Discrimination

There is gender discrimination, height discrimination.
Gender is used as an advantage/disadvantage.
There are laws that try to prevent these discriminations - equal opportunity.

Does this mean that being smart/dumb should also not be a discrimination?

Apology to my thumb

Dear Thumb,


Please accept my sincerest apologies for taking you for granted all these years and decades.
Now that you had ventured bravely to the hot spot and endured a blister inducing burn I have been unable to lift a spoon literally and not just proverbially, I hereby acknowledge your power. With your help I have hitched rides, and hit the spacebar a million times. There are countless other ways you have helped me as I walk through the day I learn more.

Thanks again

Me

PS. Say hi to your good neighborly fingers.

B+

What does the title remind one of?

Blood group and the rhesus monkey?
Bad grades from school?
Great grades from college?

Or the hidden message Be Positive?

Any event is always viewed through the filter of ones eyes.
Lost pet could mean it is cold hungry and wet somewhere or a good soul is taking better care of it.
Crashed computer could be hair tearing or opportunity to upgrade and have better backup plans
Breakup could mean single and lonely or lease on new life
Waking up early could be loss of sleep or walk through the park to watch the sunrise
Waking up late could be groggy and sloppy or chance to be efficient and zesty since you are restful.

Why do we ask questions

that we really don't want to know the answers to.

Exactly like the question above.

Day 8

It was the last day and we had hardly touched the cool waters. Without a dip in the ganges the trip to Haridwar is incomplete, similarly we had to dip in the ocean. The red sail sporting company was a small company proving snorkel trips on a catamaran. Not that I can differentiate much between a sail boat, schooner, catamaran, jib or mast, the boat was half filled to capacity with 30 people unlike the whale watching sailboat trip which had only 8 people. The captain and his cronies were pleasant and the boat was quite surprisingly accommodating.

As we sailed off to the snorkeling location the reality hit with a bang. I had not swam since the last snorkeling trip since last years Florida trip. The knot in the stomach curled further as people just jumped in and snorkeled away to see mysterious ocean creatures. Gathering the momentum I grabbed a life vest for “just in case” and like a sponge absorbed all the information doled out about the mask and breathing. Somethings rang a bell but it was panic city inside as I jumped into the water complete with fins.

The clear blue ocean with free visibility to the coral calmed out my nerves enough to remind me to keep breathing through the mouth and fin away to the promised site of never before seen so close sea creatures. At some point I lifted my head up enough to see that was way off course and she was sitting by the steps getting the equipment on. I swam back and tried to calm her down and get back to basics. I recalled how in Florida she had shattered the fear barrier and jumped into the ocean albeit never left the rope. There were still some initial activation issues and once she figured out the vest did its job well and the additional red float in hand we traveled far, well as far as the float tied to the boat let us.

There were no mythical being in the ocean. But that was hardly any disappointment because the water temp was just right above being cool and the suns rays were playing tricks with reflection due to waves the ocean floor looked sparkly and divine. After frolicking in the waters for about 40 minutes we decided to call it a day and hopped back to the boat.

With the wind in the sails and on board sandwich lunch in out tummies we basked in the afternoon sun. We also saw quite a few whales much closer than the whale watch trip. The big mammals were awe inspiring and very graceful in their movements. Once back on land we found a place to taste and buy some pure hawaiian coffee and tea.

The drive back to Peoria from Chicago was on automation. After the long flight a good sleep on a proper mattress was much needed. As I woke up and saw the window I could almost see the clouds and mountains past the window. As I shook my head the reality of the cold weather sunk in and the hot piping upma and sambar sure helped cure the blues away.

Day 7

We had half a days worth of driving for the day and half a day of phone calls to schedule a snorkeling trip before we left the islands. We drove all the way back to the volcanos for the aerial tour only to get a five minute tour of the seaside and figure that the clouds would be too low and we will not be able to see any lava flow nor steam vents. We saved ourselves plenty of green but we had a avoidable four hour drive. To salvage part of the trip we went to the touristy waterfalls where we learned to say Merry Christmas in the local language which I repeated a few times and have since then promptly forgotten as well.

The water falls were not pretty on account of the water being muddy but they were quite majestic. Too bad unlike Kempty falls they did not allow people close to the water for safety reasons.

Does doing an activity for the sheer risk of it increase the adrenaline? If you make an activity extremely safe it does take some amount of fun factor out of it.

Her diligence and persistence on the phone yielded results and we had a snorkel tour booked for the next day just in time to wrap up the trip and catch the flight.

The afternoon was a really lazy one with both of completing the library books and a solid nap. Now we can definitely say we took a nap in Hawaii too. In search for a rejuvenating coffee to wake up our Aloha spirits we strolled lazily past the ocean side joints. Each one was claiming their fame in “best burger” or “authentic Hawaiian” to “local favorite” and enticing passerby with low rates and best maitai offers. We decided to go to the burger place but just in case traipsed further away to see what else Kona had to offer. It was kind of channel surfing to find out if there was anything else better going on. We found a Thai restaurant no surprise there, that was right by the ocean side with the sun about to set in an hour or so. Our legs gravitated towards it and we ordered a fish panang and mixed sea food and summer rolls along with a maitai and iced coffee. The view as the sun was setting was picture perfect. It was almost a perfect ending to the last evening in Hawaii. Being Christmas day the motorcycle rentals was closed and mopeds somehow did not quite substitute the craving only raw horsepower and nimble handling could provide.

It was one of the few days we watched a few hours of TV and a more than week without Internet was therapeutic. Very few phone calls and we did not miss much of it either.

Day 6

Another fairly early day completely dedicated to the volcanoes. We had to drive across the entire island to get to the Volcano side. ON our way there we got pulled over by a female trooper for speeding. I would like to think that my charms and smile had won her over and we left the scene unscathed of any tickets. We also wanted to scout the volcanoes from air and it was pouring down pretty hard. So we rescheduled the air p[lane tour to the next day meaning another day of driving back. The sky cleared out now and then in time for us to take a few pictures and browse through the museum and marvel at mother natures fury and workings.

It was a suprise when there were dieties/ sort of where in the different erupted material was labewlled as Pele's hair and Pele's Tear drops, Pele being the goddess. It definitely reminded me of Indian Goddesses Like Durga maa.

There was the overpowering stench of sulphur at some of the locations. For the layman it was a hole in the ground and some dirt, but the fissures and solidified and cracked lava bore tales of destruction from decades ago. The smoldering steam vents were a reminder that eruptions could occur but can be predicted with more accuracy with better understanding and accurate sensing technologies. Some of the technologies are also used in the mining industry.

We also walked though a lava tube which was eerie and just imagine at some point there was red hot lava flowing though the same chamber we were traversing though..... shudder.

We had stopped midway and detoured to a lesser known / advertised waterfalls Umauma. There were insect repellants as aprt of the ticket for mosquitos and I got bit by a wasp. It was non poisonous since I am still here writing about the story but in case I disappear for a few hours and a crime is stopped by a mysterious man in mask, be assured it was me. The falls itself was good because my expectation were really low because of the hype caused by the media.

The rain had added a lot to the muddy flow and the rainforest had a beautiful neon green look to it. A walk through the rainbow park we saw a lot of familiar flowers, ate a over ripe guava and did not get caught, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, cinnamon etc.

We did hike around a few trails more like trails for city slickers because they were concrete. There were plenty of labels for the plants but was tiresome after a little while and the picture taking reduced after a few hundred yards. But occasionally a guava tree, a beautiful flower or the scenery would revive the interest in pictures.

The driving in the rain through one of the wettest places on earth was full of lush forests almost transported me the best Jurassic Park movie (the first one). We were reliving the 3-D live version of the movie.

We stopped by a drive in to grab a quick bite just the tv show and had very little idea what we were actually getting into. We order two dishes which turned out to two too many. Deep fried shrimp chicken and fish were so sogged up in oil that turned us away from fried food. The saving grace was the icecream float with vanilla on pepsi.

Is there a way to capture the taste the smell the sense of awe for recounting later or to convey the feeling to another person? Possibly not because not everyone would have the same response to the same stimuli.

A beautiful beach is nothing but salt water and dirt. Same scenery different perspective.

On our return we took the supposedly shorter route according to the map but took us a lot longer and a few stops by the black sand beaches did not help make up the time either. A well located chai station would have been extremely helpful and being in Kona coffee plantation side and Christmas eve did not help the case at all. The coffee will have to wait another morning.

Being Christmas eve most of the dining places had either closed or did not pike our interest. We settled on a Thai place and decided to order just one dish on account of the colossal lunch failure. The satay was good along with the chutney. The pad thai was too lemony tangy, I guess by now we have become very picky unless we were very hungry.