Mt. St. Helens

I went there last Saturday. St. Helens had one of the most recent eruptions in history, in 1980. It is one of the 6 active volcanos in the West Coast, and keeps coughing out smoke and lava at times. Susceptible to cold, I guess! [Find more about St. Helens at Wikipedia]

Well, as far as the trip goes, it was definitely memorable. Don't remember anything about the jouney to and from, thanks to my knack of falling asleep whenever I am travelling. Perhaps it makes me feel I am in a swinging crib!

Well, one of the more interesting incidents during the trip happened at Johnston Ridge Observatory, which is the closest you can get to the fire-mountain. We had an hour and a half at the observatory, and after having spent some time watching a movie on the eruption and then creating artificial earthquakes at a machine there [and actually having recorded it on a Seismograph! Sadly even with my mass, I could not reach very high on the Reichter Scale :-( ], we ambled along a trail from the Observatory which was going higher still. It was cold and windy, probably some 2-3 degrees centigrade, and I would not have known if my nose had decided to take a peek over the valley and even fallen off! I was that numb!

Getting to the point, we were on this trail, and suddenly were overcome with a need to digress off the marked path for some adventure! Deal! We get off the trail walk a few steps, spot a huge tree trunk and decide to clisk some pics using it as a prop! So, after having done "Titanic" over it and a sleeping sweeping view of the volcano, as we decided we already were exposed to cold quite a bit, and should be heading back to the cozy comfines of the Obeservatory, there comes a "Mami" [no not the maternal aunt! we three roommates have made it a sobriquet for the law-enforcers: so policemen are "mama" and women "mami"]. Ah well, there was a sign just at the exact place we had chosen to hike off the trail that said "Plants grow by the inch and die by the *foot*" [obviously referring to the human limb], and if we indeed decided to disregard the warning, a hundred dollars would be conveniently siphoned off our wallets into the soil!

It goes without saying, we have a habit of not-reading warning and fine signs on the roads in India and it does take a while to get used to new habitats! And thus, very conveniently, as soon a we had seen the warning sign, we had turned our heads away, more out of habit. Reading law-enforcement warnings is tantamount to worshipping Satan, isn't it? Now, who would have known that in the USA, things work a little differently!

Thankfully for us [and our wallets! Wait I don't think we had 200 dollars on us anyway!], the "mami" left us with a stren warning, along with an accompanying remark, "You can do it in your country", which we did not feel was in very good taste. No harm done, we did follow it up with a good number of our own Hindi specialities, which I am sure she didn't follow. Must have thought we are saying sorry :D.

And, thus, the trip ended. On the way back, we also had some very very delicious Strawberry Rhubbards and Cobblers, yummm !

We followed the trip up with a Govinda movie, Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karenge, a laugh riot, and perhaps the best way to end the day!

[For the Mt. St. Helens trip, we took the Gray Line Of Seattle tour. It's pretty good, though I feel a mite expensive]

Sunil Dutt is no more

Even though I haven't seen too many of his movies, somehow his presence, the simplicity of his face, the gravity of the voice, the charisma is unparalleled. May he rest in peace!
Rediff.com coverage: Farewell Duttsaab!
Memorable movies (taken from Rediff):

• Mera Saaya
• Mother India
• Munnabhai MBBS
• Padosan
• Sadhana
• Shaan
• Sujata
• Waqt

Not-so-Sleepy in Seattle

I've been lazy again. I arrived in the US of A almost two weeks ago, and haven't penned down my escapades as yet. It is essential that I do it fast now, before amnesia catches up.

First of all, the flight from India. Mostly eventful except for the fact that in Amsterdam, my transit point, we went to see this "art" museam. I still have a question there: how can you draw arbitrary lines and call it modern art. A tree with boxes more wooden that the tree itself! A equestrian in tiles! random horizontal lines which represent something (I hope)! Any of my readers who follow modern art could kindly enlighten me on this very esoteric art form. Conclusion: I could be a modern artist, I would just need to know logo(a very old and since forgotten computer language).

Another fact: Indian airplanes are better (and newer) than foreign ones. At least the air hostesses are better (and newer). Who cares about anything else anyway :D

The Schipol airport (at Amsterdam) is in itself a work of art. Huge, really huge, giant corridors in which people keep ambling at all hours of the day. Full of life, full of energy and vitality. And when you step into the Sea-Tac (the Seattle-Tacoma airport) is seems puny at best. Very dull, very dry very boring. Even the walls feel sleepy.

And the worst part is that you got to pay for getting a strolley. A full two dollars! (90 bucks! OMG!!! I wouldn't pay that much for a Coolie ;-)). Yes, that's the way Indian's would react when they come here. The conversion factor seems to be at the back of every Indian's mind when he comes to the States, and inadvertently the multiplication circuit embedded in our brains works overtime. When you pay 3000 bucks for a taxi ride, the expletives come naturally for people who developed the Gold Standard.

Another fact: Redmond is not the usual America. It is almost a small town, tiny houses (but very beautiful), neat lanes, manicured sidewalks, swift but easy traffic, loads of cars, no public transport :-(. And since I don't have a car, you got to walk for 3 hours (to and fro) to get groceries. Who wants to eat ?

At the same time, for a bunch of three guys just out of teens, study in a college, and dont' know how to "homemake", it can be really terrible living in an apartment. Now, who is gonna tell me how much of washing powder to put in the washer ! Any dhobis around? I am willing to pay upto 50 cents a shirt (man! that's 22 bucks!!). But just remove that tea-stain!

Then again, one thing good about America is the sheer variety of juices and fruits available. I have had some of the most luscious apples, stiff bananas, and juicy grapes! And the number of juices on offer, wow! Buy a gallon of tropicana and get another free! I since decided to give a wide berth to "plain" water. I have been surviving on juices. I would not be surprized if estimates would predict a consumption far above normal!

Since, I have touched upon drinking, fooding definitely happens to be the next stop, which is definitely a let down. I somehow can not be convinced that people could eat bread, sandwich and salad all their life! And be happy with it !!! Gourmet opportunities for vegitarians are pretty limited and even for those who lie on the borderline case (like me: eat non-veg but couldn't do it everyday) lunch-time is definitely not something we would look forward to. One more thing, for all those coming to the US, be forewarned: at least go to all kinds of exotic restaurants and mug up the names (and meaning) of edible dishes. Or you would end up like me. Ordering a pasta for $5, and all you get is noodles in white sauce with some cheese! And yes, bring loads of ready-to-eat, heat-n-cook, heat-n-eat, anything you wanna call it !

And yes the story of the journey: Dogs certainly have a lot of respect in the US. For one, get to sit in the cars with fancy straps identifying them (while we lesser mortals have to walk!). Their food packets are bigger than ours, biscuits are cheaper, life is much better! The other day one of my friends (and apartment-mate) was buying a razor since his own was confiscated on the flight. A lady beside him bought a better looking and definitely more expensive one, but, alas, for her dog! It's a dog's world after all!!!