CHINESE

IMPRESSIVE CHINESE MAKE IT BIG HERE

First time I heard of China Town was in Los Angeles. My brother-in-law Chethan Babu had booked a room for me in a Motel at China Town. When I went to San Francisco, I realized that the China Town here was famous for shopping. Every big city in US has a China town, along with other towns.

Even Alan Lee, my tourist guide to Los Vegas and Grand Canyon was a Chinese immigrant. Wherever I went for shopping, Made in China tag was glaring. The cheap labor in China has forced most of the companies and shops in US to outsource their basic needs from China. Most of the American production industry seems to have shifted to China.

David Jin, an American Chinese businessman, builds the skywalk at Grand Canyon. He has spent couple of million dollars to build the infrastructure and the construction of other facility is still going on. It should be a hard bargain, as Canyon falls in India nation territory. The West Canyon ridges belong to four tribes – Halaupai, Zoopai, Havezoopai and Yallapai. (Barring Halaupai, the spellings of other tribes may be wrong, as I picked it based on pronunciation. Halaupai is pronounced as Valapai.).

Jin has taken the land on 20-year-lease from native Indians and part of the income goes to them also. It is a big risk as he is not sure of lease continuation after 20 years. If not, he is sure to incur loss.

But most impressive Chinese I met was Alan, who confessed to me that he was an illegal Chinese immigrant. Alan grew up in Northern part of China – bordering erstwhile Soviet Union. To make a living, he started working with fishing boats and reached Japan. Using his friend’s passport – changing photo on it, Alan reached USA coast.

This happened 14 years ago and next year, he also got his brother to USA in the same manner. During his initial days, Alan sold fish in the market. ``I did not know the language. Some of my Spanish friends put up a board, indicating type of fishes and price of it. I used to communicate in sign language and my Chinese friends started wondering when I picked up Spanish,’’ Alan laughs.

14-years later, Alan has come a long way. He worked hard and established his own tropical fish import-export business. His brother went to university and now looking after that business.

Alan speaks good English and guides tourists to earn extra money for the family. He is married and has a child. Every tourist pay him 6$ a day as service charges and some pay more.

When asked about his parents, Alan lowered his head and voice: ``they don’t like you Vinay…. They wanted us to be there. That is a difficult situation.’’ I did not ask about his other siblings, as he was emotionally charged. He bounced back in a minute with smile.

At the end of the journey, I was not left with any doubt that the Chinese are going to make it big in US and it is not surprising if they start ruling the economy there.

  

OF INDIANS AND COWBOYS; LOSING NATIVITY IN WILD WILD WEST

``Hey look out that Indian there… Columbus was crazy. He found us and called us Indians. But real Indian is standing in the crowd.’’ Choo Kie was the first native Indian I interacted with, was pointing at me. He drove the horse driver carriages at Halaupai resort.

``My name means an idiot or the man who get into trouble often,’’ he laughed. He lived 45 miles away from resort. However, he is proud to work in India nation and be here.

Since I landed in US, I was hearing about native Indians, India reserves or India Nations. In San Francisco, my cousin Prashanth told me about native Indians and India reserves. I knew some part of the history, but could not relate so much to it. Once in US, the issue started becoming more and more clear.

Destruction of Red Indians in America starts from `Gold Rush’ era in 1830’s. Large number of people started coming to West of Mississippi river after huge gold reserves were unearthed in the West. The American Indian (Red Indians) people were massacred and their women were raped. The Indians tried defending with bows and arrows and fell prey to bullets of the invaders. Many tribal groups simply vanished due to onslaught.

In the modern world, the remaining Indians started losing their identity. After a prolonged struggle for self-governance, the government agreed to create India Reserves, a Nation within the Nation. While Canyon is one of the India Nations, there are many smaller India nations all across US. Though US laws applicable to these areas, tribal leader takes a call on local administration. No one can own land in India nation.

It is not that only Indians lived in West coast of US before gold rush era. There lived Cowboys, who moved here way back in 1700s. When we entered Halaupai resort, cowboys, riding on horseback, greeted us. The trademark cap, full arm shirts were no different from what we used to watch in movies. When we entered the resort, it was done up to resemble a Cowboy village, which we saw in movies.

``Well! This is our lifestyle. The dress, the houses here make a lot of sense in this weather. We adopted these over centuries. We have left beef raising and got into tourism business. In some parts, cowboys still live in our traditional way,’’ said Robert Hauck, one of the cowboy in the resort.

The settlers in East Coast wanted to raise beef in the desert, which they thought was useless for occupation. This was beginning of cowboy culture and those who came to raise beef settled here.

``Indians were here and we were also here. Everything was fine for 130 years till the gold rush started. The white men came here and had bad relationship with Indians. They never respected sanctity of the land and did not abide by the rules of land. That ruined everything here,’’ Hauck said. Straight forward, forgetting that even cowboys were whites.

``Basically, they were gold looters and did not understand what was happening here. They just called it Wild Wild West, which was not true,’’ he lamented.

Hauck was honest and admitted that there were outlaws among cowboys also, as shown in some movies. ``Some lazy people did not work. They robbed money from banks, other people and also trains. Those days, no telephone and no communication. You loot in one place and go to another village. No one knows who you are. At the end of it, you would get caught,’’ he said.

Back in my cottage in the resort, they had displayed a brief history of Billy the Kid, who had killed 21 people at the age of 21. A Sherief later gunned him down. A poster in toilet read; ``this place is frequented by pickpockets and loose women’, while other places also had some funny signboards. Hauck confessed that the Cowboy movement was fast dying out.

Formation of India Nations has not helped native Indians to great extent. It reminds of reservation system in India. My cousin Prashanth in San Francisco told me that wealthy businessmen exploited Indians.

``Barring in Los Vegas, only native Indians got license to open casino in US. The wealthy businessmen scout for proper native Indians and get license in their name. The show will be run by the businessmen,’’ he said.

When I visited Smith Sonian’s National Museum of the American Indian History at Washington, I thought this was the only place where native Indians got some justice. The sprawling museum has made all efforts to collect maximum details about different tribes, their lifestyle, traditions, dress and culture of native Indians. A young native Indian girl was explaining their tradition, which dates back to Before Christ era. Entire history of struggle by Indians to determine their future is featured in the Museum.

But, most of the Indians have joined the mainstream and maintaining their cultural identity is becoming increasingly difficult. As one of the statement by Jeela Allurut, a native Indian liberation movement leader read: ``Right now, we have a different lifestyle. We can’t go back to how it was. It is impossible to be like that now. We have to find a way to help our children and ourselves.’’

COLORADO… A RIVER EARTH IS LOSING

As we set sailing in the Colorado, the boatman Mike (as I remember) began talking about him and the river. Earlier, he was in Los Vegas and lost a lot of money in casinos. He is now happy working as boatman in Colorado and spoke a lot about his wife and daughter.

Like many conservationists, even Mike is worried about future of Colorado. ``We are losing water fast. The ice is not melting in up mountains and a lot of water is being supplied to Los Vegas. The government wants money and is pumping water to ensure Vegas get more and more water,’’ he said.

Pointing out at side of the river that has watermark on the edge of the soil, Mike said that Colorado had lost over 30 feet of water during the last six years or so. He recalled a belief among native Indians that touching Colorado water would heal all disease and bring luck to people.

He had a lot of sense of humor. While drawing water from Colorado in a plastic container, he had put green color toy frog in it. The other tourists in the boat, who initially went to put their hands in the container were scared for a moment and burst into laughter.

On our way to Canyon from Vegas, we passed on Hoover Dam Bridge, built across Colorado. I could sense that everything was not all right, as Alan explained how the government is making all efforts to ensure that Vegas got water.

A week later, when I reached Washington, I watched a documentary on Colorado River by MacGillivray Freeman – Grand Canyon Adventure, River at Risk. At the end of the documentary, I was fully convinced that Colorado was indeed in danger.

Hoover dam was not the only reservoir built across Colorado. Before that, the government had built a dam at Glen Canyon to get cheap electricity. The entire projects were taken up based on rain projection for the next 50 years. However, there were factual error in the projections and rain actually decreased in the region.

Consequently, the reservoir lost half of the water during the last eight years and demand for water at Vegas is growing in an alarming rate. Besides, availability of water has triggered agricultural activity in the desert. The building of two dams has destroyed the natural course of water in many places, creating new ones.

There have been many campaigns to save Colorado for future, of which people like Robert Kennedy Junior are part of it. Noted Hollywood actor Robert Redford narrates the documentary, but the movement is yet to get a practical solution to save the river.

Over 30 million people are dependent on Colorado, which flows across USA and Mexico. The effect is already evident in Mexico, where only 8.6 per cent of water reaches that country. Once flowing in full fledge, Colorado flows like a small stream, leaving huge tracts of river basin for human habitation.

The new projection by conservationists is `Colorado will be dry in next 100 years’.

CANYON

GRAND CANYON: A FEELING THAT ONE SHOULD EXPERIENCE

There is no camera, that can capture its realistic image of the Canyon and there are no words that can explain it. For, Grand Canyon is a feeling, that one has to experience.

It was a long cherished dream to visit Grand Canyon and I wanted to walk down the Canyon, exploring the valleys there. A year ago, the dream of Colorado River was added to it. I had not idea how it worked and when it worked, I could not explain how it went off.

On the way to Canyon, I knew that the best photos were possible only in Canyon. However, I could not resist taking photos of small hillocks, formation looking like Canyon walls. After three hours of journey, we entered the Western Canyon area, where we could see just the edges of the valley.

Our first stop was at Haulapai Reserve resort, run by cowboys. I presumed that the people would be dressed like cowboys. Alan said that they were real cowboys and they are now running the resort there.

Alan told us how to greet a cowboy -- `heeee haaaa’, which sounded much like horse noise. When the bus stopped in front of the resort, the owner of the resort, a big man walked inside the bus. Everyone greeted him `heee haa’. Some voices were so dramatic that even the cowboys burst into laughter.

After an hour, we set out in a horse driver cart for a small ride. A native Indian was driving it and he did not forget to remind us time and again that we were in India nation. India nation is native Red Indian Reserve, which is often termed as a `nation within nation’. Here the law is different for the natives.

He stopped the cart by a stone, which had some marks on it and asked us to identify it. No one could, but he said that it was footprint of a dinosaur. ``Few years ago, a team of scientists visited here and confirmed that it was footprint of a dinosaur. They wanted to take this stone to a museum, but could not as it is in India nation,’’ he said proudly.

He showed us a cactus called prickly peer and Indians ate its berry. A shrub called Indian tea and also a shrub with pointed leaves called Banana Yakka, which were integral part of native Indians’ daily life.

Soon, we boarded the bus and reached the skywalk. We took a short walk near the Canyon edge and as I approached it, my legs trembled. I was surprised, as I was never scared of heights. I realized that I was standing on top of a wall, 12,000 feet tall.

It took sometime for me to get adjusted to the situation. I slowly walked towards the skywalk. An American Chinese businessman David Jin built skywalk, which was opened in 2007. It is a 27-meter arc that hangs in the air over the canyon. The middle part of the skywalk is transparent and one can see the gorge under directly. It creates an illusion and many people are scared of walking in the middle of the skywalk.

The Canyon wall facing the skywalk is called Eagle Point. The shape on the top of the Canyon resembles an Eagle taking off. It was awesome.

Time was up for the sunset now. We rushed to another spot – couple of miles away. I could see a hillock and Alan told me that the sunset would be the best on top of the hillock. It was over a mile from where the bus had stopped and there was a tower, which once housed a ropeway station.

As I started climbing the hillock, I could feel the difference from Eagle point to here. I was surrounded by Canyon and deep down in the valley, Colorado River was flowing. For the next half an hour, the time passed like a second. Sun was slowly setting and its shadows were falling on various parts of Canyon walls. Canyon looked different every second. While one portion glittered, another portion looked dark by the shadow. No word or a photo can do justice to this experience.

Next day was much-awaited day for me. I was going down the Canyon and would be sailing on Colorado. A chopper in Canyon airstrip took off and started descending between the Canyon walls. In the next six minutes, we had hit the bottom of the Canyon. While coming down, I could imagine different shapes formed on the Canyon walls.

I was just half mile away from Colorado and started walking down. We were taken in a boat a mile upstream and floated back to the place where we boarded the boats. The water was red and the experience was amazing.

Within next 20 minutes, we were airborne again. This time, it took less than six minutes to reach the airstrip. The pilot had stopped in the air for two minutes so that we could have better view of the valley, but entire thing passed like a dream.

The Grand Canyon national park is spread over 1.2 million sq mile and I had not even touched tip of the iceberg. I can not even imagine how it would be to cover entire Canyon.

VEGAS

UNDER DAZZLING LIGHTS, THERE LIVES `LOSS’ VEGAS

The cheapest thing here is getting married. Just enter a chapel with a girl and pay 55$. Even if the girl refuses, you will get a marriage certificate!

When Alan was explaining about Las Vegas, I could not control my laugh. When I walked across the streets of Vegas in the evening, I realized that there was much more in the city than what it is famous for. Casinos and Girls: That does not mean that the visitors would be disappointed.

There is a mini-world out there. The casinos in new area replicate all the famous buildings and monuments of the world. Just a round inside Bellagio hotel would require more than an hour. The portico of the hotel seems to be biggest in the world, where a number of Limousines would be parked. The bakery area is a feast to see, which has a 26 feet chocolate fountain – one of its kinds in the world. The garden area is another must visit place, where they had arranged over 13 pumpkins, weighing over 200 pounds each. Everything looked artificial in the garden, but they were natural. Every hour, there is a musical fountain outside the hotel, which attracts thousands of people on every show.

The women are amazing here. For most of the women, dress refuse to stick up in the upper portion of their body and stay down in lower portion. Dress barely covers their vital statistics. A `revealing’ experience and I enjoyed it. However, life in both old and new casino towns is much more than this revealing experience.

Las Vegas marriages are much talked about. Most of the marriages take place near infamous Las Vegas sign and marriages take place round the clock. A visit to sign, which is at entrance of Vegas, next to McAm airport show marriage of rich and powerful on the spot. They drive down in Limousines, dressed grandly for getting married. For the five-minute ceremony, they wait in the queue.

Vegas sign is not only the place where people get married. A walk in the downtown, one can see a number of chapels along the road. It is big business here, but I failed to recognize the significance of it.

Las Vegas also has world’s best hotel management school. However, the passing rate is only 30 per cent. Alan said that most of the students would blow up their money in casinos and return to their countries, after completing first or second year.

The only form of gambling prohibited in Vegas is sale of lottery tickets. In 1986, a person started selling lottery ticket at Primm Nevada, border of Vegas. People went to Nevada in cars to buy lottery tickets, causing a traffic pile up for five miles. The pile up continued for three days and The Las Vegas Times took an aerial photograph of pile up and published in its front page.

Alan told me that the downtown could be a dicy area. It starts just after new casino area and most of the people live there would have lost money in casinos. Every month, more than 2,000 people plead bankrupt in the downtown super court. Pawn brokers make a big business here. I decided to leave behind valuables, including my camera. But, no one seemed to be interested in me. There were chapels after chapels on the roadside and I hit the old casino area.

For naked eyes, lights in both old and new town look the same. The casinos in old town are not themed to replicate famous buildings of the world. However, Alan pointed it out to me. While neon and LED lights illuminate the new town casinos, old-fashioned tungsten based yellow lights dazzle the old town area.

Though casinos started in late 19^th century, the oldest at Vegas in Golden Gate, built in 1906. It runs through three streets, with an arc on top of it. On either side of it, there are casinos. Besides, there are many stages on either side. Many band groups, magicians and other entertainers will be performing on these stages. One can stand near whichever show he/she likes and watch it. One of the casino displays a golden nugget, which was found in Australia. It has been preserved as it was.

Since it was previous day of Halloween, most of the people had dressed to the occasion. I could see a group of people, dressed in red and there was an eight-month pregnant woman among them. All of them were enjoying and that’s how it is in Vegas. No one is bothered about others and they just enjoy their life.

I glanced through a booklet containing details about the shows in different venues of the city. Apart from couple of striptease, there were very good shows across the city. I required at least one week completing visiting all the shows.

But business is not same at Vegas. Three years of recession has hit the business hard. Casinos pay 45% tax to the government. Earlier, one had to wait for over half an hour to get a table, but now, the tables are empty. If you don’t know how to play, the casino people offer to play for you.

Every cab has a small note on its side, which says that the driver has only 5 $ change. The sign was seen even in Las Angeles, but no one took it seriously. In Vegas, whatever money you give, the cab driver returns only 5 $.

When I returned to the hotel, it was past midnight. I headed to casino and started playing poker – the only game I could understand. For the next four hours, there were ups and downs in the game. At 4 am, I decided to hit the bed and I was down by 40 $. However, it was worth losing compared to the experience I got.

MOTOR MANIACS

BEASTS OF BARSTOW

It was around 5 am when I reached Los Angeles from San Francisco. I had not time, as my pick up for package tour was at 6.30 am from China Town. I landed there in 10 minutes and waited for pick up.

It was a three-day tour to Los Vegas and Grand Canyon. Many buses came, but I realized that too many people were heading to Vegas and no one was interested in Canyon. As the bus, along with other 25 passengers hit the road by 8 am, our guide Alan Lee took over the charge.

Alan briefed about the tour schedule and gave some tips on dos and don’ts during the journey. After traveling for an hour and a half, I was still undecided whether to take a nap or keep awake. The dry land outside looked beautiful, when Alan announced that we were passing through California deserts near Lake Calico.

Suddenly I noticed some camping caravan vehicles, known as recreation vehicles (RVs) passing by. After traveling for some distance, I could see a group of vehicles parked in middle of the desert. It was away from the highway and I could notice some small motorcycles climbing the desert hillocks. From a distance, it looked like line of ants, raising dust.

I sensed what it could be. I had seen it in couple of movies and they were the drag racers. I was not sure in what form the entire thing happened. After another half an hour drive, we were stopped near a shopping center of branded goods. I was not particularly interested in shopping and came out to see what it looked like. I could see some vehicles moving in the desert at a distance. The place was called Barstow, which had nothing but a hotel, shopping mall, food court and couple of gas stations.

Alan told me that we would be going to other part of the road for lunch and I waited for an hour. When we reached other part, I realized that these vehicles were still at long distance from us. However, I noticed three motorcycles parked at half a mile distance, which was being guarded by two people. I decided to take a chance and started walking towards it.

Alan had warned me that gangsters were involved in drag racing and there was a lot of illegal betting. He cautioned to be careful. While I approached the motorcycle, I saw two huge guys sitting there. Only after reaching the place, I realized that one man was in his 50’s and another was his teenage son. While father was fit, his son was obese.

Father introduced himself as Roger (could not catch up with his surname) and could not catch son’s name. The two were calm and their friend had gone to gas station for getting a flat tyre fixed.

Roger, hailing from Los Angeles said that he was frequenter to Barstow and admitted that he would take part in drag races. Pointing at lean motorcycles, which looked like 100 CC bikes, Roger said that each one of them were have around 40-50-horse power.

``You need to be careful while negotiating on these rough tracks. You lose balance; you are lucky to escape with broken bones. Some get neck broken and that is the end of it. I heard that at least eight people were killed in such accidents during last two months. But this is fun and I enjoy it. For the last 20 years, I come here and now, my son is joining me,’’ he said.

When asked about gangsters and illegal betting, Roger smiled; ``the racing takes place all over the desert and we need not compete with gangsters. I have heard of some ugly incidents, but it is among them. No one bother you.’’

As we were talking, couple of bikes passed by roaring and raced towards nearby mountains, while a buggy driver was practicing to negotiate a small trench. ``We spend around 6000 $ over bikes and buggies are expensive. Cars can be still expensive – upto 100,000 $,’’ Roger explained.

Taking a leave from them, I headed towards the bus. I noticed a lot of beasts roaring around and heavy motorcycles like Honda, Harley Davidson being parked around. Suddenly I noticed a huge truck and its luggage space door was being closed. I saw a car parked inside and realized that it was a mobile body shop. I just ran to the huge person closing the door and requested him to open it again.

Mike was really huge, but was very soft. He had parked an old Cadillac in the truck and the spare parts of automobiles were neatly arranged. Mike was an automobile mechanic and loved fixing vehicles for drag racing.

``It is a nice feeling and I come here every weekend. There is a lot of activity across the desert. It feels good to see a bike or a car you fixed winning a race. Engine tune up will be extremely important here,’’ he smiled.

There are couple of people, who are due payment to Mike. ``Some people simply vanish and when I meet up, I will get my money back. More than business, I enjoy doing this,’’ he said.

As we left Barstow, I could see buggies being ferried on vehicles to the spot. A group of youngsters riding heavy motorcycles like Yamaha and Harley over took us. They did not seem to have anything with the drag race – they were just riding on highways. Till such time we reached Los Vegas, the beasts of Barstow kept roaring in my ears.

`

THE ROCK

ALCATRAZ… THE PRISON EVERYONE LOVES TO VISIT

As I was passing through Golden Gate Bridge, I saw a rock island with some construction. Was just trying to recollect the familiar structure when the bus driver announced that it was Alcatraz, which was once a prison.

The scenes from `The Rock’, starring Sean Conery and Nicholas Cage ran through my mind. I knew, I needed to visit the rock island. As the driver explained that the island housed prison for only 29 years and was later shut down due to high maintenance costs. Though it was one of the tourist spots, it was not included in my conducted trip schedule.

Once I returned to my cousin Prashanth’s house, I told him that I would be visiting Alcatraz next day. He was toying with the idea of taking a day off to spend some time with me, but I had different plans.

Next day, I reached Fisherman’s Warf and walked towards Pier 34. I was lucky to get one of the last tickets to the Arcatraz ferry.

Alcatraz has its own history, which had the first lighthouse on the Pacific Ocean way back in 1854. The strategic island was also used by military for long time, before handing over to civil government. In 1915, it was officially named as United States Disciplinary Barracks, Pacific Branch. However, the prisons department showed interest in the island, which could be a high security with low cost maintenance and took over it three years later. In 1963, the operations were shut down and the prisoners were moved to other prisons.

After a brief introduction near the dock, the group started walking upward towards the prison building. The first thing we encountered was a gutted building, but maintained as it was. It took place in 1970, when the native Indians, claiming their rights had seized the island. The clubhouse and another building where the lighthouse operators lived were burnt down. However, Entire Island has been preserved as it was.

After passing through the bath area of prisoners, I was impressed about the way it was preserved. The cloths and shoes of the prisoners were arranged perfectly and there were soap bars under each shower. After that, we were handed over audio devises that explained the entire prison and guided us through. Suddenly, a photo caption attracted me: ``Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Arcatraz’’

It was called prison within a prison and the caption said million words about the living conditions at Arcatraz.

Interestingly, the commentators in the audio devise were former prison inmates. While Patrick Mahoney, Capt Phillip Bergam, Geoarge De Vincenzi and Ron Battles were correction officials, Whitey Thomson, John Banner, James Quillen and Darwin Coon were prisoners.

All the barracks were 5X7X9 feet, which had toilet also. There were six barracks in the D block, which were solitary confinement. Though it looked big, during the 29 years, it housed only around 1545 prisoners, averaging 268 at a time. Every barrack was neatly maintained.

As I walked from one place to another, listening to the audio guide, I could feel entire life in Arcatraz re-enacting on the places. As I was passing in dining hall, one of the commentators was giving a graphic explanation on a fight breaking out there, forcing the correction officers to burst tear gas shells and beating up the inmates. There was a background sounding of spoons, plates and cries, which made me imagine the scene.  Apart from most dreaded criminals, there were some artists. The authorities have collected their belongings, including paintings, the musical instruments they used to play and arranged them neatly in the barracks they stayed.

There were 14 escape attempts at Arcatraz prison and the best occurred in June 1962, when Frank Morris, along with John and his brother Clarence Anglin slipped into the water. They used raincoats as floating devises. Their bodies were never found and the authorities presume that they drowned in the `cold ocean’.

The bloodiest took place on May 2-4, 1946, when Bernie Coy, along with three inmates overpowered prison authorities and tried to escape. The prison authorities were pushed to a barrack and the five tried to escape by opening the locks. However, they had got the wrong keys and correction authorities dropped grenades from the roof of the prison. The two-day operation ended in death of Coy, one of his friend and two correction officials. The marks of the struggle and damage by grenade attack have been preserved as it was.

It took the entire day to complete a round at Arcatraz and by the time I returned to my cousin, it was already 8 pm. My night bus to Los Angeles was at around 10.30 pm and there was no way I could relax.

But for the telephone call to my cousin, I would have missed something special in US. All that I could cover in two days was tip of an iceberg.

SAN FRANCISCO

A BUS TO SAN FRANCISCO

After the conference, I had two days free time at Los Angeles, before heading to Grand Canyon. I did not have specific plans at Los Angeles, other than visiting Premier studio. I remembered that one of my cousin Prashanth, who was living somewhere in California had not picked up my cell and just called him.

This time he picked up and was surprised to learn that I was at Los Angeles. He asked me to visit him a day, as he was just 700 miles away from Los Angeles. After weighing options and consulting my other cousin Devi Prasad, I decided to visit him during these two days.

Though both of them suggested that I could take a two-hour flight to San Francisco, I decided to take a night bus. One thing, I wanted to have a feel of road journey and another was that I could save a lot of time during night journeys.

Devi Prasad booked tickets in Grey Hound bus services and Prashanth said that he would pick me up from the bus stop. When I reached Grey Hound station, it looked somewhat like a mini airport. There was online ticket counter, where I got my boarding pass after submitting ticket copy. There was security check and I was asked to wait near Gate 6.

When the gate opened, no one was in hurry. There were two people loading the luggage to the bus boot. It was a ten-wheeler bus and looked sturdy.

The driver was a lady and as she took to the steering, she announced that there would be one stop at 3.15 am and next stop would be at Oakland at 6.25 am. She did not miss even a minute on both the timings. The journey was simply great.

It took just 10 minutes for my cousin to pick me up. He had arranged a conducted tour around San Francisco and I had to reach the pick up point before 7.30 am. I decided to dump my luggage in his vehicle and carry on with the conducted tour.

Over a decade, Prashanth and I had not met each other. On the way, he explained me that San Francisco was on banks of bay and there were at least five hanging bridges across the three cities. It took over 40 minutes for us to reach the pick up point.

Our first visit was to Muir Woods – 12 miles from famous Golden Gate Bridge. On the way, the bus driver gave a brief introduction to San Francisco and its history. In 1846, San Francisco had a population of only around 600 and by 1850 there were 30,000 people. Thanks to the gold rush of those ages, where people from East coast had found a way into the West coast through the bay.

As we passed through the Van Ness Avenue, the driver said that the entire area was destroyed during 1906 earthquake. The rows of Victorian mansions had caught fire after the gas line burst. The military had dynamited the buildings to create a fire line. Entire area, known as Marnia district has been re-built with Victorian mansions. It was the same area, which was worst affected during 1989 earthquake, which measured 7.1 on Rector Scale. ``Though only Marina district was affected, the media made it look like entire city was burning,’’ the driver said.

As we proceeded, I realized that the fire brigade personnel are local heroes. Apart from regular earthquakes, San Francisco is also famous for summer forest fires. The fire force personnel take all measures and come out with innovative ways to counter the annual threat. They are much respected than the police personnel and looked upon as saviors.

As we approached Muir woods, I felt the weather was colder than in San Francisco. Muir is a remnant of ancient coast redwood forests that blanketed many northern California coastal valleys before 1800. However, the entire forest was denuded for wood. In a bid to conserve these redwood forests, a conservationist John Muir persuaded wealthy businessman William Kent to visit the area. In 1905, Kent purchased 295 acres of land and donated it to the government. In 1908, it was declared as national monument and is now part of Golden Gate National Park.

It is a different experience to walk through the redwood forests. A stream flows through the reserve and temperature is low. One cannot see the sky through the trees and while traveling in other parts of the city; one can imagine the extent of destruction caused during 1800s.

Back on the way to the city, the driver never stopped explaining about the city. Besides being beautiful, San Francisco is an interesting city. The five hanging bridges are architectural marvels and designed to withstand strong earthquakes. They swing up and down as well as sideways during earthquakes.

The city had been witness to many movements, including great hippy movement in the world. During Gay movement, there were 500,000 gays took procession in the city. Even today, Gay movement is alive here. When I visited San Francisco, Halloween day was approaching and each house was being decked up for the occasion. Earlier, Halloween used to be great event and the city administration used to close Castro Street for Halloween party, which used to be over 24 hours. However, couple of years ago, some miscreants created problem during party and the local administration banned celebration. Interestingly, last single screen theater in San Francisco is located on the same Castro Street.

The driver cum guide had a great sense of humor and used to explain everything with his own anecdotes. He never liked some people renovating Victorian mansions with modern stones. ``Some people think that beauty can be bought through money and make it ugly,’’ he said.

One of the first buildings to collapse during 1906 earthquake was Mayor’s office. ``It seems, there was a lot of graft and kickbacks, when they built that office and it collapsed. Unbelievable that they built their own office like that,’’ he smiles. It was re-built in 1915 and the present Mayor office is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. It is built with marble and granite and has 23 carrot gold leaves around it, symbolizing gold rush years.

 While passing through `crooked street’, which has seven steep curves, the driver said ``I don’t know why they call it so. I know only one crooked street in the world and that is in New York. It is called Dalal street.’’

 Towards the evening, I decided to spend time at Fisherman’s Wharf. Wharf is a small harbor and unlike the wharfs I have seen in India, these are made livable for even common people. They are clean and have many activities around the wharf. Boudin is a famous bakery of San Francisco, which is in wharf. Breads in different shapes and sizes were displayed in the bakery. A lovely place to spend an evening or two, where I sat on the pavement, munching shrimps I bought from nearby eateries.

San Francisco is the only city where road is shared by electric buses as well as infamous cable cars. Cable car has been main attraction in the city, which is virtually built on mountains. Though the regular traffic (mostly cars) share the same road, I did not see any traffic snarl. In other parts of the city like Brad Street, I could see regular buses near Metro station. Despite of multiple public transport system in the city, no one can afford to miss a ride in the cable car.

Cable car was introduced in San Francisco way back in 1873. The horse drawn carriages faltered and rolled back downhill, dragging even horses. Till 1906 earthquake, cable cars were primary mode of transport for the city. The earthquake destroyed most part of the cable car system, sprawling around 52 miles. The municipal administration managed to restore some of the routes.

San Francisco will be incomplete without mentioning Golden Gate Park, which is largest in the city. His name was John McLean, a gardener who decided to develop the park in the desert. He lived for 90 years and looked after the park like his own.

An interesting story about McLean is that he did not like statues inside the park. Whenever politicians erected a statue inside the park, he just went and planted some shrubs around it. Over a period of time, the statues would be covered with these shrubs. Many such statues were discovered after his death.

The city has a lot more interesting things, but hard to cover it in a day.

Of Getti and Grammy

Of Getti and Grammy

As I was walking from hotel to the Los Angeles International Convention Center, I noticed a round stone fixed on the footpath. Surprisingly, it had a Grammy logo in the middle and details of 1986 Grammy award winners – Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie for WE ARE THE WORLD!
As I was looking up to see what it was, Andy coldly said that it was done by Grammy Museum and such stones are put all around the building, signifying every Grammy award. I peeped through the glass of museum and could see a colorful old car parked near the reception. Barring two more guitars hanged on the wall; I could not see anything from outside.
Just a day before, I had visited Getti Paul Centre and I decided to visit this also. Till such time I reached Centre, I assumed it was another amusement place to pass time. The tram, which took us uphill of Santa Monica, was good but I thought it was symbol of modern American set up. Once I reached on the top, I could sense that there was something more than I thought. I pulled out a literature of the area and began wondering how much of the center we could cover within next three hours.
After lunch, I headed towards photo exhibition, but parted soon in the hall. Every photo spoke million words. It started with `Girl issues’, where a photographer had shot a teenage girl trying a bra at a show room. Such photo would have created a furor in some conservative countries, including India. There was lot more photos talking about the teenage girl issues in America.
There were other galleries like `America through Black and White’ and `Great Depression years’, leaving one wonder how did the country progressed so much. As I was passing through the galleries of `The Sacrifice’, a huge collage `Tribute to Soldier’ and `Medical Unit in Iraq’, I could not move faster.
Most of the photos were taken during wars in Vietnam and Nicaragua. The photographers had not spared their own soldiers, committing atrocities. One of the photos had two US army officers raping a Vietnamese girl. It is difficult to imagine public display of such photo, involving Indian police or armed forces. I just felt that democratic values are high in America, though we are the largest democracy in the world.
Along with this, there was a cute photo of mad rush during peak hours at Church Gate railway station in Mumbai. The photographer had used pedestrian over bridge in the railway station to take the shot.
Though I visited the sculpture gallery, I could not understand much about it. I loved each and every sculpture in the gallery. Since photography was allowed inside the sculpture gallery, I clicked as many as I could.
After completing three-day conference, I had couple of hours for myself. Without much thinking, I started walking towards Grammy museum. As I entered the museum, I realized that it was just a small corner of the building, which was converted into museum. But there were four floors and I thought I could finish it in an hour or so. In the ground floor, there was Clive Davis Theater and Porsche car, which was once used by American heartthrob of yester years Janis Joplin.
I took an elevator to the fourth floor and started by watching different designs of Grammy award trophies over the years. As I passed, there were galleries on brief history of sound recording. There were other interesting things like `compose your own music’. On video screen, a person guides you through composing music for a song. After trying your hand on various instruments, you will get to hear how the song is played with composition of your music. My experiment was disastrous.
Once I hit the theater area, I knew what it took to build the museum. Each theater looks like a cubicle, but has been done with great details of each section of music. It starts with `Sacred’, the oldest American music that was being sung in religious places to Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock and Folk music. Each one has been done with great details and there is no way one can run through these theaters.
Legendary rock star John Lenon and Janis Joplin virtually live here, years after their death. In celebration of John Lenon’s 70th birthday (Oct 9, 2010), his wife Yoko Ono and Emi Music have released re-mastered versions of Lenon’s iconic solo hits, inclujding stripped down versions of Double fantasy’s, watching the whale and (just like) starting over. A separate theater has been built to showcase all these hits, which takes an hour for a visitor to come out of it. While walking out of the theater, I could not stop humming `Happy X-mas, War is over’.
The museum has showcased all personal belongings of greatest singers, including white shoes, jump suit with cape used by Elvis Presley and letters of Janis Joplin to her family members, which she wrote before becoming famous. There was also a semi-nude photo of Joplin, which she posed before rising to fame.
When the museum keepers announced that there was less than 15 minutes for closing, I knew that I could not cover even quarter of the museum in three hours. The building is size of a single bedroom apartment, with four floors. It is hard to believe that so many legends live there `ever after’!

USA

LEARNING PROFESSIONALISM AT  L.A

Traveling across USA was never a priority for me. In 2008, I visited Kenya and Tanzania – clicking photos of wildlife as well as trying to understand socio-economic factors affecting wildlife conservation.

I was disappointed that I could not visit Gorilla Mountains in Rwanda or Burundi. All I could do was to stare at the mountains from Arusha in Tanzania. It was expensive and time was running out. Before returning to India, I told myself that I would return to visit Gorilla Mountains.

But US trip came completely as a surprise. I was asked cover annual conference of Adobe Systems. Barring photoshop and Pdf reader, I did not have much utility for Adobe systems products. Though I had no idea as to what exactly I would be looking for in America, I was sure that it would not be wildlife.

Google search suggested me that visiting Grizzly bear in North West corner of the country or flying down to Utah for visiting Yellow Stone National park were not pragmatic. That would have consumed my entire trip – both time and monetarily. I had to catch up with my cousins as well as couple of friend living in America.

When I landed at Los Angeles airport, it was grueling 27 hours flight journey. I was not sure which part of my body did not ache. Checked into the hotel booked by organizers and just stood under hot shower. Dressed up and got down to the street. 11 pm in the night and deserted. I knew food was a distant dream, but had to loosen my body and took a long walk.

Figueroa street is up market of Los Angeles and very beautiful. Just 10 meters after crossing the hotel entrance, I saw a man sleeping on pavement. World is small and poverty is universal. I met the same man at around 4 am, when I went down for a smoke. He was scrambling through the public ashtray to get some leftover bud and later I realized that the scene is common in big cities.

Late in the morning, I met Julie, who had mailed me the details of program and coordinated with me. She said that we would be heading to Getty Paul Centre and I did not realize what it was. Binesh and Shamni, both from Delhi, joined me and on the way, I felt Julie was talkative. Later, she introduced me to Andy, who looked somewhat reserved.

After returning having a good time driving around Santa Monica beach and a nice time at Paul Getti Museum, we headed back to hotel. At hotel lobby, Andy said that he would meet us at around 5.30 pm, so that we could go for conference inauguration at 6 pm. We wanted to go early and we decided to meet Andy at 4.30 in hotel lobby. I was late by five minutes and Shamni came after me. Andy was not comfortable at all.
I realized that both Julie and Andy were professionals and were always dot on time. When it was working hours, they meant business. Late in the evening, we had a party at a nearby hotel owned by Moroccans. Both Andy and Julie were relaxed, ensured that all the journalists from Asia-Pacific were comfortable. Julie looks after Adobe public relationship of Asia-Pacific and Andy helped her in taking care of us.

Next three days, I knew it was difficult to keep phase with these two Australians. At the end, they re-defined professionalism to me. All through the session, they kept moving from one place to another – but ensured that they did not lose tab on the journalists they were handling. At the same time, they took notes during conferences, so that they had answers for journalists. I thought handling me would be difficult for Andy. He handled it such ease and made me skip many of my cigarette breaks. I did not complain.

Andy was always seen running between convention center and Nokia Theater. Though they are next to each other, one has to cover a distance to walk out of the convention center and enter the neighboring building and sometimes, Andy looked exhausted.

In evening parties, there would be no sign on pressure on their faces. Julie used to laugh her heart out and introduce us to various people, while Andy used to silently enjoy his drink. When he opened up, others could not stop laughing. That was a perfect mix of work and pleasure.

At the end, I could not stop complementing both of them. I told Julie that she and Andy answered my long-standing question as to why Australian cricket team stood on top of the world for so long. If a group of professionals worked like this behind the team, there is no reason why they should not be on the top.

At the end of the trip, I was satisfied. I skipped many known places and tried exploring some not so known places. I started realizing what professionalism is all about – be a bus driver or tour guide. Even Americans are thorough professionals in work and so are the Indians who have migrated there.

As my newfound friend in US Madesh put it ``system does not depend on anything. We are just part of it and you have to be professional to remain in the system.’’

I had no plans of writing travelogue of US, as the country is much talked about. However, on the second day, I felt that there was much more in US than what we talk. I decided to write it in first person. I don't expect everyone to endorse my views in the travelogue. My details may be incomplete and I welcome anyone's view with additional details.