May 24- May 30, 2008 Mill Valley
On 24 May (Sat) Sai went to help Stephanie’s sister Natalie shift her residence. Some of Sai’s friends, Stephanie, her mother Betty helped him shift to Mill Valley from Jan’s place in Novato. In fact Betty had used her truck to help Sai shift. Before proceeding to help Natalie, Sai took us to a shop called New York Bagels in the shopping complex nearby, known as Strawberry village. We had some Bagels (pronounced as Bay gels) there. A Bun kind of a thing with plenty of cheese / butter etc.
In the evening we went to San Rafael where we had what is called Sol food. In this restaurant which is many years old and famous, we had something like banana salted bhajji and some other item like banana sweet appam .Also purchased some grocery items from a shop nearby.
We went for “Sandwich Seva” to San Francisco downtown on 25 May (Sun) in the early hours of the morning. Met Sai Kiran there who is from Hyderabad and he wanted to know details of the Grama Seva activities going on in Hyderabad. I told him that I was in the process of opening up a Blog on the SSSVIP (Sri Sathya Sai Village Integrated Project) activities in Mallapur village in A.P., in which I was involved and that I will mail the Blog details to him.
Same day in the afternoon we went to a famous jeweler called “Shane Co” in San Mateo, Sai had placed an order for Stephanie’s ring. Sai has decided to “pop the question” as per American tradition next week, i.e., ask Stephanie whether she will marry him! He has decided to invite Divakar, Anu, Harsha, Teja and Raja and a few of Stephanie’s very close childhood friends to a hotel where he will propose to her and slip the engagement ring on to her finger.
“Shane”, the Jeweler’s shop is another very old establishment; posh, sophisticated, spick and span, and has a very rich tradition of excellent customer service. The treatment which you get there is amazing - absolutely courteous and caring. We were very impressed indeed .We were also surprised to find that there were no gold ornaments at all .Only Platinum ornaments which is costlier than Gold . We Indians are really crazy about Gold but in the US, people do not seem to bother about Gold at all. There was not a single golden ornament in “Shane”. Stephanie’s ring is simply beautiful, looking exquisite, majestic and divine .The ring made of platinum has a beautiful sparkling diamond embedded in it .Lucky girl.Sai had already taken Stephanie to this shop and taken her ring finger measurement.
From “Shane” we went to Petaluma to meet Stephanie and her mother Betty who were waiting for us to go and see a movie in a theatre out there. The theatre multiplex looked so small yet it had 11 screens in it, screening 11 pictures at the same time. The theatre was not very big .It had sound systems similar to our I Max in Hyderabad. But the screen was not 70 mm only Cinema scope .The audience kept munching popcorn and sipping coke! A lot of children came, as it was a Universal movie for all ages .
Had some pasta and salad before going to see the movie “Indiana Jones and the Crazy Skull”. The movie was very ordinary just up and down stuff. Like a typical Bollywood Masala movie, having something of everything .The special effects were indeed good. Otherwise there was nothing much to talk home about. But the movie is a very big hit all across the US!
Monday was “Memorial Day” for all the soldiers who have been fighting wars and are still fighting wars on behalf of the country. As on date more than 5 Lakh American troops are stationed all over the World. At least 4,034 members of the US military have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war in March 2003.Hundreds have been incapacitated for life and the toll is rising. The Iraq war has become a very big issue in the coming Presidential elections in November. John McCain a Republican candidate, seen as a pro Iraq war successor of Republican President George Bush, vs. Barrack Obama, the Democratic Party nominee.
It was indeed gratifying to see all shops and establishments closed all over the US to honour the martyrs and fighting soldiers, a tradition which is being followed since the past 150 years. The President of the US makes a speech in Washington, expressing the nation’s gratitude for all the gallant soldiers who have fought for America and are continuing to fight for America like in Iraq and Iran.
In the Bay Area, Memorial Day is commemorated at military cemeteries, some of them very old and one or two very new. There are more than 1.7 Lakh martyrs buried in three National level cemetries.They include the graves of people who served in the Indian wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, both World Wars ,Korean Wars and the recent ongoing Iraq war. We really have a lot to learn from this excellent, great American tradition.
Indian Premier League Twenty 20 cricket matches are on between 8 teams each playing the other twice .Seeing the matches in the morning live on the Lap top Video streaming on the net for a cost. Have been watching the matches quite regularly Today was the first semi final between Rajasthan Royals led by Shane Warne and Mohali led by Yuvraj Singh.Rajasthan Royals won. They are the hot contenders for winning the championship. All the Twenty 20 matches have been very thrilling and are really raking in the moolah for the organisers !
Attended Bhajans on Friday as usual at Harsha’s place.
In the evening we went to San Rafael where we had what is called Sol food. In this restaurant which is many years old and famous, we had something like banana salted bhajji and some other item like banana sweet appam .Also purchased some grocery items from a shop nearby.
We went for “Sandwich Seva” to San Francisco downtown on 25 May (Sun) in the early hours of the morning. Met Sai Kiran there who is from Hyderabad and he wanted to know details of the Grama Seva activities going on in Hyderabad. I told him that I was in the process of opening up a Blog on the SSSVIP (Sri Sathya Sai Village Integrated Project) activities in Mallapur village in A.P., in which I was involved and that I will mail the Blog details to him.
Same day in the afternoon we went to a famous jeweler called “Shane Co” in San Mateo, Sai had placed an order for Stephanie’s ring. Sai has decided to “pop the question” as per American tradition next week, i.e., ask Stephanie whether she will marry him! He has decided to invite Divakar, Anu, Harsha, Teja and Raja and a few of Stephanie’s very close childhood friends to a hotel where he will propose to her and slip the engagement ring on to her finger.
“Shane”, the Jeweler’s shop is another very old establishment; posh, sophisticated, spick and span, and has a very rich tradition of excellent customer service. The treatment which you get there is amazing - absolutely courteous and caring. We were very impressed indeed .We were also surprised to find that there were no gold ornaments at all .Only Platinum ornaments which is costlier than Gold . We Indians are really crazy about Gold but in the US, people do not seem to bother about Gold at all. There was not a single golden ornament in “Shane”. Stephanie’s ring is simply beautiful, looking exquisite, majestic and divine .The ring made of platinum has a beautiful sparkling diamond embedded in it .Lucky girl.Sai had already taken Stephanie to this shop and taken her ring finger measurement.
From “Shane” we went to Petaluma to meet Stephanie and her mother Betty who were waiting for us to go and see a movie in a theatre out there. The theatre multiplex looked so small yet it had 11 screens in it, screening 11 pictures at the same time. The theatre was not very big .It had sound systems similar to our I Max in Hyderabad. But the screen was not 70 mm only Cinema scope .The audience kept munching popcorn and sipping coke! A lot of children came, as it was a Universal movie for all ages .
Had some pasta and salad before going to see the movie “Indiana Jones and the Crazy Skull”. The movie was very ordinary just up and down stuff. Like a typical Bollywood Masala movie, having something of everything .The special effects were indeed good. Otherwise there was nothing much to talk home about. But the movie is a very big hit all across the US!
Monday was “Memorial Day” for all the soldiers who have been fighting wars and are still fighting wars on behalf of the country. As on date more than 5 Lakh American troops are stationed all over the World. At least 4,034 members of the US military have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war in March 2003.Hundreds have been incapacitated for life and the toll is rising. The Iraq war has become a very big issue in the coming Presidential elections in November. John McCain a Republican candidate, seen as a pro Iraq war successor of Republican President George Bush, vs. Barrack Obama, the Democratic Party nominee.
It was indeed gratifying to see all shops and establishments closed all over the US to honour the martyrs and fighting soldiers, a tradition which is being followed since the past 150 years. The President of the US makes a speech in Washington, expressing the nation’s gratitude for all the gallant soldiers who have fought for America and are continuing to fight for America like in Iraq and Iran.
In the Bay Area, Memorial Day is commemorated at military cemeteries, some of them very old and one or two very new. There are more than 1.7 Lakh martyrs buried in three National level cemetries.They include the graves of people who served in the Indian wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, both World Wars ,Korean Wars and the recent ongoing Iraq war. We really have a lot to learn from this excellent, great American tradition.
Indian Premier League Twenty 20 cricket matches are on between 8 teams each playing the other twice .Seeing the matches in the morning live on the Lap top Video streaming on the net for a cost. Have been watching the matches quite regularly Today was the first semi final between Rajasthan Royals led by Shane Warne and Mohali led by Yuvraj Singh.Rajasthan Royals won. They are the hot contenders for winning the championship. All the Twenty 20 matches have been very thrilling and are really raking in the moolah for the organisers !
Attended Bhajans on Friday as usual at Harsha’s place.
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