Friends
This just comes out of reading vinod's blog. He had written an entry about 'kyun ki..' I used trouble my 'gang' people with this word, a lot. We had a wonderful time together. We really did. We had wierd ideas about fun too.
On one accasion we all went out to the main market in town and decided we will eat at all the thelas( food kiosks) . I was done after momos and tikki(cutlets).. but some people kept eating right till we reached the kulfi waala( ice-cream) at the end of the market.
And on another occasion will took all sort of funny pics, sitting on scooters outside shiv mandir(temple)... With coulourful optic fibre flowers.. and what not..out on the roads.
All of us are now far apart, pune, mumbai, bangalore, delhi and me here... Not two people in the same city.. I really wish we could all get together again sometime, again on the roads, with mungphali, bhutta or just the air in our lungs, throwing the worries to the wind.

BARRIER FREE PUBLIC SPACES
Continuing the lecture on 'attention to detail': When a bus arrives at a stop, a recorded voice speakes out the bus number for the blind to hear. The first step is quite low for general ease. The front half of the bus is quite open, with seat aligned along the wall, reserved for people with special needs. All along the journey, the names of the next upcoming stop is displayed within the bus. Major stops are announced as well.
The side walks do not end with a step high drop, but merge into it. There is a tactile tile to mark the end of the walk.
Inside building there would be ramp entry without fail and lifts have brail.

But still there is no bulb in the room :-)

PITTSBURGH 13th Aug: The city has a hill town charm to it and a visual variety fairly uncommon to cities in US. My first destination in the city--The Balaji temple, better know as the SV temple, which lies to the east of piitsburgh. Its beautiful, but could not help the feeling of conflict at the temple. The people around me were indians but they were all speaking in the American accent, which seemed so out of place. Their 'sorrys' and 'excuse me' just did not fit in. the Temple had a dining hall that could easily have been that of a resturant in India. There were tissue boxes on the table, water fountains for drinking water. No sun, no breeze, the entire place is air conditioned. I welcomed myself to America.

MY APARTMENT after the visit to the temple.

Its in a plain new building without any frills. The apartment is on the 9th floor which is the top floor. There are'nt any buildings around, taller than this. We have windows to the east which look out to onto a giant but beautiful tree about 8 storeys tall, which stands next to the 'church of learning'. Beyond these are other, mostly old houses and the hills frame up everything beautifully.
Inside, its three bedrooms, an open kitchen, a dining and a living area. The place was empty when we arrived, but we have been filling it up with free stuff that our generous neghbours keep giving away. There is a room in the basement where people leave what they dont need. And anyone who need it can just pick it up. One thing that really amazed me was the fact there was no light point in any of the roorms. Americans seem to pay attention every small detail, but dunno why they dont find it important to put light bulbs in rooms...~shrug~
MY APARTMENT BUILDING: THE ONE CASTING THE LONGEST SHADOW

Friday: day 6 in the USA.
Got to see the Cleveland down-town today. Had the feeling of a city for the first time. Closely aligned buildings, loads of people and music on the roads. But the story of attention to detail continues. The sidewalks, the landscaped areas and the roads seem to be laid out staright from text books, 1:1 scale. The markings for parking, road dividers, crossings, signboards... everything done and followed with precision. All trees actually have mulch around them. "Every inch is treated", though of and designed.
A road close to home was blocked for repairs. Every roads/street that connected to it had a sign-"road blocked ahead" a crossing ahead.
For the rest, the "city" is quite sparse. A church there and a house here. Each building gets its share of the green and "real" views. Everything is picture perfect. Down-town Hudson( which is much smaller than Cleveland) is smaller and "cuter".

Current Location: Cleveland.
Leaving India was not easy. I( and everybody else) kept telling me, I am leaving. Most people were somehow a lot more sure than me, that I was gone for good. We all generalise.
At the Newark airport I had the first realisation of another world. And very different from what I had imagined it to be.