Valentine's weekend gateway

It was 3 AM. It was pitch dark. And it was breathtakingly beautiful.It had been a long day. We spend about 17 hours on the road. Two of my friends had come over from California the previous day, on Valentine's day. I took Monday off and we roamed the seas, forests and land of Florida for 3 days.

On the first day, we went to Daytona Beach, on the shores of the Northern Atlantic. Daytona Beach is very different from the umpteen beaches around Tampa I had visited previously. It was huge in length and breadth. I could not see any end either side. We could also drive the car on the beach itself.


As sunset approached, I got ready to soak in the breathtaking paraphernalia of colours that normally accompanies the setting sun. But surprise, surprise, there wasn't any sun over the sea! It so happens that Daytona Beach is on the east coast. So the sun was actually setting on the opposite side to the sea! But we did have a backup plan to catch the master painter at work.

The tallest lighthouse in Florida and the 2nd tallest in the nation, Ponce Inlet, was about 6 miles from there. We stepped on the gas, reached the lighthouse and climbed 203 steps just in time to watch an iridescent sunset.



Ponce (meaning mosquito) Inlet has been exquisitely maintained and is still functional. The original caretaker's house has also been restored and turned into a museum. Driving 150 miles back to Tampa, we reached home at around 11PM.

The next day was the most eventful. After eating brunch at about 11AM, we started for Miami. It was not a typical Florida weather. Cloudy, humid and morose. The beauty of Sunshine Skyway was dampened by the dank clouds. I checked the weather forecast: Thunderstorms expected at night. Now that would be fun to drive through. Anyway, after driving through the interstate highways I275 and I75 for about 4 hours, we reached the Everglades National Park. The only other forest/park I went to in Florida earlier was Weedon Island which is nothing but a large swamp. But everglades is actually a slow moving river (about quarter miles a day) and a huge forest. It is also teeming with wildlife.




There are various entrances to the park: Flamengo Visitor Center, Shark Valley Visitor Center and Gulf Coast Visitor Center. The Shark Valley center is closer to Miami (about 40 miles) so we took this one. Each visitor center also specializes in different guided tours. For instance, the Gulf Coast Center has a 2 hour boat tour and the Shark Valley center a 2 hour tram tour.
Since it was getting pretty late and we only had one choice, we asked the local people for their choice of any one. While the predominant opinion was that it's like comparing apples and oranges (kinda like IIM and ISB :P ) but one fellow tourist suggested we take the Tram ride as it takes us to the heart of the everglades and we can see a huge variety of birds and beasts.

As always, there was a catch. It was already 3 PM and the last tram ride leaves at 4. The shark valley center was still 20 miles away but we had to reach the center well in advance to reserve a seat and park as the tram ride is very popular. So I took the wheels and in a ride that would put James Bond to shame (and gave my friends a heart attack) made up the 20 miles in 15 minutes. Once we reached the Park, we were blown away by the flora and fauna. There were just so many birds and alligators all around. Check out this video of Mr Alligator taking a stroll across the street.

I was very surprised to see that the alligators openly roam around the park in such close proximity to people in general, and small children in particular. I wondered whether there had been any untoward incidents before. I got the answer during the tram ride when the guide (a sharp witted sweet old lady) explained that the alligators do not associate the humans with food. That's because the alligators are not fed by humans. The sign: Do not feed wildlife, suddenly made a lot of sense. Since human beings are larger in stature than alligators, humans also intimidate the alligators. So till date, there has never been any alligator attacks in the Everglades! Well there was a small incident wherein a brazilian boy actually fell over an alligator (while riding his bike) and the animal (not the Brazilian) took a nice bite at the offender but punches from the boy's mother cut the animal's snack short and the boy escaped with a few broken ribs! During the tram ride it started to rain, which eventually gave way to a beautiful rainbow.

After spending about 3 hours in the Park, we finally left for Miami. Miami has a North and a South Beach. We passed through the city, admiring the nigh skyline, and headed to the South Beach. We parked our car on the Ocean Drive right next to the sea. The beach was awesome and the city was alive even at night. The beach was lit up by the light emanating from nearby hotels (a lot of 'em) and clubs. We sampled the Miami night life and had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Casablanca. Choosing the restaurant was also an experience as each of the hotels had people standing outside with the menu stuck to their chest and were throwing freebies such as free wine (which we succumbed to eventually) and 15% off on dishes and so on. There was even an Indian restaurant among others. Our waitress at Casablanca was as beautiful as any Hollywood actress. I thought of saying "Here's looking at you kid" but then remembered the ending of Casablanca.

The beach was so gorgeous P and T wanted to stay over at Miami for the night and experience it in the morning. The sky high hotel charges put an end to our high hopes and we configured the GPS for our route back home. We intentionally timed our journey so that we could avoid the thunderstorms at Tampa but we couldn't escape the fog.

So here I was, driving at 90 miles/hour, in pitch dark fog at 3Am in the night with my friends and I singing old Hindi and Bengali songs. And I loved it. It was a thrilling ride back home. Eventually we reached home at about 4:30AM to bring an awesome day to an end.

The next day, we headed to an all familiar destination (for me anyway): Clearwater Beach. The beach derives its name from the transparent quality of the water. The weather that day was awesome: bright, sunny and warm.

However the water was freezing cold. Taking a bath in the freezing sea was another awesome experience. P and T's flight was at 6:25 PM so we somehow dragged ourselves out of the water just in time for them to catch the flight back.

After dropping them off at the airport, I felt really sad that the whirlwind vacation came to an end so soon. I wished it could go on a bit more. It left me with a sweet but sad feeling quite like the feeling after watching Casablanca.
No matter what the future brings, As time goes by...
...I must remember this

Circuitous roads, a memorale vacation and a little bit of business

I took a well deserved(!) vacation over the thanksgiving weekend with a few friends who flew down from New Jersey. We covered Orlando (Universal Studios theme park) , Tampa and Clearwater beach. Not to mention the thanksgiving sale.
Ill come to the sale later. I drove for about 600 miles during the 3 days! Since I d been to Clearwater beach earlier, Universal was a special attraction. I was amazed at the scale and creativity of the park. They say that the world of movies is like a dream world. The theme park has actually carried that notion forward and carved out several rides/shows out of the all time favourite movies (produced by Universal pictures). The Shrek show (4-D) was awesome. The seats in the hall place you inside the horse carts in the movie, or take you on a boat though a waterfall i.e. the seats move along with the motion. When Shrek sneezes, you will get wet! The terminator 3D show was also awesome. The real actors getting inside the screen and zoming off on a bike. In addition, the 3-D terminators bounce off the screen right onto your face, the whole experience was breathtaking. The best experience, however, was the Revenge of the Mummy ride: It's an awesome, nerve wrecking ride! What a feeling. These 3 are probably the best shows/rides-there are others such as ET ride and a lot of behind the scenes coverages of the various popular films such as MIB, etc....The whole place is decorated as a studio...with street names/signs shops etc all organized like an old world city. It's truly a dream world.It may be due to my impending MBA, but I couldnt help but marvel at the brilliant business idea behind it all. There is no reason (other than a few million dollars) why the concept cant be replicated in India. Why not have a a Sholay ride, with you chasing Gabbar in a horse? Or Taking rani mukherjee on a ride while singing Ae kya bolti tu? Packaging is something we all can learn from the Americans. I read somewhere that a movie, even if it is a super flop, recovers its cost for the producers through the television /DVD and other promotional avenues. And such parks ensure that the legacy lives on for 20-30 years and continuously remains a top earner. There's no business like show business!

We went to clearwater beach just off Tampa. There are a lot of street performers there - spray painting, fire tricks, et all. The beach was as usual magnificient-resplendant in all its glory at the sunset.


Then the Thanksgiving sale. I shopped for about 10 hours that day! Things were just so damn cheap, and quality goods mind you, I just couldn't resist. My exploits included Laptop, digital camera, micro SD card, external Hard drive, sweaters, jackets and what not. I ravaged the lands of Circuit city, Macy's and Old Navy. However, the biggest surprise came 2 days later. A persistent salesman had made me buy a laptop cooler during the sale, saying it was extremely essential! Next day I realized my folly and felt the pang of conscience (read $15). I just checked the receipt once, and it was written that "If you change your mind about a product, we'll refund your money." So I thought of testing its validity. And whoa, no questions asked, I got my $15 back! Talk of customer service. Even bigger surprise was awaiting me, however. I saw at the store that the camera I had bought was $20 cheaper now. I complained to the Ckt city manager that this made mockery of the long wait in queue for the thanksgiving sale. He promptly refunded the balance $20! I was amazed at the congeniality of the personnel at the store. Whoever has experienced the lordly behaviors of salespeople at Indian stores will realize what a sea change in attitude this is. In India, most stores follow a "No refund or exchange policy" - none has even heard of discount adjustment for fall in price. Circuit City may have lost out on a few $ of sales but it gained a lot of loyalty. And that eventually will bring more business. Something to ponder over in my future career.

Enter the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

I was standing freely on the train when it started t move. And move fast. The sudden acceleration of the train nearly made me fall. I realized I am in the US of A, in the inter-terminal train in the Chicago airport.
It's been a week since I landed in America. I left my mother and my motherland on the 5th Oct early morning by Lufthansa flight. The last few days were very difficult for me personally. I didn't realize I'd be so sad leaving my family. The 28-hr flight was so uncomfortable. The dometic Kingfisher flights are more comfy than the lufthansa ones. The Frankfurt and Chicago airports truly took my breath away.
Life took on the all too familiar busy colours soon after joining office. But that was expected.I am amazed to 2 particular things in America. How nice people are and how easy things are.
Strangers nodding and saying Hello to grocery store attendants wishing you "Have a nice day" with an endearing smile, every person seems so nice, I'll have to watch out for diabetes now. People are so sweet!
And everything seems like an easy or a beginner level in a video game. Things are just so damn easy! I opened my bank account in 10 minutes! Yes 10 minutes, not 10 hours or 10 days!
Within a wek, I have a bank a/c a house a car. And the roads, phew! Whoever has driven through the Indian roads will know what an experience it is. But here, sometimes I get bored. People follow all the rules!! Drivers follow the signals, there's no pesky auto rikshaws or cycle rikshaws and bicycles have a separate lane. There's hardly any traffic and all the roads have 3/4 lanes. Man things are cool here.
But things are not what makes human beings. People love not things but well... people. And in spite of everything, I miss the hustle and bustle and the pollution and the love of the people i left across the ocean. Miss you guys.