Mama goes to The Mystery Spot

There is this place on the way from San Jose to Santa Cruz, called The Mystery Spot.

It is a weird place where there is some strange force acting upwards that you can physically sense. Apparently there are 18 such places in the globe (9 mirror sites through the center of the earth?!) and since most of such places are over the ocean, only two or three are offered as a sight seeing location on planet Earth.

This spot has been around for tourists to see, since the 1940's. For some strange reason, more Desis have seen the mystery spot than Americans. This is based on a statistical survey conducted by the BOGUS Institute's chief, Dr. Sündar Narayanöhe, who has personally visited "The Mystery Spot" 8 times.

Having been on the main tour four times, and having waited for many 45 minute tours to finish so he could take his turn with the visitors accompanying him from India (this was before they enabled online ticket purchses), Dr. Narayanöhe has observed that 9/10 people in all tours are Desis.

Usual tourist spots in the bay area, especially over long weekends, have the distribution of 40% Indian, 40% Chinese and 20% other, except in Disneyland where the ratio would be 40/30/30. The lack of non-desis at "The Mystery Spot" as it is officially called, is in itself a Mystery, concludes the eminent researcher!

That said, "Mama" or "Chota Mama" as he is known in family circles, visited the bay area last weekend and posed the billion dollar question, "What can you show me that we don't normally see in India?". This from a dude who has just been shown the Empire State Building, the Smithsonian, the National Air and Space Museum, etc. etc.

The equations were cruched in our heads and the point of singularity was clearly going towards, you guessed it !!!!

So off we went and at the end of the trip, "Mama", or "Mug Shot Mama" as he is now called in family circles, came out with a smile on his face. "That was incredible, do you know what is really going on there?", he asked a bewildered Dr. Narayanöhe, who started by drawing some equations, lines and arrows on a paper napkin, invoked the name of his favorite physics teacher "Balu Sir", scratched his head some more and replied, "The BOGUS Institute will take this as a personal request and submit its report, soon.." and told himself "the hell if I know!".

We present to the reader, some interesting photographs from the trip.

This is what is known as the "Om Boohu" shot!

People as well as trees get a nauseus feeling and go dizzzzy, at the spot. This photo shows a confused "corkscrew tree"..

The next two photos show how Mama (who boldly voluteered where many desis have volunteered before) and a little kid clearly demonstrate that the height difference between them changes drastically, when they switch places around the spot. The spot runs through the girl watching them on the concrete T, who by the way endorsed the phenonmenon for real.

In case the previous photos were not convincing enough, here is Mama and the eminent researcher, whose eminence is all the more prominent with the new haircut, which in turn has revealed a "mystery spot" on his scalp where all the hair seem to be confused.... demonstating the effect first hand. People develop a 17 degree lean when they are inside the spot on level ground. "Amazing! Now I know how Michael Jackson did that tilt thing in Smooth Criminal! Possibly blue screen work at the spot!" chipped a kid from behind as the tour progressed.

and finally the mystery behind Mama's name change in family circles!

Ta da..

If you are a desi visiting a relative in the bay area, chances are you have visted this place. If not, spread the word! It has become a must watch site for madisaar mamis and mottai thalais alike.

.

The perks of having an MBA

One of the advantages of having an MBA is the ability to make the entire family happy. I know, this comment catches the business dudes off guard and makes them think "what am I missing here.. which class did I miss during my college days? How come no one told me this?..." etc.

The reason, you are caught off guard is because the MBA we are talking about here is not a Masters in Business Administration, but rather the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

Yes, we have access to the MBA. THE MBA! and it is awesome. We took San's uncle to get his MBA last weekend and had such a wonderful time.

The kids, were just thrilled. It was worth the almost 2 hour drive at short notice, because we got to see some amazing displays, contribute to aquatic research as part of the ticket proceeds, and literally, have a "whale of a time"! Add to that, it was bonding time for the kids with "Mama"!

Here are some photos from the trip.

San admiring the Jellyfish displays!

Trying to take "no flash" (yeah, no flash allowed!) pictures of dimly lit aquatic specimens through 1/2 inch thick plexiglass can be daunting. With the things moving reasonably fast, even if you have a tripod and use 1600 ISO, you are still going to come out feeeling "that photo could have been better".. so, I stopped taking pictures and just enjoyed the displays. You have to go there to enjoy it. Truly spectacular. Now for the little birds inside the various open exhibits.. They were all "collared" or "plastic ring identified"! and were very friendly with the humans!

Then there are the sea otter exhibits and the giant kelp forest. The thing holds more than half a million gallons of water, they say.. You are just dwarfed by the scale of the exhibit. Makes you get a grasp of how insignificant we are. It is not easy to create that effect in an indoor exhibit, but the MBA pulls it off.

We had a great time in the "sit out" facing the ocean. They have a lot of gulls coming to eat fries, seals on the far off rocks, and little free telecopes (binoculors) to watch the kayakers, pelicans, etc.

You cross this and go into a play area for kids. The kids just refused to come out. We learnt a lot about Dolphins, whales and sea lions in the kids area. Nice displays. Good fun.

The kids then got to "touch" various sea creatures and get a "feel" for marine life. Initially they were scared, but then touched starfish, clams, crabs, sea anemones, etc. etc. You even get to touch a stingray in one of the exhibits.

A day well spent. We were glad to show San's uncle something he would normally not see in India.

The sandwiches and Pizza in the Aquariums Cafe were also top quality.

The only other place we have visited that comes close or is better is the Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbour. The MBA is still our favorite!

.

The tourguide becomes the tourist ?!

One of the books that stuck to my memory from the college library reading days is "The Stone Leopard" by Collin Forbes. In that book, the line that stood out was "The hunter became the hunted!".

Along similar lines, someday I plan to become a tourist for the very same places I take visiting relatives, in my role as the family tourguide.

San's uncle was here this weekend, after attending a conference in the east coast and on his way back to India.

"Two and a half days in the bay area, maximum coverage!" declared the wife. I took up the challenge and inspite of one of the worst wheezing attacks in recent memory on Friday night, went on to drive to the following places:

The livermore temple (this was not a tourguide thing, just the usual drive and back)
The Mystery spot (my 8th visit to the place, 4th on the tour)
Santa Cruz boardwalk
Route 1 from Santa Cruz to Golden gate bridge with stops on the beaches.. (yes, we ate the packed Tamarind rice and curd rice on the beach, and yes yes, it was delicious, as usual!)
The golden gate bridge (somewhere in the 25-30 range on this vista point)
Crooked street (same thing.. and not once have I actually managed to take in the beauty of this street because as the driver I am always hanging on the steering wheel for dear life on the way up)
The chocolate factory (this, like the temple is just plain fun)
Carmel by the Sea (6th trip)
Monterey Bay aquarium (4th trip)

400 miles of local driving with lots of help from my friends Pseudoephidrine Hydrochloride, Azelastine Hydrochloride, Loratadine and of course Salbuterol who came through and helped me in some tough spots!

There will be some detailed posts with pictures of this hectic travel experience.. but leave you here with the customary stitch shots of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This is one tough place for a merge shot but is also a good candidate for the shot. Even if you have a lens that goes to 18mm, you cannot capture the panorama from the vista point. That said, you need multiple shots.

Let me explain why is it a difficult place for stitch photos. Too many moving things, the water, the boats, yachts, the vehicles on the bridge, not to mention you and the camera (it is very windy at the vista point). You are better off trying this when :

a. there is good visibility

b. there are not that many vehicles on the bridge (at least avoid the huge trucks which move bigtime between your continuous shots)

c. avoid big barges on the water which also move perpendicular to the bridge. If they move parallel to the bridge, it does not matter much.

d. Use a tripod and swivel the camera across

e. The biggest thing I realized...do not do this in AUTO mode.

Go focus on the bridge in auto mode,
find out what the camera thinks is the best aperture and shutter speed,
then go to manual mode,
reduce the aperture by one stop to allow more light in (go to a smaller number),
decrease the shutter speed by one (ie., if auto says do 1/250, then do 1/400th of a second)
and then sweep the camera and shoot in manual mode.

f. Do NOT change the zoom throughout this sweep. That messes things up big time.

g. If you are worried about barelling (when you stitch a photo panorama, you get a barrel shaped composite picture, with the ends becoming short and the center long), shoot with the camera rotated 90 degrees. Take more shots, vertically and stitch them!

Now, hope all that advice works for you. I plan to take my own advice next time (there will definitely be another next time) and do all of the above instead of just some of the above.

ps. Don't try to upload them in blogger with the original size. You will probably get an internal error! Resize and then upload, save yourself some pain.

Now, my dear friends are inviting me to a party. Got to run. Ciao!

.

Wrapping up another special weekend

Have done the local tourguide service for visting friends and relatives so many times!

Seeing the place yet another time is not special. The comments from the friends and relatives who are seeing this for the first time are what make the trip worth it!

A golden moment, pun intended, when by brother just said that it was not worth taking pictures when one just has to absorb the experience!

So we all just strolled around the vista point and stopped taking pictures.

It was one perfect day!

.

FILOLI - a day trip

After living in the bay area for ten years, we found a place this week that we have driven past over the years, but never checked out.

Somehow we did not even register the sign on Highway 280 that says "FILOLI - next exit. National Historic Landmark Site".

Thanks to Anu.P and K. we knew about the existance of this wonderful place called FILOLI.

It is a mansion named for FIght LOve LIve. You can read more at their website.

We had a blast. It was a really hot day, but some of the gardens in the place were extremely cool and refreshing. We also went on a self tour of the mansion. Wow!! It was just amazing. The whole family had a blast. The added bonus was that we were joined by the cousins and a host of friends!

The best part was that daddy got to dance with his daughters in a beautiful ballroom and there was a lady playing wonderful waltzes on a piano in the corner.

Here is the trip in pictures.

The Landmark marker!

Posing with the kids and the MIL at the garden entrance...


Have no idea what this flower was, but it was inviting the camera. Missed my Tamron for a few seconds there!


The wonderful Allium. We have this in our house as well. The ones in our front yard never got to this size!


A wall of flowers!


A beautiful shot of San with the kids in front of the garden!


Jr. in front of the pool and clock tower.


This was a beautiful arrangement at the end of the rose garden


The rose garden. Really well maintained. Jr. though had a big issue with the "buggies" aka bees and wasps!


Another fantastic garden with tall well pruned hedges. When you have 654 Acres of land at your disposal, you can have many such gardens each visually more enchanting than the previous one!


The rose garden


A sample of the roses (there are lots of rose portraits, liked this one the best)


Note the dark pink looking plant on the right of this photo...


It is full of a rose looking miniature!


One of the coolest places at FILOLI outside the gardens


One of the majestic rooms at the Estate mansion! Gives you some idea of what half a million dollars can get you in the mid 1800's!


The ladies of the estate used to have tea ceremonies where they would gather and discuss the matters of the day. So says the informational video! When you put two Madrasi granny's in the same location a 150 years later, they still have a discussion alright, tea or otherwise! The two grannies were busy discussing anything under the sun (or shade) while the younger generation was busy running after the youngest generation!


One of the murals on the walls of the ballroom. Apparently made in the artists studio in New York. How they got it to this place in the mid 1800's is beyond me! Ship? Road? Did they break it in sections?


Finally a picture of daddy with the little one. A little blurry but you can still make out the happiness in the little one's face when she is dancing. She has this divine smile!


It was a memorable trip. If you happen to live in the bay area or you are visiting in spring or early summer, this is guranteed to be a good day of fun!

.