New Year's weekend at Boston, New York and the Nutmeg state I

Flew to Boston Thursday (Dec 28, 06) for a short trip to Hemmant and Navin's. Arrived at Boston, did not even wait to unpack, drove straight to Navin and Annie's place at Connecticut. Many thanks to her excellent burritos, I was no longer feeling famished - waiting 4 hours for a connecting flight to Boston with delays at o'hare can do that to you.

If we had left it to Hemmant, it would have been a permanent diet of lemon curd and indian relish on bread. To his credit, they actually tasted great, we pretty much emptied his Trader Joe's condiments by Monday. Never saw Navin attempt anything at the kitchen, probably best that he didn't.

Pic 1: Hemmant, Annie's place, somewhere in Connecticut between Boston and NY

We rented out 'Napolean Dynamite' and 'Little Miss Sunshine' from blockbuster. I liked both the movies, have always been a big fan of 'Napolean Dynamite', but it wasn't a big hit with anyone else other than me.

New York: Drove to New York on Friday. At the risk of stating the obvious - New York, a multi-cultural city continously re-inventing itself, a city in high adrenaline, a city that makes you feel as though you are part of something big. Too much has been said already about New York, so I have added very little commentary.

On the road to Manhattan, just by the Hudson river, we saw a couple of planes etching out 'Who will she choose?' How hard is that?

Pic 2: Sky Graffitti, New York

Pic 3: Skyscraper, Manhattan, New York

Below is the Fuller building - more famously known as the Flatiron building.

When I was schooling in India, I used to frequent the library by my parent's house - the Swami Vivekananda library, RK Mutt, Mylapore, Madras. A particular favorite used to be this huge photograph book on Skyscrapers. One of the best photos in that book was a classic one of the Fuller building in New York you see below; of course that picture was much better, showing the building at it's center edge, with the mid-height perspective, with the bulding splitting the street into two. I have always wanted to see this building since. So, this trip was a realisation of a dream of sorts for me.

Pic 4: Fuller building, or famously the Flatiron building, Broadway st, New York (Office of Daiy Bugle in movie - Spiderman I,II)

Pic 5: Navin, Annie at Madison Square park, New York


Pic 6: View of Empire State from Madison Square park, New York


Pic 7: Washington Square Park, New York


Pic 8: Chess shop, New York


Pic 9: Trinity church, near Wall Street, New York


Pic 10: Beautiful Christmas tree at NYSE, Wall street, New York


Pic 11: Statue - George Washington, Wall Street, New York

Could not get a moment off from other tourists to take a proper picture of the 'Raging Bull' - a symbol synonymous with the NYSE. For some reason, tourists were molesting the bull like crazy, climbing it, tring to tame it, bring it down, and more outrageously, many among the female tourists holding on to the bull's balls!!

Pic 12: Highly molested 'Raging Bull', Symbol of Wall Street, New York


Pic 13: Statue of Liberty, New York


Pic 14: Hemmant, blurry skyscrapers, New York

New Year's weekend at Boston, New York and the Nutmeg state II

Grand Central terminal altered my view on train stations. Normally my vision of a busy train station is a depressingly crowded place with hordes of impatient people. While it has it's fair share of crowds (the largest train station in the world in terms of platforms), the shops that line it and the random artists that perform in there make it a welcome change. We saw a dancer doing Billy Jean and a violinist performing Beethoven's spring.

Pic 1a: Grand Cental Terminal, New York

Pic 1b: Grand Cental Terminal, New York


Pic 2: Time Square, New York

Pic 3: Annie, Hemmant and Navin, Time Square, New York

Drove back to Annie's place Friday late night, dropped her off and then made to Boston to Hemmant's place.

Saturday was a 'stay-at-home' day. Cooked some vegetarian fare, couldn't exercise my inner carnivore, Navin being a vegetarian. Tried three dishes - dondakaya veypudu, cabbage potato curry and koduguddu pulusu, goults will know exactly what I am talking about. At the risk of sounding boastful, must say it turned out pretty decent. Thanks mom for the training and recipes.

Played 'Age of Empires' the whole day after lunch. B.T.W, we are pretty geeky about this game, would play this for hours. We have tried more recent versions of the game and others, but this one is a particular nostalgic favorite. We used to network to play this game. What with our cries of 'Kill him da', 'Get him' interspersed with the 'Aiyo Aiyo' of the priests and the 'dishum dishum' of the helipolis, I thought we would bring Hemmant's neighbors down on a not so friendly visit.

Pic 4: Swans, Reservoir by Hemmant's place. Boston

Annie joined us Sunday morning. Took a walk by the reservoir by Hemmant's place. The swans above were showing off quite a bit, mooning us off to at times, okay, maybe they were just looking for fishes.

Took the 'T' to Harvard university, had lunch there.

Pic 5: Exhalted gates to Harvard, so to speak

Pic 6: Memorial Hall, Harvard U

Took the T back to Boston Commons to start off the New Year's celebration kick-off there. The city organised these events called the 'First Night' celebrations, you can get into these fun events with just a 15$ badge. After a round of 'Patron' tequila (my fav) in a local pub that wasn't taken particularly apreciated and a Absolut Screwdriver later, we headed to the fireworks and dinner. Vijay joined us for a brief time.

Pic 7: Boston Commons

The First night activities were fun, watched an African drums band performance that turned a bit too didactic for my liking, a Jamaican band that was just great, an extempore Improv that was really quick-witted and part of a film festival. Navin tells me later the movie we watched was 'Curse of the Golden Flower' - really dramatic Chinese action/drama movie.

Pic 8: Bring it on! fireworks to kick-off the new year

Pic 8: in exhalted company, i'm the only one in the pic who wasn't working on a Phd

Pic 9: No competiton - Moonlight wins over Streetlight

South-West Road Trip to Erosion Country III

Driving through the night from Needlepoint Overlook, we reached Gallup, New Mexico. Come morning, it was a toss between either Petrified Forests National park or Albuquerque and Santa Fe. We decided to take it easy and make our way back and head to Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: In retrospect, we should have done Albuquerque and Santa Fe at the start of the trip and Utah at the end. We landed at these 2 places dot on christmas and everything we wanted to see was closed - Bandeliers, Aztec ruins, Indian Art museum, Pueblo Indian cultural center, Petroglyph. All the websites clearly spelled out they were closed for Christmas, but then we waren't too much of planners, especially me.

San Felipe De Neri, Old Town, Albuquerque, NM: This church never fails to grab my attention. This is my second visit to this place, and I still find it alluring - the unassuming structure, the simplicity of this adobe church all adds to it.

Pic 1: San Felipe De Neri, Old Town, Albuquerque, NM

Old Town, Albuquerque, NM: Everything about Old Town is fascinating. It will take you back through ages to how it might have been. Here's a street I would love to have lived in, with it's simplistic adobe structures:

Pic 2: Street, Old Town, Albuquerque, NM

Pic 3: Shop Display, Old town, Albuquerque, NM

Something the Japanese would not be in too much of a hurry to visit - National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque, which is incidentally home to the Sandia labs.

Pic 4: National Atomic Museum, Albuquerque, NM

Pueblo Indian 'Buffalo' dance, Jemez Pueblo, NM: En route to Santa Fe from Albuquerque, we detoured to Jemez Pueblo to watch a Indian 'Buffalo' dance during christmas. A very small village, there no signs to lead you to the dance, but there are more than enough cars parked by to guide us to the dance.

There are ominous signboards prohibiting 'camera, videography, tape recorders', and I almost get the feeling that I was encroaching someone's territory. It figures, no one likes to be considered a 'living museum'. Photos are allowed when the dances take place at Red Rock (which looks more like a staged event), but not in the village. Other important feast days are Nov 12 and Dec 12. The dance itself is not revelry, it has religous connotations. We waren't supposed to clap after a dance.

Map: Green Arrow-> Jemez Pueblo, NM

It was like no other dance I have ever seen. The elders were chanting and beating on drums. There were three main dancers - two young men imitating the buffalo, and a young girl who looked like a bird. There were scores of other dancers most of them dressed as deers and birds.

It looked to me like a prayer for a good buffalo hunting season, but I don't know for sure, wish I had a guide. Here's an interesting link on buffalo dance: http://www.indians.org/welker/buffalo2.htm

However, it was refreshing in that it looked like a very natural event, not a staged one. People were just pulling up lawn chairs from their houses to watch, some were sitting on rooftops. The dancers themselves would go in and come out of houses in the street that was cleared off for the dance.

Santa Fe, NM: An Art lover's paradise - for a population of 75,000, Santa Fe has the third largest art market in USA behind NY and LA. There are a few cities that have a distinct holiday festive spirit, Santa Fe is definitely that kind of a city.

Patel Brother snap: What desis refer to as the Patel brother snap - the quintessential desi snap as an example below - we desis have to be at the center of any picture, Statue of Liberty, Yosemite, Pyramids at Giza, doesn't matter, but we have to be the main focus on the picture, not the wonder in the background. It's almost as though it serves as proof of authenticity. Doesn't fail to crack me up every time I see it. I heard it has now entered popular slang as a 'Patel brother snap'!!

Pic 5: Patel brother snap, Saint Francis of Assissi church, Santa Fe

Saint Francis of Assissi, Santa Fe, NM: Beautiful adobe church opposite the Indian Arts museum.

Pic 6a, 6b: Saint Francis of Assissi church, pic taken with flash and without. The pic above almost looks as though the Saint is wearing chain mail.

c 7: Opposite the church, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Adobe buildings, an unique feature of Santa Fe

Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM: When I saw a Sotheby's and a Christie's, I should have anticipated this, but a drive through Canyon Road confirmed it - shop after shop after shop of art galleries. The picture below hardly classifies as a picture, but this was the ony shot I had of Canyon road.

Pic 8: Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM

Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, TX: A few more pictures of the Cadillac Ranch on our way back. We made good time and drove from Santa Fe, NM to Tucumcari, NM at a stretch. We started early morning the next day on Tuesday and made to Amarillo, TX for our return home.

The couple below were actually spray painting some very unflattering things about Bush.

Pic 9a, 9b: Cadillac Ranch, return journey, Tuesday, Amarillo, TX

Sunset, Brady, TX: Nice picture of sunset by the road near Brady, TX.

Pic 10: Sunset, Brady, TX

Austin, TX: I reached Austin by nightfall, Tuesday. In retrospection it was a jam-packed trip, wish I had more days to spend time at the parks.

None of the pictures have been doctored or enhanced in any way. I am not a good photographer, yet I did not want to enhance the pics - way too much emphasis is given to color, brightness and creating fantasies nowadays, that we find it hard to enjoy the simple beauty of nature.

South-West Road Trip to Erosion Country II

After Monument valley, we headed through Mexican Hat and Blanding to Moab, Utah. Moab is right by the foothill of the Arches. Anyone planning a trip to Arches would do good to stay at Moab. The landscape in Utah is truly terrific, however, you cannot ignore the unmistakable signs that this is definitely a poorer state than most of it's neighbors. Utah, as a state, probably has the most number of national parks in USA - Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef.

Arches National park, Moab, Utah: We started early to Arches, we wanted to catch some pictures of the Arches and the balanced rock by sunrise. If you have noticed any number plate on vehicles in Utah, they have the picture of an Arch. No points for guessing - the famous Delicate Arch in Arches National park. This national park has the highest concentration in the world, of arches formed on sandstone through the ages because of erosion. A must see for people who like Architecture - you would never imagine that erosion is such a great architect too.

There is also this foreboding tragedy about Arches National park - the very erosion that created these beautiful arches over the centuries is also working away relentlessly to destroy them. As consolation, it is believed that more arches will be formed because of the same erosion.

Three Gossips, Arches National park: Aptly named, I actually liked the Three Gossips a lot better than the Three Sisters.

Pic1: Three Gossips, Arches National park

Balanced Rock, Arches National park: Silhouette of the Balanced Rock, with the rising sun streaking in through the sides. Makes you wonder what's keeping this huge boulder unnaturally balanced atop.

Pic 2: Balanced Rock, Arches National park

Turret Arch, Windows section, Arches National park: Before you get to think that the name of the park is a huge misnomer, here's a faraway pic of the first Arch we came across. The smaller arch is not captured in the picture, but notice the arch by the right.

Pic 3: Turret Arch, Windows Section, Arches national park

South and North Window, Windows section, Arches National park: These arches are adjoining the turret arch. A bus load of Chinese tourists descended just then.

Pic 4: North and South Window Arches, Windows Section, Arches National park

Cove of caves and Double Arch, Windows Section, Arches National Park: This is right opposite the Turret and the Window Arches. The picture is not zoomed in, and you will have to look real close to the right to actually see the arches. Thank god for people who had the good sense to have a restroom at this place.

Pic 5: Cove of caves and Double Arch, Windows Section, Arches National park

Pothole Arch, Arches National park: The arch melts in the background, but if you strain your eyes, you would find out why it is named the Pothole Arch.

Pic 6: Pothole Arch, Arches National park

Delicate Arch, Arches National park: Most travel and photography books have the picture of the famed Delicate Arch when they talk about Arches National park. What makes it singularly beautiful is the dramatic surrounding - atop a sheer rock cut, the beautiful delicate arch does not even look like it belongs there.

Busloads of Chinese tourists have now become a common feature. Arches seems like a huge hit with them.

Pic 7: The famed Delicate Arch, Arches National park

Rhino Rock, Arches National park: You wont find this in any map of the Arches National park - because I just christened it. But seriously, can you see the resemblance??

Pic 8: Rhino Rock, Arches National Park

Fiery Furnace, Arches National park: I thought that the snow sullied the fury of the fiery furnace. What do you think?

Pic 9: Fiery Furnace, Arches National park

Devil's Garden Trail, Arches National park: The highest concentration of Arches in this park. The trail will take a good few hours to see all the arches, but it is a must see. The primitive trail branching off near the landscape arch is difficult at places, but I would highly recommend it to everyone.

Pic 10: Primitive Trail, Devil's garden, Arches National park

Saw Tunnel arches, Pine Tree arch, Landscape arch, Wall arch, Partition arches and Navajo arch. Missed out Double O arch as I had no time and we were trying to make it to Needlepoint overlook by sunset.

Pine Tree Arch, Devil's garden, Arches National park: The neat thing about this arch is that you can walk through this arch.

Pic 11: Pine Tree Arch, Devil's Garden, Arches National park

Landscape Arch, Devil's garden, Arches National park: The longest arch in the Arches National park, and the second longest in the world. Since 1991, three large slabs have fallen from the thinnest section of the arch. There is speculation that this might not last long. So, here's a pic for posterity.

Pic 12: Landscape Arch, Devil's Garden, Arches National park

Wall Arch, Devil's garden primitive trail, Arches National park: Just when I was about to give up on the primitive trail, I saw this arch which spurred me on to see the others.

Pic 13: Wall Arch, Devil's Garden, Arches National park

Partition Arch, Devil's garden primitive trail, Arches National park: The best view through any of the arches I have seen so far.

Pic 14a: View through Partition Arch, Devil's Garden, Arches National park

Pic 14b: Partition Arch, Devil's Garden, Arches National park

Needlepoint Overlook, Needles District, Canyonlands National park, Utah: Going down from Moab towards Gallup through Canyonlands National park, we detoured to the Needlepoint overlook just in time for sunset. The small road that leads up to the overlook is about 25 miles from the highway. It is relatively very less frequented.

Pic 15: Blurry pic of me, Needlepoint overlook, Utah

Pic 16: Needlepoint Overlook, Utah