Joy Dutta’s blog

Yesterday had been a very eventful day full of unexpected pleasant surprises. Will try to log them briefly here.

We were to meet Uddhav to see our new apt and finalize the deal. Went to CalTrain station and while looking for an indian restaurant for a good vegeterian breakfast, we stumbled across a Saturday fair which looked like a bazaar back home. Had great samosas and enjoyed the ambience.

We all liked the apt which has two bedrooms and a spacious living room which is enough for 4 people. We quickly checked for wireless and was happy to find a lot of networks to connect to. Mail checking and a bit of chat later we finalized the apt right away.

Lunch at the nearby Banjara Indian Restaurant was like heaven. Buffet lunch complete with tanduri rotis, chicken dishes and even southie vegeterian delights plus soda and delicious mango ice-cream all cost a mere $8.

With a lot of free time at hand we decided to check out Sanfrancisco downtown which is close to Uddhav’s place. The CalTrain ride took 1.5 hours through some very intersting scenary, including some lagoon and the SFO international airport. Saw one sign at a station that read “Kiss and Ride”. Yet to figure out what that means !

The train ride was very much unlike our typical silent LIRR trains back in long island. The whole train reverberated with ramblings and laughter and exciting chats. We rode up in the bicycle coach, and people sat on the floor on the ground level. Some guys even drank beer, with the cans hidden under their backpacks.

I really liked the SF station. Stuffed crowds at the station, just like in our country. The city felt live as NYC. Was amazed to see the electric buses. A hybrid of an ordinary bus and a Calcutta tram - it has got tires as well as an overhead antenna touching the wires. We reached a junction which very must seemed like another time square. Great looking skyscrappers, great cars and all my dream motorcycles passed one after another.

We took the “F” tram to fisherman’s wharf. This is a tram as it actually moved on the tracks. The crowd inside it were just like a Calcutta bus in office hour. Was funny to see the look on the faces who are not at all accustomed to such mode of travel. I stood all the way and very much felt like home.

The fisherman’s wharf looked like a magical place. I was at my wit’s end thinking which to photograph as I had only a few frames left. Never had an idea of what was going to happen that day and left most of my gear home. By the time I reached the pier to watch the sea lions, yes, Seals, my film roll has just finished. Watching sea lions were funny, having only watched them in the discovery channel before. Next time I have to come back with a telephoto lens to shoot them exactly the way I want.

We strolled around the till dark, absorbing the vibrant ambience before us. Finally saw the golden gate bridge from afar, which only existed as a postcard picture in my mind. I found out the classic seafood restaurant “Scoma’s” which a senior photographer has told me to look for. Spent a couple frames of the magical view it offered at the dusk.

A bit of shopping and coffee later we were a bit late. The F tram brought us back to the point we were to catch a bus to CalTrain from. We had to rush because last train to Sunnyvale was at 12am. I insisted on walking (yeah once I walk a bit, I like to walk a lot) and we could catch the 11pm train just by a few minutes.

I have to repeat the SF trip again in July, with full photographic preparation, and if possible, with a digi-SLR.

California, here I come… after those long days of daydreaming…

The flight was fine, but food is never good on a flight, and that too it was for purchase only, except juices on which I survived the 6 hours. Not only that, my laptop’s hard disk failed right when I desperately needed to kill some time.

Loved the weather right out of the SFO airport. The runway is just beside the SF bay and from the aisle seating, it looked like the plane was landing over water.

The GPS took some time to get synced up with the satellites, and in the meantime the cab driver took directions from the hotel. But he made two mistakes, and we could find the hotel only using my GPS. He was indeed in awe that two guys from New York was telling him where to go !

Both myself and Dhyanesh was hungry but was not sure if there was a food allowance. Yahoo is paying $180 per head per night on the hotel room (club level, with king size bed) but we cant even afford eating in a restaurant everyday. With the help of the GPS, we found “Panchavati Indian veg restaurant” 0.7 miles away and just headed for it. A few confused turns in the quagmire of flyovers and more than a mile later we landed in a very south-Indian smelling restaurant and gave our orders for “Panchavati special” dish - a mouthwatering masala dosa, one idli and one vada. I had it after 2 long years. Priceless.

Forgot to mention, there is a Lockheed Martin plant just opposite our hotel (Sheraton Sunnyvale). It was really cool to see two low flying aircrafts which seemed to be from a bygone era.

It is just an awesome place with just the right weather, but too bad I am bikeless now. Really hurts to see all those power packed machines go zooming by…