A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Last spring the Oaktree behind our house was infested with caterpillars. There were so many that sometimes the Oaktree looked like it has a furry bark! Yes, these Oaktree caterpillars are kind of cute, and might even make you believe that they may turn into beautiful butterflies, but they turn into a dull brown moth. Every time the wind blew a bunch of caterpillars fell down everywhere, on the railings of the balcony, on the floor and even on those who happened to be around the Oaktree. Since I had to stop working in the Spring all of a sudden as my work visa was not picked in the lottery, I was home all day almost every day. I was in a funk. I used to watch these caterpillars frantically crawl up and down our balcony railings looking for their Oaktree to climb back on. I could relate to them at some level as I felt the same way. My sole purpose after graduation was to work and earn money to pay off my student debt. It felt like I was running around in circles to find what I could do

When I was in second grade we lived in a house in Davangere,  a town in Karnataka, a state in Southern India. The house had a nice backyard where my mother grew some vegetables and flowering plants. I did not want to be left behind and wanted to be a gardener as well. So my mother gave me a patch of land within the backyard and some seedlings and shoots for me to start my gardening with. I was off to a good start for my own botanical garden. But there was a problem.. My plants wouldn't grow roots! The land was fertile, there was ample sunshine and I watered them daily. The two grader that I was then, was not only curious but very eager and let's say impatient, who could not wait for the little plants to show signs of thriving. I had to pull the plants every two days to check if the seeds had germinated or if the roots were growing! When my mother saw this she told me what was wrong with my gardening. Sometimes we ruin things for ourselves because we are too eager or impa

I moved from Cambridge, MA to Bay Area in September last year. In Cambridge, I was used to a busy student life full of activities and friends and there was always something to do and always had wonderful friends I knew I could bank on. I met my husband online when I was in Cambridge and after talking for hours on end in July and visiting him in August for a week, we decided that the only way this relationship can move forward is that we have to be in the same city. Since I was the one looking for a job, we thought it made sense that I move to where he is based. So the impulsive person that I was, packed the bags and moved. Needless to say, friends and family were shocked. I knew living in the Bay Area was expensive but realized how expensive it is once I moved here. I was a grad student looking for a job and very hopeful that I will find a job that pays me in two months. It is just that both I and my husband forgot that I am not a practicing engineer and I am looking for a job in In

I was walking back home from my yoga class and while passing by a park I saw a young man throwing a sizeable rock up the redwood tree at the center of the park. My immediate thought was “oh there goes a man trying to kill a poor squirrel or a bird, maybe I should avoid this route to save myself from having to see this” (Yes, I am a tree hugger sorts J ). Just when I turned to walk away from there, a part of me told me to walk up to the man and see what exactly is going on. So I decided to walk towards him while he is focused on throwing that rock up every time it fell down. The minute I got closer to him, my heart sank for judging him from afar. He was a man who seemed to be in his early 20s, with Down’s syndrome. He volunteered to tell me that he has something stuck in the tree. I stopped to look in the direction he showed and could not find anything. He had a remote control in his hand so I thought there must be some toy. There it was! His remote-controlled airplane stuck in the br