When we were in San Diego last time we thought we had seen and done enough here and had gone home fully satiated. But no this place yet has many facets to it still to be explored and enjoyed. Have already done and seen a few new things.

Our first proper outing was going to Balboa Park, which is one of the nation’s biggest Cultural urban park (1400 acres) renowned for performing arts venues, beautiful gardens and the San Diego Zoo, the Park has an ever-changing scene of museum exhibitions, plays, musicals, concerts, and classes—it is here that we enjoyed the Carol William’s organ show in the open and also the Orchid Show. There is an international pavilion here which has small houses built individually for different countries show- casing their best be it history, art, artifacts’ or food. (On our last visit we had gone to the zoo which is one of the best in the world.) Balboa Park encloses 15 world renowned museums and 14 well maintained gardens besides the zoo and other entertainment areas.

Last weekend we had a beautiful time enjoying a ride in the Pacific Oceans’ Mission Bay Park which again is the largest man-made aquatic park in the country, consisting of 4,235 acres, approximately 46% land and 54% water. We had a ride on the speed boat which was an amazing experience. The speed with water showers and the rising waves was very exhilarating. The cost was 95 $ for one hour with a max of 5 passengers. It definitely was fun and a new experience.

When we here last time I had pleaded with Nikhil to give me a motorbike ride with him but it just did not materialize. This time it was he who invited me for the ride…..wasn’t I thrilled!  We were to go to see the horse race and as all didn’t fit in the car he decided to take the bike. Wearing that heavy helmet did pose a problem for sometime but once on the road and that too on the freeways where cars just zip by in high speed it was fun fun fun all the way. Nikhil says he had taken the speed to about 90 miles (150kms) at one point. Whoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The feeling was of  getting a high which may be one feels after a large peg. Didn’t I love it!

The Horse Race itself was a new experience. Yes we had seen it in Shillong when very young and faintly remember it but this was another world. It was held in Del Mar (close to La Jolla where Nikhil stays) and this place is known for its racetrack. It opened in 1937 by Bing Crosby among others and every year in the summers the racing is held. This place is famous for its slogan ”Where the Turf Meets the Surf” It was fun betting on the horses and screaming for them to win. All in all there were nine races that day. Nikhil and he did the betting part and we won some and lost some. The scale and management of the show was to be seen. Nearly 40000 spectators and yet there was no security check and annoyance as we know it. A beautiful experience indeed!

Well as you can see we are enjoying our stay here in a nice calm way. Not in a hurry to do anything and yet getting the essence of this place. Nikhil’s friends come up and an impromptu get-to-gather ensues with dinner and fun. The weather adds to the fun. What azure blue sky, bright sun and cool breeze. A perfect day to be out and that’s  just what we do.

Well hope u enjoy reading this as much I enjoyed narrating it.

(See photo blog …http://picasaweb.google.com/geeta.rasiwasia/STARGAZING)

During  a no-moon day  in October we had gone star gazing to a place called Tierra Del Sol about 72 miles westwards  from La Jolla, our present abode. It took us about 1 ½ hours to reach the place. We had to make sure we were there before sunset so that we could get settled and see the early rising stars.

This place was a desert near the border of Mexico. There was less of habitation and artificial light so star gazing from this place was un-obstructive. A few large permanent telescopes were set up for people to enjoy the view of the night sky. People in this part are keen sky watchers and a few astronomy clubs a-bound here. The night becomes very chilly so we were well prepared for it what with caps, jackets, mufflers, socks, hand gloves et.al.

We were five of us Niranjan, Nikhil, Himanshu, Bulbul (Nayan) and I…..and only Himanshu was well informed about astronomy and he proved to be a good guide for us. He had  a chart showing the prominent star constellations and galaxies of that period of time and guided us what to look for.

The sun set in the horizon and the multi hue of dusk were just fantastic. We were enjoying it when we saw a bright star come up…..we were told it was the Jupiter. We were enjoying it and trying to catch all the stars coming out of their sleep when night fell…. Nikhil took a photo of the Jupiter from his camera. On reviewing the photo he told us Jupiter’s moon too could be seen.  We were excited and we all gathered to see it – but alas we could not see it with our naked eyes.

Wikipedia has this to say about Jupiter – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System.^[12] It is a gas giant with a mass slightly less than one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all of the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian planets.

When viewed from Earth, Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of −2.8, making it on average the third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. (Mars can briefly exceed Jupiter’s brightness at certain points in its orbit.) There are at least 63 moons, including the four large moons called the Galilean moons that were first discovered by Galileo Galilee in 1610. Ganymede, the largest of these moons, has a diameter greater than that of the planet Mercury

Now as darkness deepened the stars seemed to rush to meet us (maybe).  Soon we could see the Big Bear. This was one of the constellations that I recognized easily and excitedly pointed it out when I noticed it. But it was fun seeing it amid millions of stars, which we normally don’t see in our city night sky (due to the lights)

From Wikipedia……. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Major

Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures.

By this time the Scorpio constellation was out in full glory. It took Himanshu some time to get  into our heads the full form of this constellation, as it is quite spread out compared to some other constellations. But once we got the whole view it was thrilling. The cluster called M7 could also be seen.

Wikipedia…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpius

Scorpius is one of the constellations of the zodiacs. It lies between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east. It is a large constellation located in the southern hemisphere near the center of the Milky Way. Due to its location on the Milky Way, this constellation contains many deep sky objects such as the open clusters Messier 6 (the Butterfly Cluster) and Messier 7 (the Ptolemy Cluster), and the globular clusters Messier 4 and Messier 80.

Now it was time to notice the Milky Way. It looked like the clouds at first but once Himanshu pointed out the facts we could notice it as the Milky Way. Notice the photo………the red halo could not be seen through our eyes but the camera captured it.

Wikipedia …….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way

The Milky Way, or simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the solar system is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies. It is one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe. The Milky Way looks brightest in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius, toward the galactic center. Relative to the celestial equator, it passes as far north as the constellation of Cassiopeia and as far south as the constellation of Crux, indicating the high inclination of Earth’s equatorial plane and the plane of the ecliptic relative to the galactic plane. The fact that the Milky Way divides the night sky into two roughly equal hemispheres indicates that the Solar System lies close to the galactic plane. The Milky Way has a relatively low surface brightness, making it difficult to see from any urban or suburban location suffering from light pollution

All this while, we were watching the sky but with our naked eyes. Now it was time to go and see through the huge telescope. A lot of people who came to star gaze set up their personal telescopes and watch through it. If one got talking they were very helpful in guiding and allowing one to see the stars through their telescopes them. There we got talking to some of the pros who proved to be a store house of star knowledge.

While there we were shown Neptune…..no words to express what we saw thru it……..except majestic. Nikhil tried to take a picture through the telescope but not with  good result.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune……….

Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun in our Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third-largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 Earth masses and not as dense.^[12] On average, Neptune orbits the Sun at a distance of 30.1 AU, approximately 30 times the Earth-Sun distance. Neptune has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2 on Aug 25 1989. It was the last stop in 1989 for the Voyager 2 spacecraft on its grand tour of the solar system.

Finally it was the turn of the Andromeda Galaxy. Could see with our naked eyes but through the telescope it was another view altogether…..just beautiful. Through the photo of Andromeda Galaxy ( in the photo blog) you can get an idea of the starry night we had seen.

Wikipedia…..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy (pronounced /ænˈdrɒmədə/,is a spiral galaxy approximately 2,500,000 light-years away  in the constellation Andromeda. It is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way. As it is visible as a faint smudge on a moonless night, it is one of the farthest objects visible to the naked eye, and can be seen even from urban areas with binoculars. It is named after the princess Andromeda. Andromeda is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which consists of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies..^[9] At an apparent magnitude of 4.4, the Andromeda Galaxy is notable for being one of the brightest Messier objects,^[11] making it easily visible to the naked eye even when viewed from areas with moderate light pollution. Although it appears more than six times as wide as the full moon when photographed through a larger telescope, only the brighter central region is visible with the naked eye.

More was to come. While talking to an American enthusiast he asked us to go with him. He took us to another telescope point………an astronomer was taking photos of the sky. A slow process….. Nikhil got talking and in the mean time another knowledgeable source Jerry Hilburn took us to his den…………now here was a learned man. He has photographed the sky ….after all he has worked with NASA and has helped establish a few galaxies. He has set up a permanent den here with all paraphanelia the telescope /camera and works here throughout the night. At times he lodges here for days on end. It was so pleasurable talking to him. He showed us his fantastic camera work and a lot of anecdotes. This talk too was one of the highlights of this evening. He had photographed the moon blast too – the big bang!

You too could get to see a few of his photographs at http://aisig.sdaa.org/. Go to ‘member page’ and search for Jerry Hilburn and know all he has done. He had invited us to visit him again but sadly we have not been able to make it yet.

By the time we came out of his den to our surprise nothing could be seen. It had become foggy and the stars were all hidden. We had planned to be there for moon rise which is supposed to be a sight to be seen but had to return as there was nothing left to see. All the others had already left  by then.

All in all it was a wonderful evening……..Now it’s fun catching the Jupiter every evening. That’s one of the easier ones to locate in the evening sky andalso the Ursa Major. Try locating the stars …its fun.

 When we arrived in the States we had to go grocery shopping. It was not easy……whatever we looked at and noted the price, we would tend to convert it into Indian Rupees. Took up a loaf of bread and it was 3 dollars….What!!!!!!!!! 150 rupees…….in India we would have paid just 10/- to 12/- bucks. Nahi – nahi khareedna. In this manner whatever we tried to buy it was impossible for us to put it in the shopping cart…

Nikhil had taken us and he said if u do this there is no way you will buy anything. Stop converting it in Indian rupees and don’t forget whatever you buy divide the amount by five – the difference in the conversion rate and then check the price…gradually (it took us some time to get used to it) we did just that and we managed to shop. Earlier Nikhil and we would go together but gradually we weaned away.

Now it is like ‘one dollar…sasta hai le lo’. American mind ke hote ja rahe hain. Bought a fleece jacket for myself….for 10 $. Immediately converted it and found 500/- rupees good enough, so managed to buy it

 Seeing a movie means 10 $ per person (14 movie theaters in San Diego)

Going to the zoo = 30 $

Going to the Sea world = 65 $

Air show = 14 $

 Any theatre show (read drama) not less than 25 $

 Any museum = all above 18 $ (there are not less than 20 – 25 museums just in SD)

 Para Gliding – 150 $ for 40 mins

Newspapers New York Times = 2 $ daily

San Diego Union Tribune = 0.75 $ daily

Television cable (startup channels only) = 40 $ monthly

 PETROL (GASOLINE) today 2.97 – 3.21. $ A month ago 3.01 – 3.26 $ A year ago 2.59 – 2.74. $ Prices change every day and at times even on the same day.

 BUS rates: flat rate of 2.25 $ irrespective of if one travels 1 stop ahead or 10.

San Diego City Tour 4 hrs 32 $

SD + Harbor Tour 5 hrs 46 $

 SD + Mexico Border 7 hrs 48 $

 Some rates of the fruits/vegetables and grocery is also given below. A few cents here and there in different shops, but basically these are the normal prices. Sometimes we get a good bargain in some shops. Like Bhindi/ lauki are cheaper in some Indian stores (they are less here than in the bay area) and these are hardly available in normal stores like Henry, Ralphs, Traders Joe, and Vons…the normal shops where people shop for their grocery. At times one of these shops advertises discounts for items like tomatoes/potatoes/apples etc……when we see the advt. In the papers we try to get them.

(All in dollars) One pound (lb) = 16 oz = 453 gms

VEGETABLES

 POTATOES                               2.99 per 5 lb

CABBAGE                                  0.99

CAULIFLOWER                      0.89

 CARROTS                                 1.49

  BHINDI                                    1.83

LETTUCE                                  0.99

BEANS                                        1.99

GINGER                                    3.99

 DHANIA (CILANTRO)        1.OO PER GUCCHI

PETITE PEAS                           1.29

AVOCADO                                2.29 FOR 3 PCS

COCONUT                                1.49

LIMES                                       1.00

ONIONS                                     0.99

 CORN                                        1.29

SHIMLA MIRCH                    1.50

DANG BODI                               1.69

 SPINACH                                  2.29

MINT                                          1.19

BHINDI (OKRA)                     2.99

 QUINCE                                    0.59

FRUITS

 BANANAS                              0.67

 APPLE                                      1.00 – 2.50

GRAPES                                   2.49

PEARS                                      0.99

CANTALOPE /kharbuza    2.99

WATER MELON                     0.59

 ORANGES                                1.30

 MILK                                        2.49 PER GALLON

                                                     1.49 HALF GALLON

 DAHI                                        3.49

BREAD                                     2.00 – 6.00 PER PKT

 BUTTER                                  2.49

CONDENSED MILK             1.79 DABBA

 SUGAR                                   4.99 5 LB

 CHEESE CHILKA DAL     1.29

YELLOW SPLIT PEAS     0.79

 OLIVE OIL                           16.99

CFL BULB 23 W                    1.75

PS: I have started making dahi at home now after I got some Indian culture. It turns out pretty tasty and cheaper too!!!

Can u believe it? (Those who know my fear – won’t)
 I went kayaking in the Pacific Ocean.

I was baking a cake in the morning (it being a Sunday there was no rush to get lunch ready early) and was moving on to making tart cases when Nikhil told me “Get ready …we are going out” That’s all….On enquiring I came to know we were going Kayaking…..

It sounded fun and ‘safe’. I was all for it and speeded up things. We went to La Jolla Shores and two kayak boats were rented @ 35 $ each. Both two seated . Nikhil and I were in one boat and NA and Niks friend Himanshu in the other. Nikhil asked me “are u comfortable without the specs” and I said “no”. That’s it! There we go. Touched the water…..Ohhhhhhhhh so cold…….but ‘jana hai toh jana hai’. The first wave overlaps over us ‘jaan nikhal gayi’. Specs got blurred with the water…immediately understood that specs were not needed. Poor Nikhil …he had to pull back the boat and put our specs in the packet (one in which we had the camera….despite nikhils negative I was keen on taking it. After all me in the
water and no photographs?)

‘Aage bhade’…. crossed waves after waves and all of a sudden a nice calm. Rowing (with double sided paddles) became fun all of a sudden. The thought of being in the middle of the ocean was daunting but Nikhil had put it in my head nice and proper that even if the worst comes to the worst one does not drown but floats because of the life jackets and I felt pretty safe.

After about 40 minutes of rowing NA was cajoled into jumping into the ocean and he seemed to enjoy it. Then came my turn “Mummy bhi try karo” No………Never!!!! A little more prodding …’kuch mann bana’  I put my feet in the water..freezing…..thoda aur  andar dala…….not so bad…..second feet andar……..okay…now both in till the knees. Gradually got bolder and wanted to try and said okay will do as if it was a favor done. With NA between the two kayaks and me holding him tight I was in. He shifted and I held on to nikhils hand and was in the ocean finally.

Now Nikhil cajoled me into leaving his hand. I suppose you can imagine my emotions and apprehensions in doing so. But finally with all three of them prodding me I did manage to go free of all the supports and was in the water and I DIDN’T DROWN. I was floating……..so good!!!!!!! But suddenly my fear overtook me and I had to be shoved back into the kayak.

This was over……I HAD DONE IT!!! But more was to come. Nikhil asked should we go back (the kayak was rented for an hour) “Abhi toh maja aane laga hai” No way. We went ahead, at times racing between the two kayaks. Now we could see inside the ocean…the water was so crystal clear. There were yellow fishes, nice and broad, thin blue fishes, long leopard sharks (harmless) beautiful  weeds coming up (u may see a photo of it somewhere in the La Jolla photo blog) , grass , rocks and other marine animals….it was so fascinating and appealing.

“Papa snorkeling Karo” just that from Nikhil. Again a little hesitation. Nikhil made him comfortable with the snorkeling mask (goggles and nose mask) and snorkel (breathing pipe). Once he was at ease…NA stepped into the water and dived. His exclamation of awe was enough ‘mera mann chalane ke liye’. Actually right since I saw people snorkeling on my first visit to the shores I had a secret desire to do it and was preparing myself for this great event , if I ever managed to do it. But I never expected it to come my way in this manner.

I knew Nikhil was going to get at me now and before that I was getting at myself…I was ready to do it but would not go into the water. Nikhil was ready for anything, as long as I did it. So all geared up I lay on the kayak and put my head inside the water. Oh!! What a wonderful world. It was so nice and beautiful…I had no adjectives to describe this new world. What we saw from the kayak was not even minutely close to the magnificent world below. I came up and said I would do it again. Nikhil rowed the kayak making sure I enjoyed my new found world to the maximum. Kept popping my head up and down enjoying the treat and said I would do it one final time.

Was at it when all of a sudden I found everything around me dark and lo! What was this ….no support beneath my feet? I didn’t realize the reason but got panicky and unnerved. The kayak had overturned and when I realized it I died of fright. Actually I didn’t realize when the boat capsized.

When I managed to get hold of nikhil’s arm…..or was it he who caught me, I was screaming….all theories of relax if something goes wrong had gone to naught. I was screaming for NA (they had gone away leaving us (me) to enjoy our snorkeling. Nikhil tried to flip the boat with me clinging to his arms like mad. Was not easy. He was worried of the camera packet as he had seen it dangling in the water. (He was sure I would not drown so at this point the camera was more important to save) He told me to hold him by his neck and I did it in a daze…

It was then that they (Himanshu and NA) realized something was wrong behind them. Later we were told  that when they had  turned to see us enjoy they saw us both in the water and the kayak turned turtle…they rowed back on the double and it took greater effort this time to put me back in the kayak. Himanshu will not forget this day for a long time…it was he who got down in the freezing water to push me up and Nik pulling me by the hand. Actually Nikhil wanted to adjust my weight on the one side with his on the other and while adjusting a little miscalculation and this happened.

Once up in the kayak I was trembling not with fear (I was numb so there was no feeling) this time but the cold. I suppose I was the only one fully clothed into the water. However we were on our return. Nearing the shores we again saw innumerable leopard sharks……so huge and pretty. Again I was excited to see them close and also to get over my fear I tried to snorkel (again sitting in the kayak). So many of them and so close. It was a dream comes true.

This adventure finally had to end….came home and had a nice hot shower and lunch…What a memorable day!!!!!!
 

PS: NA‘s hanky had dropped in the ocean when he was snorkeling……..he too was with his tee on. Chalo gaya toh gaya………..but know what? Himanshu had got into the ocean to have a swim and he had dived in to enjoy the snorkeling and there he had it. The hanky was in his hand.

I had taken a cap with me as it was a sunny day…..usually I forget it and the sun gets at me…….now what do u expect happened? I just don’t know at what point the cap vanished….I realized it was not there before my adventure started. Sorry Nidhi about it.

check a few photos on picassaweb.google.com/geeta.rasiwasia/kayaking

 HAD A CHILDHOD DREAM OF SEEING THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE SINCE I WAS IN CLASS 6/7. HAD A BOOK….NATURAL WONDERS OF THE WORLD BY READERS DIGEST AND THRU IT I WAS FACINATED BY THIS GATE AND THE GRAND CANYON…..but never in my dreams did I think I would one day see it live……..Nikhil made this dream come true……My feelings ! Well I think no words would suffice the excitement, fulfillment and thrill while there. If one could see me they would see me with my eyes filled with tears…tears of happiness, ecstasy and atypical sense of triumph and achievement in spite of doing nothing.

 The Golden Gate bridge is actually gigantic and beautiful. Thinking of the time it was built in….it really is a feat both in terms of structure and aesthetic appeal. It took four years in the making and was opened in 1937 and till 1964 it was the longest suspension bridge. Its total length is 8981 ft and width is 90 ft. The toll bridge amount is 6$ and has to be paid only one way. Can u imagine the amount of cable used only in the main cables….129000 kms of wire which would go around the word 3.21 times. Each of the main cable is made of 27572 strands of wire. U will see it when I upload the photos. One piece of the main cable is put for the visitors to see. . (the round piece behind us actually has 27572 strands of wire)

 San Francisco is a beautiful city. Each road we go to has a different story to tell. There is Haight-Ashbury which is the birth place of the Hippies’ cult. Then there is Chinatown which has Chinese style of building and eating joints and a lot of Chinese are seen strolling around. It’s the largest in North America. It is another world altogether. Again there is the Japan town made in the Japanese style structures. There is a five tiered Peace Pagoda here.

There is a crooked road in Lombard Street when eight hairpin switchbacks and the downward pitch of the self proclaimed “Crookedest Street in the World” is located The quarter mile downhill stretch is lined with gorgeous gardens and barriers to ensure that drivers maintain a speed of five miles .….. There is the Alamo Square where the Victorian houses are picture postcard.

Actually SFO has a lot of steep roads much steeper than what i have seen in Shillong. Its scary to drive down a few fearing brake failures. And going up too is difficult if the pick up of the car is not good (as in Nikhil’s car)

Sadly could not spend more time in SFO as we stayed most near the bridge but Nikhil drove us to most of the important locations.  Some places would have loved to get down but we could’nt just park on the roadsides as we do in India and the driving had to be fast so there are not too many photos . Quite a few of the ones I have taken are from our speeding car.

This  also is  in the bay area a little north of Nikhils place in Sunnyvale. Beautiful apartment with streams and creeks all around.

First of all can u believe I am eating at non-veg joints……poor me but there was no way out as, unless we did it Nikhil would have no place to take us to for eating. Here is a list of the new things we tried here as yet:

Fruits….Nectarines, tangerines, blue berry, black berry, prunes

Meals ….Mediterranean – Falafel, humus, tahini sauce, rice, pilaf

Thai – Yellow curry, red curry, flat noodles spicy, fried rice

Mexican – burritos, tacos( not what we know in India) chalupas. They put salads in this which is just out of the world. The lettuce leaves are so good it’s hard to believe it can be so tasty while in India. Soft and crunchy.

Afghani –  Roti called bulani  It’s a huge roti filled with moong dal sabut veg form. Was very tasty.

Remember Twix chocs….had twix ice cream…..it was just too good.

Coconut sandwich…..nothing sandwich about it but the name. It was coconut with choc covering both sides (like our limchoo ice cream on stick) Had this in Google and it’s their specialty I suppose.

Japanese – Tea of two varieties called Hochi and another stronger variety. Hochi was just garam pani and some flavor and the other was strong i could not take. this we had with rice crackers.

Frozen yogurt……a little sour dahi which looks like cream and is frozen like icecream. . its served with four toppings of our choice from among a variety of fruits and crackles. Something different and nice.

European – Hash Brown in breakfast. Nikhil says its common but for us it was new. Its simply potatoes grated thickly and cooked with a little oil – then baked. its spice less..not even salt. Add it later as per taste. I quite liked it.

So this is our food ka Ramayan. More to come soon once we land in San Diego today.

The airport job was smooth sailing. No luggage problem….no emigration problem ….no no problem. The route taken by the flight was via Russia, Finland and Denmark…..that in it self gave me goose bumps. The flight cruised about 35000 miles above land and the temperature there was -72 degrees. Had night for most part of the journey with sunrise redness for about 3 to 4  hrs which was quite an experience in itself. Then immediate after that there was the sunset effect at around Finland I suppose. The snow around Denmark was breath taking. Still cant get over that effect. Gradually dusk fell and finally night and we landed in amrica at about 4 in the morning 45 mins before time. Took the trolley there which cost us 5 $ a huge sum but Nikhil had prepared us for it. We hardly slept in the flight, just about 3 hrs in 24 hrs and did not eat much. Flight food was …….no no negatives.

Meeting Nikhil did give us a high. His 7th hand car was wow to us but he said andar ki baat hai gadi mein dum nahi hai. His apartment too is wow but we are here till Monday morning only. He has finished his internship yesterday.

So what did we do these three days…..well slept and slept. Our stomach wants food India time. Sleeps comes India time….this is jet lag I suppose but now getting used to it. Walked around this area this is the city of Sunnyvale about 60 miles from San Francisco. Try getting any guidance about the roads……..people are nonexistent on the roads. Just make do with your road sense and Nikhil’s guidance.

There is an Indian store next door which is actually a bhanmati ka pitara…no shop in India has so many Indian stuff at a go……….yahan ki sabji/phal dekh ka wow effect hua……….the trees and greenery in general is wow effect. The atmosphere is great……..aaj teen din ho gaye but not a speck of dust in the house. No need to sweep and clean. This apartment has the latest facility…..washing machine clothes dryer, micro wave, cooking range, dish washer, vacuum cleaner, press etc. N latest in the bathroom too.

Yesterday made sathe ki roti. Nikhil likes it. Now how to seko it on the electric range. Made do with the sauce pan for the tava …Nikhil gave a small gas stove…his camping one when I had problem seekoing the roti and made an impromptu chimta for me with two forks when I wondered how to hold the roti over the gas….try using it, it gives a better grip than the original. Loved it.

I suppose this is all for now…..may go to San Francisco today to see my dream Golden Gate.

Observations

1. No sight of birds or their chirping in spite of greenery all around

2 when one crosses the roads no looking left or right and running off. Instead go to the walking area…press a button on the pillar pedestrian light goes white. U cross and then all the cars coming have to wait.

3. Parking in the garage…press a remote. The gates open. Just park and get done.

4. a lot of pine trees around. The pines are bigger and the cones 4 times the size of india.

5. sanata all around. Except for the sound of cars no noise. Its quiet as a cemetery inspite of there being a lot of technical headquarters all around here.

6. no sight of people. How do they manage without being seen….i wonder.