The indian meal I had that night must have had some thought booster ingredients – my grey cells were working overtime, without a moment’s rest.
I was thinking of umpteen things & was able to doze off, only in patches. Hence, I was up with the lark ( if it had taken the trouble of taking a dekko into my room) & a spiffy version of self was out the door, quite early that day.
These Americans beat me to it. Breakfast was well underway & I joined the multitudes, who were straining at the leash to break their fast. The counter with bread, buns etc., was overrun by ladies. I had to look for other counters, to start my campaign!
I remembered the sage advice of the French royal, which fitted this situation like a glove. I made a beeline to the cake counter & plied the plate with some cakes. Marie Antoinette would have approved at this ready application of her dictum & probably would have had some smug satisfaction that this time it yielded agreeable results ( which did not include putting the head under the guillotine! )
After the thumbsup from the mid-region, I searched the fincon app on which session to attend. I found one on repurposing content, which looked like I could use. Oh, my Almighty God…what a repurposer she turned out to be!
Natalie Sisson first creates articles, then a series, makes it into a ebook, creates courses, videos, audio content out of it, writes a book with that … We always thought Americans were resourceful ! But this lady from the land where kiwis roam, upstaged every single American attending her session, that day! She was teaching Americans the fine art of marketing ( whose prowess is acknowledged worldwide ). 
I started thinking of the countless articles I had written and how I could have repackaged them & how many books I could have potentially published by now!
More sessions followed. I met Michael Kitces of XY Planning network & an influential voice in planning circles here ( see pc ).
In this conference, there was a huge exhibition area. This exhibition was fun. There was a tarot reader in one of the stalls, who was going to predict our future. I eagerly awaited her vision for the future. She drew a card for me with a lot of chalices, gave the prognosis that my teeth will have lot of cavities & I need to take good care of them !!! I thanked her for her deep insights!
We stopped by a few stalls & were rewarded with “swag” – goodies like bags, pens, water bottles etc. In another stall, we had batman ( see pic ), strutting the stuff. We posed for photos with him. He bade us good bye in his gruff, nightly tones!
And so the day wore on. That evening, we were to have an Ignite session at a night club called Bassmnt. We were outside the portals of Bassmnt & joined those waiting patiently, seeking entry into the bowels of the revels. The burly bouncer asked everyone for ID proof. I had none and stared at the prospect of being ejected. My Fincon id card saved the day! The bouncer first asked me to wait by the side; later he changed his mind & said I’m good to go and I oozed in along with the rest!
Ignite was an amazing format. There were to be ten participants. Each had 5 minutes to talk – 20 slides, each showing for 15 seconds, in which to tell their story! These were not finance sessions at all. Each had an interesting story to regale – and they did it, in all of 5 minutes ! Jordon Cox, a Brit teenager held us in splits, comparing American & British ways of doing things! Among his pet peeves were the dig at Americans for their penchant for driving on the wrong side of the road !
After this, we were to let our hair down and shake a leg! It took some time for them to prepare the floor. We were all given tokens for drinks. Spirits – whether liquid or ethereal – don’t have a grip on me. In the spirit of camaraderie, I passed on my spirit stub to my other spirited friends so that they can imbibe the stuff & glide in higher planes! While they were imbibing the fun stuff, I was with them in spirit. That’s a lot of spirit, you would agree J
The girls handing the highballs to patrons were in itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, but without the yellow polka, in black bikinis! The, umm, garment or rather the ribbons criss-crossing their body did not leave much to imagination. It more than lived up to the definition of a bikini – what it reveals is interesting & what it conceals is vital! Balance sheets are often compared with Bikinis! ( who said finance is a dull subject J )
There was Electronic Dance Music ( EDM ) being played and we got into the mood! With the spirits warming up the internal pipeworks, the revelers let their hair down – some literally! After a bout of shaking the limbs and other assorted body parts, we decided to head back home.
Having come to US, we did not want to head back without the pilgrimage to that hallowed American Shrine, where one pays obeisance to the God of Retail – Walmart!
There was a superstore, not too far away & it got me super excited! This was to be my first trip to a real hypermart – which offers a million sq. feet of retailing nirvana ! A Uber ride later, we were on the portals of Walmart. It was huge, really huge. I walked around & was drinking in the scene. Ultimately I picked up some thermals, sweaters & jackets. Akash did the parikrama much more exhaustively than me. After about an hour, we left the store and were looking for a place to have a bite.
That’s when we discovered Burger King on the other side of the road, thanks to the all-knowing Google! We were a bit late. The girl at the counter – Steffie – took our orders. Akash had ordered a burger & yours truly wanted a milkshake. Milkshakes had marked their absence that day! I suggested some fruit juice, which wasn’t there too. I resigned to having, what I presume would be available, even in this joint – the liquid that supported life! For the record, they had water here! Steffie asked, would I want a mango smoothie? I yessed. And in time I was sipping one. Surprise – she did not bill me! Reason – I asked for two things on the menu which she could not provide! That was amazingly considerate!
Steffie was geniality personified. She was smiling, grinning away all through her grueling work. She was talking & laughing with her colleagues the entire time, we were there. She did not have a moment’s rest in all that time. She was probably paid minimum wages or maybe a bitmore than that – probably $15 an hour. But, what an attitude she had! She gave us a signal lesson in right attitudes, being happy doing one’s job & doing it well & her spirit ( again spirit ! ) of service & empathy with customers. Thanks Stef. You have shown us that one can infuse meaning in anything we do !
The conference came to an end with the party on the night of 24th September. I had 25th Sept. with me, to see a bit of San Diego, before I wing my way back to India. I booked a trolley tour, which is a hop on, hop off bus. I thought this was the most convenient format for me. Zoo was one of the places that I had decided to spend some time at.
On the morning of 25th, the bus came late – probably by 45 minutes. I got off at Seaport village, which was one of the stops, in the itinerary. It was a seaside development, which had promenades, lawns, lots of shops & eateries ( see pic of the restaurant ). They had done a wonderful job of developing a simple place into a tourist attraction. There was a lifelike bronze statue of Senor Martinez, outside a Mexican shop! ( see pic )
I hopped on the bus which was going to Coronado island. One of the places we were to see was Hotel Del Coronado, where I had stayed! The ride over the Coronado bridge was fabulous ( it is about 250 feet above water! ). In time, we reached Balboa Park – it was close to 2 PM. The zoo closes at 5 PM. I just had three hours to get up close & personal with the inmates!
First off, was an enclosure with a flamboyance of flamingoes. They were busy cackling & communicating among themselves. After a brief period of communion with them, I moved on to meet our cousins – the simians. They were a contented lot, not given to much socializing and kept to themselves. Since, my one sided outreach was not yielding much results, I was forced to move on to find other more forthcoming parties!
The Zoo was lush green & some portions of the zoo were themed in the style of a particular habitat like African rain forest, Arctic Taiga etc. In some places, we were able to see the animals at two levels – an elevated upper level & a ground level. I saw an entire enclosure only devoted to snakes. There were everything from Russel Viper, Indian Rock Python, Cobra, Anaconda, Krait, rattle snakes etc. I must have seen about 70 types of snakes that day!!!
There were enclosures for the tiger, hippopotamus, various kinds of deer, Okapi ( see pic ) etc. It was the polar bear which had our attention, doing it’s diving act under water. We were able to see it through the glass when it dived down. It was huge! ( Pic posted is a replica, not the actual bear ) There were many other attractions – winged wonders like the Californian Condor, Weaver bird, ducks, pheasants etc. I took an overhead cablecar, they called Skyfari. From this cable car one gets an aerial view of the Zoo & what an amazing spectacle it was! The cable car deposited me near the exit. I had a hot chocolate in a stall there, hailed a cab and was back at the hotel.
Next day morning, I was ready well ahead of time, for my trip to the airport. The first leg of the flight was to Chicago. I was flying American Airlines. I discovered that I just had 40 minutes in Chicago, to do any stamping on my passport or to do any other procedures, before flying out of the US. The flight was late & I just had 30 minutes, when it landed. With adrenaline coursing my veins, I came out and enquired with the American Airlines desk if I need to do anything with the US immigration authorities, now that I was flying out. To my immense relief, they said, there is nothing to be done!
They just told me to go around and board the American Airline ( AA ) flight to London. With marked relief, I walked to the gate where the London flight was waiting. Boarding was on the verge of closing! With a sense of profound relief I sunk into the seat. This flight was 75% empty.
The flight to London was a long one. There was no personal inflight entertainment panel. I think AA wants every flier to strive to find the purpose of life & tried to facilitate an enabling environment! Without any distractions, one could delve deep into one’s consciousness & experience that AHA moment! I tried – but instead of grasping the sublime, I succumbed to the fatigue my brain must have been subjected to !
Finally, the flight landed in London around 6.30 AM, UK time. I cleared the security & was in the correct terminal ( the puzzling aspect of London Heathrow was much less in evidence, this time around! ). My Mumbai flight was at 10.30AM. I called home, read the book and was thinking fast and slow, saw flights take off and land, made good use of the wash room & twiddled my thumb & yet the time seemed to move but glacially. Finally after, much more of twiddling & walking up and down the walkways, the time came to board the British Airways flight.
Wow. This flight had personal entertainment panel. I did use it, but found that the time moving very slowly indeed. Were we travelling very fast that the time had slowed ( according to Einstein’s theory of relativity ), I mused. That could not account for it, as time experienced by self is still the same and only others looking from outside would find that time has slowed for us, in relation to them! My understanding of Einstein’s theory, stops with this J
I ate, read, saw movies, slept… lost track of time completely. Finally, the announcement came that we would be landing in Mumbai, in about an hour. I was wide awake now! Aamchi Mumbai ala re, I told myself with glee. The flight landed & I was delighted to be back in India. The night ride back home was exhilarating! I was feeling on top of the world, though I was now on terra firma!
This is the third & concluding part of my trip diary on my American Sojourn to San Diego.
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