Death Valley and more

My thanksgiving break actually started the weekend before thanksgiving. We went to Battery Spencer to view the golden gate bridge in the evening, followed by Friday night games night that went on until early morning. Woke up late the next day and rushed to Pinnacle National park and wandered through the caves to reach a lake on top of a mountain. And with little to no sleep, went to Alamere Falls the next day and hiked 4 miles to a waterfall exiting out into the sea. I've done these hikes before, but they are always rewarding. 

Battery Spencer

That was followed by two days of work, figuring how to put snow chains on Wednesday morning, and leaving for Yosemite National Park. That night, we stargazed and captured photos of the moon at Tunnel View. 

At this point, I am tired of typing small details and excited to get to the good and fun ones so this will be more of a photo blog with captions.

Vernal Falls

We woke up to ice on top of our car the next morning and set out to hike Vernal and Nevada falls. It was chilly. The stairs were freaking steep. But Vernal Falls are breathtaking. Take some fruit. Or chocolate. Or just water to drink. And watch the falls. 

We took many breaks on this hike. Nevada Falls were beautiful in their own way. At the top, and throughout, you are rewarded with views of "khuli hawaayein prakriti ka sparsh". Mountains, and mountains, and more mountains. With a little bit of stream. This hike was super satisfying.

Nevada Falls

We drove 8 hours from Yosemite to Death Valley and stopped at Mosaic Canyon first. Welcome to a place that gets flooded with 20ft water every few decades due to flash floods... And a place that has sandy sediments, tan coloured dolomite, and limy cement. You can observe the dolomite transformed into marble, and swirls of the water on the rock. 

Mosaic Canyon

Mosaic canyon clicked 2 min walk from pic 1

We also went to the Mesquite sand dunes that day which looked like wallpaper. But those were full of people. 

Day two included the following:

Dante's View

Evaporating borax at Golden Canyon

Devil's golfcourse

Badwater Basin

Artist's pallette

At golden canyon, we attended a ranger talk. And she was so excited by rocks, omg. Her talk rocked. She explained how death valley was initially covered with water, and a bunch of layers of rocks laid beneath it. So when the tectonic plates moved away from each other, holes (or I should say faults) got formed, and this led to the rock formations at death valley today.

She also told us about where the colours came from. Turns out, ash from the volcanoes nearby mixed with the water and reacted with different minerals to form rocks with different colours. So the red rock is rich in iron. The green rock has lower iron. What tells us there was a volcano in the first place is the black igneous rock with holes (or vesicles). What tells us there was water is curvy lines of ripples seen on the underside of some rocks. And the fact that you keep seeing alluvial fans.

We also attended a night sky talk which was very interesting. Not to mention we could see the whole arch of the milky way!! ...and the shadow of Vegas except it was in the form of light in one part of the sky. Interesting how you can see light pollution so clearly.

One thing that stuck out was what the ranger said had stuck with him from a talk by a NASA scientist:

Everything in the universe either 

1. Has never happened in the past, is not happening right now, and will never happen in the future

2. Will happen only once and never again

3. Happens infinite number of times

I leave you to make what you want from this. :)

He also spoke about dark skies, and how a class 1 sky is the darkest sky. We were attending the talk at a class 3 sky at harmony borax works. So instead we proceeded to go to the class 2 dark sky at Ubehebe Crater. 

And trust me, you have to see this sky. It is one of those things I will keep in my head my entire life. So many stars. SO SO SO many. And so many shooting stars. There was really no way I could have captured it. You have to be there to see it.

And now I can't wait for a class 1 dark sky. 

Whew.

And then the next day, we ticked off hiking down a crater from our list and went 600ft down into what becomes a 2 inch deep lake at the bottom, and came back up.

Ubehebe Crater

All in all, it was a crazy, hectic, and wonderful trip. And even though I am so tired, it was completely worth it. 

Hope you get to experience these places too someday!

Love,

Kanksha

Health and growing older

One thing most older people wished me on my 24th birthday was good health. I can understand why. Something as simple as getting your neck stiff in your sleep can not let you stand or sit for a week. A knee issue can stop you from doing things that you love. Hurting your pinky finger shows you how much you actually use it, even if it isn't a lot. And a cavity in your tooth makes you appreciate having healthy teeth.

I think when we're young, because our bodies can repair itself so much faster, and we just overall have so much energy, we don't really realise the value of good health. And slowly you begin seeing friends and family having problems. And it kind of hits. 

Something I hope to remember and work towards this year - being healthier, stronger, and fitter. Because I realise that without good health, there's very little I can do. Very little I can be of use. Very fast I can become 'obsolete'. 

Love,

Kanksha

keep showing the love

I am realising that when people show me love when I am sad, angry, or feeling low

Especially when those feelings are towards them and they don't know it - and then they show all this care, and warmth, and love...

It can break through me. 

It can pierce through that negative emotion. 

And now I understand why it is said that "kill them with kindness" because it IS possible. 

Love is powerful. 

Care is powerful.

Keep being kind. Keep showing the love :)

Expectations kill desires

People are telling us what they expect from us all the time, in all life situations.

I expect you to understand.

I expected you to call me.

I expected you to be back home by now.

I expected you to never go in the first place.

Can we stop telling people what we expect, and start stating our desires to each other please?

I want you to stay.

I would love it if you came home by ___.

I want you to call me when you reach.

I would really appreciate it if you understood how much this means to me because ____.

Love,

Kanksha

Is being middle class a problem?

 How often do you find people who were middle class and suddenly exceptional? I don't know many stories like that. Or at least those aren't the stories that are told.

People who do great work of any kind - academic, in the arts, good or bad, are often people who came from no where, or people who had a bunch of money to begin with, or people whom no-one really noticed all through school.

With people having money, it's understandable that they'd be able to put in as much time and resources as they want into any problem, hobby, or desire and let it take its own shape. The only thing they'd probably have to work on is the motivation to work.

When people come from a lower income class of society, they have the time and motivation, and not the resources. So when they act on their motivation, maybe some of them get a mentor, maybe some of them gain recognition through open platforms, and slowly they are able to pursue things that they like, and spend more and more time in that direction. And because that is what they have done all their life, they get somewhere. Like an actual concrete somewhere. (Or nowhere at all, in the unlucky cases.)

But when you are middle class, or an average student, I think most of us are too busy trying to maintain our current status. Our current quality of life. We have the time, resources, and motivation. And it seems stupid that most of us would not know what we want to accomplish, or have dreams and goals. We should be the ones who become 'someone'. The ones who do 'great things'... 

But what we don't have is the ability to say "Fuck it, I'm going all in". Because we have SO MUCH to lose if things go wrong. 

When things going wrong stops affecting us, when failure stops affecting us, and when we start having faith in our ability to figure things out... when we care selectively... when we let go of our need to know what is next... we are truly free. 

And that's something to think about. 

Love, 

Kanksha

Even haircuts give perspective

 Hi people of the world, 

It has been a while... How are you doing? What's new, exciting, and fun in your life? Has 2021 given you something to look forward to?

I had a haircut about two weeks ago. I was so excited for it since I had been cutting my own fringe since about a year now, and I thought that I should maybe get a professional to do it once. Big mistake. Sometimes I wonder how professionals can screw up so badly, especially when they actually do care about their work and they charge quite a bit for what they do. 

When I cut my own hair for the first time, I spent about a month prior to that just observing how it was setting/falling by itself. I analysed where my hairstylist must have made the cuts, and imagined doing the whole thing by myself. I'd got a fringe about five years ago, so I opened up those pictures and tried to imagine how the hair would have to be partitioned to get the same effect. I checked out photos of models, singers, and actresses who had similar hair and hair cuts. And I finally took the scissors and made the first cut only on a small part of my hair. Week after week, I made adjustments, until it finally looked like how I wanted it to. 

This is why, when the person I went to for a haircut royally messed it up two weeks ago, I spent a couple hours patiently fixing it today. I cut the fringe into the exact shape I wanted it at, leaving a couple strands to fall behind my ears. And I also cut a single layer which made ALL the difference. 

Sometimes I wonder how professionals can screw up so badly, especially when they actually do care about their work and they charge quite a bit for what they do. 

Maybe they just don't care as much as you do, but they care a lot by their own standards. Maybe they just aren't that detail oriented about that particular task, and don't even see the things that you see. 

And I find that really funny, yet it hits home, because when I think about the approach to cut my hair, it was very methodical. I did an initial assessment, had multiple iterations of work, and after months and patience and continuous improvement, I finally have something that I like. 

Really need to apply both this method and attitude in all areas of my life. Good things take time, good things come to those who keep trying. 

That's something we all need to remember. :)

Whatever you have to look forward to - keep looking, keep trying, and stay excited. You'll get there soon!

Love,

Kanksha

Edit: After a re-read of my post, I realised that it has too many 'I's in every sentence. But you know what? I don't care this time. BECAUSE I'M BACK TO WRITING ABOUT RANDOM STUFF THAT COMES TO MY MIND AND I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT B)