Where I try to catch up...

To my loyal audience, I'm apologize. It has been quite some since I last posted.

I haven't been particularly busy, I have just been particularly lazy. I noticed that my last posting was my rather cryptic set of rules. I was in a bad mood so let it go.

What has happened since then?

Well I went to Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Met a long lost cousin who is no longer long lost. Um..since this was the first time that I was actually meeting her, I don't think that I can precisely qualify her as long lost. A never met and now newly found cousin, I suppose. She studies at U-Penn, where my fellow travelers and I met up with her and a friend of one of my fellow travelers. Had lunch, saw the university and a bit of the city. Not necessarily in that order.

U Penn has a very pretty campus. Right in the middle of the city. And Wharton is very, very impressive. The nice thing about U Penn, apart from the fact that it is in a real city is that they do not have all those horribly ugly buildings built in a futuristic style that we see here at Penn State.

And then it was off to Atlantic City, that den of iniquity, that city of decadence, that Jewel of New Jersey. Good fun.

We met up with Penwala at the Econolodge and then wended our way to the casinos. I ended up at the Trump Taj Mahal, bright, glittering and so painfully gaudy. So painfully tacky.

People playing at the slots, their eyes glazed over, and I do not think I saw a single person winning at the slots. But they continued to play. And they continued to lose. I followed their excellent example and proceeded to lose thirty bucks in double quick time at a number of the machines. I would have liked to have played blackjack, but being a poor grad student, I could not afford the minimum bet.

And then we ended up at the Casbah after a slight detour at the Hard Rock Café, where great steps were made. The cover charge for the Casbah was twenty dollars and was worth every cent. Enough said.

We draw a discrete curtain over the events at the Casbah, and I shall continue with the rest of the tale. Penwala had for certain reasons decided to cut out early for Hackesack, and I decided that we should go there directly from the casino instead of heading back to the motel room,

Yup. That was a good plan.


We navigated the treacherous back alleys of Atlantic City and managed to find the NJ Transit bus terminal. We got directions from some cops who were busy escorting someone into the back of one of their cars.

We caught the bus to Newark and after getting directions from Penwala we took the train to Secaucus, from where we were supposed to catch a bus to Hackensack. A workable plan. One small hitch. There are no buses to Hackensack on Sunday.

After much begging from FNU, Penwala agreed to pick us up from the station. Unfortunately he lost his way not once, but twice. The first time he ended back in Hackensack after an hour of driving, and the second time, he ended up at an asylum for the criminally insane. He finally managed to pick us up and I finally got to see his apartment.

We then convinced our “driver” in Atlantic City, that it would be a better idea for him to come to my uncle Daya’s house in Summit rather than us going back to where he was.

Hackensack is a nice town. Some quaint areas. Some bad areas. And a pretty reasonable Indian store where I bought thirty five packets of Parathas.

Ah, Daya’s house. My sanctuary in New Jersey. Mooched lunch off of them. But in exchange, I was made to rake the yard.

Painful work.

When I finally do have I house I will ensure that leaves that fall from trees will be shot at sight and dismembered with happy alacrity.

The ride arrived at Summit and we left for Edison, at a restaurant recommended to us by my aunt Priya. I had the best Pav Bhaji there that I have ever had.

The rest of the trip was mundane. The “driver” Arun’s friend was dropped of at a train station so that she could make her way back to Manhattan and Columbia.

And four hours later, we were back in State College.


Finis.