It is 31st Dec, the last day of the year and I am spending this day with 4 people I came across in the second half of this year. That is how it is with life- places, people all keep changing. The plan is to spend the day in LA and be back in SD for the party. We drive to LA, five people can make a lot of noise especially if 4 of them gang up against one. We were democratic in our choice of target, each one getting his turn, but then ‘some people are more equal than others’, and I get the largest share of leg pulling!
We did a tour of University of South California (USC), since we had an alumnus with us. I need to do a campus tour of my own university so that I can show around people if they land in god forsaken Illinois someday. Headed for lunch at an Indian restaurant that I had frequented once earlier in October, this is when you realize that you have had your share of LA! The locality is like an Asian ghetto, Indians walking around everywhere. Sitting in the restaurant we were working out our choices, there was the Venice beach and then Hollywood. I had already done the Hollywood detour on a bright October afternoon looking around for Hugh Jackman, the night lights would be a novelty this time.
Venice beach reminded me again of Indian beaches, colorful shops selling colorful wares and lots of faces around. It was foggy at the beach but our cameras went clicking any ways. Well they clicked all the way into Hollywood. Bright and glittering and jostling and singing and dancing and some deranged man was getting his kick by setting parked car on fire, so the shrill fire brigade and the LAPD were also at their alert best. That’s Hollywood, you’d say.
4th Jan, I finally said adios to the warm weather and beaches of CA and headed for the frigid Midwest- Milwaukee Wisconsin. This was my first day time flight from LA, so I saw the sunrise in LA, had a small layover in Vegas (it did get me to touch base there!) then fly across the breadth of the country (west coast to the mid west). I surveyed the Grand Canyon from atop (aha! I count that as the reward for three aborted plans). I saw the frozen waters as I headed towards my destination, and steeled myself for the awaiting cold. Fortunately the sun decided to play kind and I was greeted with an unexpected warm weather.
Wisconsin counseled me back to family ways after a nomadic stay with bachelors. I was waking up early, fetching groceries, visiting temples, spending time in a pre-school where my relative was doing a part time, going out for post dinner walk in the chill for 3miles. I was living in a clean apartment having regular meals, listening to baba ramdev (you can’t block off a high decibel rant if you are anywhere in the house when he’s on TV) now that’s a lot of change! I met another engg-college batch mate, who drove me to the Lake Michigan water front. It was so cold and deserted that it gave me an eerie feeling. There were big brick buildings around but not a soul in sight.
After a cozy stay for a week, it was time to move again and this time it was the last leg of the Journey. It did end in style.
Thank you everyone who played a host to a broke. Thank you for taking your time to show me around places. My apologies to Roadstar-R for embarrassing him in writing, but since he’s on the reading list I guess it’s all in good spirit! There were other names as well that didn’t make it to the blog, but I’ll give them a roll call for sure… starting with poooja, ace, dave and yes the Bhaskars and the Bharatis(oops there was just one). Thanks people!
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