A “Been there n done that ” type of travelogue on my first visit to USA
by Pankaj Narayan Pandit
My spirits soared as Alatalia’s DC-10 hovered over Boston’s Logan airport, after a long trans Atlantic flight Announcement of the landing, was like a whiff of fresh air, in the stale atmosphere. Everyone started filling up immigration forms, gathering personal stuff The Sun was about to set in summer month of July In twilight hours, I strove to get glimpses of Boston, on my first visit to a foreign land out of India I could see gleaming mirror surfaced glass concrete skyscrapers of its downtown , arising out of mesh of red colored blazing freeways, and series of fly overs , dotted with cars The city’s waterfront was dotted with colorful yachts, sailing in the ocean The azure blue waters of Atlantic ocean looked so calm and serene from the aircraft.
I knew little about Boston , apart from a famous Boston tea party, hosted hundred years ago that had started USA freedom struggle I was in awe of its world famous elite “schools”, like Harvard Business School, MIT and Sloan As I cleared through immigration , I hailed a taxi to Ramada Inn, where i was booked to stay for next two weeks It was a Friday night that added extra cheer to usual American friendly mannerism Everyone seemed looking forward to weekend !
Getting used to American English : I slowly got used to American twanged English, which seemed a bit different than Queen’s English we learnt in India For Example, You never take a “lift” in America You either take an elevator or take a ride with somebody Anti is pronounced as “Antie” , Petrol was called as “gas” water was pronounced as “Wader”, Americans in McDonald were intrigued by my order,
“Big Mac with no beef” that too served with only wader! Best thing about USA is that, once you pick up their accent, look into their eyes, they don’t treat you as a foreigner! You become all American !
English History of Boston Being part of New England, Boston has strong British-Irish roots that one can finds in many ways, such as their surnames, availability of tea in the offices Later I found out that most of Americans are hard core coffee drinkers However tea drinking was considered a bit elite I surmised it was exactly reverse in India. where commoners drink tea while coffee being more pricey, was considered more elite. Incidentally, I discovered that smoking was “out” in USA A giant hoarding of a cigarette advertisement suggested almost apologetically, “If you smoke, Please try Caltron” In India, then cigarette advertisements were more aggressive, Tobacco companies had “Made for each other ” campaigns and their sponsorship for sports events was still not frowned upon.
Friendly Americans : “Hi! How are you doing” ! seemed a standard greeting, even for perfect strangers The greeting is said enthusiastically, making an eye contact It seemed a bit imposing initially but not after one got used to it . I spent two weeks in a company, M/s Tech/Ops for training on use of their Gamma Ray radiography equipment . People were very friendly Most of them had not heard much about a country called India. They graciously invited me to their homes on weekend, or for their weekend beach parties which I thoroughly enjoyed.
All’re equal in office : One of the most culturally shocking thing to me, then as an Indian, was to find that even top bosses were addressed by their first names by everyone “Sir” was a word never used ( except in restaurants while ordering food! ) No one got up , when boss came in a room Irrespective of rank in the company , one could banter with the boss on topics like sports, weather, traffic, driving , etc The conversation in office used to be confined to sports, or weekend getaways No one discussed politics Neither they were interested in country’s politics
My American hosts , from Tech/Ops, took me out to many restaurants around and one especially memorable moment when a steaming red crab, that looked alive, (except it was steamed) was served with all implements to crack it open ! “How can one eat an imposing such a huge crab “? i looked in owe at the huge creature , served only as steamed, without any condiments, offered with extra sauce As a great coincidence, the day the training ended, was my Twenty fifth birthday, which we celebrated with gusto, with my college friends, inviting few of my American friends from this company !
Boston’s historic metro Boston is one of few American cities with great public transport Boston’s underground metro was built one hundred years ago, on same lines like London metro I loved the metro as one can be independent in this city, (not dependent on driving a car) There were color codes for metro, like Redline, Blue line , Green line etc with lighting in station matching the color code of metro The signboards made it easy to travel, even for a novice The cascade of freeways , built on top of one another, miles and miles of concrete freeways, were evidence of great strides made by American in 1960’s .
Youthful air of Cambridge : The Charles river separates Boston into two parts , one of which is Cambridge district, that has youthful energy. Cambridge has cluster of elite colleges (called as “schools” in American English) like Harward Business School, MIT, Sloan’s school of management, Boston University The red brick walled houses of Cambridge, contrast with glass concrete facades of downtown Boston The pace of life seems unhurried and placid in Cambridge, as the waters of river Charles The city curls up in morning with joggers, cyclists and skaters on roads , few of which are closed for traffic on Sunday The river Charles, has canoes heading idyllically towards sea port Occassionally, its serene waters were stirred up by an arrogant speedboat that created sporadic waves threatening to tilt the canoes.
The walls of Harvard Square, had many posts, like classified advertisements; For selling household stuff(ranging from sofa sets, Hi Fi Stereo music equipment, Bikes, cars, etc ) Invitations for apartment sharing (Only for non smoking singles ) As night falls, the Harvard Square lights up , filled with spillover of students from nearby colleges , out to enjoy cool crisp air with soulful musical tunes , oozing form street corners At times, there was a full fledged concert group playing on road side and streets reverberating with the sound of musical instruments , accompanied by thumping from the swelling crowd .
And you start melting away in this euphoric atmosphere, with a cone of ice cream candy in hand ! The city of Boston has quite a few Indian restaurants with catchy names like Gandhi, Passage to India, Jewel of Crown , etc Boston slowly grows on you as one takes up sports like canoeing in river, playing tennis in afternoon sun, roller skating on concrete roads on Sundays when they are closed for cars or enjoy the open music concerts at the Esplanades
Mingling with “Boston Brahmins” : The term, Boston Brahmins, was applied in 19th century to the old wealthy families of British origin that became influential in the development of American institutions and culture. Some vestiges of this remain in Boston’s institutions and the ideals that they championed Boston has charming blend of old and new The city was then at hub of activity in AI, Lasers, computer software, Economics, and Business management Its schools that attracted best talent from all over world , giving new meaning to the phrase, “Boston Brahmins” Boston proudly preserves its English culture, and European values , that gives it a unique character , so different than other faceless American cities
I made friends with a local guy , called Raju(But spelled as Roger!), who invited me to ride with him on canoe which I readily accepted We went canoeing in Charles river Roger was amused to know about caste system in India and how our people believed in arranged marriages, in the same caste He was quite intrigued on impact of this centuries old unique gene pool in Indian population !
Canoeing in river Charles
Coast to Coast in a “driveaway car” : With my friends, Ram from VJTI(see pic above) who worked for Patni computers,(and was staying in Putnum Avenue!) and Shekhar Acharya , we set out on a whirlwind coast to coast road trip from Boston to LA, traversing 3800 miles, and seeing exotic places on way like Niagara waterfall, Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Chicago, Yellow Stone national park and Grand Canyon , on way to LA (via Phoenix)
I played the role of Navigator, with Triptik map in hand Triptick was specially made for us, as per path we chose by AAA. Triptick’s every page covered 100 miles, with details given on its back page , about location of camping grounds, gas stations, etc I had heard about concept of “driveaway” and searched in yellow pages of Boston for such a car We chose not to rent a car but used a driveaway agency to find us a car that had to be delivered to LA We were given a Oldsmobile, Delta 98, Sedan A huge car with features like power windows and cruise control (both of which were a great novelty for an Indian used to drive relics like Fiat/Ambassador) This almost brand new sedan was given free of charge, we had to spend only for fuel and bear toll charges We had to deliver it to the owner at the specified address in Phoenix From Phoenix, the agency gave us another vehicle, a pickup truck for LA Then we advertised in Harvard square bulletin board for one more person to join, who can share driving duty as well as share our expenses One enthusiastic Israeli guy, Martin, responded We were happy to get him on board
After reaching LA via Phoenix, I bought a coast to coast ticket on Greyhound, to return to Boston The ticket cost me US$110 with stops en route as below Los Angeles -Houston-LSU(Atlanta)-Washington DC-Boston I took stops at each place on way Such a long road travel on Greyhound can make one bone weary It did !Frankly, I would not think of doing it again !
I returned to India, after two months, instead of the two weeks scheduled training , as per original plans My boss and company graciously, pardoned me for this youthful gaffe. In these two months, I had seen more America than most NRIs , even Americans ! After all , Isn’t travel all about, claiming “Been there n done that” !
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Pankaj wrote this blog in 80’s , soon after the first USA visit He can be contacted on email panditpank@gmail.com