Category: USA

  • A french festival and the Great Circus Parade in Milwaukee

    A couple of weekends ago, Milwaukee celebrated two events…. One called Bastille Days, which is a french festival and the second called The Great Circus Parade.. This post is about my visits to these events over a period of three days… Enjoy the photographs!

    Bastille Days is a 4 day festival which was held at the Cathedral Square in Easttown Area of Downtown Milwaukee… This was essentially a festival focusing on three things, Good food, Good music, and take a guess, well! good Wine!

    I am not a wine fan, but I did enjoy some brilliant performances, and some Egyptian and Greek food during the festival…

    Over to visuals now…

    This is the north stage…
    Street artists at the Bastille Days…


    Some images from the South Stage in the festival…


    So this was all about Friday… The next morning I decided to walk over to the Lakefront where the Great Circus Parade was camping… Walked around the place looking at various wagons, watching people enjoying with family, this was a place to come to with kids… They really enjoying watching the horses, elephants, Jokers, Camels etc etc

    This guy’s mom had an inter-cast marriage with a Dalmatian…

    India? Someone is still living in the British Raj when it comes to India…


    After spending a few hours at the Circus Parade grounds I headed back home…


    And decided to go to Bastille Days again in the evening ! Just the right time to enjoy some amazing live music….

    What I really like about US is that people enjoy and dance irrespective of their age… Mostly people in their 40s and 50s were dancing around the south stage this time around… Teenagers and Youth apparently were not interested in this festival, as I did not see many !

    Some rope acrobats as well in the festival….

    I have developed a strong liking for country music here, and I was happy to hear it live too… The base guitarist was amazing!!!

    And the next morning which was Sunday, I went to see the parade… People had reserved/blocked spaces on the street sides for days in advance, some kept their chairs, some had marked the spots with duct-tape, some had even pitched their tents and were staying there for a few days… The number of people I see in Milwaukee every weekend is probably equal to the number I see in 4-5 winter months together!

    Ok, back to the Parade, enjoy!

    Like I said, these were family events 🙂 Even the horses were not behind… Baby horses were a part of the parade with Mommy Horses…

    Hope you enjoyed the parade and the festival… Will have more from other events from Milwaukee… Stay tuned!!!

    I have purposefully not written the details about the festival or the parade assuming that if you are interested, you would google and read about it!

  • Do in Rome as Romans do!


    You know you are turning amreekan if

    1. You have a coffee cup or its holder in your car, in your bag, on your desk, in your kitchen, on your dining table, on your “Coffee” table, next to your wash basin and in your hand

    2. If you reach office early, let’s say before 8 or at times 7:30 am and also leave early

    3. If you, when it gets hot, walk around with your t-shirt on your shoulders instead of wearing it

    4. If you feel that a horn is an unnecessary part of an automobile

    5. If you wear a t-shirt (polo style) with trousers and a formal leather belt and formal shoes

    Or if you wear a tshirt(polo style) with short(formal looking) with a formal leather belt and sports or casual shoes

    6. You wonder how people live in these countries every single time someone talks to you about India or China or Sri Lanka. And would have a never ending list of things which are not good about India and a longer never ending list of how everything can be resolved

    7. If you do not associate Asia with India and visa versa! Asians are Chinese! Indians are Pakistani! and Pakistani are Indian! Bangadeshi and Sri Lankans ! well, Indians again!

    8. If you fail to understand why the traffic moves at an average of 50 kmph in countries like India

    9. If your footpaths are now called CURBS, if your washbasin taps are now called FAUCETS, if the policemen are now called cops! oh no! not cops, but KHAAPS (read it like PAAP in Hindi), if your taxis are now called CABS

    10. If a burger or a sandwich can be treated as lunch

    11. If you look for a fat free sign on almost everything that you buy from the grocery store. And one thing that you will always find in your fridge is “I can’t believe its not butter”.

    12. If your kitchen does not have a door

    13. If you have a panic attack if you cannot find a tissue roll in your bathroom even though there is a perfectly nice and shining mug kept there

    14. The only way to take a bath that you know is a shower. You don’t know what to do with a bucket and a mug

    15. If you don’t know that touching elder’s feet is a way of expressing respect like nothing else

    16. If you don’t stare at cleavages and legs in aww

    17. If you don’t look around before a lip kiss and after

    18. If you start living in today, and not the past and not the future

    19. If your requests for credit cards are getting rejected because of a bad credit history

    20. If you are ok with paying for incoming phone calls and text messages

    21. If you have a pair of running shoes, a pair of walking shoes, a pair of hiking shoes, a pair of office shoes, a pair of casual shoes along some specific running shorts, swimming shorts, walking shorts, casual shorts, short shorts, long shorts and so on…

    22. If you have a mp3 player “with” an arm band

    23. If you like to eat a cheese burger with diet coke

    24. AND, if you stop missing a Chai ki Dukaan at the road side on the highways, or shall we call them Freeways!

    What is the relevance of the picture? nothing! I just happen to like the color in there!

  • Men’s Do’s and Don’ts

    This is about what to do and what not to do, when you are out shopping with your guy/gal!!!

    Women, don’t mind it please! My intention is not to offend 🙂 but to just put a few things that I have noticed, together !

    Men, learn ! and if not in a mood, enjoy pictures of some gorgeous women!

    1. Don’t expect to be consulted. Most women know what they want, and are not looking for consultation on how and what they “should” wear or when they should wear it

    2. Don’t be in a hurry. Your other option is, be in a hurry and screw up whatever time you managed to save because you now made the girl go away from something she loves to do

    3. Don’t look at other women trying to find clothes for themselves. Are you an idiot? You are here with someone, you have to look at what she is trying to buy irrespective of how many times she looks at the same rack

    4. Don’t hold her accountable for something she said 10 minutes ago while she is shopping. Opinions and views change, and when she is shopping, they change pretty quick ! You cannot hold her for some statement she made about some random dress or shirt or skirt 10 minutes ago. It might be “the” dress or shirt or skirt she wants to buy now, oh wait ! or maybe not! Anyway, you cannot hold her accountable for that sentence she said

    5. Don’t act as if you are the fashion guru. Keep your 2 cents for the time you are to pay the bill, and not for the time when she is shopping


    6. Don’t go away from the dressing room, when you were expected to stand there and wait up. What were you thinking when you walked away to see that shirt? Idiot! Who is she trying to look good for? YOU !! go back stand there and let the other women stare at you while you are standing in front of the dressing room, which happens to be next to the lingerie section for some reason that no one can tell


    7. Don’t change your answers when asked a question. If she asks you how is the dress, think before you speak. If it was picked up after some search and looked at for a second before she asked you the question, say it’s a nice dress. But if she asked the question immediately after she saw it, tell you have to see her in the dress before you can tell. In either situation, what you said does not matter. She will decide what she likes !

    and when asked again about the same question, maintain your stand!

    8. Don’t suggest a store “instead” of the one you are in. Oh you already did? Idiot ! now you have to spend time here and an equal time there ! what were you thinking?

    9. Don’t trying to think too hard about what she is trying to do, or understand what she is up to. It’s impossible for men to understand the pace and number of thoughts that a woman’s mind processes in those few minutes when she looks at a dress, or when she tries one, or when she is turning around in circles figuring out how she will look….

    she thinks almost everything from how would she look with the dress, with the dress with those silver earrings, with the dress with those silver earrings and the diamond pendent, with the dress with that diamond pendent and without this shiny lace on the dress, with the dress and those black sandals, oh wait, she needs new sandals, ok back! with the dress and those black ! neah! those silver sandals! with the dress and those… wait! with those black sandals and the other dress that she saw on the rack! wait! let me get that too! no wait ! there was that white dress as well… white dress and diamond pendent !!!

    the bottom line is, don’t even try figuring out !!!


    10. Don’t forget to compliment her. THAT is the icing on the cake! So far you have been telling her that the dress/shirt/skirt etc etc was nice. Now is the time to tell her that she looks great in what she has bought. You stood by when she was going through some of the most critical times of her life (read deciding on what to buy) and now you should let her know that she has taken the right decisions

    Some to-dos now during your shopping experience

    1. Wear comfortable walking shoes. It can get painful if you are standing for long hours without walking around much

    2. Carry a couple of cards and some extra cash. You don’t want to leave the stuff someone spent hours in selecting, behind.

    3. When helping her out with clothes, pick up a size smaller than what you think she fits in. Mostly what you think is wrong, and she will fit into one size small only!

    4. Park somewhere closer to the exit. That way you will walk less when you are done shopping, or when the store closes

    5. Enjoy the shopping experience. You are bound to be shopping for yourself the next weekend, once she is happy with what she has bought !


    oh, I almost forgot… point number 11 of the not-to-dos

    Don’t get onto to cell phone conversations in the store… you are making a big mistake if you are talking on the phone when she is almost about to come out of the dressing room wearing that new shirt!

  • Its about the choice I make…

    and not just at one time, but always !!!

    I can either decide to sulk over something that I don’t have or “can’t” have, or decide to be happy about what I have….

    I choose the latter for most part of my life these days and that makes me breathe easy !!! a lot easier than the times when I used to see the space around, instead of things that fill some of it !!!

    For instance, I cannot buy the cars that I see on the roads here every day ! BUT, I have an option of renting them 🙂 and in the last four weeks I enjoyed driving

    Mazda 6

    Chevrolet Impala

    Ford Fusion

    and this weekend, a huge Chrysler 300

    I will write about my personal opinion about these cars sometime later (can’t stay without driving a car and noticing a few things about it)

    But the point is,

    I choose what direction I turn my head it, I decide to turn in what is more satisfying !

    Meanwhile, enjoy a view of 4 of the 9 awesome beauties that I own here in America !!!

    Yea, I like miniature cars ! must have at least 20 of them back home in India !

  • Change

    Time for a bit of change…

    1. Seat moved from the 13th to the 7th floor

    2. Need to share the cubicle now… so much for being the vendor and not an employee

    3. Will take a while to adjust to the new seat… different height of the keyboard, monitor, docking station

    4. Will miss the view of the MAM and the lake…

  • (चाय और चम्पी ) Chai aur Champi !

    Kshitiz had a post on flickr a couple of days back which was something about why he was going back to India, and his response was that he does not get the roadside tea here !

    I could not agree with him more…

    If there were a few reasons why I want to go back to India, not being able to park my car and have tea/food in a dhaba would be in the top 5… What a blessing it is to enjoy a different kind of food and tea, every 100 kms in a open air dhaba… and here, all you get is Subways, Wendy’s, McDonalds and so on and so forth… sab kuch ek jaisa !


    Another reason and very silly one that is, would be not getting the proper hair cream… I have not been able to find any hair cream that I like so far here in the US.. my biggest issue is the huge number of options for almost every issue for your hair, and not one which says non sticky hair cream !!! aargh…

    Anyway, this weekend I managed to find something from Garnier that looks and feels like my favorite Parachute After Shower… though this one does not smell as nice as Parachute… Monday morning when I used it, I was so happy !!! finally !!!!

    Oh and one more… the 10 rupe ki champi that I get at my hair dresser !!!

    I going to move out of my comfort zone and path of least resistance at work soon… It is for doing the right thing, so hoping it works !!!

  • There is a lot of money out there !!!

    $ 150 Million were spent on Obama’s inaugration ceremony… Was it just to keep with the expectations of the world?

    I am just wondering if this could have been managed in anything less than what was spent?

    Recession? Was anyone really thinking about it when this function was held?

    I am wondering if this ceremony was the cheapest ever instead of the most expensive ever, would it have made people to think differently?

    And…

    Vijay Mallya gets back Gandhi’s stuff to the country at a cost of $1.8 million…

    For?

    The country?

    right !!!

    and now I am really interested in knowing how India gained from this.. After all this was done for the country !!! On second thoughts I am wondering about why am I getting so angry about all this, its his bloody money, he can spend it on whatever he wants! after all, he has earned the money and the rights to spend it too !

    I personally feel that the word Gandhi is a bit too over hyped in India… especially when the other names have just been limited to names and a holiday and maybe some awards or roads or markets…

    I did not feel good about this “victory” and felt that we are focussing on absolutely irrelevant activities at some level… and spending time, money, and effort doing those!


    Multiple issues, and I am feeling angry… aargh !

  • Of mixed emotions…

    Its strange how one act of nature can invoke so many feelings together in me…

    I am talking about a snowfall !

    On my way out of home today I just happened to check the scene outside, and I was like damn… need to change the shoes… so the formals go in the bag, and the dependable woodlands are out !

    I walk out, and there is a cover of white all around… I feel a certain peace and calm when I see the snow on the footpaths, the trees, bushes…

    The snow is still falling and there is no wind… so it falls slowly and the snowflakes enjoy their ride down to the ground moving around at their own pace and taking their own path… Find a snowflake that you like and then follow it to the ground… Its amazing…

    And then some wind… some snowflakes hit my face and I just take my tongue out to let some of the flakes fall on it… I love that feeling of the cold snowflakes landing on my tongue… 🙂

    I walk by a small park towards the office and there is so much snow… and I feel like leaving my bag and just go make a snowman the entire day

    All of this snow makes me want my friends around me too so that we can play war in the snow 🙂

    and something that I always miss in a snowfall… to have a sweetheart and walk with her hand in hand looking at the snowfall !

    All of this in some 5 minutes walk to the office 🙂

  • Finally Denim

    Who says wemmen take a long time in buying things !!!! It took me about 2 years to get a second pair of jeans !!! but I finally did it !!!
    I don’t remember how many times I tried buying one but never really bought, I even got one but never wore it… my tummy was growing at a rate which the jeans could not take after that first trial attempt !!! However, this weekend, I finally got a pair that I can wear !!! and I am not surprised that its very very similar to what I was wearing so far !! almost the same pattern, almost the same blue !!!

    So two now !!! sahi !
  • Floor the 13th

    My seat is on the 13th floor of the office building, and one of the nicest things that happens to me often is the morning sunlight falling on my desk (on the sunny days, which are not so common right now)…

    This is something that brings a smile to my face almost every time !

    Oh, and did I mention that I can see the vaaaast lake Michigan from my office too… its actually just a 5 minute walk away… Its beautiful !!!