film. the day after Nemo...

Shots by Nishi with his Pentax film camera... his new love.

Sharing these with 

since we have been feasting on these shots all over the weekend...

p.s : more of Nemo here.

Friday before Nemo... the Snow, the Slush and the Good Man

Last Friday, with warnings of heavy snow storm, the lab closed down at 2:00 p.m. We immediately went and picked Pradyot up from the daycare.. and headed to Sam's Club for some last moment stocking up...

Nishi had forgotten the candles and we hadn't any in the house.. so that was a must purchase that we couldn't afford to skip inspite of all the warnings and the apparent slush and snow. 

however.. we just couldn't find any candle in any aisle. so we decided to stop at the neighborhood grocery shop. but by then it had already started snowing heavily. the view through the car window was fast becoming a blur... the traffic was slowing every minute and as a consequence the usual 20 minutes drive stretched to a mighty 45 minutes that day.

and by the time we reached the store and Nishi finished that last bit of essential stock up... it was 5:00 p.m. now the big snowballs had begun pouring down. and as pretty as the surroundings looked from the car... the moment Nishi started the car, we realized what a BIG SOUP we had plunged ourselves in. the wheels had got stuck in the snow and slush... and no amount of engine acceleration could make them budge. and when Nishi asked me to step out and push the car while he pressed the accelerator... to my horror i realized that my shoes did not have the grip for snow.  the more I tried to push... the more I slipped. of course. Newton's 3rd Law was at work ... but i wasn't thinking about that then..  it was freezing and we just wanted to get back home. later Nishi told me that at that moment he was considering abandoning the car right there and walking back. but he of course did not mention it then. for he knew that with Pradyot around it wouldn't be easy convincing me about that... 

anyway while he was tossing his options... and i gathering all the strength to push the car again... by God's grace a kind gentleman stepped out from his car and helped me give the car THE PUSH.... At that moment I really didn't know how to thank him enough. I merely said "Thank you so much. Drive safe,"  and jumped into the car. but thinking back... I feel I should have atleast given him a big hug... 

The Day After Nemo.

The day after Nemo we woke up to a cold room with a view to endless stretches of snow.....

^^ our neighborhood as it appeared from our apartment windows.....

^^ with no electricity since the previous night, Saturday morning the room temperatures had dropped to 52 degree F. so dressed in his fur suit we let Pradyot play while we attended to the household chores .. taking breaks every few minutes to take a peek through the windows...

^^ it was then that i spotted the blue jay back in our backyard...  perched on that branch outside.. it looked as pretty as ever.. but it too couldn't take the gusts of cold air for long.. so it flew away soon after.

^^by noon  with all four stoves boiling water full-time, the room temperatures had reached 62 degrees F. and since the kitchen felt like the most comfortable corner around, I busied myself cooking some fine dishes.. while Nishi went down with his spade to join our neighbors clear the tracks that had gathered about three feet of snow.. and dig out our car from the snow....

^^by two when a considerable amount of snow had been cleared he was glad to find a meal of fries and stewed veggies laid  out for lunch... Beer Battered Asparagus Pakoda and a bengali veggy mix with a face-lift so that it would resemble Ratatuollie a bit ... 

^^ since Nishi wanted Pradyot to feel the snow... so after lunch we all went out for a while. the sun was shining bright... and with the reflection from the snow it hurt our eye... but our boy cared for none of that... he was happy to be out. walking slipping and sliding .. all the time giggling and laughing and rejoicing his brand new experience of being in the snow ...  it was amazing to see how much he enjoyed himself out there.....  but we did stay out long.  because soon after our eyes and noses started watering and we did not want to risk it further... so we returned to our darkening apartment and after a quick-fix-early-dinner retired to the warmth of the quilts and the blankets in the bed....

Preparing for Nemo... ...

Panicked by his experience during Hurricane Sandy, Nishi has been doing all he can in preparation for Nemo. Yesterday after dropping us home... he bought a shovel, salt for snow and filled the car-gas-tank  full. because when Sandy had struck... he was trapped for 3 days straight... in a dark house with no electricity and no gas in the tank.  and not until a lab-mate obliged him with a ride and some gas... did he manage to resume back into normal life. but of course in comparison to all the sufferings that Sandy brought.. this was nothing.  in any case like everyone else... we are stocking up on every bit we can think of ...while praying and hoping all along that Nemo doesn't strike as bad. 

If you are around these corners... stay safe... hope you are well-stocked with food, candles and gas.


update: the non-stop rain and the sleet and the slush is making me nervous. the weather predictions have been pretty accurate so far... seems like there is no escaping the blizzard tonight.