First Day in US

Fort Collins, CO is an extremely charming place that you just fall in love with instantly. When I first came to US, I had the typical Indian student carrying 32 kg suitcases with 15 kg in the hand bag and backpack which was stuffed with things I gathered over the flight(I was in first class, which is another story altogether) MY port of entry was Atlanta. When I left Mumbai, there were people that Delta had to help the girls with their luggage. But after landing in Atlanta, I had a hard time getting the luggage out of the conveyor belt. And lugging the hand bag was no joke. I was extremely tired. The other Indian sudents were helping the girls, but then that was more because everyone was as lost and scared as I was. But then once everyone dispersed, I was the only one going to CO. So after I immigrated, then carrying the luggage and rechecking it in the domestic flight was a task of extreme strength. Once I checked that in, I took the train and reached the terminal and the departure terminal. I was so ready to collapse. I had not realized till then that te flight that seems to be an hour was actually three hours, I didnot realize the time zones. Once I found out that it was a 3 hour flight, I was about to give up. All I wanted to do was go home. "Yeh kaha aa gaye hum" kept playing in my head. To top it all, very smartly I had all the important addresses that I needed once I got to FC and US were stored in a digital diary. Somehow there was nothing in it when I got to US.

As soon as I started looking for a place to sit, someone walked upto me and asked if I was Ketaki. It was an old school friend, who was studying in GaTech. I had sent an email to him before I left India to ask about the immigration and stuff, and he actually came to meet me at the airport. I was so relieved to see Satyan. He took me to a food court where we had iced tea for 3 bucks a piece, 150 Rs I was calculating at the back of my mind. I almost had half a mind to tell Delta that I simply couldnot travel, and that I would travel the next day!! But just seeing a familiar person eased the tension so much. By the time we got back to the gate, it was extremely crowded, and I just had to sit. Satyan sat on the carpet...I was shocked. Satyan said " This is US..yaha kuch bhi chalta hain" I just couldnot bring myself to sit, (Side note, now when I wait for Neeraj to pick me up from work, I sit on the pavement, when I don't have my leather jacket and when its not raining).

I was so sad to get back on the plane. Once I got on the plane, as I struggled to get my bags into the overhead luggage compartment, some blond guy got up and helped me. I couldnot believe it. I sat in the plane and held the iced tea to my heart. I was not going to throw away 150 Rs. As we landed in Denver, it was almost 8pm. Took another train and came to the baggage terminal. I didnot have to touch a single bag. there were people who helped me.

As I waited for the shuttle to Fort Collins, I wrote down the 5 dollars I had spent to call home from Frankfurt. In the shuttle, parting with 21 dollars wrenched my heart. People were chatting like they were all friends and I dozed off. When I got up, we were in Loveland. I was so scared...I wanted to go to Fort Collins, Did I get on the wrong shuttle??!!! I looked around and saw all blond people. I had always known that this would be tha case in a place like Colorado, but I had never prepared my self to people chatting like they knew each other for life. I remembered the bus trips to Indore to meet my grandparents. You always look at your fellow passengers with suspicion. This was an entirely different experience. And even in the horror of landing in Loveland, I feel asleep. Next I woke up at about 11 pm local time and they had started dropping off people at their homes. He told me I would be the last one to be dropped off as I was going to the other side of the town. Finally it was just me and the shuttle driver in the shuttle and he was like "West Myrtle"??? There is no West Myrtle. I was shocked..He said Myrtle runs north-south. Are you sure???

I kept on thinking this was a dream, and I would wake up in my bed in Pune with my mom sitting outside sipping on her tea as she does everyday. I told him this was the address the Indian student association gave me. Thats when I actually realized that the electronic diary had been wiped off. I was in a state of utter panic. All the emergency contact numbers had been wiped off. All i remembered was the phone number of the girl who was going to be my host and room mate. I gave him that. He called her, she told the address. As we approached the apartment, there was cops all over the place. Apparently there had been a shoot out near the Seven-Eleven and all the roads were blocked. The driver tried different ways of approaching the apartment in vain. He told me he would take me back to Denver International Airport and bring me back the next day.

Next I knew we were in front of the apartment and Shefali, my roomie, was waving at us. I was in such a shock, I dont remember the next few minutes. Shefali;s mom had made hot poli and hbaji for me. As luck would have it, my friend Dhananjay who was in the same university, went to pick me up at the airport as a surprise and his car broke down and he got back at 4 am.

Till this date I remember each and every thing that happened in those few hours vividly....

On the phone!!
the action begins..having been answering a lot of phone calls..and its nice to know there are a whole lot of nice people out there..
Bloopers :

1. Instead of asking the customer if he had the "Downtime" schedule set, I asked, if he had the "Downtown" scheduled...I am sure he got that I was in a party mood. :D
2. I had been calling a lot of customers, and I go "This is Ketaki calling from ..." and when I actually picked up a call that came from a customer, instead of just saying, "This is Ketaki.." I went." This is Ketaki calling..." The customer was like what??!!!
3. I forgot the name of a customer...So I looked at Warren and Warren quickly wrote the customer;s name on the board...

Went to this really cool sale at Sears...Jamba juice is good..sipping on it now!! missed lunch because of the sudden high call volume.

Clarification
:) Had to post this soon..We didnot buy 500 dollar tix, we bought 500 dollars tix for 100 bucks...Thats why we were such outcasts. And I have to apologize for all the typos in the earlier Rahman blog, I was chatting with my mom and my mama, and typing..Should fix the typos, I realized its almost impossible to read it..

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!!

Had to get a post for my bday!! i feel like a princess..I have been pampered!!

A R Rahman
Is God. Had a chance to listen to him live in SF in the Cow Palace. We got tickets in the 22nd row in this huge indoor stadium. So we were practically in seats where not only could we see them up close and personal, but I think, they could see us too!! It was a sammelan of Hondas, Toyotas and Mercedes. Never have I seen so many leather jackets in one place. And even in my marriage i didnot wear as much gold as the women wore. Me in my perenial jeans and tee-shirt (it is cold in SF) seemed like and outcast in those 500 dollar seats. As of course, like all desi events, this one also started late. Was to start at 7:30, started at 8:30. But then it was a "be Indian" sort of an event. So I didnt see a single hassled soul because of the delay. Everyone was going about talking, mingling, showing off merrily. There was chai stall, mango lassi, samosa, even posters of bollywood kings and queens. It was like being in the theatres in India.
Rahman started with a bang with SP Balasubramium. Then Sonu Nigam crooned to Sathiya and stole each and every girl (from 16 to 60). I think I am totally mesmerised by the songs of Saathiya. So it was quite a treat to hear him alive. And I have been a fan of Sonu since Sa Re Ga Ma. It is quite short built though...
Neeraj said that last year they sang a lot of tamil-telegu songs that the non-south indian people did not know. So after interval, half the stadium was empty, this time however, they sang almost all hindi songs, and only sang a few lines from each song in tamil/telegu. In fact it was quite enjoyable for everyone.
Lagaan and Saathiya were extremely popular, though humma humma had almost everyone dancing up on their seats.
Shivamani rocked!! His antics had the crowd entertained in the interval. And..hold your breath. Zakhir Hussain was sitting in the audience. He has something about him that just melts your heart. hehe..I am sure neeraj was amused at my fickle heart. Cant help it. Small trivia, Shankar Mahadevan used to work in Oracle(just outside SF) before he decided to quit everything to becaome a musican. Oracle buildings are quite a landmark while going from San Jose to SF. Bollywood, here I come!!!
Sadhana Sargam sang Chupke se to the tee. Missed Chandralekha, since I had heard so much about it from previous shows.
When we got out, it took us some time before the euphoria died down. Absolutely fantastic experience......

BUSY
I have been terribly busy the past few days. There were whole day exams that went on from 10 am to 7:30 pm, there were meetings, presentations. Also, Neeraj's younger sister Anuja was visiting us along with Shashank, her would-be. So we took them to Gilroy, Mystery Spot. And all sorts of places to eat :) We went to Santa Cruz, to this place called Capitola which was a small beach town, which the most charming downtown and awesome seafood...but no more food posts..:D.

Anyways, saw a really good movie "Basic". John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson and a whole bunch of other people. Quite a different movie, with an intelligent plot and a gripping end. It was a movie in which you cannot afford to get distracted for a minute. You just wont be able to follow it. So I was quite irritated by the couple sitting next to us. Leave rest to imagination ;).

But definitely worth seeing once, preferably in a theater, because you have to be engrossed.
Small post, really tired.