HNM's Blog

30 days to Divya's wedding.........

2006-01-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

When I started writing this piece we were truly and well into the preparations. But it is interesting to go through the sequence of events from the beginning.

This journey actually started with our departure from Sunnyvale, California on 8 Jan 2006 and I have covered events upto our arrival at Hyderabad airport on 10 Jan 2006 in my previous blog.

When we arrived at Begumpet airport Rathi's parents were there with lots of food. It is a matter of devine coincidence that they were the first ones to provide food when we landed in US in August 2005. This time they had packed so much food that we didn't have to light our chula for two days. Idlys, sambar rice and curd rice. It was such a timely guesture because we were in no position to cook in the state that the house was in. There was thick dust everywhere combined with cobwebs. It truly had the makings of a haunted house that we saw in Disneyland. It two full days to bring the house back to habitable condition. It did not hurt us much in terms of time lost because those days were not auspicious to do any marriage related work.

On the first day of our arrival itself we got our internet connection installed. Our Mobile had been reactivated on 9th itself as a result of follow up that I had done from America through e-mails.

Day 2 / 11 Jan -Lalitha came home the same day with invitation cards. Between Mohan and her they had taken the responsibility when we were still in US. The card came in for lot of appreciation.

Day 3 / 12 Jan - It took quite some time to fold the cards. But they could not be inserted into the envelope sraightaway since the turmeric application had to wait till 17th, the beginning of auspicious time. Meantime I started writing the names of invitees on the envelopes so that we did not miss anyone who mattered. Transferred money from Post Office to Bank. Did Railway Reservation for self and Lavanya for Prasanna's wedding on 2 Feb at B'lore.

Day 4 / 13 Jan - Friday - Holiday for Bakrid. We went to Subhash's place for a discussion on wedding preparations and purchases. I drove my faithful scooter which came alive on the sixth attempt although I had not used it for five months. But the drive was hectic. We also lost our way a little on our return drive.

Day 5 / 14 Jan - Saturday - A day of no major activity. Picked up Postage for upcountry invitees. Some shopping at Spencer's. They have taken over a few Foodworld stores.

Day 6 / 15 Jan - Sunday - A day of no activity.

Day 7 / 16 Jan - Monday - The first effort was made to restore our landline. An application was to be made at the office not very far from my place of residence. It was restored the next day. We made our first purchase for the wedding. We bought the material for Subhash's suit and three other pairs of Pant and shirt at Raymonds-Southend on the Parklane Road, gave the suit material for stitching. We had to leaf through Raymonds' old records for Subhash's measurements. Ashok came along to help us with a better bargain at Raymonds'. We also bought a belt, a tie and hanky to complement the suit. Ashok the reliable pitched in with some cash since credit card would take away discounts. We made this trip on seven seater and Autos.

Day 8 / 17 Jan - Tuesday - A day of no activity.

Day 9 / 18 Jan - Wednesday - This was a day of major purchases. We finished buying clothes for men and most of the sarees required for distribution among the guests. We had to defer buying the important sarees for Divya since we couldn't decide.

Day 10 / 19 Jan - Thursday - This I should say was the real beginning. We went to Shankar Mutt to offer the very first invitation card to Sringeri Sharada. We had hired an outside car since I was very nervous about driving in Hyderabad traffic conditions. We had breakfast at a hotel opposite Shankar Mutt and gave away the first card to Murthy the staff. We then covered Adikmet, Chikkadpally, Vanasthalipuram, Alkapuri and Jam Bagh. We had to take a break since Lavanya had an interview at Taj Banjara. We had to wait there for about an hour and resumed distribution of cards. We covered Ameerpet, Moosapet and covered Mohan's place just before returning home. We missed a few targets like Lakshmi's pedda vadina at Vanasthalipuram and Janaki. My car was readied with a new battery.

Day 11 / 20 Jan - Friday - We decided to cool our heels. There was vehicle insurance policies to be renewed which I did. Later in the afternoon I drove to ICI factory where I started my 33 year career in the Company. Large number of my contemporaries had left either in search of greener pastures or had taken voluntary retirement. I met some of those present personally and left the remaining cards in the custody of a person. We then went to two people residing at IDPL colony and one person at Fatehnagar before calling it a day.

Day 12 / 21 Jan - Saturday - Leela and Mohan came with us to buy steel items from Sanathnagar factory outlets for general distribution among wedding guests. We used Mohan's Omni. Later in the afternoon Leela came with us to CMR at Secunderabad where we were supposed to select main sarees in collaboration with Subhash's parents. The variety on display was not to our liking. Subhash's mother bought two of them. We shifted to Chandana and found nothing spectacular. Lakshmi bought two low budget sarees. We made this trip in my car. I had no role to play because saree selection is better left to womenfolk. They can find a lot of variables within a saree as a basis for rejection. If I had my way I would have wrapped up the whole thing in not more than 30 minutes. The problem is they would have all got rejected for one reason or other. Our TVS Scooty had got readied with a new battery and servicing.

Day 13 / 22 Jan - Sunday - This was a major invitation attempt ( Round # 2 )to cover as many families as possible. We hired an air-conditioned car and set out at 11 A M. Lalitha joined us from her place. We lunched at Tarnaka's Sanman. We missed a few targets on this trip also like a Srikantaiah our family friend of 36 years, Colaco and Rajan among our colleagues. Had we started about two hours earlier we could have perhaps avoided the next round which was not very wide sweep.

Day 14 / 23 Jan - Monday - Round # 3 of inviting. We had to go to Mehdipatnam for a lone invitee and we picked up Lalitha ( Ranigunj )on the way. We dropped her on our return and proceeded to get a few targets in Secunderabad, not many though. This round included Subhash's family. Later in the evening we had to go to Banson's Taj to meet a long associate from our ICI days who had come from Bombay. We were together for an hour and parted. On our way home we covered one more family in Shanti Bagh Apartments at Begumpet. Here, we lost some time in finding the right approach.

Day 15 / 24 Jan - Tuesday - For me it was an idle day because the purchasing was executed by Lakshmi, Lavanya and Leela. They bought a lot of things from Chandana, Ameerpet. They bought majority of sarees from there along with silver ware. The main saree for Divya was picked up from Kalamandir. In the evening I discovered another old colleague who had achieved a fair amount of success as an ICI employee but failed as an enterpruener ( do a spell check ). This guy has been living almost next door since 1992 and not once did I bump into him in the three years since we moved into Kukatpally !!! I was very happy at my discovery but he was high on alcohol. I had not taken the invitation card and I promised to come back next day with Lakshmi ( she calls him annayya ).

Day 16 / 25 Jan - Wednesday - This was again an idle day for me except for covering two families by foot. One of them was my previous day's discovery.

Lakshmi and Lavanya went to finish a few errands like handing over old brass utensils for polishing, sarees for falls' stitching and blouses etc. I stayed home the whole day and caught up on some news on the internet.

Day 17 / 26 Jan - Thursday - Holiday in India. We covered three families in the vicinity by scooter and remained at home for the rest of the day. Divya's professor in JNTU was one of them and was very delighted at our personal invitation. The nadaswaram and decoration guy from Juloori came for discussion. His charges are exhorbitant and I decided to leave them for Divya to finalise after negotiations.

Day 18 / 27 Jan - Friday - Remained at home the whole day. Lakshmi and Leela reorganised the house a little to make it more presentable to guests expected for wedding.

Day 19 / 28 Jan - Saturday - The day I sat down to start this blog. Lakshmi and Lavanya have gone to collect the sarees and brass utensils given for stitching and polishing.

While all this is going on my second sister Mangala is fighting between life and death at Bangalore. She is suffering from cancer for the last one year and has become a candidate for mercy killing. Prasanna's wedding being under the threat of getting postponed by a full year they went through a temple wedding and the marriage will be certified by civil authotities. The formal wedding planned for 2 Feb will be gone through if nothing untoward happens.

Day 20 / 29 Jan - Sunday - The day of Divya and Subhash's arrival from US. Their Mumbai - Hyderabad sector got delayed by more than two hours. We and Subhash's parents went to the airport to receive them. I suspected the reliability of our car and took an auto to reach the airport and took a pre-paid cab on return. Divya had to go out and see a friend same day since the latter was going away to Mumbai on Monday and was not staying for the wedding.

Day 21 / 30 Jan - Monday - Tragedy struck in the form of my sister's passing away. The news came at about 8 A M from Papulli. Although the end was expected we were hoping that the cruel would wait for another ten days when both Prasanna and Divya's weddings would have been gone through although Mangala would have experienced nothing of it as she had already slipped into the state of a vegetable. That was not to be and another most cherished relationship in my life came to an end. She never recovered from the rude shock of her husband's ( my mentor and Godfather ) death. She seldom came out of the protective shadow cast by her husband. Poor Prasanna and Papulli did a lot of service to their mother but could not borrow some more life. What added to my own misery is none of us could go to Bangalore to be by their side in their moment of loss because there are strictures preventing people from a prospective bride's family participating in events of death. I don't know whether I did the write thing by not going. We had made reservations by Rail and Air for Prasanna's wedding which had to be cancelled. It is a loss for all of us but a great relief for Managala who was suffering from the deadly cancer for more than one year. Prasanna had succeeded in delaying the inevitable by singlehandedly serving his mother with a lot of home made ayurvedic drugs. He is a perfect example of how parents should be treated in the most testing circumstances. Kudos !

Subhash's parents visited us to express condolences. Divya and Lakshmi went out with them to Secunderabad and came home quite late.

Day 22 / Jan 31 - Tuesday - Second day of mourning and therefore, I couldn't participate in any activity. Divya did some shopping.

Day 23 / Feb 1 - Wednesday - Last day of mourning for me. It was Pannagesh, my brother's birthday. For very strong reasons I wish to forget this day.

Day 24 / Feb 2 - Thursday - The day I could participate in the marriage related work. The only work I did was to collect the Bhatu, the golden ring for Subhash. We also received a few invitation cards from Arun. These cards were printed at Mysore for relatives there and were in Kannada/English. We had a Grihapravesham invitation to attend but gave up. We decided to go for the vratam the next day. Lakshmi, Lavanya and Divya went to attend to sundry work like buying bangles and some bridal decorations.

Day 25 / Feb 3 - Friday - We hired a car since there were a few places to go. I have this hesitation to use my car extensively because of the dense traffic and the lesser degree of
car's reliability. We had to cover Sudha's grihapravesham, negotiate and pay for tenthouse material, go to Pushapa's place at Tarnaka. Pushpa's is one family with whom we have a very special relationship from the days we were neighbours at Tarnaka Towers. There are such special relationships in everyone's life. I have acknowledged the timely help Divya received from her husband Siva Prasad in my very first blog - our US trip. We had to make two trips to Vajramma's since the tenthouse negotiator was not available earlier.

Day 26 / Feb 4 - Saturday - We covered the residents of Visal Towers which completed our invitation rounds. Some of them were not at home. Divya and Lavanya went to cover St Francis Junior College where both the girls studied. Those teachers were very happy at the gesture. Even the Professor at Divya's Engg College was very delighted when we went to invite the family personally. They say it was a rare gesture these days when human values are on the decline and Gurus are hardly remembered. The girls came home quite late and Subhash dropped. The tailor Ranga at Raymonds southend did a good job with Subhash's outfits including the suit. Subhash had bought a wrist watch for me and Lakshmi.

Day 27 / Feb 5 - Sunday - Quite an uneventful day. Mohan's family and Chaya's family visited us - an undesirable coincidence since they have long stopped tolerating each other. So much for brotherhood !!! Shrikanth our nephew also joined. I enjoyed the drive in his new Indigo. I had not got anything stitched after shifting to Kukatpally since I had not discovered any. I had bought two shirt/pant lengths for Divya's wedding and I should have stuck with my tailor at Tarnaka. Instead I went to the fellow who has been stitching clothes for Mohan and Dilip. I suspect he followed his instinct and not his tape !!! Our Cable TV connection was renewed after making several phone calls.

Day 28 / Feb 6 - Monday - The penultimate day ! Three of them went to Lalitha's for Mehendi decoration and I had a rest day. The ODI series between India and Pakistan started at Peshawar. India did a very good job. They were 240/3 at the end of 37th over. They lost the match on applying D/L formula since the match was abandoned due to poor light at the end of 47th over.

( At the time of updating this blog India have just won the second ODI by seven wickets )

Day 29 / Feb 7 - Tuesday - The day of arrival of Mysore/Bangalore gang for the marriage. The group which was originally of 23 persons had been reduced to a mere 14 because of sister's death. Subbu maama arrived from Mumbai the same day by Sahara Airlines.

The gang from Mysore/Bangalore arrived by Yashwantpur/Kacheguda Express. It arrived at 4:30 A M as per scheduled time. The event caused some excitement because of the serious lapse by the Travel cars which did not arrive to pick us up from home till 5:15 A M. I have been using the same Agency for so many years and they rarely failed me. I had to ask for Call Taxis which was the only thing I could have done. It cost me hefty money. My plan was to keep the men at Pioneer Lodge and take the women home. But it didn't quite work out that way. Nine persons remained in the Lodge. Gayathri, Anthi, Bhagya, Abhishek and Ammami were excorted home by Arjun. Lakshmi, Meera and Raaghu quickly had their bath and reached home by Auto. I remained in the Lodge to wait for the rest of the gang to get ready and took them by Qualis which I had cursingly recalled from the Agency. That consisted of Manjunath, Murthy, Chandru, Suresh, Suma, Pannagesh, Saraswathi and the little Pashyanthi.

We had arranged for breakfast and lunch from a caterer. I also performed Abhishekham and Pooja. In the afternoon maama arrived. I could not go to the airport because of Pooja. Manjunath and Pannagesh did the duty. Late in the night we decided to make a trip to the manadapam to transport a few essentials since it would have been difficult to do everything on the day of wedding and there wouldn't have been enough space for all the luggauge. I had to use my car since the travel car had been abandoned for the day which had taken one batch to Pioneer Lodge. As I had always suspected my car broke down during this trip. The saving grace was it happened on our return. I dread to think of our fate if it had happened on our way to the mandapam. The car was actually overloaded with four of us. It made an unusual noise when we were approaching the Y-junction at Kukatpally. I persisted for about half km and decided to have a look. I suspected that the noise could have been due to jamming of fan and belt assembly.
We reached home finally at 1 A M by an Auto. The driver of the Auto had actually stopped over to see if he can help. We just had two hours to catch up with some sleep before the hectic day. Sleep, I could not because of so many thoughts about the wedding.

Day 30 / Feb 8 - Wednesday - The day we have been eagerly waiting for. We reluctantly woke up to the alarm at 3:30 A M. It had been decided that I, Lakshmi, Subbu maama, ammami and Gayathri will make the first trip at 5:30 A M. It was not to be and we couldn't leave till 6:10 A M. More people were ready by the time the early morning procedure like snathakam and bridal preparation were gone through. The first trip took all of us except Divya, Lavanya, Raaghu and Bhagya were left behind, to be brought by Mohan in his Omni. Dilip and Arjun came by Dilip's two wheeler. I had arranged for another Qualis to bring the other group from Pioneer Lodge. Marriage itself went off quite smoothly. But I felt it was quite a drag after lunch. We were just floating around in the mandapam waiting for the evening to set in when Divya would take leave of us and go to Subhash's house in the traditional way like Appaginthalu. The evening snacks had been planned for 4:30 P M but had to be deffered till 7 P M because of late lunch some of us had. The dinner had to be cancelled. It was 11 P M when our last batch reached home, this time without Divya. Janaki and Lalitha had accompanied Divya from our side. Next day, Divya and Subhash returned to our fold escorted by Janaki and Lalitha after Satyanarayana Vratham followed by lunch. Lavanya gave us some more cause to cheer that day when she was selected for employment by a Company called TNS whose domain is data coding.

This journey actually ended on Saturday when we dropped Divya and Subhash in Subhash's place after the first night function on Friday. The emptiness returned when we came home and only three of us were together again - I, Lavanya and her mother ( my wife ). All the hussle and bussle of the last 4-5 days had given way to an eerie silence. We have very sweet memories of all those 25 years of our existence in Divya's company, the last one being our trip to US.

We miss you sweetheart !!! The pleasure of your company is now someone else's. We sincerely wish that you do them ( Subhash and his kin ) proud the same way that you have done us, all these years. Forget the pain that we may have caused to you lately and remember all those good and nice moments you have had in your uncomplicated childhood. Continue to give us a small space in your heart and mind.

You are going to start a new chapter of your life. Don't compromise on the values of life in spite of all adversities that you may face. You have always been courageous and bold. Use those qualities to balance your judgements. Don't let emotions get the better of you and cloud your sense of right and wrong. Remain lovable as you have always been, to everybody at all times.

I cannot end this blog without expressing my appreciation and gratitude to Leela, Lalitha, Gayathri, Mohan, Janaki, Chaya, Arjun, Raaghu, Sriks and Dilip for all the support they provided during and before Divya's wedding.

The dreaded moment.....

2006-01-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

The dreaded moment came at last. Packed and ready to leave. Roopa was there to help us with the car and baggage handling. Vandana and Vijay had come to bid farewell. They presented a wrist watch to puttu.

The itenerary was quite tight. The only worry was the narrow gap between arrival at LA and the next flight to Mumbai. My fears came true ! By the time we shifted from LA domestic airport to the international and located Air India counter it was already boarding time! The girl at the check-in counter was cursing because we were late. It took her a long time for her to issue boarding passes. Thank God we had our big baggages booked from San Jose itself upto Hyderabad, our final destination. If we had not done that we would have surely got delayed more. When we joined the line for Security there was just 30 min left. The line was serpentine but the staff are somewhat quickfooted. I was worried but was hoping that they would wait since the boarding passes had been issued. I kept checking with frequent travellers whether the flight would go without the latecomers after issuing the passes. No one was clear. Our solace was the fellow behind who was also on the same flight. He was cool. He had started asking my wife about the red tiny circle on Hindu women's foreheads when we had just joined the line !!! Her answer was not convincing to me but to him, it didn't matter.

We managed ( with our accent ) to talk a black girl-staff into allowing us out of turn since we were running out of time. She obliged a little later. My God ! They took so much time with my wife because the detector was beeping all over her body. They wanted the bangles ( gold, of course ) removed but they cannot be removed even with a lubricant, usually soap. My advice to fair sex is to shed as much metal as possible while on international travel. We were demoralised when we found out that there was one more screening at the aero bridge gate. But we had no option ! We were a relieved lot when we sighted many others still boarding.

In the process our seats were separated. Puttu had to take a seat two rows in front. The third passenger in our row was a German lady who did not understand English easily. But she saw our predicament and offered to change her seat. That's how puttu finally joined us. Ahead of us now was a long 17 hours of travel. I had a problem because I can't sleep well these days. Puttu and my wife managed more sleep. I kept awake throughout the journey except perhaps a maximum of two hours. The movies on the video channels came to my rescue. The one hour break at Frankfurt was a great relief to the backside. A Kannada speaking old couple bumped into me and were delighted to find someone of their homeland. The old couple was actually running away from the cold at ...I couln't make out the name of the place where their son lived because there was a lot of saliva in his speech. Air India kept their appointments promptly with their feeding times !!! A stage came when I wanted to refuse to eat any further but ate beacuse of the fear of not finding anything to eat later. Kudos to Air India, we were on the dot when we reached Mumbai. We were quickly put on the next flight to Hyderabad. The interior was very warm and stuffy. They again fed us !

(Note : Air India could do with a little younger and prettier crew. What the airline has now, have lived past their charming age and they carry a distinct frown, although the crew from Frankfurt onwards had a fresher look )

We reached Hyderabad at 7:30 AM. Three of our baggages arrived in quick time but we had to wait for the fourth one for more than 45 min ! Our passage through immigration was quite uneventful. Surprising that they are not fussy at all. The Red Channel is, in fact, closed. I thought I will walk out through the Green Channel with no questions asked and I was rehearsing my reaction if they created problems. Either they have become very liberal or too lazy to insist on opening a few fat baggages. Surely they will find something custom chargeable. Not that we were carrying any. But it is too smooth to believe. No doubt passengers with fake documents, especially the Middle East bounded ones, get caught in Mumbai and not AT HOME !

I had quite an experience with Chennai customs once earlier, although the only other time I have travelled internationally. They are quite ruthless when it comes to ripping apart.

Roopa's parents were there again to make us comfortable. The lady had fondly packed so much food for us for the day that we didn't burn the Choola, literally ! We only had to pick two water bottles on our way home. The pleasant coincidence is they were the first ones to feed us when we landed in America, late in the night ! How many times we find such wonderful people ! I am grateful indeed. We could not remember where the package Roopa sent for them was packed and it was decided to unpack fully and deliver to them later in the day. The crowd in the airport clouded our thinking. Good rhyming no ? My wife located the package when we were on the way home. We did a detour and handed over.

Taking leave of Div was the most difficult part !

See you in India next !!!

The final hours.......

2006-01-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

Today is Friday, 6 Jan 2006. In less than 60 hours we would be heading home. This time the aircraft has to fly on its own wings unlike the time we came when it had our wings also. That was in August 2005 when our minds were also flying, assisted with the wind of joy. The joy of so many things. The joy of finding an environment of new culture, new opportunities, new way of living and a new mindset.

How I wonder time has got the better of us so fast. We have consumed these 140 days without our knowledge. How I wish I could go back in time and relive those days. Days of free abandon. Days of no responsibility. The only responsibility I had was to maintain my health ( affected by Diabetes and Cardiac didorder )by not overindulging in food habits which I seem to have done so far. Not a day I missed going for a long walk with the curiosity of a child discovering new places, wondering what a blessed country this is, except on days it rained. In fact, all of us kept our good health, thereby causing no bigger holes in the pockets.

Another huge responsibility we had was to leave this place without a scar, with people wanting us to come again. Generally speaking, we have to apply restraint on three important occasions - when we eat, when we are asked to speak in public fora and when we visit people. Stop eating when you can afford to eat a little more, stop speaking when there is encore and take leave of your hosts before they start yawning or show different forms of disinterest and indifference. I don't know to what extent we succeeded in doing so. I can't say. We were not guests but we were not hosts either. Somehow we seem to have ended up in a situation when our mutual expectations did not stand the test of time. For expectations to be satisfied I suppose we need to achieve various levels of parity, whoever you are dealing with. Parity of intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, maturity, wealth and most importantly, undemanding patronage. We seem to create boundaries where they are not necessary and suffer when we are unable to reach out and touch others and refuse to be touched. Sounding philosophical ? No. It is only a perception. It is easier in life if we learn not to expect. Where there is no expectation there are no boundaries. Only bliss.

In a short while we will be reaching India with another responsibility, that is of seeing through Divya's wedding without room for complaints. It is a new chapter in our lives.

I wish to thank all my stars who made this trip to US possible combined with good health. The last four months has been the most memorable moments of my life and I want to relive them by coming back. Thanks Deelu. God bless you.

I don't like separation because it holds no guarantee of a reunion. I don't like reunions either because it ultimately brings separation although it is said that separation multiplies the joy of reunion. In my view, looking forward to reunion is the only ultimate joy. So, I keep looking forward.........Bye.

Lake Tahoe, Reno......

2005-12-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

This was our last major outing before leaving the shores of US. It was as exciting as any of our other trips, but a new one. It perhaps takes a poet to do justification to the beauty of what we witnessed. I now know from where poets and writers draw their inspirations. Nature. I don't think I can describe it as well.

This was the first time we saw snowfall. It was Christmas Day we started this trip and covered the distance of about 240 miles by Divya's Accord in four and half hours. We checked-in at Days Inn on Park Avenue. We had to wait for an hour before we were allowed to occupy the pre-reserved room because of the fixed check-in time. That day there was no trace of snowfall in the city although we saw a lot of snow covered hill tops and trees on our way to Lake Tahoe. We lunched at Subway and set out for the Gondola Ride, the cable car ride to the hill top after which visitors can ice-skate. But the Ride had been cancelled for the day because of windy conditions.

We then went to the lake side, just to see the vastness of nature's boon to mankind. It was like a beach side. We touched the water and regreted after the hands dried. The pain from cold was perceptible if not unbearable.

We left for Reno in Nevada state which is about 60 miles North of Lake Tahoe. Reno is the second such centre like Las Vegas in Nevada state, full of Casinos but a downsize version. We lost a few dollars at Circus Circus before returning to Lake Tahoe. I am yet to hear a success story from people who have gone to Casinos which, of course, happens to any type of gambling. People who lose keep on and on to recover. People who win want to win more !!! But we played for the pleasure of winning a few times. Playing on the slot machine is fighting an unknown enemy !

When we returned to Days Inn an interesting news awaited us. Forecast of heavy snowfall in the next 12 hours. Exactly as predicted we woke up next morning to the spectacle of roads and trees covered with white granules ! We played with snow for a while, making balls and hitting each other.

We found to our delight that the Heavenly Gondola Ride was also in operation on that Boxing Day. We bought our tickets and stood in the serpentine queue but did not have to stay in the line for long. Seven of us took the same cable car and scaled the breathtaking peak of more than 9000 feet ( 2 miles of Cable car ride ). I am afraid of heights but still stole a look from the top. Nature in whites !!! One should spare a thought for all those workmen and the team of Engineers who have made this adventure possible. Lifting materials to that height and construction of this Engineering marvel is one more example of what heights human mind can go, to provide excitement and entertainment. One other marvel is the speed and orderly manner with which any huge crowd are made to disappear into these cable cars which have the capacity to hold eight persons weighing not more than 1400 lbs.

Pardon me if there are any factual inaccuracies.

...off to Disneyland and more pleasure

2005-11-28T11:44:00.000-08:00

This was a weekend we have been waiting for because it gave us four free days, to think about long distance tourist places. We left on Wednesday at 3 PM by road and reached Santa Ana at 11 PM after covering 432 miles. It was a very successful leg of our tour by it's sheer timing. We exactly matched the much researched data on websites !

We cooled our heels at the Hotel for the night and set out for Disneyland the next morning. We left at 8:45 AM and reached the place, 8 miles away from the Hotel Courtyard, in less than 10 minutes. Writing about Disneyland is superfluous because so much has already been written about such places. This is one of those places where time flies and one keeps wondering about the limits of man's creativity. Our visit happened to coincide with Golden Jubilee celebrations. The Fireworks display in the night left its lasting impressions for its beauty and coordination excellence. The street shows and Tableaus give visitors pleasant surprises. It virtually has everything of a dreamworld...the fantasies.

The whole of next day we spent at the Universal Studios, near the home of Hollywood. I took the courage of going on the Mummy Ride in spite of being a person with cardiac problems. I had not gone on any of such turbulent rides, whether it is Great America or Disneyland for the fear of aggravating my health condition on a foreign soil. But to return from such great places without atleast one such first hand experience would have been a waste. Fortunately I emerged out of Mummy in good shape with no aftereffects. This is the place where one would perhaps see the longest passage in an escalator. The girls and Subhash tried the other turbulent rides like the Jurassic Park and Back to the Future. We missed out on the Studio tour. We could have perhaps spotted one of the stars here, I don't know. We tried the late night Carnival games and won a toy each between me and Sub in one of them. There is nothing else one could do here after 8 PM when the rides and shows close. A lot of time gets wasted in waiting in the serpantine queues at the rides/shows and searching for a good place to eat. It took us three hours to cover the Mummy Ride and lunch.

The next day was a long journey to Malibu, Riverside and Las Vegas. Malibu for the Balaji temple ( the prasadam package is good, especially if you are craving for south indian food ). We went to Riverside to visit Sruthi ( Divya's St Francis friend ) and her parents who have been in US for 6 years. The passage between Malibu and Riverside took us a little extra time because we got carried away in following the route.

We had an early dinner at Sruthi's place and left for LV. The journey was smooth and uneventful except for the biting cold. We covered 264 miles in a little less than five hours. Except for losing a few dollars in the Casino and a small tour of the recreated Venice under the artificial daylight we did not see much since the shows in LV close at midnight. We missed the Gondola Ride. We went to the 1:30 PM show of Bellagio Fountain ( it is better seen in the night ) before setting out on our long journey home (550 miles). Our journey (time) got stretched further by about three hours because of the traffic crawl on highway 58W. We reached Sunnyvale in 13.5 hours at 3 AM on Sunday and our sweet home had also turned very cold since we had closed the blinds while leaving on Wednesday. Las Vegas is a place for sheer wordly pleasures and quick hassleless weddings. Casino is meant for the large hearted. To me it was the first time. The smaller the money you put into these self operated machines or manned ones, the heavier you lose. By the time I understood the Game and worked out the strategy, I had lost 5 dollars !!!

I wonder why US governments have not thought of proper interstate Railway network in spite of being so resourceful. Train journey can bring a lot of comfort to those who cannot afford air travel. Sitting through long stretches of road journey can be quite painful and hazardous even in US where one can easily average 50 miles+ an hour with rare exceptions. I can't think of doing it in India where the traffic density is high and road conditions pathetic. A representative sample driver can cover a mere 50-60 Kms ( not miles ) an hour !!!

The Tech....and the US values

2005-11-21T10:48:00.000-08:00

This was a visit to remember fondly for some reasons and to forget it for the loss suffered.

Divya had booked our tickets over telephone. The ticket included the Movie - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - at its IMAX Theatre and a visit to it's other Stalls.

We had got tickets for the 9 AM show of the Movie which was heavily booked but could not reach sufficiently in advance to occupy vantage seats. It is a dome screen and we had to take a sleeping posture to get a proper view and was quite a painful angle from the seats very close to floor. In fact, I went to sleep, may be because of the posture or my lack of interest in Harry Potter kind of movies. IMAX is a place which enhances the worth of any movie.

The museum is an education cum entertainment experience. Children would find it fascinating. It is in the early stages of our visit that we realised that the camera is missing. We reported at the "lost and found" desk but nothing happened. So much for honesty in US !!!

Our visit to Mystery Spot.....

2005-11-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

This was on Sunday, 13th November 2005. We set out after breakfast around noon and reached the spot after nearly an hour's drive. This is a hilly Region where you will see a 'level' but it is actually inclined. This was demonstrated by making two boys of different heights stand on the opposite ends of a set of wooden planks and feel the perceptible change in comparison of their heights when they switched places. This was also demonstrated by placing a perfectly spherical ball on what appeared to be the lower part of an incline and the ball started rolling upwards !!! If you thought the ball was a "suspect", someone's lipgell tube was used for demonstration.

While one thinks that he is standing, he is actually tilting towards earth and struggling to keep from falling - a case of shift in CG.......

The gift shop had good collection of novelties.

Mind you, if you are making this trip in November/December like we did, better start early because Sun sets early it becomes dark at 4 PM !!!

Later in the day ( sorry, night ) we went to Campbell Community Centre for an important gathering 0f those who know how to celebrate......from Art of Living.

Our Cricket team....

2005-11-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

First, it was the 1971 tour of West Indies when Ajit Wadekar's team won the historical Port of Spain test match and the series, then the 1983 world cup and now the home series against Sri Lanka are the moments of Indian Glory that I cherish the most. To win a seven match series 6-1 is no mean acihevement. I hope they will continue in the same vein and go on to become a world leader.

Virtues....

2005-11-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

We always find that virtues of men or women come to light mostly after his/her death. I never knew president K R Narayanan's qualities during his life time. I came to appreciate his virtues only after reading some rich tributes paid to him after his death. He seems to belong to the league of Gandhi, Nehru... P V Narasimha Rao, I thought was a person who would stand in the same line but I suppose he spoiled his virtues by indulging in controversies.

Our trip to US

2005-11-09T19:03:00.000-08:00

Our daughter went to US in 2001 to do her MS after completing B.Tech from JNTU, Hyderabad in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Divya was good throughout her academic career. She had the unique distinction of getting a rank of 835 in EAMCET without the help of any external coaching ! She obtained admission in the University of Wisconsin which is one of the first fourteen top ranking Universities in US. I should acknowledge the timely help received from three persons in her endeavour - one is my friend and stockist for ICI Paints Ashok Yadav. The second is my nephew Aravind and the third person was our neighbours Siva Prasad - Pushpa in Tarnaka. I should say Aravind's help was the most significant by sheer virtue of the time he patiently waited for us to return his money. In fact, there was a stage when he was just not keen to take back the money. He would ask us to wait till Divya started earning money in US. Our neighbour's and Ashok's timely help was by no means of lesser impact on Divya's future although they were for a temporary cause. Our neighbour and Ashok pooled Rs.5 lacs each to show them in our Bank Account as a means of source of supporting Divya's education in US. The good student that Divya had been helped in clearing all these loans. In these days when people don't come forward so easily to lend major financial assistance in spite of being resourceful, the help offered by these three people can be permanently indebted to.
It was in a way a foregone conclusion that the rest of us, i.e me, my wife and Lavanya would make a trip to US as soon as we are able to sustain our travel expenses. Apart from Airfare the major expenses were Overseas Insurance and VISA charges. Divya took the responsibility for all of them. Divya found employment with CISCO Systems after some initial hiccups she suffered because of the US freeze on fresh recruitments, especially from overseas.
The decision to go to US was made in June 2005, a clear two months in advance. While Divya had done her bookings from US itself, the booking for the rest of us had to be done from India. We did our bookings in Air India through one of their Travel Agents. The bookings were to match Divya's itinerary who was coming to India for an important wedding and we were to go with her. Till the day of travel we had not received our tickets because our reservation between LA and San Jose was not in the same Flight that Divya had booked herself in. We had to, finally cancel the booking and buy fresh tickets to stick to Divya's itenirary which cost us heavily.
The d-day, i e 20 Aug 2005 arrived and when we finally reached the check-in counter at Begumpet Airport we were told that only two names are appearing in their list against the same PNR ! My name and Lavanya's were missing ! We were quite disheartened. The only option available to us was to let Divya travel alone and three of us go back home with all the heavy baggages. The man at the Air India check-in counter asked us to wait for a while and gave us Boarding Passes when all the other Passengers had already boarded and the Flight was about to taxi. All this trouble because of a bug in Air India's computers ! Our next test of strength was at the Emigration where we were refused because of the delay. The Airport Manager had to intervene to put us through. We were also helped by the delay in arrival of our Flight from Singapore.
We reached Mumbai by 11 PM and had to wait till 7:30 AM next day ( 21 Aug ) when the connecting Flight took us to Los Angeles via Frankfurt. We reached LA by 4:30 PM and took upto 6:05 PM to complete emigration and collect baggages. Our Flight to San Jose where Divya stays was at 9:30 PM US time on 21 Aug. We reached home by 12 PM and had our dinner at Rati Roopa ( Divya's classmate in St.Francis')'s house. On our way home we went to Albertsons ( the Super Store ) to buy a few essentials.
Monday, 22 Aug 2005 - Our first sunrise in US ! - Woke up quite late and did everything at a very low pace. Divya went to office for only two hours. Rati's parents visited us in the afternoon but could not be properly received since we were all catching up on our sleep. We went to their place in the evening to hand over things we had brought for them from India. The same evening we went to INDIA Cash and Carry ( The Indian Super Store ) and Real Ice Cream ( an other Indian joint ) where we picked up two Kulfis. Rati's father gave us a Mexican Mango which we ate two days later. No great taste !
Tuesday, 23 Aug 2005 - Rati's parents joined me at 7:45 AM for the morning walk. Divya went to office at the usual time. In the evening we went to BLOCKBUSTER INC the Video shop and Divya's new office. In the morning we spent some time in going through Hinduonline.com.
Wednesday, 24 Aug 2005 - Rati's parents came to join us for the morning walk at 8:10 AM. But they went back after waiting for five minutes. We did not hear the knock at the door, may be because of the sound made by garden mowers. I and Lakshmi went separately but it was a late morning walk ! We did not go out again in the evening.
Thursday, 25 Aug 2005 - Went for walk with Rati's parents. Even Lavanya and Lakshmi joined us. They took us home and offered Bread to me and chapatis to Lakshmi and Lavanya. They came back with us half the distance and we found our way home. In the evening we went to Safeway ( Groceries ) and Coconut Hill ( Indian Grocery and Video ), bought a few essentials like milk, bread etc. Blockbuster Inc sent two Videos asked for.
House constructions in US use wood prominently. Since seasoned wood is used climatic changes don't affect their shapes and dimensions. Driving and Parking descipline in US are worth emulating. The special consideration given to physically challenged persons in every aspect of town planning is unique and is a fitting example of "human" touch. Pedestrians are another target for special consideration.
Friday, 26 Aug 2005 - Went alone with Divya for walk. While she went upto her Gym I went further upto Hobees' Restaurant and returned home on my own. We did not stir out of the house thereafter.
Saturday, 27 Aug 2005 - In the noon Divya went to drop Rati and her parents at the Airport for their week-end at Los Vegas. We then went to the Post Office, Great Mall and WAL MART. We ate pretzel bread, Cinabon Bun, Ice Cream and French Fries at Mcdonalds. Divya bought a foot wear for Lakshmi and a few essentials for home. We also went to Divya's office to pick up drinking water and Juices. It was quite a hot day. In the evening Divya's JNTU friends joined us for dinner - Sunil, Murali and Narender.
Sunday, 28 Aug 2005 - Skipped the morning walk. Later in the day we went to Coconut Hill to pick up Idly Rawa, Macys and Kohls where Divya picked up a dress for Lavanya's birthday. Spoke to Sreenu.
Monday, 29 Aug 2005 - Lavanys's birthday. We had cake cutting in the evening which was attended by Rati Roopa and her parents. They had returned from the weekend trip to Las Vegas. We went for dinner to Pfchang's, a chinese joint. The food was dull and bland. We spent some time at Borders, the super bookstore.
Tuesday, 30 Aug 2005 - nothing to write home about.
Wednesday, 31 Aug 2005
Thursday, 1 Sep 2005 - day of Subhash's arrival at US on transfer. Divya went to the Airport to receive him. He left for Nagesh's place after dinner.
Friday, 2 Sep 2005 -
Saturday, 3 Sep 2005 - This was a long weekend because of labor holiday on 5 Sep 2005. Divya had planned a trip to Niagara Falls / New York. Five of us left early morning on Saturday for San Francisco Airport to take the 7:40 AM Delta AirlinesFlight. We went to San Fran by Divya's car, left the car at Milbrae BRAT rly stn, took a BART train to the Airport which is only one station away. We reached after 5 - 6 hours but due to difference in time zone it was 4 PM when we reached New York. We took a HERTZ car for rent and reached Vamsi's ( another of Divya's friends ) flat at Interport, New Jeresy. This journey took 3 hours since Divya was not familiar with the route. But she and Subhash combined well to read through the Google map and find the way to Vamsi's place. We went out for dinner at an Indian restaurant. Food was somewhat OK. Vamsi took us to Time Square afer dinner.
Sunday, 4 Sep 2005 - We went to bed quite late and had to leave by road for Niagara Falls the next day. We left home by the HERTZ car at 8 AM and reached Niagara after nearly 8 hours of driving. We finished sight seeing and dinner by 10:30 PM and left Niagara the same night. We reached a place called Roechester where we halted at Sudheer's ( Subhash's childhood friend ) place for the night. Whatever food we had at Punjabi Dhaba at Niagara was not adequate to be called a dinner but we had no further chance of havibg our dinner.
Niagara Falls' true beauty can be seen during the cruise ( Maid of the Mist ) ride. It took us upto the famous Horse Shoe falls. Tourists are supplied with make shift rain coats to protect from getting drenched by the flying water mists. It is said that one can have a better view from the Canadian side of the border but I don't know if it is true since the cruise goes very close to the Horse Shoe, the mainstay.
Monday, 5 Sep 2005 - We left Sudheer's place by 7:30 AM and reached Vamsi's place by 1:30 PM. We took bath at Vamsi's place and left for a local tour by train. We first reached World Trade Centre Station by PATH Rly. We spent some time at this place and went throught the details of Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attack displayed in framed documents. We went through Wall St and Battery Park to reach the oceanside where the Statue of Liberty is located. We reached late and missed out on the Ferry ride which would have provided a closer look at the SOL. However, we went on the ferry ride to Stanten Island which gave us a closer view of the statue but anything which the other ferry ride would have provided. We then went to the Empire State Building by train which took us upto 33rd street. Subhash did not come with us on this segment. We paid $14 per head to the Obervatory on the Empire State building. The observatory is on the 86th floor of the building and gives a bird's eye view of the entire city. Although we thought it was expensive for the view on offer we found it quite intriguing to watch the city from such heights. The building and many other skyscrapers are an example of Engineering marvel. US is a blessed country in more than one way.
We were very tired by the time we came down from the Observatory and somehow reached home. We had dinner at a Mexican joint which I regretted later.
Tuesday, 6 Sep 2005 - Next morning we had to leave very early to reach in time for the 7:15 AM flight to San Fran. We left at 3:56 AM and reached the Airport well ahead of departure of flight but lost some time in finding the right roads, first to the Gas station and secondly the HERTZ premises. The rule is, the customer should fully fill the fuel tank while returning the car. We still had more than one hour to spare after completing the Security Check. Our journey to the Airport was well guided by the route plan provided by Google's search engine and picked up by Subhash.
We reached San Francisco by 10:35 AM and our final lap was delayed by BART train. We picked up Divya's car at Milbrae Rly Stn and picked up a few essentials from Alberstons on our way home by 11:30 AM. Divya went to office after lunch and CISCO announced highest bonus for Divya.Subhash did not have to go.
Wednesday, 7 Sep 2005 - Subhash did not go to office today also. We performed Ganesh Chaturthi Pooja together but Pooja started late at 12 noon. We went to Roopa's place for dinner and we carried our preparations also. There were a few more indian guests.
Thursday, 8 Sep 2005 - A routine day. Subhash's first day in office after weekend. One of those rare days when we did not go out. Lavanya joined me for walk.
Friday, 9 Sep 2005 - Went to Santa Clara - Nodstrom and other outlets in a Mall.
saturday, 10 Sep 2005 - Went to WAL MART and picked up a bread toaster, water filter candle, a blender and a cooking vessel.Subhash remained in his friend's place.
Sunday, 11 Sep 2005 - I went to explore Henderson Avenue where Art of Living chapter seems to exist, during my warning walk. I went till the desired location but could not locate House number 811 even after several attempts. In the process I had caused a few heartbeats at home since I had consumed a good 2hrs and 20 min. We went to San Francisco by Divya's car and saw a few places like the Golden Bridge which separates Pacific Ocean and the bay and Muir Woods. Journey to Muir Woods was quite breathtaking because of steep and curving roads ( ghat roads ). We did not want to spend $3 per head for a look inside the forest and returned from the entrance itself. Traffic was very slow during our return journey to Sunnyvale. It eased only when we reached the Exit to Highway 92. Because of the traffic crawl we could not go to any other place of tourist interest. Later, Divya, Subhash and Lavanya went to a Hindi movie with a few friends. As usual I was not upto it and Lakshmi also decided to stay back.
Monday, 12 Sep 2005 - I switched to evening walk. Lavanya gave me company. On our way home near Coconut Hill I showed symptomsdrop in sugar. Since sysmptoms were familiar I walked into CH and bought Kit Kat and cream biscuits. But Lavanya got worried. Later we went to Roopa's to collect Chacolates made by her mother. We were to go to Albertsons and CH but Divya was not feeling upto it.
Tuesday, 13 Sep 2005 - I, Lavanya and Lakshmi went to Albertsons on our own and purchased material worth $9 - Bread, Candies, Grapes and Pringles.
Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005 - Another routine day. In the evening we played Pictionary. I and Lakshmi partnered to win the game.
Thursday, 15 Sep 2005 - We played two games of Pictionary and lost both. Lavanya was my partner.
Friday, 16 Sep 2005 - Picnic day for Divya sponsored by her office. In the evening we went to Sharavana Bhavan and ate Kaima Idly, Kara Dosa, Veg Dosa and Utthappam with Chillies. Packed Idly for Subhash. There was waiting crowd and we also had to wait for about 20 minutes.
Saturday, 17 Sep 2005 - We stayed indoors throughout the day, played two games of Pictionary. In the evening we had to go to attend a Cradling function which included dinner.
Sunday, 18 Sep 2005 - The day when Divya and Subhash woke up quite late because they slept late. In the noon we went to Prince's Beach afetr brunch at Udipi Palace at Fremount. This is where one can have items of breakfast as well as lunch and the they taste good. We spent about 15 minutes on the beach and returned. On our way back we went to WAL*MART for a few small purchases and had dinner at a Thai food joint. We slept early.
Monday, 19 Sep 2005 - A routine day.
Tuesday, 20 Sep 2005 - Another routine day except that it rained, may be because of Hurricane RITA.
Wednesday, 21 Sep 2005 - A day to be remembered for wrong reasons. The early morning dream took a heavy toll of all that I had slept on. Today, both Divya and Subhash "worked from home" since the car had to be handed over for servicing and repairs. Lakshmi and Lavanya went with Roopa's family to Aikya, another departmental stores.
Thursday, 22 Sep 2005 - In the evening we went to Swati tiffins where we had cut mirchi, two plates for almost $6 ! We met Divya's classmate at St Ann's, Vandana whose shops in Chikalguda and Monda Market we used to patronage.
Friday, 23 Sep 2005 - We went to BLOCKBUSTER INC to borrow DVDs. On our way back we went to Roopa's place.
Saturday, 24 Sep 2005 - The day we did two new things ! We went to Livermore temple and later to a movie at Century Theatres - Flight Plan. We could not reach IMAX theatres in time for any show and had to see the movie in Century.
Sunday, 25 Sep 2005 - We went to Athadu at NAZ 8. Ate at iHoP ( international House of Pancakes ), came home and went out again to KOHL'S. Didn't buy anything since expensive. Subhash complained of headache the whole day.
Monday, 26 Sep 2005 - Received Chari's mail bringing the news of his arrival on 23 Nov 2005. His daughter lives in Fremont and is "expecting". Went to Target. The layout and the items on display are good. Subhash being slightly indisposed, did not go to office. Divya returned early from office.
Tuesday, 27 Sep 2005 - A routine day. Divya received her second stock option from Cisco of 1400 shares as a performance based offer.
Wednesday ( 28 ), Thursday ( 29 ) - Ordinary days.
Friday, 30 Sep 2005 - The day when Subhash passed the driving test and obtained his driving License in US. Both of them worked from home. Divya and Lavanya went for the dance rehearsal.
Saturday, 1 Oct 2005 - Couldn't go to satsang today also. I tried but could not locate the place.
Sunday, 2 Oct 2005 - No rehearsal today. Went to Pizza Hut at Cupertino for lunch and later to WAL*MART. Divya bought a few bedding material.
Monday, 3 Oct 2005 - Routine day.
Tuesday, 4 Oct 2005 - Went to Hotel Hyatt for a meeting organised by Liv Opportunity. Nothing came out of it because the concept of Merchandising was not what I want to do.
Wednesday, Thursday - 5,6 Oct - Routine days. Birthday messages sent to Dominic, Oke and Arjun.
Friday, 7 Oct 2005 - Sruthi visited us. Divya picked her up from the airport.
Saturday, 8 Oct 2005 - We had lunch at Tirupathi Bheema. We discovered the centre where weekly satsanghs are held. I also sang and people appreciated it. We had dinner at Roopa's place and stayed awake till 3 AM playing CLUE.
Sunday, 9 Oct 2005 - Roopa and her parents came to our place for breakfast - Pesarrattu with Upma - her dad's choice. Roopa took me and Lakshmi to Ligroy's ourlets. They bought a few things and we bought two small cute tumblers for coffee. Sruti had left by the time we came back.
Monday, 10 Oct 2005 - Divya worked half day and worked from home in the morning. We went for Satsangh held at a private home of Srini and Vani.
Tuesday, 11 Oct 2005 - Uneventful
Wednesday, 12 Oct 2005 - Uneventful
Thursday, 13 Oct 2005 - We went to Roopa's house to bid adieu to her parents who were leaving for India next day. Because we were not sure of going to the airport. We ended up having lunch there.
Friday, 14 Oct 2005 - Day of reckoning for Roopa and her parents. They left US after six months of stay via Hongkong and Singapore by SQ 001 from San Fran intl airport. All of us, except Subhash went to see them off. During the day Lakshmi went to help her mother prepare chapathis for the long journey.
Saturday, 15 Oct 2005 - We went to Great America with Roopa after breakfast cum lunch at home. I and Lakshmi tried only three of the simplest rides. Others tried a few exciting ones like Centrifuge, Orbit, Psycho Mouse etc. Orbit shatterred their senses so much that they did not venture any further rides. Roopa decided to go home and we had dinner at iHOP before returning. I slept early and slept well. In the morning I went for my first hair cut in US. It costs $8 !!! Subhash went to watch Super Series test match at Valli's place.

Friday, 4 Nov 2005 - This is the day when some Indians got together in the evening and presented a rehearsed "dine and dance" programme. About 200 people had pooled and participated in this function. It went on till after midnight. After various troups gave a rehearsed dance programme with slots selected from Hindi and Telugu movies everyone took to dance floor. There was a foreign couple also in the rehearsed category. It was an unique concept and was titled "Hatke...2005". Whether it can be tried as a commercial enterprise is an interesting poser to the organisers.