Summer in Seattle - Part 4

This update will include 2 weekends that were both highly entertaining though completely different.

August 15-16: I decided, from word from a few people from work and roomates, to go to Hempfest (no I do not, have not, and do not plan to smoke). It's a rally to legalize weed that takes up a huge portion of the waterfront next to downtown; it includes hundreds of performers from bands to comics to inspirational speakers. It was pretty interesting in general. The first day I went with a roomate, Brad, his friend and his friend's girlfried. The other guys decided to drink before and the girl was a general downer so I didn't really interact with her. I drove Brad's friends car down there and talked alot with my roomate. He finished writing a book and is working on a second and really likes to talk, especially when tipsy. So we talked about everything from politics to religion to the fallicous natures of each. Because none of us smoked we just walked through the area continuously. I hear there were easliy 120,000 people there. So it was a bit crowded but we easliy walked 4-5 miles just talking and looking. btw, they have the coolest bongs/pipes that I wanted to buy just to put up as artwork. I wanted a souvenior so I decided to buy a shirt. I'm not sure how that'll work out if I try to wear it around LA, but I guess I'll find out.

Almost forgot, that night the girls next door had a party for some birthday. We played some pong before, which I won, went over. Met a bunch of new people, who were all surprisingly nice. Played some more pong, which I won. Did my first kegstand. Helped Brad climb a ladder to get to his own window (he friends girlfriend locked him out of his own room) to try to get his friend out and party. Unsucessful, no injuries, just didn't get him out.

On the second day, Brad asked if I wanted to go at around noon because he had other friends around that hadn't gone. I said sure, I had nothing better to do. These friends, 3 girls and another guy, all smoked. So we did a lot more sitting. Which was nice as well because I got to relax on the waterfront and get some good pictures. Anways, everything was the same and we walked the same distance too cause we got a ride back with them and they forgot how to get to the car they parked, surprising?

August 22-23: I've been looking forward to this weekend for a while (where pic is from). The drive was only 2 1/2 hours and Drew picked me up at around noon. I had cooked some spicy turkey speghetti for the drive which worked well for the long border passing wait. We got to our hotel and walked around Granville street and Robson street for some time and walked over to Stanley Park. The place was massive, we took a tram ride around it, 45 minutes! Its really cool to see all the people running/biking/walking around. I really like the atmostphere where everyone loves to be outside and just do random things. Vancouver is really good for...really anyone. They have a lot to do and lots to enjoy, although the beaches are kind of dissapointing, but thats okay. We then got dinner at a sushi place. For $12 a head the meal was really really good and pretty darn filling. We then picked up some mugs for memory and for use, we got an immediate return out of it. We then consumed some liquid courage and discovered an amazing game, flip card. Ask me, I'll teach you. We then went out to the clubs. We had talked to a few of the bouncers while they were setting up (lesson learned, always do this) and got some info out of em. So we went to the place that had a sampler set up, got in for free and got our sampler then headed out. We then went to a swankier club, waited in line, and got it. The place was pretty cool and pretty crowded. Loud good music, I was happy. We then ended the night with some pizza, worked out well.

The next day we woke up at 10 or so and walked down to the beach. On the way we picked up some breakfast crepes which worked out pretty well. It was cooler that day and the beaches were not crowded but I did see their outdoor heated pool. It was nice and quiant with a capacity of 2,894 people! friggin massive! We then headed back for home/Seattle.

All in all, Vancouver was an amazing time. The theme of the weekend seemed to be, it worked out. We got one of the last trams at Stanley Park, found that cheap sushi place, thought we missed the freeway but found it. And we made a vital discovery for all of you US natives driving in Vancouver. The flashing green light means left turn is allowed at that time at that intersection. It took us 26 hours to figure it out, but after many hours of confused civil engineering concentrating on an issue, we figured it out. Also, I trust this is my introduction to club life, drinking age in Vancouver is 19 so the clubs are open to 19+ year olds. So come November I hope to be hitting up the famous clubs in hollywood/suset area. And more pictures are available on facebook, I will upload them now.

Summer in Seattle - Part 3

So these next posts will go by a lot quicker, I'll just be going through what I've been doing on the weekends.

July 24-26. On friday night I met Julieanne (one of Susi's friends that I met in downtown on the July 4th party) and we went to hookah. The place was kinda pricey and had a bunch of black people (rare, because I expected at least like 2 or 3 middle easterners). And they kept playing infomercials instead of the usual music videos. But it was a good time. We ended up missing the 1:20 am bus so we walked around, found a rock concert that was ending, and finally found a bus stop and took the 2:20 am bus. The next morning we went to Elie's place (went to her place for the July 4th party) and had a pool party/BBQ. One of the guys, he was in the military and based around here, loved cooking and BBQing. So he prepped pounds of chicked, pork, beef - the chicken was amazing! We hung out and played in the pool/jaquzzi for a few hours and watched the SeaFair parade as it was passing by. Then I luckily got a ride home from Reza, not my TA, he alse works for Microsoft. The next day I just did some laundry and relaxed, recovering/relaxing from the weekend.

August 1-2. That Saturday I met Julieanne (I'm so happy I found someone to explore Seattle with. Unlike Chicago, where I was unfortunately not able to find someone to just go out and visit the sights. Having someone to go around with makes life so much easier) and we went to Pike Place market. It was my first time there and it reminded me a lot of San Fran's Fisherman's Wharf. The cool thing was that it is actually a lot bigger than it looks and at one point it goes down 4 stories deep. I got my souvenier shot glass there! Oh, and I saw Starbucks FIRST store there. Then we went on to see the rest of downtown, we ended up at the Library. Reminiscient of Cerritos Library, except 10 floors tall and amazingly massive. I don't have a pic of it, but being inside made it look pretty epic. We then ended up at the pier and just overlooked the water for some time, bunch of boats going by with the other side of Seattle across the way, also a bunch of really wierd people walked by - I swear the definition of Seattle, just wierd. We then got lunch at a sushi place, which I expected more out of since it was Seattle and they fish so much.

But we then met DREW at EMP/SFM (Experiance Music Project/ Science Fiction Musueam). This place was really cool. There was a Jimi Hendrix exhibit and a Jim Henson (the guy that did the Muppets) exhibit. Henson was a genious, and I didn't realize it until I saw that. But there were also things about music from the northwest, like Hendrix, Quincy Jones, and a lot of contemporary stuff. We spent at least 3 or 4 hours there, which was great cause we got in for free (work gave me 4 free passes) and got the ipod tours for free too (also from work). After that we got some Mexican food in Udistrict and Drew went back home. Julieanne and myself went back to my place, played some pong with the roomates, and rented Amelie (the parts I was awake for were good).

That Sunday (yea, Saturday was long) Julieanne took a direct bus back to Issaquah and Drew called to see if I wanted to go sailing. Of course I said yes. We decided to take out an FJ (a two person boat) but he had never tried it. So with the directions he go online we took some time to rig it. Then we had to capsize it in from of the dockmaster so we could show that we could right it ourselves. Unfortunately I lost my sunglasses at this point, but it was a lot of fun.

August 8-10. On Saturday I went to the Soils Classification Class offered by work. It was 8 hours on a Saturday, but it was just amazing. I learned so much (got a really useful booklet with everything a new geotech needs) and got to interact with some really expeianced geologists. That was actually the conclusion of a 58 hour week. Once I got home I didn't do anything really and just kicked back.

On Sunday, I met up with Susi, Nina, and Erica (the german, fin, and swede) and we went to a concert at local gasworks park. It was an old refinery that they decided not to take apart completely because it would be cheaper and look cool. It was a surprisingly hot day, too hot to wear jeans like I did, but the performance we saw from a soloist Aussie was pretty cool. She had a really good voice, but the girls were bored/hot so we left. To cool off we decided to see the Hangover, myself and Nina hadn't seen it. Yea yea, I JUST saw the Hangover. It was epic, so amazing, I need to see it again (and I haven't said that since Remember the Titans). Then we hung out at my place until we decided on dinner. After an hour we still had not consensus. We checked out Thai Tom's but the line was too long so we ended up going to Pam's Kitchen - Trinidad-Caribean cuisine expecting Carribean cuisine. We walk in and see 3 indian waiters and look at the menu...naan, curry, yogurt, aloo...yea Pam was an Indian who lived in Trinidad for some time. They ended up with indian food with Carribean spices. It was really good, kinda pricey, $12, but was easily 2 meals, my favorite kind. Then the girls left and I tried resting some before the next week.

At this point I had been going into the field for a week (and will continue to do so until I finish up here). Now, I get to see everything that goes on at a construction site (where this pic is from). Even though my job is not very difficult, I push a metal rod into the ground and see how far it goes, it gets hard when something goes wrong. I learned, contractors are your friends until something goes wrong. I have to tell these guys (who have been working these jobs for over 20 years) that they did somehting wrong and need to re-excavate and re-compact to get the proper ground stability. They really try to cheat you our of your job and tell you false information sometimes. I asked one if I had probed a trench, that he was in, yesterday and he said yes. I checked my log and saw soemthing wrong. So I asked, when did you dig this trench. He said this morning. The prick didn't want to me to probe it. Reasonable, if it wasn't to spec I have to tell them and they have to move some huge machinery into place to compact it. Overall, a great learning experiance though.

Oh yea, on that Monday Drew called again to see if I wanted to go sailing, this time it was a race. It was really laxed but a good experiance, except for the lack of wind, the cold, and the rain. haha, but we learned a lot, the people out there are really nice and had a lot of advice.

Today, I'm planning on going to the Hempfest concert (no, I don't smoke), I heard it is a great people watching experiance and wanted to see a little more of Seattle. I'll update you about this next week.

Summer in Seattle - Part 2

There are a few other general topics I wanted to talk about...but I forgot them by the time I got back to this. When they come up I'll write it up. Until then here is how the rest of my freetime went:

Week 3- July 9th (thursday night) I flew out to North Carolina for my aunt/uncle as well as parents 25th anniversary celebration and my cousin's (Anusha, 16) arengatrum- dance graduation. I'll give you a quick run through of what happened. Firstly, great time overall, without a doubt one of the best times of the year...on par with the cruise with the Yerra's in 06. I got in about 1/2 hour before my family landed at the airport and met Murali babaya there. We went to his house for about and hour and then took the 5 hour drive to the boonies, Roanoke Rapids. When we got there we saw so many cousins and aunts and uncles. The mehendi night/lunch/dinner was amazing. I met a bunch of people from Long Island, they were kind of wierd but interesting none-the-less. That night we spent the night at the hotel, first time I've stayed at a hotel while in a city with family. I know it was necessary for accomadations, but it was definatly kind of wierd at first. Either way, on saturday morning we had the renewal of the vows, a mini-wedding, and a lot of spicy indian food for breakfast. From there we fit 6 people in a carolla to get to chick-fila and wal-mart. Somehow that was the first time Poonam akka, somewhere in her early 30's, went into a wal-mart. That night we had the reception which was a lot of fun (where the picture is from. Included are 12 of 13 cousins on the Atyam side). In usual Atyam fashion we danced until the hall closed, only 1 am this time but I think it was impressive enough for not being a real wedding. The set-up was beautiful topped off with an ice sculpture and a tree of strawberries. Me and Deepak had a little speech/slide show for my parents to celebrate their anniversary which was this February.

The next week was just kind of a jumble of things we did, I don't rmr when we did what. We played Bocchie ball for the first time, which was surprisingly fun. We watched Harry Potter at the midnight show, which was horrible because apparently people from small cities have no sense of common curtesy and won't shut up and because the air conditioner was broken and constantly clanging and making noise. One of the really really good days was Thursday when about 13 family members went to the National White water Training Center. We went white water rafting (class 3/4), zip lining (1/4 mile long), rock climbing, some went kayaking, and we all hung out in the sun. I was very surprised to see all the parents go zip lining, especially my parents and the adults from India. I'm really proud of them for being able to overcome their fears and go have fun like that. Our white water raft was awesome too, the guide was great, but I almost fell out twice, both times trying to make sure Navya didn't fall out. Also, the boys played soccer for a few hours outside (the girls remember this well because we chased them down and gave them all hugs).

Wednesday night we traveled to Charleotte but on the way we stopped at NC State to check out the campus, which Donovan was gracious enough to show us around. I'm pretty sure Deepak wants to go there now because their aerospace program is really strong, but the campus uses waaay too many bricks. Look it up, you'll see. Then we went to UNC- Chapel Hill. Yes, the disgusting rival of UCLA basketball. Don't worry true Bruins, there is nothing to fear. the campus reminds me a lot more of UCLA, but it is smaller and more compact. But their student center is pretty sweet, that is the only pro I could see over UCLA. Still, I would rather be a Bruin Basketball fanatic any day over any other school. Then we finally got to Neeli's house. I already explained thursday (white water rafting) and on friday we went to the mall for a few reasons...I think. Anyways, that night we stayed and Sreya and Ro's house (my mom's best friend from college who she's kept in contact with). They have a siiiick house. They lived in Tokyo for some time and have all these cool old artifacts, in addition to a pool table, media room, sweet kitchen, they just need thicker walls. But we got all the 6 of us cousins there and played apples to apples and hung out. Saturday's preformance by Anusha was amazing. 1 1/2 hours of pure dancing and I didn't even nod off. Truely an accomplishement if you know me at all. The dinner after was also awesome, except that we were told to help serve as we expected to. But when we got there all the adults thought we were useless and relegated us to useless tasks. These adults didn't understand how much experiance we had in the field and that we did not feel right at all to eat before serving everyone else. So we fought our way into releiving some from their duties. then we ate and then took some hundred picutures right outside with any combination of cousin/new friends we could make.

That night stayed up late, real late, slept for 45 minutes then Neeli and Sneha woke up to give me a ride to the airport. too bad when I got into the terminal I realized I didn't have my cell phone (in the car), my charger (finally ended up in deepak's bag), or my toilletries (at Sreya's house). I got home safe, took 2 hours to get to my house by bus in Seattle, but it was fine. The ensuing week without a cell phone was actually quite releiveing. It felt really good not to be tied down and obligated to respond immediately to phone calls and communication. The only downside was trying to make plans of facebook.

...And I'm done for the night. after a 58 hour work week I'm going to sleep in tonight. I'll catch up more later. gnight

Summer in Seattle - Part 1

I created this to make sure I don't forget what I've done so far in Seattle and the Summer of 09 in general.

The backset is a strict daily weekday routine. Work (usually 10 hours a day), bus both ways - Seattle has an amazing bus system, 2 buses will take you anywhere around Seattle and they run so often-, gym at the really local YMCA, cook for the night and lunch the next day, and then study for the GRE/slack off and talk online and read my book.

In terms of books, I finished Gang Leader for a Day really quickly. Good book, and worthwhile read if you like/are around the Chicago area. And now, I am almost done with Colin Harrison's The Finder. Interesting, kinda slow at first, but now its getting real enticing to finish it up as quickly as I can. I had to force it down so that I could write this.

Where to start? hmmm... well the house I'm staying at is a 9 bedroom house that seems to be specifically made for college students. Not very clean, surprisingly spacious (enough for a ping pong table in the little lounge outside my room, and generally empty. I guess its the archtypal college housing, I'm just not used to it because my apartment back in LA is definately more home-ly, organized and cleaner, the way I like it. But back in Seattle...its less than a mile to UWashinton campus, about 1/2 mile to University Ave, which I may dare say is better than Westwood, and a 20 bus ride to work. Also, funny thing, I live literally a rock tosses distance to the 5, yup, the same 5 freeway that streches through Cerritos. The kitchen is not oft used, I definetly use it 3-4 times more often than everyone combined. Again the prototypical college students that eat out and eat canned/frozen food all the time. At least I got to experiment with my cooking skills and I must say that they have improved/expanded a bit - Deepak would be proud.

Next, work. I really love work and I don't mind staying there 10 hours a day. So far I've literally just been playing with dirt for the whole day. Meaning, I'm in the lab running tests on them. It's hard to beleive almost 5 weeks of the same 6-7 kinds of test can still be entertaing. I attribute it to my co-workers. While the set-up is constantly changing, there is currently 1 other intern plus 3 full time guys. The other intern is awesome, he's a crazy mormon (doesn't remind me of Reed at all). He doesn't drink or party much, but he has the most interesting life. He fixes cars (really nicely) and sells them for a decent profit, has worked as a yacht/sailboat driver person, drives everywhere (seattle to LA for the heck of it like 3 times, only 14 hours), and generally lives and entertaining life. You can see I'm kind of jealous, also his girlfriend is Russian and he's going to Russia to hang out and see Russia, lucky punk. The 3 co-workers are really entertaining. They're all quirky and love different types of music. The best part of the lab might be that we get to blast music all the time, its awesome. They are all really young and are definately going places. It seems like the lab is where all the big shots start out. The current president for ALL Shannon and Wilson's came out of the lab, as well as a couple of the VP's, and the 3 people who have been with the company for the longest period of time. Also couple of really cool things. First, Neil Kirkland, works in the lab, is the drummer for Leon Hendrix (little bro of Jimi). And, Neil showed me the original copy of the research report written by Mr. Wilson and Mr. Casagrande (one of the founding fathers of the current geotech profession) on creating the triaxial test. Pretty damn amazing.

In addition, I went with one of my co-workers, another intern, to meet the Udub geotech professors. Dana, co-worker/masters student, was nice enough to introduce me to them and have all of us sit down and talk about geotech and admissions. I met Professor Arduino and Professor Kramer (who I also saw at his talk at the Queen Mary and the annual CalGeo conference). They told me to say wassup to the professors back at LA. I am always so surprised at how well connected they are with each other. They also told me other good places to apply which I thought was very polite of them. People in this profession always seem to be helping others and they never seem greedy or horde talent/skill for themselves. They are never full of themselves and are very humble, even the famous ones, I usually just gawk in awe.

Now, the entertaining part. I can't go into full detail about my weekends for a couple of reasons, but mainly because it will take too long and I still need to get up for work tomarrow morning.

Weekend 1- flew in, got picked up by roomates (that was really nice of 'em). They had a small party that night, at which I learned a lot about them and seemingly seattle people in general. Let's just say Nelly Furtado had a song...started with a P...that describes them well. I wanted to go around sunday but i just went grocery shopping and got prepped for work.

Weekend 2- went to Ramkrishna mamma's house. Met Neil (brave/couragous/outgoing 3? year old) and Chirag (who is an amazingly gifted artist without a doubt, esp at the age of 8). Ramkrishna mamma and Chitra atha are doing well, in a really nice house in a quiant suburb in Issaquah. there I met their aupair (wikipedia the program). She is german and 20 years old. I was really lucky to find someone my age to hang out with. I stayed there friday night (july 3rd/day off where I worked half day and took 2 buses from work). Saturday I went home and went to downtown because the aupair, Susi, invited me to a 4th of july party there. It was a very gracious offer, especially for me who knows NO ONE here, so I accepted and showed up. There I met more aupairs, another german, one finnish and one swedish (all girls) and met probobly 4 people that work for Microsoft. As stereotypical Seattle and Microsoft is, it is so true, everyone works for them. Everyone there was very nice/really cool. And i got a ride home that night, didn't have to wait for the morning and a bus ride. And, if I remember right that Sunday Drew (genious ucla grad, CIVIL's BABY!) called me up to go sailing. We ate at Thai Tom's, sooooo good, and then went sailing at a place he knew. That was by far the most outdoors fun I've had in a good long while. Good foundation of a weekend to start up on.

that's all I can write in one night. I still have plenty to write about and I should have it up soon. But until then I'm looking forward to my first field oversight project tomarrow and more cooking!

Have a good one,

Day 9 - Hyderbad

(Sorry nanna, I had to make this the main picture). On this day the family was reunited. Nanna met us at the train station that morning in Hyderbad and arrived just 30 minutes after us after his trip to Tirupati. As unlce and I went to look for him I walked right past him and did not recognize him, but uncle did, after 14 years. And to your right is the reason why I could not recognize him (many people after going to Tirupati shave their heads as a sacrifice to something better to happen). Then we got to Sununda pinni's house (mom's younger sister) where Sujuna atha was also there (mom's older sister). They definatley look like triplets, I'll put that picture up for the next day. That morning, Deepak was still sick and Amma was recovering. So Deepak, along with Pranathi who was also sick, lay in bed while I got aquainted with Prathik, the 17 year old son of Suparna pinni, and Sandeep anna, Sujuna atha's younger son. After a little while we had a traditional Indian lunch and then got accustomed to the power cuts that are going on all around India. The heat was stifileing and in the second story apartment was low on ventilation because of other equally high buildings next to it. I think that night my mom and Sunanda pinni went shopping, expected, while we rented a movie -Jaane Tu- which I thought was really good even though it was cheap quality and we were routinely interrupted by the adults. One of those inturruptions was because me and my Dad had a little arguement on what to do with the lost medicine. That morning when Prathik was carrying my duffel bag out of the train station he turned around to me and said he felt something fall out, but we didn't see anytihng on the ground. What we think happened was that someone stole the bag hanging on one end and got away with all of our mediction, specifially our malaria medicine. That night ended pretty quitely and we rolled our the sheets and had I think 8 of us sleep in the Living room, just like the good 'ol days with all family that come over.
A note that I wanted to talk about is the idea of wealth and use of service. While pinni was not significantly well off she still had a servant come in every morning to sweep, mop, do the laundry, and in general clean up. While that, in America, is reserved for the upper-echelon and the very wealthy, in India it is quite common for what would be considered middle to upper-middle class families to at least have a part time servant. They seem necessary when in India but all their chores are done by the family here. So I feel that in America the family works a little harder to compensate for the lack of help for a little extra pay. I am not trying to critisize Indian's in their actions, especially because this tradition and convenience has been bred into families for generations, but I really do not beleive that it is absolutely to have a servent. I must also add that having hired a servant can be beneficial to both sides. Help for the family and an income and sure supply of food for the servant, which may be all that they are looking for anyways.

Day 8 - Kakinada

After waking up at Nagesh thatha's house we had a little breakfast. At that point I started to feel better, but amma and Deepak both went down. Amma threw up that morning and Deepak was light-headed and tired the whole day. And at a point when Nanna wasn't there - he turned out to be sick too, but luckily not to the extent as us - so we were on our own to get around town and visit everyone. After pushing ourselves through the morning we went to () thatha's house, my mom's dad's brother. There we also met MP mama, his first son, and K() Ammama. Thatha really stood out to me because of how lively he was right from when we entered until we left. I also learned that he had and still has an affliction for new technology. He has the newest camera phones, laptops, and all sorts of gadgets. After a full life of doing pretty much everthing, he now tinkers with ways to communicate with his family through better and newer technology. After getting to their home and sadly denying the peseratu that they made JUST for us because my mom told her that's what she missed most. But with all of us being sick all we had was simple bread and butter/jam. Then we were convinced to rest for some time. So after showing them our pictures we took a nap, or at least lied down to talk with Ammama. At 3 or so we finally said our goodbyes and were driven to Madivi pinni's mom's house. There we talked for about 1/2 hour and saw the house, even though under renovation. Then amma was dropped of at another one of her cousin's house while me and Deepak were taken around by thatha. He showed us everything that our family has done for and done in Kakinada. He showed us where Meena atha and Paddu Pinni were married. He showed us the building that used to be the family's house, which now stands as a monument to remember when Gandhi and Nehru visited and stayed there. Even pictures to prove it. But through this short trip Deepak started becoming dizzy again so I had to convince thatha that we needed to go and find amma. So we left a little early from the tour and we found amma and went straight to the bed to have Deepak lie down. Even though I still felt a little dizzy and I'm sure amma was not 100% we still tried for a full conversation. After a little snack we moved on to my mom's oldest cousin's house. He was much more...stiff than I expected, Babu mama (I think) was the pretty much the head of the family and everyone of the cousins look up to him in terms of advice and help. When we got there we also looked to him for help and he gave us some medication for our illnesses. Then, by this time it was pretty late, we rushed back to Nagesh thatha's house for a quick dinner and rushed off to the train station. This was our first overnight train ride, a full 10 hours.

Day 7 - Bhimvaram/Palakol/Kakinada Day

This was definately the day to prove how much we were flying around India to get to see everyone. That would mean that it would be the worst day to be sick, with long drives/train rides, its horrible to be sick. None-the-less my body decides to hate me and I go down with something, I have no idea what it was. I woke up that morning and threw up. brushed my teeth, threw up, took a quick shower, threw up. Without having anything to eat or drink, I couldn't even hold down water, we drove off to Palakol to visit more of my dad's family. On the way there I lied on my mom's shoulder, once she felt me move she told the driver to pull over, and guess what I did. Luckily that was the last time, we got to Jagan thatha's home and I finally got to lie down. And even more lucky was that Gita aama (aunt) was a doctor so I was under the care of a certified physician. That day was filled with amazing revelations about my Atyam roots though. Jagan thatha was a scholar on the Atyam linage and what we've all accomplished. The one thing I pulled away from it as the most important is that my father's grandfather was one of the first, if not the first, South Indians to go to America. After a month long trip of trains, boats, and more transportation, he arrived in New York and got a BA at NYU in 1919.
After having a surprisingly good recovery we wished my dad goodbye, he then left on train to Tirupathi (look at him in this picture and compare it to a couple of days from now). About 10 minutes after he left we went on our way to Kakinada. They were gracious enough to send a driver to take us all the way there. This part was a long drive where I was still a little nausious, so Deepak sat in front and my and ama sat in back so I could rest. After a 3-4 hour ride we got into Kakinada right after the sun went over the horizon. After getting lost in the hustle and bustle of a much more vibrant/lively/uptempo city we made a couple of calls and finally found Nagesh thata (who was about 40 with a 8 year old girl) and got to his house. After a little dinner and a decent amount of water me and Deepak went straight to sleep.

Day 6- So Much Family

We woke up nice and early this morning, got ready and headed out to Krishna Prasad mama's house - another uncle- for breakfast. Once we got there I didn't see the lavish home I expected, instead I saw a quite nicely furnished apartment, where he and his wife lived and at the time their son, Mauria, was there. We got along very well, especially because he was into the business of renewable energy in Western Europe and I am part of a Renewable Energies club on campus and have done some research. After a typical Telagu breakfast, dosa, idli, coconut chutney, and finished with a coconut dessert (diamond sweet); my brother, Mauria and I went down to the street until I finally realized where we were going. They were only staying in the apartment until their house was finished remodeling. After getting out of the heat again, we went back inside where they had lost power, which was common anything we got to anyone's house, and we said our goodbye's and went on our way. Next we visited that mama's Engineering College. He owned 9 in the state and the system was well known in the area. I went to the school with some lofty expecetations off of what they told us. I left wholly disappointed because the schools were not at all what I had come to see in American schools. They were very basic, containing no more than what was absolutley necessary. The dorms were 6-story concrete buildings with no designs, the actual school was one large concrete building. After meeting the dean of the school, and him showing us every courtesy possible because we knew the owner again, he showed us a couple of classrooms. The ones he showed us were just long rooms of long lines of computers, and thats all. It reminded me of a vertical version of Cerritos Community College, without the aesthetic qualitites of the plants outside it. Apparently, this is what was considered good in India, because the sole focus of most people there is that the education is necessary and no distractions are available. (Later I plan of going on a tirade of education in India). Also, important to note, everyone was still required to wear uniform, I haven't done that since elementary school, and even then it was more relaxed than what they had.
After that we went to Veinu thatha's house (he is actually a great grand uncle to me). When we bought the house so many years ago it was was less populated than the two neighbors he has now and the land area was pretty big. Once we got there only ammama (actually great grand aunt) was there, she offered us freshly made peanut brittle. So fresh that it was still soft and malleable. Then she put a plate of the most sour mango I have ever tasted, so sour that I couldn't eat more than one bite every 5 minutes or so, even with the salt and chili powder- which is apparently the way my mom likes it. Outside, they decided to put in many fruit plants, herbs, and even a lily pond near the entrance. The garden was immense in terms of the choice in food, from huge jackfruits to guavas to basil on the side. After leaving their house we went straight to her son's house near the coast.
Narsimha thatha (actually grand-uncle but is only 42 or so) had a very nice house, 3 stories that had a view off the balcony as shown in the picture. The house was custom built and was obviously organized by a very modern minded architect. Him and his wife put a lot of work into the planning and made very good use of the area they had (a quality present in many Indian homes). I've noticed American houses have pride in how much open area it can enclose, but Indian homes are powerful in the sense that they are small yet allow the room to feel large. Also, most of the artwork was supplied by Jaya ammama (his wife); it was beautiful, a modern take on the faces of buddha. After dinner there and meeting their kids, 14 and 12 or so, we went back to the house and got packed to move on to the next city. On the way to the train station we stopped at another of my mom's cousin's, Subha aama, apartment to say hi. What I especially remeber from there is the grand daughter they had, and how cute she was, also the bada milk (almond milk) that was addictive. After she stalled us there, our fear of missing the train scared us too much so we left. We took the train for a few hours and got to Bhimvaram where we met one of my dad's cousin. At the time our train got into the station it started to pour. After rushing back to their house we changed, ate some really good food, chana masala with onion and pickly, it was very basic yet amazing, had some water (regret that) and went to sleep...

Day 5-Exploring Vizag

This morning we were supposed to wake up early in the morning and go for a run on the beach (about 1/2 mile from the house). Obviously, that didn't happen. When I finally got up I found my parents and uncle in his garden with some tea. After some tea and pictures we took a ride along the beach to see what the city was from their PCH. The view was amazing, the beach was very much reminiscent of Huntington beach on those early mornings when no one else is there yet, small crashing waves on a clean beach. And looking at the development out the other window was also spectacular. He separated the older part of the city and showed the recent and upcoming development as well. What surprised me and made me most proud was seeing all the new development in the area. One entire hill, which was previously completely empty, is not filling up with Tech Parks (IT buildings) and new housing developments were popping up everywhere, all with beach front view. My first thought was that if there is a place to invest it is in this new-age booming area which will not stop construction and recruiting for a long time forward. After a little more sightseeing and taking this picture we went home had lunch and got prepared for the day. Next, we went to a gold shop owned by another of my mom's cousin. Now the normal gold shop on Pioneer or the common corner was more than I expected, but I was blown out of the water. Once we entered in front of us there was a 3 story waterfall and led us to a diverge, jewelery store on the left, clothing on the right (property owned by uncle). The jewelery store was beyond anything I had ever seen, 4 stories. The first floor, easily the size of my house was the gold floor, the one above was silver, and above that, platinum. And lastly, on the 4th floor they held the exotics, amazing juxtaposition of different colored diamonds and other precious stones. Because we were family of the owner, we were given a personal tour of the building and my mom was given the utmost attention, she wanted to buy a chain for the pendant she was gifted earlier. While Deepak and I waited we went into the lobby to play chess. This board, though, was built of silver and my pieces were gold and my brother's was silver. IT WAS AMAZING! Such lavish frivolity was not what I expected to see in a smaller city in South India. After all the nice buildings we drove through the city a little more and found the beach again when my mom saw a stand for a specialty South Indian food. It included puffed rice, tomatoes, lemon juice, and other fresh vegetables. We stopped in a parking lot, ran across the street, found a manned cart - they were maybe 100 feet apart- and ordered. My dad did not approve, and it showed in the pictures we have in the area, because the water they used for everything was not clean. He was right to be mad, but luckily we did not get sick from it, and the food was amazingly delicious. You find that dish here, but it definitely does not taste the same.
After all that we went to the port for a boat tour. Mama owned a company that did a lot of the navigation through the narrow straight into the port. My uncle was not able to accompany us but he had one of his employees take us. It was really interesting to see all the expansion and all the work that had been done, including what they import and export and in what quantities- it seems a majority of it is energy based, to fuel the expansion and growth of the country. What really caught me attention was toward the end of the ride when he said he would take us on a tour of one of the unloading ships. While this was not all that appealing to us, it would be nice to see it. But once he told us that no ships were available for tours, we said it was okay, not that big of a deal. But he apologized repeatedly while trying to find a boat for us to go on. He kept saying that he had promised it to his boss, our uncle, and made it seem like he would be in trouble if he didn't. I know he would not have, especially after trying so hard and knowing my uncle's personality, but his dedication to keeping his word was unique in many respects. In America if an employee finds out that something isn't possible and the client says it doesn't need that, the topic is off the table and everything is okay. From this example, in India, keeping one's word is much more important in keeping someone's respect and being relied on.

Day 4- Vizag

This picture is from the day after we landed but it works none-the-less.
The flight we came in was delayed because of heavy rains (which was a foreshadowing of what continued to happen everywhere we went). Once we got there, only my mom's cousin, Ram Prasad mama was in the baggage claim area, everyone else had to wait for their guests and family outside. This showed what kind of clout he had in the area, but as I soon learned, he did in no way abuse it and does a lot for the community. Once we got into the SUV, the driver took us to his house, which housed 3 more cars, 1 more driver, and at least 5 servants.
A look back into the history and heritage of my mom. She grew up in Vizag from age 6 to 22 (when she was married) and the family moved there while it was sparsely habited. Now as we drove through it was jam packed like every other Indian city, and I'll go more into it's growth on the next day. In this city many of her cousins grew up with her and she always had a story about every part of town, including the apartment complex which her family used to own and live in, which is still erect.
Back to that day. That night, once we got out of the car I noticed a considerable difference in the environment. It was much more humid (even at 7 at night) and that called for the mosquitoes. We bought bug repellent before we came but didn't apply it recently because we didn't need it. But as we sat at the dinner table and were offered fresh fruits (amazing) and coconut water (had more of that than regular water all weekend) both me and Deepak ended up with at least 4 bug bites each- I had less, luckily my legs have more hair. Also, the whole 3 or so days we were there we were very well taken care of, the ammama (my mom's aunt) as well as mama loved my mom, and did everything that she liked and prepared everything she used to love. Back to the story, we changed into pants and then left to the Waltair Club (pronounced Voltaire, making crack a joke about being a philosophy club and then being abruptly corrected to understand it was a social club, catered to the social elite - by my mom). Another one of my mom's cousin - there are a lot of them here- was just elected the President of the club, the largest in at least the state with over 400 members, a mansion for a house, a gym, pool, basketball court, gazebo, and access to rooms for guests of the members. When we got there, we went straight to the meeting room where I met the uncles I never knew I had and was served lots of snacks and drinks before dinner. Me and Deepak were the only ones under 40 for some time, until a younger kid, pretty wild 20 year old he was, came in. We got into conversing, broken english, and got to know each other a little better, walked around the area, and learned a little more of Indian teenagers. The food was amazing, and it was nice to see all these uncles and aunties whose relationship I learned while there but promptly forgot on the flight back. One thing there that I noticed and is worth writing about is the attitude that many of them hold. All were quite wealthy but acted in 2 distinct sets. There were the more humble ones, like Ram Prasad mama, or the ones that flaunted it excessively, at least in my eyes. Another one of my uncles displayed the latter behavior, as and example, after taking some snack, kili I think, he took the toothpick and flicked it to the corner of the room, while in front of the waiter, while standing no more than 3 feet from a trash can. He didn't even flick it in the direction of the trash can, he sent it to the opposite corner. Also, instead of asking for more of a certain dish, he distinctly ordered for it, and while they all gave it with a smile, one would imagine a little respect can't hurt. We then went home, changed in the dark - the power went out- which is also a sign of what was to come for us, and then went to sleep in a bed that was quite comfortable. We draped the blankets over our entire body to ensure no more mosquito's would bother us.