10 am...oops ,i was supposed to be waiting outside at 10 !!... i've done the sleeping business again...proud sb, ain't i ?

the fastest at getting ready... not to compromise on a quick cup of coffee... (or chocolate milk ,was it...considering i was out of milk yesterday ?)... rushed out to check my voicemail...

"the twinkle of bells" ... .. "barathi, sekhar chithappa here... i am waiting outside your house...just reached ..."

the pleasure of meeting an estranged uncle after years... ... the hug... the very familiar hug...(appa, he's your brother indeed...in more ways than one!) ... "Ok...i've some chocolates for you.. " and there he hands this huge packet of chocolates... I wonder ,"he met me when I was four or five... and he's brought chocolates for that very kid... a supply that would make any kid believe in instant salvation..."

A cute little (cute,really... not the typical "girlish" cute) car... maps and all that... headed to Santa Barbara...:)...

the day was perfect... a sheet of mist over every thing on this part of the planet..frost-covered mountains... the sea hiding behind a film of chilled air... shades of grey and a reluctant blue on the one side...and green and yellow ,masked in grey and white on the other...

A Spanish town... Spanish architecture... the typical roofs... brick houses on rounded hills... flowers of a million shades... a chapel in every street corner...

The State Street... exuding a spirit of informality and class... fun and peace... bustling with activity... but having its easy,lazy accent too...

The Stearns Wharff... the sight of a million yachts, sailboats...the harbour...the smell of fish and chips in the air... write-ups about the Moby Dick ... happy people lazing away on the pier... a few eating on those moist,wooden benches.. another portion getting ready with their rafts and sailing boards and what not...:)...man, it makes me feel like a useless creature who can't swim... how else am I going to indulge in sailing and surfing..?

"Chithappa..there is a sea lion cruise for twenty five minutes..can we go on that ?...I've never been ON the ocean, per se..."....a hearty laugh..."sure...va". "a twenty five minute tour... that's going to be the fastest trip one can make on the Ocean...he's probably going to show us three to four sea lions ,circle around some boey a few times and bring us back"... I LOVED every part of it....the ocean at such a proximity... the very same ocean that's been serenading me for the past 3-4 months...

Back...time for food !!!!! ... "The Taj"...on the State Street...ahhhhh....amazing food. period.

More glimpses of the dear little city...with a marked Spanish influence...nuggets of wisdom and information from this man by my side who has travelled extensively ... food for thought for the language lover... "Spanish,as spoken in Argentina... has these components... but if you go to Spain..."...
"El Segundo...La Premera..."...

The Mission Church. I went in to have a peek. A mass was going on. I stood against the wall..at the very end...for those two minutes, I don't know what happened... my day was made. Smell of a certain incense...neatly arranged colourful flowers... people,with their heads bowed down in prayer... to say anything more about those precious moments would be to undermine their profundity and importance... my heart knew peace,after eons.

I thought of my mother a million times during this journey... a MILLION times... the freedom she's given me... the motivation she's given me to "JUST GO AHEAD and do what she couldn't..."... to choose the life I wanted to (and want to) in every possible way... her unconditional support - the kind I'd credit no one else with... her faith in God... a 7/11 on the way... "special flowers for..."... and I realized ...a welcome surprise to this head which had to think of her on this particular day...

A lot more to write about..but I don't feel like writing about the rest now. tata.