Good Ol’ Old Lyme and The Gilded Age
My excitement about the drive to Connecticut stemmed out of my love for the show The West Wing. You see, President Jed Bartlet (played by the unmatched Martin Sheen) was from New England. So, it was natural that I wanted to explore that part of the country. I imagine Summer’s excitement was on account of revisiting the region where she went to college (Smith) and seeing her friends after a long pandemic hiatus. The drive was easy and comfortable (at least for me, the passenger) and a good part of it was scenic too. In particular, I enjoyed looking at waterfront houses and constantly checking on Zillow how much they cost. And things got more and more beautiful as we got closer to Old Lyme – my (now) favorite small town in America!
On Bettina’s recommendation, we had booked an Airbnb cottage in Old Lyme, not too far from her place. To me – this cottage was pristine! A roadside home with excellent decor and cool amenities, this cute little delight also came with a lovely big, beautiful, lush green backyard where you could just sit listening to the birds looking at the trees. The decor was thoughtful and cozy and the hosts, humorous and considerate. I had mentioned to them that I’ll be missing the Stranger Things finale due to the trip, so they left me Eggos in the freezer (it’s a show reference). The place was stocked with books and board games and had a very welcoming vibe making our stay quite memorable.
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The next few days were spent driving through the tree-flanked streets of Old Lyme, checking out fancy New England-style houses, eating at local restaurants and pubs, and of course enjoying the cottage. It was also my first time meeting the utterly beautiful, vibrant and charming Smith gang – Bettina, Christine and Ivy. Bettina’s house and neighborhood was so spectacular, I nearly started dreaming about buying a house in that area! Driving to and from Old Saybrook, I started talking like a local. Every time I saw a dreamy street or a scenic house, I exclaimed with a grin – “Good Ol’ Old Lyme”! The one time I saw a knocked-down garbage bin, I cried “Damn tourists!”.
We also made a short trip to a book reader’s heaven called ‘The Book Barn’. A charming campus with buildings dedicated to specific genres, The Book Barn was a place one could spend the whole day at. It had inexpensive books set up in creative cabins and trolleys and obviously, I bought a bunch. We also drove to the nearby white sand state beach that our kind hosts had left us a parking permit for. Lounging around the cool sand looking at the changing colors of the evening sky went well with the theme of a relaxing getaway. Bettina was kind enough to give us a tour of the historic Essex Old area where we bought chocolate truffle shots and explored some more fancy houses.
Our last day in New England was spent driving to Rhode Island to check out the popular Newport Mansions. I didn’t realize that some of the mansions we visited were actually featured in the show The Gilded Age (duh!). The Breakers (home of the Vanderbilts) was humongous from outside and truly lavish from within. As we walked through each room, observing the furniture, the walls, the ceilings (boy, the ceilings!), I couldn’t help but be transported to the era of luxury and pomp. Each room had a unique purpose and so much space. Chateau Sur Mer was smaller but as delightful and the walk from one mansion to another was a nice way to experience the neighborhood.
The tickets for the 2-mansion tour cost around $70. There weren’t many good food options near the mansions so that was a bummer. We ate a cold sandwich and a burrito in the cafeteria by The Breakers and decided to have a better meal for dinner back in good ol’ Old Lyme.
After a short stop at a beach on the way, we made our way back to Old Lyme for one last evening. Then followed a quiet dinner, quick breakfast the next morning, and heartfelt goodbyes full of dramatic waves and laughter. We made it in time to return the rental car and reach the airport before the scheduled flight. However, the flight got delayed and I wasn’t sure we would be able to make our connection in St. Louis Missouri. Thankfully, an American Airlines employee came to our aid and booked us on a Chicago connection, getting us home at the exact time we had expected. And that was the end of my memorable first trip to New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island! There are worse ways to spend a summer break, no? 🙂
Some more pictures:
West Coast to East Coast – My First New York Trip
A concrete jungle interspersed with all kinds of human personalities and enterprises – that was my first impression of New York City. Getting on a plane from Los Angeles on the eve of July 4th weekend had its set of challenges. I was a bit anxious having read various articles about expected delays and cancellations. Thankfully, all went well, and we got to Laguardia airport on Friday night as planned. Getting the iconic NYC yellow taxi from the airport was super-convenient and we were lucky to land one with a transparent Tesla-like roof, giving us a glimpse of the sky, some famous streets, bridges, and tall buildings right away. It also worked out the hotel was in downtown NYC making most of the landmarks walkable as we discovered over the next couple of days.
It all began with a hunt for food on night 1. We stepped outside the hotel at 11:30 pm to look for a nearby restaurant. The first thing we found was a food truck right round the street corner. We walked for around 15 more seconds and reached an intersection with humongous electronic billboard and tall buildings. The crowd around reminded me of Dadar station in Mumbai, with hardly any space to walk and non-stop chitter-chatter. The difference of course was that most people, including us, had their cell phones out clicking pictures of the ostentatious displays advertising everything from fashion brands to upcoming movies and shows. Summer informed me that this was the famous Times Square, and we were surprised that this was barely a minute’s walk from the hotel. We clicked a few photos and continued our search for dinner which ended with a food truck close to the hotel. As always, it was Indian food to my rescue with a kind man treating us to some delicious chicken rice for a cost less than half of a restaurant meal.
The hotel itself was fascinating with a ship-like structure and really small but cute rooms. However, knowing that this trip was meant to be more outdoors than indoors, I didn’t mind the size of the room and quite enjoyed the fact that the location of this hotel was perfect. This trip was mostly about meeting friends after years and in doing so, witnessing a glimpse of NYC streets and the infamous fast pace everyone talks about. Being from Mumbai, I wasn’t alien to this but was still looking forward to getting a slice of the so-called best city in the US.
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Next morning, my dear friends Gayatri and Sandeep drove all the way from Philly to meet me. We spent the day reminiscing university days, walk in the famous Central Park, eating Mediterranean food and then having drinks and tacos at a hep pier restaurant named Watermark. All of this was great fun, but the best part was just seeing these two lovebirds after 2 years. It was crazy to think that I used to meet Gayatri almost daily for 2 years and had then gone without seeing her at all for another 2.
It felt like I was back at Northside Drafthouse with her, telling her some story about my day which she already knew. Ha! Thanks to their car, we also got a chance to drive through some of the NYC streets and check out some more of the typical buildings before it was time to bid goodbye to them. With a heavy heart, I bid farewell with promises of meeting soon – perhaps in LA next time.
Later that evening, we met two more of my close UT Dallas friends. Nivesh, who was particularly excited about my NYC visit, had been planning to come see me as soon as possible. He took a subway ride all the way from Jersey and we then walked to a nearby restaurant – Mama Mia – to catch up like old times. Anirudh joined us a bit later and we all had some fancy pastas and pizza. In this duration, we also had an incident with a homeless person – another infamous thing I had heard about NYC. We were sitting outdoors in the streetside restaurant, and this homeless guy walked up to us asking for cash. Summer gave him a few dollars and he goes – “I am gonna give this back to you and ask you to buy me food”. We were not sure how to deal with this other than just saying “No, sorry”. But he went on almost in a threatening tone – “If the waitress gets here, she will call the cops and I will get in trouble (but what he was implying was he will give us trouble). So just give me $8 or buy me food. We all then looked in our wallets and gave him some more cash, making us feel like we have been extorted for money.
Nivesh then told us that this is common in NYC and the common thing to do is not budge. Anyway, we learned our lesson and enjoyed the rest of our meal in peace. Nivesh, as a tribute to one of the running jokes Gayatri and he had on me, gifted me a Belated Happy Father’s Day card (because I am much older than these two).
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The next morning, we met Summer’s friend Eddie at Bryant Park for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon walking on the streets, exploring part of the city. They showed me some famous landmarks which were all just a few minutes from each other – Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, MET. It was awesome that people could just walk to all these places, as compared to Los Angeles where it’s unusual to get anywhere without a car. Our walks also gave me a chance to observe establishments, coffee shops, bagel places, stores, parks and listen to voices, conversations, accents – and tried to compare these with what I had seen in Dallas and Los Angeles. It became quite obvious to me that NYC clearly had its own distinct character, pace, vibrance and aura. It also became clear to me that I was perhaps more of an LA guy by now 🙂
Finally, it was the 4th of July, and we hadn’t made any plans for the evening. Thankfully, I was able to get a reservation for the evening fireworks at a place Nivesh recommended – 230 5th rooftop bar. And I was glad later that I did. We spent the day walking on the streets again – we picked up bagels for our friend Bettina from Essa bagel, bought coffee from a small shop on the way, and then had lunch later at a German bar. When it was time in the evening, Nivesh, Summer and I showed up at the rooftop bar which was bustling with well-dressed people excited about the upcoming Macy’s fireworks. Our table happened to have a clear view of the Empire State Building lit up in USA colors. There was fun music playing and around 8 pm, the fireworks started. It was a great experience listening to music, watching these fireworks in a new city, with an iconic landmark (KING KONG!) in front of us. We captured a bunch of pictures and videos and walked back to the hotel after stopping for a donut on the way.
It was time to say Adios to NYC the next morning and rent a car from Avis near the airport. The taxi guy this time was Harminder who talked to me about his neck of the woods in NYC and how it is full of Indians. We spoke in Hindi, and he told me it’s not usual as even Hindi-speaking Indians prefer conversing in English when in NY. we were dropped off safely and as it has been customary to lose something on every trip, I dropped my sunglasses somewhere while deboarding Harminder’s cab. We rented a cool hatch back and drove to Connecticut, where one of the best places I have experienced in the US so far awaited me. More on that in my next post…
A visit to Griffith Observatory and the Samuel Oschin Planetarium in Los Angeles
At the age of 11 with some guidance from my friend Sainath, I wrote to NASA expressing my interest in space and astronomy. The stamp for the letter cost around Rs. 40 if I remember correctly but it was totally worth it because 3 months later, I got a package full of stunning pictures of the planets in our solar system. Ever since then, like many other students in the world, I have been curious about space. So when I moved to Los Angeles, the one-of-its-kind Griffith observatory was on top of my list of places to visit.
All through the pandemic, I got a chance to check out the Griffith park and its surroundings including the touristic Hollywood sign thanks to Sunil and Dips driving me there a few times. However, I was waiting desperately for when the Samuel Oschin planetarium would open so I can experience one of its marvelous shows. Finally, I got an opportunity to visit it and check out the show “Centered in the Universe” last evening and thankfully, it did not disappoint.
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Griffith observatory is open only Friday-Sunday unlike the park which is open all week from sunrise to sunset. Summer and I had tried on a weekend a few weeks ago but were unable to catch a show due to lack of parking and the energy to hike up. So this time, we went prepared for some exercise. On Friday, we first drove all the way up to Griffith to see if we can find some parking but were turned around like the previous time as the paid parking was full. Summer had done her research for parking spots so we parked next to the Greek theatre and hiked up a mile to Griffith. The weather was beautiful and the hike was pleasant.
Once there, we took in the view of the observatory and the beautiful Hollywood sign across it. The sign was still bright in the sky and the brightness washed over the landscape making it more sensible to keep the sunglasses on. We then stood in the cue for 5 mins with our vaccination proof to be let in around 5:40 pm. We then purchased our tickets at $7 a piece (no queue thankfully) for the 6:15 pm show of “Centered in the universe” and spent the next 20 minutes checking out the displays inside the observatory. Then, we stepped out to queue up on the West Terrace for entering the planetarium when we witnessed a marriage proposal with a plane carrying the banner “Willst du mich heiraten?” in the sky. There was a “Yes” and kissing and hooting and clapping and just like that, it was time to get in.
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We took our seats and as we were waiting for the show to start, we overheard a man in the back entertaining some kids. He was doing an Indian accent (a terrible one) and they were laughing but also saying aloud – “we are not with this guy”. It seemed like he might be telling a story of some character he played. He certainly thought he was funny, but Summer and I didn’t. I decided to let it slide and focus on the show.
For the next 35 minutes, I was just glued to the ceiling which presented a majestic journey of our planet and the universe since the Big Bang. The visuals were surreal and the storytelling was engaging. I was familiar with a lot of the content as I had read about it and also given a refresher in the show Cosmos. Nevertheless, the visual experience made going through it again totally worth it.
We then stepped out and made our way to the roof where the 12-inch Zeiss Refracting telescope is housed. The queue was really long so we figured we will do it another time.
And then it started getting quite chilly so we hiked back to the car, picked up Pho to go 😁 from Indochine at Glendale Blvd and headed back home. And that was the little story of my first trip to the Griffith Observatory.
San Francisco – Sausalito – Monterey: From Trains and Ferries to Bridges and Hikes
One of the coolest things about my workplace is that we get an entire week off for celebrating the 4th of July. I figured this would be a good time for my first post-COVID trip since I was fully vaccinated and had some travel money saved. I decided to embark on a train ride from LA to San Francisco aboard the Coast Starlight – something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I had driven through the Golden Gate Bridge with my cousin last year and spent a few hours in San Francisco. This time, with a week to spend, I figured I could get a better feel of the city and couple of its neighboring spots. A couple of my friends from UT Dallas were interested in exploring San Francisco so they visited me in LA for a couple of days before we took off for our summer holiday on Friday, the 2nd.
The train ride was what I was most excited about. And boy, did it live up to the hype! We started from Union Station in Los Angeles at 10.10 am. While the first hour or so from LA is just views of the city, the stretch just before Santa Barbara up to San Luis Obispo is spectacular to say the least. The train has an observation car which became my office for the day!
The crashing blue waves on one end and the horizon blending into the clear blue sky on the other – I couldn’t take my eyes off if it. The observation car was fully occupied for those couple of hours and I met a couple of interesting fellow travelers too.
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Our first day in SFO was as dedicated to the Golden Gate Bridge. Thankfully for us, the bus and ferry rides were free for the 4th July weekend. So we hopped onto a bus and reached the bridge – walking across the bridge from one end to the other and back. I hadn’t walked that much in a long time. The views from the bridge are truly magnificent. The city on one side, the woods on the other and clear blue-green water all in between. The bridge was full of people of all ages from all over the world. As we walked on the walkway, I noticed motorcyclists performing stunts on the bridge, bicycle riders pacing on the other side (dedicated to bikes), couples getting all mushy, children running around, families clicking pictures… it is very touristic and yet so refreshing.
The bus back to the hotel was eye-opening and exposed some parts of the underbelly of downtown San Francisco. Some streets were full of garbage and home to junkies just sitting/walking around. I felt a bit intimidated thinking what I’d do if I were to find myself walking on one of these streets. Some others were fancy with patio seats of trendy restaurants.
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The next day, we took the ferry ride to the next available ferry. And to our delight – it was to this beautiful island of Sausalito. A beautiful, Greek-like island, Sausalito was a breath of fresh air. A marvelous place to take a walk and enjoy great views with hip restaurants, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, Sausalito quickly became the best part of our trip. That was till the next day when we visited Monterey.
So one of my friends wanted to take a drive to check out this bridge from the show Big Little Lies – the Bixby Creek bridge. We rented an car and started in the morning. While it took longer than expected because of traffic (4 hours instead of 2), we were quite happy with the last stretch of the drive as it was flanked by scenic views of fog-clad hills and pristine beaches. After a mandatory photo shoot at the bridge, we decided to stop by a trail on the way back. And that’s where we all found our favorite part of the trip.
The trail on Garrapata state park is straight out of a romantic song in a Bollywood movie. It’s surrounded by green landscapes and flowers, clean, quiet beaches, hills kissing the clouds and an X-factor I cannot even begin to describe. No matter which direction I turned in, there was a magnificent view sweeping me off the floor. We walked around for a while, then found a spot and sat quietly just to take it all in. We didn’t want to leave but realized that no amount of time there would be enough. So, after another walk through the trail, we headed back to the urban hoopla of downtown SFO.
Our last day in San Francisco was all about street walks and shopping. My friends then left for Dallas while I visited some other friends in Pleasanton and Sunnyvale. It was great to see high school buddies who are now parents to adorable kids. I took the flight back from San Jose to Burbank with a full heart and a wide smile.
Racism and Indians in the United States – What’s Our Role?
I take a lot of pride in the friends I choose. I have always striven to surround myself with exceptional people I can look up to, have meaningful conversations with, and count on for guidance. Most of these people, as one might expect, are writers and artists. On an emotional farewell evening full of scintillating conversations with some people I love, one of the many gifts I received was the courage to post this.
When I watched the video of George Floyd’s ruthless murder, I was shocked and terrified. I have immense respect for police officials. I come from Mumbai where the police, simply put, is extraordinary. Mumbai is considered to be one of the safest cities in India, all thanks to the Mumbai Police. All my life, I have known cops to be exceptional, hard-working individuals who put country and duty ahead of race, religion, or even self and family. Add to it their uncanny sense of humour (just follow the Mumbai Police Twitter account) and what you have is an adorable force that always has your back. So, when I saw that a police officer could do something so horrifying, it was heartbreaking. However, what was worse and made me feel like a petty human being was the immediate next thought – “What do I care? It’s not my place to say anything. I don’t have any role to play in this Black vs White fight. Here I am trying to find a job in this foreign country where I do not belong. Let me just shut up and not post anything that might bother someone.”
I also believed that social media was an ineffective medium for any real change. In my opinion, it appeals to your short attention span (growing shorter by the day) and gives you the illusion of having played your part by simply posting a picture or a comment from the comfort of your home. You are followed by people who mostly think the same as you do, and already have the same beliefs as yours. So, there isn’t much opportunity to change minds of people who think differently. Your drive is limited by the satisfaction you get when someone validates your post. What I was missing, and what my friends rightly pointed out to me yesterday, was that it creates a ripple. It informs you, and gets you started, and what you do after that is up to you. And this was true in my own case. I have been reading posts by people I respect and therefore, follow. Just in the last two weeks, I have read more about racism than I have in my entire life.
Once I read a few articles, I started introspecting my own behaviour and prejudices. I come from a country of fairness creams. Women are expected to be “fair” to find a good boyfriend or husband. While most of the strong women I know in Mumbai are brilliantly destroying this stereotype, I am not so sure about the whole country – especially the men. Some metropolitan men may speak out against skin-color bias but I am not certain that they have rejected it organically. Look at Bollywood and you’ll see that the lead actors (male and female) are expected to be fair-skinned, if you want the movie to be a countrywide commercial success. The description for uptown men and women when you get casting requirements is often – tall, “fair”, well-groomed. I, a dark-skinned man, have had my own share of failed attempts to try various creams and diets to lighten the color of my skin. When I appeared in the movie ‘2 states’, one of the comments I got on my Twitter account was – “But you are very dark.”
In the non-Bollywood world, we Indians have our own lingo of offensive words to describe people based on their skin color – we refer to white people as “firangi” or “goras”, black people as “kallus”, Chinese people as “chinkis”. And it is not just a way of speaking. These words come with their own respective perceptions. I do not know where this bias comes from (perhaps the British rule – need to read more about this) but it’s clearly, undeniably there. Hand to God, in one of my conversations about racism with a friend a few years ago, he casually (in his honest opinion) expressed that “white is just the better looking skin color”. Even amongst close friends, it is quite common to make fun of dark-skinned boys and girls, men and women by calling them “black” or “andhera” (darkness) or “dambar” (black tar). The fact that it is meant to be funny or offensive, or the recipient takes offense when someone says this is part of the problem.
This bias, then translates to our behaviour with people in the United States. We have always been fascinated with the west. We ape almost everything the west does. So, if the west is racist, we inadvertently end up fueling our already existing biases. We mask it well, of course. We are well-behaved and nice to everyone but that’s not because we are not racists. It’s because we don’t want to bother anyone and mind our own business. In inner circles, we still ignorantly refer to black people as “kallus” and the Chinese as “chinkis”. So what role do I, an Indian student in the United States, play in this fight against racism? It’s the same as the role white people play. I am integrated in this society that needs change. Like everyone else, I need to be educated, informed, transformed. And if everything else I have mentioned above is not a good enough reason, here’s one –
Ask me today, in 2020, to imagine my dream woman and probably the first attribute that’ll come to my mind is that she is “fair-skinned”. May be in the past my ancestors were victims of racism but as of today, I have become a perpetrator.
Dallas Diaries Video For My Folks
I am studying Information Technology and Management in The University of Texas at Dallas since August 2018. After spending 18 months in Dallas, I returned to Mumbai this December for a short winter break. I wanted to do my best to give my parents and my grandmother a glimpse of my life in at the university. This was difficult as I do not click a lot of pictures. I had, however, captured some videos every now and then. So, I put them together in this video just so that I can give my folks a sneak peek into life in and around Richardson.
My First Easter Egg Hunt
The earliest memory (and perception) I have of Easter is the song “My name is Anthony Gonsalves” from the 1975 movie Amar Akbar Anthony. In the song, Amitabh Bachchan emerges out of an Easter Egg to break into a Bollywood number about how he is looking for a suitable woman to marry. So, when Dylan and Alli mentioned to me that Opa will be hosting an Easter Egg hunt, I thought it would be something similar – trying to look for Opa in a huge Easter egg! That was not the case, as I discovered later.
After spending a heartwarming Christmas eve with the Johnsons in December 2018, I had a few opportunities to hang out with the Johnsons in the months that followed. I was really touched when Omi and Opa made it to my play A Mirror through You and told me that they loved it. So, when Alli invited me to spend Easter 2019 with the family, I was obviously quite excited.
The day started with a wonderful service at the Watermark church characterized by mesmerizing lighting, scintillating music, and a gathering of beautiful believers who raised their hands and sang in joy and celebration throughout the morning. This was followed by some hot coffee and breakfast at Starbucks where we bid goodbye to our friend Madison. We made it to Omi and Opa’s place right in time for lunch. As usual, Omi had worked hard to prepare a delicious meal for the whole family. It was soothing to see her calm face and welcoming smile once again as she greeted us when we entered. Opa, as usual, made everyone feel at home from the moment we entered with his sense of humour. For one of the jokes he made later, Omi burst out laughing saying “You don’t come up with many good ones but that one was really good!”. I must say – Opa’s one liners always stay with me long after I leave them 🙂
Soon, we were joined by the rest of the family – DJ, Vicki, Spencer, Heidi, John, Aiden, Liam and their soccer-playing British friends Luke and Matthew. We sat at the dining table – a group of people all very grateful to be there – enjoying Omi’s delicious meal and Opa’s pleasant company with some wine, bread, meat, dessert and anecdotes from around the world. Matthew spoke about traveling across England, Aiden (the valedictorian) spoke about his upcoming Air Force days and Opa narrated the incident when he went train-hopping and met a guy named “Hoppy”. With our bellied full and hearts content, we moved on to the most exciting part of the day – the Easter Egg hunt.
Opa asked 9 of us to wait in his office while the others hid the Easter eggs all around the house and the front yard. He then explained the very interesting set of rules that revolved around each one finding 10 eggs as soon as possible. It was clear that Opa had put a lot of thought and effort in planning this egg hunt. As soon as he said GO, young Liam and soccer-player Matthew just sprinted across the house to be the first ones to find their 10 eggs. As I had expected, I finished last. In fat, I was only able to find 3 eggs by myself. The remaining 7 were found by the whole team working together. This was bound to happen since all the easy ones were already taken and it was only the difficult spots were left to be explored. I will always remember how everyone from Heidi and John to DJ and Brandon and Spencer and Omi and Opa were going all around the house and giving me hints to help me finish the egg hunt. That’s when it really felt like a “HUNT”.
Finally, we found all the eggs and it was time to open them up. We gathered in the living room and sat around in a circle with each one taking turns to open up their 10 Easter eggs. It was exciting to see what each egg held – sometimes it was a few pennies, sometimes it was dollar bills and sometimes it was a special coin that gave you the power to pick one of the bigger eggs near the fireplace which will hold a bigger prize. The most hilarious thing was that by the end of it all – I, the last one to finish the egg hunt, ended up winning with the most amount of money 😀
After that dramatic turn of events, we all had some dessert and coffee and started a game of Blackjack. I was the bank, Opa was the dealer and Matthew, Liam, Brandon were the ones trying their luck. This game had its moments too with everyone losing out a couple of dollars to eventually making it all back by the end of the day.
As the afternoon came to an end, it was time to say goodbye but not before we clicked some happy photos. Everyone gathered in the front yard and posed with their winnings. I clicked some pictures of Alli and Dylan, who looked absolutely adorable and well co-ordinated with the pink dress and pocket square.
And once again, as I left Omi and Opa’s house after hugging everyone, my heart was filled with so much joy, warmth and gratitude for the opportunity to meet these marvelous people in a new, unknown country. I told Dylan that I would never have imagined that I’ll be welcomed into a family like this, that I would be spending Easter or Christmas with them, that I would sit at a table and laugh and dine with them, experience their way of life and hear their stories while I share my own.
I will be forever grateful for these memorable moments spent with the loving Johnson family. I know that they have a special place in my heart now and I will always wish them the best. As Opa says – this is my American family 🙂
Singapore-Thailand Trip Throwback: Oppan Gangnam Style
We never forget our first international trip! Mine was when I visited Singapore and Thailand and it was special for so many reasons.
First, I met the coolest bunch of travel writers and journalists on that trip. Priya, Kiran, Malavika, Nolan, Antoine, Alka, Bindu, Anjali, Anita, Akash, Swapneil, Karuna were all a delight to travel with. Primrose, the one responsible for getting us all together, joined the party a bit later and made sure the trip was one of the most memorable ones for everybody. Our guides Toon Hee and Josephine were so lovely that they made us feel at home from the moment we landed.
Second, I visited some of the most beautiful attractions of the Lion City and was blown away by the architecture, food and culture I witnessed. From the famous Universal Studios on Sentosa Island and the majestic SEA aquarium to the Gardens By The Bay and One Altitude Bar (the highest bar in the world), it all felt surreal. My persoanl favourite moment was the 3D Transformers ride at Universal.
Finally, this was also when I went on my first cruise – Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas – where everything from the room to the views to the on-board entertainment was simply top-notch. I chronicled all this in two features I wrote for India.com –
Singapore travel guide: Best places to visit and best places to eat in Singapore
Four days of sea, breeze and one Royal cruise experience!
I also shot a lot of videos in the two countries to make a farewell present for my then boss and now trusted friend, philosopher and guide Abhishek Mande. I have used the same footage to make a little dance video that captures the fun times I had on that trip. Here’s what happens when Singapore-Thailand meets Gangnam!
My New Orleans Memories in a Funky Dance Video
So I spent my Spring 2019 break on a trip that has been the best so far in this country! It all started with New Orleans where I met some wonderful people, visited some marvelous hotspots and ate some delicious food. It is all captured in this fun video which is my attempt to preserve the memories and say thank you to the amazing friends I made. Enjoy!