Drive to San Ramon and its adventures

So on the morning on 21st around 10 pm, we set on our journey to San Francisco (would I reach there?). Nikux was at the drivers' seat aided by Ikka. I, Ankit and Himanshu (Khatriji, Ikka's roommate who had to go to Sunnyvale) were on the back seat. hmmm, so what do we do to make the journey interesting - I being the only one new to the area (around San Diego) was soon buried under the innumerable scenes being thrown at me (faster than my eyes could scan and my brain could actually interpret) - "bhatele woh dekho pani, bhatele woh dekho pahad, bhatele woh dekho truck pe motorcycle, arey bhatele woh raha Hollywood, bhatele woh dekho road, car, pani, machchli (machchli?? no not until later in the day ;)) .....

And then "bhatele tumhare illinois mein 4 lane hoti hain? bhatele tumhare yahan road ke ek taraf sea hoti hai? bhatele tumhare yahan itne bade truck hote hain?". I said "nahi, nahi, bhatele to gaon se aaya hai, !@#$@%$^%$" :) By afternoon, we had become hungry and so we stopped at TacoBell where I got my first toy of the trip - a spring driven crab! The suggestion by Ikkan to gift it to Yash's nephew was immediately and brutally turned down. Playing cards along the way (less Blackjack and more teen-do-paanch), we finally came close to San Jose.

This was a new sight for me - the Silicon Valley with buildings of all the well known software companies, multi-level flyovers and lots of lights. After much deliberation (losing our way twice because of Ikks, the Phantom) we finally reached Himanshu's friends' place at Sunnyvale. There it was decided to scrap the detour to Stanford (yay!! who wanted to meet those geeks anyways .....) and head for San Ramon (Yash didnt sound too pleased on the phone and we were being threatened to be left out for the night). With that the plan to go to SFO also seemed to be losing ground (I wasnt wrong after all when I thought that we wouldnt reach there). Around 9:30 pm, we reached our destination (and home for the night) - Yash's sister's palatial home .....

to be continued ....

San Diego - Finest City of America

I entered a dimly lighted living room which looked cleaner than is usual for students' apartments. I immediately took upon the task of inspecting the apartment and was pleased to find all modern amenities in Ikkan's room. Wasnt given much time for it though because we left for dinner soon. I was told that we would be picking up two people - Dhiman, Gaurav (his first name) and Ankit (uh huh, I would see who he is).

Couldn't see much of Ankit in the car and so had to wait patiently. We reached the Indian locality in San Diego and decided to go to a south Indian restaurant. So - the face value of Ankit didnt enthrall me much and I thought, "didnt I tell them not to rope in any outsider". Anyways, I had met Nikux and Ikka after a long time and so became busy talking to them and ofcourse relishing the tasty dosa (was eating at a good Indian restaurant for the first time in the US: disadvantage of living at a small town). While coming back, we decided to watch a movie and so brought 'Bunty and Bubli' with us. I was tired and so without much notice fell asleep towards the end. After the movie, I packed stuff for the long journey we had to embark upon the next day.

That brings an end to Scene I at San Diego. We would come back here with Yash around 7 days later and so the blog will be again be updated after that! Hold on till then ....

Trip to California

Funny isn't it? Not going to India just because your friends will be touring California! But nevertheless I did it: I had almost decided to go to India but then cancelled it because one fine day Nikux said on the phone "India jake kya karoge, yahan aa jao".

Hence started the planning for the trip. The first thing was to convince my parents back in India that how difficult it had become to get tickets for India during Christmas time. The rest was left to Ikks (deciding the places, the bookings and everything). He would call sometimes to confirm the program or just inform us. I and Yash had to decide the time when we would arrive in California. As is always the case, I ahd to help Yash find cheap tickets (though it is he who has been in US for a year and a half). I also decided to buy a few things before going - a cabiin baggage, a camera, chocolates and other sweet stuff.

The worst nightmare turned out to be the camera. I had settled down upon a sleek Sony DSC L1 which I thought looked very cute (thats how I usually select my stuff). But whenever I compared its pictures with the good Canon S1 my roommate has, I would get disappointed. At some point, I even thought of returning it but then Nikux told me to use it for a while and see what happens. I thought to go by what he said. I ordered for its bag and a 512MB memory stick. Lucky me, I got the stuff on the day before I had to leave.

So after my exams finished on 16th and the parties concluded on 19th, I did my packing and got ready to leave for San Diego. I had to take a train to Chicago on 20th and then a flight to San Diego from the Chicago Midway International Airport which would go via Las Vegas. On the morning of 20th at around 6 am, I took a taxi to the Terminal (which is just 4 blocks from my home) - because of the chilling cold (30 degrees) and the heavy luggage I had. I reached Chicago at 9 am and then started my search for the nearest CTA station. The windy city was so cold that it was impossible for me to take off my gloves even for a second. After walking for 6 extra blocks, I finally reached the Orange Line Clinton station which would lead me to Midway. When I reached Midway, I had lots of time and so I made good use of my iPod Nano (also to impress the four beautiful girls standing in the opposite line). I reached San Diego around 5:30 pm and Nikux and Ikka had come to pick me up at the airport.

Let me now introduce you to the characters in the 10-day long play which had commenced the moment I stepped on the soil of San Diego (you can very well make out who the protagonist of the play was). The elders: Nitin Gupta (ikka, ikkan, ikks, ng), Yash Kapoor (machchhli and nothing else). The freshers: Abhinav Bhatele (thats me and the 'central' character), Nikhil Rasiwasia (nikux, daddu, baba - this was a new nick given to him, Nicksie) and finally the stranger: Ankit Srivastava (whom I had to 'check' out and whom I would call Ankiiiii later) .

Lets move on to first scene of the play. The set is San Diego and the characters on stage are everybody except Yash: Scene I