USA EXPERIENCE

2005-04-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

Article 18

April, 2005 (Before Rushmore Trip)

Three day training on Reliability was fun. It was in a hotel and for lunch, I had to considerably edit the lunch menu to convert a chicken sandwich but without chicken, fish or any meat. :-) For dinner one evening, we went to PF Changs. I wanted to try martini, but I had no clue which flavor to try, so I asked the waiter. He in, Hum Dil de chucke sanam scene (In Italy) started admiring so much some specific flavor, so I just picked that. But I did not really like it, because of the cream and coffee flavor added to it. The food in PF Changs was good.

Whenever I needed a break, I would stop at Sai Mart to chat with Nagendra, and he as always had interesting stories to say from his previous adventures. I would listen to his experiences so attentively and with enthusiasm.

One of the days, a colleague, Paul and I went to meet a supplier at Boulder, Colorado. We left as early as 5:45 AM and had Garden omelet, hash browns and orange juice for breakfast at a truck stop near Denver. It was a 2 hour drive from home. I was pretty impressed by the facility they had, for Metal injection molding, almost automated with very few people seen in the work area. It was pretty neat.

Next we went to another supplier nearby and had lunch with them. There were discussions on outsourcing to Bangalore and layoff’s in Detroit; also Japanese cars taking over US market. I took it as a information rather than being uncomfortable. :-)

Paul is very interested about India. He loves Indian food and even prepares them. We usually discuss about the cultural differences. I explained to him some of our supercritical beliefs and possible scientific explanations to them. N, Seb and I went to 135 Exit. It was a cultural shock but was fun.

On 10th of April, it was called alert for a blizzard. We had off from work obviously and Peggy called us specifically not to go out on that day. J and I bothered the least of all this and took it lightly. We thought Americans are too scared always and we must be fine. But when I got up that morning and opened the window, I saw a mountain of snow covering it. The entire locality was white and one could see no other colour. It was one of the most beautiful sights.

View from my bedroom window

Well as if this wasn’t enough, we realized that we were running short of groceries. So we had to make a quick trip to Albertsons for some basic stuff. J and I took out on bed of snow. Everything went fine; we reached the shop, bought stuff and got back, as we were taking the turn to approach the main road the tires got stuck in the heap of snow and just kept spinning. J tried pushing, but it didn’t help. Luckily a guy stopped to help us out. We got on to the main road and slowly made our way back to the apartment. At the point where we had to turn to get into the apartments, we got stuck again. Few people stopped to help but nothing worked, finally a guy came and towed the car. We thanked him, returned home and swore never to take such warnings lightly ever. :-)

Next day, the snow cleared by 12:30, so we were driving to office and saw a guy struggling to get his car out of the parking lot. Like three musketeers, we parked our car and walked towards him to offer a hand. After struggling for few minutes, we simply had to get back embarrassed unable to move it by even an inch.

On 15th, Seb and I went to Denver in the evening. I had to g o to a temple for Ugadi. It was a north Indian temple, I did not like the atmosphere much but it was something, in this far away land. We then drove to Airport. Another colleague S arrived; one of his bags got missed out and was to arrive to our home only next day. We had dinner at Woodlands hotel in Denver and returned.

I now had company during walks. S loved to walk too, so I was happy. One evening the colours were vibrant and the pikes peak looked brilliant from the cotton wood creek park, right opposite our apartments. I just love Pikes peak more and more.

Cotton Wood Creek Park....Pikes peak on the backdrop.

We had a team lunch at an Italian restaurant called Biaggi’s and I disliked the food I had. It was hardly eatable for me. I think it was some type of eggplant lasagna or something.

Rest of the weekends, I was all excited in planning our next big trip – Mt Rushmore.

2005-04-05T00:53:00.000-07:00

Article 17

April 2nd & 5th 2005.

Our friend BJ, came over to Colorado springs from Indianapolis for a training. To celebrate, we drove to Royal Gorge on 2nd.Its the world’s tallest suspension bridge. We drove on a tram, an inclined train all the way down. It was fun. The old man driving the toy train had stories that he has spotted a pregnant deer and if we were lucky then we could spot some on the way. We laughed at his story.

We returned back to Colorado Springs and directly drove to Saimart. N, the owner is a good friend of mine and he has opened a chats counter; the first day is free trail to all Indians. We enjoyed some samosa and chats.

On 5th, J & I decided to take S and BJ to this place that we had discovered recently on our way to Arches national park – Glenwood canyons. Again the drive was amazing as the road winded between those gorgeous canyons. We did some small hiking, jogged around the canyon and observed two men fish.

2005-03-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

Article 16

March 26th 2005, Saturday.

It was not a much planned trip. By that I mean, we had not thought about this trip weeks before. On Thursday, I started planning on some place to visit during our 3 day holiday. Friday was a holiday on occasion of Good Friday. Browsing through the net on attractions in the neighboring state of Utah, I found these gorgeous canyons. The nearest was Arches national park in Moab city, Utah.

Next thing I know is that I held the driving directions and maps to the place printed out from mapquest.com

Destination: Arches national park, Moab, Utah.
Distance: 413.14 miles
Estimated time: 6 hours, 54 minutes.

At 5:47 Am on Saturday, J and I began our journey to Utah. The roads were very bad as it was snowing heavily here in Colorado Springs. This was the case in most of the places, east of Colorado. One small mistake on the icy roads would lead to great danger. Traveling most of the first 100 miles on 125 and E470 was not much fun as we had already been there many times.

We stopped at around 8:00 Am in Idaho springs for our breakfast; crossenwitch at burger king. We had been to this place once before with our boss S when he had visited Colorado springs the previous year. But that time it was only a mere drive. But now it was rather an exploration; an enthusiasm to drive and see new places.

The roads were blocked for another half an hour, cars were flooding in.. Probably everyone was going to ski resorts. Keystone, Breckenridge, and Aspen, all the famous ski resorts are on the same route. The road was jam-packed and obviously the driving speed was much much lesser than the speed limit.

The next stretch was too good; amazing views; the road swiveled between the mountains, and began to unwind the most amazing views I had ever seen. The sky reaching mountains, or rather canyons, half or full covered with snow, rocks showing its skin here and there. That was a gorgeous drive.

On one side was the Colorado River flowing. The mountains, the trees, the snow and the river all blended very well together. The view was totally breath taking.

We could not help but stop at the Glenwood Canyon Park. We could not drive any further until we drank a little bit of this view. We took some pictures, walked down to the river. The water was damn cold.

Tall trees on one side of the river, near a railway track that ran beside the river and leaf less red-stemmed plants on other. I recall the scenes from one of my favorite film, “A River runs through it” which had exactly similar location. But most of that was filmed in Montana, believed to be even more beautiful place.

I walked alone down till the river and stood there for sometime looking at everything as though I was downloading every bit of the sight in the hard disk of my mind, captured as a memory. There was light snow fall too during the same time which added to the places beauty. What a great sight it was. I looked up at the sky and saw thousands and thousands of snow crystals falling down at me. It was the most spectacular moment I had experienced in my journeys so far.

I watched 2 people fishing; an old man sat on a rock with his fishing wire deep in the water. A young man came and chatted with him, he too had a fishing wire.

They caught a fish and I saw them cut the wire from its mouth. The fish fell down. I assumed that the old man had caught a fish and this young dude, while cutting the wire, had dropped the fish. I felt sorry for the old man.

Then the young man began to fish. I asked him if he had caught any fish so far. He said “no” then he attached a small insect or something to end of his fishing string and let it in the water. A big fish fell into his trap. I saw him pull it out. The fish fluttered and struggled with the wire still in its mouth. “Big fish” I said and the young man agreed. He took it, cut the string and then held it in his hand. For some time the fish struggled then it lay there silently, motionless. I felt a little bad to see it die like that, but then the man slowly made the fish drink some water from the river and let it go. The fish which for sometime had pretended to be dead happily swam away. I shared a smile with the man. “Big fish” he said and continued by attaching another insect to the string.

We took off again. We came across some strange sights again. One side of the road had mountains covered with snow and the mountains on other side had not a single drop of snow on them. It was truly an amazing view. One would never want to leave such a beautiful place, I thought.

We stopped at Grand Junction sometime around noon and had our lunch. Utah started off with a plain land but as we drove further we started seeing big canyons at a distance.

The map had suggested that we take, 202 exit to UT-128 road but we saw that exit 204 led to the UT-128 road. We assumed that even 202 exit would lead to same road and if not would travel back as it was only 2 miles. But for our bad luck there was no 202 exit at all so I drove all the way to 193 exit and returned back. We took 204 exit and started driving on UT 128. On the road we saw a board that said –“No services for another 47 miles”. We had to drive till Moab and our tank was almost empty. 47 miles to go without gas was impossible so we thought we would return and find some gas station. Since the place was frequently visited by dust storms, there were no gas station or any service provided till long distances.

We also noticed that we could take another road, UT 191 from exit 180 which would also lead us to the Arch. So again we drove all the way back to exit 190. It was already 1:30 Pm and we had not reached our destination. We stopped at visitor center and asked how far next gas station was. The lady there said that it was just 2 miles away on 187 exit. So we drove there and filled gas and then took the road UT 191 to the park. We reached the park at around 2:45pm.

Time taken: 9 hours (Bad road, wrong miles data on mapquest, some confusion at exit 202 and some stops.)

We bought the tickets and drove into the park. The place was good with some amazing views. The entire place was covered with large rocks & canyons. We stood there in midst of brick colored rocks. We drove around the park and stopped at various major points. We had small hike to the balancing rock, landscape arch, pine tree arch and many others. It was truly an amazing sight.

Lastly we climbed a 480 feet mountain to see the delicate arch; it was a 1.5 miles hike up a hill. I did not want to miss this arch, as it is the most famous one. It took us about an hour to climb all the way to the top of the hill. But the sight was all worth it, truly amazing.

We took some pictures and then returned back to our car. On the way back we saw a native Indian art drawn on some rock. At exactly 7:05pm we left the place and drove back.

A funny thing happened as I was driving. A guy in red mustang was competing with me. He would drive fast and I would follow him. My strategy was to follow him as he was driving fast. At some point he slowed down a little and so I over took him. He accelerated and over took me again. He then pressed on the break a few times so that his brake lights would flicker. I assumed it to be his sign to indicate victory!

Then he sped off. For sometime, I could see his car; he kept switching from right lane to left and every time he did that the yellow indicator flickered, which made me notice him from any distance. So I too for fun began to chase the car. I overtook him again. But later I slowed down and allowed him to go. It was a fun drive, competing with that red mustang.

It was snowing badly and J was strained driving in snow. I drove rest of the way. It was snowing most of the way. We reached Colorado Springs at 2:00 am.

Near Dublin- Academy intersection the traffic light turned yellow. So I sped to make It through the signal. Suddenly J shouted, “Cop”, but I was not in the position to stop so I took off. Luckily the cop did not pay any attention to us.

Time taken on return journey: 7 hours.

2005-03-25T03:25:00.000-08:00

Article 15

March

Most of March went by in work and relaxing weekends. We watched several movies on DVD. It’s hard to judge which Hindi movie is good, so we get every new Hindi movie from the Indian stores. We watched several crappy films released during that time. I loved Crossenwitch served in Burger King. I would drive there on Sunday morning and pack them for the three of us. We even tried the gym for a week until we got bored very easily and of course there were my walks. I went for a walk in cotton wood creek park or just around the apartment. I loved to see the atmosphere in the cold winter.

One weekend there was a very interesting case of Ashley Smith and Brain Nichols on news. The later had killed a judge and escaped from the court. He was convicted of raping his girlfriend. He then goes and kills a customs officer and runs away with his gun and car. At 5:00 am or something Ashley is returning home after shopping and is held hostage by Brian, in her own house. Something interesting happens. Ashley and Brain talk. They discuss their life and the past. Ashley reads out a spiritual book which changes Brain. She walks out of the house and calls 911. I enjoyed the entire episode and was very thrilled to see what had happened. The FBI surrendering the house and capturing Brain was live on all news channels.

On the long weekend of Good Friday, Seb left to Oklahoma, to see his uncle. I quickly planned a trip to Arches national park; a trip only for a day. Jon got the car serviced and ready for the trip. We were in the driving spree.

2005-02-22T06:28:00.000-08:00

Article 14

Febraury 19th 2005, Saturday.

We relaxed at V’s Place; met his roommates. We all got ready and though the plan was to leave Rolla by 10:30am we got really late and left the place only by 1:00pm. V’s friend S also joined us.

We reached Saint Louis at around 2:00 pm. We directly went to the Indian restaurant called peacock. I assume it is a Pakistani Restaurant as it had the board, Indian and Pakistani cuisine. The food was okay.

We then stopped at the Indian store as Vand S had to buy some stuff. Our next stop was the famous gateway arch. The drive there was a little confusing; Saint Louis is a very congested city. Lot of interstate crosses each other and hence it’s very difficult to expect to be in the same road after a while. We got lost once and instead on going towards the arch we got into a road that goes to Chicago. Then we drove back to the arch.

We did not park in the parking lot. V asked us to park near the Missouri river where the parking is absolutely free. Well but not everything would turn out lucky for us that day. We did not get the ticket for the tram to go up the arch. All the ticket for the day was sold out. Disappointed we compromised with just seeing museum. We decided to return next morning, on the way to Chicago.

We then dropped Jon at his cousin’s place and drove back to Rolla.We went back home and were very tired. S prepared curd rice for us and after having dinner we went to bed. Next morning we got up at 5:30 am and left Rolla by 6:30 am.

We reached Saint Louis by around 8:45 am. Had some Dosa’s in Jon’s cousin’s place and left by I think around 9:30. We went to the arch again and still had no luck since the next tram was supposed to be at 12:30. Without giving much thought we drove to Chicago.

W e reached Chicago at around 3:00 pm. We drove to navy pier. The weather in Chicago was very bad. The entire place was covered with mist. Most of the rides in the pier were closed. So we just walked around. Went to a 3D ride and watched some artists sing and dance for kids.

We then drove to Aurora to Jon’s Aunt’s house. It was about an hour’s drive. We reached there at may be around 8:30 pm. Aunty had brought Malia kofta and dal just for me and chicken dishes for the other two. After dinner, Jon’s Cousin J showed us a movie called “Saw” it is a crazy but very interesting film.

Next morning we had our breakfast and left to Shedd aquarium. We spent the entire morning there watching the fishes and dolphin show.

The view from outside of the aquarium was excellent. Chicago downtown is famous for its greatest modern architecture.

We then went to the planetarium; watched a show on constellations. It was really nice.
After that we drove to sears tower, one time tallest building in the world. It is 110 floors tall. The view from top was spectacular. We were lucky that the weather was excellent so the night lighting of the entire Chicago looked pretty.

Then we drove back on the lakeshore drive near the planetarium. The Chicago downtown illuminated completely looked fabulous from here. Took some good pictures and returned home at around 8:00 pm and had dinner, after which we left Chicago on another long drive back home.

We did not do the mistake of driving 5 hours continuously, like earlier. This driving experience thought us a lot. We all drove 2 hours each and it worked really well that way. Most of the drive back home was during nighttime. We drove through Iowa and Nebraska states. Driving across Nebraska was really boring. Plan land on both sides of the road.

We reached Colorado Springs at 3:00 PM.

The trip boosted my confidence in driving long distance, exploring and experiencing the joy of traveling. It was here that a Traveler in me shaped completely. Days to come, I knew was going to be the best of my lifetime.

2005-02-20T06:26:00.000-08:00

Article 13

Febraury 18th 2005, Friday.

Lot of preparations were done for the trip; our first long road trip; destination Chicago. Thanks to Peggy for her advice, tips and list that she prepared for us to take along in case of emergency. She also gave her cell phone to us so that we can call for help while in trouble. So the food, the emergency accessories were all ready by Friday. At 5:30pm we left home. We had planned our driving turns. Seb was to drive first.

Drive: Colorado Springs, Colorado to Rolla, Missouri
Start: 6340-Timber bluff Pt, Colorado springs, CO 80918
Destination: 1517 N Bishop Ave, Rolla, MO 65401-2154
Distance: 798.04 miles
Estimated time: 12 hours, 34 minutes.

We took the US-24 road which then becomes I70. We had to drive more than 500 miles in just I70 which passes through Kansas State. The scene along the drive was beautiful. Vast plain land filled with golden brown grass; appeared as though no people ever lived there. There were few small villages on the way; tiny homes and shops. The Shops more looked like our Indian road side dhabas. It was interesting to see Americans live in such remote places too; when one thinks of America, one only recollects tall skyscrapers, villas. Probably these people had farms or something. Questions were many but answers were none. But the deep silence of the place all along the road was hauntingly exciting.

We stopped by a small village to fill some gas and then drove nonstop for a long time. It was already dark. I entertain the group with my funny narration of Hindi film Pardes and Raaz.

There were some interesting incidents on the way. A huge truck was in front of ushe kept switching onn his back lights. We were unable to see the road at all, it seemed as though the truck was driving towards us because of the back lights flowing in our directions. For sometime it was not at all clear to us why this was happening later we realized that it was because we had our high beams onn and that was affecting him.

At 10:30pm we stopped to fill gas and that time I switched to driving. Jon sat next to me and Seb tried to catch some nap.

I drove till 2:45 am. Most of my drive was in Kansas. It had started raining heavily. The water from road followed the tires of the vehicles ahead and splashed all over so it was necessary to keep enough distance between the cars. On our way we met few other Indian colleagues who too where driving to Chicago.

I did speed too, as it was inevitable in the empty interstate.

At Kansas City I got a little confused and took a wrong exit but thanks to the proper signs and I correct immediately. The song that was playing on the deck was- “ Dil ne pukara hein oo jane janna….” From the movie shakti. Whenever Jon and I listen to it now, we remember the drive near Kansas City.

At 2:45 am Jon changed to driving near a gas station.

I slept rest of the drive in back seat. I am not aware of what went on in between till I woke up in the morning at around 6:00 am I guess. We were nearing Rolla. Jon was feeling sleepy; he found it difficult to drive as he had not got a good sleep throughout the trip. The car was drifting and he had to stop at the shoulder to allow Seb to drive.

At 7:15 am (central time, 6:15 in Colorado), as expected we reached Rolla. We called V (our friend) to confirm the proper location. Funny part was we called him from the telephone booth exactly behind his apartment.

Time Taken: 12 hours 15 minutes

2005-02-17T23:31:00.000-08:00

Article 12

Febraury

February was a time of exploration. We were all enthusiastic about driving around and exploring the new places.

Seb and I went to Oceans Journey, an aquarium that we had accidently bumped at during some previous visit to Denver. The aquarium experience was good. Even though we saw better one’s later, this remains to be a special one, because it was our discovery when we lost our way to denver during a drive.

Dosa festival at Woodlands, Denver was a good treat as well.

One of the most recalled drive to office was this day. The entire place was covered with ice. Not exactly snow but as though everything was covered with crystals of ice. These pictures can speak for themselves.

2005-01-31T21:41:00.000-08:00

Article 11

January

Rest of the month went without much of an event. We got to meet some Indians at a party. Seb’s friend and her husband came home and we went with them to a birthday party where we met other Indians. It was nice get together. Hotel woodlands is our usual dinner place during our visit to Denver. Even though none of the Indian restaurant does taste as good as real Indian food, they are at least some compromise we have to make for another year, I guess.

We drove to Cave of the winds one of the weekends. This was my first experience being in a cave and was thus most exiting. We also took a small hike downhill to enjoy the rocky canyons of Colorado.

Our next stop was Seven Falls. Well the water fall had completely frozen and thus this was again my first time witnessing of a frozen water fall. I am sure the pictures will talk more than words.

One afternoon, I was driving to our manufacturing plant for a meeting there. I was alone and I took a back route to the plant. After getting off powers (a road) I took a road that is not very often taken by vehicles. The road was covered with snow and I forgot to slow down. I was at a higher speed than recommended. This road ends at another road that runs perpendicular to it. While reaching the intersection I could not slow down, I tried to apply break and the car skidded. The car went straight across the median and came to a screaming halt just before hitting the curb at the other end of the road, facing oncoming traffic. Luckily nobody was on the road and thus I was saved from any further hassle. That moment did send some shock waves through my entire body. Whenever I passed by that road, I recalled the incident. Thus after giving it a lot of thought I decided to capture the incident in a story. I wrote a story called snow based on this it also happens to be my first thriller. :-) This did help me to forget the incident.

2005-01-02T01:06:00.000-08:00

Article 10

New Year 2005

On 31st night Seb and I decided to go to Denver. We left home at around 12:30PM. We took some exit and landed in a nice place, with not so nice lake which in blend with the rest of the nature created a beautiful sight. We took some snaps and walked around the lake. After which we drove to the 16th street.

Denver Downtown

Denver’s 16th street was beautifully lit but almost hauntingly empty at 5:00 PM. Disappointed, we decided to watch a movie. We watched “Phantom of the Opera” It was a good film. By the time movie got over it was 9:00 and as we stepped out of the theater, we were surprised by the crowd. We barely had space to stand. People walking simply from one end of the road to other, laughing, smiling, shouting and dancing. There were crowded gatherings everywhere and people played drums to which others danced. People from the crowd got on to dirty dancing. It was totally fun. The atmosphere there was very lively and fun filled. Later that night at 12:00, we watched the spectacular fireworks.

By the time we returned home it was 2:30 in the morning. I drove the 200 miles alone and it was fun. Driving in interstate is a pleasure. People just maintain such a harmony following each other at a safe distance and speed. I love the lane change part to overtake other vehicles. When you watch from the window, you can see many cars ahead changing lanes to pass other cars. This is one of the beautiful sights I always enjoy watching while driving.

The next day, Jon, Seb and I drove to Bishop’s castle. This place was suggested by our office receptionist. So I found the direction to the place through net and we drove there. Every sight was enjoyable and the drive even more exciting. But as we got closer to the destination, the roads were pretty bad as it had snowed badly. The experience of driving in snow is a little too tiring.

This castle is built by a man who has put together the stones and created this. The staircase is welded and a dragon at the top also his creation. We enjoyed some walk around the castle and went to the top. The cold breeze kept us away from staying there for a long time.
It was a nice drive and a one day trip. More of an exploration kind.

2004-12-30T21:25:00.000-08:00

ARTICLE - 9

December

After my return I got busy at work and driving classes. My instructor Jeff had stories to tell every time we went driving. He would continuously talk about his life, his pet - a cat, a lizard, a dog and a spider. Well that was not some common pets that Indians have except the cat and a dog. He also spoke of food- American and Mexican. Shared his story about two of his x-girlfriends; one was a vegan (Pure vegetarians who do not even consume dairy products) and another who liked sushi which apparently he dint like. He talked about his plans to go to Iraq to train the police there and was unable to decide whether to take that risk; he also did not want to be away from his daughter. He is divorced. Jeff also mentioned about this place in Manitou springs where they brew beer and he considers it to be the best.

My last class with Jeff was also during the same month and he as usual had many more thoughts to share. He talked about his divorce; how painful it is, the settlement and money deals. He shared with me some fun stories of his daughter. She asks every other woman – “My father needs a wife, will you go out with him?” and also asked a neighbor to stay with them. She visits him during the weekends. He now goes out on many dates, a new girl in 3 months at least, he adds. He then says that he wants to get married again but not divorced again and thus wants to think properly before making another move. I silently observed this segment of American culture. It was so different from what I had seen before in my own country. I was not judgmental. People here think about their life more and in India we think more about others and thus get into compromises. Both are right in their own places but as always there needs to be a balance somewhere.

Jeff took me to the Dunkin donut shop on 8th street, near downtown. I love the glazed donuts from there and this place will remain with me forever. He got me addicted to donuts and Jeff being an X-cop did not differ with the teasing that people made about cops and donuts. People talk – Bad cop…no donuts; where is the cop? ….maybe in donut shops…. He says that many a times when they have to work late nights, donut shops are the only place that are open to grab some coffee and a donut along with it makes a nice combination always. Jeff was kind enough to take me through the test route a day before my exam, though I think he was not supposed to. He gave me some tips for the test as well.

Meanwhile my novel began to take shape and I got involved into the characters of the story I was writing.

I got my first Drivers license in the US ; ( not in India though) on 9th of December.

On 10th we celebrated Jons birthday. He treated Seb, Peggy, Mike and me at 3-Marrgaritas, a Mexican restaurant. I did something very crazy there. I was terribly hungry. And if I am hungry, I am really weird. I had ordered a glass of water for myself. So there it was a glass of water and a slice of lemon on it. I was terribly tempted to make Lemon juice out of it. :-) So I squeezed the lemon into the water and then started adding sugar, emptying one packet after another. Sugars we normally get there in the restaurants are very less sweet than what we find here, so I kept on adding them in spite of everyone warning me that the sugar would not dissolve in the cold water. But I had to try it, dint me? For God knows what reason. So I ended up with all the sugar packets on the table emptied into the glass and idly sitting there at the bottom. “And here comes the food.” I said to divert everyone’s attention away from me!

Another favorite pastime I had was to go to chapel hills mall and browse at the books at Borders (A book store) I began collecting many Virginia Woolf books. Aditi visited us again during her graduation day. Ernest, Deb, Aditi, Brett, Peggy and Mike all had good lunch at Mirch Masala, It was Aditi’s treat. We then went to Peggy’s house and all watched Dhoom. All felt it was much different from the very culture centric Hum dil De chucke Sanam that we had watched few months earlier. :-) Ernest (A Colleague) liked the movie. Jon had left to Chicago to his cousin’s place. Seb and I meanwhile explored the city as I had just received my driver’s license. We drove to downtown Colorado Springs and some malls around. I bought my new camera- Cannon S 60.

The tyres got stuck in snow while taking a right turn here

On Christmas Eve, Seb and I joined Peggy and Mike at the church. The prayer was nice and I enjoyed the customs of a different religion. I do respect all customs but I have to say that drinking wine from same glass seemed a little inappropriate to me. We gifted short story collections- by Jhumpa lahiri to Peggy and Mike. And to Brett I gifted an Alfred Hitchcock movie collection.

One day, Seb and I decided to go to Denver. Half way gone I recalled that I had not brought my license. I had not received a card but this was a temporary paper which allowed me to drive till I got my card. We had no clue how to react. Scared we returned from Exit 187 on I-25, interstate, only to come home and see that I had washed away that paper with my pant. :-) Every time now when we pass through that exit, I recall this first trip to Denver that stopped at that point.

2004-11-30T10:54:00.000-08:00

ARTICLE - 8

LA- Vegas Trip

Peggy was kind enough to drop me to the Denver airport. She choose to drive as it was snowing and we had not much experience with snow yet. The flight was eventful; I loved everything happening in my life.

At LA I was greeted by my brother in law and we drove home. Anu had cooked several dishes for me; it was a treat to eat good Indian home food in a foreign land. Menu is worth mentioning here as to this day I am surprised by her preparations. It started off with Veg puffs cooked at home, Chapatti, Brinjal Pallya, Paneer Butter Masala and Pulav.

On 20th we went to Disney land. What I witnessed that day is truly mesmerizing and took me to a new world. I was taken aback by the man made wonders, a new world of fairytale characters. It’s a treat that not one should miss during a US visit. We took some rides, Indiana Jones, Jungle ride, Tarzan to name some. The house of Mickey and Donald duck was nice.

The evening parade were all the Disney characters walk the ramp is just an amazing sight, followed by the fireworks.

Universal studio is another amazing place. I loved the rides there; Jurassic park, mummy, Back to Future to name some. The terminator and Shrek -4D movies are a delight to watch. One who probably does not like adventures would have to change their mind once they are here.

I went for a haircut and ended up getting a Korean hairstyle. :-)
We drove to Las Vegas next weekend, the entire stretch was crowded and heavy with traffic and literally the speed on interstate was around 5-10 miles per hour. We checked into Hotel Mirage. Later went to the casino. I loved the atmosphere there. I mainly played on the slot machine. Invested $20 and then gained 40$ but in the greed of earning more, lost the entire cash. :-)
Las Vegas is a dessert converted into a beautiful city that awakes in the night. Each casino is built over a theme; like – Paris – Effile tower, 1/3rd the actual height has fake sky inside the casino that looks so real though; Ceaser Palace of roman architecture; Excalibur- The European castle; Luxor – in the shape of a pyramid. It’s an amazing place to hang around.

I visited a temple in LA, which was a very good feeling. The atmosphere there was very serene. We also drove to Malabo Beach on the way back. After which we walked on Hollywood Street and saw Kodak Theater were the Oscars is held.

2004-11-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

ARTICLE - 7

November

Its already winter and gets dark at 4:30 in the evening. That is too early for me to say its dark but I like this big difference. Suresh, our boss was in Colorado. On one of the weekends we went on a long drive after lunch. We took I25 till Denver and then took I40 west. It was a fun drive with excellent views of the mountains. We stopped near a gas station at Idaho Springs and returned back. On the way Suresh also gave us some tips of driving on Interstate.

Way back, we stopped at a rest area on I25. This place was covered with snow. Jonah & I turned kids by throwing snow balls at each other.

The very next day we drove up the Pikes Peak. Since it had snowed heavily last week up at the mountains we could only drive till 12,500 ft. The road ahead was still blocked. Even though we could not make it to the summit, we enjoyed every bit of that drive. The mountain looked so different to me from how it appeared in August when I had last drove to summit. The trees where partially covered with snow and this new look was awesome.

At my driving class, I completed my Residential, Rural and freeway driving. I got a very good instructor called Jeff (Name changed). He was a cop before & had to take a break after a recent injury in his leg. During our Freeway class, I drove almost 20 miles and it was the first time I drove continuously for that distance. He also showed me a Dunkin donut shop and that is where I enjoyed my first delicious donut. I then could never stop myself from grabbing a donut while passing through that place.
Jeff would tell me that people always teased a cop by saying that one could find them in a donut shop. He agreed to that and gave me an explaination. He said that during night shifts, a cop would definitely want to have some coffee to be awake and what could be best to go with some coffee other than some donuts? He and his friends would grab a dozen donuts and some coffee to stay awake through the night. Jeff had many stories to say every time we had a class and for someone like me who enjoys listening to such life’s experiences it was a treat. He was equally interested in knowing about India too.

One thing that always surprised me that Americans shared their personal matters very freely even if they have known you for only a little while & on the other hand Indians would need a long time to gain trust on their friends to share any personal issues and matters.

I began writing my first novel – “Miasma”.

Sebastian, another colleague from India arrived on 14th. Now all three rooms in the apartment are full.

I enjoy my drives to plant which is about 20 miles from office and this was due to excellent views of the city that i get to see on the way . I felt good about the fact that I was right here, in one of those places where I always dreamt to be in. I wanted to pen down every thought, every moment & happiness that this sight brought.

I am all excited of the trip to LA, to visit my sister during the Thanksgiving vacation.

2004-10-31T02:59:00.000-08:00

ARTICLE - 6

October,

Jonah arrived from India during the first week of October. I was happy to have some company to share the big apartment. It was great talking to him about Bangalore and to collect some information about India.

Both Jonah and I had our classroom session on driving, one Friday. It went well and after the class, Alan took us out for dinner. Rick (Jonah’s Boss) also joined. But the surprise guests were Alan’s wife and junior Alan. Alan’s son is also named the same and it was their family tradition to name the kid after the grandfather. This is something similar to what we find in India. His wife is from Vietnam and so she had another name for the kid too. Alan’s wife spoke very well, just like an Indian. I believed that many Asians spoke alike. She would complain about Junior Alan not having much hair and especially on not having dark black hair like we Asians.

The food was excellent. Alan had chosen a Vietnamese restaurant in Colorado Springs downtown. I got to taste some real good rice noodles after a long time. Jonah & I loved the place.

After the dinner Alan took us to watch ice hockey game. The very famous Colorado team named “Tigers” was playing. We enjoyed the game even though we had no clue about the game rules. But Alan explained the rules to us and hence we enjoyed it.

When ever I was bored or sad I would take a walk in the near buy park. I would enjoy watching the kids play or simply watch the mountains changing colors with the setting sun.

Jonah and I had now started driving. Peggy sat next to us while either one of us drove. If I drove while going to office, Jonah drove while returning. Company had got us a new Buick century rented from hertz. As always, learning anything is fun and has many interesting stories. On my first day out, I had a very big confusion at an intersection. I had read about the right of way at any intersection but this was the first time, I was in such a situation. As I hesitated to drive, the lady in the car opposite to me got confused and finally she took off knowing my trouble.
Jonah ran a red light one day. Aditi and I were sitting in the back seat and chatting when there was some confusion between Peggy and Jonah to whether or not pass the yellow light. Peggy finally yelled to stop but Jonah instead of applying brake pressed on the accelerator pedal. Boooom we ran a red light. He was really upset that day as Aditi and I pulled his leg.

Aditi accepted an offer in another company and she was moving to North Carolina. Peggy and Mike had arranged for a party one evening for her. After the party we helped Aditi in moving out some of the boxes that she had packed. It was sad saying good-bye to her because in spite of having spent very less time together she had turned out to be a very good friend to me.

Our boss from India came to visit Colorado office during the month end.

On October 31st it snowed!!!!

It was a very new thing for me; I had never seen a snowfall before. It was about 10:00 in the night that we saw the small white crystals shower on our rooftops. I captured the moment with the camera. Pictures can help you recollect the events but the feelings can never be recreated.

First snowfall

2004-09-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

ARTICLE - 5

September,

The month passed by with some fun, some writing, some get together and some boring hours.

On labors day weekend, I was scheduled for a driving class in the Pikes Peak Community college. But since both Peggy and I did not pay any attention to the classroom number, We had trouble searching for the room. As a result I could not attend the class that day. So Peggy asked me, If I wanted to join her and Aditi on a trip to Denver. I happily agreed. We went to a Library where Peggy and her friends had some project work to do. Aditi and I read some books. After that we dropped Aditi at the Denver International Airport as she was going to Minneapolis to visit her sister.

Since it was summer time, it did not get dark until 8:45 in the night. So I always felt that I had lot of free time after returning back home. Free hours and idle times make people think about their hobbies, so I utilized this time in writing. I wrote some stories, some poems and some articles. I watched some really good movies at times when I wanted a break from my writing.

One weekend, Dipen, Aditi and I watched some good movie at Dipen’s place. It was fun to have such hangouts even in USA. And when I missed my family and friends, I made long calls to India. I had stories to say and may be I bored the people at other end with my new experiences.
17th September, was a memorable evening. Ernest, a colleague from office, wanted to watch a Hindi film. So Aditi and I invited him home to watch a movie. Peggy, Mike and Brett also wanted to join in for the movie night and also a friend of Aditi named Debra wanted to join too. So it was a great evening. Aditi and I had fun explaining the Indian tradition and culture.
We had some Pizzas and coke for dinner. Aditi and I cooked an Indian dish called Poha. Mike liked it a lot.

The very next day I had driving class. This was actual driving on a ground owned by the school itself. We had 2 days of driving where in they would train us on necessary skills, like threshold brake, Slow-lum drive and driving on icy conditions. Those two days were an experience to remember. On the first day I took the car out of the track on to the grass scaring my instructors, Tom and Jamie. This was the first time I was ever driving on my own and thus had some starting problem but then on I picked up.

I also had a driving theory class in Pikes Peak College, Surprisingly I enjoyed this class. I started mingling with the kids. It was fun to know them. I also met an Indian professor who teaches communication.

At office, I had a new team member named Paul Gardner. Paul and I were supposed to work on the same project.

2004-08-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

ARTICLE - 4

What a memorable month this has been. I was experiencing lot of things for the first time in my life and to observe new things is always fun.

I had a very funny experience at the driving school. Peggy took me to the driving school one evening. She told me that I had an interview there. A lady named Karen took my interview. The entire interview was very funny. I had to give some tests like, connecting the English alphabets and to recognize different colors etc. This was done to test my knowledge of English and to check how fast I could grasp things.
This set of tests where followed by some more physical exercises. There were about 4-5 funny exercises and my performance in them was being judged. I wondered why it was necessary for driving. But the lady had all the good reasons to justify each and every test.

“This is for testing your concentration. And this one’s to test your judgment capability”.

But for me this test was tougher than all my engineering tests :-)))
The result of this rigorous test was that I had to practice on some of the exercises.

My boss took me out for lunch in a Mexican restaurant one day. Though there are very few choices for a vegetarian, I liked the burrito a lot. We had been to this restaurant by name 3 Margarita and the place then became my number one choice for Mexican food. It was good to know that my boss, Alan too enjoyed writing. May it be Peggy, Mike or Alan, all preferred science fictions. This was a common thing I noticed in most of the Americans, they like sci-fi and mystery kind of stories. On the other hand, I enjoyed more reality stuff.

Almost every evening I would take a walk around the Cotton wood creek park that was very close to my house. I enjoyed the sight of the Rocky Mountains changing colors with the setting sun.

Cotton Wood Creek Park

View of the Rocky mountains from the park

Since I was in a new place now, I had lot of things to observe. Firstly I enjoyed living in America. I realized that it is “The place” for lazy people like me. Everything was easy and automatic. I did not have to struggle for any kind of work at home or outside. I truly appreciate this level of Convenience provided in America. In Bangalore I would be so tired to clean the house or wash my clothes but here, it was just a matter of pressing a switch. If you are bored of cutting vegetables, get a pack of already cut ones. If you want to have chocolates or food anywhere, it's just a matter of dropping few coins into the wending machine.

Apart from these I also noticed some good culture in Americans. The one nature I liked the most is that people mind their own business. Atleast my belief is that we should never ever indulge ourselves in others business until it is some close friend or an inevitable situation. This is one of the best habits that I have learnt from Americans.
Another good thing I noticed in most of the Americans is their punctuality. I myself was never on time before. But this one year has brought at least some changes in me.

But yes, I did notice some weird behaviors also. Like when ever people would gather for a meeting. I saw them eating or drinking while the instructor or the presenter continued with the program. I also noticed that people would place their legs on the chair in front and sit in a very casual manner during the meetings or they would walk out of the room, in between. I was new to such acts because in India such actions are considered as bad manners or rude.

But if we look at the root cause of every debatable issue like this, all of them end at one answer- Population. More people, more the question of manners and formalities. More people, less punctual they are and so on.

Like everybody else, I too was flattered by the US roads. I greatly appreciate the thought and planning put into development of such good interstate system and traffic rules. While watching some of the Hollywood films, I always liked to see the speeding cars, especially the quick lane changes that they made and now it was a delight to watch them happen right in front of me.

Roads- Where shall they lead?

So coming back to the driving class. After that interview I was scheduled for all the theory classes. My first class room session was on a Sunday, during the same month. I was the only 24 year old guy sitting in the room. I was surprised to see that all the other students were kids of about 14-17 years old. My first classroom session was terribly boring. It did not take me long enough to notice that these sessions were designed mainly for kids of age around 15. That is the normal age when kids start to learn driving. But I have to appreciate the amount of knowledge they had about driving at such a small age. It was evident that being an observer in the car, since childhood, they have had enough exposure to driving skills. After that long day, I had to give my permit test. I passed the test and I was told that I could get my permit from the DMV (Department of motor vehicles). At the end of the class, there was a reason to feel happy for.

2004-08-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

ARTICLE- 3

My sister visit’s me.

On August 14th 2004, my sister Anu, my brother-in-law Nagaraj and my sweet little one and half year old niece Varsha arrive home. It was good to see them after almost more than two years. Anu had prepared lots of Indian dishes and she had brought it for me all the way from LA. For me, it was a treat to taste the good Indian food after almost a week.

That evening we went to Colorado Springs downtown. Both my sister and my Brother in law agreed that springs is a small town. Yes it definitely is when compared to LA. The population itself is considerably low when compared. But for me, this was the perfect place to be in; People, not less enough to call it isolated, neither much to call it a crowd. I was always tired of the Bangalore crowd and would prefer my hometown Mangalore, which is not as crowded as the other big cities in India. We walked around the downtown area for a while and stopped by starbucks to have a cup of coffee. By now my niece Varsha was getting to know me a little better.Initially she stuck to her mother and did not interact a lot with me.

On Sunday, the next day, we drove all the way to the top of a very popular mountain peak, called Pikes Peak. When I went for a walk in the park near my apartment, I admired the peak that stood taller than every other mountain in the sight and thus when I came to know that we could drive up there I was overwhelmed with joy.

It was a 20 miles drive to the top of the peak, which is at 14,100Ft elevation. We had no clue about the temperature at top. But once we got out of the car we were unable to stand there even for a minute. Chilled wind was blowing very heavily and we did not even carry any jackets with us. But even then we managed to stay there for about 15 minutes to enjoy the view.

A spectacular view from the summit

Every time I am in between such breath taking views of nature, I get a very distinct feeling. I realize that I am so small and weak compared to the great vastness. A similar feeling comes to me when I am at the seashore near my house. I realize that I still have so much to achieve and an inspiring thought comes to me in midst of such huge, vast beauty of nature.

Later we drove around a park called, Garden of Gods. The place is a good picnic spot. My sister had cooked some food for us, so we choose a nice place between the tall trees and had over lunch there. Garden of gods is a good place, but at that time I was not greatly impressed by it. People admired the balancing rocks and other red colored stones widely spread around the place. I had seen enough of such stones and rocks in India itself that are not even paid any attention to but here the place was turned into a good tourist spot.

Balancing rock

Later that day, we drove to Denver, which is around one hour drive from springs. It was good to see the Denver downtown, Very quite and beautiful. We walked on the 16th street for a while.

Varsha in Denver Downtown

We then drove around searching for an Indian grocery store. We did not find the one that we were looking for but instead stopped by some newly opened store that we came across during the search. After buying some Indian food and spices, we drove to an Indian restaurant called woodlands. I had a hard time eating the food; it did not taste good at all. While I struggled to eat it, I was surprised to see my sister and my brother in law enjoying the food. My sister told me that I could not expect the real Indian food here and she assured me that I would start liking this food after a month or two. She was absolutely right. I then drove a couple of times to Denver, just to have food at the restaurant. When you get bored with the food that you cook, the restaurant food looks much better, even though it doesn’t match the real Indian food.

On 16th, Monday evening, my sister left back to LA. I assured her that I should be flying to LA soon.

2004-08-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

ARTICLE- 2

The week went by slowly. The very next day of my arrival, I was taken to an amusement park (Six Flags) in Denver. I met Peggy's husband Mike, Brett- who leaves in their house, Debra- Aditi's friend and Dipen Shah, an Indian. Both Dipen and Aditi were doing their masters and working as an intern in our company.

At the park, when all the others enjoyed the rides, Mike and I just walked around. I was feeling very drowsy and sleepy so I did not join the others in any rides. Instead Mike and I discussed about one common interest we had, writing. The only ride I had was in a roller coaster and it was not a very good experience. Firstly I was tired waiting for almost one hour in a queue then as I sat, the seat belt came loose. Thankfully the inspector set it right for me when they did the usual checking before take off. And then I took off on a horrible ride. I felt as though I was being thrown away at a very high speed. Though I did not enjoy it a lot, I liked the fact that I was starting to experiment new things.

That evening I was terribly tired. Next day (Sunday-8th Aug) Peggy picked me up at 2:00 PM and we went shopping. It was fun for me to be in such big supermarkets that had everything that I needed and some that I did not. I found it surprising to look at some 4 to 5 varieties of tomato, potato, onions, bread and probably everything. There was plenty of choice for everything.

The week that followed, was slow. I had good time meeting my new colleagues and getting to know them. I was introduced to my manager Alan, who took me around the office and got me introduced to all the engineers. One of my colleagues, Ernest has 6 geico's at home. That sounded a little weird to me, because I had only seen people having cats or dogs as their pet animals. Ernest helped me the entire week to get used to the CAD tools.

Peggy took me to the Social security office. Everybody staying in America should have this number which would be a personal identification number for an individual. After which we went to have lunch. I am a vegetarian, so Peggy chooses to take me to a hotel called Super Salad. I found the place a bit strange because, I had to eat raw vegetables with some kind of dressing on it. I was never used to eat raw vegetables before and so it appeared very strange to me. But surprisingly I liked the food. Brett and another friend of Peggy also joined for lunch.

Peggy would pick me up every morning somewhere around 8:00AM and then we would pick up Aditi from her house. I did not have a license in India, and I did not have time to get it done before I left either, because everything happened very quickly. So I was told that I would be set up for a driving class in Colorado Springs itself. Till then I had to drive with Peggy.

It was good to meet some of the Indians in office too. There were about 6 Indians in my office.

Mike And Peggy

One evening during the same week, Peggy Invited me and Aditi for dinner. She said that we would directly go to her house from office and have dinner at 5:30PM. That sounded a little strange to me, because back in India, our dinner time is not before 9:00 PM. I came to know later that 5 or 6 PM was the usual time that Americans had dinner. Mike and Brett cooked Losania (An Italian food) and potato salad. That night there was a hail storm, which was again a first time experience.

At home, I did feel lonely. There was not much thing to do. Since I did not have an international driver’s license, I neither could drive. Sometimes I did go for a walk to the near by store or I would take a walk in the city park opposite my Apartment complex. The summer days are long. It doesn’t get dark till 9:00PM.

Another interesting thing I noticed was, people walking by, would smile and say "Hi" to any stranger. Not that they would catch hold of you and talk for hours but it was just a formal act that had no emotion behind it. People were just trying to act friendly to any stranger. It’s true in small cities like springs, but in Indian crowd! I don’t think one would want to keep smiling at everyone. I am sure this might not be the case in any big cities in America too.

Most of the time, I was the only person using the footpath. People would stare at me sometimes when I walked back from the store with some plastic bags full of grocery. I understood that this was not a common thing to do in at least springs where everybody had a car. Public transportation is not that popular there. Though Peggy would take me every week for grocery, I preferred to take a walk on some evenings since I have been always fond of walking.

I was all excited about the weekend to come because my sister was visiting me. I knew that the next two days were going to be really fun for me.

2004-08-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

ARTICLE- 1

Few years back, every night during my walk in the front yard of my house, it was just a dream, a desire to go to new places, explore new things beyond the boundary of one country. Dreams and desires never die; they just submerge beneath the words, moments and the hours that make up a busy day.
And all of a sudden one day when they form into reality, it is an inexpressible feeling that we undergo. For me that day was August 6th 2004.
Everything was going to be different soon. I was all set to fly to America. Company that I work in was sending me on training for one year.

Lot of things was happening for the first time in my life. It was the first time I was traveling out of the place where I had been living for 24 long years. It was the first time I was traveling in a plane. Never had I been on such a long journey either. There was all the good reason to be excited about. But for me it was a much wanted change. An opportunity to Explore new things, places and most important of all, to explore myself.

At the airport, I said good bye to my parents and my uncle-aunty who had come to see me go. After my bags were checked in I had to stand in a long queue for the security check. Meanwhile, I spoke to an Indian guy who was traveling to Singapore. I also observed a young NRI mother shouting crazily at her kid which looked awfully bad.

The first thing I felt as the plane took off was how beautiful the city looked from the sky. Since it was dark, I did not have any view once the plane reached some height.

After a few hours of sleep when I woke up, I was extremely excited about the view outside the window. For the first time I had to look to down at the clouds. White layer of clouds were spread across like a lump of cotton thrown on the floor. Another view that I liked the most was when the plane began to near Frankfort. I saw beautiful heart shaped lakes which contributed to a very fascinating and amazing view. That was when I realized that deep within myself I always wanted to explore such breath taking sights and moments. And I knew that my journey on that path had already begun.

I had to wait for 6 hours in Frankfort airport to catch the next connecting flight to Denver. I was feeling very uneasy and so I tried to get some sleep but had no luck. So I started observing people, something I always love to do when I am sitting idle. I did see a superstar of Indian cinema, accompanied by a well known south Indian actress and couple of other people. Some Indians who spotted him tried to smile, call out his name and tried to pull his attention towards them. But the actor did not connect well with the fans. He put on a proud look on his face (which always appears rude) and walked away with the actress into a liquor shop.

After the 9.5 hours long journey, it was now time for the next 9 hour journey to USA. In this flight a father and a son sat next to me. The man smiled a lot. I watched Shrek-2 movie. It was really good. Till then I had always thought that cartoons were for kids. But movies like Shrek are not just for kids but for people of any age group. I filled out the customs form and almost around 25 hours after I left Bangalore, I reached Denver, USA.

I had a very funny experience at Denver airport. For some reason the wheels of the trolley on which I had my huge bags would roll in a different direction from where I needed to go. As a result I almost hit a desk were a guy was standing to collect the customs approval receipt. I almost scared him to death by doing that hitting act.

Then I had to board another flight to Colorado Springs. I was shocked by the number of people in queue for security check. I stood at the end of the queue which was almost a mile and a half long already.

After getting done with the check, I moved to the proper terminal and gate from where I had to catch the next flight at 6:20PM. On my way, I tried to get some quarters out of the change machine to make some calls to my sister Anu who lives in Los Angeles. I did have some trouble getting the quarters and to make a call because whomever I asked help with, also turned out be new to USA. So they too were struggling to make calls. But one thing I should admire is the fact that every task has a very clear instruction on how it needs to be performed so that no newcomer will have any difficulty.

After leaving a message on my sister’s answering machine, I waited for my next connecting flight. We did board the flight at right time, but then were asked to walk out since the flight attendant had not arrived. Everyone else who was there started getting wild at this and started passing comments since we had to wait more than an hour. Some got their flights changed too. I sat there observing these people who where getting restless. I was a bit worried too since I was expecting a lady from my office named Peggy to receive me at the airport.

Finally the flight attendant arrived at 8:00 PM and gave us a briefing about the traffic condition of some Interstate road. She said that she was badly stuck in the traffic and so was late.

This last flight was only 20 minutes long and was the most exciting trip of all. The plane was very small and the drive was very bumpy. The plane flew at a very less height, so the view outside was spectacular. I got some glimpse of the Rocky Mountains before it got dark.

Our flight landed at 8:30PM. Peggy and another Indian girl named Aditi were standing near the receiving area with a board that had my name on it.

They took me to the new apartment were I had to live for the next one year. It was a beautiful 3 bedroom apartment with a kitchen, dinning area and many closets, completely furnished. Me being the first to arrive, choose the master bedroom.

Peggy gave me her cell phone just in case I needed and told me that she would pick me up at 10:00 AM next day to go to an Amusement park in Denver where the company employees were having a picnic.

I was really happy to see that Peggy with the help of Aditi had filled my kitchen with some Indian spices, pulav masala, Maggie and some bread. It was really nice of her to make such wonderful arrangements before I came. I was surprised to see that every small detail was taken care of very well. The house had all the required appliances such as Microwave, Oven, Washing machine, Drier, Dish cleaner, Vacuum cleaner, Refrigerator and Television.

Probably because I did not sleep well in the plane, I went to bed early that night. I had heard of stories about jet lag from my friends but that night I had a good sleep without any issues. This was my first day in USA; A day that looked very promising and happy.