Hear the sound from Los Angeles

Seven thousand miles away was the city of my dreams, Los Angeles, commonly abbreviated as L.A. When I was a kid, living in one of the developing countries called India, I actually thought that angels lived there. This was all I knew about the city, until I grew up to 5’3”. When somebody asked me to fill one of those slam book questions, “Which is your dream place?” or otherwise commonly questioned by the public, “where would you want to go for your honeymoon?” (Honeymoon is a big thing in India. Everyone dreams to have a rich spouse, who would take them to their most desired place. But not every guy is a prince, and if he is, then he would want a princess. Every girl thinks she is one of the beauty queens, who would with no trouble win the Miss Universe crown. Phew! What I think? Let it be; I do not want feminists protesting in front of my house, just because I showed queen the mirror and it said Snow White. )

Days passed and I grew more attached to my family, friends, and surprising to a lot of Indians, I got fond of India. There was a small patriot budding inside me. To give fire some more fuel or to keep the “India Zindabad” engine running were a few good movies like “Rang de Basanti” and “Lage Raho Munnabhai.” - hats off to the geniuses who give us the films, which we could watch a million time, and still laugh or cry at the same dialogue. And I sincerely thank Anacin and other pain killers, for giving us one of the solutions to headache, because that is what we get after watching some of the films.

So as you might have guessed correctly, I was already involved in motion picture, like the eighty percent of Indians. But I was not the kind who would sit back and watch a movie in theatre, eventually tear and throw the ticket and the movie out of their sight and mind. (Tickets are to be thrown. The purpose of this article is not for its reader to start a ticket collection.) I would watch and analyze the movie, not critically, but creatively. There was something about those moving pictures that though broken by the editors, only made them a whole. Something that was so exciting and engaging that the entire world was talking about them. This was it, I thought.

A popular synonym for the film industry is Hollywood and in India Bollywood. So I fight with my “no skills” – skills of writing and mathematics to pass several exams and make my way to the great, “Hollywood.”

I was a little disappointed when I got down from the plane. No Angeles were lost and roaming around the Los Angeles. There were only people getting crazy with their luggage and cars. An anecdote for those who haven’t been to Los Angeles – people here eat, drink, sleep, breath cars. If there is any other mode of transport, it’s called ‘bike’, which is a bicycle in simple English. I don’t know if there will be a statue of a man who walked last in Los Angeles put up in Madame Trousseau, London soon.

Next was this terrific road I got to – full of traffic and uneven. No, it was still not as congested as in Mumbai – no wonder people in Mumbai develop a sense of great patients when it comes to traffic or politics. After sleeping for almost 22 hours of plane, oops I am in America; I need to call it an aircraft, with in between breaks for Kung Fu Panda and U Me or Hum, and with All Mighty’s grace I had no jet lag. This was a pretty unusual phenomenon and unheard of…

I was finally happy when I saw my apartment and met my hosts. Both of them were the best part of America I have experienced so far, apart from Venice beach, where people keep their zips open to show their unddies and some weird people all over the place, dancing and singing or showing some out of the box talents or even displaying a two headed turtle – the owner called it “together turtle” – all for their living. I was dressed absolutely not perfect for the occasion – a full length jean, long t-shirt (that of the size of most dresses here) and my all time favorite, sport shoes. Wow! It was a scene when I walked fully dressed on a beach where girls were just in bikinis. But nonetheless, it was a fun-filled trip. When I saw my university campus, I was equally amazed. That night I wrote to my mom,

“Dear Mummy,

It is in the catastrophe of my traveling to the United States with several other hitches and glitches to leave our country, there is one thing I certainly cannot criticize about this place: It has an excellent education system setup. I now know why people leave their hometown and come here to hunt their fortunes, for they value brain and people, more than money. Everything is very expensive, albeit, it is a place worth experiencing. Thank you for sending me here.

Love,
Aditi”