Gainesville

It's a small town. People here are very courteous. It's simple, yet it has a very American undercurrent about it. There's a Winn Dixie across the street. And I am supposed to use a public laundromat to get my laundry done. The university has pretty red buildings. The kind of red that's brick color, slightly orangish in appearance. Every single building appears to be molded from it. And the trees! They are everywhere! Looks like they've seen ages of students, gotten bored and grown long long beards.

There are dedicated walls to spray grafitti on, there's a krishna house with locals performing the kirtans and another native taking over discourse-discharging duties. The Bank of America (SBI of America) does not have a security guard at the entrance! And you got to keep your eye on the alert else you could miss it on t=your way down the street. It's a quaint and lovely little building. Haircuts start at 6$. Bananas cost around Rs. 15 each. Tomatos, onions, around $1.5 for half a kg. The bank accountant wants you to talk to her so she doesn't feel bored!

I am here, the land of dreams, and this is it! God bless America, and every one of her inhabitants. :-) After India, of course ;-)

Last day at IBM

So I enter the coffee room for that one last cup of latte. The machine reads "Bin full". Scowling, I turn around and express my angst to Karthik, Lisha and Divya, only to face a whole bunch of smiles (Karthik with the customary flash of teeth, Lisha with the usual all round dimple in the cheeks, Divya letting her eyes do the smiling of course and Aditya conspicuous by his absence). A cool greeting card, a pen-in-a-box that I know I'll preserve for as long as I can and a Reebok tee-shirt later, my mouth/tongue decides to take the luxury cruise to Florida already. I blabber something about friends in college telling me to think about higher studies, then with a silly grin say thanks all around and show them how red my ears can get.

Security wont take my ID card, insisting I keep it. Ashwin already starts casting worrisome glances at my querulous looks, extends his hand hesitantly and before more is said, quickly accepts the badge AlongWith the tag. He'll have to give it to the manager tomorrow.

I know I have friends here. Ashwin managed a little smile to seep through the corner of his face having taken my ID. Praveen fixed the latte machine to do its thing. And Divya mentioned how she'd remember whenever she yawned about excel worksheets on friday evenings..

I'll miss you guys! Hope this blog can remedy that. You have made these two years colourful. Thank you!