Few thoughts

  Writing about my father " Baba"  feels like touching something sacred. Yet I take this bold first step to offer homage to the man who quietly shaped every part of who I am.  My earliest memory exists from before I was born—carried to me through my mother’s retelling, repeated so often it became my own. When he learned that his second child would be a girl—a child he had dreamed of for months—he chose a name for me: Sangita , meaning music in Bengali, my mother tongue. He loved music deeply, though he claimed no musical gift of his own, and he hoped his daughter would carry what he could not. But when I arrived and he first looked at me, he called me Ami . Why, he never knew—or perhaps never said. And Ami is what I remained to him, even as his mind slowly began to lose its long fight against dementia. Our bond was quiet and natural, something that existed without effort. Like all close relationships, it had its moments of strain, yet it never loosened its hold on u...

  Started with success: two engine failures. My United Airlines flight from Chicago was delayed over 9 hours, and yes, we were deplaned twice like a bad reboot. Then after a 5-hour survival challenge in the rebooking line, I finally made it to India via London (instead of Zurich), a casual 29 hours late. Naturally, my  Rajasthan  plans ( Ranthambore ,  Jodhpur ,  Jaisalmer ) said, “Not today.” First stop Ranthambore:  But plot twist: landed in Mumbai international airport at dawn, slept like a champ at my brother-in-law’s place, and still caught an evening train from Mumbai to Sawai Madhopur. Vacation mode reluctantly activated. For a refreshing plot twist for the second time, the train journey was blissfully uneventful; no delays, no engine failures, no surprise deplaning… just vibes.   The RTDC (Rajasthan Tourism Development Corp) hotel, Jhoomar Baori , turned out to be a total hidden gem, tucked inside the forest and formerly a royal hunting lodg...

As Anthony Bourdain once wisely said, “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. But that’s okay. The journey changes you.” Well, after being rudely yanked from sleep for the 200th time by yet another bone-rattling lurch of our trusty Toyota on the way to Manas National Park, Assam, I finally got what he meant—on a deeply personal, mildly traumatic level. Peering out into the pitch-black nothingness, I questioned my life choices. Was I on a thrilling adventure? Or had I unknowingly signed up for a long-haul roller coaster ride disguised as a road trip? Either way, sleep was clearly not on the itinerary. Our trip to Manas was a milestone for me—it was my first-ever visit to a national park in India. Which is ironic, considering I spent the first 25 years of my life in this country without even realizing such places existed! Apparently, I had to move to the U.S., get dazzled by Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and THEN come back to India to finally appreciate its wild side....

For the last few days this idea of early retirement was running in my head. I came across a blog (among several more) which talked about retirement even in 30’s provided one starts working at 20’s and save up to 75% of take home income! Funny and sounds impossible to me but I know someone in her who exactly does that and I want to see whether she can retire in her 30’s. So for people like us who may have started thinking about retirement after their 40 th birthday there is still hope. There are few baby steps and few giant ones including some life-style changes but there is chance. But it is like your fitness diets you should be serious enough to continue till the end. Some of the steps are even big for me which I am suggesting to myself also you need support from your partner and children. Here is a step by step instruction which I am implementing for myself which I gathered (read researched) from several blogs.   1. Assess your monthly spending, group by categories l...

Long-term Relationship   There have been several ups and downs and numerous bumps in the way to a successful long-term relationship. There are compromises and backlashes from a bitter misunderstanding but at the end what matter is the honey that oozes out from the wounds. The great feelings while driving back home after a bad day at work. The expectation that every sensation will always be rightly appreciated as they know you so well. The ability to share every small redundant thing with them which is so important to you for some submerged emotion attached to that. One of the essential ingredients of a long-term relationship is mutual competitiveness. Individuals are competitive only with their equals. From that comes the mutual respect. So even when you are feeling extreme hatred towards the other your respect will hold you from making an abusive assault on your partner. Another ingredient is the feelings for each other. From that comes sharing of responsibility and lia...

Where I will be 10 years down the lane..... Let me first explain why I want to do this. Generally I use the country roads to come to office as I want to start the day in a laid-back way being closer to nature. Today morning while standing in the traffic I saw an old man driving a Tractor in the corn field next to the road in the freezing cold and gutsy wind. Initially I thought he must be miserable and hate to do this. Then observing him for few minutes I realized he is quite enjoying with a headphone and listening to the music. Looking at his wrinkly skin of his face I guessed his age to be in late 70’s or early 80’s. To me he is starting his day with extreme hard labor but still managed to be happy. It intrigued my mind to think about my position and my state of happiness. Then I start analyzing if I am not happy now whatever I am doing now should make me happy sometime down the lane. Logically I should be happy now or if I am not happy now then I should be doing somethin...