From the land of Howzzitgoooin

One month in the US...and one of the first questions I often get is - Missing Home? A decent yes would satisfy most people. But that would be far from the truth. For one, Seattle is a beautiful place, reminding one of a scenic village in Alleppy or the north of Kerala. To add on, 25 friends, all of whom I know personally, from offshore. So no, I say, I'm enjoying.

And yes, now for the flashback... I reached the US of A on the 4th of September; I was supposed to reach a day in advance, but our Indian flights as usual delayed people by a day. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I reached Seattle one day late, albeit, in one piece.

I opened a bank account, applied and received my SSN and started off on my daily routine of work. So far ever day has been learning new things; the American way of things.

As i get accustomed to the way of life here, some things jump straight out, some ironies that cannot get unnoticed. They have their own set of standards for everything. Forget MKS standards, forget what they world follows, here things are done differently. Now, I don’t say that is good or bad, this is just a "middle of the road" observation. Let me quote a few examples: petrol is called gasoline. Traffic is on the right side. People haven’t heard of the Degree Celsius. Speed to them is in miles ph. The monetary system is not far behind. There’s the dime, penny, quarter, nickel and then the regular denominations follow.

Ironies apart, I am amazed at the way things happen here. If a bus is supposed to come at 8.27, you can be sure it would be there. The traffic system, the airports, the public administration - everything is so well greased and in place. Everything works like clockwork.

Now, being in an alien land for the first time can give u moments that you can think about later and laugh. Like when a friend goes to a restaurant and says I want to go, and you wonder why they need to go to a hotel and say they want to go.( I learnt later that To Go means a "parcel" back home). And another time when after you have finished lunch they waiter comes and asks you if you need it wrapped up and you say yes thinking that they meant cleaning up and in another 5 minutes they return with a packet with the food that you wanted wrapped up - even if it contains chewed up pieces of chicken bone that you placed at the side. But my favorite times are when I order something on the menu imagining it to be of some shape and form which in reality turns out to always the opposite.

I know you have noticed that most of my faux pas have been in restaurants. Of course, when you are here to sample everything they offer, this is a good place, aint it? Ok, so here are a few things, which are out of the restaurant. In office, people don’t have any qualms about using the restroom for the "second" type of relieving. And insanely enough, those rooms are not fully enclosed and not "sound proof". So, when you go for the "normal" relieving, it is not unusual that you are greeted by sounds of "crackers" and smells reminding you of garbage. One time, while I was there, I let out a cough almost coinciding with a sound burst from the other room. The guy in there, god knows who, thinking that I was reacting to that, muttered a big sorry. I was too embarrassed to stay, and ran all the way back to my seat. Phew!! Its a funny place, the US of A.

oh, and by the way, I went to San Francisco over the last weekend and experienced a "city". Seattle, I came to realize, is a far greener and better place to be when compared to SanFran. Autumn is in, and it is always good to be in a place where there are lots of trees. The panorama that is accorded is breathtaking to say the least. And by the looks of it, old timers say, there might be snow this time around too. I dunno if I'd be around to see it, but that would be the icing on the cake, if it were to happen.

I'll be back with more tid-bits; until then, Au revoir.