We had arrived on a Friday afternoon on 11th Apr 08 as deliberately planned so that it was comfortable for Sai to manage as he has holidays on all Saturdays and Sundays and on a Friday he works from home . On 12th morning we were up quite early. It was a little difficult to go to sleep the previous night as 11 o’clock in the night is 11 in the morning in India and sleeping throughout the night was equivalent to sleeping throughout the day in India! Anyhow it is all in the mind so we did go to sleep although it took us some time.
We then went at about 11 in the morning to a place called Ranch market in Berkeley, another suburb. If you go through http://www.maps.google.com/ you will find the route quite interesting. From the map you can see that San Francisco is on the tip of a peninsula kind of an area, and all the suburbs are spread out on the coast. Taking San Francisco as a reference, the suburbs are located on the North Bay and East Bay There is a South Bay, south of San Francisco city. There is no West Bay as you would land up in the Pacific Ocean!! San Francisco and its surrounding areas or suburbs are therefore referred to as the Bay area.
Each suburb is a town by itself and distances from SFO city called Downtown SFO, are comparable to the distances of the suburbs of Mumbai or Chennai or any other metro city from the main city but due to the excellent infrastructure you just do not feel the pinch of distance. Incidentally San Francisco itself is located in Northern California and California is one of the 50 states of the US.
Ranch market is a Chinese market where all types of Chinese items are available and also vegetables which we have in India, although the vegetables here are healthier. Onions, tomatoes, potatoes are all huge even bananas – most of them are organically grown and hence the difference. So we picked up vegetables and went to an Indian shop where we picked up the urad dal , masoor dal etc there which are essential cooking items for us but are not available in the American super markets or even in the Ranch market. Name it and you get the Indian item of your choice like MTR Sambhar powder, Bedekar’s pickles, typical Madrasi appallams Maggie instant noodles etc.Plenty of such Indian shops exist, especially in the East Bay area.
And then we went and had typical Masala Dosa, for lunch in an Udipi Hotel – the very next day of our arrival!!
Sunday morning we went to a hill overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. We were almost on top of the Hill and the Wind which blew was sooooo… cold, almost freezing but the view of the Golden Gate was simply breathtakingly beautiful, wonderful and unforgettable. Today also happened to be Tamil New Year’s day. We invited the friends of Sai – Teja, Raja Harsha to come for lunch. They did not want Latha to strain herself but reluctantly agreed to come and have Payasam only along with Vadas .We had a lovely time together.
All Mondays, Americans just hate as they have to get back to work after a two and a half day weekend. Most of them push off from the office on Friday afternoon / evening itself to begin their week end! My son is no exception. He leaves early in the “ freezing “morning at about 6 00 am and catches a ferry to go to his office in San Francisco.The Ferry takes him to SFO in one hour’s time .He parks his vehicle in the Ferry terminal and then boards the air conditioned Ferry ,wherein facilities exist for his working on his lap top! He is back home at about 7.30 p.m. tired and worn out after a stressful day. We then head straight for dinner at 7.45 p.m.
Still he took us out to a place called Sausalito (please refer http://www.maps.google.com/ ) one evening which is yet another beautiful place along the waterfront. We could even go for a walk after which we had coffee in Sai’s favourite restaurant there and then came back .The San Franciscans are very fond of cycling and we could see a number of cyclists in their cyclist’s dress and helmets , cycling down the virtually empty road (as per Indian standards !)
There were quite a few “Walkers” too. The most amazing aspect of the “ Walkers’ was the way they all gave a pleasant smile to you simultaneously saying “ Good Evening “ So much of love , so much of courtesy . I was really touched .Found Swami’s teachings being demonstrated by the people here, people unknown to you, not only on the roadside, but by car drivers allowing you the pedestrian to go first, in the markets, in the car parking space , just about anywhere , all with a broad smile on their faces .
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