A tryst with California

Exactly a month ago , when I left from home to board my flight to "The land of opportunities", I had mixed feelings : I was apprehensive but excited, precarious yet optimistic. I had spent countless sleepless nights wondering what awaits me here.(and unconsciously getting by body clock accustomed to US time :-))

Finally, on 24th of March I landed at SanFrancisco airport. Being unaware of the fact that the airport is right next to the ocean, I started repenting my decision to give up learning swimming in college, as I feared that the plane is going to crash into the ocean and I am going to drown :-). I reached my hotel safely in an hour and by then I had gathered a few impressions. Firstly, it was all impressively neat and tidy unlike what I had seen so far. Second of all, people around were very helpful and co-operative and friendly.

The first week just flew by getting accustomed to the new place,new schedule and new people.That weekend I went around San Francisco with few friends. We went to Point Reyes in bear valley and trekked for about 6 miles in the hills by the pacific ocean. We then stopped by at the golden gate bridge. This is the bridge which can be seen in all the San Francisco's pamphlets, ads etc lit up in its glory.On our way back, we went crooked street (roads here have slopes of the order of 45 degrees and wierdest curvatures) which was followed by a gourmet dinner ( :-)) in a pakistani restaurant.

The next weekend was spent skiing at north star resort in Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is the third largest lake of america and is known for its clarity and oustanding purity.The view at the lake was breathtaking : Snow capped mountains on all 4 sides and an enormous lake with crystal clear water presented such serene surrounding that all I wanted to do was to sit there forever.But as all good things come to an end, we had to come back and get ready for our journey back.And thus flew by my first month in California ......

Unaccostomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

When I picked this book, I was under the impression that this will be another banal story of Indians settled in the west and caught up in an identity crisis . But I din't know that I was in for a pleasant surprise. Well ofcourse, there were all the constituents that make up for an Indo-western masala book but the way it was presented was something which was pretty new and amusing to me.

The book is a collection of stories from different walks of our lives.But what ties all the stories together is the fact that each of these stories brings out something interesting from seemingly simple characters and their otherwise un-interesting lives : An old man falling in love again after his wife's death and unable to tell his children , A sister trying to pull her brother out of his addiction without any support from her parents, A woman and a man meeting again after 20 years but unable to decide for good at the right time , the list goes on..... Read it for yourself. If nothing else it will remind you that there are no "lived happily ever after" endings always:-)