~ Life in North Springs ~
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So finally I have manged to shrug off the infamous jet lag with long sleeps over the weekend. Our area is known as North Springs in Atlanta, US. Every place around the neighborhood actually has very beautiful names like - Sandy Springs, Brooke Ridge,Cedar Chase, Meadowlake etc. The names are well suited because the entire area seems to be covered in a quilt of greenery. Dense thick trees on either side of the road dotted by the occasional peach, red,white and purple blossoms form the usual avenues around the communities. Its a very laid back place. people are very scarce on the road apart form the office area. Most of the time you will see people jogging along the narrow sidewalks lining the dense tree trail beside.
However tired I am I cant sleep beyond 10 am in the morning.It was Sunday morning, Manjry (our third roommate) was also up by then. The day was a bit overcast, making the greenery look a shade deeper and more alluring. We were having our morning coffee together when Manjry suggested we go for a drive. Sunitha was still sleeping hence both of us went out. Manjry drove around what is supposed to be the backside of our community. It was the best driveway around. Here nature was even more bountiful. The norther side of Atlanta is inhabited by wealthy people. So the drive we followed had only palatial penthouses with mind blowing Victorian architecture, stunning driveways and elegant lawns,fences and flowerbeds. The houses were almost covered from the public view by large trees. Almost it looks like the fairytale houses which are built inside forests. I was absorbing all these with a childlike yonder while asking Manjry about this and that. The roads which went in a sinusoidal curve were providing extra thrills.
As soon as we entered our apartment, it started to rain. On Friday night also we had a bout of thunder shower. We lamented for it not raining while we were out. We enjoyed the shower from our quaint wooden patio with tea and cookies.
Here in Atlanta the daylight is for quite long, from 6.30 am to 9 pm. So its very hard to know the time by looking outside and most of the time due to that we end up having dinner by 11 pm.Yesterday I prepared my first dish in Atlanta - a yummy egg curry and rice. Since Manjry is a vegetarian, so me and Sunitha enjoyed it.
The jet lag was still there hence we decided not to venture out for sightseeing this weekend. Although we surfed the net and zeroed in on some places which we will be visiting like the coke factory, ruby falls etc. Post lunch I wasn't in a mood to sleep unlike Sunitha, who dozed off the moment lunch was over. So me and Manjry sat watching a Hindi movie - 'Aage se right' on Netflix. The movie was not very great but we had a great time laughing together and watching a hindi movie in US. Let me tell you here that on Friday night we had gone to watch 'Inception' in theater. Even after the rains, it was a houseful for the 10.20 pm show. Here in US you don't have seat number, so its always first come first serve situation. We got late and ended up watching the movie from the second row from the screen. Also I was damn tired that day, because we also had to attend the welcome party thrown in our honor by the office teammates just before the movie. So my first Theater experience in the US was not really memorable. In fact I was so tired that I had dozed off in between somewhere. Need to watch the movie again!
Later in the evening we went to the Bank of America ATM to transfer cash from our traveler's card to the BoA account. It was such a simple process. We had to just withdraw the amount from the traveler's card and the ATM had a flap wherein we had to put the money, then it would count and automatically deposit in the Bank of America account. No hassle of standing at the counter or filling forms. We went to the Walmart next, had to get our daily supplies. Walmart is almost like a big-bazar over in India, just much bigger in size. We got ourselves all the food items we could. Here usually food items wont get spoiled fast, so its safe even to buy in bulk.
We had a long day hence were in no mood to cook dinner. Manjry called her friends and all of us together went to an Indian restaurant 'Swapna' for binging. The chicken biryani was too yum, in fact the best I have tasted in a restaurant ever!We also had mango lassi, it tasted more like a mango shake, but we were least concerned about it.We observed that there was an equal number of Americans and Indians at the restaurant.Here the restaurants offer so much food in one serving its hard to finish by one person. Also free starters are there which is enough to fill you before you start the main course.
We came back home well fed and happy. The first weekend thus ended with a mixture of experiences. As I slipped into the comforts of the warm bed at night, the words of Robert Frost reverberated in my mind - "Miles to go before I sleep..."
So finally I have manged to shrug off the infamous jet lag with long sleeps over the weekend. Our area is known as North Springs in Atlanta, US. Every place around the neighborhood actually has very beautiful names like - Sandy Springs, Brooke Ridge,Cedar Chase, Meadowlake etc. The names are well suited because the entire area seems to be covered in a quilt of greenery. Dense thick trees on either side of the road dotted by the occasional peach, red,white and purple blossoms form the usual avenues around the communities. Its a very laid back place. people are very scarce on the road apart form the office area. Most of the time you will see people jogging along the narrow sidewalks lining the dense tree trail beside.
However tired I am I cant sleep beyond 10 am in the morning.It was Sunday morning, Manjry (our third roommate) was also up by then. The day was a bit overcast, making the greenery look a shade deeper and more alluring. We were having our morning coffee together when Manjry suggested we go for a drive. Sunitha was still sleeping hence both of us went out. Manjry drove around what is supposed to be the backside of our community. It was the best driveway around. Here nature was even more bountiful. The norther side of Atlanta is inhabited by wealthy people. So the drive we followed had only palatial penthouses with mind blowing Victorian architecture, stunning driveways and elegant lawns,fences and flowerbeds. The houses were almost covered from the public view by large trees. Almost it looks like the fairytale houses which are built inside forests. I was absorbing all these with a childlike yonder while asking Manjry about this and that. The roads which went in a sinusoidal curve were providing extra thrills.
As soon as we entered our apartment, it started to rain. On Friday night also we had a bout of thunder shower. We lamented for it not raining while we were out. We enjoyed the shower from our quaint wooden patio with tea and cookies.
Here in Atlanta the daylight is for quite long, from 6.30 am to 9 pm. So its very hard to know the time by looking outside and most of the time due to that we end up having dinner by 11 pm.Yesterday I prepared my first dish in Atlanta - a yummy egg curry and rice. Since Manjry is a vegetarian, so me and Sunitha enjoyed it.
The jet lag was still there hence we decided not to venture out for sightseeing this weekend. Although we surfed the net and zeroed in on some places which we will be visiting like the coke factory, ruby falls etc. Post lunch I wasn't in a mood to sleep unlike Sunitha, who dozed off the moment lunch was over. So me and Manjry sat watching a Hindi movie - 'Aage se right' on Netflix. The movie was not very great but we had a great time laughing together and watching a hindi movie in US. Let me tell you here that on Friday night we had gone to watch 'Inception' in theater. Even after the rains, it was a houseful for the 10.20 pm show. Here in US you don't have seat number, so its always first come first serve situation. We got late and ended up watching the movie from the second row from the screen. Also I was damn tired that day, because we also had to attend the welcome party thrown in our honor by the office teammates just before the movie. So my first Theater experience in the US was not really memorable. In fact I was so tired that I had dozed off in between somewhere. Need to watch the movie again!
Later in the evening we went to the Bank of America ATM to transfer cash from our traveler's card to the BoA account. It was such a simple process. We had to just withdraw the amount from the traveler's card and the ATM had a flap wherein we had to put the money, then it would count and automatically deposit in the Bank of America account. No hassle of standing at the counter or filling forms. We went to the Walmart next, had to get our daily supplies. Walmart is almost like a big-bazar over in India, just much bigger in size. We got ourselves all the food items we could. Here usually food items wont get spoiled fast, so its safe even to buy in bulk.
We had a long day hence were in no mood to cook dinner. Manjry called her friends and all of us together went to an Indian restaurant 'Swapna' for binging. The chicken biryani was too yum, in fact the best I have tasted in a restaurant ever!We also had mango lassi, it tasted more like a mango shake, but we were least concerned about it.We observed that there was an equal number of Americans and Indians at the restaurant.Here the restaurants offer so much food in one serving its hard to finish by one person. Also free starters are there which is enough to fill you before you start the main course.
We came back home well fed and happy. The first weekend thus ended with a mixture of experiences. As I slipped into the comforts of the warm bed at night, the words of Robert Frost reverberated in my mind - "Miles to go before I sleep..."
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