It may be some nine
years since I would have spent more than almost two whole months
with my parents. Busy growing up, getting 'life lessons' (and degrees
on the way) I had almost forgotten how awesome it is to be with
parents. Everything got revived when a home away from home was
painted by Mom and Dad right here in Boston, MA.
Mom arrived first
followed by Dad a few weeks later. I was too excited to host both of
them and wanted to give all my time to live those moments that I am
missing all these years. I wanted them to experience various flavors
of my lifestyle here in US, and having a car helped.
Every weekend was
already tightly scheduled in visiting various places. We started off
with attending Boston food festival the very next day my Mom
arrived. The following weekend I drove her to Philly to visit one of
our family friends she hadn't seen in years. That trip was followed
by visits to local scenic places around Boston.. like Rockport,
Walden pond, Mystic lake and Castle Island. Ben-n-Jerry's icecream
factory and Smuggler's Notch state park in Vermont was a must see if you are so close to it. Driving all the way up there and
stopping hundred times to click pictures of fall colors was an
unforgettable experience. The Head Of the Charles regatta was right
in that period and seeing so many physically fit sportsman was not
only exciting but also motivating :P.
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| Sunrise @ Cadillac |
Dad arrive just at
the right time when New Hampshire and coastal Maine was peaking in
fall colors and I had the Columbus day off. A trip to Acadia and
White mountains was a no-brainer! We took a coastal route to Acadia
National Park. The scenic beauty of the fall colors was just
mesmerizing. Dad and Mom wanted to stop near every single tree and
capture it in camera. After a few thousand stops, they decided to
capture all the Reds, Oranges, Yellows, Greens, Maroons in their
memory instead! Getting up early and seeing the sunrise on the
Cadillac mountain (the very first place which gets sunlight in the
US) was the high point in the trip.
That followed by driving up Mt
Washington (which includes coming down from half way to fill gas and
again going up.. damn incorrect fuel level indicator!!). Mt.
Washington, a hell of a mountain. Here the weather changes from full
visibility to zero visibility any second. Wind speed has set a world record here. Well.. there is
still a souvenir shop on the top though!! (American tourism!). We stayed in the middle of nowhere, we had seafood in small shacks along
the coast, had burgers in a sports bar and pancakes at an local
American breakfast place. Experiencing such varied cuisines and way
of living was something new to my parents which they wouldn't have
experienced in tourist locations and hotels or business trips.
Even though the
Diwali smell was not in the Boston air, we had the same festive
atmosphere at home. I did not miss physically being present in India
during Diwali. Home cooked sweets (faral, chiwda, laddu etc), home
made diyas, lanterns and decorations, Laxmipoojan (with $$ this
time), inviting friends over for Diwali dinner.. I enjoyed my Diwali
to the fullest.
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| Diwali Dinner |
The selfless love
that parents shower upon you is priceless. Now I am again spoilt in
'asking' for the morning coffee, coming home for lunch everyday to
eat readymade food and home cooked rotis (and then resisting the
temptation to take a nap!!), having my clothes washed and ironed
twice a week, going on long drives every evening with someone with
you in the car to talk with, sharing India stories (means Pune
stories!), teasing mom when she starts watching Zee TV Marathi on
laptop and dad when he keeps repeatedly listening to Barkha Dutt or
Arnab Goswami in full volume on his tab... it's going to be a few
tough days until I get back on track after they leave.
It was a quality
time well spent. I am sure they enjoyed all the moments we shared
together after so long. I did. Next time they visit me, who knows, I
might have a significant other sharing these moments with me,
doubling the joys of life.
Ek Selfie to banta hai!!
