First subzero run of the season. It was 27 degrees (-3 degrees centigrade) here by Lake Oconee. Not sure what Shelby’s biology book has to say about it but I cannot feel half my organs 🙂
On my way back, the eastern sky had started brightening up. This shot was taken of a small creek by the lake with my iPhone and terribly shivering fingers 🙂
As I pulled out of my dirt road this morning, I noticed Natasha’s close friend Shelby waiting at the street corner waiting for her school bus. She was by herself and obviously very cold. So, before thinking any further, I rolled down my window and asked her if she would like a ride to her school. To which, she readily agreed. It appeared that Natasha and Sharmila missed her by a few minutes.
The drive to school – which was a slight detour for me, but I had a two hour drive to Lake Oconee in front of me – was very insightful. I am really impressed with how mature kids are these days and their clarity around what they want to do. After asking about her parents, I inevitably came to the “What do you want to be when you grow up” question.
I am not sure, why I always ask that question – maybe because my dad used to ask me and my friends the same question. Or maybe I am simply looking for some ideas for myself 🙂
Anyways, Shelby was clear she wanted to be a doctor. I immediately made a note of how my dad would have been proud of that answer. In his world, everybody grew up to be an engineer or a doctor. Or a Nobel Prize winner!!!
“Tell me a little more”, I prodded Shelby. She went on to explain how she is fascinated by what she has been studying in Biology regarding how organs work. She thinks it is an incredible feat of our body how all the organs work in tandem. She also realizes that for many people those organs do not work perfectly. So, she wants to “fix” the organs for those people.
It was a good chat for 10-15 minutes. After I dropped her and hit the road for the long haul, my mind kept going back to my tenth grade (Shelby is a tenth grader). I had a Biology book too. (It was a red book by two authors – Katyal and Ali, as I reckon). And my Biology book had chapters on organs too. But to me, every new organ was an obstacle to getting myself a passing grade 🙂
And yet, from these same chapters, this girl has started building her dream.
I am truly impressed with how kids learn so much more, faster and exhibit greater level of maturity and independence in deciding who they want to be.
Don’t you let anybody tell you that this world is not getting better and brighter…
After our Sunday morning Bengali run today, we all gathered together for our annual post-run picnic with luchi, mangsho, aloor dum, begun bhaja, dahi vada etc etc. Do not worry if you do not understand what those food items are. All you need to know is that what we stock up in calories on this day, we spend the rest of the year running every Sunday to get rid of them 🙂
This is also a good way to attract other Bengalis to our Sunday morning run event (for the food, if not the run). So, this event is alternately also known as our Annual Membership Drive day 🙂
28 people in all – although 3 did not get a chance to run or walk with us!!
Got a call from FedEx last night informing us that Natasha’s large print job was over. Natasha, who was getting wary of getting the printouts in time for her debate today, had asked me barely a minute back if they had called.
So, I yelled from downstairs to her (she was in her room upstairs), saying “They just called”. And for good measure threw in “To say they love you” 🙂
Nikita, her 9 year old sister, had this quizzical look on her face – so I told her “There is a song – ‘I just called to say I love you'”
Without missing a beat, she retorted “Mmmm hmmm… I bet, YOU have never made that call” 🙂
[And all these days, I thought, one wife was enough to humble me for life 🙂 🙂 ]
The religious wars over android vs iOS vs Microsoft has not escaped the team I work with. A classic conversation over drinks this evening….
Raj (a diehard iOS hater) : “I tested out Surface this weekend”….
Sunjay (iOS fan; but more importantly a fan of poking fun at Raj) : “So, it was YOU…” (Implying that only one person tested out surface this weekend)….
I am still trying to get over Sunjay’s sharp and quick wit on that one.
Very very funny. Unless you are a FB friend of mine who works at Microsoft, of course!!!
