Hundreds of hours have gone by in silence, still this blog is patiently waiting for my next post. I hope some of you have been too. I am supposed to be really excited and astonished after visiting the land of abundance – the U.S.A. It was a nice experience per say, but nothing life changing I think. Just like a good engineer should do, let me break down the whole post into smaller and more readable sections.

The onward journey

That night I could hardly get sleep -  soon it was soon 3 am – and it was time to depart my home in Bangalore. Dad wished me luck, and I set forth my journey to the airport. The first signs weren’t right – the cab’s rear wheel got punctured, but I made it on time for the flight. A lot unending ten hour long journey to London was the first of its kind in my life.

From the skies, I saw the marvelous deserts of Afghanistan. Most other places didn’t interest me much. I munched on the in-flight entertainment system, and had seen most of the movies that interested me. My plane flew over Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Europe – where it finally landed into London. In an hour, we had the next flight – another ten hour journey – to San Francisco. This one was via Greenland and Canada – most of the time avoiding flying long distances over ocean.

The first week

I was the new boy in town – everything unseen, unknown. The traffic was left aligned, and cab rates were sky high. Thankfully, the hotel provided free cabs for short distances, and we clinged on to some other Yahoos for longer ones. The Yahoo! office is a set of 6 buildings, and we need to cross traffic signals to reach them. Initially, it was hard to figure out which route led to where.

The conference

The San Jose Convention center is a marvelous building, similar to a 5-star hotel. The Yahoo! Tech Pulse conference was a really informative one – Yahoos from all over the world showcased some of the finest cutting edge technologies they were researching and developing. The food was nice too. We had the opportunity to visit the San Jose Museum, for the dinner party. Although, it was hard to appreciate the art too much, it was a pleasing experience. One of the ladies there – who was an expert on the subject – was ardently explaining us the art and the meaning behind it.

The first weekend

As planned, I went to meet Tapan on the first weekend. Sudeep bhaiya picked me up from the hotel, and drove us to his place. It was nice meeting all of them after a long time. I met bhabhi for the first time, she was also warm and welcoming. The next day, we started early in order to visit nearby tourist places.

First we visit the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz. Its a fun place, gives you the illusion of standing tilted on plain ground, and that your height is changing at different points in that place. Although later we worked out how they would have created the illusion, it was fun spending time there.

Then we drove over the 17 mile drive (Pebble beach, etc.), which is a road along-side the Pacific ocean. It has many nice things to see – beaches, golf courses, vintage houses, a lone cypress tree. It was fun clicking pictures at the beach, with icy cold sand. After being tired of fun, we all returned home and dozed off.

On Sunday, Tapan had less time, as he had the return flight at night. We visited his friends in San Jose, and roamed about in downtown. Meanwhile, my team roamed in San Francisco city, without my knowledge. As a result, I missed that fun. But anyways, I am just one, I can’t be in two places at the same time.

The second week

The second week began with a new adventure – a rental car. The drives were even more amazing than the car itself – a driver with 1 month experience in U.SA and another with experience of right-hand drive cars. Nonetheless, our courage didn’t reduce due to all this. This week, most of my work was the same what I do in Bangalore.

I bought a new digital camera – Canon Powershot SX20 IS. Its a nice camera – 12.1 MP, 20x Optical Zoom, Image Stabilization, HD Video recording. Although it cost more than a conventional digital camera, I am happy with it, and I hope to click many many pictures with it. I know, I know, buying a camera won’t make me a professional – but its just for my own fun.

The return journey

My return journey was a bit longer – I started on 11th October 2009, 5 pm PST. I reached on 21st October 2009, 11 AM IST. Actually, I took a Diwali break for 7 days after returning from America. As a result, I was in traveling mode for 48 hours continuously. Going home is always fun. And this time, the fun was doubled as I met Anirudh, Rahul, Swapnil and Piyush.

Most of the time I was roaming with Anni, seeing movies, playing pool and talking about life. It seems that life is complete only if your dear friend are around you. All of us feel that way. We’ve decided to somehow start living in the same city as soon as possible. Anni’s sisters are getting married in a month’s time, but I guess it’d be difficult to get vacation again.

Everyone at home was delighted to see me. I got a toy helicopter for the kids, and we had to start a round robin system for flying it. Diwali was fun, crackers and eatables. We bought a new television at home – the same one I got in Bangalore – LG Jazz 32LG80FR. It is a great tv, and one of the best for a 32-inch LCD range. I highly recommend it to everyone. On my return, I bought a Tata Sky+ for myself, will be getting it installed soon.

I met a girl – Sidhi – on the Indore-Bangalore flight. She is the daughter of my mom’s colleague doctor and getting married next month. It was fun talking to her, and time went by easier than it would have if I had been alone on a over-night journey back. Amazingly I met Gunjan aka Goozan in my flight too. It had been more than a year I met him, was a pleasant surprise.

Some thoughts

I felt that America might look much better from the outside, but it has many shortcomings too. The best thing is the infrastructure – great roads, awesome flyovers, and amazing information boards everywhere. Even more amazing are the people – patient drivers, law abiding, polite. People on foot have a really easy life in America compared to India, where they have to battle every inch with the incoming vehicle.

I feel their culture is too much into consumerism. They consume more than they need, and huge quantities of everything leads to wastage everywhere. Manual labor is too costly – it is impossible to get a servant for your home. And well, for the Indians there, home is where the heart is, and its definitely not in there.

And…

Moving forward, I am back to Bangalore now. Settling down into normal life slowly. Need to shed the extra pounds I’ve gained, have to resume gym soon. Belated Happy Diwali to everyone!