Columbus Jr

If Christopher Columbus were to announce his co-discoverer today, my father would probably stand a fair chance of making the list. Let me explain.

My father loves travelling, and usually our home is cluttered with travel magazines with fantastic photographs. It was his first trip to the USA last year. We had been to Lake Tahoe and Reno during the Winter season, and were thrilled with the amazing sights that the lake and mountains had to offer in the snow season. After a lazy night gambling at the casinos, and a hot supper, we hit the comfortable beds laid out for us in the suite.

The next morning we found ourselves opening the curtains to find the whole world bathed in fresh, white snow. There had been an unexpected storm, and mounds of snow had been dumped over the countryside overnight! The beauty is unimaginable especially for my parents - we hail from the Southern State of Tamil Nadu, India, and snow is never seen in those regions even at an altitude of 8500 ft. The fresh snow managed to rekindle the children in them, and they were filled with glee!

After the initial euphoria died down, my husband and I set about managing the immediate concern at hand viz. getting back to the Bay Area. We had travelled there by road, and by the looks of it, all roads leading in and out of the Lake Tahoe were blocked. Luckily, we had driven out there in a rental car. Soon, we were busy making calls to the rental car company arranging to return our car at Reno, booking our flight tickets out of Reno (before the rest of the people thought of the option, and flights got full), arranging a drop to the airport early the next morning etc. We had even arranged to extend our stay in our current suite by a day. Thank God for cell-phones!

Throughout this flurry of activity, my father sat with a pensive look on his face, evidently in deep thought, staring out at the snow. After the last of our calls had been made, my father's voice crackled to life!
"Ahem Saumya", he said. I've heard that tone of voice before, and it generally means his gray cells have been at work, and had something to proclaim.

I listened as he unfolded what he thought we could do in this situation. He said - "We have come here in our rental car, isn't it?" I nodded, not sure where this was leading. He quipped - "In that case, why don't we request the rental company to see if they will take the car back here, and see if any flight tickets are available?"

You see why I call him Columbus Jr??? After all the arrangements had been made, he comes and proposes the exact same thing! I must grant it to him though - in an entirely new country, new lifestyle and the works, he had assessed the situation, and come up with a novel idea. If only, he had paid attention to what was going on in the room ! Dear, dear parents - the very virtue that makes them so lovable!

As I pen this blog, I can already envision my daughter's blog in a few years from now proclaiming me to be Madam Curie Jr - such is the Circle of Life!