Its' all worth it now!

You may have noticed that I've been very wary of driving in the snow here... Having read some horror stories about it and talking to people who give advice like "Drive your car into a block of ice if you think you're going to cause a major accident", I've been at my wits end on how to avoid driving on the icy roads! I also feel colder than most people, so I tend to freeze pretty fast, and that's just one more reason to stay home and work remotely instead of making the effort to actually go to office!

But, here's the interesting bit - I'm falling in love.

With snow. (Ummm, what did you think?!)

And its all worth it now.

You've just got to look out at the white expanse, pristine and pure (before people walk over it and it becomes brown!), and you'll fall in love with the beauty of it all. The trees look so pretty, each branch slightly drooping under the weight of the snow, the outstretched fields look like a sea of white crystals, and the best part I think is the mood in the air! Its probably the most romantic season of all! You just feel like curling your fingers into someone else's, laughing, shivering, slipping, walking together...

You feel like smiling to yourself even when the roads are completely backed up and it takes you 1 hour to do 5 miles! Of course, if you're driving a Pontiac G6 Coupe, you'll smile through rain and snow alike! No no, this isn't the car that I've finally decided to buy/bought!! It doesn't even figure in my list, not out of choice but out of helplessness! (For those interested, I've decided its going to be the Altima Coupe, if I can't get a good deal on the Pontiac that is!).. No, I just turned out to be really lucky and got a free upgrade on my car rental and so am driving around (at 30 miles/hr - ok, so what the heck, I'm still scared of sliding on the snow!) in that these days! I'm only sad that it keeps getting covered in snow and the beautiful gleaming blue color is lost inside somewhere! :(

Incidentally, while we're on the subject of snow, this is the festive season after all - I've paid my respects to the cheer by shopping (too much)... most of the stuff I've bought is not useful to anyone. I've just bought it because its the season to buy. Shucks, such a sucker for marketing! Oh, and I don't know how many of you have noticed but people can be quite nasty during this season "to be jolly", especially in parking lots! "Say bye to Santa this year miss! You're fighting with me over a stupid parking space?!!"

Anyways, getting back to why it's all worth it, its because you can spend hours and hours with friends sitting inside a coffee shop and chatting away without feeling guilty that you should be "out there", doing hiking, trekking, rafting or any such unnecessarily tedious activities! (just kidding! i'd love to go on one of these actually!)... I spent 4 hours last evening having dinner with 4 PhD students from Brown University.. we were the most odd combination of people - one Greek (Greek God, if I may add!), one German, one Japanese and one other Indian apart from me! We spoke about everything under the sun from beer-drinking Swiss cows to airhostesses on international airlines, from Starbucks marketing strategy to the appropriate BMI of a Japanese v.s the rest of the world! Of course this isn't season related, but I miss the exchange of ideas that students have here... I guess it was a real missed opportunity to not have studied in this country... where else will you find such a diverse mix of people?! And the fact that these people really exchanged ideas about important stuff! I recently met a guy who is just finishing under-grad, and he's already so knowledgeable that it makes me wonder! He spent 3 months in India last year, he's going to go biking through Asia when he graduates, and is planning to work in China after that... and his friend spent a few months in Pakistan learning Urdu and studying about Madarsas! They were teaching each other Urdu and Chinese, which was such a better use of time than talking about the latest affair of your college-mates or bitching about a professor! I think the only ideas my friends and I exchanged in college was whose nail polish was better and who was going out with whom!! (ok, so thats not true - but I'm trying to make a point!)

And lastly, I'm going out for lunch with this person I really really like! [Can't tell you guys who, though I must have mentioned him at least 3 times before! But, for the curious ones (read Zee and S) this is not a romantic involvement! :)))]

So its' all worth it, getting out in the snow.

:)