Ghajini, new Sentra and petrol

Ghajini, new SENTRA and petrol!
This is how it started.. it all started with ghajini... the most awaited film of 2009 we Indians in nashville, no hindi film theater... most of us now were used to watch hindi movies online on ur dear laptops.. w/o which we cant actually live.. and I literally mean it :P . So, wen me, malavika & supriya talked abt aamir (aamir fan club)... we just cud'nt avoid the topic of watching ghajini in theater... and u can say.. I was more insistent... there were 2 ways, either Memphis or Atlanta to watch ghajini.. both cities at 4 hr drive distance frm nashville. Finally, trip to Atlanta was decided... 4 gals - rohini, Supriya, malavika and sonali. Malavika and sonali knew driving, me and supriya just knew the rules of driving (knowing the rules is just not so easy... its actually a written test.. so stop laughing)



We were all set, prepared everything.. on the night before, wat stuffs to carry in car, snax, chips, water.. napkins.. 1 pair of clothes.. blah blah blah.. they say that u shud never trust 3 things in US"Wife", "Weather" and "work"... So, we were worrying abt the 2nd term, thats abt the weather... had a look abt next day's temperature, rain, moisture,,. wind speed.. and all the parameters ... MOre than the movie we were much much excited abt the indian food we were going to have in atlanta , at a restaurant, where u get delicious south indian food, sonali also suggested to have chat after movie, the food plan seemed to be bigger than the movie though :P ;) .. anyways .. anyone staying in USA wud turn out to be a foodie maniac at some point of time.. so I was busy imagining myself gorging over the chat and indian roti sabzi! :P. So next morning, 7:30am the journey started!
Malavika was driving her brand new car "Nissan Sentra" (black color, good looking ;-)), the atmosphere was awesome... as if its jus goin to rain, but not yet raining... Me and supriya started experimenting with my new camera (canon 10 MP)... we were capturing all the nice beautiful roads, blue skies, beautiful shape of clouds.. and capturing ourselfs... shooting all the nice moments.... bollywood filmy music in the background... "desi girl desi girl"...
All of us enjoying , the longgggggggg drive!
We had halts in between, to take rest! all of a sudden we realized that Atlanta falls under EST time, so we are going to lose 1 hr! so we need to hurry a little. We took fries/coke at McD's. We reached atlanta on time, as planned we went to the indian restaurant for lunch, it was nice yummy food, we were full by now. Then from ther we headed for the film theater which was 20 mins far. we were on time, evrything looked fine , just perfect!
This time, it was Sonali's turn to drive... (sonali, who is a US citizen, driving from many years, drives at a speed of 80mph wen ther is no police around ;) ) . we were on the interstate highway, going up down all over and below the flyovers... we were on almost the top of a flyover wen sonali said

Sonali : Hey malavika, gaadi ko kya hua...speed up nahi ho rahi

Malavika: kya?

Sonali : dekh na.. accelarator daba rahi hoon yaar.. kuch bhi nahi ho raha :-o

malavika : sonali mazak mat kar yaar.. accelerator daba yaar...
Sonali is a funny girl, but we were sure.. she will not play pranks in the mid of the highway, on top of the flyover... but I just prayed that She was joking! before we cud figure out the slow speed... the car stopped!!! Sonali hardly managed to pull over the car on the shoulder of the road (for those who dont know, shoulder is the side of the road, where u can park ur car in case of any emergency)

We all had gone nuts, nothing can go wrong wid malavika's New sentra car... all this happened in few seconds... then it striked... that we had NOT filled the gas in the car, and it had ran out of fuel.. in the midst of this busy highway on the FLYOVER!
Wen everything was just looking fine and correct.. things start screwing up! and Damn.. WE were really screwed up BIG time! wat the heck.. how can we forget... how come none of us reminded.. actually we all thought of fuel once upon a time before having lunch.. and the thought all vanished after lunch I guess... we were experiencing short term memory loss.. even before watching ghajini! hehehehe
but this situation was really really unexpected and scary!


First thought which came was to call '911', but wat sonali said that 911 wud bring ambulance, fire brigade and police, which is good but will take time to help... calling highway patrol wud b better, coz they provide fuel enough to drive till the gas station, But we did nt find their no. we were so panicky!!! I cant explain! we cud see gas station jus across the flyover 5 mins walk on the other side of the road! wat if we bring fuel just enough to drive the car till gas station????

atleast we can get help... Me and sonali crossed the highway, sonali peeped down the flyover and said "yahan se jump karegi???" she was gone crazy! actually she thought, we were not on the top but at the base of flyover, and somehow she thot it wud save our time! anyways, we walked doen the flyover, and managed to reach the uphill gas station... here comes one more thing, only members can buy fuel over ther, so we went inside the super market along the gas station.. Sonali managed to create a membership card for free.. she took 10 mintues to make sure that they will not charge her henceforth for becoming a member!!!! shoot.. time was jus flowing by... me worrying abt malavika and supriya who were in the midst of busy highway!

ther in the car, malavika and supriya were facing honks blown by other cars passing by! here comes one more car, desi boys! they saw desi gals inside our car, slowed down, just watched watched, went ahead watched frm rear view mirror.. and flew away.. huh! wat else can Indian guys do???

Supriya: arey 1 glass petrol do yaar, sirf ghoor ghoor k dekho mat :P

This must hav relaxed malavika for 1 sec.. but she was worrying abt the battery of the car.. parking loghts were on.. praying and hoping that we cud get some help frm gas station!

here in the supermarket, we bought a dabba which had toya in it, removed the toys, filled 1$ petrol! Ghosh! does petrol look like this?????? I never saw :P.. we walked as fast as we cud! 1 thot lingering at the back of my mind " ghajini must hav started!!" ohh ! we just reached the base of our flyover.. and here comes a new thing! police pulled aside malavikas car! malavika had already started panicking wen she saw police frm the rear view mirror.. but she was smart enuf to hide her panick, and had a sweet smile on her face, told the officer, that we had ran out of fuel! me carrying the toys, and sonali carrying daba filled wid petrol! such an odd scene, he laughed a little like u know "u stupid girls" kind of a smile :D He told to hurry up! we managed to fill petrol, malavika was litterally shaking and praying at athe same time... actually all of us were praying!

hoooofff..... done! started the car as calmly as we cud, the officer stayed behind us till we drove safely... (He was Handsome, I forgot to mention ;-)) now things looked a little sorted out, we fulled the tank with petrol, disposed the petrol dabba washed our petrol hands.. and now we searched GPS for movie theater, coz we had changed our route... GPS was kind of misleading! giving haywire directions, saying reached destination.. etc etc... we followed one direction, drove a little bit, asked somebody, that guy misleaded again , we were circling that area again and again! Oh god that day was full of troubles! we passed by the same gas sation we had just left and guess wat?????? The theatre was just beside the gas station!!!!!!!!! watttt ????? we wasted another 20 mins roaming around that theatre!!!!! wats happening ???????? wow! 1 hr movie gone!

anyways, like crazy fans we went inside, asked if ther was another show immediately .. ofcourse u guessed it right, ther was one, but very late, obviously we had to drive back 4 hrs to nashville, so not possible! :-( anyways, we gave our e-ticket, and the guy at the counter, It felt he took ages before he gave us tickets!! he was ridiculously slow and moreover we were trmendously in a hurry.. I cudnt even say "jaldi karo na boss!" in Indian style... finally we got tickets and ther in the dark theatre, full packed Indian audience! just the front row empty left for us :P... and on the screen ... many Aamir khans stood to welcome us .. singing "behka main behka...." wow.. watever happened just vanished like this... palak jhapakte hi ;-) ... we were into ghajini watching ghajini! 6 pack Aamir khan... njoying evry scene,,,.. but just one thing still was a co-incidence in the film... Asin buys an ambassador car and prays "Bhagwan gaadi mein hamesha petrol bhara rahe" 4 of us jumped! astonished!!! laughing like anything :D no one in theatre knew y these 4 late girls were crazy , but we knew how it was wen "gaadi mein petrol khatam hota hai"

all s well that ends well... we came singing back "ae bachchu ..." :D

People...

Dunno y am I writing this… just for the sake of it.. starting my first blog..

To pen down my thoughts… to share it wid my frnds. To receive comments… good ones always expected :P

To explain how much I am struggling wid my sleep in office.

To write down.. how much hungry I am right now! To tell how much I miss my family, my friends, My India…

My mom being in the study of astrology, I have always seen people ask about..

"pardesh gaman yog" as in "when wud I go to USA"…

I have seen the study behind all these… but I never found out whether I fall under that "YOG" of Pardes gaman category!

I didn't know that I did!!! Finally I am here…

Everyone are strangers over here… but still there are "Hi and hello… good day.. how r u doing?... " greetings from almost every stranger I have met in America…

These are manners / etiquettes… Quite Strange! I am not used to it :P .. born and brought up in Mumbai.. I am very used to the casual behavior in Mumbai! Like "dhakka kyu maara be"…"Sorry boss" …. "shaani samajhti hai kya apne aapko".. "fulltoo Yeda hai"

So… I just bumped into this world of etiquettes! Oh lord… save me!! when will I get to here those 'Tapori' dialogues again.. Nevertheless, I have started learning all these manners… its always good to be like this!

Staying away from family for work is so different from staying away for a vacation!

Apart from missing my family… becoming emotional.. crying buckets on most of the India phone calls… I have changed a lot!!

I think I have become more responsible… I always said.. I helped my mom in kitchen.. also in other household matters.. but I was never responsible for anything…

Here in USA I am responsible…

For my home.. for paying bills… for my work.. for my security… relationships.. everything everything…

So wat??? all Bachelors staying away from family are responsible for all these things….

Wats the big difference when u r in America? I ask myself.. there's a difference… I can't explain.. but yes there is a difference.. and it matters a lot!

The difference is POPULATION… I guess..

Ofcourse.. India is highly populated compared to USA.. but those are statistics!

I am talking about the amount of interaction with people…

I dunno who's my neighbour.. I am not the only one…. None of us know!

I have not seen children play in the open area of society!... ofcourse there r parks.. nice playing courts… but very few players… In India I have seen children playing in every gully!

My society doesn't have a security guard (as in WATCHMAN.. hehehehe).. we have secured gates working on remote ..

My canteen doesn't have a canteenwala… there r vending machines in break room… there r no kaamvaalibais… there r washing m/c.. vacuum cleaner.. dishwasher.. blah blah blah.. especially while shopping.. we don't have dukaanwalas.. no bhajiwalis.. Its all in grocery store.. pick for yourself.. no dukanwala is going to put forth beautiful outfits for u to choose.. u search for urself in the whole big Store!

Yes, People matter a lot!.. in that day today interaction, we actually become a part of somebody else's life even if we share something for 1 min.

Here, we do not always follow those manners.. but a small conversation wid someone in train/bus .. if we see a cute baby ..we start playing wid that baby.. an absolute stranger's kid!... then.. complaining about long queues with a person standing next…those chai time chitchat in office break… We also strike an interesting conversation wid our doctor.. even when we r not feeling well …wid our running nose ... we still talk.. don't we?

Are we Indians a lot talkative??????? Or do we like to poke are nose everywhere!

Ummmm… hmmmm I think .. we r talkative.. we want to share and listen abt everything! This talkativeness.. this sharing.. emoting .. amongst so many people… giving opinions abt so many things… thinking abt so many… all of these come to a stand still.. when one is in America!

I can't explain, wats the big deal.. if we don't have such people around... But I have to stay alert if I don't have people around… In India even if I stay away from family … there's always a feeling .. that "people are there around me" to help or to guide… Even if I have to search an address.. that "kisise bhi puchh lena" mind set is always there.. here in USA I have to be prepared .. well equipped with information… I have to be on my toes in case of managing finance… I need to plan way ahead of time.. I need to plan whether shud I go swimming,,, or gym,, which weekend to watch which movie.. planning even for trips… which I never did in India.. trips were always planned just 1 day ahead…thx to my dear frnds!!! :D

I am answerable for everything I do, I own, I think, I earn, I enjoy! I am now Actually a 'responsible woman'… which I wud have never become if I wud have continued to be in India… maa ke aanchal mein chupi ek ladki (sounds quite filmy ;)) but that's true! I have grown up.. I have changed :-) .. for the better!