Rapt In Nameless Reveries

There are few moments in life which are so overwhelming that you want to hold on to them for as long as possible, make it your little secret, but at the same time tell the world about it. Giving birth to a baby is one of those moments. Starting from your 37th week when you already start worrying you are going to miss carrying that little being inside you once he is born to crying at the sound of his first cry, I have never felt so many emotions all at the same time. When my little one was brought to me, the first thing I remember thinking before passing out was how alert and calm and composed he was for a newborn just introduced to the world and how very alien like he looked. I have always considered myself restrained as far as emotions go, and when people described the joy of holding their baby in their hands, I would always take it with a pinch of salt. Reality check for me. For the first week, whenever that little wailing ball was brought to me from the nursery, I would immediatel...

As a frequent traveler myself, I have spent many an hour in airports observing and interacting with other travelers. As a child, trains were my primary means of travel and nowhere as inhibitive or scary as airline travel is these days. The only people we met on those trains were usually traveling for pleasure or to meet their families and as far as I remember, traveling and planning for travel was a big deal in those days. It still is for a lot of people. However, new lifestyle and opportunities have redefined how, when and why people travel these days. The first kind of traveler is the age-old "taking a vacation once in a year or two travelling with family and looking hassled at the beginning of the vacation" traveler. This person will probably look a lot more relaxed at the end of the vacation than when he started out. This traveler wants everything to be perfect on the vacation because he planned for it for so long. He has the heaviest baggage and chances are will run in...