A whole new world....

A month down in the U.S of A, the land of dreams as they say. The only song that comes to my mind when i try to summarize my 1st few days here would be "Bitter sweet symphony....That's life"...I landed in New York and lugged 4 super heavy suitcases into a taxi who's driver refused to help out ..after an almost broken finger, really sore arms and jet lagged mind i finally met a friend.. The way you feel when you're walking down an unknown path and see a familiar face is truly priceless. 'Chicken over rice' on road side stands felt just like 'vada pavs' in Mumbai.. Times square in all its glory, the Empire State building standing tall, long walk to the Brooklyn bridge, the statue of liberty shimmering in the afternoon sun and numerous round in all the subway trains all felt like an adventure trip. Just the way Alice would wander off into her dreamworld maybe.
                    Many have told me that you eventually do fall in love with New York if you stay there long enough. 2days have given me a fair idea about why they told me that. I reached Indianapolis the next day and as I stepped out of the airport and for the 1st time i realized i wasn't home anymore. It felt as if i was still back in India..some distant place maybe on vacation maybe.. but somewhere i knew i wasn't goin home for a long time. That this blue room was my home for some time to come now..(My room is painted with the darkest blue you could find ..i have no clue why anyone would do that..)

A month and many many experiences later i have somehow come to love this small town. If you own and can drive a car you can possibly take a trip across bloomington in about 15 mins but if you don't have a car and you need salt in your food and just realize you have none left in the closet its a painful 20 mins walk to the nearest shop..and i have to admit it i have had my fare share of these walks by now..The 1st few days i must have walked enough to complete a mini marathon i think. I walked to the stores. back from the stores. walked to get food ..money.. chairs ...beds... just walked and walked. Stood for 10 mins at a traffic light wondering why the sign wouldn't turn to "walk" before figuring out there was a button you need to press so that it could change...went for a 20 min walk got lost and reached home an hour later...Slipped and fell on the road. tore my only pair of grey trousers and got bruised..Applied as much sunscreen on my face as i would have used on my full body back in India and still got tanned...spent as much on buying a guitar as people have spent on getting an iphone..been stumped at the punctuality of the bus service..Played badminton, volleyball with some fantastic people...finally had some domestic friends...learned to play 'flip the cup' ..cooked with my roomy while youtube played all old hindi songs that only my dad used to listen to..got addicted to coffee...and learned to enjoy some really small things in life that otherwise would just get done in seconds.. In short the past one month has been crazy..hectic..ridiculously expensive (200 rs = 4$ for a coffee..r you kidding me!!!), living on pizza and all the possible things you could create if you put bread and cheese together..but its been fun. It a side of life that i have never known would become a part of me someday. Seen a different world. Seen people who know exactly what they want in life and wondered how i would get to that point and then at some point wondered if i really did want to be there.

But this part of my life's has just begun here.. Its an adventure...its a lotta work ...and sometimes it gets scary and sometimes it gets a little lonely...but none the less its a different chapter in my book. Something that's so new that i can't even imagine what tomorrow would look like.. but i know i want to be there... to feel it..

PS: I was feeling really blue one day and had gone to get stuff at walmart when i saw this ridiculously expensive book that i bought just cause i loved what was written on its cover.  The pic taken is the cover of this same book and it reads "The only requirement of having a dream is believing in it. - Molly Barker"