Crocodile Crocodile.. which color do you want?

Do we remember this game which we used to play when we were kids? If I was in Arkansas at that time, I would have never lost to the crocodile!
Yes, it is still not CA-trip story telling time. I just have one more story to tell. After that CA news is all yours :)
2 weeks back we drove to Arkansas to see the fall colors. You name the color it was there!
Day 1: Started early in the morning. Had rented a mini-van, 7 seater. Drove it in full josh :)Texas, where I live is a very dry state. There is not much vegetation. But as we were nearing the end of Texas we could see a lot of vegetation and some fall colors here and there too.
I will not go into each and every detail, it's going to get too boring to read. Some interesting points

• One of my friend had got his parents also on the trip. Travelling/staying with them for 2 days made me realise it's not easy to travel with our parents.



• When I was in Germany, I knew for sure that my parents wouldn't be comfortable there. But I had thought that in USA they will be comfortable. I can make them come here sometime... But this trip made me realise a LOT of things.



• Food will be a major problem. My parents being extremely orthodox, I am sure they won't eat even in the Indian restaurants here as they serve non-veg too.



• They will not eat bread and stuff, so places like subway is also ruled out. So where do I take them to eat? I will have to make 100s of chapathi's from home and take it. That's all.



• Restrooms will be another problem, them being not used to the western toilet.



• So, though it was a bitter realisation. My parents won't enjoy if they come here :(

That is me feeling sorry for my parents. I don't know how my parents would react after coming to a foreign country. I am sure my father will take it well as he has been to Russia and parts of Europe before. My mom is very sporty so she will also take it well.. at least that's what I hope so.

But my friend (lets call him Dh) Dh's parents are a little too much in awe of America. Sometimes it would becoming embarrassing even for Dh, when they would "touch" a cute kid. Or times when they would openly bad-mouth India... :(.

Anyway all that aside, here are some snaps.. they will tell you much more than my long paragraphs..;-)

Roll over the cursor on the photos and you can see my labels for them.

American Football

It seems I am back to blogging after all. People will have to wait a little bit more to hear about my vacation details. In a gist.. it was AWESOME! I will write in detail about each and every day.. be ready for some long, really long posts... till then, lets have some fun with the ball.

This is about football. The American one where there is no "foot" involved in the game with the ball.

I went to watch a high school football game some 3 weeks back. I would have sworn it was a world cup match thingy if I hadn't known before that it was just a high school game. The arrangements, the glamour... you had to see it to believe it.

First they introduced each and every player on the team. There will be at least 60 players on each side. Only 11 can play at a time, they keep rotating people, after all it's a very physical game. Each player was accompanied by his family.







After the gala introductions, the game started. Some things I learned about the game.

• Physical power is EVERYTHING in the game. People fall over each other, trip each other, beat up each other also!



• It's like cricket in India, it's a religion in America.



• The supporters/audience of each of the sides are seated on the respective sides of the stadium. No mixture allowed.



• Girls wear something called "mums" around their necks. These are basically presented by their boy friends who would have asked them for prom dance the next evening. These things costs no less than $100! These mums carry the respective boy-friends' name.



• It's a family event.



• America is a RICH country. The band, the cheerleaders, the dress for them, the band instruments ranging from drums to saxophones, the media coverage... all for a high school game.

During half time, there will be some recreational activities like band playing, cheerleading performance, some music etc.., Some photos and some shark's words to go with them.

My Team : Black-Panther - Band Troupe

The other team : Wild cats - Cheer leading team - They were really very impressive.

The wild-cat band team along with cheer leaders. Please note the short skirts ;-)

My team, performing. Co-ordination at it's best. They would all lift their legs at the same time and to the exact same height... super!

Ok, last but not the least ... some players in action. Couldn't catch too much of the play on camera. One, because I was trying really hard to understand the game and had no time for taking pictures. My camera does not have some fantastic zoom... so even if some pictures were taken, they were far away shots with not much clarity about what's happening out there :)

Update: Sojourner asked as to who won finally. Do I even have to mention? It was MY team... the BLACK-PANTHERS :-D

I know I am in America when...

• I jump with joy when I see a 2 wheeler! The other day I saw one which looked almost exactly like our scooty pep! I miss my kinetic... :(
• No dinner party without drinks.
• 8 am meetings in the office.
• 6 pm, have to really search for "people" in office.
• 60 mph is slow! Zoom past in 80 mph speed sometimes.. and feel happy that you escaped mamas ;-)
• The winter sets in, you can see lots of desi women in chudidar and sneakers.
• You make coffee in a microwave.
• You have the cooler ON in summer and heater ON in winter. - Cotton dresses and woollen sweaters would do in India though.
• Men at work discuss about bed-performance of their girlfriends over lunch.
• There are no all-vegetarian restuarants. Maybe you can find a udipi cafe here and there sometimes, that too in big cities.
• People value their personal time. If you have to attend your child's school function, you can take a day off from work stating the same reason. And nobody is going to deny permission.
• Men (who are married) accept to work over the weekend ONLY after getting their wife's consent.
• A child stops crying the moment you put an empty nipple in its mouth. - Try doing that to a desi kid, it will throw that back at your face!
• A major weekend outing is a movie + lunch/dinner at an Indian restuarant.
• The office is completely empty by 3 pm on a friday.
• Anybody and everybody you come across in the street asks you "Hi, How are you doing?". But not one waits for an answer ;-)
• and only in America, yes ONLY here... Pakistani's and Indians live in such great harmony, it's hard to believe that we are actually fighting wars out there in our own countries.