A day in Fremont
It is early morning 4 a.m. of Saturday, the 7th February, here in Fremont, California, so it must be 5.30 in the evening of 7th February in India, and voting in the Delhi elections would have closed.
 Even after I came here I did not reset my watch, but only mentally adjusted the timing. India is 131/2 hours ahead of California. So if my watch shows 5.30, I mentally calculate the local time here to be 4 oclock. Of course morning here is evening of the same day in India, and evening here is morning of the next day in India.
 Some day perhaps next month the clocks here will be reset one hour back, so the time difference between India and California will then become 12 1/2 hours instead of 13 1/2 hours. This is done every year.
 Yesterday morning ( Friday ) I walked down the road called Paseo Padre to Lake Elizabeth, which is a beautiful Lake in Fremont, about 3-4 miles in circumference, surrounded by green grass and green trees all through. There are many benches for sitting, and rest rooms
 The air here in Fremont is cool and non polluted ( I call it air conditioned air ). Lot of oxygen in it, so very good for health. A cool breeze was blowing, and the leaves and branches of the trees were waving in the wind as if saying ' Good morning ', or extending a handshake. This place is really paradise, about which it could be said ( as was said about Kashmir ) : " if there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this ". It is never too hot or too cold in California.
 Next to the sidewalk, and on the strip at the centre of the road, are lying brown leaves which had fallen from the trees. On both sides of the road, cars were streaming past at fast speed. Since it was a Friday, they must have been people going to work.
 The weather forecast had been that there will be rain in the evening. In the morning the sky was already overcast when I stepped out.
The weather forecasts in America are remarkably accurate, being calculated by the most advanced scientific methods. Two days back, i.e.on Wednesday it was forecast that it will start raining on Friday evening, and sure enough, it began raining only on Friday evening. So I could have my walk on Friday morning.
 On Saturdays and Sundays a lot of people come with their families to Lake Elizabeth for an outing, but there are less people on weekdays, mostly early morning walkers. Even these are many, as Americans are mostly very health conscious. The walkers usually walk fast. I imagine many of them read their weight every day or two on weighing machines, and carefully regulate their diet, which food has how many calories, etc. I suppose they also calculate what speed of walking and for how long will lose them how many calories..
 There are a lot of wild ducks and geese in Lake Elizabeth ( no hunting allowed here ).and these often come out of the water, usually in flocks,. to feed on the ground. They are a pretty sight. Boating is allowed in the lake.
 I hurried back home after a 45 minute walk, as I was told by my relatives with whom I am staying not to be out too long in view of the weather.
 At home I read ' Richelieu ' the whole day, about which I have already mentioned in an earlier post.
 In the evening the rains came, as predicted, and it was still raining when I went off to sleep in the night.
 Today ( Saturday ) early morning when I got up the rain had stopped, but the sky was still overcast.
 Today I intend to read a book called ' Toward the Brink ' by Claude Manceron, which I got from the library. It is about the conditions  in France in the years immediately before the French Revolution of 1789. The book should be interesting, as India is also on the brink of great changes and turbulence