This article is written by Punshil Kumar, based in Delhi

To ward off the stifling summer heat of Delhi, my two daughters in America insisted that we join them. They are putting up in Bowie and Virginia. I left for the United States of America (USA) in April with my wife. We got a warm and affectionate welcome from our daughters who received us in New York. All of us then headed to Washington. Initially we stayed in Bowie and enjoyed a lot. We usually shuttled between the two houses.  During my stay there we went to see the White House and also visited several Chinese and Thai restaurants.  We also enjoyed going to pizza shops because the children loved to do so. On every Saturday I used to accompany my daughters to Indian stores for their grocery shopping.  Once we also visited the children’s school to attend their graduation function. We were stunned to see the spectacular fireworks on July 4, the American Independence Day. We spread a sheet on the pavement along with others and enjoyed crackers, which sprouted into flowers of different colours in the sky.  With a friend of my son-inlaw, I went to Pennsylvania and stayed in his house for two days.  I went to New York twice and stayed with my brother-in-law in Hopewell Junction, a suburb of New York. I also visited Seattle with my wife and brother-in-law, and we stayed there for a week, and visited several lakes and went to see Mount Rainier.  I also visited Ocean City and we stayed there for three days in a rented house and enjoyed the sun and sand on the beach. My younger daughter is a beautician and a very social person. Her friends used to come home and we had a lot of fun in their company. They celebrated my birthday also.  Unlike India, in USA there are no shops in residential establishments and thus people go to wholesale and retail stores for grocery, fruits, milk and vegetables mostly on Saturdays and store the stuff in the pantry and refrigerator.  Most of the families in USA do not cook and bring stuff from nearby restaurants, to save them from cleaning the kitchen. Some families do cook in their houses, but to save time they also bring ready to cook things, which are now available in plenty.  Another interesting thing I noted here was that the morning walkers are often greeted with a hello. This brews a very happy feeling within, as it comes from absolute strangers in a foreign land. It was definitely a memorable holiday.

Punshil Kumar

17 Sept 2011

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