Sale ! Sale ! Sale !

May 13, 2013 . So, the pictures were clicked , celebrations were over and now is the time for Mins to wind up .. pack up and clean up and be all set for the loonngg vacations and the next milestone - her job - post B-school !

But - moving out is not easy ! For the first time I felt , setting up a house is so simple (you pay and get stuff ast your discretion) , while dismantling the house is a roller-coaster experience of both unpredictable effort that one puts in as well as the emotions that one has to let go - while doing away with each and every thing - that you once bought for a purpose !

If we were to move locally in India, we would have used some movers and packers services and packed everything and sent home - there were ways of retaining stuff - at least for attachment value. But here - no chance ! You sell it, or throw it - it needs to be discarded in a predefined disciplined manner. You dont even have a choice to leave stuff with the land lord - thinking he may be happy - that his non furnished house - would become furnished and may fetch him higher rent - NO OPTION like that exists.

So, the first task was - to make people aware about the MOVING OUT sale - and Mins clicked pics of her home stuff - and put them on selling forums. The challenge at this time of the year was - the most common - demand supply challenge of economics. So many students moving out - while the new ones would come only in August/ September - hence the clear gap ! As one of my uncles suggested - this is a great business opportunity for who-soever wants to take it - in this city of Universities / academics - where students keep coming , buying stuff , selling stuff and moving out ! Think - its a good thought ! In India - I thought - if such an opportunity would hv existed - it would hv already been running as a full fledged business...

Anyways, so some people started calling for stuff and of course offered way lesser price that what was quoted by Mins. After rounds of negotiations and option finding - Mins gave away most of her stuff at throw away prices. The idea being - at least some one would come home , and pick stuff and help get rid of it for a few bucks. It was better than calling people for help and then finding a convenience center   to throw stuff and pay for disposal ! Stuff that Mins managed to sell in order of importance / price of selling was - her CAR (complex process - as people would ask technical questions , needed the TITLE of car - which Mins had misplaced - and there was a reported accident on her car + ac of car wasn't working -- OOPS - ) hats off to Mins for still managing to sell it - by figuring out all legalities / paper work in this alien country. What we realized was , that there was a system in place for everything and there was no ambiguity in the PROCESS , and so , was easy to follow and complete. Another thing was the NUMBER plate.

While in India - the number plate is the identity of the car, here the number plate was identity of ownership and changed with the owner. So, you need to remove ur number plate and the new owner will put his own with changed credentials. The number plate - would have the city name and a number and for North Carolina - it said First in Flight , for Alabama - it said Sweet home alabama - it was kind of - promoting the city with its one popular story may be. Like the First plane in US took off from NC , hence all number plates from NC read FIRST IN FLIGHT.  Saw many more kinds of number plates in the DMV (Durham department of motor vehicles) office -which were non templatised - unlike the otherwise TEMPLATE / process oriented US.

For the first time I saw JUGAAD in USA - we were supposed to take the number plate off the car and we did not have a screw driver. Then some one suggested - use QUARTER (25 paise equivalent) coin to unscrew the plate from the car.

The car sale was followed by sale of stuff like bed box mattress , vacuum cleaner , book shelf , side table, chairs and lamp shade. While rest of the stuff, we took down - the two floors, the mattress was taken by one guy with HUGE BUILT and African ethnicity. He very conveniently (or due to no choice) - and tied the mattress and box on the top of his car - with a rope - single handedly ! 

With this - I got an overall experience of the life in US (beyond a tourist) and realized this place indeed makes "EACH ONE on his OWN" - with no support - paid or unpaid.

And for the first time I saw a real BLUE ROSE

May 12, 2013. The title of the post has got nothing to do with the events of this day. Just that it signifies - so many things that I saw for the first time in reality in my life !

Original plan of the day was to listen to Melinda Gates talk live - who is a Duke alumni and was visting Min's campus . But, as most of the times - we got late ! Missed !

Then Mins was invited to a South Indian friend's wife's baby shower function. It would be kind of a new thing to see - Best of Indian culture - being practiced in America. Before that - we had to get some gift as a token of best wishes for the couple. So we went to TARGET . I was excited - as TARGET was the store - I used to work for - prior to NID. And the store was reallllyy BIG and fascinating with all its supplies of stationary and amazing merchandise. My sister had to literally pull me away - else we would have become late for the ceremony - because of which we went to TARGET.  

Also, this was Mother's day. And it seems to be REALLY BIGG here. I was delighted with the gesture at TARGET stores for all its MOTHER employees - they had put a note of wishes with name of the employee and a rose - on the employee's counters ! Simple ways to make people feel special :) .

Then we drove to the ceremony - in a small restaurant , with few people - close to 25-30 max. Its amazing to see that we Indians - wherever we are - manage to do JUGAAD and conduct the rituals in at least a representative fashion - to give ourselves some satisfaction. Also, well - expecting parents know before hand - of the gender of their kid and they celebrate that - unlike India.

We gave the gift, congratulated the family , clicked pictures and headed to Min's school (u will read school- college - used interchangeably - as here they call it school and I am used to the Indian way of calling it a college ). There was another lunch reception today and Mins wanted to meet her batchmates, faculty and click pictures in the robe which we missed on the previous day - due to mighty rains.

So in the list of FIRSTS - I saw - a lot of things . I realized that a B-school is probably more creative in expression that even the design schools of the world. Saw representations on the soft boards. There was a pledge signed by the entire class and framed and put on the wall - what a way to establish belongingness and commitment to the values of the school ! Then I amidst awesome food - a saw real blue roses - as a part of the decorations on the tables kept for eating. The blue rose was just amazing and my eyes were not getting off it. I almost wanted to steal it and put it my bag. Dont worry - didnt do that ;) .. The idea of blue rose there was - because blue is the color of Duke - and hence the decorations were blue and white. Another FIRSTs - was an ice installation - which was melting slowly - with DUKE written there - that became an attraction for clicking pictures. Then there was array of flags , a turn and lock - digital lock for lockers for students , big auditorium and super amazing class rooms - i would say DESIGNED for management students ...  Met Mins's super warm friends , saw for the first time a married couple - studying together - which is usually reverse ( I mean couple studying together - gets married) - but Min's said that there were many such cases in her school.

Then there was a round of non stop picture clicking - to capture , store and assemble - two years of Min's priceless experience of learning , joy , adventure and growth.

Next - we went to Sarah P. Duke Gardens - one of the popular tourist spots in Durham. Yet again, for the FIRST time I saw- so many people walking in such a maintained BIG green park - in the bright light of sun (Usually in which - people in India would avoid coming out) .. In fact, I saw the maximum crowd together in a single place - only here . There were people probably more than the convocation event. And I saw SO MUCH GREENRY and PRETTY FLOWERS for the FIRST time ! As Min's introduced me to the place - it was undoubtedly like one of the Yash Chopra Movie locations.

Then we went home - and I slept according to the India time. Poor Mins tried to wake me up - only to her disappointment - I slept and woke up at 2 am NC time. Huh.

Rainy Convocation : Minni's BIGG day - that got me here !

11th May 2013. Today was the biggg day - the very day because of which I got the opportunity for this GRAND vacation. And it was awesome !

I was seeing Minni's (my brilliant - younger sister - who pursued her Master's from Fuqua school of Business) college - the DUKE university for the first time - and it looked amazing ! There were 50 years of Blacks signages every where - which signified that this was 50th year of Blacks - studying in the institute. What a way to celebrate and respect nationalities across the world - was the thought in my mind.

We had our close family friends visiting the city for Minni's convocation. Me and Mins were overwhelmed with the gesture of our uncles to come all the way and make us feel belonged in the country of Americans.

For the first time I realized that convocation is such a BIGG event ! It is very customary in nature. (I hv pics in my camera - which I will upload soon - for now some clicked from phn for quick sharing).

There was a long walk of about 15 minutes from the parking to the Basket ball court - where the event was scheduled. The basket ball court - was huugee  with flags of popular Blue devils (Blue devils - is the name given to all students of Duke) - who have made it BIG and even not so big ! Also there were parents , relatives, friends , spouses , children etc etc of all the graduating students as a part of the audience. The excitement could be felt with the sound , chirps and whistles by people enthralled to see their love one being graduated on this day . 

The ceremony (there was a live streaming of ceremony as well for ppl who couldnt physically be a part of the event):

A stage - flanked with flags of some 30+ countries - representative of the countries - from which the students come to Duke to study - signifying the multi cultural community learning experience. And it looked so pretty. Was wondering - what if all the nations can actually be so close knit - what a world it would be to live in ! 

There was a procession - that was led by a live band (dont know what exactly is it called) - and everyone in customary costumes and the graduation robe ... Close to 400 people graduated from this school of business that day. There were students with garlands - and I thought may be they are specially honored  students for some achievements - only later to realize that they were garlands like we have in India on any auspicious occasion - to ornate the "star" of any event like a birthday boy/girl etc.

Only difference was - that people were sporting the garlands on the dress code of the graduation robe - and it was different ! I was wondering - that the customs across the world are so close to each other ! In some cases - we take them as customary rituals , while in others we sport them with pride !

Procession and seating was followed by - usual round of speeches. Only difference was - there there were three student representatives who spoke and they were exemplary in their oration skills as well as content. They were actually better than the chief guest and the dean. What made them better was - the experience that they spoke about. Also one of the statements that I would never forget was on optimism and it goes like - " Whenever the glass is half filled - we should be positive enough to believe it is half filled and enthusiastic enough to make it completely full ". One interesting part was - that the institute as well as students urged one another to maintain their strong alumni network and stay connected to the institute. 

The students presented some amount of money as a token of respect and contribution to the institute. 

Then there was round of handing over the degree to the students . Kept waiting for Minni's turn to come - and flash ! It went with a blink. Couldn't really capture THE moment in my camera- as it was a quick walk and she almost ran :( .. It never occurred to me that I could hv taken a video instead of still pic. I was too far from the ceremony stage - and for the first time I realized the need to REDUCTION od picture taking time that should be considered by the popular camera companies.. as the time to process the picture - actually takes it to the next frame !

The ceremony got over - and we were asked to move to the Fuqua building for reception. About 10 minutes walk - yet again. And while be started walking - we saw rains. And I saw it for the first time in real - that it was raining - like 5 feet away from me and not on me and in a couple of minutes it was raining on me ! We all got drenched - well rain doesn't spare - even if u are like really dressed up - in the best of attire .. rains are non partial you see unless you have umbrellas.

All soaked and drenched , we moved for reception - where there was food . The rain was very well managed by the authorities in college - with special volunteers designated to the task of guiding people and warning about wet floor and even distributing towels. Towels was - like super management by the management school ! Food was good - to my pleasant surprise - there was a good choice of vegetarian varieties.

We spent a lot of time there - checking out the school , meeting Min's friends and just exploring the place. 

THE EVENING

One of our uncles who came with family left , while the other uncle stayed back to spend some time with us :) . Mins drove us around her campus - showed us the tallest building of Durham - the Duke Chapel and the undergrad part of the university. It was just too prettty..

We also went to a DESI south Indian restaurant (Cholanad Restaurant & Bar ) 

 for dinner - and had samosas (which were pretty different to look at - other than the triangular shape) and awesome cholla bhatoora , uttapam and masala dosa. It was kind of amusing to see firangs serving desi food - usually its the opposite - desi's serve the firang food both within our country and outside..

I slept in the night around 10 pm NC time - thinking this was the end of the jet lag -- but there was more to it !

Welcome to NC

Finally - the moment arrived ! and the plane landed in Durham - my destination of the 30 hour long  American Airlines journey.. And this was literally the longest part of the journey as I was all awake .. couldn't sleep , there was no personal entertainment system in the plane like Gulf air..

Last 2 hours appeared even longer than the previous 7 hours !

The moment came - when the captain announced - "Crew, ready for landing" - and I could see a glimpse of Durham from the window - from my aisle seat .. 

The amount of greenery that I saw in few seconds was probably more than what I have seen together in my whole life ! No - its not exaggerated ... it looked like the city is covered with Broccolis and amidst them are rooftops of triangular shaped crowns of the houses. It was beautifully greeen !

And then were the usual formalities - customs clearances etc.etc. Only point to ponder was - while standing in customs queue - there were two separate lines - one was for citizens and the other for non citizens. While the citizen's queue was much shorter than the other one , the number of counters serving them were more ... and only once all the citizens were serviced by them - the non citizens' process coud be expedited .. I was wondering why this was - as a luxury to the citizens of the country - to say they are special / privileged or something else.. It's debatable and i dont want to become judgmental here.

Surely, this was not the America - I have seen across media. That America had glamourous lifestyle, tall buildings and fast moving people .. this city was like a country side place - with amenities like city. Truly refreshing !

My sister came to pick me up and here was the beginning of my experiences of the US life. 

We went to her apartment and it is super cool - as imagined - pre-fitted with all amenities :) .

In the evening - we went to a hair salon - to get hair cut for my sister. The part of the city was called Downtown in Bull city. The salon had a very hand done - yet professional feel ! Raw brick walls , book shelf done out of old door and curtain rods - and overall very pleasant.

 And then I realized the stint of jet lag as I slept off early in the evening... leaving no more scope to discover the place that day. Btw, this was 10th May 2013.

In transsssiiiiit ...

I had a lonng journey... 30 hours with 4/5 hours layover in both Bahrain and London ...

Bahrain - Manama airport - looked like any other Indian airport ! Only peculiar things were - PRAYER rooms - male / female respectively - something I dont remember seeing in any of the Indian domestic airports...

And there was free internet access kiosks- unlike London -  the famous Heathrow airport . These kiosks had keys dedicated to smileys :-) and :-( as well ...

After 6-7 hours of tiresome journey ,  landed in the city of River Thames - London. The top view of the city looked like a lego block city with planned homes in form of blocks , divided by Thames river , car parked in super - organized fashion ! ...

The airport was like a shopping mall - all designer stores BIGG TIME - selling there - but 99 percent operated by - guess who -- 24 X 7 hard working INDIANS !

Some interesting stuff was :
-selling traveller's regimes in lot of products specially skin care and electronics
-interesting shelf displays

- and MOST interesting was - the discount board text - where it said -- AT LEAST 30% off and not like Indian sale boards of UPTO 30% off !

This airport was SUPER HIGH on security - three times security check before boarding - at different times and check points.
There was a multi faith prayer room too - but this one was common for both genders.

 Only thing common on both airports - STARBUCKS .. I realized - starbucks is actually connecting countries..

Gulfing in Gulf air !

When I shared the fact that I m gonna take Gulf air flight.. people around me gave me looks of the types "God save you" ..

And also - while trying to block my seats - so that I dont get non desirable - non window/aisle seats in the air craft - I reallly had to struggle hard ! There was practically no-way to reach gulf air travel desk .. the toll free number would perpetually keep you on hold saying - ur call is important - pls wait - which sounded like u dared to make booking with us - now keep waiting ! huh !

I almost felt like - may be I will hv to travel on the roof of the flight as no one was ready to acknowledge my bookings and pay attention to my request of seat blocking and veg meals !

This lead to my doodle - yet again - To see Doodle : click here

However - to my surprise - Gulf air was really good in terms of the travel experience ! Or may be I was scared sooo much - and expected so less - that whatever they would have done even average as per flight standards - would have earned them brownie points from me !

Travel on my mind !

While - there was so much about this travel on my mind... and I was wondering - will I be even able to make it ?? Well the thought was because - all good things are jinxed and I thought - and prayed that there should be no last minute roadblock...

However - I was overburdened with tasks like office work + travel preparations + trip to jaipur - etc etc..

And - when you have to work the most - thats when the brain goes in all directions but the work ! and voila - you know what I wanted to sketch and color and doodle ! This was on the 28th April.. I said to myself - "Why cant you concentrate and finish the"n" number of ppt's - that you hv to work on" - but then the other side of the brain said - "It's better to do something fruitful which your heart wants and leads to some satisfaction - then struggling to do something , that your brain suggests and leads to no-where but waste of time !"..

This was the beginning of the doooodles - "Travel on my mind" ..

Doodles - talk my mind!

Why Fresh on Board !

Well, I am not a professional blogger ! This piece of writing is to express what I felt when I travelled outside my country for the first time... There is no target audience - and I am doing this for myself :)
It's called fresh on board - as I recently learnt that this is a phrase used for people who experience the life of Americas for the first time and its kinda representative of how we use "happy realization" + "discover for yourself"...

For all who go through these excerpts - a small disclaimer - all these are my experiences / views / observations which are set in the context of the experiences of my life so far ... and are not meant to be a subject of debate / to hurt sentiments  about any person / place / object etc..