The about 2 weeks travel
that I got to do recently, thanks to the son who lives in Phoenix, through
Arizona, Central Texas, Southern Utah and Southern California, left me with
many Impressions gained through watching, hearing and very little reading.
Being too lazy to build stories around these Impressions, though eminently
possible for a diligent story teller, say of the kind the wife is, all I
managed was a few bullet points, before they go into the memory bank that is
becoming increasingly challenging to access easily. So, here goes.
- Long flight is a pain,
but a bigger pain is a long flight split
into many,
- It is very easy to fall
in love and be amazed with the place,
you need to watch movies on Netflix and Prime regularly to temper the
amazement,
- Just like the
Bollywood movies, you realise that Hollywood movies give you a very distorted
impression of the Americans. Just as a Bollywood movie watcher might believe that
every other Punjabi is either dancing or eating or roaming around in London or
Toronto all the time, regular
dose of Netflix/ Prime
might leave you thinking that finding heterosexuals in the US or Britain might be quite an effort. Thus, it
was very heartening and pleasing to see mostly normal young families with
children, toddlers, elderly parents and dogs at places frequently visited or
malls.
- No wonder Indian
Americans are admired and in demand, everything they do is with a good slack
built in within the law, mind you, while in the US - one can learn a lot from
the ‘Sikhs for Justice’ and Pannuns, no wonder local enforcers are so loathe to
book them. Of course, Rajat Guptas and Nishad Singhs of the world provide those
essential miniscule exceptions,
- Now, one wonders if
the latter exception is an indicator of total Americanisation of next gen
Indian Americans,
- Indians would find
driving in the US a big bore, more so because you need to stop at every other
'STOP' sign even when
there are no vehicles approaching anywhere around,
‐ I was told the cops
give a big slack to offenders and law violators, but punishment is swift when
the redline is crossed, you only need to know where is the red line - very
true, it was impossible not to smell the pot even in states where it is
illegal,
- It is probably, only
visiting senior Indians who can be found using pavements along the roads in the
US outside big cities, if you leave out the dog walkers,
- It was quite an effort
to convince the son that I'll not get lost or mugged and I needed to walk out
of home and feel the air and the Sun, on the 3 days I spent at home - the fear
of me getting into some problem was genuine while I had to even say I run a
company to prove that I am not that forgetful!!!
- Paraphrasing a
brother, America exemplifies sense of abundance taken to the extreme!!! While
India spends millions educating us to banish single-use plastic bags and
indeed, many of us do avoid such plastic, supermarkets in the US provide a
plastic bag, even for big single items coming in boxes that you buy!
- The American influence
on the Indian youth ( at least urban) is so strong - the daughter would flip
the accent effortlessly and even interpreted what I meant to an airport staff, to
think that I've been speaking and even thinking in English for not less than 3
decades now!! Howsoever young you feel at heart, children invariably find you
outdated.
- While I had a hunch,
it was confirmed - we in India are fast catching up with Americans in buying many
things because there is a good offer and is well packaged- clothes, shoes and
bags, for instance. That has nothing to do with need.
- The undeserved jersey I got as a gift at University of Texas (UT) Austin got me trying out the UT team's Greetings with many a Texans!!!
The instant identification with the team
was remarkable. I only wonder if the devoted fans of Chennai Super Kings or Mumbai Indians match them,
- On the same vein, I
got instant greetings or comments ( you
see Texans apparently cannot like anyone who doesn't follow their own teams) by
several who saw my Georgia Bulls cap ( borrowed from the son While in India!),
never mind that I know nothing about Georgia Bulls or American football!!!
- That I wore a Texan Long Horn jersey even before I proved my loyalty to Arizona State University (ASU), my son's Alma Mater, did not leave him exactly very amused. The net result was - another undeserved jersey for me!!!
- America is a dream
destination for a nature/ wilderness lover. That a life time isn't adequate to
cover all of it is an understatement coming as it does from one who had only
glimpses of it in 3/4 of the 50 states. You only need a big cash-chest or an
incredibly rich and generous relative or friend who lives there to realise that
dream.
- Grand Canyon is,
simply GRAND. I was reminded of the experience on the banks of Manas Sarovar
more than a decade ago, when I stood at the edge of the Horse Shoe Bend of the Colorado.
Even if it sounds trite, it is an experience, not just a spectacle that can be
seen in a picture or a video.
- The San Diego Zoo is special, not because it is so big or because you need to take a bus ride to estimate the time you require to see it in full or because its ropeway ride gives you some 200 ft view of the animals from above. It is because the way it is maintained and presented. It is an experience, not just an exhibition of rare animals.
- Regular warnings by
the family to purge my instinctive attempts in public places to catch the eye
of a passing child or an infant couldn’t be heeded. The pleasant part, however
is, wherever I did succeed to catch the eye, I got a responding smile from the
mothers as well!!! It is another matter that the family continues to believe
that I was being socially incorrect and was potentially putting them in some
risk,
- The time, effort and
space that cousins and friends spared for us when we went visiting them left me
with a sense of not just gratefulness but feeling very fortunate. Now, I can’t
be saying that about the son even though that is the fact. So, I left him, even
after the several gifts he had for me, with quite a straight message that there’ll
be many more demands of him in the near future – to help me tick off the items
in the bucket list,
- And finally, taking an Uber ride in a self-driven car was fun, that too a Jaguar!
