Memoirs from Akron Sojourn

STATUTORY WARNING: This blog is tiresomely longgggg...Not for the faint hearted!!!

Lemme start today's blog with a revelation. As I posted my blog yesterday, I was elated at the thought that I was finally able to bring my latent passion for writing to the forefront. Well, this is certainly not the revelation part.Its actually the fact that somehow I had let my real self, my real passions, my real thoughts take a backseat in the last coupla years as i was pursuing a path that had no final destination. Is it an excessive usage of the word "REAL" making it seem that I possibly lived a very pseudo life in the last two years?????? The answer is a vehement "NO". It was a cherishable journey that helped me unearth certain facets of my life which I thought never existed and possibly a journey that was best to not complete.
I guess enough of my worldly wisdom. Lemme transport myself back to Akron- that almost seemed like paradise on earth to me for two days. As we zoomed off in my brothers's car, we got talking and the next thing we know is we are on the wrong expressway!!! We thankfully realized our oversight soon and got back to the right track. Hey, but at this point, we did not realize the implication of missing just "ONE" exit. Why have I emphasized the "ONE" so much???? coz I havent completed my story yet and I promise you shall find an answer to the this in this very blog. We caught up possibly on everything under the sun within 45 minutes that was d drive duration from Cleveland to Akron leaving me wondering what are even gonna talk in the next coupla days....But then again I realized i was underestimating my strength (yes i prefer it believe its my strength. I can blabber non stop to the extent, I often tell my friends, my mouth actually hurts when it is shut!!!). Late Friday afternoon, we went grocery shopping. (I must mention here- I had promised my cousin that I shall exhibit my culinary skills to the maximum and forced him to buy all possible vegetables ever harvested by mankind). At the cost of receiving brickbats from him, I must make another revelation (am i disclosing a bit too much??????) which is that his hostility towards cooking is pronounced!!! I am sure he got all the stuff hoping to get to eat a four course mean soon, little did the poor guy realize that.........
WE got home and pacified our growling stomachs to some ready to eat food (the vegetables that we got needed their breath of fresh air too before they were crucified). The most significant part of the day was the night after the Olive Garden (yeah, the auspicious time to cook hadnt dawned yet) dinner, where some intense conversation and some orange juice (yes the same orange juice- am I making it seem even more potent than the holy water of the Ganges????) payed way to torment you poor souls into reading this blog. So if you yawning at this point, you know whom to blame-yes our good ol friend-the Orange juice).
The next morning was the beginning of a fun drive to Pittsburgh to the famous Venkateshwara temple there. entering the temple, I realized I was garnering attention, some looks of scorn, some bewilderment etc etc. A careful look at myself and a skirting look around me gave me my answer-it was my attire. The women around me adorning the best of their sarees and jewels (secretly giving me ideas to give up my PhD and instead becoming a Nalli and Tribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri franchisee and earning big bucks) and here I was in denims and a black sleeveless top making me seem like a clown (read irreverant youth not deserving to visit the temple). After I finished my prayers amidst those prying eyes,I rushed back to our car all excited to reach UDIPI (the mecca of authentic south indian food). The long and tiring wait at the restaurant (yes longer than the queue to offer prayers to the Lord Venkateshwara) din seem so long and so tiresome afterall as I gobbled my first morsel of steaming hot idli laden with sambar (and the singer inside me started humming- garam garam sambar mein doobe idli- a famous adv I saw as a kid. Indian Adverstisements (man I miss them so much), perhaps it needs a whole blog dedicated to its cause.
After overindulging ourselves in some fine food, we started our drive back. At this point, I must mention that this was the first drive I was embarking upon without a GPS. Until now I have always travelled with people who have believed that GPS is the coolest invention of the millennium. Not undermining the ability of this small gadget and certainly not offending the female voice who is the guiding force literally- I must admit the thrill of travelling with a map, getting lost, losing orientation and landing at a completely obscure place and exploring one's way back are no less exhilarating than a Sixflags batman roller coaster ride. These "GPS Guys" are completely alienating themselves from this thrill (Sorry if I have inadvertently hurt some sentiments there). In a span of 10 minute drive, we lost our way thrice and ended up travelling on the same freeway thrice and truly experienced a sense of deja vu. We finally got back on the right roads feeling triumphant about our orientation skills completely oblivious to the woos that were gonna come our way. We were discussing material science, rheology and computational fluid dynamics (nope we aint any descendants of Einstein or Sir Issac Newton). Our first conversation was about an overtly complex subject called "Relationships" ( I can see some assertive heads endorsing the adjective I have used there). This talk famished us leaving our brains more convoluted than ever before. And so as a food for our brains, we struck some intellectual conversations about cardiac aneurysms and stent fabrications ( am i losing my readers loyalty at the mention of such jargons...hang on guys, I wont elaborate on this any further). And in the backdrop was playing a CD with voices crooning their happiness and misery. At the beginning of this conversation, my bro had hammered it into our brains that we needed to take Exit 218. But cardiac aneurysms and stents proved to be such smart a***. We got so immersed in our talk that any pharmaceutical brain hearing us converse would have gone.. Voila...I have the solution to cardiac aneurysms and we have the perfect stent technology to patent instantly- U guys are hired!!!!. As my cousin was explaining computational fluid dynamics differential equations to me, we could hear those familiar voices crooning the same songs all over again from the start. And the next thing we do is take some efforts to look at the green direction boards and what did it read????? EXIT 170. The realization that we have overdriven "50 Exits" was shocking. But our first reaction was- Woo hoo we have brains and we can engage in meaningful conversations.....We took the next exit and drove our way back, but this time however supremely vigilant of every single green board (Now I know the exact exit numbers to Kent, Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, canton, Cuyahoga and Columbus- so now u guys know, who to reach on ur next road trip to Ohio...jus kidding). But words fall short to express the fun of getting lost especially after having driven always with our beloved "Neverlost Garmin buddy".
It was almost time to hit the sack. We ate all the food that we had bought from the temple and transported ourselves into dreamland as we spoke. Now that the blog has turned disproportionately long, I terminate it here for another blog in the next coupla days. (For all those who have survived up to this point- kudos to your patience).