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.