USA to USA 5

ADI IS MARRIED! SO IS BEENS! AND THEY ARE MARRIED TO EACH OTHER!!! dont look like that.... this is how adi sent his wedding invite too! unbelievable as the whole thing looks, sounds.... it did happen... and what a wedding... for the first time, i enjoyed watching the whole ritual process..essentially a telugu brahmin wedding... interspersed with some malayalee rituals...so crowded with all the well wishers...colorful... bright..... the wedding rocked... and the food was awesome too!

USA to USA 4

Dad's rocking professionally. After a long hiatus in taking up administrative positions, hes back to managing branchs. The very reason we are in the god forsaken ulhas nagar; dad is now the manager of the branch there. And hes already got loads of goodwill built up. Hes opened a new real estate business' office in Kalyan. And it was all the more special as it was on my parents' wedding anniversary. There was a satyanarayan swami's pooja in office for the branch's good performance...and it was soo nice seeing mom and dad performing the pooja... more so, because I saw them do it the south indian way at home... and here, they were doing it all so maharashtrian way..... with the gandhi cap and all....

USA to USA 3

So very Indian... Dont know if Piaggio really makes these transport vehicles... and am sure these guys dont care either..... So happily perched on top of already overloaded vehicle...blissfully negligent of the traffic regulations..... nobody cares... for the perennial speeds of 20 kmph of the overflowing mumbai roads, nothing serious is bound to happen to him....only, he might die faster for the amount of pollution he gets to breathe......

not to forget, the all indian transport vehicle phenomenon "HORN O K PLEASE"....

Honking is taught from the first day of your driving classes... To take a turn you honk... to overtake you honk... and to scare the shit out of the front vehicle fighting to go faster... you honk..... and now.... the vehicle owners request you to honk themselves :) ..... In the US, we see the totally opposite... a friend who bought a car recently, realized that he didnt have the horn working till about a month after he bought the car.... :) honking is cursing in the US, honking is courtesy in India!

USA to USA 2

All those dreams of scrumtous mommy made food came crashing down with mom burning her right hand completely with a lot of candle wax a day after I arrived..... and thus began all the tortures....I had to make food... and dad never had such a horrible food all his life... ( fortunately for him my grandma and my mom are both fantastic cooks)... and mom started praying everyday that she gets well faster... more so to save herself and everyone around from the perils of eating my food :) and by the time i was back from hyderabad... she was back in form... though not completely..... she could atleast make the regular aloo fries and the rasams :)

USA to USA 1

Arriving on the morning of 8th December 2006 in India, there were way too many things running in my mind.... Would mom and dad look older? Would mom cry when she sees me? Would dad act lke the man in the insurance ad? ;) Unfortunately, nothing was dramatic..... A simple, nice warm hug... and off we went in our newly purchased car to a new home.... Ulhas Nagar..... 80 km away from South Mumbai...... Dominated by a huge sindhi population, my dad already warned me about the hygiene of the place...... mockingly called the USA for the Ulhas Nagar Sindhi Association, the place was everything that the overy glorified original US isnt.......

I sincerly hope my parents move out..... fast.....go to our native town of Guntur..... go anywhere... but dont stay in USA.... there is a power cut for 6 hours a day.. and when there is power.... it fluctuates like mad.... so effectively, all those modern day utilities are for the show.... nothing can be used....people are more than unclean.....waste water keeps flying out of windows from the 3rd 4th or even the 5th stories of those already filthy looking buildings.... I personally cleaned, spit, waste food, used pencils and papers from the top of my car sevaral times.....and the mosquitoes already are acquiring the size of a decently grown healthy cow.....sooner or later we may have to hear news of mosquitoes carrying away kids in USA :)..... god bless the place....