The downtown lights

This was my fourth Christmas in the US of A. Looking back, its been a real long time! Every year has been good and this year was not an exception. Except that, this year I was home! no extensive travelling. Working and still having fun. The best part is today being sunday, I am happy that tommorrow is holiday as well. We went to the downtown yesterday and it was a different experience. I agree, the downtown in Omaha is no where closer to the one in NYC and I believe, any major city but there was a difference. The usually crowded area full of clubs and restaurants was quiet. No people on the street, being Christmas eve. I did see couple of "couples" walking on the streets and a few of them travelling in "tongas"[A horse pulled vehicle, for those of you who do not know]. It was nice to see a tonga in the US [have seen one in New Orleans too]. But wonder, how people can sit in the open vehicle in that cold:O So well, we decided to explore the beauty of Omaha which we usually fail to notice on regular days. It was nice to see millions of lights on the naked trees. This was one of the pics taken in downtown and in the background you see one of the tallest buildings in Omaha [There are not many, anyways] also you see a frozen lake over there:) Today, was no different than yesterday. Closed shops, deserted streets, empty roads and lonely streets. Christmas is family time, so we decided to have a look at the houses in Omaha. It was quite a sight. Different decorations and plenty of lights. Reminded me of Diwali:) We also passed through "Warren Buffet's"house! The only thing that Omaha can actually boast of:)) The entire road belonged to us! I invited few of my friends over for dinner. Later, we decided to drive down to a destination unknown. Only to realize that we were actually heading towards Iowa (around an hours drive from here). The long drive indeed was fun. We did things we never did before. Like, there was this Indian who was driving a Camry on the next lane, one of my friends actually got so excited as if shes never seen a desi before, and started waving at him! Poor guy probably got intimidated and took the next exit! On the way, we listened to Telugu songs [the friend who was driving did not have any other CD in his car] and it was total fun. Listened to "hot"telugu-english songs such as "Gili, Beat in my heart, Dating, Shaka-la-ka baby". For some reason it felt great to listen to songs that I totally could not decipher. But the friend was patient to explain the lyrics! Maybe thats the magic of friendship. Few surprises always await you. We decided on going to Casino to see the lights there. It was all lights, lights, lights in our minds. I did not have my id nor my wallet in order to go to the casino [thats the best part]:D We turned back and started heading home. On the way, I utter "The road seems familiar, where are we going" Friends:"Duffer, we are going to your house to watch a movie. Thank god, you don't drink" We came home to watch "Ishq Vishq" [The only DVD I had at home]. Just as I put my hands in my Coat pockets to find my keys, I found my ID:D I get a scornful look from them. Hahahah..forget it. Lets not drive for another 60 mins. Lets just stay here and watch the movie. Only guy in midst of three girls. The girls busy watching "Ishq Vishq", the guy decides to read "Reader's Digest", instead:)) Though, there was nothing extraordinary about the evenings. It made me realize that the best vacation is not the one where you just pack your bags and leave! Sometimes, staying in your place is actually not a bad idea. Even though, you might have spent an entire lifetime in that city, there might be areas that are still unexplored. There might be friends whom you might want to know. There could be things that you probably did not notice! Thats exactly, what I did!