I had stuff to pack yesterday night as I am on a one week trip to LA on official purpose as well as to check out California from the perspective of moving here. I am currently lost in the vibes of the young generation of movies(Premam, Premam etc ) , movie makers(Alphonse Puthren,Vineeth Sreenivasan), actors(Nivin) and music directors(Shaan Rahman, Rajesh Murugesan) of the malayalam movie industry who exude passion, an enthusiasm to better themselves, dedication and amazing amazing camaraderie. So I was watching their videos on youtube while inefficiently washing, drying and getting packed. Bottom line, I just had three hours of sleep.
The drive to the Atlanta airport presented interesting challenges as I missed the exit on glancing the flight that went right over my head.I made it on time anyway. I had not had a seat assigned and got myself an exit row by luck. That really meant some leg room. I took out my official laptop and went over some work stuff for some time and slept for the rest of the time.
As I exited the LA airport, the palm trees and the cool breeze felt welcoming. Hertz shuttle took me to the rental center. That is where the population hit me as an hour of people in front of me in the line. The impatience of some of the people I interacted with/ noticed resonated with the feedback that I had got about Californians being more matter-of-fact than polite.
That was a disorienting experience, especially with sleep to catch on. Just then , Remit, my nice friendly college-mate called me up to enquire on me and we got scheduled for a dinner at Paradise Point, Artesia ( where many Indians live). With that scheduled, I set out in my blue small powerless elantra to the hotel. With three hotels to stay in over the weekend, I went to the wrong hotel first and then got a burger from "Burger King" to kill my hunger as it is 3PM to my body even while it was 12PM on the clock.
Next, I went to the right hotel and was told that the room was not ready yet and I need to be back in an hour. Nuwan, my colleague from California had asked me to call him as soon as I landed. The hertz thing kind of interfered with that plan. So I called him now that I was quasi-checked in to my hotel. He was at the unpacking stage at the new apartment and was a real good host. I have shifted homes myself and I have a more exhausting take on it than he has.
Getty Center - That is the "must see" sight of LA where I would spend the day before I meetup with Remit and check in to the hotel. As I parked underground at the Getty Center with low height, it felt like I was walking through a steam bath as I rushed from the car to the elevator. The wait for the tram was when I saw the amazing amazing diversity of people around me. There were so many different groups, all excited about the travel and the sights around. Middle east, Spanish, Japanese, Indian, South American, French, American , European, Chinese. The tram took us to where the exhibits were.
The getty center provides an ipod with an app that speaks about the paintings / exhibits as you stare and look at them and wonder "So What?" and always the explanation enlightens you and you see it in a truer light. There were works of Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Paul Cezzane - all very impressive. As far as the experience went, it was not new. I have had plenty of such museum painitng experiences with the suited security who all seem to weight the same and a result of the standardisation that America is guilty of,always. I doubted if the experience can beat DC but definitely beats Atlanta. Well, the paintings were not all.
There was a nice collection of cactuses in a cactus garden which you could see as you moved floors down through the steps.I planned to cut short the trip and go to my hotel room and get some sleep. That is when I noticed people lying down on grass in the shade in a beautiful lawn. I took the same pill. Further down, there was a really beautiful garden. I was still not completely awake. I sat on a bench in the garden and took in the smells - not only of the flowers but also of the plants. That was pretty unique. There was a plethora of beautiful flowers and I tried to take some snaps, wanting to try to sell in shutterstock. I did not do any well but the place would get purposed visits after I move over.
While I was still lost in the beauty of the garden, energetic vibes of spanish songs added more color to the day. Those started waking me up. The liveliness was unlike anything I have felt in Atlanta - may be I don't know where to go about in Atlanta. But then I did not know where to go about in LA either and I still got to get it. LA scores. There was a concert that I would miss as I really wanted to meet my friend more than take in the great sounding concert.
That is when I got an sms from Remit with the address to the restaurant. I made three loops missing flyovers and I blame the gps. Remit was the same sweet guy I had started to know twenty years back and it was a real pleasure to meet him, his wife and daughter Diya. Atlanta offered probably as much Indianness as LA did. Couple of other friends of his also chanced on him - one of them interestingly was trying to move towards Atlanta from LA. The restaurant felt exactly the same as Atlanta in prices, atmosphere.
The day had kept getting better from when it started, even while I had hit potholes on the way. Beautiful mountain-scapes bathed in the pink of the evening sky added to the smooth and easy drive through the highways. As I settled into my "Extended Stay America" room with zero plans on when to wake up, I wondered why this had to cost so much even more than the Hilton Garden Inn, scheduled for next Saturday. Closing the note on Day 2, plan is to hit Malibu shortly.
The drive to the Atlanta airport presented interesting challenges as I missed the exit on glancing the flight that went right over my head.I made it on time anyway. I had not had a seat assigned and got myself an exit row by luck. That really meant some leg room. I took out my official laptop and went over some work stuff for some time and slept for the rest of the time.
As I exited the LA airport, the palm trees and the cool breeze felt welcoming. Hertz shuttle took me to the rental center. That is where the population hit me as an hour of people in front of me in the line. The impatience of some of the people I interacted with/ noticed resonated with the feedback that I had got about Californians being more matter-of-fact than polite.
That was a disorienting experience, especially with sleep to catch on. Just then , Remit, my nice friendly college-mate called me up to enquire on me and we got scheduled for a dinner at Paradise Point, Artesia ( where many Indians live). With that scheduled, I set out in my blue small powerless elantra to the hotel. With three hotels to stay in over the weekend, I went to the wrong hotel first and then got a burger from "Burger King" to kill my hunger as it is 3PM to my body even while it was 12PM on the clock.
Next, I went to the right hotel and was told that the room was not ready yet and I need to be back in an hour. Nuwan, my colleague from California had asked me to call him as soon as I landed. The hertz thing kind of interfered with that plan. So I called him now that I was quasi-checked in to my hotel. He was at the unpacking stage at the new apartment and was a real good host. I have shifted homes myself and I have a more exhausting take on it than he has.
Getty Center - That is the "must see" sight of LA where I would spend the day before I meetup with Remit and check in to the hotel. As I parked underground at the Getty Center with low height, it felt like I was walking through a steam bath as I rushed from the car to the elevator. The wait for the tram was when I saw the amazing amazing diversity of people around me. There were so many different groups, all excited about the travel and the sights around. Middle east, Spanish, Japanese, Indian, South American, French, American , European, Chinese. The tram took us to where the exhibits were.
The getty center provides an ipod with an app that speaks about the paintings / exhibits as you stare and look at them and wonder "So What?" and always the explanation enlightens you and you see it in a truer light. There were works of Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Paul Cezzane - all very impressive. As far as the experience went, it was not new. I have had plenty of such museum painitng experiences with the suited security who all seem to weight the same and a result of the standardisation that America is guilty of,always. I doubted if the experience can beat DC but definitely beats Atlanta. Well, the paintings were not all.
There was a nice collection of cactuses in a cactus garden which you could see as you moved floors down through the steps.I planned to cut short the trip and go to my hotel room and get some sleep. That is when I noticed people lying down on grass in the shade in a beautiful lawn. I took the same pill. Further down, there was a really beautiful garden. I was still not completely awake. I sat on a bench in the garden and took in the smells - not only of the flowers but also of the plants. That was pretty unique. There was a plethora of beautiful flowers and I tried to take some snaps, wanting to try to sell in shutterstock. I did not do any well but the place would get purposed visits after I move over.
While I was still lost in the beauty of the garden, energetic vibes of spanish songs added more color to the day. Those started waking me up. The liveliness was unlike anything I have felt in Atlanta - may be I don't know where to go about in Atlanta. But then I did not know where to go about in LA either and I still got to get it. LA scores. There was a concert that I would miss as I really wanted to meet my friend more than take in the great sounding concert.
That is when I got an sms from Remit with the address to the restaurant. I made three loops missing flyovers and I blame the gps. Remit was the same sweet guy I had started to know twenty years back and it was a real pleasure to meet him, his wife and daughter Diya. Atlanta offered probably as much Indianness as LA did. Couple of other friends of his also chanced on him - one of them interestingly was trying to move towards Atlanta from LA. The restaurant felt exactly the same as Atlanta in prices, atmosphere.
The day had kept getting better from when it started, even while I had hit potholes on the way. Beautiful mountain-scapes bathed in the pink of the evening sky added to the smooth and easy drive through the highways. As I settled into my "Extended Stay America" room with zero plans on when to wake up, I wondered why this had to cost so much even more than the Hilton Garden Inn, scheduled for next Saturday. Closing the note on Day 2, plan is to hit Malibu shortly.
