Caleb Smith State Park

Long Island has an abundant number of state parks - for this morning, we decided to check out the Caleb Smith Sate Park in Smithtown. Should have been a mere 20 minute ride from our apartment, but it took more than an hour, mostly because we took a wrong turn right at the start and went into Huntington (heading west) instead of Smithtown (heading east). That happens.

As a park, and a Sunday stroll, it was awesome. Nice, quiet trails, clearly and frequently marked, and the no pet policy meant - unlike Connetquot - we didn't have to yield to horses or walk through the dung smells.

If anyone wants to know, we took the yellow trail, then on to the blue, and back to the yellow - 2.5 miles in all, and took us an hour at a snail's pace (with many stops for pictures). The weather was perfect, bugs were minimal, and it was very calming to see steam rising from the grass.

Soma graduates!

Soma formally graduated today in the Fall 2007 Graduation Ceremony at Stony Brook - here with the university president right after the ceremony.

Soma joins Arcadis

Soma joined her first 'real job' in the US on the 4th of the month, and we got to go to a 'job treat' as soon as her first paycheck arrived! At the Curry Club restaurant, Stony Brook, NY

JPMC Corp Challenge 2007

It was that time of the year again - when I do the annual run for 3.5 miles through oceans of people and the lush greenery of Central Park, to win the prize of 2 T'shirts. You can be sure that if I do end up in a position of power and become corrupt, I will be easily bribed. We had the Irish Terence running this time (Leander Murphy), who completed in a healthy 30 minutes, while I had to carry along the good food I've been eating at home for the past few months, and managed to finish the torture in just under 40.

A R Rahman in Concert

Yashodhan, Chhordibhai, Ma, Baba, Soma and I went to see A R Rahman and his entourage (Sadhna Sargam for one) at the Nassau Coliseum. I had been to a similar show a few years back, but didn't remember the experience - had fallen asleep at some point. After a re-visit, I remembered why I fell asleep in the first place. The show was an expensive college fest, of sorts. The songs were unorganized. The MC was positively irritating. A sense of randomness in the air. Our recent concert visits - Usha Uthup, Bhoomi, Pink Floyd - all exhibited a remarkable sense of organization and professionalism that was missing here.

That said, it was an evening / night well spent - I particularly liked the drummer, Sivamani, who was the keystone of the party.

Gil's birthday party

We, people of MUD Group decided to celebrate Gil's birthday party on the 13th of April - we all know his birthday is in April, but no one knows the date, so we picked one. Among the ones present - going from the 3rd snap, left to right - Vesna, Professor Troy Rasbury, Lisha, Jenny, Professor Hanson (Gil), Tao and Sunny. Tao was the guest speaker of the day. Celebrations included a chocolate raspberry torte, chocolate cookies and wine - all perfectly arranged by Jenny.

-Soma

BMW is the new Mini

Today we bid a final farewell to our deeply beloved Mini Cooper S, and traded it in for a totally practical BMW 325xi. Of course, there's absolutely nothing negative about the Bimmer - it's not called the Ultimate Driving Machine for nothing. Still, I had Supertramp's "The Logical Song" playing in my head all morning.

With some office-related work keeping me tied to the PC, we haven't been able to take the car out for a proper spin yet - but with a 3 year warrantee, there will be plenty of time to get that done.

Dinner with the Hansons

Dr Hanson, Soma's advisor, and his wife, Janet, were over our place for dinner - a little curry and kebabs in the evening. We had a nice long chat - covering everything from mercury in fish, to nature trails in Long Island, to national parks in the SouthWest, to the latest in television technology.

Chrismas Party at 175 Hawthorne

We had a get-together of sorts with a few new friends from around Long Island - Deepak and Pushpa, in black and red, and Srikant and Vinisha, in grey and orange.

Christmas at the Hoskins's

David and Ann had called us over for a holiday celebration - as always, it was a day well spent! Little Chloe was as mischievous as always, but she did let me play with a few of her toys. All of us enjoyed little shot glass-fulls of eggnog - Soma's first - before digging into lunch. For starters, we had some tossed shrimp and some wine and cheese. For the main course, David had baked a wonderful salmon pie -which we had, in generous servings, with some peas and potatoes, and a light gravy. Going over to David's place always gives us a chance to new and different cuisines - always a treat to food lovers like us!

After the lunch, Ann and Chloe stayed at home, while the rest of us went over to the Van Courtland Manor - a well preserved historical wood-and-stone house dating dating back to the 18th century.

Bhaiphonta 06

The second in the series of "firsts in the US" - bhaiphonta! With Chhordibhai having moved to New York, and jethun mamoni present as well, this was a gala event - my first since 1998. Of course, as with all Hindu festivals, food was the center of focus - with Fish Fry, Chingri Malaikari, Fried Rice, Chinese Chicken, and Aalu-Phulkopi, it was all deliciously wonderful!

Kali Puja 2006

This was my first Kali Puja in the US - and, by extension, the same for Soma as well. The day started off by us going over to Jethun-Mamoni-Chhordibhai-Yash's place for Bijoya (belated), with delicious peas kachori and aalur dum served as a part of the vegetarian treat (being Kali Puja day! If all vegetarian dishes were as tasty, I would not mind converting at all. After eating just enough food to make us feel more like pythons than human, we decided to go over and check out a Kali Puja that Yash/Chhordibhai had earmarked out of the many in Queens. It was a nice, small, quiet affair - as seen above.

Durga Puja 2006

This year the annual Kallol experience was a little different from the usual - for one, our group was 8-people-strong (Jethun, Mamoni, Chhordibhai, Yash, Dilip, Smita, and the two of us), the largest yet. Plus, this was the first time we were there on a Sunday (instead of a Saturday) - which meant we were attending a slightly different part of the festivities. Saturday marks the celebration of "Saptami" and "Ashtami", while Sunday is "Nobomi" and "Doshomi". Saturday is for goat meat curry and skits, while Sunday is for "Dhunichi Naach"- dancing with the smouldering fire, bhog and simpler children's plays.

Visiting the Hoskins's

This was a weekend of great socializing - a welcome change from our usual romantic strolls in the local Walmart, Costco, or Shoprite. We started off with a trip to David and Ann (and little Chloe)'s - Westchester is closer than we thought, and David is quite a barbecue pro. Ann took us around their house - a really nice, warm, multi-level structure - while David cooked up delicious steak and grilled veggies! After lunch, we set off to West Point for a game of American Football - Army vs Rice - my second, and Soma's first, stadium game experience. David and John patiently explained the game to us, and it was funny watching the Army do pushups at their touchdowns!

JPMC Corp Challenge 2006

I ran the JP Morgan Chase Corporate challenge this year as well - my second so far. Could not find Lester this time, but found Terence. For some reason, we had these 4-digit numbers, which looked more impressive than the 5-digit ones. The first shot is before the race, at the start lines. We were at the "8 minute mile" post (ahem!), but it still took us a good 2 minutes to cross the start line. For a change, I managed to maintain a 5.6 mph average, and finished it off in 38 minutes after crossing the start line. Terence did much better than me, and finished in 29. But then he does not have to tug along the extra tire around the middle!

Montauk Point, NY

Here we are, the easternmost point in Long Island, and, by extension, of New York. The lighthouse was closed by the time we reached - it closes at 4:30, for some reason, come hail or high water. Attreyee had joined us for the day - Soma's friend from college, and here at Stony Brook as well.

The photos here don't look much adventurous, but it soon got pretty hectic - for one, it started raining, making the large rocks really slippery. Add to that our determination to not go back the way we came, but follow the path around to see if it makes it back to the road. The path did continue, but we landed up in a strip of beach - and got our feet all sandy, on top of being drenched in the rain. The path turned around to switch over to a 5-minute version of the Blair Witch Project, snaking its way through some dense, dark wooded area. But then, voila, the road was before us, and the Mini took us back to safety and civilization. We did stop at the "Clam Bar" shack to pause on life, and see to proper death rituals of some excellent fish and chips, and some crab cakes. Personally, the fish and chips rules at this place.

On our way through the Hamptons, we stopped for coffee at the local Starbucks (what else!). Apart from a huge number of obscenely expensive cars - from Porches to Rolls Royce, Maseratis to Aston Martins - the Hamptons are rather boring. I'll choose the hustle and bustle of midtown Manhattan over the quiet desolation of the Hamptons - but then maybe my thinking process will change once I am super rich. I'm still about a million short of being a millionaire, you see.
 

Red Lobster

After a day out in the field with Soma's professor and group, we landed up at the local Red Lobster for some seafood and wine. From the looks of the photographs, more wine than seafood. In reality, though, it's really tough to bring out the camera when a succulent Maine lobster tail is presented in front of you. Or, in this case, me.

Cooking Day!

Today, the first half was spent shopping for groceries, and the second half was spent in cooking them all. Seen here are White Kadahi Chicken, Gurati style Cabbage with Peas, Aubergines, Dal, Mango Chutney, Goat Liver stir-fry, String Beans with Onions, and Spinach paste with garlic and chillies.

Waldorf Astoria

Soma and I finally had a chance to make good use of our wedding gift (from Kanishka/ Ranjita/ Snigdha/ Arindam/ Amrita/ Bikram/ Krishna) and stay over at the Waldorf Astoria / Towers. With a quadruple upgrade to a whopping $8000-a-day room, it was really a night spent like a King and a Queen, in full regal setting of gold and black. As a cherry-on-top, Soma threw in a champagne dinner at Pylos. Rarely is an evening better spent.

Hawthorne Apartments

Soma at the Hawthorne Court apartment complex -our home since September 2005. Soma's dress sense usually beats mine by miles, and my color coordination by orders of magnitude, so it's really easy to come up with pretty snaps. Having spent quite some time in the suburbs, we are liking it here - with the new car, the spacious apartment, the nice complex with many Indians around, and the endless shopping possibilities of rich Long Island. Plus, it's less than an hour to the City by car - opening up the realm of a million restaurants!

This photo here was a landmark step - this was the first really succesful "portrait" using my 45mm lens on the Nikon. Plus, this was testing out our new paper scanner- I was shooting regular film, not slides.