My favorite season

The last quarter of the year more often than not tends to usher in good tidings for me.
Until last year, way back in India, it marked the onset of the festive season, with Navratri coming with a big bang, and Diwali crackers adding that icing on the cake....
The air gets so better, the scorching heat is gone, the monsoons have retired back to their abode in the oceans, and winter is round the corner. Its a trilogy of sorts; as a student there are more challenges to be faced in the form of mid-year exams, but once you are out of the clutches of this education system and onto a job, then things tend to get more relaxing on this front.
Its not just big festivals that leave an impression and give that feeling of gay to us, even the smaller and yet fun filled ones, for e.g Kojagiri Pournima today leave a distinct feeling of elation on my mind...The radiant, resplendent fully waxed moon shines its riches upon Mother Earth and we human mortals try to capture this parent-child romance in ounces of Milk and devour upon its crisp pure creamy taste ...Kojagiri makes me reminiscent of the nice dinners I had with my family in Pune on the terrace and more recently, the Sharad Pournima on the beaches of the Radisson Inn in Goa last year, with a bonfire and waves lashing incessantly onto the shores, with us folks merrying amidst all kinds of music and dance....
Even as I sit in my living room on the other side of the globe, the feeling of joy is pretty much the same..On the personal front too, I have begun this period of the year with lots of reasons to cheer for. The brand new job @Vmware, the brand new car-> Yes, the Honda Accord if you missed those sound bytes from me. I cant but help remember the commercial of Asian paints where Sunil babu gets a naya ghar, nayi gaadi, nayi mrs.. (well, my wife is nayi too, and I am still a naya husband) :-)
Being in the temperate part of the world has other side effects and advantages..I got my first exposure to this phenomenon called Fall (aka Autumn). ANd then there is a big gung-ho about how the leaves turn into rainbow colors and display the Fall colors to mankind... Its almost like a competition between states like Maine, MN, WI and NH as to where the carotenes and xanthophiles are most vivid and colorful....
We came down to the West not expecting any kind of Fall in Cali. But Palo Alto has had its fair share of Fall and its beautiful colors, and has been a treat to our eyes...
Overall, it feels good, being in the hub of Silicon valley, in the midst of the Googles and Yahoos and VMwares of the world..........Enjoy the season guyz..!!!!!!!!!!!