Upper Yosemite falls- a tough hike

Last year saw us do both Clouds rest and Half dome hikes in Yosemite. This year we had no plans. Two of our yoga teacher friends wanted to hike with us and also test out the RV they are building. So we made a quick plan to go with them to Upper Yosemite falls. After seeing posts and reports on the hike, they decided to bail out and do a shorter hike instead. In retrospect, they made a wise decision!

We were this close to canceling the hike but decided to make a day trip, thanks to other friends who decided to join us. 

Woke up at 3:30 AM to make tea for the trip. There is no hiking without Chai! Started the drive before 5AM and we reached at 8:30 AM. After eating breakfast and drinking chai, we started hiking up at 9. The plan was to make it to the top by at least Noon or 12:30. It ended up being a hot day the sun was over us the entire time. We reached the top only at 1:15. 

Most of the folks had a face washing session while I decided to take a dip in the very cold water. It was really refreshing. Also the change of clothes was much needed!

We ate the food that was packed. It was windy and scary but we did go down to the falls head view point using the railing.. (you can see it in the video). 

Tried my hand at doing yoga poses before and after lunch. As usual San and friends were scared of me trying to balance on one leg on top of rocks. 

San was so happy when we made it to the top. Even she found it hard. 

Then we made our way back. Our downhill speeds were different. It is hard to pause on the return. The entire thing is rocky and you have to watch every step. The rocks are all slippery and dangerous. The good thing was it was windy and shaded on the way down. Given we all split up, some guy helped take this photo. Folks came down anywhere from 4:35 to 5:45 depending on their ability to go downhill or take breaks on the way.

There was a beautiful rainbow in the middle of the falls.

After practically hopping and running down without much of a break, all our legs were shaking uncontrollably for a good two hours!

Some more photos..

It was a very challenging hike even compared to Half dome because of the sun! The park service does classify this as a hard hike. 

A mile into the hike we get to Columbia rock, a view point where we get to see half dome. it is a great spot to take a break and get some photos of the valley! 

We started driving back at 6:30 PM after eating food we had packed and came home at 10:30 PM. 

A short video of the hike..

Definitely recommend this as a day hike, ONLY if you have been hiking regularly and can handle a steady climb that keeps going for 3 hours straight. Not recommened for beginners or people who have difficulty coming down rocky terrain. 

While we struggled through the hike, we enjoyed the company and had a sense of accomplishment after coming back to the parking lot. The hike is 7 miles from trailhead to top and back , but we walked 10+ miles in total. The elevation gain on this one is 3200 feet in 3 miles. So a steep challenging hike.

One more hike in the Yosemite National park checked out. Next year, we will find another interesting hike to do in YNP!

A graduation to remember!

There was a break from social media between March and September. Sadly, this also meant a blog break. Many events, trips, thoughts went unposted. Going to try and catch up over the next few months. 

Writing can be cathartic. It can also be a good memory jogger, trying to see what sticks to your mind a few months later! 

Here is the first of such posts. The little one graduated high scool and has now settled in college. She is a five hour road trip away and that makes it comforting.

All she has to do is call and I can start driving.

Jr. on the other hand has not had a mention. She should have! She finished her 4 year degree in 3 years and did a summer graduation.

This was because of a deal we made with her. If she finished early, we will support her Masters program, no matter where. Remember, this is a kid who worked hard all summer in 8th grade to jump two levels in high school math. The motivation was a new iPhone instead of daddy's hand me downs.

It is a win win and she is back in California for her Masters. That alone was enough to make me happy. 

All she has to do is call and I can start driving.....you get the idea!

When she started at Purdue, I did not go to drop her. Stayed home with my emotional support puppy(aka the little one), while San went and dropped her. My friend went and helped!

Finally the entire family got a chance to see the Purdue campus and participate in the graduation. 

The best part was they had a surprise for me. My friend was there again for the graduation! 

It was fitting that he was there at the start and the end of that degree.

The graduation ceremony was very well organized. We got to see a very happy Jr. walk with confidence and hope. 

Drank some hot cocoa after the graduation before taking off from campus.

My family knows all too well that my best undergrad moments were not in the lecture halls, but sitting under a tree and drinking chai with my friend.

He would invariably challenge me on my grasp (of everything ?!) and always caution me on my jumping to conclusions, generalizing too quickly, forming very solid opinions very fast, only to revert. In short I used to be a fickle minded child and those chai sessions slowed me down for my own good. Apparently not much has changed in 30 years per family. Anyways, I am off topic already.

If there was any takeaway from that previous paragraph, it is :

1. Chai drinking is good for getting an education that you might not get in the classroom

2. It is better to go for Chai than for alcohol as you might actually remember what you learned (not covered in previous paragraph, but good advice given the kids are no longer kids!)

3. It takes a long time to change one's personality!

Got a campus tour the previous evening. Jr. showed us every part of campus she had visited. Nice campus which fits Jr. well. Now we know why she was at home in Purdue!

Got a nice family picture just before the clouds finally gave in and it started raining! 

A new beginning for both kids this year..

A short clip of the graduation ceremony..

Wanted at least one girl to do a doctoral degree, but that is a tough sell in this house. We are now into philosophical discussions on the value of a Ph.D in this day and age and "just because you were stupid enough to study forever, doesn't mean .. " type discussions. We live in interesting times and I am continuing to work on the "keep calm and carry on" attitude.  

We sincerely hope to see one more graduation picture added to that time series, in a couple of years! 

Thanks to all of you who have cheered and supported Jr. all this time! 

Navarathri 2023

After two years, this blog is seeing an entry for Navarathri. Last year I happened to be in India for a conference and barely made it back on Saraswathi pooja. I did get to visit a few homes in Chennai last minute to see golus! 

As most of you know, we do NOT have a golu (doll display) in our house. I am trying to figure out though if the higher powers (mom) would divine a way for me to start. Given the best years of our kids being kids are gone, maybe it is a moot point now. Hopefully my girls marry into homes that have golus!! 

Personally I think families that have no golus because they associate the festival with some past tragedy, may not be the best families to marry into. Will definitely get flamed for this, but one has to voice his opinion when it comes to correlating deaths to not celebrating festivals. The dead are dead. Festivals are for the living! In case I do conk out on some auspicious day or festival, this blog post would hopefully remind my near and dear ones to keep celebrating! Now that the rant is over.. lets move on to positive things!

Bay area golus!!!

They are a treat, as the folks here take it very seriously and do an amazing job. The only thing that beats the doll displays and the enthusiasm of the kids to do their own little side projects is the food ! There was also some singing and instrument playing in many houses and this year I sang 4 or 5 different songs on repeat mode, thanks to whatever I have learned from my carnatic music teacher from Paadarivom Padipparivom! 

A cover photo for the blog is a compilation of some of the dasavatharam sets in the golus. 

Here is a slideshow of all the beautiful full golus..

Then there are the side displays which are done by the kids for the most part with some adults taking it to a different level. The one of Ramana's ashram and the Murugan atop a custom made hill were mind blowing when seen up close!

and finally, the unique dolls that caught my eye on some of the golus! 

Given the number of images for the unique dolls, the slideshow sometimes does not load. You can browse through them at this link.

A lot of our friends are empty nesters now and it was nice to meet some of the kids who had driven or flown in for the weekend. 

Matched San's sari color for the most part. She did have some challenging colors this year.  This is now becoming a bay area trend as I see more hubbies being forced to wear matching shirts for Navarathri... Hope the men folk don't take me to some alley and beat me up for doing this every year!

Even though we have no golu, we still do Saraswathi pooja like clockwork. 

This year for a change I played Vara veena on the flute to commence the "spirit of learning"

Our little saraswathi..

This year we missed our kids who are both in college, but had fun visiting friends, catching up and eating a lot. The after effects of all those good eats caught up finally today, but if history is any guide, things will be okay in a few days! 

We really loved Navarathri this year!

My guru gave me a 15 minute music class on Vijayadasami and started teaching me Sree saraswathi Namosthuthe in raga Aarabi and I loved the new start for music learning! 

My friend and flute teacher made me play in front of friends and family to get over my self doubt, and that was equally wonderful ! 

Attended one India golu virtually. That one was twice the size of the biggest one we saw locally!

Here is to Indian festivals!

It is heartening to see good traditions surviving over time!

A big heartfelt thanks to all of you who invited me along with San, encouraged me to sing and gave us all the good eats! 

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

A nice Indian festival to celebrate Ganesha falls on a working day.. a Monday!

Between jugging a car that has to be serviced and work and doing a pooja, Ganesha, the lord of removing obstacles, removed them all one after another. 

San made limited edition (read limited quantity) of Kozhukkattai samples and vadai and they were (it is already in the past tense) amazing. 

Usually I send selfies to my mom after any Indian festival. This time, posting it in the blog.. because as you can all tell, there is not much hair left.

Between last year and this year, hair loss has been exponential. Folks who have not seen me post anything in months should not be surprised...

Both photos clicked by San.. last year I looked up.. this year didn't even know she was taking a picture. Was just trying to finish the pooja in time so the kids are not hungry. It was good to have both kids home this time to eat dumplings! 

Wishing you all a wonderful {Ganesh, Vinayakar, Pillaiyaar} Chaturthi from all of us here! 

A tough 60 day days of Yoga

This summer was going to be busy. Family and friends knew that all too well. There was going to be a graduation trip to Indiana, a hiking trip my wife was part of and a lot of other weekend social commitments, not to mention a severe work load from August 1st. 

There is the usual BYSJ summer 60 day challenge that one can start between 1st to 14th of July and do 60 classes in 60 days. No one forced me to sign up.  I was going to yoga almost every day since 3rd of July and one day I simply could not make it to the usual class because of being held up at work. San went at the usual time and I went by myself 2 hours later. The folks at the front desk said "you look tired and pissed off.. maybe you should put up a few stars on the challenge board and you will feel better?!". That was interesting. I was doing the challenge without advertising it and it has already been 9 days of not missing a day. So put my name on the board and put 9 stars at one go. 

The next day my wife was shocked to see my name on the board with all the stars. She smiled and didn't say anything. When this was announced to the kids at home, they just rolled their eyes. Good yoga for the eyes is what I was thinking. If I can make them do that everyday, maybe their eyesight will be good for a long time! Who knows?

Knowing there was travel, did do 5 doubles (mostly back to back doubles). For some stats, this is the 16th time signing up for a 60 day challenge in 13 years and the 14th successful attempt. Both times I could not make 60/60 were summer challenges. Going to class or showing up is not a challenge. Adjusting logistics also is not an issue, thanks to a very supportive family, friends and co-workers.

The biggest challenge are doubles and trying to drink water in the 30 minutes between two back to back classes. It has been years since I took a water bottle to class. My water is left in the car and I drink water 30 minutes before class and 15 minutes after class. However, doing back to back doubles means that between the two classes I need to drink water with a packet of vitamins and that just sits in my stomach at the beginning of the second class. That was the hardest thing in this challenge.

Have taken 2829 Bikram Yoga classes so far, according to the excel spreadsheet that is still being maintained. 10,000 hours of practice on any skill is required to become a subcounsious expert or so say some books on skill building and expertise. This is still only 4200 hours. If I need the equivalent of a pilots license for my own body and mind, lets just say I am not even halfway there. Maybe before the end of this lifetime will realize something deeper within. Yoga is a slow and steady process. Accepting that there are no shortcuts has already been a worthy experience. 

Over the last few challenges, have realized that after day 30, when you come repeatedly, the mind is not fighting the teachers words anymore. I call it zombie mode.. but not in an auto pilot kind of way.. more in a "I am so beat that I am just going to submit myself to the instruction and do what is being asked". At that moment in class you cannot think much about it. It just happens. After class you realize that you did things that are surprising! Fixed postures with corrections, have light bulb moments and then you get to try it out the very next day and the day after that till it can become a new habit. 

Most of us have the capacity to remember 3 or 5 things tops after a lecture or any lesson. I am part of that majority group. So to learn those 3 things and make them a regular habit is possible only because of pushing myself to do a challenge. You come every alternate day, you just go back to old ways quickly. You have to remember the correction before the posture starts. Once you are in it, it is already too late. You might correct yourself in the second set.. but that doesn't help you make it the default!

Thoroughly enjoyed this challenge for the learning, the chats outside the room before class with my fellow regular yogis, the chance to encourage other folks to have a regular practice and my teachers encouraging me to "let it go!" everytime I walked into class after being on the phone till 2 minutes before class. 

On a side note, BYSJ finally brought back T-shirts as a souvenir for folks who finish! My wardrobe which is 80% BYSJ 60 day challenge T-shirts badly needed a replacement. This years T-shirt is just beautiful. Now I just need to collect a few more over the coming years? (this blog post alone is going to give my family more yoga for their eyes after they roll it non stop!) 

The best thing that ever happened to me in hindsight was that damn accident. If it wasn't for being broken with physiotherapy being able to get me back only to a certain point, would have never found Bikram yoga! What a blessing in disguise that accident turned out to be? There is always fate, destiny, the butterfly effect, whatever you want to call it.. but forever grateful to all powers and unknown probabilities that made me walk through those doors all those years ago!

For all my friends and family, I hope that my doing yoga inspires you to try it, even if for a few days and my sincere wish is for you to find yourself by doing yoga! It is a slow process which might even involve getting lost many times while trying to find yourself..but if you stay the course, magic happens!

Missed getting a close up photo with the ageless Michelle Vennard. There are so many pictures over the years that I made a collage of some of the pics. She is a true inspiration when it comes to walking the walk after talking the talk! .. or in Yogi speak.. she can be as still as she can be silent, during a yoga class! (just realized, that it is literally the opposite of walking and talking!)

One more challenge done. Hopefully many more to come!