1st and 2nd October Weekend (Vermont and NY trip)

Here comes another weekend with a bang...

Friday night I went with Aparna to buy some warm clothes from Burlinton coat factory. Got some real nice stuff. Waiting to buy some more this weekend too. Esp a winter jacket as its getting colder by each day and I have to walk early morning for around 25 minutes to office .. Gosh the shivers I get!! How I wished I knew driving :(. Neways.. m here for a short duration as of now. But people have already started scaring and warning me about the spine chilling cold of November mid and ahead.!!

Anyway.. Saturday morning Shruti and myself got up at 4 in the morning. I was all set to wear one of the new tops :D. Praveen came at around 5.30AM and we headed towards Mansi's place. She had made all sandwiches and chola batura the previous day. We always have this pleasure of having ghar ka khana here to .:) This time Mansi's friend Suhil had also come over from Miniapollis. World is such a small place! He was talking to someone on phone about some project work. He happened to speak to some Manish. Now Sushil is in Patni, so there were remote chances that it would be the same Manish of TCS whom I knew thru my other roomie, taking into consideration that Manish is not that uncommon a name ;-). But it happened to be the same one! :))

Neway.. Praveen usually brings this huge rental car which accomodates 7 of us along with a kid (i.e. our Neo in our trips). The journey always starts with we commenting on Praveens wahi ghiste-pite songs ( Though I shud admit that he has got this wonderful collections of songs). But we want a topic to pull his leg. Infact, on second thoughts, no topic at all :D. We would tease him on his PHD (Praveen's help desk), PSK (Praveen's Special knowledge), his ability to be modest to the core et al. Especially for me and shruti he is our target of entertainment ;-). This time we were after sushil too to some extent, but then realized that he might take offense so left him to mercy :D. It was a five hour drive to Vermont. The journey was fun with Vikas' expert comments, Mansi's incidence narration about his call centre life, Sushil's attempt to ull Shruti's and my leg ( to no success ;-) ), Praveen's "Hey bro help", Shruti and myselfs non stop babad, and our Neo's special effects and actions :). We took a halt at Burger King for breakfast and had some nice stuff. On both sides of road were lush green dense trees. yeah yeah! There lies the catch.. It was suppose to be red, yellow and all other colors ! :)).. Actually the fall got delayed by a week and so we cud only see glimples...

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..

Day1 - 3rd Sept 05 - Rafting

Woooooooooaaa!! Another looong weekend in US of A. I had the time of my life! It was too good a weekend to miss writing about it here.. : D. Let me introduce the participants of this full fledged masti-mania weekend..

Mr. and Mrs Tripathi –The Couple
Mr. Parshuram Patil – The Leader (We called him PP, for the ease of Americans ;-) )
Mr. Kiran – The Caretaker
Mr. Anit Jha- The American yo-yo!
Mr. Jitendra – The innovative singer!
Ms. Dimpi – The babe
Mrs. Mimi – The simple one! (Twachaa se umra ka pataa hi nahi chalta!! )
Ms. Shuchi – The Confident but oo-aa-ouch girl!
Mr. Vijay – The reserved Bramhachari ;-)
Mr. Mahesh – The dude with sunglasses!
Ms. Sarita - The stylized American!
Ms. Svetha – The dimpled smile
Mr. Raghu – The south Indian chavaa!
Mr. Pankaj – The mimicry artist

And last but not the least myself, who enjoyed the company of each of the above and had a ball time this weekend! It started off for me on Friday night. I along with Anit headed for the Stamford station on Friday night around 7.45 PM. Dilip (Anit’s roommate) dropped us there. The ticket system there is unlike India where in, you can punch in your destination in the machine, drop the desired cash and you get the tickets! We took a train via Norwalk, where we had to change the train. The train was more like the 1st class AC compartment of our Indian trains.

Day 1:
It was a one-hour journey to Danbury. Instead of bridges, we have more of subways there to change the trains. Once we reached Danbury, we called up the Parshu, and he came to pick us. We headed for Shuchi’s place, where I was supposed to halt for a night. There are some people whom you instantly click with! Shuchi was one of them. We talked endlessly. She instantly made me feel at home. Danbury is more like a small town, unlike Stamford, which gives more of the city feel. I really felt at home after a week’s stay in USA. Ok, to continue with the narration, we got up at 3AM again and got ready to head for river rafting. We had Kiran’s car at our place. Shuchi had got her driving license just 2 days back and everyone seemed to be scared, but I was the scapegoat: D. Kiran’s car was pretty much easy as compared to the rental mini-van, which resembled more to an Indian truck. She managed to drive that too!! (And so goes the name Shuchi- the Confident!).

On the way we picked Jitu and then Dimpi and Mimi and then went to Parshu’s place. We exchanged the pleasantries of hi-hellos and started off for the journey. Everyone had taken extra pair of clothes, but thanks to Shuchi, that just we two did not! L
The journey was fun and we managed to miss the route thrice. Kiran was driving the mini-van and was pretty good at his ride. All three cars were headed in different directions, but eventually we all somehow managed to land near the Wild water spot, where we had done the booking for rafting, at around 7.30 AM. After strolling around the place we were all set to get going! We got equipped with the life jackets, the helmets and the rowing sticks (As I love calling them “Chappus”). Every one was looking so funny: D. As I did not have an extra pair of clothes and we were anticipating the water to be very cold, I landed up wearing jeans Capri and a jeans jacket. Imagine!! and going into the spine chilling waters!! It still gives me shivers!
We were told to board the bus, which would take us to the place where all the rafts would be ready. It was a 20 min ride and every body tried to fit in the bus with all the equipments loaded. Each raft can carry a total of 8 people. We were a purrfect 16 and there were others who clubbed up to form groups of 8. In the bus the lifeguards started giving a number of instructions. They almost made me give second thoughts about rafting. The instructions included all possibilities of we falling over the raft or at least one of us drowning!! The person told us all possible things to do in case if someone falls on a rock, if someone is not able to carry the rowing stick while falling, if someone got stuck in a whirlpool, if someone was driven by a high current wave, if someone got panicky, if people on raft were not able to extend their support, if someone was not able to catch the rope, and the if’s continued for ½ hour. I got really scared. It was only a few of us who did not know swimming. Moreover back in India parents and friends were really scared for me, knowing my enthusiasm when I go on such adventures: D

Every group had a guard with them. Ours was a German lady Hyde. She was no doubt beautiful and knew her job well. She tried to grasp the pronunciation of each of our names, but alas! Parshuram became ‘Pacchu’ which finally shortened to PP ;-). Bibhuti was spontaneous enough to shorten his name to “Bibs” when his turn came: D. It was instructed to us that the 1st seat has to do the maximum rowing and the ones at the end have the major chances of falling off. I chose the second seat, since I did not know swimming. We had to sit almost outside the raft with only our feet dig inside the plastic drum kinda thing. The journey finally started, with all of us really scared but showing a brave front! The entire span was of 17 miles, of which first three miles were of Indiana river, which is comparatively very simple. Hyde was real scared, as we all were too busy chit-chatting in Hindi. Poor thing was confused as to it was fun or we were making fun of her! ;-). She was also not very confident about us; as we were suppose to listen to her, when she would instruct us to row the sticks. Half of us seated in front were not able to hear what she said, and others were busy in there own talks. She us to shout instructions like, “three forward”, which meant we were suppose to row thrice in forward direction; “left backward”, which meant that only the left side people had to row 3 in backward direction so that raft moves in other direction; then she would say “take a break” The rowing was supposed to happen in sync, but then who would listen. Everyone wanted to be a teacher. Poor girl! She was all scared about the latter half, when the waves and speed would be real high! I was too busy admiring the scenic beauty and singing songs by my self! The three miles were covered comparatively very fast and we all were charged up by then. Everyone awaited the next half wherein; we were anticipating some real fun. But before that Anit fell off the raft. Wooa! Finally some adventure had started to happen. He knew swimming and so it wasn’t difficult to pull him inside again. Thankfully (or not-so-thankfully) no one else fell after that. We had a little break near the riverside for lunch at around 12PM. To our surprise, the lunch was more like a breakfast with an apple, a sandwich and a chocolate bar. But we were too charged up to really mind that! We still had 11-12 miles to go. Woww.. I was all enthusiastic, but was very careful to keep my legs well fixed below the drum kind of thing. The couple was busy worrying about each other. (Saath jiyenge – saath marenge types. How very romantic!). By this time, each one’s inner leadership skills had taken toll! Everyone seemed to know how to row. No one now heard what Hyde had to say. We started off with our own instructions. Hehehe. I think this got her annoyed, because she stopped instructing after a while;-). The waves were real high in the second half. Every time a high-speed wave came and she told to row, we all were so scared and busy catching the ropes, with the fear of falling off, that we hardly rowed. But by now we really knew what each instruction meant, so we all managed to take the raft till the end. In middle, the swimmers had the choice to jump into the water and enjoy swimming. Anit and Parshu were the only ones from our raft. How I wished then that I knew swimming!! But alas! There was a point in between where we could do rock-jumping, which meant that we could jump from the top of a rock and then catch the rope extended by Hyde to come inside the raft again. I did not try that. People who knew swimming did. Bibhuti was one who tried despite being a non-swimmer. Poor Sunita got so scared when our boat went far too ahead for him to catch the rope. He managed to get into another raft, but then love sees no reason not to get worried. Hahaah. She relaxed when Bibhuti was finally in our raft again. Sigh! I was enjoying every moment in the water, with water splashing hard on our faces, the whirls that the raft took, it’s speed, the very pleasant climate, the tall trees and the sun glowing in between for short durations, as if to just provide us warmth amidst the cold water! I enjoyed looking at the sky and singing songs, putting my legs out of the raft when the flow was not very high, slipping in between the raft to relax and straighten my back. We tried to sing songs together. But ended up only with “Mangala mangala mangala mangala” (With the very typical nascent accent provided by the singer Jitu)..Hehehe. Moreover, the more we tried to talk, the less audible were Hyde’s instructions! It was fun to compete with the other group, which was with us. We named their instructor as a “horse-rider” with 8 horses in his carriage :D. The last 2-3 miles were very relaxing. We had learnt the art of rafting and everyone was of the opinion that they can come the next time w/o a lifeguard! Bravo!!

We crossed a beautiful bridge in between and Hyde kept telling us the historical significance of the names given to certain locations. Not that every one of us were listening ;-) but we did acknowledge with our hmm’s and haan’s.. I did grab that there is a gun-in and gun-out point, there are rapids named after the people who dies in the rapids (None of us were too eager to get our names engraved!). The raft finally came to a halt from we carried it for a short while. Zor lagaake hayiia! We finally were back in the bus, which dropped us to the spot where we had left. After which everyone changed into dry clothes. We had dinner, which was organized by them. I observed that Sarita had a style of eating, very Americanized (And so she gets her title: D). Thankfully there was something vegetarian served too! We then headed back to Danbury. Gosh! Everyone was ready with his or her oo-aa-ouch by the time we reached back. I was shivering a lot, since had not even changed the wet clothes! Thankfully no one fell ill! After reaching home, Shuchi and myself were half dead! She seemed to be more troubled soul and so I decided to act as an angel and did some massaging of her hands. We fell dead asleep after a while! ZZZZZZZZzzzz..
That was the Day 1 in Danbury! Really felt like home with very humble people around J

Day2 and 3 details coming soon.. Snaps of river rafting can be found in the following link..

River Rafting photos

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

Differences observed between India and USA

This is not as such my weekly update: d.

Now is the Friday evening of the much awaited loong weekend. Monday, being a labor day is a business holiday here. I was through with my work and was waiting for my roomies so that we could walk back home. I am leaving for Danbury tonite by train, along with Anit. So need to go home and get freshen up. :-)

I am pretty much settled here now. I just wanted to now note down some of my minor observations, about the differences I noticed here. These observations do not necessarily distinguish east from west, but the things which i had not seen in India so very often.

1- Cars zoom at such high speeds. No dirt or pollution and no garbage on roads.

2- everything is so automated! Car parking, u have to shell out cents and park ur car for a particular duration there.

3- At airport, u have to shell out 3$ to get a trolly.

4- Every house ought to have,dish washer, washing m/c with drier, microwave oven, automatic lighted gas. All this comes along with the house rent.

5- Every room has to have AC and heater too.

6- The rooms have carpet and a vaccum cleaner n mopper with it. if the carpet gets dirty one might end up paying 1000s of $

7- There is a huge garbage area in every apartment and you have to yourself go and segregate your garbage based on different types in the compartments!. plastic in one, cardboards in another etc. I liked it! So systematic!

8- The local calls r free for entire month once u pay a monthly fixed amt. :D
9- TV has two remote controls. One for volume and stuff and other for channel surfing.

10- for road crossing, u have a button at every point, when u press tht, there is a symbol which shows a man walkin and pedestrains are then given 1st chance. Thats the law!

11- In offices there is no concept of friday wear. Every day has to be formal. But concept of formal here is bit diff. Everything except Jeans is allowed!

12- In office the coffee machines were different. U put a can inside a container n press for coffee, then u add milk n sugar all kept in near vicinity. We have more than 10 flavors of coffee to choose from and more than 3 flavors of tea.

13- People greet here to every stranger as well. It is something like, if u have an eye contact then u have to greet the person. I loved it! :)
14- The doors open automatically for car parkings (metal detectors)

15- the person driving the car has a badge kinda thing which when he swaps against the points defined on roads, the bar rises to let the car move ahead.

16- the libraries r huge and u can issue any number of books for pretty long durations. U can give the books back even when library is closed. U can just drop them in a box placed outside the library.

17- in the malls and grocery shops, everything seemed artificial to me. So very colorful and fresh! There r polythenes kept in which u can keep ur stuff and then place them in trolleys.

18- local trains are like 1st class AC of indian trains

19- the rajaai or kambals are commonly called comforters.

20- tickets on station can be bought thru automated machines.

21- we have a dedicated channel for seeing our lift and gym and door entrance events.

22- dealstobuy (and similar others) are very common sites to get electronic and gift items.

23- even to dump furniture one has to pay a certain amount.

24- one has to fill the petrol in their vehicle on their own.

25- the number of one-ways are more than in India.

26- the no. of tini-mini cockroaches and bed bugs are more than in India.

27- people appreciate a gr8 deal more than there. ( for instance: i was complimented for my watch, my eyelashes by a number of complete strangers in lift, in office etc) In India there is a kind of hesitation before a person appreciates.

28- work hours are best. u seem to put in reasonably less amount of hrs but productivity is lot higher. (this is personal exp, might be cause i do not get all that many people to chat with :D)

29- taxis have to be hired by calling them.

30- 1st floor is the ground floor :D

31- right hand side driving.

32- No net cafes here

First week in USA

Warning: This is a very long blog, written in parts since a week. If it gets borring, the writer gives u permission to quit in between. There might be some grammatical errors due to the latest changes i made in the tense. bear with it :)

Start Date : 22nd August 05, Afternoon. Second day in US of A. Seems to be the same as the previous one. 1st day was not very adventurous. Especially I do not like the attitude of people out here. I mean too professional might be for me. Especially roommates. Only writing personal diary at home is the saving grace. I don't know where to start from,, lemme start from the start.. I mean from the time I boarded the plane.

Boarded:
(This was my first ever visit to an airport and in an aeroplane!! I had mugged up all the rules to board!) Jhol no. 1 : Ok so I finally boarded the plane. got a window seat in the third row. Was all charged up to take off. But the flight was delayed by 1 1/2 hr. It took off at 9.15 AM. Beside me an elderly lady of my grandmas age was seated. She was a gujju and did not know a word of Hindi! She was a US resident. I assumed she was along with another gujju family seated in near vicinity. And they assumed that she was with me. And so did the air hostess. Infact everytime she used to ask her something, I use to say that ask the family seated near by.. ! :-D. eventually at the end of the journey we realized that she was on her own. As suggested by a friend, I did not deny any eatable that the air-hostess brought :D But then me being too choosy about food , did not eat all of it. When the plane took off, one of the most beautiful experiences happened. I mean the sight that I got to see of the beaches, the houses reducing in size with every mile that the plane crossed was so magical!. The clouds, so white, pure, light and bright - breathtaking!. I could see them all over till my gaze cud extend. All shapes and sizes and they seem to extend till eternity. There were times when I cud see a stretch of white carpet with just a blue lining. How I fantasized myself dancing all over it with backgroud music like "Kuch aisaa jahan hum banaaye jahan pehla ho har wo nazaraa, pehla saawan ka baadal, pehla lehrataa aanchal.. pehla bhawraa woh paagal, jahan pehla pyaar ho" :). To add to it there were recorded songs going on of Mohd Rafi and Hemant kumar. Wooaa! what more cud have I asked for. During the journey they showed a couple of movies, of which I saw Mugleaazam and Miss congeniality II. We had a 1 1/2 hr halt in Paris. But we did not have to get down the plane. Finally reached Newark airport at around 5.30 or so. Came out of the plane and walked with the crowd, as was told.. ;-)

Landed:
Jhol no. 2: I landed up in the queue meant for US Residents. But the SA guy at the counter was considerate enough to process my forms. Jhol no. 3: I then headed to take my luggage. The trolly, for some strange reason, would not come out of the stand & I thought I do not have enough strength to pull it out. Then I remembered someone mentioning to me that one has to pay for the trolley too! Big embarrassment there!. then I waited till eternity to identify my luggage. Why cant we have more varieties in the suitcases/luggage!! but then everyone had their identity mark stuck.. so I was confident that the one without it would be mine! :D half hr later eventually got hold of both the suitcases. I somehow managed to keep them on the trolly.. and made my way towards the exit.. called up one onsite person and he asked to take the limo and come till a hotel and then he wud pick me up. I did not have the required cash to pay for the limo.. so headed towards currency converting counter and was abt to pay at the ground transportation counter for the connecticut limo when I saw some french beard person recognized me and wispered "Neha". Even I recognised him as my onsite person Murtuza ( not the one whom I had called). Actually the one whom I had called few moment back gave me Murtuza's description. They were 4 of them, waiting for me since 2 hrs. Imagine! but thanks to them I headed off towards their car. We took a I 95 road to Stamford. It was super crowded due to Sunday and reminded me of India :D.. it took us more than 2 hours to reach the destination. Jhol no. 4: I was almost into tears in the car. Had not called my parents till then!. eventually asked one of them to lemme use his cell. actually I had my calling card no. but hardly any balance, as I called a no. of times to onsite people using a paid phone! To top it added USA code and it charged me international rates!. Anyway.. I called up parents and then Neel and kept the phone immediately. Finally reached the rented home on 83 Morgan Street. Everyone seemed to be too preoccupied with their work. 2 of them were working on laptops, 1 was sleeping, and 2 others were talking. I went and exchanged some pleasantries of hi-hellos. Was feeling really weird ..dunno why! I wondered if these were my roommates from India! So un-welcoming! Jhol no. 5: then thought of changing into more comfi clothes. know wot??? One of the big bags wud just not open! I had forgotten the lock code. tears rolled down. :(.. no one was bothered. eventually made another short call to papa asking him the code. but none of the permutations worked :( eventually slept without changing the clothes and thought of tackling the problem in morning. Went inside and slept on a mat that was lying at one side. Me being a little hesitant.. did not know what to ask whom!! no one seem to be bothered to make me feel at home. I was not feeling good at all.

Morning again tried some codes, expecting some miracle to happen! Eventually my patience ran out, took a knife and broke the lock. :D Was so proud that I vent out the anger at someone!. :D. After getting ready wrote my personal diary.. kept on writing. was missing everyone soo badly! Anyway.. at 8am sharp called my onsite person. He stays a floor below us. Went with him in car to office. Actually my office is 15 min walk from home. The weather these days is good. Fall is about to start. Its fun.. :) First day in office was not very good. I mean was introduction with most of the people around. Was feeling extremely nervous and out of place and scared! Did not have lunch :(.. everyone had gone for lunch on behalf of client. No one cared to ask me. So be it! :(. Murtuza did ask me.. but then I told him I wud b fine. I did not know where the canteen was.. so did not have lunch tht day. Felt like crying :( There is this woman Amrita. She is sweet. Next day she took me to the canteen. 1st day I reached home, ate dinner, wrote my diary again and slept off. Next day too did not know what would I have for lunch!. Then a roommate pinged and asked why did I not bring tiffin from home.. Yeah!! As if I would get a dream of it !! huh! Amrita took me to canteen. Later I started cooking at home and brining lunch. Jhol no. 6 I still get lost searching for clients desk :D The other day a client called on extn n askedcome over for some discussion. I told him ye wud be rite there. but as was not able to find the desk came back n told amrita to take me. When the client asked what took me an hour?? i said just got stuck with some work. he was wondering as to what more imp work than his meeting :D apart from this.. the people i know in Atlanta, shcenectady and other places in USA, I call them up.. its nice talking to them :) There is a senior Sumeet in Atlanta, he helped a lot. He lent his calling card to help me call back home. to have someone whom I can atleast talk to is so imp! I talk to Neel often in the morning using office dialcom I had gone to make my SSN one day with Murtuza. The best part I like abt the people here is they r always ready to greet every other person. I like it. This is a new experience as in India we do not greet strangers! I like greeting every one I meet :) Earlier I felt a little weird but now i full fledged say hiiiiii with all my teeth out! :D I think people here do not have unnecessary attitude. Let's see if this impression continues... I will try to prolong my stay. If not, even then this 1.5 months stay wud be quite an experience. Atleast my parents wud be able to say that I am foreign returned :D that would mean a lot to me. I mean to make them proud! u know my priorities r different. I like exploring things, but not alone.
Project related Knowledge transfer is progressing slowly. I am bringing myself in terms with my limitations. I mean over expectations from one self causes problems. So trying to set them right. else would be difficult to survive in the IT world!

My 5th day in USA. Thursday evening .. things have changed pretty much. Wednesday was better than prev ones. I went to an old onsite person's place, Raghu. He stays just 3 floors below us and has a family there, wife and a 3 months old cutie pie Saisri. It was nice talking to them. from today I started going to gym early morn. Planning to go for lawn tennis in evenings. lets c. We take turns to cook too.. There r lot many minor details.. But that apart..

7th Day: Yesterday we went to bowling at nite. that was super fun. iIt was first time for me and I scored pretty well. had 2 big glasses of beer too :D first time of beer too! then went to a roomies' friend's place n played Uno till 2 am. saturday was spent cleaning up the kitchen. Gosh never in my life had i seen so many cockroaches.!! sunday again went lazing arnd. yeah.. did go to a nearby church. went to a near by library too. That was good. brought "Catcher in the rye" novel. tht wud be a nice pass time for me. went to a near by mall too. sat there n read the books. thats abt it.. for the entire week. Missing India a lot already. I mean not that its not good here. But weekends wud be a problem.  Lets c how things turn up. But they r definitely better than the 1st day! :) Hopefully by the end of this week i wud have some nice things to write.. lets c! more later..