First Picnic

Then came memorial day holiday. It is a long weekend when nobody works. We went to my aunt`s lakeside condo. It was so pretty with ducks and geese and a small lake.. we walked on a beautiful trail later. We went to pick up some subway sandwiches for lunch. After a typical Indian tussle between my aunt and me (I will pay. No I will) I reached the counter to order my sub. I ask for capsicum and tomato along with other stuff. The sales guy goes`WH...AAA..t????' I instantly rewind n say `uhh .. Peppers and tuh-may-to' and he gets it right. People here find it very difficult to understand Indian English or maybe any English which is not American.

We attended a Dinner that evening. .It was a family get together . There was lot of chatting and A LOT OF food. surprisingly I had really nice chaat.It was in a Posh colony in a HUGE house. Seems to me , in US everything has got to be big.These people had a flat screen in their basement which was 56 or 60''(remember what i wrote about everyone liking big stuff). It felt good to be amidst so much noise and chatter as all through this day there was an undercurrent of stress. The guy who was supposed to handle Samrat`s transfer had left the company just a day before we landed. There was so much we did not know. It was a struggle to find out.sometimes stuff just took long to happen and sometimes got delayed without a reason.

The day Cops came home...

It was what seemed to be a wretched Saturday when this happened,but actually sounded really hilarious by the evening. What happened is.. We were supposed to rent out a car and there was some miscommunication and the rental guys didn`t know about it and were unwilling to give insurance. Over here you are courting disaster if you drive without insurance, so Samrat and I argued politely(in front of the salesman) and had to cancel our appointment to see an apartment because of this mess.

We came home and entered as usual(using an electronic code) and as soon as we entered the back door....A LOUD WEEE>>WAW greeted us and we freaked out.Both of us ran helter skelter to call my aunt as she was not home.I called her on the cell and said`Thisis an emergency,pls call back ' (and thinking my aunt would have a heart attack explained..)the burglar alarm has gone off. call soon. Don`t worry.(Boy i am weird. too many Hollywood movies I think.)) We decide to call up my uncle and as what often happens in such cases we couldn't find the paper with the numbers.And all this time the alarm is hollering away.

That sound can drive you insane. Then Samrat tells me in a very detached manner`u know the cops could come" and i answer from whatever the alarm has left of my sanity~i know"And Yes the cops do come. Two beefy ones ,complete in uniform,just as they showed in the movies,with the blinking flashlights in the police car.(I would have requested them for a photo on a better day)I am shaking by now and stammer "we are guests here. we don't know how to shut this.

He smiles and asks us for identification. I am meghna karnik(drivers licence) and Samrat is Samrat Sengupta in his. He asks if we have the same last name as the owner(how is that possible as according to this identification we don`t share a last name ourselves) and how we are related(My grandfather's brother's daughter or my father's first cousin on his mom's side) I just said niece.Then we actually asked him to shut off the alarm. He said he didn't know how to and all this while ,the alarm still blares on...

I try to call my aunt again but she doesn't pick up.He takes down our names etc and as we appear more and more flustered he actually smiles and says No problem Don't worry about it(I was beginning to have visions of me n sam hand cuffed n "u have a right to remain silent etc..)They go away but we are still going mad because of the alarm.Then it miraculously shuts off and we actually resume breathing normally but just like a cruel joke it starts all over again.

My aunt calls and gives us the combo of the alarm.We punch the buttons thinking now we will shut the damned thing off and.... Nothing happens! We try again and same results.And we just sit there like trapped animals, thinking" Phir ajayegi police"(police will come again) and all this time the bloody alarm just won't stop. My aunt rushes home and wonders why the alarm is still ringing.Poor thing! She got so worried when we called she gave us the wrong combination.

Finally she shuts the offending noise maker off and there is peace once again. and you know what we all do to calm down after this harrowing experience.. we have huge mugs of coffee(Nothing that a shot of caffeine won't do) Nutty or what!!!! The reason this whole thing happened was my cousin switched the burglar alarm on as we were supposed to go and see an apartment(refer to earlier lines:)) and not return home.

US Trip

My first day...
The flight was long but uneventful. At the immigration desk in NY we saw this young brash officer question a senior Indian lady in a shockingly rude and arrogant manner. He even asked her if she was lying and made her pinch her nose to check if it was real!! And all this while the passengers were being herded in the queue and some,like us were late for the connecting flight(We were lucky to get a good polite officer).My tagging of the luggage paid off and we made it to the next check in with our bags in tow. We were made to remove our jackets , shoes etc(no body search, Thank God!)There was also this young hep chick who was escorted to the flight by the officers.They actually lifted her bags for her. Lesson:: Dress well for your next flight. We had a stopover at Atlanta.

The Atlanta airport was HUGE.We had to take a mini train to travel to the other lounge.During lunch I stared at an Indian lady and she stared right back at me. After playing this game for some time ,I walked up to her and chatted. Turned out she is from Green acres colony Pune (very near to where I used to live before marriage). She remembered seeing me taking walks etc. Hmm . I also had my first US McD burger and coke.

We arrived at Detroit late in the evening , after our flight from Atlanta.It was so windy and chilly and grey. My aunt came to pick us up and drove us to this beautiful suburban neighbourhood called Livonia. She has a sweet house.In fact most people here have really beautiful houses and work damn hard to keep them that way.The next day was a working day for everyone. They all left for work and i got soooo lonely and wondered how I am going to manage the next eight months.