First three months in Denver

Landed in the United States on the 03rd of September 2022 and in 3 months, there are a lot of cultural learning, getting used to the people, finding new friends, and much more. And in this post, am sharing some of my experiences and they might help other newcomers like me.

Leaving from India

Some of the pre-plan that we should have before arriving are where we stay, how to carry money from India for expenses, and being connected with the family. If looking for a budget hotel with an option for self-cooking then Extended Stay America, is an excellent choice. It provides an excellent deal of up to 67$ per night if the booking is done for more than 7 nights. Next is having a safe and flexible way to carry US dollars and a good option is to buy a Forex card in India with an easy option to reload it online. The last and most important preparation is always being connected with the family and we can get the US prepaid SIM when we are in India itself at a very affordable plan that includes data as well; actually, I have seen the plan cost is more competitive than the US mobile network providers.

Arriving in the US really means, the immigration officer in the port of entry should be satisfied with all the documents we produce and then issue an electronic i94 document. The i94 document will contain important information like when we arrived and how long we are authorized to stay etc and it can be retrieved from https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/recent-search. In some rare cases, the details in i94 may be entered wrongly and it can be corrected later by filing a ticket at https://help.cbp.gov/s/questions?language=en_US. After this, you are officially in the US and welcome. 

Denver Tech Centre

Beautiful landscape on the side of the road

Public park and waterfronts

After a good night sleep after a long hauling journey, be prepared for the next set of tasks that need to be finished sooner, like vising the SSN office, taking an appointment with a bank, and opening a bank account. One thing that I noticed is everything goes by appointment only and there is no drop in service (including the hair salon! which I will give details about below), so where ever we go, it is advised to take an appointment over the phone and then visit.

When in India, look at the city map and get used to the county and area names. This will help in starting conversations with new people in the city and also will help in shortlisting the location for a long stay either in an apartment or an individual home. Some of the shortlisting criteria are what is the ratings to the school in the county and can be found by looking at https://www.greatschools.org/ other criteria would be the neighborhood like whether it is accessible by the light rail, what supermarkets are nearby, whether it has hospitals closeby etc.  Some of the websites that can help in finding the right home is https://www.apartments.com/ and https://www.zillow.com/. Again, it is advisable to take an appointment with the leasing office for an apartment tour and then visit. One good thing with housing in the US is that as soon as you are moved in, at the same moment you can start cooking the food because by default it comes up with a stove including the electric or a gas connection, and refrigerator.

Moving into the apartment

Coming to the commutations in Denver is a little average if depending only on public transport, however uber and Lyft will be available round the clock. The public transport is managed by RTD and it operated both light rail and the bus, actually if we are well prepared and planned then public transport works in ease and very very cost-effective. During summer, bicycle ride would make the ride pleasant and also saves fossil fuel.

Lots of Indian restaurants and eateries are available and can be easily ordered and get it delivered to our door via https://grubhub.com, https://www.doordash.com/, https://www.ubereats.com/. If wanted to try something outside of Indian cuisine, then Mexican and Mediterranean would be a good try and some of the well-known food chains are https://www.chipotle.com/, https://eatfelfel.com/. 

After moving into an apartment or home, then the next thing would be to fill up the home, and obviously  https://amazon.com/, https://www.walmart.com/ etc are starters to get a fair idea and price ranges. But you can go out to showrooms and get the real feel of it like visiting the mattress showroom and trying it out, visiting a furniture shop etc. Also, there are malls where we can peek into multiple different showrooms and get the experience https://www.parkmeadows.com/. In the US, there is no concept of MRP, so the same product might have different prices in a different showroom, so we have to be careful and compare and buy the right deal one.  If you can wait and the time for the BlackFriday sale is not too far, then it is really worth a wait than buying immediately. As heard all the products segment will go on an offer sale and definitely will get the best price of the year. One big difference you would see with India is that all products need to be self-assembled by ourselves if want to save money, the human labor is very expensive and it might cost more than the product cost itself sometimes!!

DIY projects

Assembling furniture

In my first three months, I witnessed three different seasons of the year like the summer, the fall, and the winter. When I came it was so sunny, and the days are lengthy gradually the fall came and enjoyed the view of what it really means a fall color by looking at the different colors of the leaf over the period of 2 weeks. And then the winter started in November with the year's first snow.

Fall Color

Road, Car covered with snow

Definitely, after a few weeks, we need to go to a hair salon and one option is https://www.greatclips.com/ which provides services to men, women, and kids. As mentioned earlier, take an appointment and then visit. Sometimes during the Black Friday sale, they sell coupons at a discounted price which can be used during the rest of the year. 

If you are an avid reader and a book lover then you are covered, each county has a library with a very good collection of books for all ages, the subscription is free and we can borrow books and return them. Also, it houses beautiful reading rooms with great ambiance etc. More details about the library where I have a subscription https://www.dcl.org/

Gokarna - a budding tourist spot

 It was during the 2021 Diwali holidays and the covid situation was within the control; the initial thought was to go to Goa but it will be overcrowded during the Nov and Dec month and when thought about the alternative we decided to go to Gokarna.

Gokarna beach view from one
of the restaurant in Kudlu beach road

Once Gokarna was mainly the place for workship and performing last rites but in recent few years, it started attracting tourists who like adventures, trekking, water activities, a weekend stay apart from the pilgrimage visit. Gokarna has numerous beaches and each has its own beauty, history, purpose; for example, the main Gokarna beach is used as a pilgrimage site for performing pooja and taking a spiritual bath, the Kudle beach is used for water sport activities, the paradise, and Halfmoon beach hosts tent stay.

Tent stays in Paradise beach

Halfmoon beach where we took bath

All the beaches are well maintained but accessibility wise except Gokarna beach all others require a trek or a boat to reach. The water on the beaches is so clear and transparent, in almost all beaches they have a warning sign of sea vortex. However, than the vortex, the real danger we experienced is by the jellyfishes. It is good to see and observe the jellyfish when we are in the boat but it is really very dangerous when they hit us. Even the slightest touch by the jellyfish will cause skin allergy and will cause pain for a minimum of 30 mins. 

Ferry from Kumta to Gokarna

Jellyfish seen from the ferry

Now coming to the stay, the Kumta is known for lots of private beach resorts and is located 30 km from Gokarna. One such resort is the Silver Sand Beach resort and we stayed there, it is located on the beach so anytime we can go to the beach and take bath, play. If looking to stay closer to Gokarna then there are lots of good stays available on the Kudlu beach road.

The water activities include Banana rides, bumper rides, kayaking, JetSki. There is only one organizer Mystic Gokarna and the prices are a little expensive. Since there is no competitor, bargaining doesn't help. On their website, they mentioned lots of activities but most of them are not available or will be under maintenance. Also, we noticed there was a lack of coordination between the booking counter and the ride conductor. We can take bath on any of the beaches, the beaches like Halfmoon, paradise will be less crowded whereas Om beach and Kudlu beach will be very crowded. The Om beach got its name because of the shape of the beach resembling the Sanskrit Om. 

Water activities in Kudlu beach

Apart from water activities, Gokarna is famous for trekking. It has lots of trekking sites and caves. It has one such cave called Gogarbha and history says that it contains a tunnel to reach Kashi.

Definitely, we should not miss the Maha Ganapati and Mahabaleswar temple; I have never seen a standing Ganapati so far, and here is the first time I saw Ganapati in a standing position in Maha Ganapati temple. Just a few steps away is the famous Mahabaleswar Shiva temple and the temple complex has a shrine for Athmalinga, Devi, and other Gods. There is a strict dress code for men and women to enter the Mahabaleswar temple.

If traveling to Gokarna from Bangalore via road then a short diversion to Jog falls is something not to miss and plan to spend at least 2-3 hours in the Jog to enjoy the complete view and to connect with nature.

The shortcomings of Gokarna are, it is not a mature tourist-friendly place. Getting food of choice is very limited and tastes average, accessibility from one place to another is not so easy. Not all local people are friendly enough for approaching.

How to grow Rose plant from cut stem

 In this post, I want to share how we can nurture the rose stem and grow it into a plant. The most important one that we need is patience because it will take 2-3 weeks at least to see the result. The real fun is on seeing how the soil and the necessary environment is giving nutrients to the cut stem and makes into a plant and we could see it growing day-by-day. 

The technique that I experimented is the greenhouse gardening technique where we will cover the whole pot inside a plastic cover so it can allow the visible light into the pot but will not allow the heat outside and keep the environment warmer.

Interesting read about the Greenhouse 

https://www.proflowers.com/blog/greenhouse-gardening-guide/
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/grnhse.html

Also since the stem do not contain the roots, we can help the stem to get root faster by using some rooting hormones. Few of the natural rooting hormones are natural honey, alovera plant gel, tulsi water etc, basically any natural product which has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties can be used. We can also use artificial rooting hormones as well but natural one does pretty well. The function of the rooting hormone is to protect the stem from bacteria, diseases etc. 

Interesting read about rooting harmones

https://www.urbangardengal.com/honey-rooting-hormone-cuttings/

Next is the selection of stem, we should select a healthy stem so the success rate will be high. The healthy rose stem are the one that are dark green in color without any black spots, no fungus etc. 

Lets see the process in sequence of steps

Step 1: Identify the healthy stem from the parent plant 

Step 2: Keep all the necessary tools and materials ready like the pot, scissor, knife, rooting harmone, cover etc

Step 3: Cut the stem into multiple small pieces, desirable not more than an 5-6 inches. And cut it at a 45 degree angle

Step 4: Clean the side of stem which we will insert in the soil

Step 5: Dip the side with the rooting harmone

Step 6: Keep the pot ready with right mix of soil and water. Most important info is we should not water the plant after inserting the stem, so add necessary water before inserting the stem. The reason is that if we pour water then the root harmone will disolve and get mixed into the soil.

Step 7: Insert the cut stem into the pot with some distance between them

Step 8: Cover the pot with a plastic cover and keep it in a low sunlight shade. When it is in greenhouse effect we don't have to water them everyday. The moisture will circulate within the closed area and will keep the soil wet.

Step 9: After a week we can open and check its health and cover it again

Step 10: After 2 weeks, once we see the leaves, we can make a small hole in the cover to allow leaves to get some fresh air to breath

Step 11: After 3 weeks, we can remove the greenhouse effect and either repot it or grow in the same pot

Happy Gardening!!

Dandeli - an Experience not to miss

When we hear about the name Dandeli, the immediate thought we get will be the river rafting experience. In India the number of places we have the river rafting is very limited and in the Southern part of India, this is the most famous place for rafting.  The actual Dandeli is a small town in northern Karnataka and the real fun is in the mountain ranges and places near the Supa Dam reservoir.  

It is preferable to stay at least two nights as it will provide a pleasant stay in a jungle resort and will give time for water activities and sightseeing.  There are plenty of homestay, resorts, and hotels in all budgets. Most of the stay will quote including the water activities package as it is the main attracting there and they have tie-ups with the conducting agencies. In Dandeli, the water activities won't be there all over the year, it depends on the flow of water from the dam. If it is too huge then water activities are too dangerous and will be canceled, so it is advisable to check in advance and plan the trip.

The climate in Dandeli is modest, not too hot or too cold but at night it will be very cold. The mobile network is not so good, only in some places, we get the network and in some places, we will not. We stayed in a stay called 'Greenland Junglestay', it is run by Joshi, a friendly guy help to plan the itineraries well to cover most of the places. Also, speak to him and you will get a good deal for your stay. This stay is having its own farmland where they cultivate pepper, betel nuts. Near to that, we have water stream flows all through the day.

Greenland Junglestay

Betel nuts 

Sunrise in the jungle

Water stream near the stay

Apart from water activities, we have places like the honey park, Supa Dam viewpoint, Syntheri rock, nature walk etc.,

Video

DIY: Balcony Ideas - Wall Murals

Want to test the creativity side of the brain? then balcony ideas are the best food for thoughts. If we sit back and think then we will get an enormous list of ideas that we can try there. There wouldn't be a single person who hasn't experienced sipping a tea or coffee in Balcony. Even though the balcony is the smallest square area on any apartment building, we all love to spend quality time with our loved ones by sitting, talking, playing etc.

Balcony or sit out is a special space in every home where we would try our hobbies like potting the plants, using upcycled old furniture, novel lighting systems, painting the walls etc., to name few.  When it comes to the balcony, we will be more courageous in attempting new thoughts as it is a small square area and is mostly private to our family members, so even our idea didn't turn up well, we take it easy.

Before the Murals

One such idea we got is wall murals. Instead of a single lite tone color all over the balcony, we wanted to give some life to it by adding more active colors. Wall mural are what we finally decided on rather than just active colors. We were not professional painters, not even a painters; Oh God, the last painting I did was for my high school drawing class!! Based on our proficiency level, we chose to draw a tree with simple branches. No doubt, Google is always the third eye, from so many tree models we searched, we shortlisted to three and started our rough sketch on the wall.

Materials that are required

1. Mural model
2. Chalk pieces
3. Different varieties/widths of paint brushes
4. Paint
5. Sandpaper
6. Hand gloves 
7. Waste clothes

Paints are required brushes

The paint we selected was Asian Royal paint, this is 100% odorless and is stain-free paint. Most of the paint shop has the base paint and instantly prepares the color we chose from the base paint. And the Asian Royal can be easily cleaned from our skin if paint spills on us.

Step 1 of the art

If the wall is dirty then having a coat with emulsion is good. Low-cost emulsions like Tractor can be applied 5 to 6 hours before starting the mural work.

Finished masterpiece

One more snap

Work like this will keep us engaged on the weekends and also cherish us every moment we see it. Also, ideas like this will convert the balcony into a livable area rather a dumping area.

Pilot for a day in Bangalore

Ever thought of being a co-pilot without any prior training or experience. Jupiter aviation service in Jakkur, Bangalore is providing these kinds of experience to aviation enthusiasts. 

For more information on this, go to below link
http://www.bangaloreaerosports.com/Info.html

Actually the Bangalore Aero Sports is conducting aviation classes for hobby flyers and also organize a 20 mins flying experience for people to enjoy flying. This is happening in Jakkur Aerodrome in Bangalore International Airport Road.

Jupiter Aviation Service hangar in Jakkur Aerodrome

The flight which I tried was a Microlight X-air flight which is a 2 seater lightweight air craft and the pilot who accompanied me was Retired Fighter Pilot Ashok Mehta. He told he has more than 40 years of experience in flying and most inspiring was his service to Indian Air Force and his ambition after his retirement; I came to know more about his from below link

http://silvertalkies.com/flying-high/

 

Microlight flight which I tried

Total flight experience was 20 mins including taxi, take-off, flying and landing. The pilot first briefed about the flight for a while and contacted the control room for take off, once everything was fine, we started the flight. During take-off and landing, he would be having the full control. We can try flying only when it is is air; from the air, we could experience a spectacular view of the Bangalore city. Maximum altitude we reached was 800 ft above sea level. Once the flight was in air, he taught a little about changing the direction of flight and taking the flight up/down.

The best time for experiencing is early in the morning when the weather is cool with clean sky. After landing, we spent sometime taking snaps with the microlight flight.

Few snaps in front of microlight flights

Thanks to my wife for giving such a surprise and a wonderful experience on my birthday <3.

Sakleshpur : Weekend getaway from Bangalore

Saklespur is yet another perfect weekend destination from Bangalore. Road to Saklespur is awesome as it is in Bangalore<-> Mangalore highway.

Like chikmagalur, this place also famous for its homestay in coffee estates and forests. Many venture to this town for a peaceful stay or enjoy the nature or for trekking. Also this town is close to religious towns like kukke subramanya and dharmasthala.

We stayed in Brindhavan estate which is on the Saklespur to Virajpet road. This homestay is a newly constructed homestay which was only 2 months old when we went. It has couple of rooms, one dormitory, few games and campfire shelter. In their estate, they grow coffee, betel nuts, pepper and other spices. 

Brindhavan Estate homestay

The food provided in the homestay was very tasty and they prepared native dishes like akki roti, bamboo curry, mushroom, etc. They served all 3 times food in banana leaf which added additional taste.

Homestay guy told, he will show other part of his estate where we would get a nice view point. While going, I thought this would be going to be another peak point from where we would see bottom. But once we each the point, we did hold our breath for a while, it was a spectacular landscape view full of lush green lands. Even he mentioned lots of movie shooting will take place in areas surrounding Sakleshpur.

Panoramic view of the landscape

Selfie in the landscape

If venturing to Sakleshpur during monsoon then drive from Saklespur to kukke subramanya via Bisle Ghat road is a must try one. The distance is short (guess around 30 kms) but the travel time would be 3 hours, the drive was an amazing & thrilling experience. Since it was monsoon when we went, we could see lots of water falls, streams and heavy flow of water in road. 

Falls in Bisle Ghat road

1. Selfie in water stream on Bisle Ghat road
2. Lush green plants
3. Adventurous Bisle Ghat road