17th and 18th September..

Another weekend in USA..

This wasn't to any gr8 world-famous location or famous hot-spot. It infact this trip was not pre-planned at all, though Shilpa had told about a pooja on Saturday, but I wasn't sure about going. Saturday morning got up early as Shilpa told me to accompany them to a temple. I am always a yes-yes for any temple. Not that I am an ardent believer in idol worship, but then yes, temples are always a source of happiness. I like the atmosphere, gives me some kinda positive energy ( not that there is a dearth of it ;-), but more is always welcome). So I got up at 9 and was told to be ready and reach the 2nd floor, at Deepa's place by 9.30aM. Me being a fast performer, managed to get ready on time. But then Sujata was to accompany me as well. So we somehow managed to reach near the main gate by 10 AM.

We were to take two cars. I went with a couple of couples. Deepa, her husband Deepak (woaa.. what a combination, it rhymes!), their daughter Sia ( She is a daahling and a to-be fashion model for sure!) and Deepa's mom as one family and Shilpa along with her hubby Saugat (always mistook for Swagat :D) as the other. Myself and Sujata just added as extras :D.

In between we stopped by to get some pooja stuff. I was in the car with Deepak, dadiji, Sujata and Sia. The entire journey was fun with me being myself i.e. a kid with Sia.) How I enjoy playing with them :D. The route was beautiful, as the fall had already started on that side of the state. The trees had started to turn yellow, red and brownish. It is suppose to be the most beautiful season to see. With lovely soft music going on I enjoyed the 1 and a half hour drive.

We reached this temple in Middletown. It resembled more like the Sai Dham temple in Kandivili, Mumbai. There was this huge hall, which had idols of various deities like Radhe-Krishnaji, Buddha, Shivji and the likes.

We reached there around 12 o clock and waited for Panditji's pooja to get over. While the others sat near Satyanarayan Gods idol with all the ingredients for pooja and Deepak and Saugat went to get the stuff which were forgotten ( like cloth which is to be devoted while pooja), I enjoyed observing the temple. I played around with Sia. For a moment forgot that I was in USA. Did not see any firang around, no high tech gadgets, only Indians with traditional dresses ( oops, btw, even I had worn a salwaar suit with a bindi and all :D ). There was a Jain pooja going on , where-in they were chanting some hindi bhajans, could hear the bells ringing, the pandits chanting mantras, kids playing all around, people sitting and praying, aroma of agarbattis, lots of flower decoration and the positive energy I was talking about :-) . It was Anant chaturthi that day, the day when Lord Ganesha idol is drowned back to river ("Visrejit")

Deepa had prepared all prasad and stuff of pooja. Felt so much like home! After a while, Ravi and family joined us. He has this cute kid Siddharth (Sid) who is just 6 months old. Such a daahling! Muuah! I enjoyed playing with him too. We all sat for the pooja at around 12:30.

Panditji took his place and started to arrange the pooja "saamagri". The pooja started with him chanting some shloks and then telling the couple (Deepa and Deepak) to recite the same. I heard the words "America" and "Connecticut" and "Sunday". Felt a bit amusing then.. Anyway.. the surprise came when he opened the "pothi" and told Deepak to read from it. Deepak started with ,, " Chapter 1 .. Once upon a time there was a king.. ". I was agape!!!! This was English!! Well, through out the chapter I actually was amused! The chapter ended with "..And this was the end of chapter one taken from XYZ (some mythological names).. Bolo satyanarayan bhagwaan ki jai". then Deepa was told to read the second one. and the turn continued. I got the fourth chapter to read. It felt as if I was in my classroom, with teacher telling to read some story for Baalbharti. I took the task with full enthusiasm and completed the chapter by reciting it with all expressions and naratted it as a story.. Once the pooja got over, Pandit actually was using english words more often than I thought.

Another thing that amused me was the "dakshina" that was given. It was in dollars ofcourse. After the pooja while taking aarti, every one was searching for quarters and pennies instead of "ek rupya coins" :D.

For most of the time I was busy handling the two kids though! After the pooja we took the yummi prasad of "sheera" I was still too hungry ( since morning had had just a peach and a cup of milk). We all headed for the cafeteria located at the basement of temple. All were anticipating some good Indian food. Wooa.. and what do we see? There was a buffet where I cud see Gulabjamuns, fried papad, Imartis, pooris, .. yummmmmm..

We all placed our orders to Saugat, wherein most of us went for buffet. But alas.. pata chala that it was for a party and not open to all. Alas! but then it was already past 3 PM and the kitchen was about to close, so they allowed us to have it. It was fun eating together the dosas, chola batura, samosas.. yumm!

I was busy playing with Sid then. Made him finish his complete bottle of milk, for which Ravi promised that he would give me a gift :D.

We headed towards home at around 5 PM. The return journey wasfun too, only that Deepak would not allow me to sit in his car , as Sia did not sleep while coming due to my talks. Hehehe. But while coming I let her sleep. The best part was she sleeps only when she listens to songs of Paheli. Kids and their choices! :)

We came back at around 6.00 PM and found that Deepak did not have keys. Wasn't a problem though. I had a nice time :-)

After coming back, I was over the phone till next morning 7 AM. hehe. Do not raise ur eyebrows! first it was with Rohan, then Kushal, then mom and then Niket. I was hoping to sleep whole of the Sunday.. but kahan aisi kismat.. next day happened at 10 AM. Yes.. just 3 hours sleep.

Sunday Morning ..

Shruti woke me up at 10.00 AM. I could see her blabbering something about coming with her for shopping. I was not interested. Sleep seemed to be the most beautiful thing then. But somehow all her pleads of Praveen coming over and her being alone as Mansi was not coming, made my heart go weak. I, against my wil, got up and started to get ready.. yawnn!!!

But I thanked her for really pulling me out of the bed. It was a gr8 day ahead! We started, Praveen, shruti and myself, at around 11.30 AM. We were heading for Revlon factory outlet in Edison, New Jersey. We reached there by 1 o clock. The journey was fun. We did not miss a chance to pull Praveens leg. He had this special knowledge about things. For instance, there is no north direction, floods happen only in seas, there are 5 time zones, Indiana has static time.. etc etc.. Lol. How Shruti and myself laughed. We kinda scared him by saying that I am a publisher on net and might tell this info by PSK (Praveen's specialized knowledge).. Poor thing actually stopped commenting on anything! The music was good. We went hearing songs of Salaam Namaste and Parineeta.

The factory outlet wasn't huge as I had imagined. It looked more like an Indian store, as there were only Indian buyers in there. But as I started strolling around, looking at the products, I went mad seeing the prices. They were damn cheap compared to India!! I kept picking up a number of items and stuffing in the basket. There were some I did not even know where to use and what purpose they served, but keeping Shweta didi in mind, thought of picking one of each kind. Hehehe. Took some after shaves for bro, pedicure for mom, and a lots and lots of cosmetics which included, mascara, eye liner, lipsticks, nail enamel, creams,, et al. Just to give an instance of the cheap prices, the cheapest was like, 8 nailpaints for 1$. Imagine!! There were these eye shadows for 1$ which I saw my sis buying for like 200 bucks in India. Esp. when it is Revlon, one is sure of quality!

At 2.15 PM, my basket was full to the rim and I wasn't able to carry it any longer. Finally paid the bill which came out to be 100$. I somehow was feeling very gr8 about it. Weird eh! Though I was not to put any of the cosmetics, but I think now I somehow understand what pleasure my sister gets when she buys it for herself. We then rushed for the theatre where we were suppose to watch Salaam Namaste. The show was of 3.30, so we werent sure if we would be able to make it. But thanks to Praveen, he managed to have a halt at Sukhadia store for some food. We packed pav bhaji and biryani and headed towards the theatre. Even after entering two wrong lanes, we managed to reach around 3:40PM. Hurried towards the hall and found that had missed only 5 min movie. Me being a movie freak and Saif freak too ;-), started to enjoy the movie in 1st go. But then till the interval time, i was yawning. I literally was! The live-in concept and all is ok, but I found it a bit dragging. I find Preity Zinta falunting her dimples( her asset) a bit too much. The rona-dhona and the stupid comedy at the end was so God-damn pakaau.

I came out with not a very good review of the movie. Then came back home at around 8. again there was pav bhaji waiting for me there :d woaa!

that was my weekend in short.. :)

Waiting for more of the likes..