Variety is supposed to be the spice of life…but it is both the blessing and bane of life in America. When you enter a supermarket, when you want a service, indeed, at every turn…you are faced with a myriad choice, every one clamouring for your attention and promising the world at your feet. And if it makes me feel good to have 33 different varieties of milk to choose from, I can’t help feeling that I am paying much more for the cost of the supermarket carrying all that inventory….

Can’t believe that a week has gone by since we landed in the early hours of 1st September! We had a wonderful time in NY, visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Natural History Museum and the Hayden Planetarium, and met up with some of the Gangue members and friends from Muscat….went to Portland Maine where our sambandhis have a lovely new house that could actually accomodate 65 people for the wedding reception they gave DnA.

Leaving on a 7 week trip is stressful…first I have to get the thousands of things…then I have to fit them into 2 suitcases!

Going away for 7 weeks is tough. The amount of stuff I want to take is staggering. Some of it (the main part) is stuff for others, but things like medication are what I don’t want to run short of. Also, I am unsure what sort of weather to pack for, and so have to include warm clothes that take up both volume and weight. I do remember from the last trip that the majority of my Indian clothes were unworn, so this time I am going to cut down on that….But still one tends to overpack as one does not want to do without.

Went on a package tour to Tirupati..can’t help noticing how pilgrimmages have changed. It cost us 1025 for the allegedly a/c bus and accomodation, all courtesy of A P Touris Corpn (AP Tourism, Happy Tourism, according to the incredibly punny message on the back of our bus.) Allegedly a/c, because on the way out, the weather was cool and we didn’t feel it…on Monday morning we realized that only the fan was on and certainly not the compressor; the bus felt stuffy and uncomfortable though bearable, though the driver swore blind the a/c was on.