A few days in the Northwest and then off to Alaska…

So that would be – right to left – Facebook, Snapchat and Pokemon Go !!

Getting off the airport train, I told Nikita who was looking for Pokemons (or whatever it is that they look for in that game) on her iPhone: “Niki, we are on vacation. You have to enjoy the sights and the surroundings”
She: “Dad, I have seen this airport so many times”
Me: “If you are going to be obsessed with Pokemon Go, we could have stayed back home”
She: “Dad, I do not have an obsession. Just an unhealthy interest” !!

🙂

… will she be “able” 🙂

(Even I admit that was a terrible groaner 🙂 )

First day of vacation to celebrate the impending passage of Natasha’s next step in life – leaving us to join college. While many parents have gone thru this phase in their lives, for Sharmila and myself, this will be our first. It will be interesting to see how each one of us internalize this passage of our own lives – the balancing of the joy of seeing her grow to be her own woman on one hand and then breaking out in sweat at night realizing that if we walked over to the other room, she is not going to be there, on the other…

Today, she is going to see some of our very old friends who often helped us manage her when she was a mere baby. Many of them have not seen her since those days (and have never seen Nikita!). It probably will not make a big mark in her mind, but for me, it will be momentous watching those “intersection points”.

There is a fascinating poem by the great Lebanese-born American-settled poet Kahlil Gibran called “On Children” that does an exemplary job of setting the parent – children perspective in the larger context of Life.

——

“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
As living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
And He bends you with His might
That His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
So He loves also the bow that is stable.”

Because there are way, way too many coffee shops here, I say!!

Met five of our very old friends from Dallas to get this first day in Seattle started in high gear. Four of them were also colleagues from a prior job life. Here is the funny thing – in the fifteen years or so that has gone by, not a single one of them has changed one single bit since I saw them last. Not an ounce put on, not a strand of hair lost… unlike… ahem… yours truly 🙂 I blame Atlanta water for that 🙂

It was great to catch up with Pawan, Rajeev, Bindu, Sanjay and Sansern and the kids!! There were some really funny recollections of the past – the He-Li, She-Li story and the Larry Mason feet traveling in first class to Newark story… to name a few.

I need to come back and spend some more time here…

(near Pike Place Market in Seattle)

Mount Rainier towering over Seattle downtown skyscrapers (as seen from top of the Space Needle).

Sometimes it is about meeting old friends… sometimes it is about making new ones. We visited Sharmila’s school friend – Saimoon and her family yesterday. I met her and her husband Indranil for the first time. Needless to say, we found out a lot of common friends from our past! The girls – Natasha and Nikita took to Saimoon’s daughters (they are similar age groups) very quickly. We had a great time all around!!

Next stop was to meet Piyali – Sharmila’s senior from her engineering school – and her family. I remember having met Piyali and her husband – commonly referred to as “PPD” – long long time back when they used to live in Houston. I think our common friends – Indrani and Aniruddha – had brought them over to our place in Dallas. This was way before any one of us kids.

Funnily enough, yesterday, I did not even have to start to find out what common connections we had. We walked into one such immediately as we stepped into their house. Ashok and Bipasha – our dear friends from Dallas – and their daughters were staying with them on their way to Banff! Turns out Ashok and PPD were classmates from their engineering college!!

But the best part was meeting Piyali’s mom. Like every Bengali mom she kept a hawkish eye on my plate and glass. Every time I had finished my food or drink, she would immediately indicate to her daughter to replenish it. Ah! What would we ever do without our Bengali moms and their care in our lives!!

The best was kept for the last. Visited Gagan and Bharti at their place. Gagan and I worked together in my first start up experience. We had no kids and the four of us had grown very close. Those start up days demanded so much work, we barely used to go back to our apartments to sleep. Sharmila and Bharti used to come over to our office and I recollect them learning roller blading in the corridors of our office over the weekends while we pounded away at more code. Well, Gagan was pounding away at more code. I was just eating those free chips and food we used to stock up 🙂

One challenge of keeping the Aroras for the last was that we missed a few other i2 friends who were there at their place and had left by the time we came over. We missed Sanjay, Priya, Vijay and Mamtha. We did manage to stop Atanu just as he was escaping!!

Getting to see the three of them and their kids was the best ending of a day in Seattle. For the first time ever, after dragging Natasha and Nikita thru four meetings of our old friends thru the day, even they declared that it was a great day for them too!!!

… you should try coming to Portland like me – with no facial hair and no tattoo :1)

Somehow this dead tree caught my attention. Thought it was actually adding immense beauty to the scenery.

… they are not playing Pokemon Go and instead using their iPhones for what phones were originally built – taking pictures 🙂

Aurora Cellars. Great set up outside with live music on. Ok wine…

Enjoying wine at the winery with Sharmila listening to the Pranksters. A great example of a bunch of folks who believe that age has nothing to do with having fun. Also that when you are having fun at something, turns out you become pretty good at that stuff too!!!

I cannot recollect ever seeing one of these in this country. In India, of course, we grew up with these – at least my very early part of life when we were in a village. We used to call it a “tubewell” (and sometimes “hand tubewell” to differentiate from “deep tubewell” that was becoming common in our farms. I also remember a favorite bath time game (we kids used to gather around such a “tubewell” and some adult would keep pumping and we kids would take turns to take baths from the buckets getting filled) was to get an elder cousin to block the spout with their hands and a couple of pumps later, there would be a huge fountain coming out from the top drenching everybody nearby!!!

Saw it for the first time in my life in US in a rural setting in northern Oregon.

Pretty impressed with how long the girls lasted. Nikita wanted to go further but the rest were tired enough that we turned around…
[Sharmila, Natasha]

These girls do at times – and I mean only at times – have fun with each other!!!

Taken from over 50 miles (80km) away. The cloud above remained there for a long time creating an impression that smoke was billowing out of the peak. If you carefully notice to the left edge, those two peaks would be South Sister and Mt. Bachelor.

I have run by it, I have hiked up the trail to the top and beyond, Sharmila, Niki and I have visited this before. Natasha was the only one left… so, this time we made a full family trip there. Together, we have made it to Multnomah Falls about 5 times.

Incidentally, if you magnify the image, you can see all the three girls on the left edge of the bridge looking into the camera!!

The two girls decided to get off the paved trail and rough it out…