Houston, We have a problem

Who says films are bad ? Every time I see Apollo 13 film I get inspired. Thanks HBO< let me have a good sleep now.

Motivational stuff.....

When I need personal focus, I look for the book "7 habits of highly effective people", and for office stuff - "First break all the rules".

Despite having this and re-reading this doesnt improve.

So i am made a smart move. I had only a pirated version of "First break all the rules". I bought the original ysterday.

Also i bought a "7 habits personal handbook".

Let me see whether that helps....!

( anyway i am avoiding piracy now. I am buying only original DVDs/VCDs/Books now. And destroyed all the pirated ones i have. Good, right ? Hmm, But still i have the music mp3s. )

Year end resolutions........

Year end resolutions got completely screwed up.....!

Screw it....

Day-by-Day.......... See wat it comes

Rab ne Bana di Jodi

Celebrated new year in a not so good way. Saw "Rab ne Bana di Jodi"

I didnt like any of the characters in the film.

The scenes i liked -
1. Hole Hole song
2. Some of the dance teaching scenes
3. And shah-rukh's dialogue when the japan trip photos are shown in last scene.

I shuld hav opted for Ghajini.....

This time last year and last-last year

Dec 31 2006 - Optimistic Anoop in Office

Dec 31 2007 - On the way to Trivandrum in Train

And this time alone in Bengaluru.... Hope some surprises come!!!!

Year End Resolutions.......

This time for a change instead of 2009 newyear resolutions.. I have taken 2008 year end resolutions with a deadline.. 31st Dec 2008!!!

And I have progressed. What the resolutions are is a secret! But time is running out, and I plan to extend the deadline till 5th Jan 2009.

"Every day is a new one.. "

My looks!

Last-to-Last week there was a discount sale of shirts/pants in our campus. As usual I went there to purchase one or two.

A fat lady came for purchasing pants for her partner probably. She asked me "Where do i find pants of 38 size ?" I nodded her with my head that I am NOT the one she is looking for. And the sales guy came to my rescue and pointed her to the 38 size pants...

I felt bad, for having a look of sales guy. I am an R&D Software Analyst working for a leading firm and a leading product. How can i have ordinary looks ?

To add to my grief, she came back again, and asked me whether we accept cards ? This time i felt slightly better, she may be thinking i am the Master of the stall.

Anyway i dont hav a IT bengalurian look it seems. How can i make it ? Will "facial" help ?

My vocabulary

Its bad that we used "malayalam" as the official language in my earlier companies :( My english is the worst!

And now in bengaluru i am forced to speak "saippu's language. And my mallu accent brings laughter to many of friends here. They force me to tell - "coke" and "cock"; "pink" and "ping"; and "lorry" and "uncle" and all.... But still i have not improved.

But still i could go on talking on technical subjects with my mallu accent without any difficulty. So i was able to handle the official discussions properly. Till last-last week I didnt realize that my vocabulary is too bad...

Going to BTM layout from my office, my car was stuck in silk board junction for more than 45 minutes... And my collegues/friends who were in the car were frustrated that my car doesnt hav good audio system also. Finally they forced me to say the story of "maharathi" film which i recently saw.

I found out why "story telling" is the way english is taught in good kinder garden schools.. It is the way you learn the language. And for me - the only words i know are: "for", "while" , "is", "and", "or" etc etc... I was suffocating telling the story. No right words were coming to mind.

I dont want to attempt to tell the story here again. But finally when i was about to tell the climax my friends asked me - "Where are those kidnappers? ; What happened to Nasarudheen shah ? " Those who saw "maharathi" film will understand how well i told the story.

And now this has become a long post. So i bet, you have not understood anything from it.

God save my vocabulary!!!!

Vacation!

First time in my 12 year career I have been totally out of office work for 9 days.......

Earlier also I had taken leave for other reasons..

But its nice to be @ home doing nothing but playing with lachu, and not worrying about other things!

Like Tamura san says "Its better late, than never"

Andhra Police Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Andhra acid attack case: Row over 'encounter' of accused

Andhra Police Rocks! Let human rights activists who condemn police action also be shot down. We dont want these activists. We want justice. We dont want inefficiencies.

Police Rocks!

Maharathi.... movie

Nice movie. Nice to see Ompuri, Bomman Irani, Nasirudheen shah and Paresh rawal in one movie.

The twists in the movie are predictable. But for the first time i screamed on one scene where Paresh tries to take the dead body out of the freezer and bomman irani comes suddenly behind him.. Man, I am telling the climax scenes..... Dont read this!

No slowdowns visible....

In bangalore no signs of slowdown visible.....

Malls are full in saturday morning. Difficult to get a seat in food courts. And impossible to get a movie ticket for weekends.

But could get tickets for "Maharathi" on sunday morning show :)

Back in office now for the pending works i always left to do :(

US Policy on Terror

Act against Terror when it strikes against US!!!!!

Sadly it will need anoth 9/11 for US to take tough actions against rogue terror nations.. And without Uncle Sam's support nothing can be done in this world!

Were Next ?

Changanacherry ---> Kollam ---> Trivandrum ---> Chennai ----> Bangalore ----> ?????

Where next ?

20-twenty

20-twenty Rocks! Its nice to see all the Malayalam Biggies coming together for this venture.

When the film started, it was dragging and boring and I really wanted to get out of the theatre. But once the three Mega-starts - Mammooty, Suresh Gopi and Mohan lal comes its a super-duper entertainer. The clashes btw these titans have been filmed very well. Its nice to see your favourite starts fight each other.

Mohan lal and Suresh Gopi gets all the Clap-padi scenes. Mohan lal is at his best in the movie.

I dont want to see the movie again if its free. But its a must to see it in theatres atleast one time if you love these stars!!!

Investments.........

Believing in India's economy I am continuing my investments in MFs. My huge profits have turned to huge losses.... But never mind, I am investing long term for my grand children. I will not get disturbed by economic slowdowns or even economic depressions!!!!!!!!!

What should we do ?

Bring TADA or POTA back and bring all types of terror down. How can we make sure Politicians and Police does not misuse those special rules and torture innocent people.

How can we strengthen our nation's security and people's life ? How can we make our Intelligence Wing and Police strong enough to thwart these terrorist attacks or minimize damage to people ?

People from all country should unite against all acts of Terror.......

Peace for All!!!

Worst that can happen.......

1. Lose my job
2. banks collide and i lose my FDs
3. Fund houses bankrupt and i lose my equity investments

But still life will go on........... !!!!!!

Mallu behaviour - Volvo

Always in train or bus - I dream for a beautiful unknown girl to sit besides me. It never happened before. But four weeks back - while i was returning from trivandrum to bangalore finally a girl came to sit with me in kpn travels.

She was quick to get help from me, in pushing her seats backside so that she can sleep. And i helped her, and she started sleeping without even saying a thanks.

I sat awake till midnight because of the late night coffees I had. But finally I slept.

Around 3am in the morning I woke up... and saw a hand coming from behind. Waking up from sound sleep I could not immediately react. After a 1 or 2 seconds delay, I immediately looked behind. The mallu moron behind,was lying with his head rested on the front seat, and attempting to grab the girl from behind. When i looked behind, he realized and went back to his normal sitting position pretending sleeping..

I could not make a scene. If the guy's attempt had succeeded the girl would wake up, and i would have got beatings ( may be even from that mallu moron guy ). Luckily it did not happen. But i felt bad because i could not catch him.

The guy - seems to be a software engineer - bulky fellow - and got down at electronic city stop. I will remember his face.

Anyway I dont need any more "jab we met" experiences in future.. This is enough!!!

Reading a lot......

Atleast i coule read Chethan bhagath's masala novels....... Read all the three in a two week's time. "Five point some one" his first one is really interesting.

And also read "Games Indians Play - Why we are the way we are"...

While searching "Modern Library" got into one book - "History of God". Remember that book with my friend say 11 years before. So got curious and bought it. Its a bulky one. So dont know whether I will complete reading that.

Operation BAD.....

Even terrorists have named the operation - "BAD".. Then why dont they just STOP.. ?

In the latest blasts a 9 year old kid has lost its life. Nobody gains from acts of terror....

A briefer history of time....

Recent experiments done by CERN on simulating BIG BANG has generated interest in me back to science and physics... Started reading "a briefer history of time" by stephen hawkins.

Now I have a feeling that science and humanity are much better than reading subjects like GOD/relegion.....

More later......

bomb blasts.., communal voilences.., never ending!

Innocent people are dying.. whether its communal violence or terrorists attacks..

And its happening so frequently, that it has become no news at all.

What can we do not to spread hatred.. ? and stop these killings ?

Get up, Stand up, Dont give up the fight! ( lyrics: Bob Marley)

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!

Preacherman, don't tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you don't know
What life is really worth.
It's not all that glitters is gold;
'Alf the story has never been told:
So now you see the light, eh!
Stand up for your rights. Come on!

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!

Most people think,
Great God will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights. Jah!

Get up, stand up! (Jah, Jah!)
Stand up for your rights! (Oh-hoo!)
Get up, stand up! (Get up, stand up!)
Don't give up the fight! (Life is your right!)
Get up, stand up! (So we can't give up the fight!)
Stand up for your rights! (Lord, Lord!)
Get up, stand up! (Keep on struggling on!)
Don't give up the fight! (Yeah!)

We sick an' tired of-a your ism-skism game -
Dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, Lord.
We know when we understand:
Almighty God is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (What you gonna do?),
We gonna stand up for our rights! (Yeah, yeah, yeah!)

So you better:
Get up, stand up! (In the morning! Git it up!)
Stand up for your rights! (Stand up for our rights!)
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight! (Don't give it up, don't give it up!)
Get up, stand up! (Get up, stand up!)
Stand up for your rights! (Get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Don't give up the fight! (Get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight!

Last week at chennai!!!!

July 1st week was my last week in chennai.....

It was eventful. Shootings were going in beach 50metres away from apartment - "Sarvam". Was very happy to see Trisha very close by.

Lorry strike and Diesel shortage delayed the movement of goods from chennai to Tvm. So got held up in chennai for more than a week.

Coming back to Bangalore was on Matiz. My seven and a half year old car was smooth through out 350kms... It was a very good ride. Gave lift to a police woman to krishnagiri. She was called for duty as PMK leader Kaduvetti Guru was arrested. So i got a company.

Only bad thing was lorry strike was called off previous night - so from Hosur to bangalore it was full of lorries and that dampened the speed a little!!!

Dasavatharam - final comments!!!

Finally I decided to see dasavatharam again to give a good review... Very rarely me and my wife go for films together... ( i always see films alone!). We decided to see dasavatharam on July 1st week and booked the tickets online in chennai.

but fate struck... because of lorry strike... petrol pumps had huge queue and i could not fill petrol on time, i called my friend and asked him to go and see the film. so a second try on dasavatharam did not work out!

but now - thinking again - i seem to like the film. Most importantly I have started liking the songs!

Dasavatharam - Part 2 - Others

Female characters in this movie - Asin ( double role - one in 12th century and other in 21st century) and Mallika ( as a Spy agent) are superb.

Music sucks! Himmesh Reshmaiiyya ( whatever) sucks ! Luckily he did not get enough time to do the background score and that saved the movie... Background score is good!!!

Except for Kamal Hassan nobody is in the movie - Hero, Villain, Legend, RAW agent, Social Reformer, Old woman, Afghan Muslim, Japanese Martial arts guru all roles are done by kamal hassan...

And he has done all the roles very well. Comedy and Actions are good!

But have to say it again... Make up sucks !!!!

Dasavatharam - part 1

Just before going to the movie - My mentor here in my new company gave me a task - see the moview and explain to him how kamalhassan's dasavatharam is related to mahavishnu's dasavatharam.

For him the answer is - No Relation. Sivaji Ganesan had acted in nine roles, so kamal hassan wanted 10 roles and make history.

This is not a moview review, but a movie going experience review. All my friends declined to come with me for seeing Dasavatharam at PVR, Forum mall as it costs 250Rs/-. But i wanted to see it before any of my friends see it. Otherwise they will spoil my mood by telling all the suspense and twists and all.

When I reached PVR theatres I realized my purse has only around 50-60Rs. Ticket i already had. So had to spend 3 hours in theatre without having pepsi and popcorn.

I didn't know any story line and was eager to see it... The first scene showing Nehru stadium and Tsunami after-effects itself dejected me. Could see lot of animated faces ( ofcourse other kamal hassan's ).. Makeup is poor, and looks very funny. It looks like mask pasted for many "avatharams"....

Then it goes back to 12th century... And shows the fight between vaishnavite and shaivite... and how kamal hassan's first avathar fights and dies for the vaishnavite cause. Vishnu statue and kamal hassan's first avathar are immersed to the sea. From this point onwards I was seeing the movie to see a relation btw the 12th scentury story and 21st century... but could not find any .. apart from that when Tsunami happens the statue gets visible again...

But later when i was discussing with my friends - they were talking about "butterfly effect". Small events in past can make significant impact in future... Say a slight variation in position of ball at the top of a hill can impact which valley the ball falls in....

Anyway on a philosophical / spiritical line what the moview tried to convey i did not get.

But the "butterfly effect" theory is true.. small events in past impact your life in a big way.

To be Continued...

lachu .... in garden !

lachu .... in angry moodu

Tata indicom - 2nd part

I got connection. In second part i am satisfied with Tata-Indicom.

But still the damage is done.

"Tata-Indicom" - WORST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES IN TRIVANDRUM - 1st part

My wife's had a tata-indicom connection in Trivandrum, it got expired recently because the computer there went faulty and nobody was using the connection.

I had to work from home this week. I reached trivandrum tuesday afternoon and my father-in-law called tata-indicom. We thought since we had connection in the past wiring and related stuff would be easy and could esaily renew the connection.

After several calls, executive came on wednesday night. ( it was my need, i should have gone to their office directly ). Executive said, he would be able to provide connection by Thursday evening. I requested him to do it by Thursday morning. He said he will try his level best. Everybody was happy, but it was just a "mannar mathai" promise.

Whenever we call Tata-Indicom's executive he will say - " people have just started, they will reach your house anytime". It seems Tata's marketing and sales executives live in someother decade.

Started callig every 3-4 hours, you always get the same answer - "they have just started or going to start etc etc etc"

And on friday afternoon, my father-in-law went to their office and demanded the cheque back. And finally they said people will come by 3pm and do the work.

And by 3:30pm i got a call that a VSNL guy is waiting outside. The gate was wide-open and he was talking in his mobile sitting in his scooter. I waited there for 5 mins, but he was no taking not of my presence. Finally i went back and stood in the car shed. After his talking, he took the scooter straight to the car-shed. He climbed down, first refused to acknowledge my presence, and then asked me "veetil arum ille" ? Hmm... may be i have less glamour. I said i am in charge :) he does not seem to believe. Curse my servant look :)

And then he asked me - "cables not there?" and he started looking for the cables. Tata-Indicom had removed the cables from road to house when the connection expired earlier. I lost hope...! So this guy is not going to do anything. I got a feeling.

And he started asking for the "routers", "cables", "adapters" of previous connection. I dont have any issues re-using those. But when a new connection is taken, with all the new setup and installation charges, we expect new equipments. The older ones should be recovered when the connection is terminated. And he had a story - "TATA INDICOMM has ROUTER shortages. He came , just because the connection is URGENT. If i dont need older routers, he will go back"... Ok, so i agreed. TATA- Indicomm is into this business and is facing severe modem/router/cables/adapter SHORTAGES. Poor guys.

He took all the old equipments and powered it all, connected the cables. and asked for my laptop to connect it... BUT NOBODY HAS COME YET TO EXTEND THE WIRES FROM ROAD TO THE HOUSE. The Tata-Indicom service just want to demonstrate how to connect the network cable to my laptop......

He also had a reason - "Minimum 7 days connection time is taken usually. Executives simply promise what they cannot deliver". Perhaps TRUE. But they should solve this themselves. And correct this if they want good business. I DONT CARE. I DONT HAVE TO CARE.

FOR ME I KNOW ONLY ONE THING - TATA INDICOMM IN TRIVANDRUM SUCKS!

Now the guy after connecting the MODEMS have gone out. I am waiting for him and for the cable guys to come atleast today evening.

I dont know whether I will be able to post this using a Tata indicomm connection. If not i will post this after reaching back bangalore.....

scientific temper ?

After reading lots of books to improve my "emotional temper", i am done with that. NO MORE that sort of books..!

I better improve my "scientific temper". Borrowed a book "The pleasure of finding things out" by Robert Feynman from my friend Srini and started reading..

Lets see how far i will progress in this "temper".

Rich dad, poor dad

After buying three years ago.., I finally read the book "Rich dad, Poor dad". It is a very easy read. Read during my autorickshaw time between BTM and EGL campus(domlur) during last week...

It gives us two important thoughts:
Assets: "One which creates money for you"
Liabilities: "On which you have to spend money"

Real Estates, Mutual Funds, Bonds, FDs all may come in my assets columns....

House maintenances, Car EMIs all may come in my liabilities column...

He advices us not to spend our income fully.. But to invest... And to spend the money generated from the investments...

These are the few things I learnt from that book.....

One of my colleague commented when we discussed about these concepts. According to him:
" Assets are one which buys you happiness, and liabilities sorrow". We all agreed with his new definitions. A better one indeed.....

Now restarted reading - "The Goal" ( I am now reading that book for the third time).. May be I have started feeling myself like Alex Rugo - the hero in the book... Let me see if i can bring victory like him in the end !!!!! :)

Artist - Anoop

Artist - Anoop's wonderful creations for lachu :)

Time to move on....

All weekends I travel to and from chennai in Shatabdi express. But last week for first time, it was turn of two very beautiful north indian girls (settled in blr) to sit with me...

I was very happy. One was around 22-23 and the other was 17-18 yr old. kismat turned bad when i realised their younger sister was sitting alone in another area. I knew I have to get out for her. Hmm, after all its for a good deed. I prepared myself for doing it...

And the request came from the eldest one to change my seats. And I was happy to do that for a beautful girl. When I took my laptop bag, and started walking... the eldest one thanked me - "Thank you very much UNCLE"....... and the middle one also told "Thankyou UNCLE"...

The words struck me HARD. It was a moment of realization of hard realities of my AGE.

I sliently went to the back seat and slept........

Earth Day

Let all be happy and free

Asato Maa Sad Gamaya
Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya
Mrityor Ma Amritm Gamaya
Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti

Oh Lord lead us from the Unreal to the Real
Lead us from Untruth to Truth
Lead us from Darkness to Light
Lead us from Death to Immortality
Oh Lord, let there be Peace, Peace, Peace.

Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti

May the Lord bless the whole world with eternal peace and goodwill.
May the Lord bless the whole world with eternal peace and goodwill.
May the Lord bless the whole world with eternal peace and goodwill.
Peace peace peace

Jab we Met - 2008

2008 is special. No "new" New year resolutions......

Celebrated new year in train. Was on the way to trivandrum. Got tickets only in 2-tier A/C. Was expecting a nice beautiful girl to come and join me. Was under the effects of "Jab we mee" film. But finally a retired lady doctor joined me. She was going to Thrichur.

So without giving her much company slept early. And while i was in sound sleep somebody woke me up. It was the lady. She told me - "Happy New Year". I was surprised, I nodded my head. She asked me, where will the platform come in Thrichur - on left or right side. I didn't know the answer. She went. But soon came back and called me and requested for my help. So i climbed down from my berth, and found that only "ottapallam " has reached. I decided to give her company till Thrissur... and helped her in boarding down the train in thrishur.

So new year started well..........

Kadha parayumbol......

Saw film "kadha prayumbol" also... nice simple film.

Films

Being bachelor for a short while is very good. I could roam around and see these films...

1. Chak De (DVD)
2. Jab We Meet (DVD)
3. Billa 2007
4. Taare Zameen Par
5. The Legend
6. Lakshyaa (DVD)

Job Security - revisited

Sometimes I make good notes... When i was going through my last year's posts I came across this post on Job Security.

"Put our job security based on the capacity to do the job, rather than the job itelf"

That is a good advice which I have taken myself!!!!!!!!!

1st class mutual funds

Refer Mutual Funds proposed by ValueResearch online for long term investment..

Raining

Chennai is raining heavily.......................

Came to office... but dont feel to work... Looking oustide the window and now enjoying the rains..... Thanks to Watchman, he brought me a hot cup of coffee from his share!!!!!

Tamil - Japan

I am finding many similarities btw Japan and TamilNadu
- love for language
- hardworking people
- promoting industries

And now Varewa (Valmiki Nagar Residents Welfare Association) is starting garbagge collection with the help of Govt in three-way - (1) biological wastes (2) non-biological (3) haxardous wastes.

The streets near our place are very clean as they are cleaned everyday.

When i came to chennai Jan 2006, there were mosquitos, so we used to close the windows before 6pm. But now there are hardly any mosquitos and we can leave the windows open all the time...

Things are improving fast in chennai..... Only because of its people....

I wish we ( in kerala) also could be like that.

These days.........

These days I am not blogging and also missing many episodes of "idea star singer".....

idea star singer

These days "asianet idea star singer" is taking away my blogging time........

Afraid of political and religious blogging

Recently a person was arrested for saying bad things about Sivaji the Maratha ruler. It was a 10th month long case and police finally tracked him down.

I dont know anything about Sivaji to comment.

But I had lot of things to comment about "Ram Sethu controversy".., and many recent events.

Should I comment ? Who knows what will happen to me if i comment.

Perhaps I should read Constitution and Laws of the state first, and then blog.

Exams

Lachu's 1st term exams end tomorrow (LKG)... ( she had monthly tests also last month..)

anyway as a responsible father i adviced her - "marks doesn't matter. atleast till BTech!!!!"

so told her to play rather than study :)

Tsunami Warning

I am staying very close to the beach... To get a view see one of my earlier posts.

On Wednesday evening we were issued Tsunami Warnings and people were evacuated from beach. This wass because of the Indonesia Earth quakes. We planned to go for some outing - cinema or shopping. But then the warning was lifted.

Offloading

Came to work, but decided against, and started offloading the Todo-list - travel settlements, claims etc etc.

Good, atleast i will get some money.

It seems my blog-topic has changed from car to money.

Last moments

On Sept 5, I was driving through Besant Nagar. Saw lot of crowd near a flat. They were watching a man standing in sunshade of a flat.

Today I read in "Adyar Talk", that he was trying to commit suicide, and it was his lat moments that I saw. Police and FireForce tried to prevent him by spreading a net, and his mother was persuading him. But he managed to move suddenly into balcony and jumb. He died on the way to hospital.

He was mentally ill.

Hope his soul gets peace....

Tax done

Finally I did pay taxes.

I had to pay a huge amount this time, as I got my areers from my previous employer only this year, and due to that my total taxable income went beyond the tax slab.

If i had the FORM-16 of previous year, I could have paid less tax, as I could have shown that it was for the previous year.

Anyway my money does not go waste... Let government use that wisely !!!!!

Portfolio Manager

I have started using ValueResearchonline's Portfolio Manager for tracking my funds.....

It seems to be very useful to manage the large amount of funds I have ( around 15) and the SIPs I run ( around 7)

It is adviced to keep total funds around 7-8, and run SIPs in 3-4. But still I prefer my style for no specific reason.

Tax Planning

Today I was busy doing my tax planning... Bought "Mutual Fund Insight" latest version for 100Rs/- and was selecting the best ELSS funds available.

I had some earliest posts on these - Mutual Funds 2007 , Tax Savings 2007/2008.

I am proud of myself, i am planning tax savings in year beginning itself. Good!

But my mood became upside down, when i realised just now, i have not filled tax returns for year 2006/2007. And I am paying interests everyday for the delay. Time to schedule my priorities....!!!!!!!!

Indian driving.....

finally back in indian roads.....

wanted to take car to workshop first before doing anything, but was forced to take the car on next day morning itself after landing in India.

and my car broke down in the busiest adyar junction, and that too on the rush hours. somehow managed to start car again after two minutes. had to suffer all the horns and curses from fellow drivers. and u cant imagine my plight. it again stopped two more times, but then i managed to enter a pocket road from the busy adyar junction.

Had no mobile and workshop numbers with me. So called my friend from a booth, and waited nearly for an hour before my friend came with the workshop guy. The guy told me no problem with the car. just raise the accerator so that valves get open up. he said i can drive home.

But my recent pasts have made me more cautious. I said i prefer to give it for full service. And then we were cruising through the 8 lane Taramani Road. ( I made him drive :) ), and then again the car troubles started. Luckily the workshop guy was able to switch the lanes fast and come to a bus bay before the car made a complete stop ( switching lanes is more easy in India!!!)

and then we had to wait for another one and half hour for the next workshop guy to come...... and the chennai heat has dried me up......

it took me 7000Rs to bring back Matiz's engine to be as smooth as before ( I changed a couple of things, and i dont know what they are for!!!!!). Its too much money for a 40,000 car !!!!!!!!!

I am still having bad lucks with car, or may be good luck as everytime I have nice escape.

from changi airport

from changi airport....

an eventful US trip has ended!!!!!!!

flat tyres

I did not take car after landing in SantaClara for many days. But on thursday I had to go go to bank, which was in Sanjose downtown. Me decided to drive. And I took the steering, and started ignition, it started making warning sounds. Tyre pressure was low in right rear wheels.

We took a look at the tyres, but were too lazy to investigate further. We drove through highways for 20 miles to and fro. And in evening only we went to gas station to fill in air. The air was not getting filled, and we noticed a big nail is inside the tyre.

Luckily we did not experience any problems although we drove with 10 PSI tyre pressure...

Next day we changed the car instead of the tyre... but it seems whenever I took the steering wheel something will happen. But my lucky angel is always with me!!!!!!!

hmmm

vaccation will end in another two days... Time to pack up things!

State Change

Back from a lonely hotel room to a crowded apartment...

Back from Mac and Pizzas to Dosas and Rice...

Back from a drizzling Tewksbury to sunny Milpitas...

Travel back to santa clara

Friday night after pizza partying with friends, I drove to apartment alone from Lowell. I dont know how I picked up the correct routes. It was a confusing rottery junction ( ? not sure the term is correct). Luckily I managed to find US-3 South and proceed. Came to hotel very late night, and slept immediately.

Morning woke up at 8am only. Had lot of things to do - (1) pack up things (2) return car 10 miles away (3) make everything ready before flightline shuttle service come to pick me up.

I started for returning the car at 9:30am. Driving in smalll roads in US is confusing to me now. The boards show 35mphr, but all drive at higher speeds. The divider lines are not very clear etc. Also i dont know to take U turns in those roads etc. I missed my left turn and went lot of distance because I was not sure when and how to take U turns and some cars were behind me, so i did not want to irritate them. Finally i did turn at some point and came back and took the correct path.

Then came an intersection without any signals. There also it was confusing for me how to take left. I was coming from a small road. The vehicles moving to the right direction had stopped and there was path for me to go. But i cant see vehicles from left direction. Anyway I took left to the main road immediately. I decided, I should read traffic rules book immediately once I am back in SantaClara. ( and i have started reading that today...!!!).

After giving the rental car back, it took some time for me to get a taxi. Its very good to watch those towns while someone else is driving. Very small towns - Tewksbury , Wilmington etc. very beautiful. If i had company, surely i would have explored more in those areas.

It was heavy rain during the time i started on my shuttle to airport. And the rain literally continued through out the day. My flight came on schedule. But it got delayed, because the staff were not able to load the luggage in heavy rains. And finally when we were boarded to the aircraft. But then also the plane was not given permission to fly because of heavy lighting and thunder in the Manchester area. I was hoping some beautifil ladies to occupy my side seat. But as usual that did not happen. One small child and her mother were my seat partners. But it was fun. They started playing good games using cards, making some shapes etc. So i got some ideas on what more should i buy for lachu..............!!!!!!!!!!!

After some time, the plane took off and six long hours in the flight. I spend time seeing my favourite movie "Legally Blonde" and also "History Channel". Good, finally arrived on san Jose airport. Limousine from my company dropped me to Milpitas airport. After three weeks in Boston, now have a stranger feeling in Milpitas!!!!

Lunch at Boston

It was a good "international" gettogether lunch we had today...

We had a

- 1. Iranian Parsi
- 2. indian Hindu ( who eats beef also )
- 3. Chinese guy
- 4. White American

Good combination of global team!!!!!!!!

The food was not international, it was chinese. But the dishes we ordered had "chicken", "pork" and "beef"... and some shrimps in my fried rice too :)) Now feeling sleepy....

Anyway its my last day in boston office!!!!!!!!

"Pick up your fights" - fortune cookie tells

My fortune cookie tells -------

"Pick up your fights. Lose a battle and win the WAR"

hmmmm

I was taking 30 A B C exit to US-3 S, and before taking 30A exit a trailer truck came by my right lane. I slowed down to take the right lane, and put indicators ON. Man, it was a long truck, i was expecting it to end. By mistake i almost took right before the truck was completely gone. It was a narrow escape. And a foolish thing to try.....

Also it was fun after taking ramp, when lanes merged mine and another car came on the same lane together.... hmmmmmmm

Boston rocks!!!!!!! Full of events :)

More lessons....!

I always love easy parking....... Mostly I park away from the shops and houses and walk towards them. My friend has warned me not to do that.

"

Dont give an option for people to lift your car.. Dont give temptations to them.

Dont put anything inside car that may be tempting to others to break the window!!!

"

I am getting too much advice these days.....

Telephone manners.....

I hate sitting near to Indian people...... expecially ladies in 30s..

Always chatting in phones in loud noise to their kids.., parents.., in-laws.., friends in their local language.

Its irritating. Am i racial ?

driving lessons in boston..... ( have i learned ?)

i did my serious mistake when i visited lowell.... My friend asked to look for Liqour shop as a landmark and drive left. But i missed that landmark slightly and had to go straight and take a bridge. I was very much eager to get back and when i reached the end of the bridge i took U-Turn immediately. There was no "NO U-TURN" sign. But I got a couple of horns. That intersection had vehicles coming from all directions, and i should have taken either of directions and then take U-turn from those roads to come back. A serious mistake. My apologies to all american drivers....... sometimes this happens to me..

I never commit a mistake for the second time. But have made it a habit to make new new mistakes everyday.

Secondly I was warned by my friend, that my driving is very provoking. I dont Stop the car when i see pedestrians.I dont know whether that is fully correct... I think i am braking... but my car not fully stoping ? :) Anyway he has warned me...

I want to be a good boy. I want to follow every rules and norms.....

Back in chennai I am considered a very safe driver who slows down on yellow lights... (I get scoldings even from my wife, for slowing down when yellow lights appear). I keep the lanes in chennai... i drive slowly through residential areas.. i wear seatbelts..... But in US..? I have to improve!!!!!!!!!

Sony Handycam Camcorder (DCR-SR200

Got hold of a Sony Handycam Camcorder (DCR-SR200....

Perhaps 3.5 years late to buy a camcoder... missed to capture lachu's infant days !!!!!!

Updates from Boston

My stay again extended for a week. Decided to make atleast coffee. Bought milk, sugar and coffee powder. And only reaching the room realized that i bought flour instead of sugar...:) I dont know how i do this type of mistake. Now drinking coffee without sugar.

Eating is the hardest part. Spends more than 10$ a day but nothing goes inside.. It seems finally I will start cooking..

Today has been one of the day i was feeling like i was in India. When i took the ramp to the freeways I was not allowing the cars in the left to take off before me. And during lanes merger I was fighting with the bigger cars to win the race. Hmmm.., I got a couple of HORNS also.

Spendin lot of time in orkut. perhaps i need a break from orkut!!!!!

Days are Long, Weeks are short

I now have this strange feeling - I am feeling that my days are becoming longer.., and weeks are getting very shorter.

Its difficult to be alone in hotel rooms, listening to music and watching TV and spending time in orkuts, youtubes. Days have become larger.., and its difficult to spend time.

But at the same time, I am feeling weeks are moving very fast. Have been in US now for the last 5-6 weeks, and feels it went in a second. How can days go very slow and weeks go fast.... Perhaps its because of the "incompleteness" feeling... targets not getting achieved. Perhaps need to schedule the priorities well !!!!!!!!

talking about others......

In a telecon with end-customers today, we all from same side logged in early. One guy said - "before actual customer comes in let us talk about our side.."

And we started talking... I was slightly afraid.. even we three are from different locations and we dont see each other. Who knows somebody else is not there ?

And when people started joining from other side we stopped our discussion. And we were enquiring about Mr.Mike who has not joined yet.

To our surprise , Mr.Mike was already there, hearing our discussions. He was listening silently to what we talk. He praised us for understanding their concerns and said thanks to us. The things we discussed were mainly the lack of documentation in providing proper cases to the customer, and the necessity to make them fast!

Luckily we did not say anything bad :)

Perhaps we should always have it in our mind when we talk about somebody else - that he is listening to what we say.

Being an Orkuttan

US life have made me becoming a 100% Orkuttan!!!

I should get out of this Orkut, before lachu enters :)

Tewksbury rains.........!

Its drizzling continously in Tewksbury today...

And i really love rains..

( Btw I heard its raining heavily in chennai everyday at night nowadays...)

Rat Trap

A rat caught at my home...... Poor guy!

One week in Boston

Celebrating one week in boston today!

Living in a small town called Tewksbury. Office is 10 miles away and have to take freeways to reach there. Had doubts in my mind whether i would be able to drive safely as had little experience in driving in freeways in US.

On sunday itself I took a rental car. Called a cab, and to my surprise the one that came was a big luxurious car!!! I dont know whether no yellow-cabs are there? Cursing myself, I got into the car.. Had to spend 40$ to reach there. I dont know why my company books a rental car for me - from 9 miles away ? From the new malibu in Santaclara to the old Ford Focus in Tekswbury I was disappointed.

Now with car in hand, I really needed to find the way to office and back from it. Luckily my NeSTian ( old company mates) friends came, and we had a drive to office and back. And that gave me the confidence I needed.

On monday morning, I was driving nicely, and was watching for exits 30 A-B-C from I495S freeway for joining another freeway US_3S. But just before I reached the exit, a police bike was just behind me. For a second, I was watching him, and by the time i regained my focus, the exit was gone.. Having confidence in me, i continued... I know what now i have to do is take the next exit and come to 1495N ( reverse direction) and take exit on 30A.

I took the next exit..., but took again 1495S :) So i had to continue on the same direction for another 6 miles , where I took the next exit... and i continued my way through the exit. Drove for sometime, and luckily saw a lady park her car in a school. Went and asked for help. She taught me, how to take 1495N. So I went to take I495N and was in a left lane ( which should exit to 1495N). But then i dreamed again and went straight. But this time woke up fast, entered a gas station. From there regained my direction sense, and returned to 1495N.

Also there were some issues on later days because I was not yielding properly when taking right turns. Luckily no accidents.

But now I am a better driver......

Living alone in hotel is boring....... Nobody to talk to

But saturday was fun, as with friends we went to Boston downtown and nearby places. Had a glimpse of MIT buildings and in the evening had Kappa and Meen Curry. Bought a lot of fruits from Boston Market, so this week I am having fruits for breakfast!!

Let me see how the next and final week in Boston goes..!

my favourite lullaby

Copied from http://malayalamsonglyrics.blogspot.com/2006/10/alliyilam-poovo.html

ചിത്രം : മംഗളം നേരുന്നു‌
സം‌ഗീതം‌ : ഇളയരാജ
ആലാപനം‌ : ടി.എന്‍.കൃഷ്ണചന്ദ്രന്‍

അല്ലിയിളം പൂവോ ഇല്ലിമുളം തേനോ
അല്ലിയിളം പൂവോ ഇല്ലിമുളം തേനോ
തെങ്ങിള നീരോ തേന്‍‌മൊഴിയോ
മണ്ണീല്‍ വിരിഞ്ഞ നിലാവോ
അല്ലിയിളം പൂവോ ഇല്ലിമുളം തേനോ

കല്ലലം മൂളും കാറ്റേ പുല്ലാനിക്കാട്ടിലെ കാറ്റേ
കല്ലലം മൂളും കാറ്റേ പുല്ലാനിക്കാട്ടിലെ കാറ്റേ
കന്നിവയല്‍ കാറ്റേ നീ കണ്‍‌മണിയെ ഉറക്കാന്‍ വാ
കന്നിവയല്‍ കാറ്റേ നീ കണ്‍‌മണിയെ ഉറക്കാന്‍ വാ
നീ ചെല്ലം ചെല്ലം താ തെയ്യം തെയ്യം
നീ ചെല്ലം ചെല്ലം തെയ്യം തെയ്യം തുള്ളി തുള്ളി വാ വാ‍

അല്ലിയിളം പൂവോ ഇല്ലിമുളം തേനോ
തെങ്ങിള നീരോ തേന്‍‌മൊഴിയോ
മണ്ണീല്‍ വിരിഞ്ഞ നിലാവോ
അല്ലിയിളം പൂവോ ഇല്ലിമുളം തേനോ

കൈവിരലുണ്ണും നേരം കണ്ണൂകള്‍ ചിമ്മും നേരം
കൈവിരലുണ്ണും നേരം കണ്ണൂകള്‍ ചിമ്മും നേരം
കന്നിവയല്‍ കിളിയേ നീ കണ്‍‌മണിയെ ഉണര്‍ത്താതെ
കന്നിവയല്‍ കിളിയേ നീ കണ്‍‌മണിയെ ഉണര്‍ത്താതെ
നീ താലിപ്പീലി പൂം കാട്ടിനുള്ളില്‍
നീ താലിപ്പീലി കാട്ടിനുള്ളില്‍ കൂടും തേടി പോ പോ

അല്ലിയിളം പൂവോ ഇല്ലിമുളം തേനോ
തെങ്ങിള നീരോ തേന്‍‌മൊഴിയോ
മണ്ണീല്‍ വിരിഞ്ഞ നിലാവോ
അല്ലിയിളം പൂവോ ഇല്ലിമുളം തേനോ

lachu in uniform!

Short term goals!!!!!

I liked the way our Manager here has set his goals...

As a long term goal he needs Total quality for the product, and build an effective team.

And as a short term goal - he wants his team not to get exhausted. He wants us not to get stressed out...

And he has a committed work force also. Good for everybody.

Clog in the Blog

These days I am filling my blog with all "shit" posts. I dont care about readers if any. This blog belongs to me.

and finally my problems with Closet and Clogs are over.

As promised Steve came on time. He came in a Van titled "Speedy Rooters". He was a friendly guy.

Steve: are u the same indian guys which were there before ?
Me: No... i came just two weeks before ( and within that time i clogged the toilet)
Steve: I came here 3 months before, at that time 6 indians were here and two tiolets had problem

Then we visited our toilet.. He was happy seeing my toilet. He said its very neat ( this is the first time i am getting compliment for my shit )

After seeing my toilet he fixed the price - 125 $. Great!!!!

Then he described the state of the toilet when he was here last time.. "Man 6 people... the closet was full of XXXX!!!!! this time its neat!!!!

And he came with his BIG closet auger... and within two minutes everything was cleared.. 3 or 5 hard pushes with the one metre long tip of auger... and my 125$!!!! ( hope i will get reimursement )

Anyway we asked how to maintain these closets - he adviced

1. USE LESS TOILET PAPER
2. AFTER THE USE FLUSH 2 or 3 TIMES
3. U CAN HAVE EVEN AN INTERMEDIATE FLUSH

anyway i will always remeber his advice.

And also this will be the last DIRTY post. From tomorrow I will be neat in my posts. Clog is removed.

Snake also does not work!

"Snake" also does not work! Need to call the real plumber... ( and he is on the way)

Man, US life is very hard!

One of my friend adviced me. To survive in US toilets u need to
- use less toilet paper
and
- eat only american food

Till plumber comes for me "extrusion" is not possible....

Santa clara life sucks!

Closet became clogged!!!!!!!

Plunger does not work!

I am studying home videos now - How to unclog a toilet ?

Now i have to buy a Snake - hope it will be handy.

I want to go back..

Self improvement books

One of my friend has warned me against reading any further self improvement books. He has adviced novels instead. He knows I have reached the threshold :)

But my other friend - has given me his favourite book - "Emotional Intelligence at Work"

I am confused !!!!!! The book is lying in front of me. Should i go to sleep or read ? Its already 12 midnight here.

Better sleep.

good bye , Matiz

Started driving in US.

I dont know whether i can drive in Matiz now after a month when i am back... Huge difference. My left hand is still searching for gears, and i have a tendency to take the left most lane always. but apart from that driving is easy here.. even no need to put ur legs into accelerator :)

Google Maps - now street view available

Now street views are available in Google maps... I wonder how they do this ? They have installed machines to take photograph ?

Anyway its a cool feature...

Chicken Vindaloo....

After eating Pastaas and cockroaches from the canteen, finally today we got Chicken Vindalooooo.....

taking responsibility

one of close friend - warns me - in between

"Anoop, you always rely on the excess money you have to get things done. ( say finding an apartment - not ready to look for cheaper ones which has the same facilities - just i jumb to the first one which i like"

"You should be taking more responsibility ( say cooking ) and should not reply on others ( say servant ) to get basic necessaity (say food, tea). U see how europeans and americans live."

"in older days of life, it may not be as smooth, so u have to prepare urself now"

may be he is true.

And within a week of my stay here my house mates look me with suspicion - anoop is not doing any cooking - he is relaxing at sofa all the time. Perhaps its time to start cooking and learn to live when tough days come ahead.

santa clara ( available for lunch and dinner ?)

first week was boring, but now lot of old faces are recognizing me and calling for lunch and dinner.....

If you are interested, call me at 2637761 ( encrypted)

Santa clara ( smelling....)

My friend did advice me to buy perfumes, deodrant etc from singapore airport before landing in Santa clara, because Americans prefer good smells.. !

as usual i discarded that advice.

And today I was entering the lift. A chinese guy also entered. The white ladies inside was commenting to the chinese guy.. "u have a nice smell".

i dont know.. whether its the perfume of the chinese guy or my natural body smell that attracted the ladies...

anyway i cant take risk. better i buy perfume.. americans smell everything.. ( and i cant smell because of my chronic synus. my nose is completely damaged)

Updates from home

lachu is not feeling well....

Santa clara ( LOST at Great Mall )

Sunday I was working....... and Monday we had a presentation. It went very well, and I wanted to leave early. My manager offered me a trip to my town house....

I had the maps with me........ so even though its only a day since i reached here I thought i can find the house easily....... and in the car i realized i did not have the map with me... but still i felt confident as on sunday i had a walk around the locality and i know i could manage...

I asked my manager to drop me very near to the Century theatres near the great mall... and when he turned near that.. i senses the locality of my apartment, and i asked him to drop me near that.. And after saying thanks to him... i walked to the house..... reaching near to that i was confused... there was no way to get inside... the gate was locked... and i was confused whether it was the complex containing our house...... Then i started looking for a road to the house ( because the driver on saturday dropped me very near to the house ..)

I walked and i was totally confused......... There is no road nearby to the house.........

Then i started looking for one thing - when i walked on saturday i could see "Century Theatres" name on display....... My manager dropped me at 5:30pm and it was almost 6:00pm. So i thought i would take advantage of the situation... I would take this as a chance to walk around Great Mall.... and can see the places and can also make sure whether there are any other house complexes... so by doing this early I will reduce the risks ( of not finding the apartment..). So i decided to do the Hard Part First ...... Anoop is very intelligent!

And Anoop started walking around the Great Mall... The first round was very fine... I was even thinking of getting into a film - but none of the films interested me - spider man 3, pirates of the caribeen, shrek etc etc.. So i decided against that........

After one round, I was confused, i could not figure out which direction is my apartment. There was "century theatre" display atleast in three directions.. But still apartments and houses were only in two directions... so i could narrow down it to some extent.. But still no idea to reach it......

I thought of calling any of my friends near by -------- anil or vinod etc. And i checked my bag for their numbers. But along with the googlemaps they were also misplaced... I could only find one number....... our CFO's number... along with the invitation papers... I was slightly disappointed for some minutes... But then i was cool... when some situations like this occurs, i come into a freezing mode - where i dont have any sort of pressure or feelings. Then i thought of my next escape - i know my house phone number - 2637761 (encrypted!), so if i call there after 9pm my friend will be there, and he can pick me up. So since a last resort is there i can still investigate other silly options.....

I wanted a friend at that time..... So i went to a shop..... thought of speaking to the shop keeper... but then thought i should buy something first so that he will be more friendly with me... So i looked for options to buy - and finally bought a 'RED BULL'. This is the one drink that i look forward to.. when odds are down.... Bought a RED BULL and while paying the cash... i asked him does he know where the Imagination Place is...... He had no idea where that is.. He also replied negatively to my question whether there is a internet cafe nearby......

So i thought of my options
- ask people
- walk around
- phone CFO
- get a cab and go to Nortel

If i have found a cab i would have gone to Nortel....... but no cab was seen there.......

So i looked for a phone,, and it needed coins.., and i did not have enough coins.. so i did not phone...

Again i decided to go to the place where i could see more apartments... When i walked around a Desi person was coming opposite to me.. I smiled at him, and he smiled.... Suddenly i saw a friend in him,, and i walked to him and asked him i need a help. He was ready to help. I asked him the address and he had no idea. But he was ready to help me.

I asked whether i can get his mobile, and as a courtesy i said i can pay. He said no need, i can use his phone.

I said thanks, and i called my CFO.

CFO: hello
Me: This is anoop, i work for XXX, i came here on satirday, and i am staying in Milpitas apartment, and today my Boss dropped me near Great mall, and i am not able to find the apartment. I thiought i had maps with me , but unfortunately its misisng.. Can you tell me the directions ?
CFO: who are you
Me: iTs anoop, i came... .. here... on saturday
CFO: i dont know who you are. nobody told me
Me; i am working for XXX ODC, and i am here etc etce tec etc
CFO: you dont know the direction.. and ...
Me: sir, i thouht i had the direction..
CFO: are u first time here ?
Me: sir, i am in this location for the first time
CFO: let me find outr.., is it the XXXapartment
Me: No sir, its the Milpitas apartment.. 320 Imagination place
CFO: i am checking
Me: yes sit, you can check google maps also..
CFO: no need, let m,e check
Me: sir , i will call after 5 minutes

and the CFO started checking, and i talked with guy. He is a srilankan Tamil - Prasanna.. We started talking about kerala, tamil, malayalam, srilankan tamil etc etc. He said srilankan tamil is talked like malayalam etc etc

He was supposed to go in the light rail.., but he waited for me..

Then after 10 minutes i called the CFO........

The also he was speaking nonsense..

CFO: what made you to come like this. Do you think Great mall is like food court in india ?

At this moment, I want the directions only. No need to argue. I said sorry.

Then he started telling I should take a taxi.... I said no taxi is near.. i would walk and he can say the directions.. And he started telling directions.. I was not able to follow properly.. i asked him to spell the roads .., but he was not doing that properly. If i asked to spell, he would say to take Taxi.

Finally Prsanna came to help. He took the phone... He asked me to get a pen also... I ran towards another Desi and got a pen... Prasanna took the directions..

Take south main street ( 0.5 miles).., q(C)urtis aveneue, Town drive,sillebtration(celebration ) avenue etc etc.... I thanked Prasanna and took his number..... returned the pen to the other guy and started walking....

I found Main street and started asking people which is south direction... many were confused..... and seeing a Police Car, i went and asked him for directions. I said the address. I was surprised he was not even dropping his window glasses of the car.. Bad Milpitas police. I asked him for the doors and he had no idea.... I was surprised.. Then i asked him what is south main street.. To my surprise he gave a reply to that... Thanks God

I walked along South Min street.. and after some time i saw CURTIS avenue... ( in mine it was written Qurtis avene )....... Then i knew the path is correct... Finally i reached apartment at 9pm.. after 3.5 hours....... And within few minutes my friend also reached there.....

It was very tough .., walking 3.5 hours with a laptop bag in my shoulders.. My shoulder pain has restarted.. and today pathru bought me some "heat shoulder bag" for my relief.

The only regret is - i lost Prasanna's number.. I hope to find him by googling... I have to say thanks to him.

I may be intelligent............ BUT I DONT HAVE ANY COMMON SENSE or PRESENCE OF MIND.

Man..., i have lots of miles to go before I sleep............!

Santa clara ( driving........ )

I have not started driving here... have a confidence issue.... needs a partner for driving...

But in my nature, i may suddenly woke up a day and start driving......

Now taking Light rail for transport btw Great Mall and Great American parkway.......

Santa clara (cooking skills )

I have restarted my cooking ( .... after 7 years ... )

I now (re)started making tea..... Its not that i am a male-chauvinist and my wife makes me tea.. we both does not make tea.. either parents or servant used to make.. anyway i need tea all the time, and here is no one to make me some when i demand...

but my tea smells fish sometimes... we use the same one vessel both purposes.. and thanks to my chronic synus , i dont get any smell as my nose is fully out-of-order!

I have (re)started making rice..... but unfortunately i did not wash rice when i did for the first time after my visit here... that step i forgot... but now i am following all the steps..... and it feels better that you can make rice using rice-cooker.

I am improving. Good work, Anoop!

Santa clara ( at apartment )

From airport......., our compnay had arranged transportation to the milpitas apartment ( if you want to reach me through googlemaps....... its at 320 Imagination Place, Milptas ).

While sitting in the car, i was worried.... whether somebody will be at the apartment... its saturday. The driver dropped me at apartment, and went... while i was walking to the apartment i was thinking what i will do, if nobody is at the apartment ? Me with the luggage, have to stand outside......

I was thinking of "contigency plan" that has to be taken... I will smile at someone and will ask for his ( or preferably her) and use her mobile.......

But luckily David was at the apartment......

He was surprised to see me there............ Because he had called back in chennai to know the time of my arrival, and my colleagues told that i will reach on sunday only. So he was planning to go to office, but luckily he felt sleepy and so decided against......

So atleast everything started well in this trip............. as usual my luck saved me!

Santa clara ( news at airport )

Its been 4 years since i traveled to United States..., everything looked slightly odd at the Chennai airport. I was not feeling comfortable...

After checking in and passing the security, i still had about two hours before i board the aircraft. I spend time reading "erlang" the language we mainly use in our products. And before few minutes before boarding the aircarft i realized that i dont have the contact numbers of my manager in US. I was worried because in case any deportation chances happen at the US immigration, i can give the number to the officials as a last try. anyway without that i boarded the aircraft....

I felt very tired during the journey to singapore... After reaching singapore, i had few hours where i mailed to my manager and got his number... so i felt nice and confident... But could not spend much time at the singapore airport.., which i always love as i had another flight to catch.

Met Anand at singapore airport, and luckily he was on the same flight... but at two ends of the plane......! we also had a break at Seoul, where anand bought me biscuits and coffee. It was good, as i was not feeling good with the food served in plane.

After reaching SFO airport i chose a queue where Indians are less... And when i reached my turn i gave my passport...... These conversations too place:::

He: Are you on business ?
Me: Yes ( may be my voice sounded "sort of")
He: How long ?
Me: 6-8 weeks....
He: What sort of business is that........
Me: Its for requirement collection of the next version of our product.. detail schedule is attached..
He: And can you say what is your product
Me: Its a Security product.....
He: Can you explain...
Me: its for Remote access... blah blah

He started doing the stamping process... but for my surprise he started saying.....

He: You should be coming on L1.. have you travelled before for 6-8 weeks..
Me: for last 7 years i have travelled only once, and for 1 month. But before that i have stayed for 6-8 weeks.

He: ur company is misuing B1 Visa.. They should be sending on L1... please take care next time.
Me: ( did i say yes ?)
He: else also no problem... we will cancel the B1 visa...

and he gave me the entry for three months..........!

and one week after today my friend is travelling to US on B1.... Hope he gets through.....!

Updates from home

In Santa clara now......

Updates from home says --- lachu forgets something at nursery everyday and brings it on the other day.

Tuesday: Lost her shoes
Wednesday: Got her shoes and Lost her two books and Water bottle
Thursday: Got her books and water bottle and lost her tiffin box

Perhaps its a trick from her part, to have two pairs of everything!!!!!!!!!!!!

06 06 2007

Lachu's school started - she is wearing uniform with tie and shoes etc at the age of 3!!!!

I am having a feeling that i reached an important milestone - like its her marriage or so.

She is really enjoying all the hardships.... going to/by bus ( her father accompanies in car to school and from there ).

May be i should post some photos...

Driving "chat" lessons - for california

jojan: have you driven any automatic gear ones?
poonaji: no
poonaji: never
poonaji: i am having "doubts"
jojan: there are two pedals for the right leg
jojan: Break and Accelarator
jojan: there is a pedal for the left leg also
jojan: the "HAND BREAK"
jojan: if you press once, it locks
jojan: press again, it releases
jojan: there is no clutch
poonaji: i am hearing all these for first time!!!
jojan: even though it is automatic
jojan: it has a gear lever
jojan: with positions marked
jojan: "D"
jojan: "P"
jojan: "R"
jojan: D - drive
jojan: P - Park
jojan: R - reverse
jojan: You have to start in P position
jojan: otherwise the car wont start
jojan: that is a safty feature
jojan: the procedure is
jojan: check whether the "Hand Break is on
jojan: Release it
jojan: press the Break
jojan: Move the gear lever to park
jojan: then start
jojan: now move the gear to "D"
jojan: now release the break
jojan: press the accelarator - it starts moving
jojan: thats all
jojan: easy
jojan: sometimes, you will try to apply "CLUTCH" and you wont find a clutch there - instead you may apply break!!!
jojan: you have to re-learn!
poonaji: okpoonaji: this might be enough
jojan: it is like driving a toy car
jojan: now, the other one is cruise control
jojan: search for cruise control in how stuff work
poonaji: may be i dont need that now
jojan: correct
poonaji: i will ask somebody there
jojan: it is useful in freeways
poonaji: i have taken a print out of califirnia driving rules
jojan_t_antony: try to get a teacher also

writing on notes

i dont like dirty notes.. i dont like notes with writings on it...

but all the banks itself have the bad practice.. after counting the notes, they put a rubber band and then write on the top note - the no. of notes in that bundle..

RBI should stop that practice.

Let our notes be very beautiful and tidy.

Investment magazines

Investment magazines.., are boring. They are repeating the same old stuff - just like women's magazines.

So this time , i made a better investment. I bought Filmfare ( Trisha cover) instead. Here i will atleast get the latest gossips.

So may be like "self-impovement books", i am done with "investment-magazines" also.

I am graduated in both now!!!