raised like the little one on left) preferably NOT educated more than 10 std or high school would be an ideal bride for my friend. 

I was passively hearing this conversation and must say that I was really tempted to ask whether the anti-feminist Adam was indeed looking for a bride for his friend or for a maid to only raise a family and do household chores. However being aware of the attitude of people in rural India to some extent I decided to keep mum and not let my mind wander away from peaceful thoughts of god at the temple :). I instead felt obligated to thank my stars for not being raised in such an environment.

Now, having redefined the Boolean states lets go back to our initial definition of K maps.  The word "race condition" in the above definition caught my attention in particular and the following realisation dawned to me. These below questions raced across my head first before leading me to my refreshed sense of realisation :)

• In the modern world are Adam and Eve delusion-ally running some sort of race between themselves as to who is better or who is one level up in the relationship?

• Do they even realise that this unwitting race could potentially be destroying the happiness in their romantic lives analogous to the cliche of "falling" in love rather than "rising" in love ?

•  Can Adam handle/feel non-threatened by a prospective Eve who may be as good as or maybe even better than him in the professional arena? 

•  Can Eve handle/feel non-threatened by a prospective Adam who maybe as good as or maybe even better than her in child rearing/cooking/homemaking arena?

With these questions in mind the "don't care" condition (defined as below) concept of K-maps crossed my mind and I realised a possible solution to this issue had struck my mind.

K maps also allow easy minimisations of functions whose truth tables include "don't care" conditions (that is, sets of inputs for which the designer doesn't care what the output is). They are usually indicated on the map with a dash or X. 

This in turn made me imagine the possibility of WHAT IF the roles of Adam and Eve were like don't care conditions marked with an X? 

• What if Adam and Eve learnt to not stereotype/dictate each others responsibilities and instead mutually promote their growth by enabling them to follow their dreams and ambitions? 

• Could they both learn to compromise and juggle the roles of bread winner and homemaker ?Something along the lines of Adam focusing on bread winning while Eve is busy child bearing/nurturing and later on switching roles?  

Redefining the happiness quotient in a healthy relationship with the below integration formula .  (Click "integration" if interested in a definition)

                                              Happiness Quotient Q =       

where Q between Adam and Eve would be quantified by the area beneath the curve formed by the function f(x) between the interval a and b ranging between 0 and 1. Like you may have guessed, 0 would represent the homemaker and 1 would represent the bread winning role/state.  x and y axis represents the lives of Adam and Eve in which the roles they play will be constantly changing between 0 and 1 with time.

Compromise may be the most important and often most misunderstood word in sustaining happy relationships.

 

It just needs some wisdom and maturity to be able to look at the bigger picture and realise that by compromising you are not giving up or giving in ~ you are just seeking balance in the relationship!

Benefits of this proposed solution are many. Listing below a key few

• Adam and Eve would be two mature self sufficient individuals who would be in a relationship based solely on true love and compatibility instead of being together for dependency reasons(example: Eve need not always depend on Adam for resources and Adam need not always depend on Eve for food etc etc ).

• The partnership will truly tap into and promote both of them to grow as a person instead of diminishing their innate abilities. 

• The word "divorce" would be unknown.

• Natural calamities like death/accidental loss of one(touch-wood) would have relatively lesser impact on either of them.

The beauty in this art of compromise lies in the fact that it can be applied to any relationship.

 I feel like if Adam and Eve truly realised the beauty in the art of compromise, their lives together would not have to be compared to complex Boolean Algebra/ Integration concepts and would instead be as simple and wonderful as the below quote :)! 

     

In a true partnership, the kind worth striving for, the kind worth insisting on, and even, frankly, worth divorcing over, both people try to give as much or even a little more than they get. "Deserves" is not the point. And "owes" is certainly not the point. The point is to make the other person as happy as we can, because their happiness adds to ours. The point is -- in the right hands, everything that you give, you get.

                                                          Happy Valentines day folks ! 

Wisdom from a dog ...

In the middle of cleaning my system, stumbled on this picture had taken last year. The simple words of wisdom in this block of wood inspired me to take a picture of it besides buying this and keeping it in my living room.

Really liked the analogy that was attempted here, the things we can all learn that a dog seems to do so effortlessly in its day to day existence and felt it was worth a real quick blog post :)! 

Boston Musings ...

The last day of a memorable vacation! Can't believe how time seems to fly so quickly when I am doing things I really enjoy. Started the day by planning a small surprise for my friend and was glad to see it work :). Over breakfast at Starbucks me and my friend had a retrospective conversation about the trip including planning etc  . After bidding adieu to my friend I headed to the Apple store at Boston(the largest Apple store in the US). The news of Steve Jobs death during my vacation had disturbed me internally. It felt weird to know that the person whose products had really gotten me interested in electronic gadgets is no more. This event made me contemplate and hope that Apple would continue to design innovative products that will not disappoint it's fans or bhakts like me ;). Several fans had paid their homage at the entrance of the store with flowers and letters.

Posing in front of Apple store with mixed emotions !

Next I headed to the Old State House building. This building was also located near the site where the Boston Massacre took place. This was one of the points of interests of the Freedom Trail tour. A book on Freedom Trail self guide caught my eye as I was browsing through a gift shop. The book was written by a former freedom trail guide and I purchased it being fascinated with the depth of information and history the author had published in it. I decided to spend my last few hours in the city by following the freedom trail. It was a fascinating experience to follow the red trail line with the guide book in hand.

I passed by The Old State House, Boston Massacre Site, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall and bunch of other historic sites as part of the trail. It was interesting to read the history behind each one of these places as I walked past them. The entire journey made me recollect stories I had read off my high school history text book and as well contemplate on the fact that India was not the only country in having to fight for freedom from the clutches of the British Government.

 Below are some pictures captured alongside my walking tour.

Street Musician playing a lovely romantic note of Titanic

A Chance car crash scene shoot in a movie

 6 memorial glass towers!

                      

Each of these glass towers had some words of experiences from the concentration camp survivors engraved . As I read the first four towers, I was shocked and sad to read what these people had to endure for no clear fault of theirs save having been said to have born under a particular race. The societal evil racism had been rampant in the lives of these innocent people. The intensity of their experiences progressed from bad to worse with each glass tower. It was the brutal truth and I was not able to read the experiences written beneath the last two towers.  

As I progressed further I passed by Greenway park. I found it to be a wonderful place for people watching :).

Kid enjoying life playing amidst water fountain

The next site North End turned out to be quite lovely. It is a colorful neighborhood filled with plenty of Italian Restaurants and pastry shops. Was happy to have landed there just around lunch time :).

I swear I could go on and on about each of the historic sites I visited, but with best interest have written briefly only about a select few :). For folks who are really interested in more detailed information about these places visit http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/ or plan a trip to Boston and explore it by foot like I did to get the best experience :). And yea, touring boston downtown will be an informative and unique experience unlike those of New York/ San Francisco downtown regions :). 

The entire trail made me vicariously experience American History !  Finishing my last post on this vacation trip, the state of my mind while I fly back to San Francisco is that of joyful reminiscence of the lovely days filled with excitement and spent well away from technology and social media :).

                                      A rejuvenating vacation spent "Princess-Style" indeed ;) .

The cog railway teddy bear surprise from my friend would be a gift I would treasure from this trip besides the travel experience :). And now am recharged to go back to the grind with eager anticipation of my next travel adventure :D.