I woke up early.. 8am..other folks were asleep.I helped myself to museli and milk and a bananna. The guys woke up and connected the laptop to the IPL match between deccan-chargers and mumbai-indians on a streaming video internet site.. Ah the pleasures of broadband in an advanced country..
Divya - my onsite coordinator called on Tushar's phone and asked me if i was ready to go out.. Of course i said and got ready. It was quite cold with a nippy breeze outside.. Finally some people on the road..Divya who recently married Mukesh drove up to the apartment in a not so new toyota. I say this becuase once we hit the Interstate highway i94 it was all gleaming accuras, hondas, fords and 4x4 pickups..the odd lotus elise and a ferrari along with some corvettes..
The weather was cloudy and cool with some sun.. Finally i began to feel the american countryside's beauty and enjoyed the flat roads. Mukesh maintained a steady 65mph on the center lane although other vehicles zoomed past us. He apparently has been ticketed a couple of times.. The gps device on his car was accurate and giving constant directions. We filled gas/petrol where i finally got to see afro american families in big cars.. But the colored kids in other cars were dressed in punk like manner.. Heavy chains on their necks, long tshirts and baggy pants..the usual stuff.
We pulled into a huge mall complex. It was one floor but spread out. Clothes start from $20. Shoes- nike from $29.. A bargain if converted to indian rupees.
finally there were enough people in the mall to satisfy my curiosity as to where the people were in this country. I came to the conclusion that they are either at their homes or driving or at malls!
We ate a wierd ice cream called 'dippin dots' that resembled thousand small thermocol balls. It was real ice cream though.. Divya and Mukesh make a cute couple.. Divya with her new hair cut looks actually like a school goer and the IIT Roorkee graduate hubby is a little seroius type but a nice fellow. Like any other newly married couple they were interested in small kids in the mall..small kids, so many.. I thought the 'baby boomers' generation was in 1960! Divya went off to check female clothes and i feeling bad causing the separation went off with Mukesh to check out electronics, music,etc. We met up soon and lost we were in the huge mall tried to find our way back to a restaurant we had identified while comming in.The mall has all kinds of speciality shops from shoes to wedding dresses. Cellphone accesories and cutom tshirt graphics outlets are lined in the walkway.
We had lunch at 3pm at Rain forest cafe. This was a unique expirence! The whole cafe looked like a rain forest with water fall curtains.. Heavy tree like foliage, moving monkey dolls and what not.. Even thunder and lightning at times, We ordered soft drinks and pure cheese pizza and then some nacho chips with cheese dip.. We then left the mall and back home.. This time saw harley davidson bikers in groups, cops stopping people overspeeding.. I bid good bye to the couple and reached the apartment. I have been writing this since 4:30pm and its now about 9pm.
office tomorrow at 8:30am.
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