First Impressions Of Boston

Boston has got to be the most beautiful city I have ever seen. And the surrounding suburbs are even more breathtaking. The place is full of green grass and trees, and nineteenth century English style architecture. The cottages in the suburbs are just so lovely. From the color of the trees and the grass, you can tell that there's no pollution here. There are shades of green I never saw in Delhi, even in the years when my mom used to keep lots of potted plants and I used to water and wash the plants myself.

There are so many things I liked about this place in the first go. People here don't just pass by you. They smile and ask how you are. When you walk into a store, the salespeople greet you the same way and ask if they can be of any help, but stay out of your way if you want them to.

The roads and parking lots over here are so very organized. People don't break traffic rules even if nobody's watching them. They respect the other person's right of way.

Malls, grocery stores, pharmacies and other stores over here are really large, but not overwhelming. They are pretty organised and you can find exactly what you're looking for. Everything comes in pretty large sizes here. A Toyota Corolla or Camry is a pretty small car by the norms here. It is quite commonplace to see a single person drive to work in an SUV. There's not much of a public transport system here, once you move out of the main city, and everyone needs at least one car. Every mile or so along the expressway, I can spot a huge car dealership. Coming back to the large sizes, just about everything, from strawberries to melons comes in much larger sizes than I was used to. Cookies at StarBucks were a little larger (and a lot thicker) than the chapatis at the cafeteria at my office.

On my first weekend here, we went to the city and met some of Jatin's friends. In between, we went for a walk by the Charles riverside. It was quite a scenic place to take a walk. You don't get to see such a clear, blue sky in Delhi. And you don't get to see such clear water in the Yamuna! It was nice to see people walking, running, jogging, cycling or walking their dogs in that place. One thing I like about this place is that you can wear whatever you want to wear and nobody minds. Nobody treats you any different for it.

When we first visited a furniture store here, the sales lady told us that we looked like newlyweds and that we looked so cute together. I found that really sweet. In another store, the sales lady pointed to my mangalsutra and told me that she liked my necklace and that it was pretty. I was slightly amused. The point I'm making here is that, I never received anything remotely in the vicinity of a compliment from a sales person in India. These guys are pretty warm and friendly when you think about it.

I know, this is the honeymoon period, but hey, I do really like the place and the people out here. It feels right. It feels like home.