My impressions of Americans

Well the day I set foot in the US, I thought I wud be surrounded by all kinda yuppies u see on US tv shows or movies. But after living here for arnd a month now, I am kinda thinking theres a lot of analogy between america and India. In India, the ppl come from different states and here they are from different countries. Although u would feel that everyone here would speak english, when u venture into a Walmart (ya thats the version of big bazaar in the US. Hey dont groan I knw big bazaar came into existence much later), you kinda see ppl speaking different languages viz. latino, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, etc. (well not so many I made a few of them up) Anyways the point is everyone has their own separate world.
One thing I appreciated a lot out here is the kindnesss and warmth (maybe I came across the warmer lot. I ll keep u posted on that) Everyone (not literally but in office or near ur apartment) says a 'Hi' or a 'Morning' (good is silent...many a times), when they see u. I am fortunate enough to work with some good ppl in office. You wont believe my skiing escapade (well kinda...a perfect use of the figure of speech hyperbole....gosh I still remember my grammer lessons) has become famous with the ppl I work. It was one of the things to do in my lifetime for many of em. Getting back to the point, my SME (thats jargon for Subject matter expert...well wait a minute thats jargon too... lets say my point of contact in my project), who I had worked with over the phone (simple word for conference calls) gave me a box of chocalates on the day I arrived in office and It had 'Sanchit, Welcome to the US' written on it. It was totally amazing.
Well, I am sure I will update my impressions once I venture out into new places. Maybe I ll come up with a series 'Desi does America' (hehehe thats a nice one right. I got inspired by a US TV series 'Daisy does America'. Hope I dont have copyright issues with the makers) thats all in this blog.

Being Sanjeev Kapoor

Well almost reminiscent of the movie 'Being John Malkovich', I d love to be Sanjeev Kappor for a while. Actually everyday from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm thats our time of cooking. I always had this feeling that I was a good cook. Well I still have conviction about the same. To tell u the truth, I have experimented my cooking prowess since the age of 10. But have become a bit rusty with time. Since I havent entered the kitchen for the past 2 yrs.
Hey u know what its 7:30 pm and its time for me to go into battle er kitchen. Asta La vista.

New Years at Gatlinburg

We (me and my roomies Piyush and Ruturaj. Photos in the same order ) had gone to Smoky Mountain, Gatlinburg in Tennessee state on New Years day. Its a 4 hour drive from Atlanta. We got up at 4 in the morn got there at arnd 9:00 odd. Then we had to go up by cable ride to a place high up in the smoky mountains. We had to rent skiis and other equipment. Initially I was not able to move forward because of the slope. But then as I started trying out different stances, I got a hang of it. It was a beatiful resort with a huge Snow slope. But since we were not experts we did not venture into the higher level. We started skiing on the lower slopes. I fell down a few times but always got up wiser in terms of how I shud not be skiing. There was a similarity with skating so I was not uncomfortable at any point of time.The last few times were good as I was able to control my braking and did not bang into or get banged by others (dont take the slang for that!). It was loads of fun. But it was really taxing on the leg muscles. At arnd 2 pm we packed up and returned to the Gatlinburg township (similar to Mall Road of Shimla or Lonavala) where we had our lunch.

Then we went back to our car (rented Ford Focus) and slept for 2-3 hours. We went back to search for a place to celebrate the New Years Eve. The whole place was packed with ppl and there was a line to get into each and every eatary. Fortunately, we landed up at a place called Puckers pub which had karaoke and was a typical american pub. Here we took a table and stayed there till midnight. The ambience was amazing and loads of ppl were totally drunk. The line to the toilet was really long and a few females were actually wainting in the mens line coz their toilet was overcrowded. (before u get any thoughts this was a single person one) It was similar o the dirty ones in India. (sorry if u were eating while reading this blog. I am gonna make sure I dont write such stuff anymore) But the country music and all was really nice.

At the stroke of midnite, the town had a huge tower which had fireworks and ppl were lined up on the streets to watch the festivities. It was really awesome. We stayed there and wandered the streets till arnd 1:30 am and then went back to our car in the parking lot. There was a big rush of cars to get out of the parking lot and so we thought we ll wait for an hour or so and then we left for Atlanta.
It was an amazing New Years Eve.....

My Trip to the US

After a lot of mehnat mashakkat in my Indian company, I got to here the magic words 'tu onsite jayega' (actually had heard em before but they were just gajars for all that I knw) Anyways so after hurrying through all the shopping and formalities, my bags were finally packed. All goodies like puran poli, masale papd and all were carefully concealed in the pressure cooker and other utensils. I called up everyone I knew and started for the airport with a whole paltan from the family. My friend Yogendra did'nt turn up (as usual) but I know he must have been stuck someplace (as usual again).
Anyways so once at the airport, I thought I wud check in my baggage and then come out and meet my family. uh huh wrong I did not get the opportunity to do that and they ended up waiting outside till 2 am. Really sorry for that guys. I was fortunate to meet one of my company's Bosses in the same plane and we chatted for quite some time over a glass of beer (so guys from my company behave. I ve got friends up there :)
As I sat in my seat in the airline I realised I shudnt have asked for a window seat. I was trapped between the window and a huge guy (who I thought spanish but later found out that he was an Indian settled in NY for 35 yrs) anyways to cut the long story short always ask for a seat by the aisle. It helps ur mobility for...u knw waht.
My stopver was in Paris and I absolutely fell in love with the french landscape with greeen fields and small roofed houses (similar to yash chopra film songs:) I was really pissed at myself for not carrying my credit card as I could not call back home. After a million security checks and a few hours at the Paris airport, I was finally in my plane to Miami. I suddenly found the difference between American food and Indian food as I had my first airline meal. It was bland to the core, palatable enough to consume.
As the plane came close to Miami, I was amazed at the beauty of the place. Blue water, roads, great looking houses, beaches and boats. It was amazing!!! I did my port of entry here. (just jargon for entering the US) The funny part is everyone I talked to started talking to me in Spanish. They instantly marked me as a makku (mexican) or may be I seemed like a latino hunk ala Enrique (who am I kiddin) . After getting my bags from the airport, I took a connecting flight to Atlanta and have been here since then. More later.......(I know u heaved a sigh of relief that the blog got over. Am bored myself! ciao!)