The Younger Self

 I go back to thinking about my younger days, when I see some photos from that era.. and I have tons of them. Some memory is associated with many of the pics. In the U.S., we travelled a lot by car- gas was cheap, and we had the urge. Some pics from that era.. 

Memorable Outings USA- Part 2

 We had a car, and we drove. 

New York city and Niagara. Helped by a couple of cousins who lived up North, we managed a drive to New York City and saw its sights, including the WTC twin towers later destroyed in 9-11. We climbed to the top of one and shot pics too. Traffic in NY is as bad as Bangalore traffic. Liberty Island was also covered, and so was Wall Street.

We also managed Niagara Falls, and saw it from the Canadian side also. Maid of the Mist, a boat ride, also was a nice experience. The town had a lot of Tulips, for some reason. 

Another cross-country trip we made was via Dallas, and Arizona and New Mexico, to Los Angeles (L.A.). A friend showed us the sights including a shabby Hollywood (suburb), the studios-Universal was good, NBC studios so-so because we had seen CNN studios in Atlanta earlier. Disneyland in L.A. is smaller than the Florida one, but Knott's Berry Farm (another amusement park) was nice. We also went to see Spruce Goose, a big plane parked somewhere, and Queen Mary, a cruise liner converted into a Museum. Also a Sea Park with Sea Lions and Dolphins doing shows. 

On the way back, we went to San Antonio, where Anil's uncle lived, and enjoyed a trip to the Riverside Walk with him. We also went to Las Vegas for the first time, and enjoyed losing a little money-we didn't have much as students anyway. The place is electrifying, with Neon and glitter at night, and the casinos are unbelievable. Entertainment shows are great too- later, Alcazar in Pattaya came close.

Driving Across the USA

I did it twice-once in 1986, and another time in 1990.

 Clemson Football (below) in my abode.

 Bryce Canyon (above) and South Dakota..

 Bonding with Roger Moore (above), and a map of South Carolina we found on an outing.

The first time, it was three of us, my brother Satish and friend Anil were with me. One of us slept at the back, while one of us drove and the second played RJ, changing the cassettes. We would listen to music through the drive (around 600 miles in a day). We took a break at San Antonio (Texas) at Anil's uncle's place, and then at Albuquerque, New Mexico, with some friends. The third or fourth day of driving, we reached Los Angeles. On the way, we stopped at the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest National park, and Las Vegas. Our car's radiator broke up near Las Vegas, and we had to go to a junkyard and replace it.

At L.A., we saw Knotts Berry Farm (an amusement park), with our friend Kiran, and also Disneyland, the NBC studios, Universal Studios etc. which then had the actual car that was used in the TV series Knightrider (it was called KITT, and it talked to the hero-a supercar). This was our first visit to L.A. and we were impressed.

The second time was a more circular trip, up to New York, across to Warren, Ohio (my cousins whom my parents had to meet were in these two places), and the to Detroit where a family friend resided. On the way, we also went up the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Then, it was real wilderness for hundreds of miles until we got to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota with the 4 Presidential faces carved into the mountain, and then to a highlight-the Yellowstone National Park. We rounded off the trip again with L.A. as our last stop (Kiran was there again to welcome us), and then back via Texas.

Memories of the US

Memories are now hazy, since I returned from the US in 1991 and have not visited since. But I do remember many places that we went to for sight-seeing. There was this plane somewhere in Charleston that we saw. Another large plane was called The Spruce Goose exhibited in a huge hangar in Los Angeles I remember seeing.

There is of course the famous Newsweek Cover I got made in an amusement park that I still have in my office. Our first New York visit was also awe-inspiring, and we did all the touristy things. The twin towers were still intact, and here is proof.

Will continue this story sometime...

Living with Change of Places

I have lived in Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Mumbai, Harihar, Hyderabad, Interior Andhra Pradesh, Calicut, Indore, Nagpur, Delhi, Clemson, Greenwood (both in the US)...

The upshot of all this is I feel like a global citizen, because of the variety of people that I have encountered in these places. To their credit, most people I came across have been Good to Great (to filch the bestselling title of a book), with just a few exceptions.

The things I remember the most are the good things - the Oranges, the kababs, the biryani, the pickles, the chaats, the chhole-bhature, the Chettinad chicken, the fish, the Pizza Huts (in the US, they were a favourite), the California Rose wine, Mahatma brand of rice (in the US), the Fall Colours (amazing work of nature), the lakes and mountains of South Carolina, Virginia, the Geysers and multi-hued terraces at Yellowstone, stalactites and stalagmites at Carlsbad Caverns (Arizona), Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon, Muzappilangad beach (though I can't pronounce that), Edla vagu and Muredu vagu (these are rivers in A.P.), Nagarjunasagar, Kinnersani,...World Trade Centre (before they fell), Mandu, Lonar crater...you get the picture. If you don't, look at my facebook history.

That's me (centre-of the pic, not the Universe!) and Anil (left)- Oonche log, oonchi pasand.

Twinning Programs

There was some talk about turning Varanasi into Kyoto. Before that, a few years ago, there had been some talk about turning Mumbai into Shanghai. So I propose that there be a twinning program just as we have in education. Twin cities need not be just Secunderabad and Hyderabad. They can span the globe, based on the number of twins- sorry, the similarities between them-according to the beholder.

Here's my list of twins-almost identical-

Nashik and Burgundy. Both produce wine.

Detroit and Chennai. Car producing towns with water bodies nearby. One of them is bankrupt.

Tokyo and Gurgaon. Both produce Japanese cars.

Nagpur and Miami. Orange country.

Mumbai and New York. Both produce enough garbage to light up the city if recycled.

Omaha and Rajnandgaon. Both in the middle of nowhere. The latter is famous on Vividh Bharati for song requests.

Hyderabad and New Jersey- approx. the same number of software engineers, from Andhra.

London and Delhi. Both have a defunct Queen.

Oxford, which will soon vie for the tag of Pune of the East, and Pune.

Edinburgh and Hubli, known for no.1 Scotch and no.2 IMFL, respectively.

Pics from the Past

At home on a bike, with the wife suitably impressed. Gambling a fortune away (explains my present state) at Vegas, gallivanting on Liberty island, and exploring the four faces of Mount Rushmore with my dad.

London, Paris, New York, Nagpur

This is about reviews and me. Incidentally also about a film called London, Paris, New York. I started writing reviews in my teenage years. One (of Ram Balram, the weird Amitabh-Dharam starrer) even got published in Filmfare. My style of reviewing was influenced by Khalid Mohammed, who did some great take-offs on films. But those were the days when we did not know what was to come later. To put it in perspective, Amar Akbar Anthony seems like a classic today. Anyway, over the years, I have mellowed. Don't know the causative factors yet, but I have become somewhat sympathetic to the film making community. Having been to a couple of film shoots, and looking at the chaos they are, I am surprised that any sense can come out of it at all. Therefore, my sympathies lie with the makers. No doubt, as a viewer, we have a right to complain if we find garbage being churned out, but...

Another disclaimer..or disclosure. I like Aditi Rao Hydari, the heroine of this film called London, Paris, New York. Some more reason for a sympathetic review. The story in parts is a repeat of the Rockstar (which was not about Rock) idea that a man and a woman who go together on a motorbike or otherwise for a day tend to fall in love. Quite possible, I would say. Such a relief to meet someone in person rather than on Facebook, that it is within the bounds of reason. And if the location happens to be exotic, all the better. My choice would have been Venice instead of NY, though. If you must have traffic, why not over water?

The lead pair look cute, go through their song, dance, love, fight, reunite routine without taxing your brain too much. The songs could have been better, but they are OK. The dialogue is quite good, and up to date, with teenage lingo used liberally. The intended takeoff on feminists comes through, though Aditi hardly behaves like one in many sequences. But then, cute looks compensate for lack of consistency..all in all, a nice stroll through the cities mentioned. Don't expect a lot, and you should be OK.