ceasersvault

post from US

it makes me feel awkward to pen my post from US actually 17days aftercoming here. better late that never, so they say.

i am here at waukesha in wisconsin. i wouldnt be surprised if no one back home havent heard of waukesha since most of my friends couldnt recollect having heard of a state called wisconsin. milwaukee is the nearest city from here and the fact chicago is below a 100 miles should be a solace.

A beautiful county with nice and entle people is what waukesha is. They say the europeans leaft all their ways of life back here when they left here. I was consufed and shocked the first time i landed here. I could never digest the concept of smiling at a stranger and wishing him which is hte way of life here. People greet each other irrespective of hte fact you are a stranger or acqaintance, havent seen them show a difference in the respect. Winters are pretty long an harsh in this part of hte world, starting in October the snow doesnt recede till its March end and somehow i seem to have decided to land here in hte middle of it all.

The GE Healthcare office is as new as i am to this place, which meant to say that the first operational day of the office and my first business day in US seemed to coincide. I would consider that auspicious and a sign of a long standing relationship i might have with this place and the people out here. Another fact i good here is the work culture they stuck to and hte flexibility they exercised in balancing their time between work and family ensuring the delicate balance isnt affected.

Waukesha Public library, one of hte first official building i ever visited in Waukesha was a breath taking experience. I felt a storm of relief to see one of my dreams were coming true here and a pand of pain that none of the indians had such a previlege back in India. I resolved solemnly that some day I would build a library back in India where students and all people who loved to read could come and collect all their favourites. Perhaps that could be one of my post retirement plans I am setting at this early age. I beleiove its this abode of knowledge that ensure people in waukesha doesnt feel the pinch of the virtual house arrest they are forced into by the harsh winter.

I have been reading a book by Strobe Talbott, the deputy secretaries of state during Cinton's regime. He was the person in charge of diplomatic ties with India and pakistan and held the herculian task of convincing both nations into join the NPT philosophy. The book talks about the meetings he had with Jaswant singh, who initially was the forriegn affairs secretary and the most trusted aide of Vajpayee. Jaswant singh later was promoted to the minister of external affiars in the midst of stiff opposition from many parts of the NDA for the reason for he was a moderate in all respects among men who were considered religious fanatics. I never knew Jaswant was a Major in the Indian Army at one point of time untill i read this book. I used to wonder what ran through his mind when he uttered those incorrigible sentences littered with most complicated verbatim in all his interviews. The book, a must read for all Indians gives and unbiased story of the freedom struggle of indian, independence, paritiand and diplomatic policies since then, politics of India and struggles and sacrifices Indian elite polititians took up for hte cause of hte nation.

It would be next wednesday till visit the library anothe time, let me make good of time by reading anotehr of hte thrillers from crichton, the author of jurassic park.

posted by Mahesh Vijayamohanan @ 6:06 AM