Interpreter of Maladies
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Travelogue-1The best part of my US trip-as of now-was the flight over the Atlantic. The sight of the shimmering blue ocean as the sunlight kissed the folds in the waves; the feel of only glass between you and an unmeasurable expand of water; the delight of watching the ocean extend for miles and miles. I wished I never reach New York- that the flight from Heathrow to JFK just lasts forever, but sadly, I did land in NY. Instead of basking in the fresh air and bright sun down on the seaside, I was playing scrabble in the airport lounge...for ummm...around 6 hours !! The flight was good, except for the fact that I had a tussle going on in my upper storey about the job-mba fiasco. They had some good movies onboard-Sideways, Vera Drake-both are apparently nice and Meet the fockers which is banal yet fun anyways.
London looks a lot like a huge staircase from top. You have these organized rows of houses, painted red and black on top, all so neat, so well done. I think uniformity is the only theme that runs across London for me, because most of it, is so organized. That's one city I would love to visit. I have never seen live king, queen, prince et al and a royal palace and London might be the place which offers all of this.
I landed in New York on "some day" and "some time"-I am tired of rationalizing this whole time difference thing-and then set down to scan people around me. I wanted to buy a diet coke/pepsi/ice tea but then dumped the whole proposition of risking taking out my money in a foreign place (my Mom's best advice and it has come in handy most of the time). Most of the time was spent in scanning the people around me. The Indian girl right across me with a drum for a waist, was busy talking on the phone. Infact for all three hours, I witnessed her continued romance with her phone. She looked no better than a jerk, with a jeans that was so low, that it seemed it would slip down any minute and a top which could barely hide her obesity. I fail to understand..why fat girls love wearing clothes that flaunt their overweight figure??
Then, there was the young Indian girl behind the fat girl. She seemed lost and looked furtively towards the ticket check-in desk, wondering when they would announce boarding. There was a man glued to the TV screen, too busy devouring a McDonald food hamper. In short, just all kind of people around me. Fun, it was, to compare, contrast and collate my impressions at the airport.
The flight was brief and I spent my time stuck to a diet pepsi can, not doing much socializing around. My first view of Dallas-its very green-greener than Europe when I took the top view in. But then, that's what it is. Lots of skyscrapers, malls, wide roads, the lilting Texan accent and the comparatively high proportion of blacks among the hoi-polloi-yeah that's what Dallas is. I was confused about the baggage collection, infact, I sat on the terminal for 5 minutes wondering which side should the baggage collection point would be and then I saw the glass divider, across which ran the baggage belt. The taxi taking formality happened quite well and I reached the hotel in no time. It's nice-the hotel-the beds are cosy and springy and the internet connection is pretty fast. The bath supplies are pretty neat and the view from the window is pretty good too.
The food problem is still there. I still find myself helpless when it comes to pick food. I cant pick up food quite well and I just live on "grass". But let's see, with Vipul coming in tomorrow, I think I should get a li'l adventurous about food.
Would update later... :-)
