Super Sunday

As always, also this morning, I strolled into my balcony with my morning cuppa. Madison received a whopping 5.9 inches of snow through the day (second only to 6 inches on January 21, 1998), thus preventing timely clearing up of the snow from sidewalks and roads. It was a pleasure to watch from my balcony as the snow flurries drifted slantingly towards the ground, almost as if it were a world lacking gravitation. It was most certainly dreamy! The worldly worries of having to scrape the snow off my car or my sidewalk didn't bother me much. Well, that's because I don't have either!

Who goes out on a snowy Sunday morning to the lab to work? I do, not always, but this morning, and I am glad I did. As I set out, all decked with layers that Wisconsinites are always encouraged to drape themselves in, I didn't realize that the journey to my place of work would be more than another mundane excursion. Okay, my bad that I presumed that buses would run late on a day like this. It is times like these that I curse myself for being 'minute-wise, hour-foolish', so that I get some additional time to check e-mails or surf the internet aimlessly for few more minutes. It seemed like the holiday route bus-driver took his job almost as seriously as I do, and drove past the bus-stop at quite the right time, even as I scampered a few minutes late! So, anyway, I decided I can do with some walking. 'Its not that far', I thought, and 'Its good for health, too!'. To dampen the efficacy of my intellectualization of this exercise, I saw a bus pass by in the opposite direction , easily 5 minutes later than it should have. 'That's the Murphy's law in action', I thought. But lately, I have come to believe that everything happens for a reason. Perhaps, He wanted me to take to the path by foot.

The feeling of walking on virgin snow-covered paths was a mixture of childish and sinister pleasure for me. Occasionally, I turned back to look proudly at the trail I left behind, a path no one had ever walked before, at least this morning! Soon, when I was a few blocks from home, I joined a bunch of kids noisily making a snowman, or at least something that looked like one. I had never done it before, and I thought there is never a better time than NOW. I excitedly offered my services and could see myself regress 20 years in age as I joined these kids. 15 minutes later, I was richer with another first experience of its kind. As I bade my new buddies good day and good bye and continued my walk, I felt a unique sense of relaxation and happiness that rejuvenated me for a wonderful day at work. There were passers-by who were skiing, some snowboarding, some just throwing snowballs at each other. Truly, sometimes these simple pleasures of nature far supersede any artificial joy rides. Then, as and when I peaked out of my lab window during the day, the view of a white and pure landscape livened me even more (as in the picture below). On my way back that day, I didn't wait for the bus. I decided I didn't need any!