well we all ravi/ anu/ kirtana had a good holiday for thanks giving and we all decided to come to st louis to visit asha.ravi brought a van Chevrolet a five seat er . we wanted to start early by six sharp in the morning instead we started alte by eight in the morn .we started well by keeping time and ran smooth towards st Louis. but soon in the Atlanta area Ravi lost his way and missed a junction. Ainu tried telling him but no because he was pretty sure he was going the correct way. he soon corrected his way and we passed ruby falls area. i took lot of photographs all the way. we soon entered the Tennessee mountains and we coasted well into the Tennessee mountains. we stopped at a deli and ate some sandwich in the van and wee doing well. i dozed off for some time. As we neared Nashville i felt an inkling of a motion down my butt and Ravi was the driver. I called out to (it being Darjeeling type ) Ravi to take me to the nearest rest room . We went into a deli but found lot of men standing in queue - Ravi bolted from there to another shop. I waited for some time and had a terrific motion and as i came out i was out of tension. in the mean time ram and anu also landed up to ease themselves. luckily the women in queue was very short.While finding the rest room ravi lost his way. Anu corrected brought hi back to the actual high way. My tension was over however but filled up some gas on the way and picked some coffee to drink since the cold was bad eneough. After some driving he felt the rumblings and he went to another rest room. This time anu drove rest ot the way. As we neared st louis ravi took over and drove till asha's house . he called up to asha and she directed and finally at 2100 hrs we landed up in asha's house. i ahd neot seen their house. I went to each room and saw how big it was. the living room had a huge high cieiling , the main drawing room was small and formal dining room was small but were done up nicely. the kitchen was great. the kitchen could be entered from the garrage. kiran rolled up a nice tea cup for me.anu also ahd tea to warm up. kiran had a nice beer along with ravi. we all toasted for the nice house and thanks giving. asha had prepared so much food. we changed over fast into casuals and sat for dinner. asha made some pulav - out of the world . we ate and ate till the vessels ahd no more . we went to our rooms to sleeep. the bedrooms were nicely made up and were warm. The outside cold was too much. while singing praises for asha's food we slep off.
adi was taken aback when we all landed up thru the door . he hid himself behnd the curtains. he hugged all of us and it was great to see him at play over the stairs. he wouldroll down a baseball and ask us to throw it back. if he was able to hit he would shout and if not he would ask us to pick it ouresleves and give hm a toss.
we all slept till 1000 hrs in the morning and it was very cold.Anu the great decided we will not go out but stay in bed. kiran and ravi braved the cold and went out to bring a nice emglish movie. we had good breakfast and them we slowly finished our daily stuff . iI shaved fast and had bath. i did my pooja but then the two devils rolled in. adi with his armor as a batma with shamurrai . kiratan the doll came up with her songs on sai. by shouting as dai to sai sai , kirtana started off with her bhajans. adi not to be undone gave me a push and samuraaied me withhis sword. i said hands up and by rules he should off left me alone. he did only when i admitted that i was throughly beaten by the young devil. however he allowed me to finish my sai puja with him bowing on all fours . But he was soon back in business of dealing me blows from his sword. Ram informed me that since anu was dog tired we would rather sleep . asha prepared great stuff and we all ate -rather swalloed the stuff and went off to sleep.The cold was still bitter and the streets and one time it snowed also but it disappeared by melting off. it was bitterly cold . it was a good move not to move out. we slept in the aft and again after eating the lavish food in the night we again slept off. kirtana and adi joined us . after some time adi asked for his mother and went off saying bye bye.
It was bad enough the cold he next day. We got up late as usual. We went into the kitchen and ate up the upama prepared by kiran himself. I finished my shave and puja fast and discovered that today we were eating out. The morning was cold and a slight drizzle was on. We got into Ravi’s van but then none could have fitted in. Therefore, asha took out her car -the black cat and drove it down to the café in the downtown. The café was rather full and we had to wait some time before we got summons from the manager. We went in for buffet for all of us. We selected the spread on the buffet table. The spread was from idly, sambar, upama to north Indian khana and from normal veg to non-veg fish, chicken meat etc. Well I chose some chicken along with idly samabar etc Ravi and kiran were strict veggies. Asha, ram and anu ate the food like veggies. Kirtana ate the idlys etc. only adi gave me company by choosing chicken a small piece. The fella ate the whole lot. Kiran did four courses, me three courses, and Ravi 4, asha and anu 3 each and ram did three like that. The food was good. The bill was paid by Ravi. He said the damage was small.
After that, we went to Macy Mall. Anu wanted to buy a watch for me. It was cold outside but we braved the weather and rushed into the big mall. Yes, the mall was big. Anu went around the showcases and tried to see one that fits my wrist. Some were big, some small and very big. She wanted to buy a male one for me suiting my wrist. Well I tried several times. Finally I selected a black rectangular one a slime one but even that was too big for my wrist. Asha and Anu started complaining that dad has girlish hands with small wrists etc. fine. We did select several ones. Finally, she did pick up one black one with black chain and a black dial. The minute, hour and second hands were also black with a date slot. She tried it on my wrist. It fitted well but the chain had to be shortened to my size. The woman counter said it would take one hour. Therefore, we rushed out to see the mall wings. The mall was immense. We wee feeling hungry. We squatted in a place-a big restaurant. We ate and had chai etc… the crowd was good. After we finished eating, we sat around and saw some of the places for asking photographs. I took several photographs. Adi and kiru were photographed nicely. The photos are on the web. Having spent one hour in the mall we went back to get the watch. The woman at the counter did put it around me and remarked that it fitted it well. Anu paid the amount. She got 20% rebate since it was thanks giving day.
The next day was our last day. As usual, we got up late. We finished our three ss’s fast and went into the kitchen to find kiran making a similar breakfast. He made a pot and told me to eat the breakfast. Fine we did and it was again explained that we were going to a Vietnam restaurant. We landed fast but found many seats were vacant but the hotel sure was short of hands. We waited in the lobby. Adi and kiru made the choice difficult as little children. THe woman waiter took the order but made us sit for half an hour before something could come on the table. Ram, females, and children went in for some veg variety from Vietnam. Ravi and kiran tried something new. I tried some Venetian chicken with lot of gas fuss. The price was rather high. The chicken was tender and the veg stuff stuffing g accompanying was good. It turned out to be sweet and not hot. I was scared that it would be hot but it turned out to be sweet with sweet potato and chicken. The chicken was tender and I ate up the whole lot. One problem, you face when you go in for non-veg you find that after you have your fill there is no one to help you out! Luckily, the spread was not much and I finished it right away. The children played and were noisy abut were tolerable. Later on kiran told us that the owner is very fussy with children and generally gets angry. Fine we were not that I thought after the good feed wee will go home and go to bed. However, no! Ravi and kiran were keen on going to play bowling avenue. We soon went into one. The hall was empty - it being 16000 hrs. We got one side avenue to play. Ravi was good at it. They showed us how to handle and throw the bowling ball. He mad us select light ones the one can carry and throw. Ram was good at it . Ram was slow but her shots were good. I got it all wrong. The ball would veer away just like that. The balls were too heavy to make an impact and roll it the way it should be. Ravi good some good shots. Anu surprisingly was more adept and scored well on the first shot it. It required some three full shots to dislodge all the sticks. Anu scored the highest followed by anu, kiran, asha, ram and me. I got some low marks since the first shots were all wild.
The evening was cold again and we all slept off after taking the food. Ravi told us to start the next day by 6 mornings. In the night, kiran and Ravi wanted to go to a movie in the night. I and ram made adia and kiru sleep with us. They did sleep. At one time adi got up to talk to his mother. We somehow mad him sleep. If he had gone down it would have spoilt the plan. The adults slipped peacefully. Thought they would return by 1200hrs. However, no they did not. Ram sent me to look for them in the night. They did not contact us. For some time we were worried that that about some mishap. However, in the morning adi got up fast and said he would go and see his mother and he slept off. We tried getting up fast and finished our ablutions fast. We were ready by 0600 hrs. The cold was biting. We got into the big van with all our luggage.etc. We had tea that asha prepared. The cold was so much that kiran put on a rajai and bid us good-bye. The photographs clearly show kiran behind a rajai. Adi was still sleeping and could not bid us good bye .
On our return trip, we did not have much problem. It was cold in the morning. Still Ravi drove away. He kept on driving for 3 hours. We found a Deli and he went inside and bought some sandwiches big ones one for each one of us. We had coffee on the way. In six hours, we were near Nashville. We were happy keeping the time. Then we hit Tennessee valley but the scenes were not that good. We saw the Smokey Mountains in broad day light. Anu explained in detail why they are called really Smokey Mountains with the blue or azure hue behind the mountains like smoke trailing away. That was great but I could not snap some photos because the camera battery had given way. I pestered with rave and he went bought well rechargeable from the Wal-Mart. The cost was $ 17, he got a discount of $ 10, and it cost just $ 7. I also got a pack of rechargeable two A and 3A packs. We finally made it home. The traffic build up slowed us down and we landed up at 2000 hrs. Ravi was exhausted and Anu drove the back way. We did reach. The total run was roughly 12 to 13 hours continuous.
the third day
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