Sarvepalli’s were no exception as we stood mesmerized with other local and global tourist at almost every turn of the road in this mythical national park – Yosemite. The Forest Fires of July 2022 added an extra layer of beauty to the already captivating scenery – the allure of the glowing red sun and the ethereal whispers from the misty waterfalls. But the trip did not exactly start that way, so let the tale begin.
Continue reading “Yosemite – C’est pas vrai”Ireland – Sunny with a chance of Rain
“Such a wild, iron-bound coast – with such an ocean-view as I had not yet seen – and such battling of waves with rocks as I had ever imagined” – Charlotte Bronte
This was my first trip to Ireland to attend the 34th FIRST Annual Conference at Dublin, Ireland. I assumed the Emerald Isle to be much like Scotland, I found it to be so only in some ways. This Island Country with its winsome narrow streets, cobblestone roads had so much to enjoy. You either saw a Church or a Castle on the streets separated by large grasslands enjoying the daily switch between sunlight and rain.
Continue reading “Ireland – Sunny with a chance of Rain”Return to the middle earth – Costa Rica
We made it again to Costa Rica again after 5 years, this time without my wife (Erica) and my daughter(Pori). Our last trip in April 2017 did not include a beach visit, as it was just a lot to squeeze in. This time I had the excuse of my son Kiran starting his internship at the Wild Sun Rescue as a pre-vet summer intern. The trip highlights have mostly to do with forest and less of the beach than I had thought, nevertheless Costa Rica continues to amaze me at its bio-diversity and beauty.
Continue reading “Return to the middle earth – Costa Rica”In castles, gorges and dungeons
Our whole family forged a trip this summer to Scotland. The summer trip would be one way to spend time as a family together before Kiran and Rajiv headed off to college. Like every other American tourist we planned our trip with a rental car and a great deal of ambitious plans of things to do when in Edinburgh (pronounced ed-in-bruh ) and nearby. Continue reading “In castles, gorges and dungeons”
Waking up to cuckoo’s song
I made a recent trip to Chennai India to visit my mom who has moved to a retirement facility in YWCA. I stayed at the YWCA international guest house in the heart of Chennai close to Central station. Surprisingly a small pond and a large collection of trees and vegetation was preserved in this part of town for a restful experience. It almost quieted down the noise of the motorcycles and trucks (lorries) on the Poonamallee high road.
Continue reading “Waking up to cuckoo’s song”All roads lead to Rome
In a rare event of presenting some of my research I ended up traveling to Rome, Italy for a conference. The topic I was working on was bio-inspired heuristics applications in cybersecurity, specifically collective behavior of botnets. The ANTS 2018 conference was the venue where I got to collaborate with researchers doing some advanced implementations of collective behavior both in nature and artificial systems.
One Morning in Maine
To end our 2018 summer with something adventurous, Erica asked to visit Maine before our first son Rajiv heads off to college. Little did we know we will be experiencing a slice of quaint everyday life in Maine portrayed in children’s picture books by Robert McCloskey. – both One Morning in Maine and Blueberries for Sal . Erica had read these books to our kids so many times, she picked them back up after we got home to review its picturesque beauty.
Exploring Frisco and Sierra Nevada
Our family decided to make “Let’s go to San Francisco” our 2018 spring-break adventure like the 1960’s song from the British pop group The Flower Pot Men. The plan was to mix up both city strolling and wilderness hikes for this trip into the Bay Area. It was our plan to do this before we got into the years when spring breaks for our kids will be like looking for star-aligning!. Rajiv heads to college coming fall, Kiran will be a high school senior, Pori will be in 8th grade.
Mon voyage en Côte d’Ivoire
It seems unlikely for an American traveler to have experienced the hospitality and cheerfulness found in Côte d’Ivoire. Ivory Coast is a country tucked in west Africa sharing the Gulf of Guinea’s beautiful shores with a number of west African neighbors. I got an opportunity to serve along with CERT’s international team to work to support efforts of this growing African nation in building a secure Internet.
The rich port of Puerto Rico
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When I (Vijay) was first assigned this job to run a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session for the FIRST conference 2017 in Puerto Rico, I was excited. After a few attempts to convince my family to go, I settled to travel alone into my favorite vacation spot – only this time for work |