2 July 2023

It is his way or the highway

Jay Jay has an incredible way of figuring out whether he will go out for a walk. If I come downstairs in my house clothes, he would not even budge from his bed. But if he sees me wearing outside clothes, he will promptly jump down the stairs waiting for me to take him out.

Today, both Sharmila and I got dressed up to go to downtown. Our friend was already waiting at the door looking outside impatiently. I stepped out and he followed suit. But moment we got to the street, he remembered that Sharmila had dressed up too. Just sat their looking at our door waiting for Sharmila to come out.

I even let go of his leash and pretended to walk away. When I looked back, he was still waiting there for Sharmila to come out. And when she came out, he ran to me as fast as he could dragging his leash and occasionally looking back to see if she was following.

Category: Downtown Activities | LEAVE A COMMENT
2 July 2023

Great evening with Adam

We talked for a couple of hours but I forgot to ask Adam how we had met first. I believe it was in the coffee shop of Ballground, GA. We have met there a few times but we have ridden together only once.

I was aware of his terrific skill in building motorbikes. Some of the ones he built were incredibly beautiful. But, yesterday, I got to know a lot more about him. I had no idea about the adversities he had faced – starting from a bad car accident leading to back surgery which led to dependency on opiods from pain. And that was just the starting of the downhill journey…

It was an amazing story of life that went really really south. This involves multiple felony charges, probation officer, being homeless and penniless, carrying clothes in a trash bag always … not to speak of being spurned away by friends and loved ones…

And an equally inspiring story of how he finally managed to break thru all barriers and pull himself up together. It has been a long journey but he made it.

He is a happy man today – great job, makes extra money from his hobby of building motorbikes, a steady girlfriend, a solid roof over this head… I was so thrilled to be there at the Cigar Bar to hear his whole life story.

A few things I learnt from his story:

(*) Unless you make up your mind to change, nobody else can do that for you. The pain you have to fight (he equated the feeling to like being under water and having run out of air… ) can only come from you wanting to do it.

(*) It is never a monotonically going down or up in life. Even as your life goes down, it takes a few bright turns. And then when it finally pulls itself up, it still throws some curve balls.

(*) There are always a few people – almost always strangers – who step out of their way to help you. Such is humanity.

Now I need some lessons in how to build motorbikes from him!

I also want to put in a word for No Longer Bound – a faith based, residential long-term help to wean people away from addiction that Adam credits immensely for his turnaround!

Category: Intersection Points | LEAVE A COMMENT
29 June 2023

Phew! That was a relief!!

Landed in JFK and after a few formalities, found myself in the domestic side of the terminal (Terminal B). I was to leave from B47. There were signs saying I need to take a bus from B23. Which I did. While getting down from the bus, I asked the lady – why did we take the bus? Is this a different terminal? Construction going on? She just said it is the same terminal. But I did see some signs of construction.

After getting to B47, I started walking back to see where I will have to turn back. Expecting to see an obstruction due to construction. Guess what? I came back to my original point where I took the bus!! Go figure!!

But something more interesting happened during my walk. I saw the sign on the top of the picture at one of the gates. I was feeling bad for the tourists to Rome. It is never fun to start a much awaited vacation with a canceled flight. It messes up all your plans and you never quite recover from that even if you manage to salvage some part of the vacation. I was curious how come there was not a long queue of folks at the gate with all their questions.

I got the answer when the English version came up. Who would have guessed that “Al Cancello” in Italian means “At the gate”??

Learnt something!

Category: Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
28 June 2023

My second friend from Bulgaria!

James, who I talked about yesterday, was not available to take me around today. So, he sent Branimir to pick me up. Branimir is my second friend from Bulgaria! You might remember Zoy from Madaba Tree of Life in Jordan who was the first person I knew from Bulgaria.

I had the whole day to myself with Branimir. Learnt a lot – both about Bulgaria as well as Scotland from him. Our discussions got so interesting that I asked him to join me in the boat and we continued with our discussions. From politics to economics to cultural changes in the last twenty years.

From the description of the country, I need to put Bulgaria in my list to visit quickly. Now, I know a large family there who can help me learn about the country!

Category: Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT