Participating in a parade. Off we went in our green clothes on a very cold morning in March. Its the St.Patrick's day parade I was told. Knew nothing about it so did a quick check on Wikepedia (it aint hard to know it all these days) In short, 
people wear green and drink lots of beer and celebrate. As long as we could have some fun, I am always game. At downtown, I ignored the cold when I saw people in all kinds of green clothes bustling about. Was even more excited to animals also with green accessories. So adorable. There were dogs, a pony and a groundhog. We caught a glimpse of the mayor, there was the Pittsburgh Steelers fans (football team), the army folks and all kinds of different groups marching away to glory. Give-aways like green beads and toffees and food samples were strewn all over the roads. We walked the entire strech of the parade, shivering every once in a while. At the central square everyone gathered to guzzle green coloured beer. Not being a beer drinker and having been exhausted by the two hour walk , we marched back to the car. All in all very special for me to see so many people together just enjoying themselves. My heart longed for India where we see crowds everyday :)
Astronomical adventures. The drive to the place is an experience close to the horror of a Hitchcock movie. Dark winding roads with very few cars or people visible. You only need to imagine the eerie music in your head to complete the movie! The last mile or so is the hardest part. Warning symbols indicate more sharp turns and chances of deer crossing the path. And we have to dim our lights as we pull into the open air observatory where amateur and professional astronomers are busy looking into their telescopes or making notes in torchlight. The human eye takes a while to get accustomed to the natural light of the moon at night - so if a car pulls in with its brights on, it hurts the eye and again takes time to re adjust to the natural light. So anyway, I take my time to look around and see that there indeed are people and parked vehicles around. I heave a sigh of relief just knowing that we arent alone in a jungle or something. My husband deftly assembles the telescope and asks me what I want to see. The moon's a little too bright apparently so its gonna be hard to see much else tonight. Whatever you can show me - said I, as usual just enthusiastic enough that I am doing something 'different'. So first I get to see the moon a little more closely, then we looked at Venus. Mars was not visible at the time for reasons I cannot recollect. That night there were supposed to be leonid showers. That was the reason for a bigger turnout at the observatory. So after seeing the moon and Mars, we sat and waited to see if we were lucky enough to be witness to the showers. Astronomy needs a lot of patience. Our luck turned when we got to see two or three meteors! It happens in a flash - you almost think you have imagined it rather than seen it. Not at all like the Bollywood movies where the hero and heroine have time enough to talk to each other, see it, make a wish and look at each other again and hide the fact that they believe in such superstitions ;) What a thrill it was to see them. I expressed my happiness at being able to participate in such an interesting activity and my husband had the look that said - 'Ab to tumhe chand sitare bhi dikha diya' (Now I have shown you the moon and stars too). On a recent second visit to the observatory I got a closer look at Jupiter and could see four of its moons. We did this both from our telescope and the observatory telescope which is much more powerful. Look forward to future adventures :D And I can probably say to him 'Mars nahin dikhaya' (you havent shown me Mars).
These were some of my best moments in the past year; experiences I put 'in my own words'. Apart from all of this we have travelled around, met friends and relatives, visited museums, walked in state parks, seen almost every movie that anyone dared make and much more. Cannot help but think - oh what a year!!
