Monday, April 07, 2008

The American Dream

Leaving the shores of your mother land for the every first time is always a bundle of mixed feelings. Firstly you are happy that you are going to a whole new place and followed by this happiness is the lingering memory of leaving your near and dear ones back. After landing in US the first week went in settling into the new environment, getting used to new culture, new terminology, etc.


My first ever weekend was a very quite one. Went out to see the Wal-Mart! It was bigger than I had ever imagined. My exposure to Wal-Mart was limited to books and documentaries. The only analogy that came to my mind was its big as a stadium. I had read and heard about America being the inventor of the “Car Culture”. I understood what it exactly meant. The parking space was bigger than actual store itself. Since we didn’t have a car, so my friend and I took the help of the Public Transport, yes you read it right, Public Transport! It’s not dependable but we had no other choice. My first brush with the American public transport was not that bad as I was warned about. It was a pleasant one there was no waiting time both ways! We didn’t have a four wheeler so what, Wal-Mart was kind enough to give us the second most used four wheeler in the whole wide world, The Shopping Cart! Armed with the dollar power and the shopping cart both of us entered the arena like brave warriors entering the ancient Roman Colosseum. Our mission was to exit the Wal-Mart without getting lost in the countless number of aisles and the product range at display. You think of anything and you had it. If you are tired shopping, visit the Starbucks coffee outlet right inside Wal-Mart, serving coffee of your desired flavor. After one and half an hour of roaming round the never ending store finally we were at the billing counter waiting for our term. The happiness of roaming around with a four wheeler also to comes to an end as we exited the store.


My next stop after returning from the Wal-Mart was another shopping mall close by at walking distance. The joy was short lived as it was closing time when I entered the mall. I thought I must have been really late, so I checkout my watch and was surprised, it was just 7pm. Having used to seeing Malls open till 11 this came as a shock to me. But I did manage to sneak into an electronics store and have a look at the gadgets on display. Since all the other shops were shutting down I didn’t want waste their time in window shopping so I gracefully made an exit before being kicked out.


Second week went by in no time and second weekend was staring right at us. This weekend friends had planned to rent a car and roam around. So we planned to go for a movie. The movie watching experience was totally different from what I known and expected. The multiplex was a 45 minutes drive. When we started, one thought struck me, “I am finally living the American dream the American way”! Though it was not the actual American way still remotely American. Reaching the movie multiplex, we were greeted by an almost empty parking lot and the whole premises looked deserted. An occasional gust of wind swept across while we walked towards the multiplex. The scene looked similar to that of “Once upon a time in little Mexico” where Antonio Banderas and his buddies carrying weapons assemble for the final assault. Lady at the ticket counter greeted us asking for the number of tickets, I heaved a sigh of relief assured that this place was not deserted after all. It was about the starting time of the movie, so we entered the hall. And another surprise, we were the only once to go inside the hall. Just before the movie started another batch of 3 people entered the hall. The show started with just 8 people sitting. The movie ended at around seven in the evening and we were greeted by a bright sunshine as if it was 4-5 in the evening. After some chitchatting we decided to call it a day and head home, so did the small stint at the American dream come to an end. I look forward for the week ahead…

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