Back to Cuse.. Back to Pavilion

Well, well, well... It is said that all good things have to come to an end... But they say it probably because there are other good things that are waiting for you to come and end them and then move on to others... I must be reading some lifecycle stuff to be talking like this... but anyways... I just returned from my 14 week stay in Boston, which was "supposed" to be my first summer in the States.

That day it was pouring cats and dogs, same to same Mumbai Paus.... I guess Boston was sad because I was leaving, but then you will say there was rain in Syracuse too.. Then I must say that for Syracuse it was "Khushi ke aasu", that I was coming back. :D... However the rain made the commute from my house to the bus terminal a small challenge.. Somehow my bags had decided to become heavy all of a sudden and the wheels of the bag which till now used to run in the direction they were supposed to decided to have fun with me that day... I said left.. they said right.... and vice versa... But then somehow I passed my little driving test and got to the terminal... The Greyhound people had some trouble getting a bus for us and we got delayed by close to an hour.... The whole time we were betting if we would get a Wi-Fi equipped bus or not... By the way this is called "Maaj".... Finally a Wi-Fi came, but no use as I slept through most of the way...

And as I dozed off... I slowly wandered to the first time I came down to Boston... It was amazing,... the city was very welcoming... not much crowd, bu the same feel of the city... Reached 512 St. Alphonsus, which was my tent for the next 3 months.... The first best thing, there was a swimming pool in our building, and our balcony was right facing it... Nice timepass for the weekends, whether you decide to swim or no... :D.. The house was always full of people.. Till the end I had about 12 to 13 roomies over the course of the summer.... Met some nice people in the house who are now friends for life...

To talk about the city, it is a very beautiful and romantic city.... the sad part is I only got to enjoy the first part.. About the later, well we will have to do something about it... Working on it folks.. :D... I stayed near to North Eastern University, so the crowd was amazing.. Prudential building was a walking distance away and there was a beautiful spot called "Reflection Pond" with all fountains and a big pond... I worked in the heart of Boston, right in the Financial District... Used to spend my lunch hour in the park near to my office.. watching "Birds" or "Chimnya".... "Bird Watching".... There is a street in Boston called "Newbury Street"... this is where the romance comes into play... The street has many restaurants, with tables on the street... a nice candle lit tables.. and music going on.. Heard the food is good though.... Another one is the Boston Harbor and the Quincy market area.. You can find amazing street performers here.... The view from Harbor is amazing... You can see planes land and take off from Logan airport... Simply sit gazing at the sea.. with Boston Downtown on the back.... By the way this is another romantic spot... There is a Fort nearby, which is also beautiful and many beaches within a driving distance of 15 minutes... we have been to many......

One of my favorites in Boston was the early morning train ride to work... Reasons... from mumbai.. train is the part of the life... well ok, ok .. I am lying.. when you are surrounded by tons of beautiful well dressed chicks, why would your ride be not fun???? Boston is where I first took a shot at playing lawn tennis... New Federer in the making.. watch out folks...

There were some ups and downs....but the fun was never compromised......

Now I am back to Syracuse.. my alma matter... here is where I am going to "Padh likh ke.... "
There was a slight difference... all right slighhhhhhhhtttttt difference in Boston and Syracuse....
Less people, no trains (No chicks)... I have no swimming pool in my house...no beaches..... but still it is good to be back at School....

Boston I will be back

Hampton Beach...Tons of everything

Struggling to wake up in the morning after an awesome six flags trip is but natural. Infact it was fun to laze around for a change.. But then the morning light started to come in through the window and realities said "Come on buddy.. get up"... Yawning and stretching... finally managed to sit straight on my bed.. The awesome smell of something cooking in the kitchen got me going. Later did I know that it was going to be a brunch. I was planning to come back to my house in Boston, from Waltham and was searching for the details of the trip back home, such as the bus timing and blah blah... Well this are the luxuries of US, you can plan most of your things...

And while I was doing that, Rahul, Abhays brother asked me.. What you doing? Dont worry about going back.. We are going to Hampton Beach.. Join us.. That was it... I can be sold out on any trip in matter of seconds... Lets get our beach gear folks... While everything was getting ready, me and little Janhavi drew loads of pictures of Mickey and Minnie and Teddies.. and humans... She is one artist.. I was amazed.. Then we played office office and it was fun too...

We started off at 12:00 for a 1nd half hour drive.. which was pleasant. Entering Hampton felt like entering Goa.. The smell of the sea and for some reason you can always smell the lobsters when you go near the sea.. Anyways, I am not a fan of Lobsters anymore.. not atleast the boiled one... Spices rock baby... But no problems with the smell. It gives the feel you know. Parking was a big deal and it is no different than any where else. 5 bucks parking lot suddenly began to cost 25 bucks and obviously we are not supposed to be lucky to find free parking slots... If that was true then I would I have asked for a date with any hot hollywood actress and would have got it. :D So we managed to find a 10 dollar slot, cheap I guess. Now the reason behind the rates of parking shooting up was... This years summer has not been an actual summer of sorts.... It was cloudy, rainy most of the times, with weekends either drenched by the rain or dulled by the clouds.. It so happened that this particular weekend the sun had decided to shine in all its glory and the clouds had decided to probably visit India, for a change. So everybody from all near by places had come down to Hamptonb beach.. In some parts of the beach I was not able to see the sand... only bright colored _____ please fill in the blanks folks... :D The sun means a lot here and the bath from the sun is a privilege and the so called Tan that we get is a prized possession.. So you can understand..

We somehow managed to find a space, or carv out a space on the beach, mattressess on the sand and the swim wear on off we went to the inviting waters... It was cold, but not enough to dampen our "dumba dumba" spirits.. So 1 2 sade made 3 and we splashed in the water.. The chill gone from the body it was time for fun... Riding the big waves.. Lying on your back on the water and watching the bright blue sky,,, standing still and watching the small fishes swim in the water.. amazing.... We carved out an arm chair in the sand and decided to do some sun bathing.. hahahahahah.. no tan needed for me atleast... but the lying there peacefully in the cold sand and the sound of the waves was magical...

With our fun quota all filled up, it was time to pack up... But before that some window shopping.. with a Dunkin coolata in our hands.. and we walked back to our cars...

It was truly HAMP "TON" of FUN..... One of the most amazing weekends in Boston...

Six flags.. the promise kept

It was two times in a row that I had planned of going to Six Flags and two times my efforts had been thwarted. Sad... But on Thursday evening, I received a call from my friend Abhay, asking me if I wanted to come with them to Six Flags.. His mom and dad had come from India and they along with his cousin brother and his family were planning a trip to Six Flags, Springfield. I did some calculations in my mind, took a decision of bunking the office on Friday and decided.. Six Flags here I come... It was one of the best weekends I have spent during my tenure in Boston.

Early morning I took a train and bus to Abhays place in Waltham.... It was great meeting uncle and aunty and Rahuls family once again..... Never felt out of place a single moment.. They were that welcoming... Dropped a mail to my manager "I am not feeling well. Will not be able to report to office" and off we were to six flags...

The rides were amazing.. fast, steep, twists and turns and rotations and zero gravity drops... Enjoyed a lot.. My personal favorite was the bizzaro.... The water park was fun too.. I was wearing a cotton short, so the girl near one of the slides was not letting me go.. But my eyes did the trick. I gave her a beseeching look and she melted right away.. and let me go.. Just seconds before she had refused a girl in front of me.. That was a small victory,... Bachna ye hasino... hahahhahaha

A indian dinner on the way back and I collapsed as soon as sat in the car,.. While I was asleep I still felt like I was in one of the rides.. That was an amazing feeling...

This was friday... the trip to Hampton beach, New Hampshire was on Saturday... in the next blog...

By the way I forgot to mention.. I want to appreciate the enthusiasm and spirit shown by Abhays parents.. they enjoyed all the rides like us... The trip was special because of them...

Cape Cod.. the unplanned but an awesome trip

I was busy (yeah literally busy) watching Orphan on my laptop. I wanted to watch this movie from the time I saw the trailer in the theatres. I some how have a fetish for the horror movies.. the bhoot ke pichure... :D.. And my phone rings... Movie pause... It is my friend, who had just in the morning passed his driving test and was eager to enjoy his new found freedom. " I am at the car agency.. this fellow is giving me all kinds of deals.. tell me fast which car do u guys want".. I am like hold on dude, whats going on.. He is like lets go for a drive somewhere.. I said but where.. Dont worry man we will plan something after I get home.. I fall into a category who will set off on a trip at the slightest cue.. so this temptation was sufficient for me. We had to convince another friend and after much GD we finally agreed on hiring the car. Now where to go.. Multiple choices...

Cape Cod which is a 3 hour drive, Lake George in New York, where would stay for the night and go to Six flags the next day... Finally it was decided to go to Cape Cod which is place in Massachusets with many beaches... Wrote down the directions and off we were

The drive started smoothly, but not for a long time.. After about an hour or so we got caught up in the traffic.. For some unknown reasons the freeway to Cape Cod is by no means free.. on weekends.,.. Awesome traffic.. bumper to bumper... That took most of our time... And then we heard a grumbling sound... It came from our stomachs pleading for atleast a Mac D burger.. which is the by the way Garibon ka khana now... :D So the next exit and we got into a Mac D, burger in our stomachs and back on our way.. The break worked like magic.. as once we resumed on the high way the traffic was pretty much smooth.. and away we went on our merry way..

On the way we were joined by a family driving in their American tumtum (please visit my orkut profile for pics of Cape Cod and You will understand the tumtum) which was a old model convertible.. They were all cosily stuffed in the car and our dear uncle, was driving as if he was a Schumi in Ferrari. Zigzag, broom and he drove siftly moving between cars.. We were wondering whether the car door would come off, the mirror would fall down... Nothing of that sort... Old is Gold was true...

Our aim was to reach one of the beaches and catch the sunset, but we wanted to go to the farthest point of Cape Cod, the last point in that direction before the huge mass of ocean.... We ignored the smell of the lobsters coming from the many restaurants as we neared Cape Cod, but a resolution in mind that today we are gonna try the lobster, while coming back... The sun was slowly reclining back in the horizon and preparing to say hello to the other part of the world. From bright shining yellow, to orange and sinking fast.. and we finally made it to the beach before it turned red and kissed the ocean in front of us...

The beach was amazing... people had come in for camping on the beach... There were camp fires on the beach.. We have heard of beach weddings.. Well we actually got to see one.... Two beautiful brides... :D It was a small wedding, but it was beautiful... The beauty of the place was amazing. On one side the sun was diving and the other side the moon was rising up.. Amazing... As it grew darker, the camp fires started glowing brightly and we could just see the silhoutees of people around it... I am going to do camping on a beach for sure.. probably next summer.... And then the very familiar sound of mosquitoes on our head indicated that it was time to say , ye bye to the beach...

Now time to fulfill the promise.. We stopped at a restaurant named Moby Dick for eating a lobster.. Well it is quite a costly item, so we decided to best share it and just have a taste of the lobster than to make it our dinner... I am glad we did it... The lobster arrived in its majestic glory all set in the plate.. with butter.. it was quite big... Asked the waitress, how to eat it as we had no clue where to start... She said she started of with the tail moved on to the claws and then something something and she did not like the middle stomach portion and all.... We had got a clamp like thing to break open the claws of the lobster.. I had high expectations, but one bite and phusssssssssssssssssss... it was just a boiled mass of "maas"... no meeth. mirchi... Somehow we started our journey as the waitress had described, toiled through the tail, forced our way through the claws and by the time I ripped open the stomach, we just could go no more... My advice, dont even think of eating the stomach, even if you dare to try a lobster. To our amazement there was chinese family who was devoring lobster after lobster with quite ease... We considered giving ours to them... :D.. Our hands were smelling of lobster. We order a cake to change the taste and we resumed back..

Reached late night into boston to the familiar scenes of girls coming out of pubs.. Early morning we were supposed to drive to six flags.. but alas that trip never did happen.. But no regrets...

Cape Cod was amazing... the nature is awesome...