My second US visit

I have been waiting to write about my US visit for a long time, but never found the time nor the willingness to do it. I am alone at home, no time table, no restrictions, you can say that I have nothing to do, I watched movies almost all day, Sleepless in Seattle and few other movies. I was wondering why its love story and heart breaks theme today, then it struck me, today is Valentine ’s Day. I guess if you are out of the rooster, these days don’t matter.


OK, back to my US visit. For this visit, my wife was accompanying me, so it was really a big deal for her and her parents. So her parents had come to see her off. Her father verified J the tickets, the hotel reservations etc, etc. I was wondering, some things don’t change, it is the way it is. After being married for 4 years, these things have stopped bothering me now. I am not going to bore with writing the obvious things, I will mention only those things which were memorable to me;

Meeting People:

We landed in Birmingham, Alabama and had to sleep early, as I had to go to office the next day. The next day in office was really good, met all the people whom I knew on the phone or had seen their grainy pictures on the Video conference. Seeing people in flesh and blood with their smiles was very fantastic.

Fantastic Doctor:

After being there for a few days, my wife fell sick, she had persistent cough, we had to visit a Doctor. Eleshia took us to a doctor, Mr Patterson. I had the insurance for my wife, but it was not cashless, we had to pay cash and get it reimbursed in India. The doctor did some routine tests and said it was only Bronchitis and not H1N1. Phew that was a relief. Why do I still remember this incident, after so many months??? The answer is Dr Patterson. He was such a gentleman; he realized we did not have the insurance fully covered so he gave tablets instead of prescribing and also he removed all the tablets himself from the big boxes and gave us only the strips, so that we don’t have any difficulty in carrying it. So nice of him. I am so impressed by his simplicity and generosity. I was totally not expecting this. I am not being judgemental, I never see this happening in India these days, although I knew a doctor who was like this when I was in school, Dr Dhadauthi in Dharwar.

Gracious Host:

I got an opportunity to visit an American home in America. I guess this was the first time i am visiting a non-indian house. Eleshia invited us to her Father’s house for Thanks giving. I did not know what to do and what not to do, to carry presents or gifts or some sweets or some flowers, what to wear and what to talk, I really did not know what to do. Even Aswith was not sure what to do. On the eve of Thanks giving, Eleshia sent us an email, saying we should not be bothering with these, that was a relief. We said, lets be ourselves and will not think too much about this. It is crazy attending functions in India, it will not be crazier than in India. Eleshia picked us up in the morning and we were going to her father, Mr Davis home. On the way, she showed her school hangout, her school and the market place for the town. I forgot the name of the place, its around 30-45 min drive from the place we were staying. It’s a really nice place, its more like a small community living, like what we used to have in Dharwar during my school days, oh god, I miss those days. When I was in Birmingham, it reminded me of Dharwar. Ok We reached Mr Davis’s house, as I was about to enter the house, I was looking for a place to remove and place my shoes as we all do in India, then when I entered the house, as I saw the guests in the house, they were all wearing the shoes. Hmmm… I should not be removing my shoes, this is my first, enter your hosts home with shoes on. There will be many firsts like this, while i am here, i said to myself.

Mr Davis, our host was a very generous host. Eleshia introduced us to all her family members, they were all so wonderful. We started talking and getting to know each other. It was more like a Q&A session, as there was curiosity on both sides. How many times Americans have visitors in their home for Thanks giving from India, I guess none, so it was first for them too. The day went on well, we had a Turkey and many other things, I don’t remember their names L. I liked the Turkey most. After lunch we played Amercian football for sometime. Aswith and I were trying to throw the football as the quarterbacks do on TV, I thought it was easy, but it is not. It looks easy on TV. Everything looks easy on TV. Before we had lunch, Mr Davis said prayers thanking god for everything that was good. He included us also in his prayers. That was a first for me. I have never come across a host saying the prayers for the guests. I thought we are no longer visitors, we were part of his family now. I pray to god for best wishes and good health to Mr Davis. I don’t know how it was evening and we were ready to leave. We wished good bye to everybody and left for our Hotel. The one thing I regret the most on that Thanksgiving day, is we never clicked any pictures. Aswith and I both had cameras with us and damn us we did not get our cameras out and click a few pics. Too bad, :( :( .





Mr Davis.

Sports and Americans:

I must say, Americans love their sports and sometimes they just, more than love it. They are obsessed. Like some of us are obsessed with cricket in India. The difference is, the American ladies are equally involved in keeping up with sports as with men. This does not happen in India. I have never seen, my wife, or my mom or my sister obsessed with sports. However I do see there is a change with newer generation after IPL-T20 was launched in India. The newer generation is equally involved, but its only cricket for now. The word obsession brings another thought to my mind, Arif. Arif is really obsessed with American football and the Alabama team, the Crimson tide.

I got a chance to visit Emily’s basketball match. Emily is Angeline’s daughter, who play’s basketball for her school. Angeline was mentioning that their team is Shelby county champions for this year and have their photo put up in the school gym, that’s great. I have seen their team play, they play well.

I saw another game that was being played by some boys, they were really playing well. They are very competitive and athletic. I guess parents in US want to have their kids as much as involved in sports as possible; this is very different from India. I remember during my college, when I was playing cricket for my college, my father never wanted me to play cricket. L L.

But I so wanted to play, I used to keep a pair of white shirt and pants in my friends Hostel room. On the day of match I used to pack my bag as if I am going to college, but then I went to hostel, changed into whites and then go and play cricket. Anyways.. no complaints. All is well.

In the end, I wish to thank, Eleshia, Angeline, Arif, Tom and all people from the MACESS team who made this a memorable trip.