Unlike Some Assumptions.....quite a revelation

" you're crossin the sea kid...u're goin to another country, u're gonna be there and see it all"....uhuh!!! well i got news for you, unless you're really lucky and go someplace nice like colorado or florida you might be a tad disappointed wid what you see arnd here but then again i havent really been to these places have i, so i guess this is how the US of A must be. And for now iam in Raleigh, North Carolina sittin in the apartment which aint mine but hey!! huz complainin cos these guys gotta nice big couch, a cool laptop and am gettin grub 3 times a day which, wont be the case once i move out on my own i guess . So folks i thought y not relate my experience to y'all, cos this trip has truly been an eye-opener, its taught me smthin.....no matter how much u taunt ur motherland for its backwardness u inadvertently start to miss it once u get here, be it the crowded streets, the noisy greets, the smoke spewin buses or the "i dont give a damn for the traffic rules" motorists it all aint here atleast thats how iam feelin right now.

I left India the moment i stepped into Kamarajar International airport, chennai. It was a moment of misery for me, for i was leavin a lot of ppl near and dear, a lot of things i knew i wouldnt be able to enjoy for a long time to come. The protective cover had thinned, i was on my own, and i had a first taste of what i was to face when the sweet lady at the checkin told me that my baggage had exceeded both the weight and size constraints....now i was stumped, i was lookin at the prospect of shellin an amnt of 150$ to shove my baggage into the aircraft...thankfully though( and although it might sound preposterous i suspect it had smthin to do wid my unmistakeable charm..) the lady agreed to take my baggage for just 50$...phew!!!...after a few tense moments and couple of hiccups i got to the immigration and customs..was a drag. After an hour's wait during which like any dutiful indian son i called up my dad related my misfortunes, got scolded for not payin attention to the limits being irresponsible and stuff....i was airborne. In nine hours i would be in paris, the thing about international flights is that they make a fuss out of vegetarian meals...its not like iam orderin excotic dishes frm the middleeast..i just want food wid no meat..i mean wats the big deal, for chrissake!!!! and so after an uneventful flight kept lively only by the clumsy antics of second gendarme jack closeau...and his goofy quest for the pink panther. Well i got to see my first foreign city in france..well i only went as far the airport terminal i guess but it was experince enuf...paris is friggin cold mate...i mean u cud freeze ur ass off if u aint properly clothed.After a very long trip frm one terminal to the other....and thru some pretty heavy duty friskin( believe me it aint no joke to enter the U.S) i was on the flight to atlanta...after another 9 hrs of boredom....(well sadly i made a wrong selection of books..grisham can be pretty tiring at times) i was in finally inside United states territory. Well the first thing u get to notice abt any city once u leave India is the automobiles, i mean be it the minivans and minicars of paris or the huge pickups and long sedans of the U.S u find a marked difference in the philosophy of automobiles. Well after deplanin at atlanta and tryin to get thru customs as quickly as possible i was just in time to see my flight to Raleigh leave the gate and taxi down the runway..the lady at the check in counter was truly apologetic....and so i had to sit out 2 hrs at hartley-jackson atlanta for my flight to Raleigh, and when i finally landed in raleigh it was 10:00 pm..the airport looked deserted and iam guessin mine must have been the last flight into RDU, after a few tense moments of waitin at the airport for both my luggage and my pickup i was on my way to avery close, shacked up wid some seniors hu were gracious enuf to accomodate me...have been roamin the campus...for some days now....the city looks neat( yeah i mean literally :D) and has the feel of a small town..havent seen many high rises except for the univ building...applied for an apartment hopin to move in next week......food's been a bit of a problem...but i guess i gotta get used to the bread and microwave culture..literally had tears in my eyes when the guy in the pizza place told me a small cheese pizza cost 8$ ( couldnt even get myself to convert it to indian rupees)...i was even thinkin of the prospect of skippin luch hearin the rates but hey!!! u can never beat ur belly can u...the seniors have been cookin some fantastic dinner...tried my hand at it too and messed up big time...surprises me how even after 2 months of observin ppl cook and cookin myself i can screw up between toor dal and channa dal. will figure that out in time..( u never kno when smthin might develop into an alternate career path, my granmom is ready to come to the U.S if i ever have ideas of takin up cookin as a profession but iam guessin i wont be driven to that desperation)..will be huntin for an oncampus job( that is walkin into offices and pesterin ppl to be more precise)...will keep y'all ( btw thats the way all southerners say it..has a sweet drawl to it..and i simply love d way these ppl speak with that accent.....) posted abt my progress and whereabouts if i get anywhere that is....

so take care of urself y'all ...