As soon as i escaped India's scorching heat flying to US, i thought NJ would welcome me with a lively spring weather it presents every year. But how would i ever thought my plea for "some rain" while i was in India would dramatically become reality in US. Now i am clinging to the phrase " give me some sunshine" cause i want to step out every day with a smile. Tired to see this gloomy weather when one still has those beautiful and fresh memories of outings in India. Armed with a pair of flip flops, a pony tail, a skirt and top, small clutch and a pair of shades, i can roam around the city with bunch of girl friends all day long. No car, no parking issues, no week before plans/ appointments for the coming weekend, no hassles with jackets/umbrellas/gloves not sure of when the weather would change. Rarely, one would check for weather online to plan something as the seasons always remain obedient to us.
A Saturday in India:
I want to share one of the Saturdays during my stay in India. The morning started waking up along with grand mom to get ready for puja. A head bath followed by picking up flowers and sitting at puja filled the early hours of Saturday. Then read the local newspaper sipping coffee( no online news). After that randomly made up my mind to visit our ancestral home which was built by my great grandfather and was like 10 km away from my home ( This house is like more than 100 years old and i spent a small part of my life growing up there). I took my Honda Activa bike, picked up my cousin and drove all the way. Being at that place had made my mind to rewind the memories that got stored over the years and i was a child all over again. I happened to visit a small shop in the same place where we used to buy chocolates. After spending 2 hours, we returned back home and had lunch. The menu consisted of home made tamarind pickle and tomato daal. Though these do not make it to the list of Mogul in NJ or the Cheese Cake Factory, they have their own reputation as comfort foods. Then after tried watching TV which kind of sucked as my grand mom did not let me switch the channels as the daily soaps pour in all the day long. So i pressed buttons on my cell phone and called my cousins ( One being in medical college, one working and one looking for jobs in IT) and planned to meet up for a movie ( the medical college one had to bunk the class). We drove in a car to big cinemas and watched a Telugu movie " Leader". ( I wanted to give a review for this amazing movie here but apparently it distracts the topic). Then, after a hour long journey in the traffic we reached home, got freshened up and hit the road again for shopping. This time we hired an auto rickshaw, which gave a pleasant ride to the shopping center of the city. The air along the road filled up with all kinds of smells where the smell of soot coming out from automobiles dominated all. We all got down and hit the dress store, where a shop boy brought dresses and opened up in front of us so that we can select a dress. After making that guy to literally open up all the dresses the store got, we finally zeroed up on 5 dresses.( Thanks to his patience). After the fun and exhausting shopping, we wanted to feed our stomachs and found a cart selling Pani Puris on the other side of the street. These Pani Puris had the authentic taste which the "Bombay Chaat" on Oak Tree Road killed. After that we strolled along the street and made frequent stops at bangle carts, jewelery carts and shoe stores. The best part one should not miss out while enjoying shopping in Indian streets is bargaining.You can almost get like 50% discount if you bargain. And if you walk out of the store when you are not satisfied with the price, the shopkeeper wont let you go empty handed and chances are high he will agree to your price ( of course with a marginal profit for him). From there we hired an auto rickshaw to the local exhibition (the mini version of Six Flags). The not so adventurous rides drove us through comedic situations. We then managed to grab some chili bajjis and headed back home. No matter how far i live from my city, the motherly love it displays in which ever way i interact with it is amazing. But i can clearly admit New Jersey has been and will be my home away from home. At the end we had a girls night out enjoying the "Super Bowl" of gossips while Saturday closed its doors and Sunday opened its for yet another fun filled extravaganza.
A Saturday in US might be the same but most of the times you get to enjoy alone and fun always seems to be a need to keep ourselves busy over the weekends. Sincerely, there is a need for sunshine in the weather and sunshine in the routine we Indians do in the US.
3 comments:
Ah!! Such a cute post! New Jersey really is a home away from home :)
Oh come, you are making all this up. Everyone knows you can't just walk in the streets in the US due to all the shooting, robbery, potholes etc.
Percy, i studied in NYC and now work in metro area of NJ. My experience with USA is limited to that. And everyday, every where, i see people walking [ not on roads though :)] in these two places. [I believe u visited NYC, if not, how can you possibly imagine to ignore a trip to NYC]
And I am sure none of us wants to get out in a bad weather unless of course for work may it be India or US.
I've always had a special place for spring in US as the weather inspires me to pen down lyrics. [try this sitting on a bench in Central Park].But this time i am disappointed.
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