Orlando, Florida

I left for Winter Park last week Friday night - catching the same south-bound Amtrak (the 91 Silver Star) that Shveta had caught two weeks earlier, and under similar circumstances - the train is scheduled at 1.44AM, but never quite makes it - not even an hour long delay. In fact, I left home, some 20 miles away from the Pulaski Street, Downtown Columbia located station at 2.00AM!! All through that evening, I was calling up Anup Bhaisaab and Shveta to know the status of the train, and finally, called the cab to go to the station. The train finally made it at about 3.30AM and I got to get my first experience of traveling long distance on train in the US. It was a comfortable journey, and in anycase I was traveling light so the journey as such was quite pleasant. The train coursed through South Carolina, Georgia and finally into Florida - I had slept a few hours during this 8 hour long journey but couldn't sleep through the whole of it, partly because I was not aware that we could ask for a blanket and it was quite chilly in there. However, in retrospect, it was a good thing for me to do...as we entered Florida, I could distinctly make out the changing landscape, the flora - which now seemed quite mediterranean and reminded me of my trip up the French Riviera. I reached Winter Park at about 11.30AM. Anup Bhaisaab and Shveta were there to pick me on bhaisaab's Merc. And as we left the station, I could quite put in place the merc in that setting. Winter Park is a very plush, rich town - with the entire road from the station up to a considerable distance lined up with some of the top-notch fashion labels one finds in good malls here. I was enjoying the scenery as well as narrating my tales of the journey - the shopping district made way to residential complexes - very very mediterranean in look (and aptly named "Casa" in many places). And as we were driving towards the Jessica Court area, I could also see how indistinguishable the city limits are between Winter Park and Orlando - just a road divides the two cities..Anyhow, we reached home, where Bhabhi had made some snacks - poha and fruits, etc. For a minute, I thought I was not in America but at home - with the home glowing with warmth and affection. The next two days were an extension of that, with an introduction of many other people whom I knew earlier and whom I'd known through Shveta but needed to put faces to names. But the most important of the people I had known and just had to meet were, besides Bhaisaab and his immediate family, Beeji (bhaisaab's mom), Gopal bhaisaab and Saroj Bhabhi. I also got to meet some amazing people in those two day's stay (I simply don't understand how we could have so much of stuff packed into 2 days) - Rajeev bhaisaab and Minna mausi, Prakash bhaisaab and his family. Rahul came down from Tampa over on Saturday evening. A great kid born and living here, but with very strong values. The weekend was jam-packed with very enjoyable get-togethers - meeting Beeji and talking to her (got a few snaps of her too - wish I had bought a handycam - will surely do that before my next trip in November, though), and of course, the Universal Studios visit. Can't thank Anup Bhaisaab and Rekha bhabhi enough. I would dare say they are as affectionate to us as they are to their own children. They also got us a car, a Nissan Sentra (another loong and very very eventful story my return trip would make. My debut road hike - a 440 mile journey to Columbia!!)...Guess when my new Dell laptop comes next week, I would do some real-time blogging and capture some interesting titbits of my visit to Orlando...