Dhammerica – Day One

Cereal Killer
April 21st, 2007

When we landed in the US a little late in the afternoon, our buddies had long left the airport for calmer climes at home since our flight was late.

Being quarter-less to start with, we looked around for payphones for sometime. Then some Indian who saw us gave some directions to the phone. Once we had lost a couple of dollars on the stupid phone, we decided to abandon it. (Our only two experiences with pay phones, both at JFK were lousy and we lost money on both occasions without making proper contact). The Indian (who turned out to be a cab operator) then offered his own mobile phone and we established contact. Then on, we were on our way. The transport infrastructure is impressive considering the breadth of coverage and the availability of alternatives.

We made our buddy regret his not providing a welcome hug at the airport by offering our bags to him for carrying them. And to be fair to him, he did. Considering we were carrying 23 kg of food in various forms (in addition to our weighty luggage), that was sweet and namkeen revenge!

Ever since we reached the home of our bosom buddies in Jersey City, there was the unsaid but overhanging fear of impending damage to their food stocks writ large on their faces. Our appetite post runs not withstanding, our morning appetite for breakfast is above average.

In the day and a half before we left for Chicago, we managed to finish a box of cereal in 3 sessions. That is recommended for 12 cups of serving for breakfast. Not only that, the milk gallon-can, also experienced an untimely end at our hands, largely due to being mixed with the cereal. Much arguments ensued over our pigging, but our appetite prevailed.

Once our breakfast was through, we had to disperse the energy gained from such an intake. What better way to do it than do a practice run along the boardwalk in Newport which was conveniently located right behind the apartment complex, housing our buddies. Considering that we ran in the night, we were pleasantly surprised to see a lot of runners taking practice runs at the same time. In fact, it is quite a welcome surprise that one can find runners at any time of the day on any day in most parts of the US that we had been.