Californian Summer

It's been two and a half years now, and finally, finally I have the mind and the words to write about it. The relavance being that this was my truly first international trip and resparked my travel desires! While the time for a detailed post has long gone by, I make an attempt to recapture the most important moments...

First Impressions...
I had finally set arrived on the promised land, but for some reason I couldnt seem to feel it - feel that I was in America! Belmont, the place where i spent 5 weeks is a quiet village at best, and seemed to be dominated largely by Oracle. And unless one was at the grocery store complex nearby, it was very difficult to see people. I think I missed seeing people around. 5 weeks in Belmont and I realised what a city girl i was!

San Francisco...
A city to fall in love with... and a total opposite to my initial impressions. Dfinitely a city with attitude. The first sight to greet me was a group of musicians performing to the public, kids on skateborads, graffitied walls, and people. The bay, North Beach, the tall buildings, and such different people! Finally, I seemed to have landed at a place which matched my definition of America.

Liberation...
San Francisco has one of the most beautiful bays - ever! The sight of the vast expanse with the sun setting behind the gloden gate ... heavenly! I have never felt more liberated than i did at that moment looking into the open ocean beyond. It is as if the golden gate bridge were indeed a gate which would open any minute to let you into te beckoning ocean - to cut all those chords that bind you, move beyond the sight of land and get lost amongst its soothing waves and spray.

Castro...
The gay area in the gay capital of the world ( or so i was told). Never have I felt more dissappointed to walk into a bar and see such cute guys - every one of them out of reach! For the first time i realised that the thought was more disconcerting than reality itself.

On four wheels...
Driven by a mixture of fear and challenge, I rented a car. And it was one of the most exciting things i did in that one month. Till the last week, i refused to acknowledge the presence of a blind spot. I jumped a red and got loads of honks ( possibly because of the ignorance on blind spots). Ironically i got a ticket for parking in a space meant for a truck!

The explorer...
The whole trip to the US seemed to be a quest to get the 'true feel' of the country and to do something different. Castro and Haight was to see the gay culture and the previously popular hippie destinantion. Big Basin Way, 17 mile drive, Rachos San Antonio were all trips to try out destinations different from those on brochures. I was at the wheel, and Tanu my navigator. It was like living some one else's life everytime we set out, lost our way, used our little knowledge to find our way back. One evening we went to find Big Basin Way and got lost and came upon this quaint diner 'Alice's' set truly 'out of the blue'! The happiness and the kick of having 'discovered' it!

Friends...
As seems to accompany any travel story, a lot of new relationships were struck, old ones tightened and some forgotten ones unearthed. And this was the best part. The trip seemed to set the stage for innumerable shopping trips, ladies nights, dinners, drives and even more trips. The friends friend i imposed myself upon who so kindly took me all around NY and to philly. The friend from my summer classes who housed me for a few days. And not forget long lost school friends and office collegues! For a long time i regretted not making any local fiends, but i think the rest made up for them!

The Lady with the Torch
as I love referring to the statue of liberty. A lady waiting with the book of god and torch to show the way to all those in search of the 'promised land'. I havent seen a monument more appropriate to celebrate a country built on immigrants. And they still continue to pour in, in search of a better world!

Niagara...
A great falls that I refused to be humbled by. I looked at the powerful gush of water surrounding me bliding me with its sheer force. I still remember thinking, "This is nature at its best. I want to be overwhelmed beyond words - but I couldnt!". I suspect that was probably because, Niagara was never the final destination.

Looking back, I think in a way I was afraid I would love the country more than I loved my own. Probably because I see so many of my countrymen who move to the US and actually look down upon the country where they come from. And I was afraid to change into one of them. But then again, every country has a share of people who work that way. And the choice to love and to remember is yours and the land cannot be blamed for that!

The reality of moving

And yet once again, I am back here wondering about how our dreams and visions are so different from reality. The statement seems to say it all requring no further explanation, but yet we expect both to coincide and dream on. The truth is, I think, that we focus so much on the more superficial aspects in our dreams ( atleast I do), while the practicalities till reaching that point can get painful. And you would think that one does learn , but we never do. And maybe that's why dreams are what they are - dreams! (That is why I just love Regina's quote over here!)

The moment I knew I was moving to Mumbai (sadness of leaving Chennai apart), I am already dreaming of this 'neat' place that I will be staying in, the way I would be doing up my flat,partying with friends,and trips that I would make. But reality is so much more about dealing with shady brokers, houses that meet your expectations not fitting your wallet and those that do being very depressing. And reality is very slow, especially if you work long hours and travel 2 hours a day and you have an exam hovering around you!

My usual house hunting experiences are always accompanied by weeks of trauma and tension and until the very last moment, things never fall into place! All the time in Hyderabad, finding roommates used to be the biggest hassle and till the last minute I never knew whether I would have to give up my sprawling 3 bedroom flat or not. It also seemed to me that i kept talking about it so often, I was worried that I would be branded as the 'girl without a roommate'. I think what irritates me even more is that, this house hunting always seems to work out more easily for everyone else but me.

But I think for once I managed to go through this whole phase without 'tension' and 'panic' even if it was very hassled. And also found a roommate on Day 1 of house hunting. Found a brand new place very close to work, ramifications of which are leaks to be fixed, the fan that wont rotate, the furniture that wont arrive. The Half of me wants to scream. Half of me has given up. Wish I could click my fingers to get things done! Bonus morning alarms from the mosque and temple close by. Have decided to convert to a religion which believes in silent prayers. Soon enough!

PS: For all those crying out loud about the conservatism in Chennai, PLEASE LISTEN. The city which is supposed to be twenty years ahead of India does not rent out flats to single women or men! OK, not the entire city, but this is certainly a common woe in Powai!

PS: I have hardly begun to check the city out except for inorbit, and an italian restaurant in bandra 'basilico', the hiranandani area ofcourse and ofcourse a one time trip on the trains.

Day 7@ Mumbai

Yes! I have also joined the bandwagon of multitudes of people migrating to this already overcrowded city. It seems to me that whenever I vow to never go to a place, that place ends up being my next destination. Starting with Hyderabad, moving back to Chennai and now my move to Mumbai! Ok! The only place I really truly vowed not to go was to Hyd. Chennai and Mumbai, I had a lot of doubts. Anyways, I am now an equity research analyst (was for the last year to, the now is for what follows next) within the legal limits of an Investment Bank! (I hope that sounded glitzy, the way it was meant to!)

This was initially meant to be a Day 2 post with the most truthful ranting’s of my inner soul. Not because I am fighting the crowds and running behind trains with the clichéd ‘no time to stand and stare in Mumbai’ stmt. On the contrary, I have probably been one of the very few to have traversed the roads of the least populated area of Mumbai, namely the Aarey Milk colony in E Goregaon where I am temporarily being put up. Apart from a medical shop, which refuses to accept credit cards (my way of life till now), and ofcourse the Park Plaza (where I am staying) there doesn’t seem to be any life in this 240 acre of ‘Prime land’. And the fact that it is a 5-star (or so I think) is an added pain. Any extra request not borne by the company costs a bomb including 250 bucks for 30 minutes web time, which has added to my ‘cut off from the world’ feeling on weekends!

Hiranandani, which is where my office is located is another story altogether. The whole area seems to be done with a European theme with street names like ‘High Street’ and buildings like ‘Fairmont’ and the architecture has been conceived to present an age by gone. Though the area comes as a shock especially when u cross dusty Mumbai roads and get thrown back a few years into history, it doesn’t seem artificial as it ought to! And the fact that a number of companies have moved here has driven up sqfeet rates sky high. Yes, I am still digesting the fact that I will probably be shelling out around 12k a month for anything close to a decent home.

Hard cash has been slipping through my fingers like water, something which always gets me panicky and it did even now until I did some rational thinking. I’ve been enjoying the salad spread both at mornings and dinners. Jogging in my gym. O yea, that’s beautiful. The treadmills are up against the glass and u can see the entire city ablaze in lights sprawled below u (in the evenings). So is the sight in the evening from my office. You can see tall sky scraper buildings all lit up against a backdrop of shadowy mountains. And the office itself is one of the best that I have worked in.(the building and interiors as such) :) And ofcourse, I love the autos!! Otherwise, there seems to be an impression of ‘un-completeness’: the roads that look like they are forever being constructed and not to forget the soot and dirt!

Just a few beginning impressions. More comes later.

PS: I am yet to mail friends, unfortunately i dont have gmail or yahoo access at work! So for now the blog will have to do.

Disclaimer: If I have said anything disparaging Mumbai, its just my impression and initial ones at that! Nothing personal! :)

All that jazz about travelling

So. I am sitting in my aunts living room, surrounded by my relatives who have just recently come from a trip to kaasi-varanasi- gaya-allahabad and I am in a state of revelation. I look around me, and see animated expressions, wild gestures. On one side my aunt is talking about the 'vaatta saatamana security, ana evaalo sehappu' or the fair complexioned, well built security men out there. Then my uncle mentions the 'malai' available or the milk which is constantly on the boil in huge urns and tastes delicious. And then about the "vibrations" of the place, and the devoutness of the saadus.

And about the triveni sangam ( the meeting point of yamuna, ganaga and saraswati) and how when they sacrificed a lock of hair at that point , it did not float away, but actually got sucked in by the hidden currents of saraswati. The yamuna apparently is black shaded while the ganges is in green. About the way the road side vendors make rotis. Apparently, these guys make a thin roti from a ball of dough just slapping in between their two hands without using the roti stick (not sure what the correct name is).

I am amazed. I mean the tales that my otherwise 'un-travle-types' relatives stunned me. They brought back more interesting stories than i probably have on mine, they have tried out their broken hindi, spoken to locals and swamiji's, found a few shastri's from tanjavur living in kaasi.

So what, if they dont call it "travel" and dont try and market their experience as an "experience of a lifetime" ( o - they actually do label it that way, but more for spiritual reasons :) ). And the thing is, I would have normally not even bothered to enquire about it except for mere courtesy maybe, and wow, i just got one of the most vivid and interesting accounts.

There was this thread on travellerspoint once about 'why travel and the jazz' and someone who mentioned that they cant understand how people are seemingly satisfied with their boring routine lives. And it seemed to me then as it does now, that maybe there is this race of people ( myself included?) who are becomming extremely snobbish about this 'travel' hobby.

I mean - isn't travelling as u see it? Shouldnt travel be more for understanding that there does exist people unlike us, but not tag them into a category? Ofcourse, there is always the difference between the passionate traveller and the casual traveller, but that doesnt make one better than the other right?

Sort of like the bunch of us who call ourselves 'cosmopolites' but turn out to be just as racist as the next man , except here the divide is between the 'cosmopolite' vs 'non-cosmopolite' as against 'north indians' vs 'south indians'...

Just a train of thought... or have I become just as judgemental of the judgemental with this post???

Unwinding at Cornucopia

So , yesterday I was in cornucopia with Uma... Its one of those restaurants I got to know because I travel by the road where it is located. A low profile sort of place , a bunglow converted to a restaurant. Dim lighting, a room to yourself, one of the sexiest pasta and slow classic rock unobtrusive in the background ... Its when you take a break from the conversation to take a moment to muse, you catch the strains in the background...Just as Bryan Adams finished telling me that when I was in his arms, he found 'Heaven', Rod Stewart floated in asking me 'Have I told you lately that I love you'... And I smiled.