Of Giant Waterfalls...and Dancing Rainbows..

I always loved fairytales...and I think I'm finally living one too now...No...Not in love...just FINALLY got to see the Niagara Falls!

It is unbelievable! They were majestic...even from a distance. The closer you get to the Falls...the windier it gets...and you can already feel the mist in your face.

Hundreds of tourists thronged the place...but for once....I didn't mind the crowds...

After about half an hour of waiting...the time finally came. So we dawned our blue robes (er...raincoats)...and stepped into the majestic "Maid of the Mist"...and off we were into Dreamland!

The mist is intense...our faces were drenched within minutes of being out there...and then...people gasped...as the first faint rainbow was spotted over the first stretch of falls...It was breathtaking!

And then the ferry glided forward towards the "Horse Shoe" falls(called so because of the arc/horse shoe shape they form). We could see the people on the Canadian side of the border gaze at the falls with as much wonder...and then...another gasp came from the crowd...A rainbow had appeared right by the side of our boat...not a faint-can-see-a-few-colours-kind...but a full on Arc...it had appeared in the mist...just as we approached the heart of the horseshoe falls ...

Imagine this...you have only seen the Niagara Falls in google images so far...you have no idea that you will ever see it in your life...and then you find yourself...right in the middle of what can only be described as nature at its most powerful...yet gorgeous best...with a rainbow by your side...and a few more lining the falls...

If that isn't a fairytale...I don't know what is...

Life is beautiful :)

And Hello Buffalo :)

Here's a discovery I've made (If not believing what a hundred people have been telling you...and then discovering something to be true is a discovery...)...Towns in the US look all the same! Towns/cities/villages...whatever I've been hanging around in...If you'd blindfolded me and taken me out of Mettawa and let me out in Buffalo...I swear I wouldn't have known!

All the pretty houses, cute babies...greenery...and what not I'd said Bye to there...they are exactly the same here! It's better in fact because I'm walking distance from all the departmental stores (STILL haven't gone to Walmart...criminal offence!).

So life goes on...work gets better...relatives are coming down to Buffalo from Toronto...and I'll finally get to see the Niagra Falls!!!

As for football is concerned...I have been watching a lot of girly football...In the US...girl fooball is considered pretty cool! Stanford women Vs California something....But they are shrill...So Club America Vs Inter Milan was a refreshing change...till Inter Milan lost to amateurs in the penalties! Maurinho's face was worth looking at...don't think it was live...but loved it nevertheless!

Weird things happening in the sporting world alright...Flintoff apparently ended England's 75 year old wait! Thrilled for them!

And to wind up...TODAY is the 40th Anniversary of the Big Foot on the Moon...On 16th they merely took off...So much for my love for it...(though it was a big step that they took in the figurative sense :D)... Happy Birthday Moony Foot!

Goodbye Mettawa :(

For the first time in a long time I feel awful leaving a place (OK not that long..happened at IIFT last)...It's my last day here in Mettawa...and after an awesome month...it feels almost like home...

Gave away my left over groceries to people who still have time left here...left the bucket I lovingly bought at the Dollar store...Said my goodbyes to the fairytale houses, cute babies, awesome office, and colleagues...Sat on my suitcase and finally got it to shut...and now it's literally leaving on a jet plane...Don't know when I'll be back again...

Anyway...off to Buffalo tomorrow...with all its "Don't go out after 4 in the evening alone" stories...Hoefully it'll turn out to be just as awesome...and will be writing a similar mail for it in August :)

But in the US...Chicago will always be my first Love :)...Hope I get to come here again :)

Moony All the Way...

"That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind".... 40 years ago on this very day Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon(He got the name "Buzz" coz his little sister mispronounced Brother as Buzzer according to Wiki)!

I wasn't there 40 years ago ofcourse, but I remember obsessing over it during my I-was-born-to-Be-An-Astronaut phase. The feelings came right back when I visited the Planetarium here last Sunday...they were celebrating the Man on the Moon phenomenon all month...and had awesome setups...instruments...galaries ...and EVERYTHING about the Mars Pathfinder...instruments I could actually TOUCH...ancient astronomy lessons...ancient astronomy student diaries!!! It was a dream come true (except for their 3-D show..such a disappointment!)

The moon...an inspiration for poets...a hope for lovers (at least in the movies and all things theatrical)...a hope for the forlorn too (The moon and the stars are always the same wherever you go or whatever you are going through)...and I swear to God...because of the lack of pollution here.. it looks MUCH bigger and MUCH closer to earth from where I am... It is gorgeous ...

Remember the scene in Apollo Thirteen...Tom Hanks keeps playing hide and seek with the moon using his thumb...and then he comes close enough...but cannot land...could be a metaphor for a lot of things in a lot of lives...Afterall...at the end of the day...We all wish for the moon...

Anyhow...getting to the point...a deluge of media coverage going on here today (16th July)celebrating the 40th Birthday of the Mighty Footprint...so I thought I should have something to remember it with....Really don't know where I'll find the moon right now...so thought i'd write about it :)

Chicago Times ... Contd

Finally went downtown! All by myself...in the gorgeous city that's Chicago! It's a whole new experience figuring out things on my own! Coming from a superbly protective family, and a darling dad who says "Be more independent" and then makes all the boulders on your pathway vanish without telling you, I never thought I would be actually roaming about another continent all by myself someday!

So I took a train from the Mettawa station (First thing I did was blow up a lot of money going to the wrong station! The ONLY time I've been taken for a ride here...happened to be one of the 2 Indian Cabbies I met! Though the other was a gem of a man!). Anyhow...a far cry from the trains in Mumbai...I travelled sitting down, in an extremely clean and air conditioned compartment, surrounded by the old and young, watching the greenery roll past me as the train sped to Chicago.

Once I reached town, I decided to get more adventurous and figure out the bus routes (something I've never done even in my own city, leaving apart the DU days...besides, cabs are WAY too expensive here :D).

And so ... it was My Day Out in Chicago ... with gorgeous skyscrapers...REALLY cute kids...fairly cute men (yeah...finally saw them :D) and a spring in my step. Went about like a tourist...with a massive camera hung around my neck (dropped the camera idea next day...way easier and more enjoyable to walk without it).

It was a perfect day...went for a tour...sped to the 94th floor of a skyscraper to get a 360 degree view of Chicago...visited the "Giant Bean" at the Millenium Park...and got back home...dog tired...but crazily happy.

Next day was even better! Architectural tours don't give you a view of the skyline and a feel of the city...as much as the grassy slopes outside the Planetarium do!

It is a beautiful green stretch between the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium...at the bank of River Michigan...directly in front of the Chicago skyline...It is one of the most heavenly experiences I've ever had! With the cool wind (ya..not breeze) blowing gently across your face...the grass all green and spongy beneath you...the crystal clear blue waters in front of you...awesome white speedboats cutting through the water with all their might...and then...the skyline... you have to be there to believe it...

Everything was wonderful...and I never thought 24 days staright away from home would be alright (IIFT being the ONLY exception to the rule!)...but I'm in love with this place...with my cooking (Ya...got my count of burnt (literally to charcoal) dishes upto three today)...pity I'm leaving soon...I hear Buffalo isn't half as safe as this town (and Chicago has a shootout a day!)...

Well...time for a new city...a new adventure...and a Looooong overdue reunion with one of my Best Friends in New York over one of the weekends!

Hope to see you again Chicago...

Chicago Times

It has been nearly 3 weeks and I haven't blogged about Chicago yet...SHAME on me! Because it is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L....actually Mettawa is...a town on the outskirts of Chicago (I am YET to go downtown!).

For all of you who are Star World/Movies/HBO freaks...imagine living in one of those channels...THAT is what this feels like! Mettawa is unbelievably green (though not greener than Munich where I had a stop over...THAT is like heaven on earth...like what earth was meant to be!)...Anyhow...The roads are smooth and pretty...surrounded by trees so green that you can keep staring at them forever (though I'm told it's all white snow and no foliage in the bitter winters that this city faces).

The homes...they are Perfect! It's the neighbourhoods depicted in The Wonder Years...with a hundred times prettier houses and cuter babies and gorgeously groomed dogs!

The shopping malls can be lived in...and Shiv Sena will freak out if it ever gets here and checks out people's clothes (or the lack of it)...figures be damned...Americans will wear whatever they find :P

Then ofcourse, there is the odd experience or two...

You call 911 accidentally and don't give it a thought (the outside dialling code in the hotel is 91..and there's many a slip between the other digits :D)....Just to get a lot of banging on your door and the receptionist panicking outside...having gotten calls from the police fearing the worst!

Or the day when I ordered POPCORN...and ended up with Porn on my TV...

Or today...when I aimed the Starbucks cup opening wrongly at my mouth and got tonnes of hot chocolate on one of my fave shirts!

Life is good...office is gorgeous and at walking distance from my place...I am learning how to cook (FORCED to since I have a kitchen and Americans are hardcore non-veggies!)...

I am Lovin' it :)