Who does not like their first snow?
Coming from a hot and tropical place like India to the land of opportunities, I always wanted to experience the feeling of enjoying the first snow. I came to the states in August of 2016 and I must say, I had to wait for a couple months to experience my first snow. Though I was excited for the snow, I didn’t mind the wait as I got to play a lot of cricket, through which I developed some life lasting connections.
Within the first two months of arriving at Hartford, I had friends around who cared for me and made sure I was doing good both academically and professionally. All of this couldn’t have been possible without cricket. It’s funny though.
During the first week after arriving at Hartford, I was exploring the Downtown and nearby area, when I stumbled upon Bushnell Park. I knew there was a part in downtown, but didn’t know it would be right across the street from my apartment. I immediately fell in love with it and started going there almost everyday. On one random evening, I saw a bunch of Indian guys walking in the park with the Cricket gear in the hand and at that moment, I knew, I had to ask one single question to them. It was not the moment of shying away but to be an adult and ask some random stranger, “Can I play with you guys?”. This seemed like a simple question, but for me, it opened a whole new world and some of the people that I played with that day became my life-long friends and have continued remain in tough even after several years.
This is classic MJ move, trailing down the actual topic of the blog post. Anyway, getting back to the subject of this blog post.
So, ever since the weather changed in the US, I noticed myself using the weather app more frequently that I used to in India. Heck, I never used the weather map in India and here in the US, I had to use whenever I had to go out even for some 5 minute walk, as it had become that cold, at least for me and my skin, which had been used to the Indian summers and winters for the last couple decades.
Like everyday, today also I checked my weather app and was pleasantly surprised to see there was a chance of snow. My roommate, Shlok, also confirmed that it might snow today so I better be prepared. So, here I was, listening to my experienced roommate and gearing up for my first snow. I was wearing a T-shirt gifted by my girlfriend, a Nautica jacket that I bought from BCF, and the warm that was given to me by my Dad. I had a pair of jeans and woodland shoes on, which I bought in Bangalore, India a few years ago.
This is how I looked. I couldn’t control but giggle looking at this picture.
I remember being inside one of the classrooms of the 100 Constitution Plaza when I started seeing the snow for the first time. I didn’t have any classes that day, so I could just go out and enjoy the feeling of first snow against my face. I grabbed a few friends of mine and we were down on the road, enjoying the snow for the first time, well for most of us.
The first thing I did was to get my phone to capture this moment to last eternity. I was wearing my no glare glasses and not sure where they are right now. 😆
It felt liberating to feel the snow for the first time. The moment I stepped out of the building and looked towards the sky, this is how it looked like. It’s hard to see the snow in the picture, but there were tiny bits of snow falling from the sky. I remember calling my parents back home to let them see what I was experiencing. It felt like they were with me at that Downtown parking lot.
And this is the picture taken from the same spot but in an opposite direction. You can see the intersection here which is shared with my UConn building. Gosh, this picture makes me miss this place even more.
There is something amazing with the feelings of firsts.
Your first car, first kiss, and first love!
The firsts always remain special
and this day is just like that for me!
Hopefully, I will get to visit this place soon! Fingers crossed!
stochasticity 