School – shaale

Naanu shaalege hoguttene- I go to school

Neenu yaava shaaleyalli idutteeya? – you are studying in which school?

Nanna pustaka ellide? – Where is my book?

  

   
  

Today we visited Mint and it was good. 

   
   

No wonder Edison is called little India in US, we get to see Indians where ever we go whether its shopping mall, Hotel or parks. Why go so far I have many Indian neighbors in our community itself.

I have been thinking of writing about Patel Brothers the Indian grocery shop from many days, but could not do it, so I thought let me do it today. As you can see in the picture, the Patel brothers Grocery shop covers a very big space on the corner of Oak tree road. You get almost everything here. The beauty of this store is, you wont find such a store anywhere in India, because here you get the whole Indian products under one roof. You have products preferred by Kannadigas, products preferred by Gujratis, North Indians, South Indians and each and every corner specials. Does it happen in India. India we have to go to Gujrat to buy the Bhakri chai powder, you should go to Kerala to buy banana chips, you will get Parachute coconut oil in south India and get mustard oil in north India, but here you can buy anything and everything.

 

  I am a global citizen when it comes to thinking but I am a pure vegetarian Indian when it comes to cooking and eating. I try all delicacies of India, so I am so happy that I can gongura chutny, sarso ka sag, sabbasige palya so on and so forth.

We used to make something called Patrode in karnataka, the Gujrati Paatra is v22ery similar to that, you get it ready to eat at Patel brothers for just $2. Also we get ready to eat Masala dosa, rava dosa, uttappam and so on.

We get frozen freshly grated coconut, dessicated coconut, tender coconuts, regular coconuts, the plantain vegetable, oh the list never ends.

I bought Kumkum,and  mysore sandal agarbatti to make puja.

I bought Shikakai powder and Henna powder which I never did when I was in India!!!

You will get Amrutanjan, zandu balm or what ever other Indian brand you prefer..

When I keep telling all the list to my mom over phone, she says they should also come and live in US!!

Thanks to Patel Brothers for such a huge collection of  variety of products.

Hi Friends,

Just reached US one month back and its time I share my experience here. I am sure unless I note it down I might not remember what all I noticed here in my first visit. Also my views might differ if I continue to stay for more years here. 🙂

Watching Amercia in movies is definitely different from being here. We will feel the cold weather, we can feel the warmth of people, we will learn courtesy, we will appreciate the cleanliness and systematic way of life.

We will definitely miss the freedom we had in India. You feel like you are caged without a car here. Because you cannot just walk somewhere and get an auto if you feel tired. In India even if I go out without carrying any mobile or money at least I can catch an auto all the way till home and pay the driver after reaching home. Here If I forget to take my cell phone then I cant call a taxi, I wont get any on the road!!

Very unpredictable weather. Good that I came in Summer here. So we can mover around without a car. But when I went for a walk as it was a bright day suddenly it rained!!

We need to always keep track of weather by watching weather alerts. Most of the time they are right.

Can you believe we dont see price tags on grocery products here. No MRP mentioned on any product. Every shop has its own pricing and different prices for same product in different shops. Hence you should be very careful while buying groceries on regular basis or in large quantities. Go the nearby shop for emergency needs, go to the best priced shop for regular shopping.

I live in Edison and I meet many Indians. In fact if we go to any mall or park we feel that we are in India and can see many foreigners here!! Well when it comes Indians, most of the old people miss India. They want to go back. And most of the people of my age who have been living here for more than 5 years, blame India. They keep telling, oh I cant tolerate that in India, I dont like this in India and so on!! I wonder will I also start talking like that if I stay here for long?? I hope not.

They do not make any false statements but why highlight it so much? If my house is not clean instead of living in somebody’s clean house, I should clean my house and live in it. But its not easy as said.

Also people living from many years here, have a very negative image of India. Lot has changed in India. I feel we are more aware of pollution hazards, environmental challenges in India rather than US. Even though US can easily ban plastic usage and make people use more and more biodegradable products, they have not yet started it.

I had put my daughter in one of the best schools of Hyderabad and the public school here is no match to it. But its free. Our government schools in India just cannot match the government schools of US. But if I need a school as good as the one she was studying in India, I will have to pay almost 10 times the fee I paid in India. I think so. I have to check the fee structure of best private schools here.

Well there is lot to write.. hope I will divide them properly to specific topics and discuss in my future posts.

Till then bye bye.