bala and duma's excellent US adventure

"Dude, we're actually going?"
"Dude, we're actually going."
"It's finally happening"
"Finally"
That was me and Bala on the Emirates from Chennai, headed towards our BEST trip, ever..
So many "bests" actually come to mind when I think of the last two weeks..
Best City - New York, Manhattan - without doubt!
Best Bar - Jekyll and Hyde in Manhattan
Best Eye-Candy Spot - Disneyland!
Best View - Iguano Point, Grand Canyon
Best Money Spent - Emirates A380!
Best Dish - Steak at Toro's, the Tapas Bar in Boston
Best Drink - Pirates Rum at Hobsons, New York
Best Laugh - @Suzanne's playing the 'Lost' Game
Best last minute decision - Philly
Best 2 weeks ever - Read on..

May1
The way this trip fell into its scheme of things was a story in itself. It was way back in January, when the thought struck me, and I made a call to Bal who was in Jharkhand at that time, and I was in a small village called Khanvel in a forgotten Union Territory of India called Dadra and Nagar Haveli! Yea, big surprise that that call even went through. But not only did it go through, but it was also the first of many calls that got things rolling. Soon I was rushing to Chennai for my Visa interview, straight from my Singapore trip. I boarded my flight in Singapore on a Friday evening, and by the Monday morning, I had to meet Bala in Chennai with all my papers ready. The interview itself was a funny incident, coz none of the papers I carried came of any use at all. My interviewer just saw my application and started cracking jokes about me being a soap seller at HUL and in 2 minutes, stamped my form and asked me to collect the passport the next day! It was that simple! To think I had so much tension about this one interview!
Between the interview date and the date we actually flew, I was supremely busy at office. Just having joined full time work after completing my training, I was loaded with a hectic Handover schedule from my predecessor. Thankfully my holidays were already approved, otherwise I wonder if I'd have even got permission for it. But even making it to the airport in time was so painful. I was loaded with work the day I was supposed to fly. In fact, I was constantly traveling - Hyderabad, Bangalore, Bombay.. I just flew back from Bombay, and in four hours, had to check in for the flight to US. I barely had any time to pack, and didn't even convert any cash for myself! It was all so haphazard. But somehow, Bala and I made it to the airport on time, checked everything in - including all of Tunu's and Hari's luggage, which was actually the bulk of the luggage we were carrying, and waited for take-off.
The Emirates flight was simply awesome. The one from Chennai to Dubai was like any Full Cost Carrier of India, but the one from Dubai to JFL was mind-blowing. It was an A380, the new double-decker dream liner from Airbus. It was the most spacious, comfortable plane, with the best in-flight entertainment and the best service, I have ever witnessed. Absolutely loved that journey. Watched so many movies: revolutionary road, confessions of a shopaholic, transporter 3, max payne.. Drank a scotch called Famous Grousse which I later got to know is actually a pretty premium drink. Got nicely buzzed on that and didn't even realize when JFK came. In spite of the 13 hour flight, we felt completely relaxed and almost sad in a way that the flight was coming to an end! The only disappointing part of the journey was that I couldn't get to go to the upper-deck as it was cordoned off from the lowly Economy passengers. I tried my best to convince an air-host, but he very sweetly denied, and offered me another Famous Grousse to shut to me up!
It was the evening of May 1 itself that we landed in NYC - thanks to the time difference. But had to wait 4 hours at the terminal 4 coz of all days, Tunu gets late on this day to pick us up! Bala got completely acquainted with Terminal 4 and started calling himself the king of that terminal! I exchanged some of my Sing Dollars that I was carrying since the Singapore trip, and made some calls with that change to Tunu from those telephone booths that rarely connected the call right. And every time we spoke to Tunu, he kept saying he will arrive in half an hour more. Bala and I finally got bored and hit a Bar at the airport called Bar Avion. The drinks were so expensive, but that was coz I was converting. I later realized that 8 Dollars for a drink is pretty much the norm everywhere! So we were sipping on our drink, when Tunu finally arrives. It was really good to see him and Archana. He looked a bit fairer though - probably due to the weather. But unlike the rest of the, as Bala terms it, Fat B*stards of America, Tunu seemed to have become thinner than he was in India! We left immediately as we were tired of waiting at the airport and got into Tunu's Nissan Altima. This was a culture shock now - sitting shot gun in the car and sitting to the right - which is driving for us, and then being guided by a female voice out of a GPS. Never seen anything like this before!

We drove straight to Times Square, and this was a mind-f*ck! Never seen a place like this.. I mean, we've all seen it hundreds of times on TV, but the real thing is something else. So much light, so many people, and just so much energy! All sorts of things happening on the streets, people and cool cars buzzing through all around. We were totally in awe of the place. It was part of the plan actually - for Tunu to take us straight to Times Square and give us an over-dose of NYC the moment we land. We went to the Planet Hollywood there, then the Hard Rock - original after the one in London. Then we went to a typical New York Irish bar called Caravas, which had this friendly Irish lady serving drinks. The four of us sat on the bar stools, drinking and chatting. I was consuming quite a bit of alcohol. It was the first time I was drinking heavy in almost 2 months, thanks to Lent. Then we hit another bar, our 4th for the day and had some food. We experimented with Octopuss here! I was still in a mood to drink. So we decided to go back to Caravas and drink some more. We have drinks called Jeger bombs and Irish bombs. Jeger bombs were made from Jeger-Master, a drink whose launch party I was at in Bangalore and I saw so many people smashed out solid at the end of the party and decided I was never gonna have this drink as it was way too potent. And it was exactly the opposite I was doing here at Caravas, downing drink after another of this Jeger bomb! Finally, when it was time to leave, we decided to ask for a drink on the house. The lady obliged and I requested for the strongest drink she's got. She pours me an 87% vodka, enough to knock out a horse, and then puts it on a flame. I was just gonna consume the strongest Vodka ever - on a babooshka!! Man, I have no idea how I did it. But not only did I do it, but I also managed to keep it inside me! I was on a roll. So much so that a big burly Black dude sitting next to us actually gave me respect for downing that drink! I just caught on to that, and started giving respect to everything on the street on our way back, including a garbage truck and even a cop car! Well, the trucks in US look really cool, so I was pretty impressed with this one, and didn't really know it was out collecting garbage. And the cop car, it looked straight out of NFS. I was not only giving it respect, but also wanted to photograph it. But Tunu and Archana dragged me off saying those things tend to "shoot back".
The night still seemed young, so we decided to hit our 5th bar for the night. This was the highlight - at least for the others, coz apparently I was coming on to the waitress way too much. I know I wouldn't do that. Probably I was just being too happy and too friendly with everyone and these guys decided to rag me for it. Anyway, the waitress here was called Suzannes, and we begin calling the place itself that as we had no idea what the name of the bar really was. Anyway, we had a total blast here, drinking Jack and Cokes and cracking up about everything. We finally called it a night around 4 a.m. when we went to a house of Tunu's friends in a place called West Village which is where all the cool bars of NYC were (Suzzannes was about 20 meters from this place) and which was barely 2 miles from Times Square even. Imagine getting to stay bang in the heart of Manhattan on our first ever night in NYC. All kudos to Tunu and his connections for that!


May2

Bala actually woke up before the rest of us and even went out to get breakfast - no idea what that was all about. But guess the lazy monster in him was left behind in India! Anyway, we get ready and visit Wall Street. Spent the whole day walking all around the place, seeing the museum there, listening to a really nice band playing at the park near the ferry terminal to the Statue of Liberty, having some ugly looking but awesome tasting Romanian Burgers, doing some shopping at the flea market, taking photos next to the Wall Street Bull, it was a really neat New York experience. Bala and I were really falling in love with the place. We then went to a Little Italy place and had wine and beer. Since I don't have wine, I ordered a beer suggested by Tunu called Red Stripe. It was a Jamaican beer that tasted awesome! We walked around the entire day, checking out ground zero, the church next to it where all memoirs of the heroes of 9/11 were placed. We also had coffee at our first Starbucks in the US, and finally by the evening, decided to take the subway to Central Park. Central Park is actually a park by the way, not a cafe as we all seem to know it (from Friends), and so I was pretty disappointed when I saw the park, and went in only to throw up! Yup, no idea why I was throwing up.. Maybe it was a late effect of last nights drinking, or maybe it was those Romanian burgers we had in the morning, or maybe just the fact that we didn't eat the entire day and were just walking all around - having only coffee for lunch! But whatever it was, I threw up royally, and we decided to head back to place in West Village so that these guys could drop me off and carry on with their plans for the evening. I seemed pretty out of it. But during the taxi journey on the way back, even the rest were beginning to feel nauseous. So thankfully I wasn't alone. So all of us decided to back to the room and just relax for a bit. Once we got there, I hit the bed and the rest left me with a phone there and carried on to hit some more bars in NYC. I was just trying to get some shut eye and get out of this messed up stomach feeling, but just couldn't bear the thought of being in Manhattan and then sleeping like a dick. So no sooner had these guys left, I made a call and told them I'm gonna join them!
We went to a bar called Jekyl and Hyde first. It was a really neat place. It was a pub in the centre of a theatre. So there were these characters moving all around and these funky things all around the bar like a coffin that opens out and a skeleton falling, or a creature that talks like Marlon Brando, or even a big section of the roof falling down and Frankenstein waking out of it! It was an awesome place - one of the most creatively designed one I have ever seen! I only had French Onion Soup here, given my rumbling stomach. The rest were having their drinks. One of the characters here even commented on my soup saying no one is gonna come close to my now coz I'm having Onion Soup! Anyway, after this place, we went to the bar just next to it where a Jazz band was playing. It was good fun listening to them for sometime. Prashanth joined us here and we were chatting with him. Then we went to our third bar for the evening - Fat Cat, which was a sports bar. It actually had a tonne of sport that we could play inside it - from chess and checkers on the table we sit in, to Pool, Foozball and even an interesting sliding game! We tried out everything and finally by around 2, once again decided to hit Suzannes. One of Archanas friends - Neem also joined us here. I was pretty out if it by this time and even Tunu seemed really tired. But Bala and Archana seemed all set to go on and Prashant and Neem seemed pretty neutral to all plans. So we decided to spend a bit of time anyway at Suzannes, and this was a decision none of us will ever regret. We were just generally chatting about TV Shows and stuff and 'Lost' came up, and then we were talking of the game that Sawyer plays with this girl called "I have never.." where each of them take turns to make a statement and to whomever the statement is false, they should have a sip of their drink. So it’s something like, I say I have never used a flavoured condom and I take a sip of the drink and anyone else on the table who has also used a flavoured condom should take a sip too! This was in fact the same example I gave even while explaining the game, because for some reason, Flavoured condoms seemed to be the talk sometime back on the table. The game managed to catch on quite well, with each of us saying all sorts of interesting stuff and people either taking sips or sheepishly looking around. Tunu and Archana were the most fun here. For example, it was Neem's turn, and she says, "I have never done it in the office..", Bala, Prashant, me, all of us take our sips, and Tunu and Archana look at each other for confirmation and then they do a "cheeers" and drink. Omg, that was just so funny! Then Prashanth on his turn said "I have never done it in a car" and took a sip, once again everyone took their sips and this time, Tunu tells me it was in my car!!! Oh man, I was screaming out loud at both of them for desecrating my poor car that way! On Archana's turn, she said "I have never done it with Tunu".. This was the icing on the cake, coz nobody was obviously having their sips, but Tunu has one and we all burst out laughing watching him do that, coz 4 out of 7 days in a week the poor guy has to travel and is not with Archana, so has no option but to do himself!!! Oh man, we cracked up like crazy at this.. Anyway, overall the entire time here was just awesome. Suzzanne was our waitress again and she was talking quite normally to me. That's when I knew these guys were just unnecessarily taking my case the previous day. After a lot of laughs, we called it a night at 5a.m

May3
Our sleeping situation a bit tight actually, coz Tunu's friends place was a simple studio apartment. Of course, that too was really awesome as it was in the centre of Manhattan, but 6 of us sleeping there was pretty tight. Bala slept on the floor. Prashant, Tunu and me on the only bed there was there, and Archana and Neem on the sofa. It was really funny to see the two girls cuddle up on the sofa, all of us guys kept leching at them!
Anyway, all of this ensured we woke up pretty early. Bala and Neem still seemed high from the previous nights drinking, but we anyway decided to go out for breakfast. We ate at this typical American breakfast joint and ordered omelets, bacon and toast! After gorging ourselves, we realized we had no money. Thankfully Neem was carrying some cash and paid for me and Bal. After that, we dropped her off to a subway station and we got ready to go to the Statue of Liberty. Tunu and Archana were not joining us as they have seen this place many times before, and also had to head back to Syracuse. So Tunu booked a room at the Hilton for us for the night and Bala and I were on our way to see the statue. Tunu booking the Hilton was really awesome. He apparently has all these points from staying in these hotels because of his work, and had earned enough points to put us up for the night as well.
Statue of Liberty was pretty nice. The ferry ride till there was a pain though as it was freezing cold on the Hudson River. The one good thing we did on the ride was pick up this neat looking photo frame for Tunu that we decided to give him as a gift.
I couldn't really enjoy watching the statue that much. Bala had only got tickets that provided us with audio sets describing the entire place and did not let us go inside the statue, so we stranded outside and it was freakishly cold. We anyway walked around the entire island and decided to grab a bite and head to Jersey where the Hotel was booked. While buying lunch here, Bala tells me, "dude, get me big pork!". So I buy him this huge pork sandwich. 5 minutes later, Bala says "dude, no more pork!". HeHe! Then while he was eating, I kept looking at our ferry and telling him that it might leave, but the boy just doesn't budge, and then suddenly the ferry makes a noise and he suddenly makes a run for it! Was such a funny sight. He was really providing the laughs the entire trip!

So we had taken a ferry from Manhattan to the Liberty island, and then we took another ferry from the island to Jersey. The moment we reached Jersey, we felt like we were in a totally different place altogether. I mean, we were just across the Hudson river, still Jersey and New York are miles apart in the way they look. No wonder people call Jersey the arm-pit of the US! But apart from it being so deserted, I didn't really have too much of a problem with the place. Bal kept calling it a shit-hole for no reason at all. Sort of like Noel claiming to have a problem with the Jews for absolutely no reason at all!
Anyway, we had to struggle a bit to find our way to the Hilton, but there were some really nice and helpful people who guided us there - especially this elderly black bus driver who actually got out of the bus and explained to us on a map how exactly we could get to Hilton. That was really sweet of him. By the time we reached the Hilton, my system was completely shutting down. I had pushed it yesterday night itself by venturing out in spite of being a bit sick and throwing up earlier, and again today going to the statue in freezing weather really pushed me over the edge. So as soon as we entered our room, I covered myself up and went to sleep. Bala went out checking out Jersey and cold me nice hot chicken soup for dinner. I had that, along with some medicines that he bought and Tunu had given, and went to sleep really praying that I get better soon.

May4
I slept 12 hours straight. Really needed that. Felt a whole lot better once I woke up. There was a Macy's close by and decided to go there and buy myself a muffler. I felt that would really help coz my neck was the sensitive part and it was always left uncovered in this cold. So I went there, and ended up buying quite a few other things, including a Coffee Maker for Sin, that I never ended up giving to her, coz I later realized it was a 110v device and wouldn't work in India, and had Sanjeev return the device. Anyway, managed to get my muffler - a pretty neat looking thing too, and both of us headed to New York to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was actually the plan on May 2 itself when we went to Central Park, but the subway journey was so slow (because of some construction) that we ended up getting really late, and then I threw up and stuff, so we couldn't make it then. Funny thing was, we couldn't make it even today, coz by the time we reached Manhattan and went to a club called Lace, it was time for me to meet Sanjeev and go to his place.
I was really excited to meet Sanjeev, so didn't want to delay on that at all. Bal got pretty pissed that I was leaving early, but I really couldn't help it! Also, we got to Lace from the subway station by a Tonga, and Bal commented that we had actually done all the modes of public transport available in the US - taxi, subway, ferry, bus and now Tonga!
I met Sanjeev outside Macy's on Time Square and he looked so much like he did way back in Bangalore (it was nearly 8 years since I had last seen him) except for a bit of weight age had added on to him. We went together all the way to Jersey and Bhavana came to pick us up along with the kids. It was the first time I was meeting the younger one - Sanvi. She looked just like Khushi when I had first met her in Delhi. It was so much fun meeting the kids and chatting with Sanjeev and Bhavana. We were up quite some time in the night talking. Also, we had to wait for Bala to return, as he had gone for a Broadway show after Lace, spent a 100dollars on its entry, and finally reached Jersey only by 11p.m. Thankfully not too late also, and we picked him and once he finished Bhavana's home cooked dinner, we slept in the guest room of Sanjeev's beautiful big house.

May5
Left Sanjeev's plc saying bye to everyone to leave to NYC and finally check out the MET, catch the game and then head to Syracuse so that we can leave tomo to Niagra. But last minute, Bala and I decided to go to Philly instead and this changed all plans.. We took the train from the opposite station, and instead of going to NYC, went to Philly. Philly now is not entirely a safe place and we got to know that we should go to a place called the Comcast centre straight from the station. So once we got off, I asked a Security Guard where Comcast was, and he just could understand what I was saying. Finally he says, "Oh Khaham-Khahast??". And I went, "Yea, Khaham-Khahast!!". Dam their English! Anyway, he directed me to get there, and Philly Comcast center was really awesome. It was almost what we probably expected Wall St to look like. Tall Tall buildings, long straight roads, lots of people looking like their straight out of the 'Apprentice' show.. it was really cool. We went looking for a place to catch the soccer game that Bala really wanted to watch as Man U was playing, and found a pretty neat bar which showed the game, but apart from Bala, me and one totally loser looking guy next to Bala, nobody else was watching it. Pretty sad that way.
Anyway, after the match, we went to Comcast, bought our first Crab cakes in the US which was simply delicious and headed out to check out Philly. We first went to the City Center, and I was filming the entire place wearing my new muffler around my face to cover my nose from the cold, and a cop comes and stops me asking what I'm doing. I had to assure him I was just a tourist coz he felt I looked suspicious with the muffler around my nose and filming the entire place! That was a funny experience.. Then the two of us went to the Art Museum of Philly as this was where Rocky ran up the flight of stairs. It was awesome the way we found the place. Bala asks a dude how to get there, and he doesn't understand what Bala is saying and then Bala sings the Rocky tune and the dude gets it then! So he directs us to get there and we enter a cab explaining the directions to him. No sooner than we did, he says "oh, you've come to see the stairs Rocky climbs?" He was telling us that people all over the world come here just to see the Rocky stairs. And it was actually true. Coz when we got there, we were witness to a 100 kids coming out of 2 big buses and doing the exact thing that Rocky does in the movie. That was some sight. Actually got the whole thing on my camera and even planning to post it to Sly Stallone. I'm sure he'd love to see people do the same thing even after all these years! Bala also did the same act - twice! coz the first time, I did not start recording although the camera was on, and Bala had to do the whole thing again!
Overall, the Philly trip was really neat. So glad we decided to make it there. Only thing was, we had to spend one more night at Sanjeev's, in spite of saying bye to everyone, as there was no time for us to get to Syracuse this late.
That's exactly what we did. Sanjeev was really nice to be waiting at the station along with Bhavana for us as he was also returning from his work the same time we left Philly. Then all of us went back to his place, had some more home cooked food, which we really couldn’t stomach too much off as just before leaving Philly, we went to this Chinese restaurant called City Garden and had Sakei (an awesome rice drink that gets you instantly high!) and Peking duck that tasted awesome! Anyway, one more awesome day ending with sound sleep.

May6
Said bye to everyone at Sanjeev's again and finally managed to go to the MET. It was really neat watching paintings of greats like Monet and Picasso. Although I didn't know as much about these paintings as Bala did, just looking at some of them and knowing it was by some of the greatest painters of all time was a killer feeling. After that, we went to the Empire state building as we realized we hadn't done that yet, and then went to a bar called Jack Damsey, a typical Irish bar right next to Empire state and watched the second semi final game between Chelsea and Barca. We couldn’t watch too much of the game, although we really felt like coz the energy at this place was so much better than the one in Philly. But we had to leave early to catch our bus to Syracuse. Getting the bus was such a mess. We got to the ticket counter and he says we need to print the ticket first and pointed us to an Internet parlour where we could do it from. So we go there, and I unknowingly insert a 20 dollar note, and Bala clicks OK on the machine and the dam thing swallows the entire note without giving us any change in return and offers 120 minutes of time on the internet, when we needed not more than 5 to just download Tunu's mail and print! That was just so irritating. But nothing we could do about it. Then things turn worse when the mail wouldn't open. Somehow attachments were blocked at this place. We somehow managed to work around it and then realized there was no printer here! Man, everything seemed to be conspiring against us. I just got totally ticked off and went back to the counter and explained our situation to him. Thankfully he was nice enough and told me to calm down and gave me the boarding pass.. I was so irritated when I saw that and was wondering why the hell did he just not give it in the first place and ended up insisting on us printing the ticket! Dam.. anyway, I was getting the boarding pass for a bus that not only cost a lot, but was also leaving in 5 minutes, so decided against making a ruckus and just took the boarding passes and left.
On the long bus ride to Syracuse, Bala and I split our expenses for the last few days, and caught a few winks before reaching Syracuse. On getting there, we realized Tunu is stuck up and can't pick us, so we took a taxi and somehow found his place. Hung out with Archana till he came and got an intro to his place and his drunk roommate who was apparently getting paid 800 dollars a month as unemployment benefits as he couldn't find a job! US of A is really crazy with its laws!
Anyway, once Tunu came, we went to a bar called Chucks which was a student bar where shots of Jack were just 2 dollars. That was cheaper than even the conversion price in India! So we kept downing them, had a blast at the place where the energy was the highest we've seen in any bar, not to mention the superbly hot teenage chicks! Called it a night after going back home and having some awesome Puliyogre that Archana made..

May7
I barely slept the previous night as I went about checking my mail and there was a tonne of them from office. So I wasn't feeling much like going out for breakfast, but glad I did coz we went to ihop - International House of Pancakes and had an awesome breakfast of steak, shrimp nuggets, bacon and their signature pancakes! Then we got back home, quickly changed and hit a mini golf course that was probably the most fun sport I have ever played. We had an absolute blast there! Bala still seemed high on the Mojito he was drinking the previous day and was getting hole in ones after another. He got 4 in the entire 18 hole game!

After that, we ate at a place called Tully's and then drove to Niagra. Niagra falls was really awesome. It was almost breathtaking to see the huge waterfall! Just opposite the falls was Toronto, Canada. Couldn't believe the place was so close! We spent some time there, went to the Hard Rock at Niagra and finally got back to Syracuse by about 2a.m.


May8
Left to Boston today - lot later than we expected. but still made it there by evening. Checked in to Marriott wit Tunu's points. Awesome how he does that, and even more awesome hotel, especially since I got Puff Daddy on film when I was doing some arbit filming out of the window!
By evening we went drinking and we came across a pub called Cheers! Bala and I were so excited to see this place, more so coz it looked just like the one in the TV show. The best part was, we got to know that this bar had come first and the show later - that was just some news! We couldn't believe we were at the original Cheers! After grabbing some drinks here, we went to a hotel called Toro's which was a Tapa's bar like Zaras in Chennai and had to wait a really long time to get a seat. But the wait was worth it as the dishes we had were simply awesome. Each one better than the previous. The one that totally won the night was this steak kind of a dish which was this super soft veal meat and so scrumptious once put in the mouth!
After that, we went back and Archana was too sleepy, so Tunu went to drop her off and Bala and me went to a bar called Shamrock. Bala wasn't in much of a drinking mood - which was really silly coz he was drinking every night till this day and of all places, decides to take a break in Boston - the Irish and drinking capital of the US! Anyway, he was getting too bored and he also left. I stayed back coz Tunu said he would be coming back and he did so with Archana too. No wonder how she managed to wake up. But glad they came, as we went to this typical Irish bar where just as we were entering, there was a band playing "shipping off to Boston" with violins! It was just unbelievably awesome to watch them play that song the way they were. Then Tunu, Archana and I were having a long talk about all sorts of things and finally called it a night once again way past mid-night.

May9
Went playing paintball in the morning today - awesome game! With mini golf and this one, we pretty much covered all the games we wanted to try our hand out in. The one thing we missed which we would have probably liked would have been baseball batting, but never had a chance for it the entire trip. Paintball was awesome fun though. Archana kept shooting people from her own team even! But we had a good time running all over the place, taking aim and shooting at people!
Then we went to Harvard, then checked out MIT and finally by 6, started our long journey back to Syracuse. On the way, we came across something called a Flash rain which was a really scary experience. We were peacefully driving and suddenly it looked like some water from the road opposite just splashed on our windshield - it was that sudden! But then, it wasn't just water, but a sudden huge quantity of rain just coming down like crazy. Cars on the road came skidding to a halt as they were caught unawares and also had zero visibility of the road. Tunu also almost stopped the car, but he noticed a big truck behind him and couldn't really do that. He had to somehow maneuver his way to safety at the side till the rain simmered down - which it did just as suddenly as it had started in about 5 minutes!
Anyway, the rest of the journey was pretty uneventful and I even caught up on some sleep. On reaching Syracuse we went to a place called Al's for some drinks and a very funny incident happened here. We were just sitting on the bar stools watching Al do all his cool tricks while serving - which was the main reason for so many people visiting the place, and suddenly there's this girl who pretty much falls over me, then smiles and says hi. She kept smiling and all I did was just smile back coz the rest of these guys were sniggering from behind. Anyway, I just decided to move from there and went and stood with these guys who just couldn't stop laughing! After spending some time at Al's, we went to another place which was playing a lot of Desi songs! Hung around here for a bit and finally got back to Tunu's around 4a.m. We decided to stay awake for an hour and then head out to see his college and then get to the airport to begin our journey of the West Coast.

May 10
So we stayed awake till 5:00 a.m and then decided to head out to the airport and on the way, check out Tunu's college - Syracuse University. It was a really nice campus and the best part was, later that day, the students were gonna have their graduation walk, and Joe Bidden was supposed to confer them their certificates. That was just so cool, the Vice-President visiting a college for this purpose! So there were a lot of preparations and stuff laid out for his visit. We saw all of that and when we were just nearing the airport, Bala remembers that we haven't taken Hari's luggage! We just carried our handbags and forgot that one. It was way too late for us to go back, so Tunu suggests he drop us off and then he would head back and bring the luggage. So we get to the airport, complete out check-in and then try and talk to the authorities about our bag that is on the way, and they suggested one of us go in and convince the staff of our flight - Delta to keep the gates open and one of us wait outside for the luggage. So Bala goes in and I kept waiting outside - frantically pacing up and down. Our flight was to leave at 6:10 a.m and Tunu finally zoomed in to the airport parking lot at 5:45 only. I was already past the half hour time limit for boarding and still had check-in this luggage. So I start running with the bag, all the way to the check-in counter, there the cop scans the bag three times till he has removed all the deos and everything else important to us, and only then let me go. I didn't care to see what all he has removed, coz I just wanted to make it to the flight. The moment he cleared me, I picked the open bag and ran all the way to the gate and all the way to my seat in the flight! It was just too insane. The moment I got into the flight, I realized it was 6:05! Barely 5 minutes for the flight to take off, and everybody in the plane was staring at us, coz the entire flight waited just for the 2 of us. I was only glad that Bala managed to talk the staff to keep the flight on hold for us, and more glad that Hari would now be getting all those things his mom had cooked for him!
Anyway, we at least made the flight, and tried to catch some sleep on the flight as we hadn't slept a wink last night. Reached JFK by 9 and then took the connecting flight to LAX which got there by noon, which was 3:00 p.m Western Time. Once we landed, Bala called his cousin and Kavita came and picked us up shortly and we had a nice long drive to Rancho Cuccamungo - which is a place about 1 hour from LA (close to San Bernadino where Dhanya stays) and a really neat place. Very similar to where Sanjeev stays, except for a slightly more tropical climate. Bala met his relatives and this was when we realized all the plans between his family and Hari were majorly clashing - coz Hari had planned Vegas on Wednesday and bookings could not be changed as he had already paid for the hotel and even Gopal was flying in to Vegas on that day. But Ashwin, Bala's cousin also planned Vegas for us on the Monday and Tuesday itself. So things were looking a total mess and it was all because Bala completely avoided talking to his relatives the last few days when they tried contacting him. So I had to take over and talk it out to Hari and then his relatives and finally figure out a plan that Kavita very neatly even put down on a piece of paper for us.
We spent the rest of the day chilling, and towards the evening, headed out to Ontario Mall, which is the third biggest mall in the US and the biggest in the West Coast and watched Wolverine at the 16-screen multiplex there. We got back and decided to crash out early for once, as NYC was not too offering in terms of sleep as we always had so much to do there! So had aunty's Indian food once again for dinner also and called it a night.
May 11
Woke up feeling much better as the LA weather was so much more comforting compared to the sub 10degrees on the East Coast all the time. Had omelets for breakfast and then drove with aunty in here Toyota Highlander to LA to meet Ashwin. We chilled out there in his apartment and then took his car - Toyota Camry and drove around LA. We went to Hollywood Boulevard - checked out the Wax Museum and the Guinness Book of Records Showroom there. Then walked along the Boulevard, checking out the Chinese theatre where all famous stars had their hand and footprints in the cement blocks, then we saw the Kodak theatre and all along the way, there were tones of entertainers doing all sorts of stuff on the road. There was a woman dressed like super-girl, some really hot chicks wearing skimpy police-women outfits and even people singing and playing instruments. It was awesome to see the energy on this street. For lunch, we went to a place called U-Wink, which was this awesome concept restaurant where there are screens on every table through which you can place your orders and also play games with each other while the food arrives. Really neat! We played this 'taboo' kind of a game in this place and the four of us decided to team up and play it. So Bala and Ashwin, sitting facing each other decided to be on one team, and me and aunty on the other. Both Bala and Ashwin were easily describing the words to one another, but aunty and me were having a pretty tough time! For example, I couldn’t get the word 'Cure'. Kept saying 'Heal', and 'Recuperate' and 'Rejenuvate' and all those things when aunty was trying to describe what happens when you come out of a hospital. And when it was my turn to describe a word to her, it was even more hilarious. I had to describe 'Governor' to her, and we had just walked out of the Wax Museum where we were talking about Schwarzenegger being the governor now and stuff. So I tell her 'Schwarzenegger is a..' and she replies 'Actor'. I kept trying to work around it and it was of no use, so I used another approach and tried to make her guess the word 'Government'. She said everything from Barrack Obama to Parliament to Senate, but not Government. It was so much fun. We continued the game for some more time till our lunch arrived. Post that we took a drive around one of the world's most expensive retail areas - Beverly Hills, and boy, was it a sight! Took a bunch of photos of all the cool houses there and also went to a place called the Mulholand drive (there was a movie of this name) where we saw a beautiful view of LA from the top. Then we drove to UCLA where Ashwin and Kavita studied and the campus was really big and beautiful. Bala and I felt we still like Princeton campus in New Jersey more as it had this very old school English feel to it, but UCLA was still pretty neat. After all the walking and driving around LA, we finally hit a Mexican restaurant called El Cholo where we met up with Kavita and Mala and had dinner. Fairly good food. Bala and I had couple of Margarita’s too, which was the only drink available at this place and the first time we were drinking in two days now! After that, we got to Ashwin's place and decided to play some games on his Xbox. I wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or simply the time difference between NYC and LA, but by midnight in LA when we were just about making plans to play some games, I crashed out. Apparently Kavita had come to Ashwin's place and they all chatted and played and I didn't notice any of it in spite of sleeping in the hall itself!

May 12
Woke up early for Disneyland today, but just like every other day, in spite of waking up around 7, we finally leave home only by about 11. So we did that here also, and finally got to Disneyland only by noon. On the way, Bala and I picked up KFC chicken just to figure out how different it was from the Indian version. I definitely felt the Indian KFC was a bit more spicy, but didn't find the KFC here too bad either! Bala didn't like it at all though. Anyway, the moment we hit Disneyland and walked into the gates, I couldn't help but break into a smile. The place is taglined 'Happiest place on earth', and it actually is.. Coz I was just so happy the moment I entered the place. Funny thing was, we never initially planned on going to Disneyland at all, but we were really wondering why that was, coz Disneyland should have been on our list, considering all of us have grown up watching their cartoons and at some point of time or the other in life, we would have definitely thought of visiting this place!

Anyway, we were really glad we came here and the moment we got in, we started hitting the rides. Ashwin has been to Disneyland over 20 times and knows the place in and out. So we never needed to refer to any maps for moving around or look at the catalogue to figure out which rides we'd wanna go. The whole thing was handled by Ashwin. Glad it was that way, coz we managed to cover 12 of the best rides and even did one of them twice before we hit the ESPNZone in Disneyland for the Lakers Rockets NBA Playoffs at 7p.m.
We started off with the Indiana Jones ride which is sort of like a roller coaster inside a mountain on a rattling jalopy. Then went to the Pirates of the Carribean ride, which probably was the best ride in Disneyland - purely for the engineering marvel in bringing the movie alive inside an indoor set which you are watching as you go around slowly in a boat that moves on its own. The whole thing was designed simply fabulous. Then we went on a Toy Story ride, where you are given guns and have to shoot moving "Z's" around you as you move around in a small capsule. At the end, you are given a score as to how many "Z's" you managed to hit. Poor Bala had the lowest score coz he couldn't see the "Z's" bobbing about. Ashwin, the pro, managed some whopping 5 digit score when all of us were only in 4 digits. Then we took a Churro break - which is a Mexican sweet dish, and the counter had a line of people waiting to buy Churros. Pretty interesting dish actually, but coming from a land of sweets, it wasn't anything too great! We then continued our rides which included a 4D show called "Honey, I shrunk the audience" and a Star Wars ride where we are in a big box that doesn't really move, but gives us an impression of moving by virtue of a big screen in front and your seats going all over the place - another version of the 4D show itself. One ride that we absolutely loved was Space-Mountain, which had the longest lines and we still went on it twice, coz its this exhilarating roller coaster that you do in complete darkness. Its almost a crazy feeling when you are thrown all over the place without knowing which direction you are headed next. We finally finished it off with some Kiddy rides like "Its a Small World" which was probably the most popular rides among kids and something really nice for them to go through as it takes them through all the different cultures of the world, and a mini roller coaster where I even managed to film the entire ride.
We then went to the ESPNZone, but Kavita and Mala didn't feel like watching the match and went for a movie in the multiplex next door. Not sure what the saw, but they didn't look too happy about it when they came back to join us after the match. ESPNZone was a really interesting place. Sort of like the Sports Bars in India multiplied by 10! Coz you not only have multiple screens, but also this really big screen plasma screen which shows pictures in awesome clarity. The best part of the place were these small screens kept around the place giving statistics of all the games going on. It really is a sports buff's paradise. There were so many games going on there simultaneously. USA is after all a major sporting nation - although their 4 biggest sports are played only within US, between different State teams - Basketball, Football, Ice-Hockey and Baseball. We watched Lakers totally beat Rockets, and during this time, Chalam also joined us. We planned to meet Chalam over the weekend in LA actually, but he came over to give us his GPS that Hari asked for to aid us during our trip to Vegas. It was really good to meet Chalam. He hasn't changed one bit, except for the fact that he's started drinking like he's recovered from Diabetes! Well, after a really heavy day, we got back to Ashwin's and this time I stayed awake with the Xbox! We were playing tennis and I just couldn’t get the hang of it. Then Ashwin and I team up against Bala and the computer and we play a game. The first set was a washout with Bala beating us 6-0 as Ashwin really couldn't cover me so much. But by the second game, I figured life and started playing and we went up to tie break, but Bala just about managed to beat us here. I was trash-talking him during the game and he got totally ticked off. Quite strange coz that's what he always does during games. But I guess I did overdo it and we later resolved things over a smoke outside at 4a.m!

May13
Not really much to do today as the only plan was to meet Hari in the afternoon and head out to Vegas. The original plan was to leave by latest 3p.m, but that became 6p.m because of.. well, in one word - Hari! Bala and I finished loafing with Ashwin, checking out Santa Monica where there even was a photo shoot with a really hot babe going on, then taking a walk on the pier and everything, and reaching Hari's place by 3p.m. But Hari was not to be found. He had gone to collect a car for us. We kept waiting and waiting, and in the meantime kept cracking jokes about Hari to Ashwin, and although it was getting quite late for Ashwin, he still insisted on waiting with us coz he really wanted to meet Hari after all the trash-talking Bala and I had just done about him! Hari finally arrives at 4:30p.m, that too with a Camry, which by the way is awesome high standards for India, but in the US, for the same price as that Camry, we could have got a Mustang - how cool and totally American would that have been! But Hari-berry hardly knows anything about cars, and even getting just this one got him so delayed, that we didn't say anything and just wanted to hit the road. That's when Hari says he's really hungry and HAS to eat. Man, I was remembering that time in Pune when we were all ready and set to leave somewhere out, and Hari would just not get off the breakfast table till he was completely satisfied. He had Jeetu's mom and sis running back and forth from the table to the kitchen to keep the paratha's rolling and the boy just went on and on. We had to wait such a long time right at the door till he finished and got his act on. So, pretty much the same thing here too! Nothing seems to have changed from that Pune trip in 2001 to this! So Hari is eating his home cooked chapathi-curry and we are waiting for him near the door. He finally wraps it up and we leave to VEGAS!!!
The journey to Vegas was really nice. It was scary in bits because of Hari's rickety driving, but we somehow got to Vegas before mid-night. On the way, we took a slight detour into a town called Bakers, and it was like this typical Drive-in town where Truckers and Bikers come to rest and re-fuel.
It was pretty late in the night too, so we didn't want to stay out too long. However, Bala noticed this funky energy drink at the store near the Gas station that contained alcohol and we decided to give it a shot. So we bought it, put it in a paper bag coz its not ok to be seen drinking in public, and like the homeless people of America, we were drinking out of a paper bag! The drink was really awesome too. No idea what it was called, and we never managed to find it anywhere else after that, but whatever it was - it packed a punch!
So we hit Vegas by around 11, and it took us nearly half an hour to park the car. Not because parking was full or anything (there were hardly that many people in Vegas given the recession and all), but because the combination of Hari at the wheel and Bala on the GPS was not doing anyone any good! I was fast asleep in the last leg of the journey and could only faintly make out how much the two of them were screwing around going in circles, missing turns and doing just about everything not right to finally park in a slot that Hari felt was not the right place to park and had to move it to another one that he strangely seemed convinced about. Bala and I just couldn't make out the difference between the two parking slots - but then, its Hari!
Then we go to our hotel - Luxor, which in my opinion at least was one of the best hotels to stay in the Strip, and met up with Gopal who was patiently waiting there for almost 3 hours as his flight from Seattle reached quite some time back. Then after all the formalities, we got into our room and from our window, we could see the Vegas strip and also a part of the airport. Couldn't help but remember the movies 21 and the Ocean's series! Bala couldn't stop shouting VEGAS. He was in fact doing it all through the journey as well. Just before Vegas shows up on the highway, there are a bunch of mini/fake Vegas that come up. Each time, Bala thought we had actually already reached Vegas and kept shouting VEGAS VEGAS, but finally when we did reach Vegas, there was no doubting the place. The skylight of Luxor, the unmistakable casinos of New York New York and MGM Grand - it was just the awesomest feeling entering Vegas - the party place of the world!
After checking in and checking out our hotel room for about 5 minutes, we were ready to hit the Strip. We walked around a bit, I tried my hand at some Video Poker and other automated Casino games and lost some dollars really fast and decided to just chill out and buy a beer. Gopal was busy on one particular machine and Bala was looking around for a Poker table he could go and try his hand on. Finally after ambling around a bit, we decided to call it a night as it was already around 2 and there was nothing much we could really do. Oh, how wrong we were! Coz the night after this was so awesome that we almost felt like spending another day in Vegas. But if that had happened, we would have missed out on a place that was probably better than Vegas even - the Grand Canyon. But I'm getting ahead of myself! So we got kinda bored and decided to head to the room and have some of the booze we bought from LA as we heard it would be more expensive in Vegas. I could hardly drink any as it was way too late in the night and I was pretty bored and sleepy by then. So I crashed out..

May14
.. next thing I remember waking up and finding only Hari in the other bed and Bala and Gopal missing. The time was 8a.m. I was just wondering if these guys went out after drinking last night, and that's when the two of them come back. They looked completely smashed and were hollering about losing 200 dollars each and seemed mighty pleased about it! Bala kept calling Hari and me wanks, saying we are a total waste in Vegas. Then he takes Hari's Oakley's to prepare himself for some Poker and decides to head out. So he brushes his teeth with Hari's shades and his cap on - which was a really funny sight btw, and then just goes to lie on the bed. I washed up in the loo during this time, and the moment I came out, I saw Gopal completely crashed out as he didn't seem in any state to do anything since the moment he entered the room, and lo and behold, the man all prepared for the Poker tournament and belting me and Hari just moments ago was totally passed out on his bed - shades, cap and slippers still on him! We tried waking him, but all we got were some grunts! So Hari and I decided to head out and check out beautiful Vegas - and boy was it beautiful. I'm sure Gopal and Bala must have had a blast the previous night, and I was feeling quite bad for missing out all that action coz after all, Vegas is THE place for gambling. It makes no sense actually to say you went to Vegas and didn't gamble away your life savings! But what they ended up missing out on was Vegas during the day, as this was really a treat. Hari and I walked the entire strip, from Luxor which was almost at one end to Wynn which is one of the best Casino's as of now in Vegas, at the other end. We walked in and out of all the big Casino's on the way, checking out the malls, the shops, the brilliant architecture, the hot waitresses, the slot machines, the cafes, the absolute unending energy in every street we walked in! Vegas was simply brilliant. We checked out New York New York, Excalibur, Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, Mirage, Ballagio, Paris, Venetian and Wynn. Each was more breathtaking than the previous. Wynn might have been the classiest place we have ever seen, but I would say my favorite would be Venetian. The place was made to look entire like Venice, with people dressed just like they did in Venice about a century ago strolling around, and even a canal going all around the place with boats oared by Men singing songs! The place even had a false roof which pretty much looked like the real thing, but constant and streamlined! It was simply mind-blowing. I have never seen a place like this. For that matter, none of these places were like anything I have ever seen. The sheer amount of thought, engineering and creativity that has gone into every single inch of every single casino was just mind-numbing! We grabbed a bite at a Panda Express and Chipotle, and then had ice-cream from a Ghirardelli - which was the first time I was hearing of this place, headquartered in San Fran, a place we decided to drop in our itinerary of the West Coast due to lack of time, and I instantly became a complete fan of this place. The ice-cream I had there was probably the best I have ever had. I almost can't wait to go to another Ghirardelli and have their ice-cream! By around 4 in the evening, Bala and Gopal were up. We met them in Excalibur where they had finished their lunch, and then all of us headed to Mandalay Bay - a pub there which had alcohol bottles stacked to the roof and had lighting that slowly kept changing. The pub seriously had some of the fanciest interiors I have seen. We had some beers here and then went to Coyote Ugly just to check out the place. Had some more drinks here, and Bala went out to a Poker tournament that he's been dying to do every since we go here, and the rest of us went to catch a show called Crazy Horse in MGM grand, which is known to be a very famous show in Vegas. We got tickets for half price as well - part of all the discounts being dished out at Vegas due to lack of visitors lately because of the recession. I actually haven't really noticed the effects of recession much, as all the casinos looked reasonably full with people splurging quite a bit of cash. But yea, it could have been a whole lot more crowded! Anyway, we watched the show. I was in a super good mood by this time - probably with all the alcohol I had at Mandalay Bay, Coyote Ugly and even a beer in the room when Hari and went for a quick change, and probably also because of beginning to enjoy Vegas so much, that I bought Hari and Gopal drinks while we watched the show - and damn, the show was something only dreams are made of! I can't even begin describing how amazing all those naked women looked, doing all those absolutely amazing things. It was seriously worth every dollar spent - not just on the tickets here, but even on making the entire trip to this place!
After the show, we went back to Coyote Ugly. Bala joined us here, and by this time, the place was packed, the girls were on the tables, and free alcohol was being dished out. They kept calling people in front to give them some of the free liquor and I was desperately standing in front trying to get their attention. Finally Hari goes behind and tells the MC about us and next moment she announces "Oh, we have people all the way from India here" and me and Gopal got our free drinks. This must have definitely sounded desperate, but I'm not complaining - I loved the entire Coyote Ugly experience. Not to mention I loved the movie as well! After this, we headed out to a Club and partied till the wee hours of the night. We were all so high and so happy by the time we came back to our rooms that we almost felt like staying back in Vegas for one more day and getting some more of the night life here - which was a decision we thankfully did not go through with, coz the next day, we did the Grand Canyon!

May15
So after a short rest, we tried getting ready soon and leaving. But like every other day, by the time we parceled breakfast and got into the car, it was past noon. The walk to the car was by the swimming pool of Luxor and this didn't help our time at all, as I just had to get some of the awesome hot bods on my camera - it was almost as if I was in the middle of Beverly Hills 90210 crossed with Baywatch when I was checking out the chicks here! Anyway, we soon hit the road. Went to Hoover Dam which was seriously a marvel of a structure. Took the tour around and photographed a dozed things including a new road that was being built across the Dam that almost seemed an impossible case of engineering. Then we continued driving and entered our 7th and last state of US we visited - Nevada. Vegas was in Arizona and LA in California. Grand Canyon was quite a drive. We had to drive quite a bit on the Nevada free-way and then quite another bit on the off roads of Nevada. It was really painful, rickety and dusty. But we finally made it to the Canyon by 4. We bought tickets for the bus ride, which was super expensive - 40 dollars, plus another 30 for the sky-walk which we just had to do after having come all this way. So we made the purchase and went on our way in the bus. Our first stop was a point called Eagles Point as it was a place where the rock formation was like that of an eagle. This was also the place where we caught our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon, and it really took our breath away. Vast emptiness of nothing but rocks all around us. Far below the Colorado river. Helicopters flying occasionally taking below to the bottom of the canyon, and the place where we were standing, it was a mile long drop from 2 feet away! It was just brilliant standing at the edge of the cliff on the Grand Canyon and taking a ton of photos.

Our next stop was the skywalk. This was just a structure built jutting out into the crevice of the canyon with the entire walk made up of glass so that you can see the entire drop. It was simply brilliant walking on this. Gopal was completely freaking out here because of his fear of heights. We were guessing it was probably because he was tall, giving him an extended perception of vertigo when he looks at the drop below! The four of us were having such a good time at this place. Cracking all silly jokes, and Gopal was seriously at his funniest best. I don't think I have ever seen Gopal this crazy!

Our third and final stop was Iguana point. Iguano means bat droppings and it was mined from this place to be used as fertilizers. This was also the highest point on the Canyon and we seriously felt like kings here. We trekked till the top most rock to get the best view, and spend quite a bit of time here. It was just so peaceful and so airy. Really felt like a place you would want to come and meditate - cut away from the rest of the world for miles and miles. All four of us were having a blast. Just like in being back in school. Talking in Kannada, pulling each others legs, forgetting all those years between the last time we hung out till now, and behaving like the boys we will probably always be! It was seriously awesome. It was at this point that I felt so happy for actually deciding to come here, especially with 3 of my best friends, rather than stay back in Vegas for one more night.

May16
It was a long drive from Grand Canyon till LA. Our only 2 stops were once in Vegas for dinner when we went to Hooters and got completely disappointed with the food they offered, and second time to refill at a place just outside California as the fuel prices were cheaper. We finally reached San Bernadino in LA around 4 in the morning and met Dan at her campus. I decided to drive the Camry here a bit, and totally scared people with my driving. I was finding it way too easy to drive and the car was so powerful that I just decided to test it. But anyway, it wasn't a very long ride also to freak people out too long. But I was enjoying myself. Then we checked out Dan's room, and then Hari drove all the way back to his place. We finally got there by 5 and decided to get a bit of sleep. Had to wake up early though for Universal Studios. But as always, it got delayed too, coz Hari had to drop the car off and all of us had to get ready. We finally got to Universal only by 2 and the place was closing by 6. So barely got to see many of the rides. We missed Simpson’s and the Water world, which were two rides we really wanted to see. But managed to catch quite a few others - Jurassic Park, The Mummy, Universal Studio Tour, Shrek 4D, another show called Backdraft based on the movie which showed real pyro-techniques that were really awesome.. Mummy was probably the best ride. It was so good that as soon as it got over, Bala and I ran all around for a second time, running faster than all the kids there, coz we wanted to make it for the second time before they shut it - it was almost 6 by this time! We then left to Hollywood Boulevard where we waited for Chalam to join us and then all of us headed out to a Bar. Man, this was when he got to know Hari's, Dan's and Chalam's absolute uselessness, coz they didn't know a single place to drink in all of Hollywood!! Just how was that possible! Anyway, after a lot of walking around, we spotted a place called 'Happy Ending' Very aptly named as this was our penultimate night in the US. I was too tired of all the walking and just decided to walk in no matter what. This turned out to be the best decision for the night, as the place was really nice. We all had such a good time drinking and chatting like the old times. I got totally pissed drunk and even remember puking out of Chalams car while on the way back to Hari's. That was pretty much all I could remember actually..

May17
Yesterday was pretty much my last official day in the US, as all I did today was rest at Hari's place. I didn't even feel like really going out anywhere. Felt like I had done quite a bit for two weeks - covering 7 states and pretty much seeing every major thing that there is to see in the US, I was quite tired. Just wanted to chill out and get some rest before hitting India and getting back to work full flow. Towards the evening we anyway headed out. Went to the observatory in LA. Probably the only place in all of LA apart from his own college USC, did Hari know his way around things. He took us through the entire observatory, we even caught the last Planetarium show. The best part of the observatory was the brilliant view of LA from there. Chalam unfortunately couldn't join us because of some work. Pretty disappointing actually - as the only time we did meet him was at 'Happy Ending' the previous day, and all I did was puke out of his car! He didn't even come with us to Grand Canyon. Guess he must have been extremely busy, but this is probably the only time Bala and I would ever be making such a trip to the US. But anyway, Hari and Tunu were more than accommodating and hospitable. They made so many arrangements for us and pretty much planned out every thing for us. I probably cannot even thank them enough. Even Archana and Dan for partying along, Gopal for making it all the way from Seattle and providing all those laughs, and Chalam for hanging out with us in ESPNZone of Disney and then at Hollywood Boulevard. Thanks to all of you guys, especially Hari and Tunu. I don't even know how much to thank you guys for probably the best trip I have ever been on, the most fun I have had since school days, and probably the best money I have ever spent!


May18

Today was just all travel. Left early in the morning from LA. Flew to NYC. Took a train to Times Square, met Sanjeev, collected our stuff. Had one last meal of crab cakes and beer at a hotel near the Path Station. Then headed back to JFK, took the Emirates to Dubai. Watched lots of movies the entire journey. Short stopover at Dubai and finally after 45 hours of being in airports and flying across continents, we reached good old Chennai in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, with both Bala and me singing Tuesday's gone, coz we completely missed Tuesday having flown out of US on a Monday evening and getting into Chennai on a Wednesday morning. But what a trip it was. Got home, woke Harsh up, told him of our exploits, had a shot of Jameson, one of the best drinks ever, and Bal's absolute favourite, and only then called it a night, or was it day! No clue, but I knew its all work from now on, and no play. But its ok, had a real real blast, and moments that I will just never forget..