"city of angels"

Among the many differences between India and US, grapes happenend to catch my attention.. The refrigerator here contained a bunch of fresh juicy red grapes.. N when i hapenned to taste it, it was as pleasing as it looked.. Sweet, juicy and really intoxicating a feeling to thank god for creating taste buds..

Dont know if i may sound exaggerrating but at that instant the next thought that occurrd to me was the dialogue between seth and maggie(Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan) in my favourite movie "city of angels" which goes as follows -

Seth: What's that like? What's it taste like? Describe it like Hemingway.

Maggie Rice: Well, it tastes like a pear. You don't know what a pear tastes like?

Seth: I don't know what a pear tastes like to you.

Maggie Rice: Sweet, juicy, soft on your tongue, grainy like a sugary sand that dissolves in your mouth. How's that?

Seth: It's perfect.

Yes its perfect!!My dear friends, be thankful.. god has made this place just perfect!! 4 u and 4 me n for the entire human race!!! :)

Hobby Lobby

Christmas time is gifting time!!
N this christmas we thought of giving hand made presents to all..
Having decided on wat was to be done, off we marched to "hobby lobby" a posh big shop containing all that an artist could ever dream of!!Y an artist? with one visit to the place anyone wud come up with artistic ideas!!
we set off to the paintings section, me all set to make a glass painting!!from brushes, to glass paint to jars everything piled into our shopping cart!! next was my husbands turn. He being interested in clay modelling, bought packets of colored clay n the like..
i had a feel of his talent in modelling from the cute little white elephant he had couriered me when i was in india(see pic)
Back home, the craftsmen slid out to work!! It was a nice feelin to be at work with something u love. N we had quality time making n then later packing up all the stuff we created!!:)
Do check out the glass jars i painted and post in ur comments!!
as for Hobby Lobby the place rocks!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

diya baby's day out!! (oops night!!:D)

Last night was a memorable one.. my first day (night) of freak out in the US. n it all came as a surprise.. nothing planned. that was the best part of it..
For doin some routine household shoppin we set out to the indian stores here at a place caled hilcroft...
the very drive towards hilcroft was a pleasant one as the entire town was lighted up n bloomed 4 christmas!! n the feeling of bein in an indian street was also exciting.. the sight of garment shops with sarees n salwars on display caught my attention at first sight (didnt feel like shopping only cos i am saturated 4 the moment from my wedding shopping last month ;))
We started off from the uduppi restaurent munching samosas n bhel poori n all those indian delicacies.. next was the indian grocery shop. after filling out carts greedily with all the indian stuff we didnt get in kroger we set off.. on the way back it was my husbands idea to drop in at a cousins place.. she was more than willing to have us there 4 dinner even.. so we happily set out stopping in between(on this babys request to take snaps of teh first xmas in US!!) here n there..
N when we reached her home(Its a gorgeous house!!!) lo!!! its party time.. with 4 other mallu families joining us we had a merry time wining n dining :) Also the singing n dancing (singing is my most favourite hobby) set the party in full swing.. the kids were packed off to bed n then all the couples had a gr8 time..

It sure was a terrific time n as i say most things brings back nostalgia of the past year.This party mood reminded me of last year's new yr party i had with friends at the "sparks"pub in bangalore.. guys n gals our party rocked big time!!!

missin u all.. this new year brings back the cherished memories of those sparking days in bangalore!!!

scorpion queen!!

Out of the ash
I rise my red hair
and i eat men like air!
from 'lady Lazarus''

This morning i read a book on Astrology,and as always the first pages i flipped to were to the scorpios.. Mysterious and complex as they are i sometimes find it difficult to understand myself..
I used to have a roommate in chennai who vehemently hated scorpios. She said they made her life hell.. Though i believe i was not one of those scorpios she mentioned, from her i learnt that yes, domineering we are and uncanny we can be..
But somehow the sexy, sensitive, enigmatic picture of bein a scorpio always made me feel proud.
Extremists in everything.However one thing i wish about myself or rather about those fallin under the sign of scorpio is that we shudnt be so jealous.. i have felt myself turning into a grasshopper.. green with envy (he he) but latr when i think of it even that is done with passion so y not?;) wat say u???
(Thats my husbands favourite punch line!!)

saat samundar paar (beyond the seven seas!!)

Thus me, an indian gal.. born in a typical hindu family abiding by all family norms n cultures landed in the United States of America on the 17th of december, 2006..
somehow the past one year will remain a very crucial year in my life.. everytime i c the calender n look at the dates i am subconsciencely drawn to the same date for the past year.. on the same date that i landed here i had spoken to my husband for the first time..
N now one yr later, we r married n im with him in the US.

The chicago airport is, in my view a gud place to get the first impression abt the country everyone dreams of coming to..(or probably most of the ppl in my social circle..) everything was just the way i used to c in the movies.. the very well maintainted airport building.. with its smart, beautiful staff members.. n the thousands n lakhs of visitors..
i found 2 things to be very interesting.. firstly the horizontal escalators.. walkin on them made u reach the other end at double speed (Obviously!!! lol) n when u stepped out of it u had to be careful.. when vasanth first told me this i didnt make it a point.. afterall we use the normal escalators all the time. wats the big deal.. but when i really did step down i understood wat he had hinted at(Ppl who r bothered to know can think n find out the answer n those who have experienced it already of course know.)

The second thing was when we had to take a domestic flight to reach houston we had to go to a different terminal.. N in order to reach there we had to take a train!!!
Now this was entirely a new experience 4 me.. a railway station inside an airport!!! wow..
n thus i also had the oppurtunity to travel in a train in the US..

well after i reached houston in order to get to our car which was parked in some far away location again we took a van.. (which comes from the private parking lot..n is different for each parking place) . N finally when we drove to jersey village the car drive made me feel like i was travelling by train.. (:O)
Any person who is familiar with all this may find it strange cos i dont think i ve used the correct terminology to descibe these very common things in the US.n the very reason y i am blogging al this is cos i am getting bored sitting at home with nothing else but a laptop n internet connection at my disposal..

so till the next one ciao!!