Penniless in Seattle

Just kidding, of course, though we did blow up a lot of money in 2 days! Spent the previous weekend in Seattle, Washington with my cousin, who's on a short-term stint for 3 months. And o-boy, is she having a hard time of it ! First she's in a project that is almost an emodiment of Murphy's 'If anything can go wrong, it will' law. On top of it, she has wierdo s.o.bs who collect 100$ per month to drop her to office. And this chap (the s.o.b in question) is pretty high up in the organization, to boot. I would have addressed the guy in 'insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or irritating or ridiculous', but then my virtuous self invoked itself, and I resisted !

One of the purported 'attractions' in Seattle is the Pike Place Market. Dunno what all the fuss is about - its just another big bazaar, like Delhi's Chandni Chowk or Chennai's Pondy Bazaar (cleaner, though!). They have these amazing fish shops, where the shopkeepers seemed to play catchball with the fishes all the time. Some of them even hit the bystanders, though I suspect they were aimed at those bystander who had no intention of buying anything. You can be sure I watched from a pretty safe position :).

Then there is the Space Needle, which was pretty awesome. It offers a pretty good view of Seattle at night, and then they have this amazing revolving restaurant called SkyCity. The tables are all by the windows, and the restaurant completes 360 degrees in roughly 45 minutes. The service was impeccable, and the food was very good as well. Reservations are necessary though, especially on a weekend.

While travelling from JFK, there was this old Punjabi lady on the flight - she must have been at least 85, if a day. Shockingly, she was travelling all alone. And she knew not a word of English. In fact, she spoke just Punjabi, and pretty rustic at that (she had just one piece of luggage - a cloth bag). I had a hard time translating her worries and fears to the chap who was pushing the wheelchair. Basically, she was worried about the fact that the airport attendant handling her wheelchair had not returned the boarding pass he took from her. The airline took good care of her, and she landed safely. She reminded me of my grandma, somehow - all helpless and flustered. She was all cuddly, like most grandmas are :). Feels nice to just think of her...hope she is having a blast in Seattle.