A month in the Caribbean

It was the summer of 2011. I had been waiting for it since an year. My advisor Dr Hudson decided to take me to the island for a month on a field project. I was so excited about it. That is one reason I made a half hearted search for the jobs in the Electrical Engineering field after my Masters. Every time I had an interview I would be scared that if selected I am going to be barred from the trip to the island. So I should never fret over doing a PhD and not making dough like my engineer friends. You get what you think is most important for your existence. That's how it works in life.
My journey started from Reno airport where my friends and brother see me off. I had a big layover at the Los Angeles airport. I spent most of my time in people watching. Being from India I like the feeling of being around lots of people. It makes me feel comfortable and at home.
My last flight was from Miami to St Croix. It was a small aircraft with around 40 people. The moment we landed at St Croix, everyone started to clap that we made it. I realized later that it was not only because the aircraft was shaking and had hit a rough phase of cloud during its course but it was a simple island custom. It was raining heavily when I landed. The airport was so small that it felt like a small railway junction. All my luggage was drenched. I was carrying an important rack for our CCN spectrometer in my cabin luggage and that bag was one of the last to arrive. My boss was upset that the LA airport authorities had made me check it in. He had already planned to sue them in case its lost. He gave me good grief over the time we waited for the bag.
We left for the resort hotel 'The Buccaneer', which was like a small dream world. The life outside the Buccaneer and inside the resort with three beaches at your service was quite a contrast. I had a big room with view towards the ocean. I was sharing it with another girl from Germany called Anja. She had reached there the night before. When I knocked my room, a petite girl with long hairs done into pleats and a big smile opened it. My boss was very keen in getting the instruments and his joy knew no bound to see it as I unzipped my suitcase. He is one of those kind of people who display their anger and joy with all vigor. He explained to me that he would take me to the airport at 8 am tomorrow and left. The place looked like a palace from the times of Mughal era. I felt very grand during my entire period of stay. They had a big welcome hamper with wine and fruits and cheese and crackers with a card addressed to my name.

We used to work on the plane all day on a down day and till the flight would take off on a flight day. There was no air conditioning on the plane. It was very hot and humid on the island. There were big mosquitoes with stings that would leave mark for days. I had a bad time with the itches. My advisor got me some ointment which was much needed to relive the legs. Every time you go out one has to apply a generous amount of anti insect gel which was provided by the hotel. There were meetings and briefings every day. And then there were hard down days when the pilots get an off to relax and drink. I went to another island on one of these days which was uninhabited. It was covered with white sand. I tried snorkeling in the middle of the sea. I could see colorful fishes all around me.  I experienced bioluminescent while kayaking in the salt river bay. There were kayaks in our resort which could be checked out. Every Tuesday there used to be a social where we had refreshments and some live music. I saw stilt clad performers first time. We had the best of breakfasts. First time after having moved to the States I had a summer where I could relish on juicy and sweet mangoes. I love mangoes. I would load my plate with mangoes and more mangoes until its out or I have to leave.

I made a few friends as well. We usually used to go out in groups. There were around a total of 50 researchers, scientists, students, pilots and crew members congregated for the project called ICE-T which was an acronym for Ice in the Cloud Experiment-Tropical. Me and Anja had a good time together. We both were quite people and hence would be with our laptops and talk only when required.  I met another guy Thomas from Australia who was fun to be with. He had spent his childhood in Fiji and hence had childhood memories of Indian people and food, the later being more fond. His Mom used to make rotis and he had lost the tava somehow . I have promised him that if we cross paths again I will get him one. I spent most of my time with my boss working on our spectrometer which needed to be tinkered every day for calibrations and various other reasons.  I think everyone was of the impression that my boss gives me no off even on the off days. I did not mind working as I was on an island. I met two scientists from NCAR whom I got along very well. The first one Tom took me to a great place that had fish tacos with mango chutney. I have to confess that the island food had some spice, that my taste buds were better accustomed than the bland food in the US.
I met my current advisor Dr Cotton in the last lap of the campaign. He was visiting for a week. Someone introduced me to him. I feel amused now that I had never heard his name before.
It was an eventful one month with new people, culture, resort life, fresh sea food and flying experiences in the cockpit.

I wish to take my loved ones one day on a tropical vacation when I won't have to worry for work. All I would do is relax and have fun.

The C-130 NCAR flight 

The abode for the month

With the stilt dancers on a Tuesday night

At one of the resort beaches

 Tom,Anja, me and Matt at the reef

Another beach of the resort 

My boss working on the spectrometer

Run for life.

I am doing my PhD. Its tough to be a PhD student. Everyone thinks you are capable of figuring out all your research mostly on your own. I have finished two semesters and I am looking forward to the prelims. I don't have an exact plan to pass it but I need to nail it in order to be content.
 I like my life at Fort Collins. People in my department are friendly. My advisor Dr Cotton is a great guy. He is very inspiring. He is 72 and does all his chores on his own which include cooking, cleaning and even chopping the woods for making his own deck up on the mountains, just to please his dear wife. I have never seen a person making so much use of all the 24 hours. We go running at mid day. I had never imagined back in India that I would be so brave one day that I can go running at around noon with the sun right at my head and the atmosphere so dry that my throat would be parched for water. Every time I am running I am warning myself that 'you are doing it for the last time'. Enough of this crazy madness, why on earth would one want to torture her own self? But the feeling that comes later is very rewarding. I feel proud of my self. I used to be a shy book worm in school. I never participated actively in sports. I would consider it as wasting my valuable time which was solely needed for delving into those textbooks. I was so naive back then. Who has learnt life solely from books? Its kind of incomplete until you have experiences good or bad.
I finished a half marathon last month on May 5th. It was a big day of my life. I have been running more often since I became friends with Ekaterina. She would take me with her for the runs in the UNR tracks and later in the Rancho San Rafael park. Those days were lovely. We would do all the girl talks and try to solve all the problems in each others love life in those runs. I would only take alternate laps with her. It was more therapeutic mentally than physically for me at that point. I even got bitten by a dog while running on the side walks last year in July. She confronted the drunk chow chow owner with all her vigor. I had no idea before that event that my sweet, soft- spoken Russian friend can raise her voice too if required.
Coming back to this year's marathon, I never practiced 13.5 miles full length, before the race day. I had come close to 8 miles, 2 weeks before the race. But the race day was a great experience. I was feeling happy from the time I woke up and went to catch the bus. I was doing good in the first 30 minutes. I was actually going with the pacers for 1.50 hours. But then I started wearing out. I so wished I had practiced more regularly. Not having trained myself led me to being very sore after the race. I finished the race in 2 hours 37 minutes, which is longer than required. I could barely walk for about a week. I would like to take part in more races in future and beat my own record and pace forward gradually. It was a very humbling experience as runners of all age would run past you in the last 30 minutes of the race. I was questioning my own abilities. At one point, there was a runner whose shirt said, 'Don't be LAST'. I was very exhausted at that time but it made me smile. I even paced up and managed to click a picture of her back with my iPhone. There was another 55 year old man who had been to the Himalayas for backpacking tours. The gentleman who waited with me in the line while boarding the bus was doing it for the third time. He was a very positive guy. He went ahead and warned me that since its my first race it should be mostly for fun and the goal should be to finish it. He said he has been doing better with each attempt. This race was just 2 weeks after the Boston marathon bombings. Some runners were displaying support for the Boston on their shirts. Its scary what we can do as human beings. Those two brothers were sports person, the deceased elder brother being a boxer. How did they not had empathy for fellow people in sports? Life is weird when it comes to real acts. I am dreaded to think of runners left with amputations for the rest of their life. But I am overwhelmed at the spirit these people have shown. It is very full of life and positive energy. Of course you can't kill someones soul. I remember Dr John Lewis's advice in our last conversation at DRI. He said grad school and PhD are capable of killing you with load and stress. The best way to survive PhD is to take up some hobby. It would give you a breather from the humdrum and let you keep the PhD at the back burner at least 3 times a week. I was not sure what hobby would be suitable for me. But Fort Collins trails and the foothills campus and my advisor helped me in making running a default hobby. I think the hiking trips with Ted in the first semester also helped me in building stamina and I had a chance to push my limits first time in my entire life. The first time I scrambled Gray rock with him and friends would be always memorable. I felt at several spots that day that it was the last day of my life and I would fall off that cliff and die before even attending the first day of class in the PhD. I had never tried rock climbing in any form and here I was trying to climb a real mountain. I had fever as an aftermath for the next several days. I never really had high temperature after high school. But it let me believe that I can try adventures which I had never done earlier. I want to finish the race in 2 hours next time. I know it would need more miles on my running shoes. Something inside me says I can accomplish it. I need to keep running and forget about everyone, everything; good or bad that ever happened until I am so exhausted that I can only hear my own heart pounding relentlessly and when I come back from the hills my face and nose are red hot, burning with the heat of my own body. Needless to say that I love that look of mine in the mirror.

Grey Rock

 The rocky mountains

Running on snow

Gem Lake hiking

Right before the race

The Rocky Mountains