Parents trip to America

Prelude:- The first time I left the soil of America in April 2004, I knew I would be back, not single but with my parents. Yes, that I knew for sure that the next time I come to US, I needed to get my parents. Well I came again and left within 5 months and then came again on the 14th May 2005. This trip my dear friend Sujata who also wanted to get her parents coaxed me into filing the papers (well coaxed me because I was on a short trip, and the dates for visas were after 4 months). After all the papers were send and I prepared my parents for the interview and the all the help from immihelp website and my sister they finally got their visas on Aug 29th(lucky day- my mom's bday). Summer was officially coming to an end but I did not know if I would get a chance again and so I coaxed them to fly. Their tickets were booked for the Sept 11th 2005.

Sept11th2005: I was all excited for their arrival and went to the JFK airport. Flight (Air India) usually arrives by 3pm, my idea was to take them back via train. I knew they would be very excited as it was thier first trip in a flight :) I entered the airport and looked at the arrivals. No mention of Air India. A flight could be delayed that I can understand but not to be listed was not something I thought I would have to handle.
A little while later an Air India flight attendant mentioned that the flight was bird struck at London and had to make an emergency landing and there was no ETA.
What I could do but wait. From evening 3 to 6 and still no news. Anxious monemnet passed by al the while talking to Gopi on the pay-phone and he reasuuring me. Finally at 8pm they announced that the flight was diverted to Chicago from London. Immigration check would happen at Chicago and then a domestic flight would bring them to JFK. Finally at 3 am the flight landed at JFK. My parents were happy to see me and I was relieved to see them. A note here-when the flight changed from London to Chicago they got to travel First Class as economy was full(first surprise). As it was late at night I knew I would not get any trains. It so happened there was another couple who wanted to travel to Hartford and there were lots of limo drivers, so we shared an actual limousine. So the first time my parents travelled from JFK to Stamford was in a limousine(second surprise).

The first thing I did was to buy a pre-paid cell phone. The first trip I organized with my ever reliable Chinatown bus tours was NewHaven,Rhode Island,NewPort,Boston. I was a good 2 day weekend trip. I also wanted to familiarize them with the China town buses as they would be travelling their future trips with them.
Their next trip was Niagara Falls. I dropped them at NY at the bus office and picked them back the next day. The next trip was to Philadelphia-Washington D.C. The got some Indian company and enjoyed it well. One of the weekends was also kept to visit our friends in Philly whom I regularly visit when I am in the east Coast.
One weekend we went to Yale University and Mohegan Sun.
Fall had started and Gopi came to vist them, we planned a trip of White Plains and New Jersey, while returning we stopped at Atlantic City. Dad wanted to play but as it was late we had to go back. We also went all the way to North Hampshire to see the fall leaves.
One weekend I decided to show them around New York, I had a couple of places in mind. As soon as we reaced Grand Central there was a whole lot of extra crowd and we could see that some sort of shooting was going on. I was not very keen as I was detaling the plan. Suddenly my mom exclaimed, look its Karan Johar and next to him Shah Rukh Khan and yes indeed. They were shooting for Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. We saw them at very close quarters and then went to see the Statue of Liberty. On return from there we saw Rani Mukherjee. After this star studded show we managed to go to Empire State Bldg, UN Bldg, wax Musuem,Times Square and then back home.

The long trip that I had planned for them was California. Mom,dad and me flew from here and Gopi joined us there. Our first stop was Universal Studios at LA, the next day was Sea World at San Diego. The third day we drove through Yosemite Park to SFO. The fourth day we spend time at Ghiradelly, Golden gate bridge, rose garden before flying back to Stamford.
Oct end they flew back to India.
I was very happy and thrilled with their visit and that I could manage to show them all these places.

Crazzzzzzzzzzzy Volleyball

I was no master to the game, infact I did not even know how to hold a ball in my hand.
I am an athelete at heart having all the desires to do great but I have never got into the actualities of playing.
I am not a sportsperson just because of the very few outdoor games that I play but the energy and enthusiasm that I have is confirmation enuf that if I had the proper foundation for being one I would be pretty damn good at it.

My baby Nephew

Jan 18th 2008: A Friday- I clearly remember this day as this week-end I had decided not to travel to Pune from Mumbai over the week-end. I was travelling continuously for the past 2 months and was very tired. I clearly needed some rest for myself. And just 2 days before gee had called telling that Jithan wanted to visit Mumbai and so they both would come here and it was our responsiblity to take them around. It was Friday nite at office and i couldnt wait for the day to get over to go home. Gee mentioned he would be calling me before they leave around 7:30 ish. 

I was having a client call and my cell started vibrating. Well as it would jus tbe my uncle I thought of taking the call after the call was done in about 10 minutes. That is when the new mesage icon flashed on my cell and on opening it was my sister telling they were going to the hospital for her delivery. I was thrilled but it also meant I would have to travel to Pune again but so what......I called them back and they were on their way to the hospital. Mom said that my bro-in-law was flying in from delhi and since his flight would get him to Mumbai we should all come together.

I immediately called my bro-in-law who said his flight would reach by 1 pm at night and we could meet him at the airport.At 1:00 midnite myself and Gopi went to the airport all the while in between calling to ask how she was and if the baby was born, but it looked like even the baby was waiting for us to reach :). Wwe reached the airport at around 2am, the same time the flight reached. A car was already waiting for us- so in we all hopped and reached Pune directly to the Jehangir hospital at 5:30 am in the morning.

19th Jan 2008: We directly went to the Maternity section and the hospital was empty except for one lone stranger who was sleeping in the waiting room. Apart from him there was Anil, my aunt and my mom inside with my sis. I went inside to take a look and she was asleep with the pain :(. My dad and others were at home and they would come in the morning. My mom asked me and Gopi to go home and get some rest and come back in the morning, even though I did not want to go I reluctantly agreed but the next train was only at 6:30, so we sat doing a lot of time-pass there actually debating whether it was a boy or a girl. We all voted for a girl except for Vijay and Anil who said it would be a boy. At 6:15 am some of the nurses came for a check-up and said that the baby would be delivered soon, so then we decided to stay , but nothing seemed to be happening and as we were very hungry we went and had some poha and tea at the restaurant just outside. it was 8:30 by now, there was a India-Australia match going on and Australia was playing very well with no one getting out so much of our conversation was even directed there.by this time the waiting room was full of people. I was very tired and managed to cuddle at a corner. I just got a nap when at 9:20 my mom came out and said that they had taken my sis to the labour room and it would soon happen. I couldnt sleep after that and me and Vijay were waiting outside the labour room. Even the security lady waiting outside was anxious and she went inside to check and after some time came out telling the baby was born. I ran to tell my mom, Gopi and others. Then they called my mom inside with a towel and soap and oil and she came out and told us it was a boy. Soon the doctor followed telling it was a boy and both mother and son were fine. Then they called the father and us inside to take a look at the newborn. There he came out with a pretty lady nurse all wrapped in a white towel outside to this NEW WORLD!

Recruitment Drive to Gwalior- March 16-18, 2007

I was called for yet another campus recruitment drive to Gwalior. I was all excited as I had never been to that place before.
March 16th 4:00 am. Woke up early and myself and Suj came to office as some early morning work was to be compelted. At 5:30 am we both caught at taxi from office and picking up Kujs on our way we reached the Domestic airport at 6:20 am. our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:15 am. After collecting our boarding-passes we directly went for the security check and then boarded the Kingfisher flight. In the flight we got introduced to some more members of our travel like Gency, Raj, Chandni, Jyothi and Archita. On flight we were given break-fast and we reached delhi at the scheduled time of 9:30 am.

One day trip to Alibaug-Murud-Kashid !!!

Well, I was eagerly waiting for the Oct 1st weekend. Oct 2nd being the 137th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi was a national holiday and what with it coming on a Monday meant a long week- end for me at Pune :)
On thursday evening Gopi asked me if I wanted to go for this 1 day trip to Alibaug. Umesh & family would be there(I had not met family for quite some time a year to be more precise), Ryan and few others would be accompanying. I had been to Alibaug about 10 years back and since it was a 1 day trip I could always go to Pune on Sunday and so I gave my consent.

Friday nite Gopi booked the Sumo and asked him to come at 5:00 a.m. I am not very keen on trips that start so early in the morning :(, I love my early morning sleep. Trips should start at nite. No one would listen to me I'm sure so I got up at 4:30 and was ready at 5:00 a.m dot. By 5:15 we started receiving calls from Shyam, Umesh, Ryan but none from the driver. Finally after making calls to the travel agency at 5:40 we had the driver come at 6:00 a.m. His first pick-up was myself and Gopes from Dattani park, from there we went to Kulupwadi to get Shyam and then to Dheeraj Savera to get the Amre family. Here it is that I met Param Amre for the first time and what a way to meet. The minute I picked him he screamt his lungs out and I gave him back to his Dad. We left via Andheri and on the way picked Ryan and set out to Alibaug The City of Sun, Sand, Peace and Harmony !!!

We stopped at Panvel for our breafast which included idli, wada, dosa and chai ofcourse. To reach Alibaug you have to go through Pen and there is greenery on the entire stretch. We started with Antakshari with the guys vs i.e (Umesh, Ryan and Gopi) the ladies (Sharda and myself). Shyam gave the driver company and since he had a couple of night-outs he slept through all our singing. We had a good competition going on with some excellent background music provided by Umesh :). In between the competition Umesh got a call and as technically it was the guys who interrupted it, the LADIES WON!!!
Amre Jr slept well whenever the Sumo moved and got up prompltly when we stopped. Quite efficient I must say.

At 11:30 we reached Alibaug beach. The attraction here is ofcourse the unspoilt bech and the Kolaba fort. It is situated at 1-2 kms from the shores. At the time of fall one can walk to the fort in waist-deep waters. We saw a few people walking to the fort but since the tide was high we decided to walk across the shores. From here we drove to Murud- Janjira. On the way we saw the Vikram Ispat company and also the Birla Ganesh Temple. But since it was closed at the time we went we decided to visit it during our return.

By this time it was noon and we decided to stop at Kashid Beach Resort for our lunch. (had heard good reviews about it). We entered the restaturant but to our dismay found that they only served buffet and that too at the price of 250/- per head. Now we felt that was a bit too expensive and so after Param had his lunch we left the place to find something else. Finally it was at Murud that we found a decent restaurant. They had an indoor facility but we all decided to sit outside beneath the coconut groves, having lunch enjoying the nature. Little did we know that this choice of ours would make us pay for an extra thali. Well what happened was that we all ordered for Non-veg thalis minus Shyam ofcourse and as we were busy eating we had these 2 cats which sat under our table. Now one of them decided to do a little wandering and brushed against Ryan's leg which scared him once, now that should have made him more alert but our Mr cat decided to do some more under the table wandering and for the 2nd time it scared Ryan so much that he upset the water- filled glasses on the table which fell all over Gopi's half eaten plate and hence the order for one more thali. After the mouth-watering lunch we had some kufi for desert.

From here we went to Murud Janjira fort. We took a boat that took us to the fort. We also had a tour- guide explaining about the fort. The fort is build in the sea 2 Kms. inside of Murud.The fort is old one but still very strong. Some monuments inside and the walls of the fort are destroyed after so many years now. But the toughness of the fort can be still felt and that would be because of the lead or "sheesha" used in the joints of the rocks as told to us by our guide. It was 5:30 by the time we left the fort and drove back to Alibaug. On the way is Kashid and we decided to halt for 15 mins. But this 15 mins turned out to be more than an an hour. Kashid is beautiful, it has a 3 km stretch of beach with the cleanest, whitest sands and coconut grooves that makes it just perfect for a beach holiday. After getting our feet wet in the water we had chai, pav- omlete, kanda bhaji and at 7:30 pm we left the place. Since we were already late we dropped the plan to go to Birla temple and left for Mumbai.

On the way back there were general discussions on "what qualities you expect in a guy/girl", "things you would be doing 1 year down the lane" and we just got to the interesting topic of "craziest things done so far " with Shyam mentioning his when we reached Panvel and myself and Gopi bid adieu to the rest of the group as we decided to go to Pune and they went back to Mumbai.

Epilogue:- I still say trips should always start in the evenings or late at nite. I love my early morning sleep

To my True FRIEND

To you my True Friend I lay myself bare,
To you my True Friend I lay all my despairs,
In happiness or sadness it is you with whom I share,
For I know that you are the one who cares.

It is in your eyes that I see myself so beautiful,
It is your silence that feels so comfortable,
It is your support that makes me so strong,
For I know that you are the one who will always be there.

Our week-end escape to Ganapatipule (the sand dunes of Lord Ganpati)

The monsoons had started in Mumbai. People all around us were going for treks, picnics and all I did was the week-end travel to Pune. Gopi felt the need to getaway from Mumbai too, so after a bit of googling he decided on Ganapatipule. Ganapatipule is situated along the western coast of Maharashtra 375 kms south of Mumbai, along the Konkan coast. It is significant to the Hindus for the famous Ganpati temple. The entire coastline is also breathtakingly beautiful with the beautiful beaches overhung by the cliffs.

Neways 19th August week-end was decided for the trip. We already got our train and resort bookings done. The group consisted of Nitesh, Ryan, Jo, Gopi, Nittu, myself with Pawan as a last minute entry :)

Our reservation was made in the JanmShatabdi Express from Dadar at 5:30 am in the morning. For once I did not mind waking up at 3:15 a.m. We caught the 4:28 slow train from Borivali and reached Dadar by 5:15 a.m. Dadar being the first stop the train was already at the platform. We boarded the train which left the station right-on-time. Immediate hunger pangs had us munching on veg sandwiches which we bought from the train. Last nite's sleeplessness saw me sleeping through the entire train journey missing the scenic beauty of the Western ghats. We reached Ratnagiri station at 11:00 a.m. The first thing that immediately struck all of us was the "SUN SHINE". Out came the sun glasses and the cameras. We all struck some poses at the station all the while waiting for Jo's uncle.

Jo's uncle had a Sumo arranged for our trip. He first took us to his Bank where over a cup of tea the discussions varied from horse-racing to French influence in Pondicherry, muslim community in Ratnagiri ....
He introduced us to our driver Sandesh who would then be in charge of our entire trip. We decided to go to our hotel at Ganapatipule first which is 40km from the main city.
On the way we decide to play Dumbcharades. It was lots of fun with Pawan trying to unsuccessfully act out movies which none of us could understand and Ryan proving to us that he could enact a movie just in seconds. As we reached our resort we could see the breathtaking beautiful beaches with the white sands lined with lots of coconut trees.

We reached the MTDC resort at 3 pm and asked the driver to meet us at 4 pm. While we got fresh Nittu and Ryan placed the order at the nearby MTDC restaurant. For lunch we had some really good quality food.

At 4pm we set out for some sight seeing. Our first stop was the 4000 year old land mark - the Swayambhu Ganapati temple (Swayambhu means 'self-made', this is a temple of the self-originated idol, Ganapati). After the lords' darshan we went to a place know as "Prachin Kokan". Here accompanied by our guide Geeta we got an insight into how the whole Barter system worked in the olden days. A halt at their shop saw some of us buying some paintings and the famous kokam sharbet.
Our next stop was at the birthplace of the famous Marathi Poet Keshavsoot. We took a look at the now renovated and converted house of the poet into a library, open-air theatre. From here our next stop was at the Shiv Sagar hotel which had an interior like that of a king's palace. It is said that there would be a film shooting there this Diwali. Our final destination for the day was much awaited as we went to the beach. After having some coconut water with lots of malai we all hit the beach. initially I preferred to stay out of the water but seeing everyone playing I could no longer stop myself. Ryan, Jo, Gopi, Nittu and myself played in the water with each one trying to pull the other in the water. Nitesh preferred to stay by himself in the water while Pawan opted to be out of it altogether. Finally with the night creeping and the tides getting higher we left the beach and went to our rooms. After having a bath we had dinner at the same restaurant. At dinner the Catch The Word Antakshari game started and the day ended with a game of UNO at the hotel room.

The next day we awoke at 7:00 am (average time considering all people) and checked out of the hotel at 8 am to Marleshwar. This is 60 kms from Ganapatipule, famous for it's Shiva temple and waterfalls. On the way we halted at a Shivaji temple (don't recall the name), the view from atop this hill was really spectacular. From here we went to Ratnagiri for breakfast. All of us devoured on some lip-smacking upma,wada sambhar,misal pav and finally some sheera.
We reached Marleshwar at 11:00. The temple is situated in a cave on top oh a hill. After taking this darshan we went to watch the nearby falls. There are lots of waterfalls here but looking at the wave current no one ventured to go very near. Soon it also started raining and we decided to get back to the Sumo. For lunch Sandesh took us to Hotel Shubam which he proclaimed had very good food. We ordered for fish thali, prawns biryani, fried Surmai fish and some crab curry. Though I did not njoy the fish curry a lot rest of the items were delicious and we ended the lunch by a glass full of sol kadhi. Our final stop was at Tiba Point. From here the view of the entire city was spectacular.

Finally at 4:00 we left for Ratnagiri station, after telling our goodbyes and thanks to Sandesh we went to the platform 2 where our train was scheduled to come. The train was 40 mins late and hence we decided to play a round of DONKEY at the platform. The game continued even after we got into the train and though there were a lot of contenders for the position of DONKEY it was finally Jo who managed to acheive it. We then started with UNO, in between we were served dinner(Puri bhaji & Veg Pulao). We finally reached Dadar at 11:30 pm, caught the train to Borivali and was in bed by 12:30 a.m. Thus ended our amazing trip to a another world of religion and relaxation.

Epilogue: The trains of Mumbai are crowded even on a Sunday nite at 12:00 am midnite. Wonder what peope do travelling so late ???

http://in.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pawan_0307/album?.dir=/f135scd&.src=ph&.tok=ph6XYZFBzhY.ti3V