My Mom and Dad

 My mom and my dad are not what they seem.
 Their dull appearance is part of their scheme.
 I know of their plans. I know their techniques.
 My parents are outer space alien freaks!

 They landed on earth in spaceships humongous.
 Posing as grownups, they now walk among us.
 My parents deny this, but I know the truth.
 They're here to enslave me and spoil my youth.

 Early each morning, as the sun rises,
 Mom and dad put on their earthling disguises.
 I knew right away their masks weren't legit.
 Their faces are lined - they sag and don't fit.

 The earth's gravity makes them sluggish and slow.
 They say not to run, wherever I go.
 They live by the clock. They're slaves to routines.
 They work the year 'round. They're almost machines.

 They deny that TV and fried food have much worth.
 They cannot be human. They're not of this earth.
 I cannot escape their alien gaze,
 And they're warping my mind with their alien ways.
 For sinister plots, this one is a gem.
 They're bringing me up to turn me into them!

-- Bill Watterson

Dear Dot

You will meet a lot of people along the way. Make some really good friends. Have some really great times. Recall them when you are older and think back fondly about what seemed like the best days of your life. (But of course it will get even better.)

My earliest memories are only from around when I was around 4 years old. Not sure how much of your infant and toddler days you will remember when you are older. Hence this blog. A journal of your days and some events maybe we both will struggle to remember in the future. 

I wanted to post this picture of you with your best friends at daycare. Who knows where life will take each of you and who know if you will stay in touch. But what you should know that these two lovely ladies Sabrina (on your left) and Amaya (on your right) were probably your first friends. All three of you shared a lot of your firsts together. First step, first grown up meal, first time at a farm, first cut, first semi coherent words, first time at an aquarium and a lot more. Remember this time with your friends as one filled with curiosity, laughter, booboos and a lot of happiness. 

The best time of your life indeed. So far. 

Iceland

Fun as it is to go on vacation as a family, the joy of going away with friends is incomparable. The opportunity to travel minus diaper bag or wake up at 6 while on vacation rare and refreshing (sorry dot, but I'm just being honest). So when Rahul decided to go to Amsterdam for Priyo's 5 day stag do minus family, Shilpa and I immediately started plotting our "revenge trip" by ourselves. 

The options were plenty ranging from a vegetating vacation in Marrakech to aurora borealis hunting in Iceland. We chose Iceland. Of course when we chose the destination, our plans included whale watching, catching a glimpse of the elusive northern lights, walking on a glacier, see a volcano erupt under our noses but going by people's records of not catching any of these sightings even after staying for  week our expectations were pretty low. Especially since we were just going to be there for 3 days. We needed  serious luck to catch any one of these things....but we comforted ourselves with the fact that it will be an amazing trip for two friends and of course there will be much alcohol which will compensate for everything. 

The day of our departure finally arrived (28th march). Nandu Mashi also decided to join us. So there we were, three of is at Heathrow on a Friday evening after work. After picking up quarters of whisky to keep us warm we took off. Got to Reykjavik and to our hotel well past midnight. Spotted no northern lights on our way to the hotel from the airport. (Darn!)

Sprung out of bed the next morning having slept 8 hours straight minus cries, milk refills, kicks in the face and I was already feeling lucky and quite optimistic. (Sorry dot). Grabbed a massive breakfast at the hotel. Tried fish for breakfast as is common there. Nice. 

The planning then begun on the breakfast table for our great escapades. We decided to go whale watching in the morning. Be back by late afternoon. Loiter. Nap. Get dinner. Head out to hopefully catch the northern lights. The next morning we decided to hire a guided jeep tour all around south western  Iceland taking up all day where we hoped to walk on a glacier, walk behind a waterfall, see a lava beach and the golden circle. The day after we were due to leave and decided to take a pit stop at the blue lagoon on the way to the airport. 

Happy with our planning, we showered, layered up and head to the harbour. We were hoping to catch blue whales but apparently those little rascals aren't around this nook in winter. So we were told what we could "expect" to see were minke whales (stinky minke, you can smell their breath before you see them), humpback whales, dolphins and porpoise. So we had a few beers and got on the boat for a 4 hour hunt with zero expectations. The views from the boat were spectacular....the vast expanse of water dotted by snow capped mountains. Personally I was just happy being out on the water and spotting something would just be a plus. Of course the forces that be decided to grant us a plus plus and an hour into our trip we spotted our first stinky minke. Soon after our boat was surrounded by a pod of 50 white beaked dolphins. They were all around. Jumping and splashing almost putting on a show for our insatiable appetite (not referring to wanting to eat them). We then moved away from the pod, and went to a spot where we chanced upon a humpback whale!  Couldn't believe our luck really. So giddy with joy and our brains frozen in the cold we went down to the little cafeteria on the boat where we had a whale punch! (A cup of coffee with at least 90ml of rum)

Most pleased with ourselves we loitered around the city a bit before heading back to our hotel. Went out for dinner shortly where I ate Arctic char. You amazing fish you. I love you. Washed down nicely with Icelandic pale ale and sweet crepes filled with cream and rhubarb jam for dessert. Beautiful. Fed up and fulfilled we headed back to hotel, put on a few more layers and waited for our guide to show up to take us aurora hunting. 

We drove up to a national park an hour's drive out of the city and waited out in the freezing wilderness hoping and wishing for the sky to turn green. The skies were very clear that night and the sky was dotted with more stars than I've ever seen. Almost felt like sitting in a planetarium. Spectacular. Our guide pointed at a smokey patch in the sky and asked us what t was. Very confidently we told her it was the Milky Way. Haha! She said those were the lights, and now we just had to wait and see if the solar activity picked up and colours appeared. In nervous enthusiasm we gulped down out whisky neat and stared at the smokey blur unblinkingly. Within ten odd minutes we had our first glimpse of the green arc across the horizon and then it was just a spectacular hour long show of the lights dancing and streaking across the sky. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it and this was the first time in 24 hours I wished Rahul and dot were with me to witness this.

Woke up the next morning, sleep deprived from our night of miracle watching but our spirit faulad with copious amounts of giggly excitement about the day ahead. Quick breakfast later we were in the jeep with our packed lunches ready for our action packed day. As you drive out of the city the first thing that hits you is the sheer scale of emptiness, the tranquil nature overwhelms you and your lungs feel alive filled with the crisp, fresh, cold air. First we stopped at the national park where we saw a mega massive waterfall, the western fault line (between North America and Europe) and mostly vast expanses of snow till where your eyes reached. The flat terrain almost gave you a sense of being on top of the world. That if you walked through the snow long enough, you'd tumble down the other side of our beautiful planet. Or you'd go across the wall and be face to face with the wildlings. But then again, I probably know nothing ( Game of thrones reference. Boom).

We then saw some geysers. These were a lot smaller compared to the massive old faithful we'd seen in Yellowstone so I decided to spend more time ticking into a fresh berry tart and Irish coffee on this pit stop. 

We continued on to see another waterfall. This one we could walk behind the waterfall. Much excite. Put on some cramp ons. A short trek later we found ourselves behind a waterfall. I've never experienced anything like it before. All you could hear was the deafening sound of the water hitting the ground. And we were soaked to the bone. I stood there mesmerized for several minutes. Not blinking so I didn't miss any of this. We trekked down from this one and then our guide , Oliver , showed us a hidden waterfall. After scrambling across some rocks and a narrow gap between two boulders we found ourselves in front of a relatively smaller waterfall. It was almost like discovering new lands (ok fine, I'm exaggerating. But it was mighty cool).

Now soaked and hair matted like straw from all the wind we moved on to our next adventure. The glacier! The weather turned for worse while we were driving up to the mountains and at a distance on the mountain tops we could see a snowstorm brewing. We parked the jeep and decided to walk into the storm to see how far we could go to see this glacier. The winds were so strong we could only open one car door at a time and once out you felt the actual impact of the wind force. Clutching on to our hoods , we start walking into what seemed like a sand storm at the base of the mountain now. Post consuming almost a kilo of sand with another 200 grams stuck to our eyeballs we were within touching distance of the glacier. Decided against walking on it because we didn't have the right equipment and the winds were getting stronger. So we all just semi-ran-semi-flew back to the jeep. 

Our next spot was the lava beach. A massive stretch of coastline with black sand and very strong currents smashing against the beach. What I found more amazing about the beach was half an old airplane just lying there. In the middle of nothing. Apparently the plane had crashed there in the 1970s. Nobody died. They decided to leave the aircraft there almost like a work of art. 

Next we drove to our last spot which was yet another waterfall. On the way we stopped to feed some random horses. This is when one of the horses decided to bite down on the finger of our co traveller. She was fine though. It was funny. At the last waterfall while some decided to walk closer to it or climb on top of a hillock for a top view I parked myself on a bench and heard mom sing on my phone. It was the most peace I've felt in a while. 

After this stop we drove back to the city. Had a lovely dinner and called it a night.

Having had a slightly longer night of deep sleep the next morning we were all packed and ready to fly back home but not before a quick dip in the geo thermal blue lagoon. Best decision ever! Floated around for almost two hours with a beer in hand until I turned into a raisin. 

This ended my amazing weekend away. Turns out it was Mother's Day that Sunday. Best gift ever, I say. 

I hope we go back to Iceland as a family and spend days driving around to witness this beautiful country together.