It's Raining and I should be Happy in such Weather! But...

Since yesterday, it's been raining. Yesterday it was drizzling more than pouring. But then early morning today, I heard the heavy footprints of rains drops.

Drought is more typical of California than rain. Water has been a serious problem here for years now. But this year, it has been different. And the year end seems to be more different than anytime before. Looks like 2011 will be welcome with showers.

I was born in the rains. In July in Assam in India, where heavy rainfall is a way of life. And then over the years, have grown reading and seeing and experiencing floods. Have seen bamboo plant rafts during flash floods from the Brahmaputra in Dibrugarh while growing up.

But then, years later, when I spent a long time, another type of weather had dominated my life. Extremely hot, dry in summer, and cold in winter. So where was the rain? Occasional short spells that never continued over days. Like back in Assam.

And now, in California, the unending rains have brought back memory. Childhood, growing up years, etc etc. I should have been happy. Why not?

Because I am missing home. What to say? Parents, sisters, the sights and smells, the food and colors, the people and the festivals. It isn't easy to stay away from family.

Plans for the year end changed, and how!

What a Day!

Have you ever wondered how badly the morning of Christmas Eve could start? Here is what happened to us. I was banking on having a long beauty sleep. The previous two mornings I had got up earlier than usual, as I had to get ready for my morning holiday job. There was hardly any time to have a protracted bath, or a lazy breakfast, forget about doing a little bit of exercise or yoga. Nowadays, due to the winter cold, I've almost given up on morning and evening walks, and bicycling for toning the abdominal muscles.

To turn everything topsy turvy, the alarm rang at an odd unexpected hour, too early for today. It went off at the time I had set for yesterday and the day before, which was at 5:30 am. For some, 5:30 is not that early, but for me it is. My normal time to leave bed is around 7 am, so 5:30 is when I am fast asleep.

So when the alarm rang, I thought it was something else, in someone else's house. Only when my Equal Half shouted for me to leave the bed, I realised it was serious! It was the water heater. Our heater might have exploded. Soon the entire apartment would be flooded with water, and then make way into the floors below us. That would be a mess, not to mention the insurance claims that the down floor people would slap on us.

So it started with a dysfunctional water heater. I made emergency arrangements to catch the overflow with cups, bowls, cloths, sponges, and fill it into a bucket. Anything to avoid major bills. But there was no hot water to wash face first thing in the morning.
So, when Christmas starts on such a bleak , what could we expect? For some reason, our friends who were to visit us for Christmas did not turn up. And we cancelled the Las Vegas trip for the time being. Everything was going wrong.
As the day progressed, some red wine elevated our mood. Another bright idea flashed in our mind. What about Palm Springs? Maybe, we were to go to Palm Springs for the year end, after all?

Monday Morning Blues

It's Monday morning, and there's some blue in the air. It's chilly, looks like summer has come to an end early. Summer in Santa Barbara had been very short this time. It was difficult to figure out if there was any summer for any length of time at all, so soon it came, and then went away.

I've been trying to read books off and on, in between festivals and fiestas. The long line of summer celebrations seem to be unending. The number of programs taking place simultaneously during the recent Viva La Fiesta from August 5 to 9 was exhausting. At least three venues were packed with cultural programs, apart from the children's play and games sections and the food and drinks stalls.

Now that all that is behind us, the air would very naturally seem calmer, and hence, maybe, colder. So much gaiety has gone past. The frenzy was amazing, the drinking was ridiculous, the size of the crowd was incredible.