When we met! "Coco & I"

           No, it wasn't  COCO CHANEL, I would have almost fainted in excitement, wish she was alive in my era. My knowledge about American television starts and ends with F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and the legend of talk shows, Oprah Winfrey. In the 90's,  Star Channel in India had a variety of American series which of course now have become paid channels. And I am not sure whether they aired all the programs which were telecast in US back in those days. The point I am trying to make here is that my knowledge of American television is extremely limited. Hence it is obvious that most celebrities associated to American television may very well go unnoticed. So what happened when a desi in a foreign land met a native celebrity?

         I had just completed my 36th week of pregnancy and was due for my regular check up at the Englewood hospital. My mother in law had come to the US to savor the much awaited moment of seeing her first grandchild. She has infact never till then seen an ultrasound of a human foetus. So I took her along with another female friend of mine to the hospital to give her a glimpse of the baby manufacturing in progress 😉There were certain standard procedures of registration we had to go through every time we visited the hospital for a regular growth ultrasound of the baby. There is a waiting space for all patients until their names are called out to come forward to the assigned desk to complete initial formalities. The moment we reached the hospital, my mother in law and my friend took a seat on one of the empty rows and I sat down at the corner seat adjacent to their row next to an American lady. While we were patiently waiting, the three of us engaged ourselves in casual conversation in our mother tongue. Once in a while my glance would land up on the phone screen of the lady sitting beside me. She was totally engrossed on her phone. Quite petite and definitely looked like any other woman next door, what followed next was a series of LOL moments. I could sense that something kept bothering her and after a while , I guess, she could hold herself no longer. She politely said a hello to me and enquired which country we came from. I with my usual pride of nationality responded, that we came from India. After the initial exchange of general stuff like when I was due, if I knew the sex of the unborn baby, to ultrasound experiences and many more under the roof of that waiting room, came the moment of truth. It took me by surprise and awkwardness, when she asked if I watched American Television. Well of course I didn't, after coming to US, my husband very prudently bought a TV and installed the Indian channels to keep myself entertained with the Indian sagas. She looked perplexed but then decided to take matters into her hands. Very politely, she announced to the three of us that she is a famous American television celebrity. My reaction still was none , though I tried to wear like, " Really, how nice" kind of expression. She was visibly dissatisfied.  So now, she formally introduced herself as Coco Austin but I still wore the same blank look. I think she must have felt like doomed for the day. I mean imagine!!! that you are well known celebrity in a country where in most likelihood, people will be in complete awe to get a chance to look at you up close personally. And here the dilemma was that our so called celebrity was trying her utmost best to unravel her high end credentials to a bunch of people , clueless about American television 😀 Since her efforts  had no effect on us, so she assumed maybe her lost celebrity status could be rescued by her husband's credentials, who apparently was another celebrity singer of the country. With a confident grin she asked us, " I am sure you guys know Ice T?" For a split second I thought she asked me if I would like to have some Ice TEA, as in the beverage , tea. But it turned out it was her famous rapper husband. By now, she seemed utterly disappointed  that we didn't listen to rap and her husband was nothing but a name of a beverage for us. She still went on to tell us about profesdional life and work,  that she is expecting their first baby, coincidentally her due date was same as mine. And of course the conversation continued. It was indeed absolutely a pleasure talking to her. We spoke of many things though she had to give up trying to explain her celebrity status, and throughout the time spent sitting in that waiting area, we had a good chat, a good laugh and said goodbye to each other as my turn came to get the ultrasound done. I had almost completely forgotten the whole episode until I reached home and before retiring to bed that night, I mentioned about my meeting with Coco Austin to my husband. Like most men, he has the habit of Googling every new word , name practically anything new that he hears. He couldn't believe I met her at the hospital and then showed me her Wikipedia site. That's when I recalled the whole episode of meeting Coco and her confused expressions made perfect sense to me now. And I regretted not having clicked a picture together, for atleast my damn blog sake!😀

       Nicole Natalie Marrow, commonly known as Coco Austin, Coco, Coco Marie Austin, Coco Marie, Coco-T, is an American actress, dancer, glamour model and web personality. She has been married to rapper-actor Ice-T (Tracy Marrow) since January 2002.

       As luck would have it, we met again in the same hospital. This time me and my husband were on our way out of the hospital with our new born 2 day old baby boy. Coco was sitting at the guest lounge area and she came running to say Hi!! Isn't that so sweet of her. She congratulated us and I kept thinking how did she recall me after a week of our casual meet!!! She indeed has a huge memory of all the other huge assets she is blessed with😎

Coco Austin and husband Ice T

       My baby was born almost four weeks early so she was still a month away from her due date. We hugged this time and exchanged pleasantries.  I wished her luck and left. Throughout the drive back home, though I was already a beaming happy new mom but it made me happier to have met Coco, to know that an American celebrity remembered me by my name, and to top it all she was so nice to talk to, no celebrity airs, no big talks, no swag, just a human being talking to another one. It definitely impressed me and of course not to forget, the WOW moment of the day. My son's first meet with Coco when he was just two days old. Well I do have some spicy stories to share with my baby, of course when he's a grown man. Though he is already had a few celebrity meet and cuddles. Lucky lad!! FYI she has been blessed with a baby girl whom she has named Baby Chanel. Coco & Chanel wishing you a happy healthy life. Hope to meet again sometime soon.

Merci Merci America

     While a new year dawned , it made me think long and hard as to what should I open my 2017 series of blogging with. There were many thoughts and stories dying to wriggle out of the corners of my mind. But which and what would be apt to set the right tone for the rest of the year , was indeed a big question? I finally decided to take gratitude as the epicenter of my first write up of 2017. Rhonda Byrne author of "The Secret" says " If you make time to list all the things you are grateful for,  and feel the feelings of gratitude, you will feel amazing everyday".
           
                 

                 

       A year and a half ago my husband got posted to New Jersey, for a project for six months. I was already around four months into my pregnancy then. The thought of shifting base to an unknown country away from friends & family , at a time when I desperately needed them, if nothing but for comfort and valued advice, made me skeptical. But there were not many options to make desired choices .  With our bleak finances, it was the most logical move, to make circumstances better for our future. I became even more cynical when my husband had to fly without me because my visa was still work in progress and his project leaders became adamant about his immediate reporting, like a soldier summoned during emergency 😞. Guess that's  how IT companies work. So I flew 2 weeks later , alone and pregnant, to join my husband. The journey was uneventful but tiring. I reached USA in June of 2015. The moment I came out of the exit gates of Newark Airport, I could see my husband waiting for me with flowers and almost tearful with joy. It is moments like these when you realize the deeper meaning of a man-woman relationship. The next few days we were in a hotel until we found a nice apartment in New Milford, NJ. The moment I stepped inside our tiny one bedroom apartment,  it felt like a never before home sweet home. 15 days of stay at the hotel, which was situated on a highway, with nowhere to go, and no one to talk to, made my days long , dreary and boring until my husband, the knight in shining armor arrived from office to listen to my constant chatter. I quickly got busy in setting up our kitchen. We were living on bare essentials since we were supposedly to be returning back to India post six months.
         
     

   

   Slowly I started venturing out of the house on walks and spending more time on the Internet, learning how to cook Indian recipes😉. Yeah you are right , I barely ever cooked before. My social media connect was on a all time high. Last but not the least , something which I otherwise would hate to do but now , with so much time to kill, I became a typical TV series enthusiast. Of all these activities the one which I loved the most, were my walks. At times solitary but by evening my husband would tag along. We would also walk down to the grocery store to pick our weekly groceries. The best part about these these walks was , I got to meet people. Even on my solitary walks most Americans passing by would smile and say a polite Hello'. I cannot express the joy I found in these greetings. Somehow it made me feel welcome to this country and a relief to realize I had friendly people around. I come from a genre who love to have fair bit of social connect. I feel extremely delighted to have guests at home and to have friends, family and neighbors to exchange pleasantries. Before marriage, due to a demanding job , I hardly ever had time to socialize though I still did my bit once in a while.
         
             

   
   As days passed, my circle started to grow. I had lovely American neighbors next door and across the street. A neighbor from a nearby apartment became one of my best friend,  infact almost a soul sister. We would talk for hours about everything under the sun and we felt a connection instantly. Different cultures, customs, nationalities, festivals always intrigued me and hence these conversations with people from various backgrounds were fabulously interesting. Throughout my pregnancy my next door neighbor, Lisa, who is a part time Uber driver, took the responsibility of dropping and picking me up from my doctors appointments and the many ultrasound and tests that I had to go through at the hospital and doctor's clinic. While driving me to and from the clinic, Lisa and I would talk about parenting. She has single handedly brought up a 17 year old daughter. I have seen her working relentlessly just to give a better Life to her daughter. My interactions with all my American friends, mostly in the middle income group, made me understand the hard American life that most people lead here. With no domestic help life here gets quite tough managing, job, household chores, children, finances, insurance aah! The list just never ends. In fact it could be quite daunting at times. I became one among the bandwagon too, the only difference was, it was lot harder for me to adapt having always had the luxury of domestic help and a fiercely independent life. But the more conversations I had with my friends here, I became more grateful thinking about my life back in India. I also began appreciating American way of living. Specially single mothers who I think could be literally called super women, at least I would love to call them so😍😍

          My shift of base to the US, spread like wildfire amongst my school and college friends living here with their families. Thanks to FaceBook, a small update and the world can know your whereabouts. What followed after that was rendezvous with friends whom I havent met or seen in years ,dinner and lunch invitations, get together and celebrations. Even the ones who lived in different states called often to wish well and offer valuable advice on how to deal my pregnancy efficiently. These calls became quite customary later and honestly,  today when I look back, don't know what I would have done without them. 

       It's been a year and half in the US for us and everyday I start with a little prayer of thanks and end with one. Everyday I have found many reasons to be happy and to make others happy.  Some of my life's firsts has been celebrated in this country. My First Anniversary,  Birth of my baby boy, Baby's  first birthday, First Snowfall, First Halloween,  First Thanksgiving dinner .....Life just became a celebration of gratitude. Merci Merci America! These days shall be carved in my memories as one of the bestest days of my life. In hope of making many more memories of love and gratitude. CHEERS to a beautiful 2017.