Country Count

In many ways, traveling to Canada felt like traveling to the 51st state of America. Reality didn't hit me tell I had a rather unpleasant exchange with the guy behind the Foreign Exchange counter at baggage claim at the Toronto airport.

In a very nonchalant fashion, I asked him, " So they accept American Dollars here right?"
Piqued at my arrogance, he reprimanded, "You are in a different country sir. We have Canadian Dollars here. Look at the exchange rate. American Dollar is weak".
With humility restored, I slipped 5 greens to him and asked him to give me some colorful Canadian in return.

The concept of "Count" lives in a very small friend circle of mine. I don't even know how this got started in the first place. I guess one of us counted the states visited in US and that that set the tone for rivalry. Given my usual bragging ways, I am willing to bet that it was probably me! The early leaders in this Count game were me and my friend Shiva, and we decided to draw the framework for what constituted a State Count - You can successfully add a state to your Count, if you have driven through some part of it and set foot on it. To avoid confusing interpretations, we mandated that a gas station halt is a must for State Count. Airports were diligently kept away from State Counts.

In jest, we would abuse this Count, by starting parallel ridiculous counts like,
City Count - the name says it all...
Honk Count - number of honks received while driving (reflection of poor driving skills)
Gentleman Count - An acknowledgment received from the driver in front when you yield, thus signifying your gentleman like driving skills.
...hell ya! On some drunken nights, I remember keeping tab on even Piss Counts!!

However, the State Count has weathered the test of time, and kind of stood testament to the healthy competition as well as personal desires. With my State Count at 28, probably 28 of the prettiest, it seems like a mere formality to increase it to 50. Some of my friends might have overtaken me(??) and some lag far behind. But I sincerely hope each one of them gets to see the beauty of all the 50 states. However, like most things in life, dreams need to grow and the State Count is soon to be supplanted by something bigger - Country Count. But this time its not a game of oneupmanship, its merely a personal goal of visiting 100 countries. With only 10% accomplished towards this mighty goal, it might seem preposterous to suggest such a huge number. But I feel it would be a big shame if I were not fortunate enough to fulfill this goal in my life-time.

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