View from aircraft "An open minded Indian Woman visits USA and the views are entirely hers. She is full of appreciation for all those small and big amenities enjoyed by its people. She wishes all these amenities for her people in India as well."
Tuesday March 6th 2007Dear all
Well The Great news I am finally in the USA Now the story of my journey : The takeoff affairs at Mumbai airport was very tense as I had to do so many things and I was rushed for time. When I sat in my seat at last, I was hungry, stressed due to all those ques, formalities and relieved to be at last on my way out of India. I had a window seat with a lady in red coat next to me one Gujarathi women from Ahemedabad who had a upas (fasting) so saved all troubles for herself of eating all the terrible stuff served on board. Lalitha, the seat is similar to the bus seat in Asiad bus. Imagine sitting like that for 9 hours+. At the end of this journey my knees and legs were aching. Every time you want to go to loo, the passenger next must get up and give space, I was constantly thinking how much people ( especially our children) suffer while travelling to US. Well I expected food to be served at once no chance. The hostess were not warm and friendly at all. It was like traveling in some unreserved class., So I opened one biscuit packet (Sridhu u remember we had bought one ) and ate that. The scene from craft when we take off at night is breathtaking, the entire city with lights looks like some intricate jewelery patterns During your night flight every time a jewelery pattern comes in to view, you know you are going over some city. -
We touched schiphol airport in Amsterdam after 9+ hours of flying. Schiphol is huge huge huge. Just like escalator, you have those moving belts for walking too from one point to another( like tread mills exercising machines). there are also mini 4 seaters driven by air port people to help old, handicapped people move within the air port. But everything is very expensive and people do not talk English. I could not locate drinking water, you have to buy only a small half liter water bottle that costs 1.5 euro I had a hot cocoa that cost me 4$ and a cofee which costs me 1.8 euro's. The cofee was pure decoction with no milk or sugar. . I just longed for our cheap country with lovely coffee and tea. In the flight the coffee servered was like some azhukku tanni ( dirty turbid water) . I just threw it. away
The good thing about this craft was each of us get a small TV screen and a remote and a head phone to watch what we want, movies , game music anything. There was also announcement in good Hindi. At Schiphol the flight was delayed by 1.5 hours. I just looked around. because everything is so costly, I could not even think of buying. Even then I had spent 10$ and was hungry too. Anything is min. 10 Euros
The flight from Amsterdam to Chicago was the best part of my journey. The hostess was very beautiful and absolutely charming. How she could be so pleasant and smiling with so much of work I really admired her. All the crew were like that. As soon as we took off we were served roasted almonds and some drink. You could have your choice cofee, tea, pepsi, fanta, beer, fresh juice, even hard liquor. I opted for fresh orange as I felt I will regain some energy. This was followed shortly by superb lunch dal, chaval, chappati, rajma, raitha, icecream and dahi. Surprisingly this food was really hot and tasty. Any number of times drinks were available. I thought since we were doing trans Atlantic we would be looking at the sea. but all we see is the clouds below us Only one place we flew over snow covered land and mountains and it was awesome sight. The announcements were in American English and I understood nothing. Luckily they put a video and give you a head phone so you can listen and see to what is explained. Well more in next mail love
vatsala Thursday March 8th 2007Dear All
Well Life in USA is different (read luxurious and comfortable) in so many ways
At Mumbai airport and at Chicago airport the difference is so evident. At
Mumbai airport it was long ques, wait, tension and noise. At the end
of it I felt so drained out and hassled. Chicago airport handles
massive traffic yet the procedures are simple, very quick, stress
free. The lack of crowd, noise and dirt makes one feel so comfortable
( at least for me ). There were so many clearance counters at Chicago
Immigration that I was out in less than 45 min. and though I was on my
own there was absolutely no problem.
As soon as we landed Vivek drove me around downtown Chicago. It is the
business hub like peddar road, Napien Sea road in Mumbai. The rich and
the famous live here. It has very tall skyscrappers ( your neck pains
when ever you try to look up to see the entire building) but the
architecture of each building is different and very beautiful. Lake
Michigan is on one side. The lake is actually like sea with proper
waves. So much to see that vivek said you will require 2 days to
really see these places. So we are going again sometime. This drive
had a dream like touch to it as it was my first visual of the grandeur of
America
Life at vivek's place: Champaign and Urbana are twin cities separated
by a road. Like this side of road is Champaign and that side is
Urbana. The place is very beautiful with well lit very broad roads
Balaji the signals on the road are so clear. Every time they change you
get a shock. Traffic moves very smoothly. No one ever breaks rules so
driving is very relaxed. Seat belt is compulsory at all times even for
short drives vivek insists I wear.
I felt jet lagged for 2 days sleepy, severe headache. Today I am fine
Vivek's building ( as also all buildings I suppose ) has a electronically
secured entrance . Only if you have the key or you know the house
number you can enter. If you do not have the key you can call the
house number. One can talk to that person from inside the house and by
pressing a button, the outside door will open. Then there is a long
well lit carpeted corridor like a hotel and doors to apartments in a
row. There is absolutely no communication with neighbors. No one
knows who lives next doors. I find that unnerving as we in India
really have community living. We live with our neighbors, plants and
animals , traffic which makes life so interesting. He has a one room
studio apartment with all comforts. It is as big as our house minus
the kitchen.
Vivek's building EntranceWeather: Ice cold outside but inside the house it is fine. There is
ice outside the house and i feel like walking on it. It looks solid
hard but if we put out foot, then it is crunchy and crumbles. It is
fun. To go out I put on all the possible warm clothes and look like
Hardy.
Only my eyes are visible. The walk from home to car is ok but
y'day vivek made me walk a short distance and I was freezing. Then he
got me hot coffee. The coffee and tea they drink here is minus sugar and
milk. and tastes different. Everytime we buy coffee I am optimistic that
this time it is bound to be better but alas no such luck so far..
Vivek and Vidya walking down Clark St.We visited the UIUC student union building and it is like a 5 star
lounge so so charming. the wood works and the interiors are so
aesthetically done up and you see nothing but the best quality
everywhere. Even smallest things reflect design and quality and
comfort. sai peripa would have been amused at the taps here. They
rotate freely at all angles to give you water of varying temperatures
from ice cold to boiling hot.
malls: in US everything is giant sized. vivek took me to Walmart which
is likie 2 Nigdi roads combined in length and breadth, Spencer daily
looks like a miniature mall in comparison.In fact Vivek joked that if
you want a long walk just drop in here. Things are fairly priced.
What you are sure about is the high std. of hygiene and quality.
Balaji the cheese varieties are mind blowing an entire length of one
side is filled with them.
Y'day vivek walked me to his work place. "The co-ordinated Computer
Research lab" I felt proud to read that the current director is
"Ravishankar Iyer". It is a state of art building and the security
mechanisms reminded me of hollywood movies. Nowhere you can move from
one room to another without elecronic security card validation.
Social life: as I mentioned earliar it is you in your own island. You
have to have your friends network. They drop in and talk ( generally
about how one could make more money, the deals they got on so many
things, etc.. )
The dry bathroom : The closed living demands that nothing should be
wet as smells linger. So bathrooms are dry all the time. You have to
bathe in a tub and it is dry cleaning for kokki. Takes some time to
enjoy that!
Love to all
Vatsala
Friday March 9th 2007y.day was my first enjoyable walk in Champaign in bright sunny sky. Though the sun seems so close and blazing, the temp. is 0 C and it is ice cold. You must have all your gears for cold ( atleast for me)
The roads are very broad and clean. The buildings have a old world charm. Very few tall skyscrapers here. All buildings are gen. 2 storied.
The streets are lined grass, and 2 types of trees, one coniferous like our christmas tree which are ever green and the other decidous which do not have a single leaf and only the tree structure. Together they make a nice combination all over the landscape. Shall send some photos of them soon.
The streets are lined with parking meters thro out on the sides. I saw people inserting somethings ( coins? card? ) and park. Immed. it displays what is the allowed time to park and how many more minutes are left for you.
There is the towing vehicle on the move constantly that tows away any vehicle with parking violation.Vivek also drove me around a 5 story parking lot. Hari lines are drawn for each car and you have to park exactly there. No random parking. Else fine. speed and parking violations are severely dealt with. Vivek says you have to go to court face a magistrate and pay your fine to get your car back. so much hassle and so no wonder no one wants to violate rules.
There are small mountains of ice everywhere. Y'day due to the bright sun there was melting so the roads were wet as if it had rained. When the sun vanished and the temp. dropped, this water refreezed and formed thin shining sheets of ice all over. This forms a very deceptive slippery surface and you have to be careful not to step on that. It is a sure fall else.
I also had so much of time hanging on my hands . There is a book on drawing and Ii spent hours learning to draw and shade a tower. The result is quite decent and shall send you the evidence of my efforts.
Love to all there
Vatsala
