My Latest TV Crush

Lately I have become strongly obsessed with TV series based on criminal investigation. I have always been hard core fan of suspense and mystery books, but was never much into TV. My crush started with ‘Cold Case’. I would watch it holding my breath and curse everyone who tried to disturb me while I was watching!


Then one Sunday, I saw back-to-back episodes of Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) and I fell in love with the concept and the cast.

My latest crush is Law and Order and so far the best in the bunch. It’s quite logical and practically possible. I just love the way detectives and district attorneys work together.

I had thought after buying Jadoo TV, I would watch less American shows/series and rather spend more time watching Hindi movies and TV serials. But my schedule is so tight that I do not have time to watch anything extra. Even if I do not have to watch some episode, I make sure to record them :)

I am from New Jersey

I'm from New Jersey

I don't expect too much

If the world ended today

I would adjust

I would adjust

I would adjust..



Friends came over this weekend and we went to Longwood Gardens. Such a beauty it is! Lush green grounds, tons of flowers and to add to it, fountains with lights and music - you just can’t resist them. In the evening, they had John Gorka concert in open-air theatre. I am not much fond of American Music or rather I should put this way, I am almost NIL at American Music. Anyway, lack of any other activity and on friend’s insistence, we decided to attend it.


He started the concert with this song on guitar and it felt good. Looks like, I am starting to develop belongingness feelings for America. So far, it was always like, it's a different country, foreign place to me. But yesterday after listening to this song, I felt like I was representing NJ. Probably, in three years I am quite acquainted with place and customs?


But you know what? It made me little scared too. I have always imaged myself going back to India for good, spending time with parents and bringing up kids there. So does this acquaintance mean a bad omen???? God bless us..

Memorial Day in Chicago (2009)

Memorial Day weekend in Chicago (23rd, 24th and 25th May, ’09)

As soon as long weekend is approaching, we start churning the wheel about where to go and what to do. Winters are always boring hence this is what we do - 'Plan for summer'! That too, Memorial Day long weekend is like opening gateway for summer.
We were 'last minute planner' this time. Just a week ago we finalized everything and yeah, we got really good deal! 3 days are just perfect for Chicago; you can comfortably cover almost all attractions and at the same time can relax as well.

Chicago is just 2 hours flight from Philadelphia and it was perfectly on time, good omen to start with :) But then be ready to spend another hour or so to get in rental car facility (free shuttle from airport) and then wait in a long queue. Being a big airport, lot of options are available for car rental, this time luckily we got sweet little Hyundai. Our stay at Holiday Inn was just the perfect location, around 15 minutes from airport and 15 minutes from downtown (which is called Chicago Loop)

We portrayed Chicago in our mind somewhat similar to New York- crowd, traffic and multi-cultural tourists. But none of these turned out to be true. Manageable crowd, better-organized traffic really saved us lot of time and efforts. For all attractions except museums, you have to find either street parking or be ready to spend $25 for one-time parking. Good to have street maps because GPS will not work sometime.

Day 1

We started our day with world famous, renowned attraction, Sears Towers - tallest in US and third-tallest building in the world. Mainly office area offering total space of more than 400,000 sq feet. Like Empire State we expected wait time both in queue and observatory. But we were lucky enough to go up just in 10 minutes. We took audio tour by paying little extra, which we later figured out was useless. Usually they take you to 103rd floor, but because of construction we had to settle for 99th floor only. It is a covered observatory with nice maps and instructions in each direction mentioned which attraction/building look for. The moment I looked down, first though came how structural and organized it is. It looks so well planned whether you talk about roads or buildings. The most beautiful view is city area near Lake Michigan (where all museums are located). Bad part is, since it is covered, you cannot have photos with beautiful backgrounds :(
Anyway, 30-40 minutes in observatory is good time to cover everything.

After Sears Towers, we walked down to Chicago Cultural Center. It was free admission since we were not interested in particular exhibition. (It is like NY Metropolitan Museum of Art). It is a nice walk in downtown area, not too many people and while walking you get a close look of several other buildings as well. Several snack shops and cafeterias on your way to keep you energetic :)

After this point, we should have brought car back and parked somewhere near Michigan Ave to cover Millennium Park, Buckingham Fountain and Magnificent Mile. Millennium Park is a rare combination of architecture, art and landscaping. It has got open theatres for performance. You can sit or literally lie down and relax. Near entrance, there is a 'Big Bean' designed by Indian, which reflects panoramic view of all surrounding buildings. (Also known as Cloud Gate). You can encircle the entire park if you want. There is also a water stream running where people sit on steps.
Buckingham fountain is one among the largest fountains in the world, which you can walk to from Millennium Park. This park is considered to have got the most sophisticated theatre for any kind of events across US.

And then comes, 5th Ave of Chicago, The magnificent mile. It is a shopping area located on Michigan Ave to gratify the desire of shopping :) It has got all big branded stores just on one street, which is again uncommon sight. I have seen all such stores in some covered malls. Even in NY, one cannot find all of then on the same street. The view does look Magnificent in the evening. There would be lotta people on the street, which will drive you crazy! If you do not intend to shop anything, just stay in car and drive those 3-4 blocks. Free street parking is not available at all so walking is the only option.

And finally the dinnertime, Chicago is full of options for Italian, Mexican and Indian food. I did some homework and we landed at Giordano's Pizza. I thought we were little early for dinner but then it was waiting time of half an hour. It was the best-stuffed pizza we ever had!!

Day 2

Chicago is a cultural city, full of museums. Few famous to list here are, 1) Adler Planetarium 2) Shedd Aquarium 3) Field Museum and 4) Museum of Science and Industry. First 3 are located in same area, near far end of Lake Michigan. Each of them has got their own free parking and average admission fee would be $20-$25 per person. We were not interested in any of these 1) We have seen the best planetarium, Smithsonian in D.C. 2) Aquarium is not my cup of Tea 3) Field museum is an underground museum, mainly aimed for school-going kids

Museum of Science and Industry had an exhibit going on for Harry Potter. It's about 6 miles from above-mentioned museum-area. Drive is very beautiful and scenic. You have to drive all the way on 'Lake Shore Drive', parallel to Lake Michigan. It is a not a very busy street with one side Lake Michigan and other side portraying few of the nicest buildings in Chicago. As far as Harry Potter exhibit is concerned, I would recommend booking tickets in advance. We were among first 100s of people to get in ticket line still we got time slot for 4:00 PM!!
Even if you are not a big fan of Harry Potter, you must not miss this. They have display of almost all dresses, shoes, game articles etc associated with all main characters and certainly you cannot ignore some of the finest details.

In a warm weather, it's nice to spend 2-3 hours at Lake Michigan. They have plenty of parking spots and seating facility at lake. It will always be pretty windy here. They have nice picnic spots as well, you can grab some food, bring it here and enjoy...

Just to utilize the time in afternoon we decided to go Navy Pier. It is another end of Lake Michigan with small amusement park and river cruise. You can comfortably spend around 3 hours. They offer covered parking with flat rate of $24. If you are willing to walk and lucky enough, you can go for free parking couple of blocks away. This place I can most closely relate to fun fair (which is permanent though:))
It has got museums, street-side games, few eateries, a big Ferris-wheel
etc. If Kunal would have accompanied me, definitely I would not have missed Ferris-wheel. The main attraction is the river-cruise. There are quite a few options for cruise based on duration and time offered by different private companies. Duration ranges from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Some of them do have options of food being served on board but not good for veggies like us :) Fees vary from $15 to $60 based on which option you choose. It is advisable to allocate some time for this since frequency is not very high. We went for 45 minutes cruise and it was worth every penny we spent. It did not have even tourists half of its capacity hence it turned out to be our personal cruise :) Make sure to choose something, which has ample of indoor sitting facility since it would be pretty windy and cold outside.

By the time we headed back to hotel we were so hungry and craving for some hot, spicy Indian Food. Chicago is densely populated with Indians, especially suburbs like Schaumburg. We found one Indian Restaurant (Indian Garden) in street mall and we were astonished to find it cheaper and better than NJ!!


Day 3

Our third and last day was occupied by visiting relatives in Streamwood followed by visit to Swaminayrayn Mandir (BAPS) in Bartlett. We could not get a chance for Darshan, but just roamed around for 15-20 minutes.

I found Chicago perfect for 3 days visit. I wish could have spent more time by Lake Michigan. I wish I know how to sail and I have my personal boat as well:)) If time permits, you can cover one more museum as well. If you are hard-core shopping fan, Chicago premium outlet is something you should not miss. It is a perfect combination of big-city-like architecture and local variety of food and culture. It is the best trio of fun, relaxation and knowledge!

Had a rocking weekend...

After a long time I am writing blog. Meanwhile I started writing diary then realized blog would better structured and organized way.

I had friends visiting; probably after getting married I would get to see somebody whom I knew so well. Somebody from the past world..I considered myself well settled and acquainted in new world where I have made new friends, but then I realized I was not completelty right.

It is amazing for time being to ignore new world around you and be covered old good familiar faces. Just a nice way to energize yourself for coming days. The thought itself to recall and remember time you spent with your friends is fascinating for me. And I had such opportunity to cherish moments I had witnessed with some of the most important people of my life - Rachana, Krupa and Preeti.

Rachana - The very first friend of mine in college at Nirma. We started talking about the same difficulty in 'Strength of Material' outside lab and then realized we don't have to have common difficulty to talk! We found our common subjects of interest so interesting that 'uncommon' factor vanished. Books, movies, shows, shopping and list goes on!

Krupa - First my college and then L&T pal, we got very closed during 6 years of span. I would say she is a versatile friend of mine, I am comfortable sharing almost everything with her. Open minded and hearted, somebody you can always count on.

Preeti - My L&T time friend and roommate, very beautiful and pleasant personality, more like elder sis to me. I exactly do not miss her but at the same time, I do not fumble around the words when I see her.

Once you talk after long time, you realize how many common people you know to gossip about :-). We know that those days are gone, still irony is we feel happy thinking about past, comparing it against our present we go crazy and we are always worried about future. When will we learn to 'live present'?

I am happy that I could not make new friends after getting married, but I have so many wonderful moments to remember and feel good. I really am thankful to Almighty for my ability to remember things - good or bad. People who cannot or do not want to remember, I see their life like a black hole where these they cannot traverse back, plain, flat life. For me, ability to remember is directly attached to my emotions.

I just wish had I have more opportunities in present so I can cherish them in future!!

Boston Trip

Hmmm…after a long time I am back to blog page, just could not resist myself from writing about my SMALL vacation and BIG relaxing break. After brainstorming a lot, me n my husband could come up with consensus where we can go during memorial day long weekend…yeah it is Boston.

Planning was perfect and homework was very good, hence we could enjoy the way we wanted. 240 miles from my home and we could cover it up in just 3.5 hours. (You have to consider NJ/NY trafficJ). And here I am really appreciating Holiday Inn staff for letting us check-in early by 3 hours!! Our hotel was in Woburn, MA, approx. 15 miles from Boston downtown. It came out little difficult to drive to Boston for the first time. We got lost but luckily we found somebody who helped us getting back to the right way. By the time we were in Boston, we were habituated with lotta traffic and continuous horn sound ringing your ears. First day we visited Boston downtown staring with Boston Commons. This garden is claimed to be the oldest public garden across USA. Nice walk-around observing different people from different culture. We hardly got to see any black people and Chinese were the most eye-catching in crowd.

Our plan was to wander about couple of miles on freedom trail, but it was still chilly in May hence could not go far with our idea and hey, parking also turned out to be very expensive. In a private parking, we ended up paying $20/hr for parking. So I would recommend using public transport. Our next stop was Charles River Esplanade, from crowded downtown to a peaceful place. Next we aimed for Carson beach, claimed to be the nicest one in South Boston. We got lost, after hunting for half an hour we settled ourselves in Olive Garden (An Italian Restaurant we always love) and this is how our very first day ended.

Next day weather and luck were favoring to us. Though we did not have proper directions, without getting lost we reached Cambridge. One among the top most universities namely Harvard and MIT, especially for business management are located here. You will get to see students across the globe, small eateries, lot of public gardens, crowded street, roads always jammed and small but expensive shops. After visiting university campus and Harvard art museums, we decided to go for Indian lunch. It was Indian food in buffet style, cooked by Indian and served by Americans!!
And finally is the evening we had waited long, yes, trip on Harbor cruise. We chose sunset time and it was an amazing sight, you get to see entire Boston downtown. Nice romantic music, splendid glory of Sun, bottle of chilled Beer..what else you need? 90 minutes passed so fast and most of the time we spent in taking photographs. Cruise was quite small with capacity of 25 people with sitting arrangement on deck and upstairs as well. It was fun to be upstairs, but as it was quite cold and windy, we ended up spending majority time on deck, roof covered and sides open. Once the trip was over, our worries started as we had parked the car in residential area, which is wrong as per law, but luckily we found everything OK. We were quite hungry and we decided to go for Mexican Restaurant near our hotel namely ‘On The Border Mexican Grill’.

Most of the major attractions have been covered and we do not have anything else on plate other than duct tour for the last and third day. We were little confused about third day plan and thanks to internet access in hotel, we found a beautiful place called ‘Cape Cod’ 100 miles from Boston. Duck Tour was something you should not miss at all. It was always difficult to get the tickets, but good that we already booked in advance. In a small duck shaped bus you will visit entire Boston and the same will go Charles River. Wonderful experience to see Boston on one end and Harvard on other with funny and lively narration of guide cum driver. So now the time is to say good-bye to Boston and head towards Cape Cod. It is farthest end of Boston covered by sea on three sides. They also offer ferry services from beaches like Falmouth and Haynes to Martha’s Vineyard. But as we had already been on harbor cruise, we decided not to go for ferry and spend time at beach. Our destination was Chatham, the farthest point in entire cap cod. And I must say vowww, mesmerizing hues of blue and white sand like silk, the most beautiful beach I have ever been. Though temperature was high, water was quite cold. Hardly any visitors and huge place to walk on beach just appealed us. We realized that world is much more beautiful beyond our thinking!!