My first travel to US

On Friday 6th May 2005,I went to Bangalore Airport at around 7:30 pm.My Dad and my brother came there to see me off.After getting boarding pass I proceeded to the immigration counter .The immigration officer looked at my "school boy" picture and put his hand on head .I thought that he is going to make a issue out of this ,but he said something different ."Why you spell Nair as Nayar ,you must be proud of the caste you belong too.I am also a proud Nair?".I was relieved and equally embarassed.What to do ,people wont change even in 21st century.I promised him "I will try to change it".

The flight to Bangtok was late by 30 min.I got into Thai airways flight at around 10:30 and I was greeted by thai airhostess with smile and a language which resembles some "foul language" in my own native language .But I didnt care as usual. I know the people of Malay race(Chinese /Japs/etc) will eat anything that moves or which appears to be a living organism.So I specifically instructed my travel agent that I cant consume that.So for dinner ,I was given meal which consists of some "fresh" plants and half baked dough.I finished off my dinner by taking some red wine.

Hardly after 3 hrs and 45 min ,flight landed at Bangok The airport looked very luxurious ,but without proper sign boards.When I got out of the gate ,I thought that I have to do 4*400 meters self relay around the airport.There were other Indians from Wipro who were travelling instructed me the right place.I collected my boarding pass for my next flight and I approached towards the gate.

At the gate they looked mercilessly at my passport and run through the scanners to make sure that it not counterfeit .I found that they did only for Indians or similar looking people.Are we thugs ?.Security was strict .They removed my shoes and asked lot of questions on the nature of baggage I was carrying. In fact I like security ,it makes us feel that no member of bin laden gang is sitting next to you or in the plane.

After that I went inside into a larger plane (Boeing 747 ) of United Airlines.I saw very decently dressed crew inside unlike "over painted" grandmas of Indian Airlines and Air India.This time too I was offered special meal consists of "fresh" plants and dough.

After 6 .30 hrs,I landed in Narita international airport in Tokyo ,Japan.It is the best airpot I have seen so far.Clearly laid sign boards ,enough display screen,good view and polite people.I spend some time there just sitting and walking .It seemed everything there is expensive and I didnt courage to have food or drinks.It can be some snake !.After some time I took another flight to San Francisco.It was another 8 hrs of horrible journey,luckily a pal from Wipro was sitting next to me.

At immigration counter in SFO,the immigration guy looked at my "schoolboy" picture and asked me "Is it you".Our travel desk guys goofed something which spoiled my entire meeting.They booked return tickets on July.I infact asked for 12 weeks of stay ,which the immigration officer didnt like that.

But he did give me 12 weeks and advised not to stay beyond that.I was disappointed with that meeting,last time our travel desk booked a ticket for me to delhi for my visa interview at chennai !.He might have thought that I might be a Hanuman to jump from delhi to chennai.

There at SFO,I took some raw vegetables and bread as breakfast and made some quick calls to India to tell everyone that I landed in america.After some time I boarded another flight to Salt Lake City.Salt Lake Ciy is the "center" of state Utah which is a very conservative state .It was a rought flight since weather was bad,and I really got scared when it landed.I collected my baggage there went outside.it was cold.I had to travel another 50 miles by road to reach hotel .Finally I got into shuttle service and landed in hotel at Sunday 5 am India time which was 5:30 pm Sat in Utah.I travelled from one end to another end of the globe which took almost 20 hrs of flying time .I feel I am in a different world ,completely different from what I have seen so far.

Life in US

I made a serious effort to understand life in US in a week .Everyone knows that it is quite different from India.I live in a place called Orem which is around 30 miles from Salt lake City/Utah.People live in Utah mainly belong to conservative christian sect called Mormons.Because of that, Utah is completely free of bars or night clubs which is totally common in rest of US/Europe.
Orem is a beautiful place surronded by mountains .The buildings are flat which covers lot of land space.I think people usually go for high rise building when there is a scarcity of land.Orem has got lot of space.I initially stayed in a nice hotel ,later on our company took a descent apartment which has a wonderful view .I really got suprised by the fact the sun here usually sets by 8:30 pm !.
The first thing you notice in Orem is that you wont find much people outside.People usually travel by car and car is one of basic ingredient of american life.They have build huge roads and good traffic system so that people can move easily .And moreover you can find lot of parking space everywhere.There is virtually no public transport system available since very few people live here.

On last Monday I went to our office.It is a small office but it is very neat and beautiful..Our manager took me to various people and I shook hands or did say an american "hi".I think people here have a great professional culture.One of the managers invited us for a dinner at his home on Tuesday.We went there and his family prepared a nice veggie dinner consists of garden burger,macroni,fruit salad and a tasty cake.I liked the fact that they interacted with us without having any preconceived notions about Indians.They treated like another human beings!.
Apart from that I spend some time in Walmart and Costco ,huge shopping malls where you can buy virtually anything.One particular thing I noticed about americans here is that more than 60 percent of people are just fat. May be opening a food chain or a hotel here is a good bet