My First Impressions

Kumaresh and Anisha lived in the first floor of Block No. 1925 of Somerset Boulvard, in Apartment No. 213 in the city of Troy. So, the text following is what I experienced in this area. Many of my findings could be applicable not only to the city of Troy, but to the whole state of Michigan or even that any state in USA.

Although I said that Kumaresh's flat (oops, apartment) was on the first floor, in USA it is called as level 2. The ground floor is level 1. His flat no. is 213, meaning that his flat is on level 2. We passed through two entrance doors. The first door did not need a key to open. But the second could be opened only with a key, which each allottee would be possessing. But, to open it from the inner part, no key is needed. We entered the flat through a single door, with just one latch. There was no provision for an overlock. There was no second (safety) door either. The rooms are carpetted wall-to-wall, except the kitchen and the toilet. The carpet had woollen finish to prevent to some extent the coldness affecting our system. The floor is made up of polished wood. The internal walls are thin. They could be of some porous material like hardboard, which is painted. Kumaresh has hung a clock, some pictures and a tube light, on (believe it or not) push-pins. No nails are used. There were no fans. Kumaresh has a pedestal fan for the use in the small summer season. I learnt that the external walls are built of either bricks or aluminium. Neither cement nor any form of concrete is used. There is a glass sliding door separating the living room from the long wooden-floored balcony which is open to the sky. Vertical blinds are suspended along the sliding glass, which is operated by strings. The apartment is equipped with a large refrigerator, a cooking range, a fire extinguisher and a dishwasher. The toilet block has wash basin with two large mirrors, a western style commode and a bathrub. Kumaresh warned us that we should be careful not to spill water on the floor. There is no drainage in the bathroom. We have to use the bathtub to bathe, with the partition, adjacent to the tub, closed, to prevent any spillage of water outside.

I saw a place in the living room reserved for the deities and Anisha told us that they pray everyday in presence of a lighted lamp after bath, before leaving for office. They repeat it at sunset time also. I was delighted to hear it. But, she added, 'Appa, we should not leave the lamp unattended any time. If, by accident, the fire catches any neighbouring material which are inflammable, a fire alarm will go off. The consequences would be not only repairing the damages to the structure but pay a hefty fine also.' To prove the point, Kumaresh then led me to a closet near the entry door where a fire extinguisher is kept ready for such an emergency. It was alright that day to chant my Vishnusahasranama in front of a lighted lamp. On other days, I should be satisfied to chant it without a lamp.

Peeping out, I saw that the apartments and other houses have sloping, smooth roofs terminating at the end of the wall. There is nothing equivalent to 'chajja' on the walls. It is a mystery how the rainwater does not seep into the rooms! The roofs have the slopes so that the snow does not accumulate on them during winter which is severe here. Another feature I observed was that the ground was full of neatly cut healthy green grass. There were many trees too, but most of them were bare. It was because of the 'fall' season, I was told. However, the pine trees were full with green leaves. they looked beautiful with their conical shape.

Slowly and steadily, I began to explore the area. Often, I braved the cold breeze by wearing thick jackets. Hands could not be kept out of the pockets since they became numb. When we arrived at this place, the temperature was about 0 degree C. After a month, the weather became better for my wanderings. However, I did not venture to far off places or cross the roads as we do in Mumbai. With Kumaresh's knowledge about the route I would be taking for my walk, I did a study of the area. Here is what I saw, characteristic to this place.

As I said earlier, the vehicles plied on the right side of the road. All of them were of left-hand drive. But, I noticed one exemption. The white coloured postal service van was right-hand drive. (see photo). Kumaresh said, 'It is to enable the driver, who is also the postman/postwoman, to get down directly to the pavement, without the need to cross the road, with the pack of mail. It also helps him/her to drop the mail into the pillar letter boxes, if any, from the seat itself. Obviously, these pillar boxes are kept at a suitable height.'

The roads had their dedicated lanes, and the vehicles have to keep their lanes strictly. Each lane had its own traffic signal at the junctions. Pedestrians could cross the road only after getting the clearance for their request, by pressing on the button provided at the pillar where you cross.

The paved footpath (they call it as walkway) is separated from the road by a broad grass lawn.
(see photo). This walkway is also used by cyclists (or bike riders). I did not find any public vehicles like taxis or autos. Buses were rare and mostly empty. Almost all the families living here possess at least one car. It is impossible to live here without one's own transport. Markets, banks, post office, workplace, parks, places of worship-anything is situated far far away from the residential areas.

The roads and the surroundings were clean, with no scattered garbage. Big garbage bins have been placed at convenient spots. Trucks empty the garbage from these bins almost everyday.
I found even good furniture, electronic and electrical goods dumped there. It is because it is not possible to get anything repaired here, like in Mumbai. 'Use and throw' seems to be the motto here. The residents also do not mingle freely and hence, unwanted but usable materials are not offered for use to anyone. Whenever one family has to move out, if they find it uneconomical to transport some things to the new place, they simply dump it near the garbage bin. People, who need them, simply pick them up from there.

The various colonies, market buildings and office buildings do not have compound walls or watchmen guarding a gate. These buildings are just open to the road with a lushy green lawn and pine trees in front. Most of the buildings here have double entries. I mean, you have to go through two sets of doors to enter inside. The inner door will have to be opened only after the outer door is closed. This ensures that the temperature condition inside is not disturbed with the passage of people in and out. (I have experienced this feature in the CIRUS reactor entry point).

One day I saw a school bus. It was painted fully yellow. When it stopped to allow the students to get down, I saw the driver putting out a big signboard, 'STOP'. Immediately, all vehicles behind the bus and those coming in the front came to standstill. Only after the driver folded back the signboard and started the bus, did the vehicles start to move. This ensured the students to cross the road safely. This has to be seen to be believed.

The trucks are very long and the rear part is attached to the drivers cabin as a trailer. They carry heavy load as they have six to eight pairs of heavy duty wheels. I could once see a truck carrying ten cars in two tiers.

The lawns by the roadside are well maintained by the staff riding small vehicles equipped with the tools meant for the purpose. They wear earmuffs as they operate the vehicles , which are fitted with rotating blades. The vehicles produce a loud noise while working.

At regular intervals, in the roadside, one can see a green coloured post, asking you to collect the excreta of your pet and deposit it in the proper bin. This post stocked plastic bags which could be removed for the purpose. Failure to do this would attract a fine ranging from $25 to $250.

I saw no animals except pet dogs. Domestic animals like cows, buffaloes, cats, horses, donkeys-were totally absent. No crows, hens or doves were seen. But there were sparrows and big squirrels. Then there were some red-breasted birds, looking like sparrows, but bigger. Delightfully, there were no mosquitoes, no ants, no flies, nor cockroaches.

Once I accompanied Kumaresh to a petrol bunk. He got down from the car, swiped his credit card in a machine, took out the hose himself and inserted it into the petrol tank of his car. I asked him, 'Why are you doing it yourself? Where are the workers?'

He answered, 'It is not India. Here, we have to do filling ourselves. It is the same case for filling air in the tyres. After this is complete, we will go to that part. ...See, I will insert these coins and use the air-hose to fill air in all the tyres.'

Afterwards, we also went to a 'carwash' in his car. Kumaresh paid two dollars to a person standing there and drove the vehicle into an enclosure. He raised the windowpanes and shut off the engines. The car was taken through various steps like washing, soaping, scrubbing, wiping and drying with a vacuum brush. As the car came out, we could see the image of the glistening body of the car reflected in two large mirrors kept on the sides.

Kumaresh took us to two or three departmental stores, called malls, for groceries, vegetables, fruits and dairy products. The malls were very huge and fully air-cooled. Indian vegetables like padaval, karela, tondli were not available. But, tomatoes, potatoes, onion, cabbage, cauliflower carrots and beans were there. I did not find til oil, coconut oil or groundnut oil. But, Kumaresh said, the vegetable oil sold there was good enough. Milk was sold in one gallon plastic cans. I could find buttermilk also for sale. Most of the customers used credit cards for payment. The trolleys, after collecting the materials, could be taken to your car and the trolleys could be left in a convenient location near the parking spot. There were Indian stores stocking items like the Indian vegetables, curry leaves, various masalas, wheat atta, grated coconut, coconut oil etc. Even ready-to-eat rotis and samosas were sold there.

One day, I asked my son, 'Kumaresh, where can I wash my clothes and put them for drying?'
He answered, "Appa, we cannot wash our clothes everyday here. We have no washing machines. That is because we cannot put up the clothes for drying anywhere either within the house or in the balcony. No clothesline has been provided. Again we have no time on working days.'
'Then, what do you do?'
'We collect the soiled clothes together till Sunday. Then we carry the basket of clothes and the detergent liquid to the basement, where we have a number of washing machines and drying machines. We dump the clothes and the detergent into the machine, insert six 25 cent coins into the slot and press the switch. the machine will start. After half hour of washing, when the machine stops, we transfer the clothes to the drier, again insert the coins and start that machine. After about an hour, the clothes are collected from the drier. Normally, no more drying would be needed. As and when we need, we iron them with our instrument. Today is Tuesday. So, Appa, you have to wait for four more days to get your veshti and banian washed. You have enough stock of dresses, no?'
'Yes, that is no problem.'

That is when I realised, When in Rome, be a Roman.