Murthy's Blog

After a hectic trip to New York, Niagara and Washington DC, we needed complete rest for a couple of days. We took it easy and lazed around in Blacksburg, and enjoyed the University area. We had wonderful morning/evening walks and visits to the shopping malls.

We left Blacksburg for Campbellsville around midday on 22 May’05. The drive through West Virginia State enroute to Campbellsville was once again very picturesque through mountains, valleys and thick jungles. It was a great drive. We halted at a rest area where sugar free yoghurt based ice- cream was being sold. It was heavenly. The maintenance work on the road being executed by engineers of the highway reminded me of my own work as Chief Engineer in Sikkim ten years back. The quality of work and planning, of these highway engineers, is of superior quality. After 3 hours of hill driving, the terrain configuration changed to plain country. There was absolutely no pollution on the road. At yet another rest area, an American greeted us with an enthusiastic "Namaste". He introduced himself and mentioned that he was in Nepal for 8 years. We had by now reached the horse capital of the world - Lexington in Kentucky. One could see miles and miles of green pastures and meadows, neatly trimmed &manicured, where horses and cattle were lazily grazing. It was indeed a great countryside.

We reached Campbellsville (Kentucky) around 8:00 PM. We had a quick bite and slept off early. My morning walk the next day (23^rd May’05) was a feast for the eyes. This place is also very clean and green.

The next day we drove to Fort Knox - a US Army town, where the US Armored Corps and Mechanized Infantry training center is located. It is a high-security area. Alongside this place is the famous Patton museum (General George S. Patton was a military leader of World War - 2 fame). I had always been fascinated by his leadership qualities. It was a treat to go through the museum. I was particularly happy to be here since I had been associated with tanks during my Army days. It was a great visit indeed. The American bullion reserves are kept at Fort Knox – a high security area. Later we drove to a place called Louisville, where we had a good Indian buffet lunch.

In the evening we went to the self-service car-cleaning place. I enjoyed cleaning the car with all the automatic facilities available.

During the walk next morning, I was quite disappointed to see garbage strewn all over on the shoulder of a part of an interested highway. It is surprising how a country, which boasts of environmental cleanliness, could tolerate such vandalism on the highway.

Next morning we drove on yet another interesting highway to the world-famous Mammoth Caves. The drive to the caves reminded me of my tenure in Siliguri. The Mammoth Caves are the world's largest caves, 368 miles in length. We went on a conducted tour to a part of the cave system, climbing down 300 steps (around 250 feet below ground). The caves contain many stalactites and stalagmites. Overall, it was an awesome tour of a unique place in the world. This cave system perhaps was one of the underground distributaries of the Green river thousands of years ago and the system seems to have gone through a lot of geological changes over the past many years.

# posted by Murthy @ 3:10 PM 0 comments

Early next morning (16 May 2005), we left Youngstown for Washington DC. We traveled through the inner roads, which had quite a few loops and turns and were slower than the interstates. The drive was through wooded and dense forest area. We took nearly 10 hrs to reach Washington DC. The last 15-20 miles to Washington DC was simply marvelous and most enjoyable – A great welcome to any visitor entering the capital city of the world’s most powerful nation. We stayed in a hotel in College Park, Maryland, very close to the University of Maryland. We were tired, but managed to go out to an Indian restaurant for dinner.

The next morning, we took the metro train from the College Park station to Union station (which is a hub of most transportation activity in the Washington DC area). Washington DC is a very beautiful city with majestic buildings. Our first stop was to the Capitol Hill and the Senate office buildings. We then went to the Botanical Gardens, which is a greenhouse of plants from all over the world. Next to the Air and Space museum The Air and Space museum is a store house of exhibits that relate to all air and space activities of the world, starting from the Wright brothers flight to the state of the art technology in air and space discoveries.

Our next museum stop was the National Art Gallery, which had a number of paintings from world-renowned artists, costing a few hundred thousand dollar each.

On to a visit to the Museum of Natural History. This museum gave a glimpse of all one wanted to know on the evolution of living beings, environment, ecology, etc. It was a treat to watch the gems and precious stones section in the museum. This part of the museum deals with the geological features of the earth and how precious stones are formed.

A lot of effort has gone into creating and developing these massive museums. Of these, the Air & Space museum and the Museum of Natural History stand out. It is indeed a great learning experience.

We went around the entire city in the evening and saw the White house from as close quarters as possible. The FBI building, the World Bank offices, various other Government offices and memorials. Overall, it was a memorable experience today also.

Right opposite the barricaded portion of the White house, there were protestors of all nationalities. They were demanding a halt to American intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world.

That evening one of our close Doctor friends took us on a drive to Massachusetts Avenue - the ultimate in affluence.

Today (18 May 2005) we visited Potomac City in Maryland and returned to Washington DC to see some more places, which we couldn't see the previous day - the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, etc. Later in the evening, we had a conducted tour of the University of Maryland at College Park. Another beautiful university, which exudes knowledge.

We took it easy next morning and left around 10:30 am for Blacksburg. En route, we stopped at the new facility of the Air and Space museum, near the Dulles International airport. This museum is six times bigger than the Air and Space museum at the National Mall (the area where all the museums, monuments, etc are located in Washington DC). Approximately 315 million dollars would have been spent when the construction gets completed (6 months from now). This is the ultimate in exhibition of air and space power of the US and other nations.

# posted by Murthy @ 3:00 PM 0 comments

The drive from Secaucus (New York/New Jersey) to Youngstown (upstate New York, Buffalo and Niagara Falls) was initially through heavy traffic (in spite of this, we were cruising at 55-65mph) on the interstate. The terrain was undulating hills with dense forest on both sides of the highway. It was hill driving which needed precision control. After 2 hours of driving, the terrain became wooded and rugged with pine trees (lots of them had fallen down due to winter storms). We also came across a lot of water bodies all through. It was a fantastic drive.

During the drive invariably we halted for 15-20 minutes at places earmarked to refresh and recoup. The latter part of the drive that evening was under heavy rains with poor visibility at a number of places. We reached Youngstown, a small fishing village on the banks of the Niagara river/Lake Ontario at about 8.00PM. Incidentally, the sun sets here also only around 8PM. There was still daylight when we reached Youngstown and we enjoyed driving through this small town.

Youngstown reminds one of a well-kept military cantonment. We stayed in a delightful little inn called the 'Fyfe and Drum' (which was modeled from an old Victorian house). Quaine Webber, an American lady, manages it. There were no other guests at the house, and we had the place to ourselves. It was very well kept with fantastic, old-world interior decor. The Fyfe and Drum is a two-level house with all amenities one could ask for. There was surfeit of hot water. The weather was cold, and we had a bite in the local Irish pub (Brennan). We came across a very nice quote in the Brenan's Irish pub: "May the saddest days of your future be happier than the happiest days of your past", which beautifully captured our feelings at that point of time. This place also provided great opportunities for morning walks. The place is ‘young’ at heart and ‘ageless’ in pride. Every second house has a boat with an outboard motor fitted on a trailer to be taken to the waterfront for pursuing water sports in summer. A very popular sports activity in this coastal area. The Niagara River, which takes off from Lake Erie, flows towards Lake Ontario and Canada (which is right opposite Youngstown across this river).

We left early morning next day (15^th May’05) to visit the Niagara Falls - a short drive from our inn. The first glimpse of the falls was bewitching and intoxicating.

We used the Niagara State Park trolley to take us to the Niagara State Park. Our first stop was at the ‘Maid of the Mist’ dock (American side). We were given ponchos (rain capes) on the Maid-of-the-Mist tour - a ferry ride through the bottom of the falls. It is an experience of a lifetime and was totally awe-inspiring. It is to be experienced to be believed. Henry Longfellow, the American poet, had this to say about the falls in 1879:

"I stood within a vision's spot
I saw, I heard, the liquid thunder
Went pouring to its foaming hell
And it fell
Even, even fell
In to the invisible abyss that opened under"

In the last 12000 years the Niagara Falls has shifted, 11 Kms due to scouring/geological action, to its present location. Till 1910 the scouring action was 3 feet/year and later 1-foot/10 years controlled by certain ecological/environment action taken down stream like setting up of power plants etc. All visitors try to capture the fury and beauty of the falls in their cameras and camcorders. Both the falls - the Horseshoe (97 Meters fall) and the American falls (55 Meters fall)- are wonders of the modern world. As the saying goes, we would definitely like to make a second visit here. A number of bridges across the Niagara River connect the US to Canada in this area. The Rainbow Bridge, which is closest to the falls, is a walking stretch (around 400 meters) connecting the US to Canada.

The visit leaves anyone visiting with an ever lasting/memorable experience of a lifetime.

Among the crowd who visited the falls with us that day (and there was definitely a big crowd!), at least 40% were Indians! We had a piping hot lunch at a Punjabi dhaba. We spent quite some time in the general falls area after lunch, including time at the islands of 'the three sisters'. We were as close as 1-3 meters of the falls from a viewpoint on the US side (Terrapin point). We could see and hear the falls in its full fury. Overall it was a fantastic visit. We had a good glimpse of Canada, across the falls too. Here is a great aerial shot of the falls - http://www.spaceimaging.com/gallery/ioweek/archive/05-04-17/niagara_falls_state_park_1024.jpg

We returned to Youngstown after a long drive along the Lake Ontario. We halted at Fort Niagara - where the Niagara River enters Lake Ontario. The lake is so vast that there was no land visible on the horizon. The St Lawrence River rises in Lake Ontario and after a long journey pours out at the Atlantic Ocean.

# posted by Murthy @ 2:39 PM 0 comments

We left for New York by car today (11 May 2005). The day started a little misty and cloudy, but cleared as we drove away from Blacksburg. The traffic was very heavy and huge tankers/load carriers were on the road at speeds varying from 50-70mph. It ’s an interesting activity going on the excellent interstate highways, with 4-lane traffic. Everyone observes good traffic discipline. We crossed the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. In this valley, lies the battlefield of the American civil war. At one of our stops in a rest area we talked to an interesting and pleasant Amish couple (who appeared to be over 75 years age). They were quite excited to meet Indians.

During the drive we crossed a number of small towns and villages, which are only small in area, but are fully equipped with all infrastructure facilities. We stopped for lunch/coffee at a small town (Hagerstown) in a cafe called 'The square cup'. As the saying goes here, people coming out of this in cafe saying, "Thanks a Latte!" (In fact there is a board with this expression outside the café).

As we continued on our drive to New York City, we unfortunately got stuck in a traffic jam, about 100 miles out of the city. It took us almost 3 hours to drive about 12 miles. All of us were fairly uncomfortable with heavy bladders but we had to hold on for quite some time :). Hundred of motorists/vehicles ahead and behind our car were perhaps in a similar predicament. (Compare this scenario in an Indian highway). We were finally able to relieve ourselves at a wayside village restaurant as the traffic got cleared. It was an ohm…. and an ash! Effect being experienced.

We reached Secaucus (New Jersey) around 9PM, after a marathon drive by Uma (about 9.5 hours approx 520 miles) For most part of the drive, the road was hilly, and through valleys with green meadows all around. We checked at a hotel called Homestead Suites and had some ready-to-eat stuff for dinner. We were all quite tired.

After a quick breakfast the next morning (12^th May 2005), we headed for Secaucus station in a taxi. Our son-in-law, Srikanth, joined us here. We then took a train to the Liberty Park, a good experience on Jersey trains. Tickets are dispensed automatically through machines. The good part is that there are a lot of information pamphlets/brochures available all over the place (which we kept collecting for whatever it was worth!).

We took a ferry to Ellis Islands and the Statue of Liberty. There were zillion tourists at both these places! It was a great experience on the ferry, over the Hudson River with excellent views of New Jersey and New York City. The weather was quite chilly. From the ferry, Manhattan Island looks quiet and peaceful. However the moment we landed at the jetty, there was a huge surge of humanity (like you see at VT station in Mumbai during peak hours!). Aerial cover security checks are the order of the day in the US, post 9/11.

We walked around narrow streets, surrounded by huge skyscrapers on both sides - absolutely parallel to each other - a fantastic feat of architecture! We crossed Wall Street, the NYSE (all areas of high security); saw remains of the World Trade Centre (which was barricaded completely). “Ground zero” as it is called was a sad sight. Buildings, shops, malls are awesome and the city has a very cosmopolitan nature - you see people of all Nationalities, religions, in various levels of clothing (:-)), moving around comfortably. The beauty of the place is that despite massive road reconstruction work, there was no disruption of traffic. Public transport is very good we took a direct bus from Manhattan to our hotel. Traffic/ticketing is very well regulated on these excellent bus services.

People are friendly and helpful. Americans, particularly, use expressions like, “you are welcome” (when you thank) "have a good day", "how're you doing this morning?", "appreciate your help", etc (which might sound common, but when you hear them used by everyone, all the time, its quite different).

We had lunch in a Lebanese/Syrian restaurant. It is quite close to Indian food and we enjoyed it. Talking about food, Americans love eating. From the smallest baby to the oldest man, they eat a lot. They expect their guests also to eat well.

Later that evening we saw a Broadway show - The Phantom of the Opera - at Majestic theatre. This show has been running every day to a full house for the past 17 years and it certainly lived up to its reputation. The entire Broadway area has a number of such theatres, (staging plays/musicals) every evening. Visit to New York City is incomplete without such shows being watched in Broadway. When we got out at 10.30PM, it was biting cold.

Overall, it was an excellent day, well spent in New York City. A great experience indeed walking through Wall street/Broadway.

After breakfast next morning, we did our laundry at the hotel Laundromat - a fully automatic affair and enjoyed the process for nearly 60 minutes. All our soiled clothes were ‘clean’ in a matter of minutes.

We took the bus to Manhattan and visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It has some old and ornate artifacts, which we found very interesting the museum (for that matter all such museums as we later found out) has a sprawling food court, which caters for the palates of people of all nationalities.

Post that, we spent quite a bit of time at Central Park, which is the lung space of New York (around 800 acres). This was, as were told, created to facilitate socializing among people of all nationalities. It’s a lovely place. One sees people jogging, sunbathing, playing baseball and pram-riding their children, with no inhibition on the type of clothes they wear. Everyone is busy in his/her activity. We also lazed round on the lawns. A great place indeed. As we came out of the park we saw hawkers by the plenty, selling all kinds of wares (like you see in almost all metros in India).

Later in the evening we drove up to the UN building (but only from outside, as they had closed for the day) and spent some time enjoying the beauty, the environment. We are disappointed in not being allowed to go inside. Perhaps next time! We reached the Empire State building basement at around 6.30PM. We queued up and our turn came to get inside elevator. The elevator reached the 80th floor in a matter of seconds. The observatory (circular) was on the 86th floor, and it was extremely cold (with a high wind chill factor). The wind cuts you like a blade, but despite this, there were a number of tourists (all ages, nationalities, etc). The view is breathtaking and an experience of a lifetime. We thoroughly enjoyed this. The tower itself is an architectural and an engineering marvel.

There are a total of 12 avenues and over 300 streets on Manhattan Island. The roads are at right angles to one another and it is all quite orderly. The city itself is very alive and at night you can see fast-changing neon lights, which emulate the pace of the city. It seemed like the city celebrates Diwali everyday!

During a casual talk with an American-African taxi driver, he commented on the eating habits of American. He said they are generally overweight due to their fascination for fast food/junk food. They have, he said, no time for ‘slow’ food. This statement ‘corroborated the survey in the Economist’ magazine on the obesity syndrome in US.

# posted by Murthy @ 2:04 PM

We have been going for regular morning walks. It is cold early in the mornings, but a pleasure to walk in a clean and green environment. I am almost reminded of Wordsworth, as he wrote:

' I wandered lonely as a cloud, over vales and hills, when all at once, I saw a crowd - a host of golden daffodils'...

Except that here in Blacksburg, instead of daffodils, we saw poppies and pansies and a host of other flowers. The roads, I reiterate, are very clean, surrounded by vales and hills and are very well maintained. They appear as if they have been washed early in the morning.

There are hardly any human beings or for that matter any other creature on the roads at this early hour. We did not see many Americans walking, which allows me a nice segue to another aspect of life here - the rampant obesity syndrome. Americans patronize fast food joints. As per a recent issue of the Economist, 60% of American is obese and a large number are tending towards being in the 'very' obese category.

The few people we saw/met during the walk are friendly, ever smiling and communicate if you talk to them. Otherwise it is a culture that encourages one to mind his/her own business.

Shopping malls are huge. Garbage/waste management is an activity to be appreciated. There is a garbage collection bin in every apartment block/commercial area and not a speck of garbage is seen anywhere other than in this area. There is plenty of water (cold and hot) every value, good vegetables, milk, etc. It is quite comfortable for vegetarians to live here (unlike in some parts of South East Asia). Of course the cost is mind boggling at times. For example a big-sized brinjal cost 6 dollars!! . There are a hundred of cars of various makes/models on the roads, and thousand of cars in 'used' car lots.

Most of the transactions in USA are done via credit cards. There are Post Offices, and they are mostly self-service type. Other means of communication like cell phones, landlines, email, etc are more widely used. Banks are efficiently managed with least amount of administrative staff. Most of the activities are automated. The workers, for example, in a car service station, are extremely committed, focused, and loyal to their profession. They do a quality job. There is no cheating at all. They value time.

Car washing is done by owners themselves, at the gas station. They do this by 'dropping a quarter' in a slot. The entire process is fully streamlined and a pleasure to go through the process.

We noticed that there are a number of girls/ladies of all sizes roaming around in clothes of extremely small sizes. Micro-mini shorts are quite common. . The difference however is it is an accepted form of life style, and there is no ogling/staring!!

# posted by Murthy @ 1:13 PM

After a nine-hour flight, we reached Frankfurt at 7:45 AM (German time). Frankfurt is a huge, grand and a beautiful airport. We took a hot shower (incidentally it cost us 12 Euros – approximately Rs.700), and after a five-hour halt, left by a United Airlines flight for Washington DC at 12:45 PM (German time). It was also nearly a 9 hours flight, of which 85% was over the Atlantic Ocean. The flight was comfortable. We met many Europeans and, as usual, many Indians. I took breaks every 2 hours on both these long haul flights and walked in the aircraft to keep the body/legs in motion. We had a grandstand view of Atlantic Ocean off & on. It was a great feeling at that height.

We landed at Washington DC at 3:45 PM (US Time) on 6^th May’05, and went through very stringent immigration and customs checks. We expected a two-hour ordeal but it got over in less than half an hour. We took a chance and boarded an earlier flight to Roanoke (Virginia) (5:25 PM flight instead of the 10:45 PM flight that we were booked in). The airline staff was extremely polite, cordial & helpful. We reached Roanoke by 6:30 PM and were received by our elder daughter Uma. It was a great experience flying across half the world for over 19 hours (flying time). To our pleasant surprise we were delighted to see our luggage also being unloaded from the same flight .As per rules it was to be loaded in the later flight that we were booked.

From the airport we were driven in a Honda Civic car at an average speed of 65 miles/hour on a fantastic interstate highway. We observed that there was excellent traffic discipline by drivers of all types of vehicles on the road. Route marking along the highway was excellent & very helpful. What a contrast to Indian roads and drivers! We reached Blacksburg town (45 miles from the airport) in less than 45 minutes. The countryside although the drive was undulating with tree lines, valleys with crests and troughs & thick green foliage all through It was extremely a treat to see well-maintained shoulders of the road. The population density, we observed, was low, maybe that is the reason for such cleanliness. We need to learn a lot from this activity of maintaining and keeping the environment & roads clean. Perhaps it will take a long time for us to reach this level! Incidentally when we reached Blacksburg it was still daylight (8:30 PM).

After a hot shower, we had dinner and hit the sack. We were quite tired and jetlag was catching up. (We had crossed 5 time zones) We woke up the next morning around 7:30 AM, had breakfast, went back sleep and got up at 4:30 PM (A jetlag activity). Our younger daughter, Vidya, joined us from Singapore on the 7th.

Next morning, we went for a 4 mile- walk, passing by Virginia Tech. The University area is a beautiful place; very clean sprawling manicured lawns and well lay out with massive buildings. It exuded good and positive environment for studies. The buildings are an architectural marvel. Campus housing is a part of this area.

Our daughter’s house is a two-bedroom apartment and overlooks the Blue Ridge ranges, which are part the Appalachian Mountains. The entire area is very scenic, full of trees, very serene and calm. The apartments in the US are self-contained in all respects- gas, dishwasher, microwave oven, centrally heated/ air-conditioned environment, copious water supply etc.

The clothes are washed, rinsed and dried at a community laundry, which is 100 yards away. This is fully automatic and gets activated by dropping the required coins in a slotting machine.

# posted by Murthy @ 12:59 PM