Good to be back in this large country though its for a short time. Everything about this country is big, wide roads (some up to 10-12 lanes on each side), the golf carts are bigger than Nano, meals come with a huge serving, the cheese cake you order are not lanky panky as in India they are quite hatta katta and these guys have unbeatable waist lines.
So what did I do other than work ? My friend Sachin stays 2 miles away from my hotel so it has been fun. Me and sachin did what the men do and we (me, Sachin and his wife Mamta) went sight seeing during the weekends. Being in Atlanta, we had to visit the world of coco-cola, the 4-d movie and the tour of the fully functioning bottling line was better than tasting the 100 odd flavors of coke. Some of the flavors were really pathetic, Morarji cola would have been better. Just opposite the Coke factory is the worlds largest Aquarium, the Georgia Aquarium. It is awesome, you got to visit this place whenever you happen to come to Atlanta. They have built such a huge Habitat that the fishes be it shark, whale or whale-sharks or the other colorful fishes, don't miss the sea. If you have kids then do try the Sleepover package in there.
We also did a day trip to Smokies, i mean Smoky Mountains. The name smoky is due to the fact that fog presents itself as large smoke plumes from a distance. It was a wonderful picnic, lip smacking food by Mamta, good music, amazing views and non-stop talking. Even visited a casino on our way back home, it was a horrible casino never to be visited again. At Smokies, the fall was still couple of weeks away, even then some of the stretches were really very picturesque, amazing colors - different shades of green, yellow, orange, red, maroon. It was fun driving through the dwindling roads lined with lovely colorful trees on either side of the roads. The cool breeze helped the dead brain rejuvenate and ready to be abused during the work days. The lovely view reminded me of the beautiful stretch between Mumbra and Thane creek, you come across this stretch when you commute using the Mumbai Local trains. During the monsoon, the entire stretch used to turn into a bright shade of green and the beauty of the mumbra mountains used to increase multifold after the shower (rain i mean). Hope the construction companies have not destroyed this yet, will look out for this when I go to mumbai. Any mention of Mumbai Local train travel cannot be complete without the note on the unique sight that no other country can probably boast of, semi naked men crapping together and most probably discussing politics, girls and cricket, they discuss as if they are in a pub. Definitely not a pretty sight and you almost stop breathing when the train crosses such a stretch but not their fault, wish the public crappers could afford a private crapping station.
Anyway back to USA, though I love to cook, since the hotel has no kitchen I have to venture out to eat. American, Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Greek, Indian, Lebanese, Italian, different wraps/subs, tried them all but this tamilian is missing the Curd rice and Potato Poriyal ! Will probably ask Mamta to make it ..2 Large J&B, if we can get hold of old monk then even better and then curd rice with Potato, wowww weekend menu decided...Mamta are you reading? I am barging in this weekend whether you invite me or not ;-)
Probably a week more to go before I head back to Bangalore, to be with family ! Mobile, mails, video chat..thanks to the technology we are connected but nothing can beat seeing a person in flesh and blood. By the way I am deprived of one of the technologies that kept me connected 24*7, some ***hole stole my cell phone. Haan Haan, yahan Amrika main bhi chor hain ..I feel completely disconnected, landline and Internet is not enough..i need a cell phone !!
