Bombay Dreams
This past weekend was Thanksgiving, and boy, do I have reason to give thanks! Some reasons (the two which explain today's title will be dealt with in some detail):
1. Meeting my cousin in New York City. Hung out with her and her friends for 2 days. Never before (and probably never again) have I been in the company of so many UDCT-ians and IIT-ians and engineers of all kinds and worst of all - they were all younger than me!
2. NEW YORK CITY!! However much I visit NYC and Chicago, they will never cease to excite me..You can take the girl out of the city, but not the city out of the girl!
3. Meeting my old roomie in Virginia
4. Museums (why isn't it "musea"?!) in Washington, DC
5. Food (and drink!) in Virginia
6. Finding out that my car and I did perfectly fine driving all the way to NY/New Jersey, Virginia and back..neither of us ran out of food, enthusiasm, steam or consciousness
7. Desi's Parade all over NYC trying to catch Macy's Parade
8. Staying with people I didn't know but who were indescribably nice and hospitable. The one couple (my friend's uncle and aunt in NJ) in fact, got so chummy that they made me watch their wedding video, complete from engagement onwards!! They went out of their way to make me comfortable and supplied me with directions, bus schedules, dinner, stories about their children and a comfortable bed.
9. Watching "Bombay Dreams" the Broadway musical in NYC. It was every bit as glitzy, dramatic, unrealistic and exciting as I thought it would be, and then some. Nowhere else have I witnessed a full-scale fountain spurt out on stage soaking the cast completely! The splendid larger than life sets, the moving stage,Rahman's music in American accents, and the hopelessly cheesy plot, all added up to a complete Bollywood experience. The only disappointment was a different cast from what I was expecting (e.g. no Ayesha Dharker, no Madhur Jaffrey). Manu Narayan still stole my heart, and American Idol Tamyra Gray was a lovely very desi-like surprise :)
10. Real-life Bombay Dreams...one week from now I will be in the air somewhere over the Atlantic flying home to Bombay for 3 weeks. YAY!! This time, I get to witness my brother get engaged and one of my best friends get married (I am a bridesmaid..once-in-a-lifetime chance!!). Can't wait for the road-side chat and vada-pav, bargaining on Fashion Street, reading India Today and watching Channel V, eating Amma's cooking and sleeping in long-distance trains, listening to loudspeakers, watching the neighborhood kids play cricket on the streets, doing "up-down" in the local train to ensure a seat, catching up with friends and family. Like I said, you can take the girl out of the city but...
1. Meeting my cousin in New York City. Hung out with her and her friends for 2 days. Never before (and probably never again) have I been in the company of so many UDCT-ians and IIT-ians and engineers of all kinds and worst of all - they were all younger than me!
2. NEW YORK CITY!! However much I visit NYC and Chicago, they will never cease to excite me..You can take the girl out of the city, but not the city out of the girl!
3. Meeting my old roomie in Virginia
4. Museums (why isn't it "musea"?!) in Washington, DC
5. Food (and drink!) in Virginia
6. Finding out that my car and I did perfectly fine driving all the way to NY/New Jersey, Virginia and back..neither of us ran out of food, enthusiasm, steam or consciousness
7. Desi's Parade all over NYC trying to catch Macy's Parade
8. Staying with people I didn't know but who were indescribably nice and hospitable. The one couple (my friend's uncle and aunt in NJ) in fact, got so chummy that they made me watch their wedding video, complete from engagement onwards!! They went out of their way to make me comfortable and supplied me with directions, bus schedules, dinner, stories about their children and a comfortable bed.
9. Watching "Bombay Dreams" the Broadway musical in NYC. It was every bit as glitzy, dramatic, unrealistic and exciting as I thought it would be, and then some. Nowhere else have I witnessed a full-scale fountain spurt out on stage soaking the cast completely! The splendid larger than life sets, the moving stage,Rahman's music in American accents, and the hopelessly cheesy plot, all added up to a complete Bollywood experience. The only disappointment was a different cast from what I was expecting (e.g. no Ayesha Dharker, no Madhur Jaffrey). Manu Narayan still stole my heart, and American Idol Tamyra Gray was a lovely very desi-like surprise :)
10. Real-life Bombay Dreams...one week from now I will be in the air somewhere over the Atlantic flying home to Bombay for 3 weeks. YAY!! This time, I get to witness my brother get engaged and one of my best friends get married (I am a bridesmaid..once-in-a-lifetime chance!!). Can't wait for the road-side chat and vada-pav, bargaining on Fashion Street, reading India Today and watching Channel V, eating Amma's cooking and sleeping in long-distance trains, listening to loudspeakers, watching the neighborhood kids play cricket on the streets, doing "up-down" in the local train to ensure a seat, catching up with friends and family. Like I said, you can take the girl out of the city but...
posted by RTD2 at 3:54 PM
5 Comments:
Good for you. Pack some vada-pav for me on the way back
Stop making me home-sick :-). Meri taraf se 4 wadapav and 4 pavbhaji extra khana.
Hey RT,
Have a nice time in Bombay! Good thing you're going for 3 weeks. Had it just been the whistle-stop wedding tour, it would probably have left you pretty pooped!
Thanks all! And I will probably be having a whistle-stop wedding tour later in the year anyway,when my brother gets married so I'm thrilled about it all :)
Hi,
Thats a nice posting, and I must agree to the grief of the commenters too... ;-). You made me turn the time wheel a few couple of months back and start living a fast paced action movie, yep, I went back to the earlier days of this year and remembered the days spent with my friends in Hyderabad. That was a great moment.
Thanks much for making me recollecting those wonderful moments...may I expect a mail from you to seshun_sharma@yahoo.com.
Cheers,
Seshu N.
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