Day2 and Day 3 of loong weekend..

Day2 :

Second day did not start very early. Nothing was planned till morning! No one was really interested to go to the Atlantic City, so we finally made the plan of Rhode Island. It was a good enough option, but would have been better had we started off a bit early! But all is well that ends well. We were just 9 of them on the second day and somehow managed in one minivan (Indian resource utilization efficiency u c!). It was Kiran and Shuchi in the front seat. Rest took turns to occupy the so-very-comfortable positions in the space between the two seats. We headed for the parking lot of Rhode Island from where the ferry service starts. Actually Rhode Island (RI) is a state from where we go to this actual Island called “Block Island” by ferry. We had missed the 3 o clock ferry and so had to wait for another hour.The ferry ride was so very amazing! It reminded me of the times when I went to Elephanta caves in ferry. The difference being that this one was a lot bigger! We straight headed for the top floor, which was the 3rd floor I guess. The entire ferry was almost empty. Kiran literally slept on one of the benches. The rushing waves, the cool breeze, the clear blue sky and the vastness of the ocean made me go on a high again! I climbed on the grill of the ferry, caught the iron bar and swayed away singing songs! How I love such moments! Apart from giving me a high, it sparkles something within me. I am simultaneously happy and relaxed! There was this huge bird (I don’t know what is it called), which came to a very close vicinity to where we were sitting. Parshu even tried feeding her chips. The bird repaid by biting his fingers :D. But it was fun seeing the flight of the birds around, the clarity of water and the sky, the silence around with the waves providing the only source of sound! How I loved it! We reached the island in around 45 min. Once on land it felt that someone had removed a high decibel speaker from my ears. The sound of waves was deafening! The moment we touched our feet on the ground, we rushed to catch the bicycle ride. Each one of us took a bicycle and headed for the South lighthouse. Each one of us carried a map in case we got lost. We were to reach back to the spot from where we left before 7 PM. We started at 5.30 PM. Despite the precautions, Anit, Mahesh and Raghu managed to take a different route from ours. I enjoyed the start of the ride, wherein I zoomed my bicycle on the slope. I later noticed that it had gears too, which made the ride simpler. It was Kiran, Pankaj and myself competing each other. Shuchi and Dimpi found it difficult to keep pace with us. At steep highs, they got down of the cycles and walked. That was funny! Poor Parshu went back to search for the remaining three, but to no use! He was behind keeping a track of Shuchi and Dimpi. I enjoyed the ride singing away, though it got tiring in between. We finally made it to the lighthouse. The lighthouse was closed and did not have much to see there. So we all took a rest of around 20 minutes and then headed ahead. The latter half was much better. It was a picturesque of lakes, green meadows, bright sky and beautiful houses in between. Me in Capri, with a stole around my back and the bicycle, have me a feel of 80’s, singing away the old melodies like “Ae lo aelo.. ae lo ji sanam hum aa gaye, aaj phir dil leke,”. We reached back to the spot at 6.45 PM. Then we went to the nearby beach. It was crystal clear with a number of people swimming, playing and strolling. The beaches seem to be different for an Indian coming for the first time. Not just because of the purity of water, but the people around with hardly any clothes on and because unlike the beaches in India we do not see the stalls or balloon-walaas. At least I was use to those beaches of Mumbai. I enjoyed playing in the water, the waves hitting our feets, writing my name in the sand, only to see it getting washed before I could complete it. We enjoyed the sunset on the Block Island and then headed to catch the 8.00 PM ferry. Unlike the ferry by which we had come, this one was jam-packed. It reminded me of the titanic scene wherein no place for people to even stand. This ferry was comparatively smaller too. Our group eventually found a place to sit. It was on the stairs from where the crewmembers have to go to the deck. Everyone was dead tired and the cold was increasing. It came as a surprise that there were benches on which a number of couples sat stretching their legs, aware that there was no place for others to even stand! It reminded me of the local trains of Mumbai. Had it been that, a fight would have started by then!! Anyway, it was just a 45 minutes ride and we had enough place to stretch our legs ourselves:D. We then took our van and headed for Danbury. In between we stopped on the way to have some food in the subway. The return journey got more tiring for me as I now took a seat in the space between the driver’s seat and the back seat. It was comfortable for a while as I was able to sleep full length, but then the AC got stronger and hit my ears directly. But I was so sleepy and tired that did not mind it after a while and dozed off to sleep. When I got up, we had reached Danbury and it was already 12.00 AM. We hit the sleeping bags the moment we reached home. That was the end of second day of the long weekend!!

Day3:

Monday morning was an early rise for Shuchi and myself. Like sincere kids we woke up at 7.00 A.M., as admonished by Kiran and got ready by 8.00AM. But when we called up the junta, no one had woken up, nor did anyone have any clue as to where we were heading for that day! Shuchi real got agitated with this! It was nice to hear her expert comments: D. We picked up Jitu, Mimi and Dimpi on the way and then headed for Mr. and Mrs. Bibhuti’s place. Wot a house!! Spacious, and the rent are far less than Stamford! Living expenses in Stamford are way too high anyway! We called up Parshu’s place from there and were given three options, one being a temple somewhere (I don’t remember the names and places!), second was a Woodbury Mall at around one hour drive and the third option was an Amusement park. The first two were a big no-no for all. I was ok with any of the choices actually! If wishes were horses beggars would ride! : D. We then landed at Parshu’s place to brainwash as to stick to the third option. Gosh what a contrast! Their house was full of clothes, people and lastly shoes! Jitu even clicked a snap of the showcase that they had displayed of more than 20 shoes in that small drawing room: D. Finally, Lake Compound Amusement Park, was the destination agreed on! We took two cars, only to get lost! Bibhuti’s car was far ahead than ours and still we landed up waiting outside the car parking for quite sometime. That was fun. Actually it was a bright sunny day and by the time we reached the park it was already 2.00 PM. We had enough stuff in the van to keep our tummies full. Chips, cold-drinks, biscuits et al. I do not remember the names of the rides but it sure was fun! First one was a roller coaster ride in which all of us except Mimi got into. Since it was a wooden railing, the sound effect was more pronounce than the actual thrill. Hehehe. Second one was another interesting ride, wherein we