Some Ill-informed Notings

 

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.

- Texans believe everything about them is big, king-size, that self-esteem is so big that they built their capitol to reach 3 inches above the US Federal capitol and their flag flies at par with the Federal flag, not a few inches below as flags of the rest of the states do,

- 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!