Last August we came to the US from India, beaming with smiles on our faces, almost shouting in our hearts "Westward Ho ! ".
The happiness to see our children and grand children was motivating us to withstand the rigours of the long haul flight of almost 24 hours. We were immensely happy to see daughter in law Neetha , she was the first to sight us and greet us, son Avinash and grand daughter Ananya, almost four now, at the JFK Airport, New York.
The next few weeks flew just like that, happiness and nothing but happiness with Ananya keeping constant company and showing us round all the places in and around New Jersey. Temples at Bridgewater and Strodsburg, Bushkill Waterfalls, Wilkesberre, and the Great Metropolis New York, spread over 4 leisurely visits
Once to see the famous Time Square, Broadway Theatrical Experience, the Central Park and the Empire State Building. Then to Flushing Meadows to see a Grand Slam match sitting in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, an experience which will be cherished through out the rest of my life. Then the New York Public Library and Ground Zero, the 9 / 11 Memorial. And of course the Statue of Liberty one whole afternoon, exclusively. Meticulous planning by Avinash helped us see New York, at our own pace, Aaram Se !
Then we went to Niagara Falls. My second son Deepak and daughter in law Rajeswari joined us from Toronto, across the border. A truly amazing experience to see these Falls !
Then on to Boston to see the World Famous University, Harvard, and the equally renowned M I T. It was great to walk through the Harvard University Lawns, and Buildings, which breathe the unique feeling of a Great Place of Learning, though for only the exclusively Rich. But I was told any number of Scholarships are available for the really meritorious brains.
It was soon time to move further West, to Omaha,Nebraska, where my youngest daughter Divya, son in law Manoj and grand son Arjun live. It was a touching moment to bid farewell to Ananya after almost 11 weeks of joyful holidaying. Poor thing she broke down at the Newark airport, seeing us off to Omaha. For days, she would tell me, with tears in her tiny eyes, on the webcam, "I miss you, and Naani, Thaatha ".
At Omaha, Divya was the first to sight us and hug us emotionally, crying, "Daddy, Mummy ". Then Manoj warmly welcoming us and loading our luggage into the car. And lo, Arjun was dozing in the Child seat, fully belted ! After a while he woke up and slowly smiled a welcome smile trying to match the real faces with what he was always seeing on the webcam.
He was hardly 17 months when we saw him off at Hyderabad in April last. Now he was grown up ! He was a good 23 months old and getting ready for his second birthday, which was being planned by his parents to be at Les Vegas ! A colleague of my son in law wondered where his 18th birthday would be, if the second birthday was to be in Les Vegas !!
When we came to Omaha in the last week of October, their summer was just ending. Still, we could go one day to a nearby Farm for Apple picking ! This Farm outing we really enjoyed, seeing the Rural America at close quarters.
Then we were off to Les Vegas via Phoenix. And what a visit it was, Oh My ! The glittering city of Les Vegas, which some of my friends back home called it Swargam on Earth, was a remarkable Memory !
We went to the Hoover Dam, one day and to the Grand Canyon on another day. A magnificient sight seeing experience, the Grand Canyon visit !
In between Arjun's second birthday celebration in Les Vegas. Oh truly enjoyable visit it was.
Omaha is a beautiful city. Spread out and very spacious you just love the lovely spread of all those lovely shopping Malls, Restaurants, Down Town area, lakes and parks and jogging / cycling tracks so well laid out through out the residential areas, are all pleasing and soothing on the eye and soul. Residential Communities so well planned and self contained make living a pleasure. The Halloween Festival gave us an opportunity to see the friendly people of Nebraska State in general and of Omaha in particular. We even saw the house of Warren Buffet who lives in Omaha, in his old, modest house in spite of his phenomenal wealth.
The Omaha Zoo, the Strategic Air and Space Museum, the New Year Eve Fire Works in Down Town, were places we loved to see and cherish those memories. We got to experience the rigid winter temperatures of Minus 25 degrees F ! It was an experience, yes, it was !
Omaha really captivated us. No doubt.
After almost 12 weeks, we are leaving for New Jersey, en route to India, by end of January. Leaving behind Little Arjun is going to be really tough for us. The Little Hero really got used to us or it is the other way, we got used to him. God Bless him.
We could not visit San Fransisco, Seattle, Spokane, Chicago and Charlotte, though friends and cousins in these places were constantly goading us to come over. Similarly we could not go to Toronto in Canada to see and spend some time with my second son Deepak and daughter in law Rajeswari.
May be we will cover all these places in our next visit to this part of this world !
As we prepare to go home with a sad moan in our hearts "Eastward Ho ", it is a very tough odessey back. Going back to an empty home, with all the children and grand children abroad, makes the heart heavy as a rock !
Emotions are one inevitable part of our lives. They are inescapable.
Ramachandra Parsa. Jan.14, 2014, Omaha NE. USA.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Saturday, January 11, 2014
My Friend, Deccan 1591. A Friend Indeed.
We were classmates from II nd. Standard to X th. Standard, in St. George's Grammar School, Hyderabad.
1949 to 1957.
Then we lost touch till the 21st Century started. Some time in 2007 another close friend, Siraj, rang me up and said "arey sun, Zubair aaya vuaa hai, thujhe yaad kar raha tha. " !
We renewed our contact and continued to be in touch via Email. He was in Houston, Texas, US and I was in Hyderabad.
I was in Singapore during 2012 December - 2013 January and he tried to contact me on my Hyderabad phone. As there was no response he found out my whereabouts through another classmate of ours, Khyroo, in Spokane, Washington State, US and sent me a mail. I replied that mail saying that I was in Singapore and went a step further in describing how beautiful the city and people of Singapore were.
This mail appealed to him and he flew into Singapore one day, all the way from Houston US ! When he called me up in Singapore I could hardly believe his reasoning, for coming to Singapore. He said "I felt like meeting you and also seeing Singapore since you wrote so highly about this place in your mail "!!
We met in the famous book shop, Kuno Kuniya, on Orchard Street, wandered around in that Shop for a while and had Lunch in the Cafeteria inside the Book shop itself and chatted for well over 2 hours, running up and down the Memory Lane from 1949 to 2012 !
Then we planned a Visit to the Botanical Gardens one day, and spent a whole day, wandering around the sprawling gardens, gazing and wondering at the Botanical names of Plants, Flowers and Trees being reeled off by my friend. We just had some pizza for Lunch and rounded up the day with a couple of cups of Hot Tea at a small Cafe near the Exit of the Gardens. As we sat sipping Hot Tea it was raining heavily, pouring down cats and dogs.
My friend went off on a tour of the Far East countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, while I returned to India to Hyderabad, my base in life.
I came to the US in 2013 August to New Jersey and moved to Nebraska, Omaha in October 2013. I planned a visit to Dallas and to Houston to meet my old friends who were now settled there. And my friend Zubair sent a mail saying that he was planning to go to India during the dates I planned for Houston, so he would miss meeting me. But, he assured, "I will come to Omaha and see you ". I thought he must have really not meant that and for courtesy's sake he must have consoled me for my disappointment in meeting him in Houston.
But one fine morning I get a call, "Hey , I landed up in Omaha last night to see you. I am coming to your place in another hour's time " ! I could hardly believe my ears as I hung up the line in sheer astonishment. A friend flying in almost a thousand miles just to meet an old childhood classmate.
We spent a whole day together in my daughter's house chatting, laughing and regaling at old jokes nostalgic chatter spread over 6 to 7 decades ! In the afternoon after Lunch we went to the Strategic Air and Space Museum just outside Omaha, about 30 miles from the city, which my friend recommended as a MUST SEE place. We spent a good two hours in this unique Museum. We came home and after Dinner he bid me good bye and left for Houston.
This happened in mid November and during December middle I visited Dallas and Houston. I just presumed Zubair would have gone away to Hyderabad as he planned and never bothered to even try giving him a ring when I was in Houston. I came back to Omaha and sent him a mail, presuming he was in Hyderabad, that I had gone to Houston and I really missed him.
Pat came the reply Mail
"You Rascal could you not just give a ring ? I am in Houston still. My visit to India got postponed " !!!
1949 to 1957.
Then we lost touch till the 21st Century started. Some time in 2007 another close friend, Siraj, rang me up and said "arey sun, Zubair aaya vuaa hai, thujhe yaad kar raha tha. " !
We renewed our contact and continued to be in touch via Email. He was in Houston, Texas, US and I was in Hyderabad.
I was in Singapore during 2012 December - 2013 January and he tried to contact me on my Hyderabad phone. As there was no response he found out my whereabouts through another classmate of ours, Khyroo, in Spokane, Washington State, US and sent me a mail. I replied that mail saying that I was in Singapore and went a step further in describing how beautiful the city and people of Singapore were.
This mail appealed to him and he flew into Singapore one day, all the way from Houston US ! When he called me up in Singapore I could hardly believe his reasoning, for coming to Singapore. He said "I felt like meeting you and also seeing Singapore since you wrote so highly about this place in your mail "!!
We met in the famous book shop, Kuno Kuniya, on Orchard Street, wandered around in that Shop for a while and had Lunch in the Cafeteria inside the Book shop itself and chatted for well over 2 hours, running up and down the Memory Lane from 1949 to 2012 !
Then we planned a Visit to the Botanical Gardens one day, and spent a whole day, wandering around the sprawling gardens, gazing and wondering at the Botanical names of Plants, Flowers and Trees being reeled off by my friend. We just had some pizza for Lunch and rounded up the day with a couple of cups of Hot Tea at a small Cafe near the Exit of the Gardens. As we sat sipping Hot Tea it was raining heavily, pouring down cats and dogs.
My friend went off on a tour of the Far East countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, while I returned to India to Hyderabad, my base in life.
I came to the US in 2013 August to New Jersey and moved to Nebraska, Omaha in October 2013. I planned a visit to Dallas and to Houston to meet my old friends who were now settled there. And my friend Zubair sent a mail saying that he was planning to go to India during the dates I planned for Houston, so he would miss meeting me. But, he assured, "I will come to Omaha and see you ". I thought he must have really not meant that and for courtesy's sake he must have consoled me for my disappointment in meeting him in Houston.
But one fine morning I get a call, "Hey , I landed up in Omaha last night to see you. I am coming to your place in another hour's time " ! I could hardly believe my ears as I hung up the line in sheer astonishment. A friend flying in almost a thousand miles just to meet an old childhood classmate.
We spent a whole day together in my daughter's house chatting, laughing and regaling at old jokes nostalgic chatter spread over 6 to 7 decades ! In the afternoon after Lunch we went to the Strategic Air and Space Museum just outside Omaha, about 30 miles from the city, which my friend recommended as a MUST SEE place. We spent a good two hours in this unique Museum. We came home and after Dinner he bid me good bye and left for Houston.
This happened in mid November and during December middle I visited Dallas and Houston. I just presumed Zubair would have gone away to Hyderabad as he planned and never bothered to even try giving him a ring when I was in Houston. I came back to Omaha and sent him a mail, presuming he was in Hyderabad, that I had gone to Houston and I really missed him.
Pat came the reply Mail
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