When I landed in the US

         I had mentioned in my first blog post that life as it is funnier than you think. That is how I feel when I think of the day when I landed in the US. I had this long flight of 15 hours or so direct from Mumbai to New York, out of which for almost 10 hours I had the sunrise. I mean as I was going from east to west, the sun was kind of following the airplane. So it was dawn for me for like 10 hours when I looked out through the window.

          So, I landed at the JFK airport in New York around 9 in the morning. It was raining in New York on that day, which was kind of disappointing because it was cloudy all the way when the plane was nearing New York. I had heard that we could see the statue of liberty when you are nearing New York. But I doubt if I would have been able to see it properly even if it was a clear day because we were required to strap down to the seat putting the seat belt a good one hour before landing.  They said that it was some safety measure after the 9/11. 

  

          So I got down the plane, stretching and all that after a long flight and walked in the direction where everyone was walking and finally got to a big hall - the immigration check at the port of entry to the US. There was a long queue for the immigration check and I was standing there, listening to almost all the languages of the world, checking, re-checking, re-re-checking whether I have all the documents, which I know for sure is in a folder in my bag. 

            I had seen a lot of american movies, american T.V shows, so I was confident and it did not cross my mind that I would be having difficulty in understanding their accent in the real life until I reached the immigration counter. "Werrugonaskul"..? the immigration officer asked. "What..?" " Where are you gonaskul...?". O.K I understood the first part of the sentence, but what the hell is the next part of the sentence...? But of course I couldn't tell him that, so I asked again politely, "Excuse me..?". Now he was clear; too much clear for comfort like he was talking to a kindergarten kid...."Wheeereee are youuuuu going to schooooooool...?". "Oh.. I have already finished college..." I knew I have said something stupid immediately after I said it. Because over here, school actually means college. Like how football means over here something that you play by throwing the ball around with hand. Anyway the immigration officer gave up on me and stamped my passport, which was all that I needed.

              I picked up all the baggage, used the american dollar for the first time for getting the trolley for taking the baggage ($5 for that) and used the trolley for walking like 20 metres. (If I had known that the baggage check in for the next flight was so near, I would not have taken the trolley. But then you will never know. That is how capitalism works...) So I checked in the baggage, got into some kind of inter- terminal train service and got down at a completely deserted place where my terminal is supposed to be. Now I confess I was kind of lost because I am standing in some kind of station alone with no visible means of exit. One end is the elevator which takes you straight to the street, out of the airport and on other end is a restricted area. Now, I did not want to try my luck with the restricted area, so I went out of the airport hoping to find someone who would guide me, which I did not find.

              After shuffling around for like 10 minutes (I don't know how many security cameras would have been noticing me as a suspicious person during that time..), I finally found out that you have to actually get OUT of the airport, cross the street and get in again at the other end. I mean, I never expected that I have to go out of the airport to get to the next terminal and there were no helpful signs anywhere. Well, I finally got to the right terminal and took the flight to Detroit after a wait of 5 hours. Well, that is how I landed in the US. It might not be an interesting read for me now, but I am sure I will have a few laughs when I read it after some years. That is what I am writing this blog for anyway.... To preserve memories.......

Chicago...!

       Chicago with an exclamation mark is the apt title for this blog because it is exactly how I felt about Chicago. Since coming to the US on September 2010, this was the first time I saw a real american city. Well, atleast it is not just me who thinks so; when I looked up Chicago in Wikipedia, one of the references for Chicago was that it is "the most american of big cities". I don't know why they call it the "most american of big cities", but for me it was american just because it is a big city with skyscrapers and all that as how they show in movies. It does not matter where the character lives in the US; all the time, the opening shot for an American city would be that of either the Chicago or the New York skyline...

          Our trip to Chicago was for 5 days and 4 nights and we were lucky enough to get a good hotel in the downtown area itself, which meant that we had enough time and all the places of interest are within walking distances from the hotel. We were just near to the "magnificent mile", the famous street of Chicago with its high end stores and some beautiful buildings. What I found interesting about the "mag mile" is that apart from the high end designer stores like Gucci, Armani etc, if you go to a normal store which you would find anywhere, like the Macy's, the price of the items are comparable to what we would get in a normal Macy's anywhere else. I was thinking of Bangalore then.... If you go to any store in say, Brigade road in Bangalore, the price for anything would be the double that of the same item from any other store in Bangalore: just because of its location.

             During the four days we visited the Field Museum of Natural History, the Science and Industrial Museum and the art museum. Of the three, I personally liked the art museum. Well, I can describe the art museum and the wonders in it for one full page, but it is not worth it because  one has to see it to get the real beauty of a beautiful painting. I could have spend maybe 3 days or so in the art museum... But then we have to leave something for the next visit...We then went to the Sears tower (now named Willis tower), once the tallest building in the world. The view from the top of the Sears tower was amazing. On the last night of our trip, we had the famous Chicago stuffed pizza. I heard that there is a competition between the New York pizza (the one which we get in India) and the Chicago stuffed pizza, which looks like a pie actually. Of the two, I would go for the Chicago one.

               Another thing which attracted me in Chicago was that I am at last seeing some people in a city in US. After coming from Bangalore, I was disappointed with the city I stay in, Detroit, because if you go to the downtown area, all you see is abandoned buildings and no people at all. It is actually kind of sad. So it was a good change for me to see a dynamic city like Chicago. I hope to come back to Chicago sometime or the other and my impression of Chicago will stay as a great city. (Well, atleast till  I see New York ...)