Visit to Charlotte, NC

Yesterday we went to see a movie, "Bhool Bhulaiya" to Charlotte, some 75 miles from Columbia. We started from Windsors at around 10.30AM and first went to Kangaroos for gas. We were a group of 3 SUVs, with about 6 guys in each vehicle. It was a pleasant, sunny morning which had gotten quite warm very soon after a nippy early morning. I had infact not been able to sleep much in our large two-bedroom apartment for the second straight day - perhaps spending the weekend without Shveta, and with no TV, phone, laptop becomes such a dull time unless one spends time with friends, that getting to sleep becomes an ordeal. Anyhow, seems like I was among the earliest to wake up in the neighborhood and then went to Jithesh's at around 9AM. Found him and his roomies still snoring happily, as did all others across Windsors. Weekends are surprisingly lazy days in the US. And yet, could be the most hectic too, if you are planning to go to cities afar. The Americans take things easy - they go hunting, boating, fishing, hiking, dirt-biking and what not during the weekends...while we plan (and accomplish) some impossible jaunts - such as driving down to the Niagaras, Orlando, NY, New Orleans, etc on a weekend - the only show of collective determination by us lot. Actually, to think of it, we are all business tourists and it makes sense to travel a lot...anyways, this was a usual lazy type of a weekend, and the Sunday morning was ideal for people who love to get snugged up in cozy comforters or quilts and wake up at noon..we finally left Kangaroo for Charlotte at around 10.45AM-11AM. The road looked really great, with the lane divider spruced up with autumn flowers. One cannot see the effect of fall yet on the roadside trees, but the flowers were distinctly the ones you get this time of the year. After crossing Exit 24 (our office way), we continued further and then decided to stop by a Rest Area. I was sitting in Jithesh's car and we had Jithesh, Devesh, Pratul, Harish, Kanthi and one more guy in this vehicle, besides me. A few hindi CDs were available, and even then people sitting at the back were snoring away to glory!..We finally reached a Rest Area, an open enclosure with a few shed like constructions, along with Rest Rooms..and after stretching our legs a bit (and relieving ourselves, of course) we left for Charlotte.
We reached Charlotte city limits by about 12 (noon). Our itinerary was to spend about 2-3 hours at the Concord Mills mall, a hell of a mall and my first big mall experience in the US, then to go the Grand Cinemas at Ayreton Road on Exit 3, have dinner and return.
Charlotte for sure is a big city - we could only see the downtown skyline from I77 - the Wachovia and BankAm buildings are like any skyscraper in any large city in the US. Suddenly, unlike in Columbia, the roads seemed much more widened with a few more lanes added. And as we approached Concord Mills, we realized that it is one of the focal points of the city, where the city and its nearby towns seem to converge into a huge fair like thing. And more so, it was a Sunday. After racking our brains and scanning the parking lot, we finally got a space and then went in. We decided to meet at Gate 2 (Book A Million store) and then dispersed. I was with Hardik, Hemant and Sonali. We first went to Sketchers to buy the oh so famous shoes that everyone in our company raves about. I found a cool pair for myself (priced at $59.95, got it for $45 after discount). Slowly we found the entire gang there in sketchers, and the noise levels had gone up, matching the desi effect that one finds in any mall in India. We obviously became the cynosure, rather nasty glare of some of the people, but who cared less? We bought our stuff and quickly got out - this time Hemant and Sonali headed for Burlington Coats, while I and Hardik went to Aeropostale, Ecko, Nascar (with all the possible Nascar memorabilia available)...I didn't find anything interesting here, and I guess Hardik didn't either, since most of the clothes we say and liked were "Made in India" or "Made in Bangladesh" and we didn't want to buy a $9.99 tee which no one could have believed was bought from US...we didn't realize it was already about 2.30PM. We were quite famished and rushed to the massive food court. Hardik told me about California Pizza Kitchen, a good pizza joint that serves authentic American (and not Italian) pizzas. Really good BBQ Chicken Pizza with Coke. Then we rushed to the other side of the food court for the Fashion area. Name the brand and it is there. From GAP to Liza Claiborne, Oakley to Fendi, Saks 5th to Ralph Lauren...I went to GAP and grabbed a wool cap and a pair of large bermudas. We checked out some shades at a store displaying everything from Armani, Rayban, Tommy, etc and found them way beyond our reach, so finally decided to go to a Perfume shop. I wanted to buy a good perfume for Shveta but its so hard to know!! and the best known brands one cannot just shop like that..they cost a good amount. The Poisons and Chanel No.5s would always be $75+. I was looking for Malachite by Banana Republic - really liked that smell. But they didn't keep BR there and it was already 3.30. So we rushed back to Gate 2. After sometime, we left for the movie hall. We reached at 4.45, about 15 minutes late. But after watching the movie, which except for the fact that we watched a hindi movie in a theater in US, realized we didn't miss anything when we missed the 15 minutes. Priyadarshan has lost his touch and has been dishing out really lame movie. We then came out by 7.30 and then went to an Indian restaurant, Jaipur, for a meal. After a few rounds of pani-puri and Mango Lassi, and then oodles of Tandoori chicken, chicken tikka (Pallav, watch your weight, man!), we came out and came to know we had to wait a few minutes for some guy to pick something from one of us. And that guy came some 20-25 minutes late. There was a police patrol doing its rounds and perhaps checking on us - such a huge crowd of desis sitting on the sidewalk infront of Jaipur...the guy, a techie working on H1 in Charlotte, came in good time, took his stuff and left. Our motorcade then sped off homeward bound...