Rukawat ke liye khed hain

In case you've been wondering where I've gotten to, I've been gallivanting around America for a little over a week now, and before that was busy running around getting paperwork done for the trip, hence the hiatus from blogging. I'm mainly in Boston on a training stint from work, which basically involves meeting people and explaining to them, among other things, why I have a Christian name although I'm an Indian.

Boston's a nice place to roam around. In a rare instance of truth in advertising, it really is 'the large city that comes in the convenient small city size'. The Red Sox are apparently doing well, and since I'm staying fairly close to Fenway Park (I can see the light towers from out my window, see picture), pretty much every second person I see seems to be wearing Red Sox-related outfits. I'm beginning to get sick of seeing that big 'B' all over the place.

There also seem to be quite a few Indians around, and, since this is New England, I get my kicks classifying them into the kind that would fit into a Jhumpa Lahiri story, and those that would not. It's somewhat unfair, since I've only read Interpreter of Maladies and watched the movie version of The Namesake, besides flipping through this handy guide to Unaccustomed Earth, but it sure is fun. I also got to meet the (Zo(?)) Han over dinner, which involved a lot of interesting conversation with me nodding vigourously in an attempt to look intelligent every time I couldn't think of anything particularly relevant to add. I 'm not sure if he'll make it into a Jhumpa Lahiri story as is, unless she starts writing about cyclists or black Converse shoes, but he is getting a PhD and claims that he may not be averse to an arranged marriage, so maybe he does stand a chance after all.

I'm currently typing this all out in Houston, where I'm spending the long Memorial Day weekend with family. I like how most American holidays are set up around the weekends. I'm yet to get used to the large portions, though, and visiting family has meant that I'm being hit with the double whammy of large American portions and Mallu hospitality which principally involves numerous helpings. I think I shall be carrying a little extra weight back to India, and it won't be in my luggage.

Hopefully more blogging will ensue in the coming days, so y'all keep coming back around, y'hear?