Laptop hell…

Yesterday my laptop just crashed and no amount of rebooting and system restoration would bring it back to sanity. Unfortunately, I had a number of photos on it, and I just had to let go of them all. Without a laptop it felt like I was off life support. In spite of a bad bout of cold and sickness, I jumped into my car and ran to the nearest electronics store, where I had purchased my year old laptop. After two hrs of standing in line and signing paperwork (which probably took more time than the laptop restoration itself), I finally got a big fat bulky loaner laptop that I bought home. And after yet another 3 yrs of setup, including MS office anti-virus software etc. (especially with the sucky slow Windows Vista), my loaner laptop was ready. In total, I had spent about 8-10 hrs from the time my laptop crashed to the time I had a new functional laptop. What an utter waste of time!

However, it was interesting to watch myself yesterday, as I tried to get my laptop to restore or run to the nearest retail store to get the loaner laptop. There are only few things that make me behave this feverishly – one is my Laptop and the other is wireless Internet at home. I think I can live without many things, but my laptop and Internet I can’t.

Durga Puja in Bay Area

Yesterday evening I made a trip with Delip to the Durga Puja festivals being celebrated at the Sunnyvale temple in South Bay Area. We heard the sound of the Dhols (or drums) from a distant parking lot and wondered about the people living around the temple area. The sound of Drums/Dhols somehow reminded me of the energy of Durga Puja celebrations in India, specifically in West Bengal, where I lived for a majority of my life. When we arrived at the temple, we thought we were seeing a microcosm of Durga Puja celebrations in India – Kids were running around in new sparkly clothes and women were all dressed up in their newest saris and accessories. Inside a huge makeshift tent, there were long queues at the food stalls (as if people couldn’t have enough food), and lots of other stalls trying to sell something or the other, whether it was mehndi tatto or Hanuman DVDs or shawls or Indian clothes. I even ran into some batch-mates from almost 13 yrs ago that I hadn’t met since graduating from college.

For us and my brother’s family, who had joined us at the temple, it was a quick trip and back on a weekday evening. But some people had been visiting the Pandal everyday since the past three days… such is the energy and devotion to Durga Puja amongst many members of the community, specifically Bengalis. I simply love their energy and enthusiasm for Durga Pujas. It is such a lively experience. I used to look forward to Pujas as a kid as it meant balloons, books, new clothes, going out with girlfriends and spending all my days at the Puja Pandal eating all that we could and being merry. While symbolically Durga Puja has a deeper meaning, and I am sure many people go there to pray and connect with their spiritual side, for me all it meant was three full days of being able to set aside your worries and just enjoying yourself in the present moment.