My Black Friday Adventure Pt-2

It was Hari, who had called me at 5:30.Are you ready for the trip?he asked.i groaned as i realized i had forgotten all about the trip to Atlantic City.I was pretty tired,but i thought i would go, i called up rahul who was still sleeping and couldn't come.Next i turned to the AP bhavan.Teja and Sandy , were just sitting around thinking of what to do, when i called them and told them of the trip.We all got ready and since there were no buses, we again had to walk to the train station.As i met up the guys in front of hari's place,i found myself doubting whether i should go or not.My whole body was aching from last night.WTF.I thought, it rarely hang out with these guys nowadays.hari and Raghu from 10-A were the ones who accommodated me when i first landed here.Teja was also a temp acco there like me,,and thats how we came to know each other.The entire 10-A gang is cool,there are 5 of them and everyday is like being in a sitcom at their place.They get on with each other very well.So the 5 of us were joined by Sumit, another senior and we headed off to the station.We had to run cause the bus was supposed to come in front of the station in 30 mins.At the station, 2 other seniors,Pinakin(strange name) and rajesh.W took seats in the bus and I quickly fell asleep.When i woke up t was like we were passing through the desert with barren lands on all sides.I could see lights in the distance, which were the hotels and the casinos.We were here.I was feeling refreshed after the sleep.I later realised that the barren land were in fact water and we were near the shore,near the Atlantlic Ocean.Atlantic city, is called the Las Vegas of the west and is a gambling hub, full of the aforementioned casinos and hotels.We got off at the Caesars, and to show our IDs to prove we were 21.We got 17$ coupon which could be exchanged for cash to play at any of the hotels.We decided to get something to eat, and after having pizza at Papa John's,we started the casino,got our cash exchanged and headed to the many crowded tables.th place was filled with ppl, bright rows of slot machines and tables.we headed to roulette table and watched as Rajesh quadrupled his money.i was still making sense of the rules as we headed to another table."wheel of fortune" were you had to bet on several possible outcomes and if you guess it correctly you multiply your money by that many times.there are markings on the table that say, 1 to 1,2to1,5to1,10 to1,and 20 to1.and there are the same markings on the wheel that the dealer spins.and there are more 1to 1 than 2 to 1 and so on.the safe way to play is to always bet on 1 to 1 and simultaneous;ly bet on other slots too.But this is gambling, so ended up losing 15$.But it was good fun.We took photos at the many Caesar and Greek statues all decorated with Santa hats to signal the start of the holiday season and we lost more money and decided to go to another hotel.We stepped out into the cold, and spotted Bally's Wild Wild West.We got into what what was decorated with montages from the wild west.There was an entire mock town set up inside the hotel complete with slot machines and tables.the good thing was that the best were smaller here.Hari and raghu played the wheel of fortune while we all watched.Then i too decide to play.I lost in the beginning and then was going good.i realized slow and steady was the way.But i soon ran out of chips.Again it was good fun.God, these casino ppl must be making millions.We sat down for some time at a restaurant that was fashioned like a saloon from old times.I urged sandy and teja to play something, and sandy decided to try the slot machine.he put in a 5 dollar bill and got started.The min bet is 25 cents and he was going downhill.then he rammed in the last 4 coins, and spun.tung tung, the counters spun as he got 3 "roaring 20s" and got 10 times his money.so he made 10 bucks, and cashed in.That was so lucky, and that too in the end.Soon we got Teja to play as well. he started off well from the beginning and soon he too made 10bucks.Inspired by them i too decided to try my hand and i lost 5 bucks.Any way it was good fun.We all decided to call it a night, some guys having lost more than 100 $ and catch the return bus at 2:30.I quickly made mental note come here and try my luck again.We had enough photos for orkut and good memories of our first time here.In the ride back home too I slept soundly...

My Black Friday adventure Pt-1

Black friday is the day after thanksgiving when ppl line up in front of stores to get really low deals on electronics,clothes,eomps etc.You also have loads of online deals.I and a couple of other guys were tossing around the idea of going and spending the night in front of some store in NY, but nothing solid came up.So on Thursday , here i was ,having just cooked some good rajma and loki sabji, nothing much planned.Thats when Chandu walked in.Chandu is..different.He is someone who is constantly spewing out fundas,interjected with hindi profanities, all the while maintaing a bihari accent.He is form jharkhand, the Bokoro steel plant to be exact.So he tells me that he and Nishanth sagar are going to the Menlo Park mall.Did I want to go?.. I was in half mind here,yeah i was planning on getting some things, but plain old laziness was preventing me from doing anything.In the end I gave in and we also called Rahul Pandey.So the four of us planned to take the last train to Metuchen at 1:30 and spend the night in front of the mall, and burst in at 5:00 when it opened.I knew the temp would dip dangerously low at night, so i armed myself with 3 layers of clothing and a jacket and gloves,muffler and a binny.So we set out to the train station, but since its thanksgiving ,no bus.we walked the 2 kms to the train station,reached there and settled nicely on the benches,dunkin vanilla Chai in hands.I was feeling cold, and i knew i had a colder noght ahead of me.Our chattering of teeth was interrupted by two homeless guys one of who claimed he wasnt ready for the cold since he was knew at this homeless thing.He said that he had just got out the prison (nicknamed greenmount) and that the food there was very good.He ;lifted his shirt to proudly show of his rotund belly.We smiled and nodded in appreciation.He kept going on about the cold and all, when the train arrived.It was nice and warmbut we reached the destination on 5-6 minutes.We were again greeted by the cold as we got out.Nishant has N95 which has a GPS in it.So we used that to reach the Menlo park mall.We passed by a graveyard, rt next to the station, and rows of houses that looked eerily abandoned,but the cars in fron tof them told us the opposite.This was the true american subarbia, and it looked good.many houses had the american flag hoisted on the porch which made me wonder, how many ppl in india do this.I put on some music on my phone and we quickened our pace.We could see a man wlaking in front of us andwe discussed inwhat all ways the four of us would react were we to be jumped by a mugger.the houses soon thinned out and we soon reached a wooded area.UBdecided on the direction ,we again looked oin to the GPS, it pointed us to a dark trail andwe could make out the other guy walking in the fronyt following the same trail.We just figured we had the common and decided to follow him.After walking for arounf 4 kms we reached what was the huge double storeyed mall. We went around the mall once to spot other discount hunters like us, but we couldnt spot any.there were a couple of police cars and that was it.Going around the mall itself was a 15 min walk, it was that huge.Finally we decide it was too cold to stand outside and we went into the second floor of the parking lot.It was comparatively warm, but only comaprativel.We sat around in a circle and chatted for some 1 hr after which chandu and nishant went to have a look around.Afetr sitting around trying to sleep, me and rahul decided to go down.Jsut we climed down we spotted an empty shopping cart kying around, Rahul got into it and i pushed him around while we searched for the other 2 guys.when we caught up with them, they told us that ppl had started arriving.We went to the front of the mall, and we could see 5-6 guys there.It was 4:30 and freezing as hell.I remember givving out 2-3 sobs in frustration at the cold.It makes the hair on your feet stand and bites down on your skin.around 5 the mall opened adn we got in and were surprised that ity wasnt that crowded.We looked around here and there, but and could see while some shops had activity others had no ne on them.we spotted an old navy outlet where, you could get a free mp3 player when yu shopped for 20 $.we decide dto stand in line here.At 5 all the sho[ps started opening.we rushed in and started grabbing some good deals here and there.we quickly cilled got the promised mp3 player and headed out next we spotted an Aeropostale outlet that had 50% off everything.yeah fine we said and got in got some stuff too.next was radio shack, everyone wanted to get a digicam.so we stood in line since this was supposed to open at 6.when it opened, we found that there were just 4 cameras that had good deals on them.Only rahul bought one while others decided that it wasn't that good a deal.I needed shoes, and i went out looking for them.I had heard of BigBens, basketball shoes that yu could get for 15$ but they were no where to be found and i had to settle for 40$ nikes, (they were listed at 100$).Finally tired by all the running around me and rahul decided to get some food.Chandu and nishant were missing in action,we went ahead anyway .the last stop before leaving was Steve and Barry's.I was amazed at how cheap everything was,and there were also Bigbens there.man!!well i could have the other shoes returned i thought.Thats one good thing here, you can return almost everything you buy in America if you don't like it, no questions asked.but i decided to keep them.The sleep deprivation was catching up on me and we decided to return by taxi.So we called for a cab and waited for the 20 mins they said they would take.20 became 30 and finally an hour and still it was a no show.i called them again and again only to receive some Spanish gibberish.You would be amazed at the no of people who don't speak English in America.Finally it arrived and it was on the other side of the mall.We walked and got in.I fell asleep in the front seat.We finally reached home, got off, quickly said goodbyes, we all live across each other so we all got off at one place.I went to my bed and plopped in.It was 10 am.i asked cibin to wake me up at 12. i slept like a log,( I generally do)till 5:30 when i was awoken by a phone call.A phone call that i had forgotten about....

PS:the lack of public urinals is a big inconvenience.Desperate times call for desperate measures.We had to desecrate the new Brunswick railway station, the parking lot and a two spots near the Mall entrance.

PLAY THIS GAME..ITS INSANE

The Impossible Quiz - Answer insanely hard questions

Is it possible...

i am sitting here in my apmnt, browsing the net and going through other ppl's blogs and wondering why am i not being regular?Its just that i want things to be perfect, before writing anything.i wait for the rt mood, the rt atmosphere ,free time but at times I am plain lazy.So i thought i would write something today, no matter what.And i will even put in a good photo on the top.i think Photos make posts look good.i am no good with headlines, but many times photos act like pseudo headlines, nicely summing it up.So i am wondering, is it possible to write about nothing.is it possible to ramble on abt nothing and still make it interesting.you know how there are people who just now how to tell stories.. who animately describe anecdotes and make you feel you were there, those kind of ppl could write about nothing and make it interesting.people with a great sense of humor could do that.We all believe we are funny, we are, but not in the general sense of the word.Human beings themselves are funny for a variety of reasons.i often wonder how much we have (d)evolved.How inane things can turn our hair grey and how really out of perspective we are.We are first most living creatures whose primary objective is survival.We have modified that objective to hilarious proportions.we worry abt not being able to score well on tests,about missing a episode of a TV show,etc etc.we have invented things to get addicted to.We have superimposed our existence with layers and layers of activities,emotions and desires.But now when i think of it, everything we do however small or innocuous in someway or the other contributes to our existence and fulfillment pf basic needs and desires.It is this high level of complexity that we have blanketed our actions with that surprises.I hope i am making sense here...Some of the things that we do make go"Stop,how can you be worried abt this when as living beings our basic purpose should be to survive, eat,and find shelter ." This brings me to a realization or observation that i like to state often.The only truth in life is Relativity.Everything is relative.We should be overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of this fact.What is a daily act for someone might be the lifelong ambition of someone else.What is unbearable to someone, might be someone daily job.
The realization of this fact can in fact bring a sense of inner calmness, peace.Every second that you exist is a proof of how much lucky you are than others.That you have these many facilities, at least these many, that you are better of than 5/6ths of the worlds population,should be considered a boon.Something that should overwhelm you with emotion and gratitude, make you cry because God has given you so much.But we don't, why?Because of a simple reason that has been th cornerstone of human dominance over all other living entities.We adjust.We adapt.whatever situation we are put through,we may cry and be uneasy at first, but give a day, a month or even a year,the person will adapt he will adjust.i am reminded of a story of a a guy who moved next door to a tannery.the smell that emanated from that place was so intensely foul that he couldn't possibly survive another second.So he went and complained to the owner, who assured him that the smell would be taken care of by the beginning of next week.When that did not happen the guy went and complained, and was again assured that by next week come what may the smell would be taken care of.Bu the fourth week the guy stopped complaining.he had gotten used to it!Well this reminds of a place that my roommate rahul told me about once, where the land is dirt cheap because of a huge garbage dump nearby.Apparently there are many extravagant houses there,cause the land almost comes free.I think i have written enough.What i wanted to test out actually was whether i could start talking about something,associate it to other things , make a chain of sorts and still come back to the same point i started from.i guess that is impossible!!