Experiences

Last Bachelor Post !! :)

2007-07-14T08:22:00.000-07:00

This is officially my last post as a bachelor ... :) I am leaving for India in about 15 - 20 minutes now and wont be able to login - blog until after my wedding ... so just wanted to take this time to write my (99th post btw :)) last bachelor post... how cool of a coincidence will that be, 100th post, century as a married man ;) ...

I dont know whether I will miss being a bachelor or not ... Whether I will miss blogging as a bachelor or not or if there is any difference at all ... but I soon am gonna find out for sure ... :) .. I received so many emails in reply to the marriage invite which mentioned, 'tu to ab shahid ho gaya', 'Welcome to the ball and chain club' etc etc ... but as I said to everyone - 'ab agar yeh khudkhushi bhi ho, magar ek bar karke dekhne ka dil kar raha hai ' :) ..

See you all soon ... If you miss me, just listen to my songs above ;) !

Apartment Search !!

2007-06-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, you have every right to ask... go ahead .. who writes a blog on the apartment search right ? Absolutely true ... and this is not the first time I was looking for an apartment either so what made this apartment search so special ?

Well, this time I was looking for an apartment not just for myself !! It was for me and my wife-to-be ...both of us ... Before today, I never had to think about anyone else but myself and my needs .. :) .. Never thought of more than the hall size for my big screen TV or a shaded parking spot or even laundry inside the apartment itself .. But this time it was more than that ...

There is going to be one more person staying in that apartment ... with me !! I had to think from the community and facilities to the closet space ... Give the different ratings based on the size of the Kitchen and size of the apartment !!! This may sound funny (and even ridiculous) to some of the bachelor guys ... I know, it might have sounded the same to me a few years back .. :) But whatever you say, there was a whole different perspective to this tedious process (as tedious as the job search) of apartment search .. a kind of responsible tinge to it :)

First time, I felt responsible ... Responsible for someone other than me ... A good sign I guess :) !

Mood Swings !

2007-05-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

Its almost been a couple of months and I havent blogged ... Doesnt mean I didnt think of it ... I thought of it - at least a hundred times ... but didnt actually blog ! Not sure why ... There was some drama in between (which some of you are aware of) which kept me and my blogs away from the world for a short period of time but then even after that I never got back to blogging ... Frankly I dont know why ... And believe me it feels so weird to blog about why you are not blogging these days !!

I havent yet figured out the reason ... maybe I am waiting for something ... something like that ... Its that push from within thats missing ... maybe I am too engrossed in other things ... but if you really like something and want to do it, you always can find time for it ... so I guess, its not a good reason ... In fact, no reason is a good reason ... I myself dont know ...

Its not just blogging - its with many other things as well ... there are thousands of people I am supposed to return calls of , there are bills I am supposed to take care of and there are monthly expenses to be written down and so on .... but nothing of that has got a spot in my daily routine .. Its weird .. I just keep postponing it and postposning it ... forever ! I watch movies, play cricket, tennis and do other things but overall life has become monotonous and dull ... I think I need a break ... I need to get away and go to India .. but when I tell this to anyone, they are like, didnt you just go to India in Jan ? but my question is - cant one need couple of breaks in a year ? But then again I dont know if thats the real reason ... Anyway this blog is a serious attempt to get the wheel moving and start blogging again ... lets see how far I go with it this time ...

But hey, I do manage to sing and record songs these days ... and I am updating the blog playlist on top ... so till the time I get back to blogging full time, please have a listen and dont forget to leave a comment on any of the posts ...

Google search results changing with page #?

2007-04-05T01:01:00.000-07:00

What do you make of the following google search results changing with page number ? Note the result page and the total number of pages shown below ... Why does it change with every page ? and that too so drastically ? going up and down !!

If you know the answer, please let me know ! Of course, there is some dynamic decision making going on in there - but whats it ? and are we sure that the 5th page (link to thre 5th page) mentioned on page 1 is the same page as the 5th page link mentioned on page 4 ?

btw, If I click on page 10 link on page 1 - I get the 5th page only !! so I think this is a bug ... Known or unknown thats the issue :) ...

Update : I dont see this behaviour on the www.live.com (Microsoft's online search engine). It shows you the exact same pages all the time !

Belated Happy Birthday ... :)

2007-03-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

"It was your birthday on March 28th !? Are you not on my Orkut friends list !?? Happy Belated Birthday man ... "

What I have been hearing a lot from a few people last couple of days ... My question - Have we become so dependent on Orkut now ? I have deleted my orkut profile ... and wont be using it anymore ... I have somehow started *hating* orkut ! Most of my very good friends did wish me even without orkut reminder but a few of them did forget it ... mostly blaming orkut for the same ... once you have the facility, you tend to overuse it and delegate everything to it ...

what a disappointment !

2007-03-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

India lost to Srilanka ... Terribly !! A 'Do or Die' match ... As far as I am concerned, India is out of the world cup ... Rather I should say, this Indian team does NOT deserve to play in the next round of World cup ! thats for sure ... Even if by some miracle if Bangladesh does 'manage' (there are many ways you know ;) ) to lose to Bermuda and India gets through, my money (and support) will not be for India for sure ...

The best team of paper, seven specialist batsmen .. but still more than its bowling, batting is what always suffers ... one after other all the batsmen return to the pavellion and its a disaster to watch ... the stalwarts like Sachin, Suarav(recently he is the only one in form), Dravid, Yuvraj, Dhoni - everyone ! no one can rise to the occasion ... no one who can sail Indian ship safely ashore ... its just pathetic ...

Look at Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal against SriLanka in the last game ... Is he a newcomer to cricket ? The basics of batting - no gap between bat and pad ... ok it was a good ball but then its Sachin we are talking about ! At one time, the world's best batsman !! If Yuvraj gets out on such a ball, I wont feel so bad but Sachin .. yaar tu bhi ? come on !! His lovely games ab sirf ek history ban ke reh gaya hai ... I am not saying that Sachin is responsible for India's defeat but everyone has to do their job ... and Sachin has a higher responsibility given the cirsumstances ...

Both Bangladesh and Srilanka games, we all got up at 6 am ! and sat there in front of the screens, cheering our throats out !! and what do we get ? a loss of 6 hours of valuable time and disppointment !! loads of it !!! I have not seen a more unreliable team than India man ... I am done supporting India ... Patriotism is one thing and supporting a weak unreliable team is another ...

May the best team win !!

Meri Awaz Suno !

2007-03-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

From now on, I will be posting the latest song I record above with the title- 'Meri Awaz Suno' ... You can click on the song to listen / download it ... You can email me your comments or even feel free to leave comments as part of the comments on any of the posts ...

Black Friday !

2007-03-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

Never really blogged before, guess i was waiting for something that made me feel too good or too bad so that I actually put it in words.

Thought the title is perfect.. Not seen the movie yet so can't comment on how suitable it is for the movie, but yes it is apt for the past few fridays I have had and specially today...Well, its Friday evening and this week again I am stuck in office till late...

How come ?? I ask myself... why is it happening to me this week again... for the past how many weeks I have decided to treat myself by leaving early on Friday and start my weekend early.. But come friday afternoon and its like the stars conspire against me and everybody around is together with them in this... Every important training session gets scheduled on a friday, an urgent meeting or a last minute conference call with the overseas client always comes up on a friday evevning.. some crisis issue has to come on a friday evening... my computer decides to act funny on a friday evening... guess its the computers way of telling "enough, go home its the end of the week, give me a break" ...

Today I guess was by far one of the really bad ones... and so I got a topic to write my first blog on...To start with, I so didnt want to come to office today, thanks to my roommate who was going to stay home to take a break and treat herself to an extra holiday... Though I could not get that lucky, I promised her and to myself that I'll "leave early today"...

The day actually started in a really nice way ... work was getting done really fast and i was busy day-dreaming of leaving office at 3:30 in the afternoon... go home, watch TV or just sit and chat with my roommate or go out.. I had so many things to do I thought...Well, all this was just too good to be true and looks like someone managed to spy my thoughts as post lunch was such a havoc..

Now instead of one there were two "important" meeting scheduled.. one new joinee found time only today to get his doubts cleared... believe it or not my PC decided to restart on its own, i suddenly had 3-4 emails to be replied to ... and ofcourse as its a friday, it was obviously urgent. each one just manages to say please could u take care of this little thing before you leave early today :( :( were they joking ??

Well, here i am sulking in office at my desk, looking at people leave, saying goodbye and asking hey, how come u still here, u were supposed to leave early right ?? and I dont even want to answer that !!!! meri jakhmon pe namak chhidak rahe hain !

I am leaving my desk now but only to go upto the coffee machine to refill my mug :( and hoping I finish this "urgent" work and manage to reach home in time for dinner...

Did you notice ?

2007-02-26T23:50:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed guys ? This is like the longest February EVER !! Is it just me or you feel the same ? I get up every day and its still the same damn month !! I know, I know .. its the shortest month of the year and all ... just 28 days this year ... but guess what, I dont agree with that ... From my experience, officially February 2007 is the longest month of my life so far ! Is there anyone who agrees with me ?

Everyday, I feel like writing this post .. every morning I hope it will be 1st March today but no !! :( I thought I will write this post in March but this month is so damn long .. it tested my patience and finally I gave in ! who cares what the date says on top of the post anyway .. right ?

Btw, March is my favourite month .. dunno why .. maybe its because my b'day comes in March (?) or maybe most of my very good friends' birthdays come in March ... or its just something I have in my mind ... but for whatever reason, I like March ... and this damn Feb is standing there like a wall between me and March ! But I guess its just a matter of just 2 days now and then it will all be over :) ..

Its 12 am on 27th Feb now ... so just 2 days from now, I am gonna heave a sigh of relief !!

Valentine's Day Special !

2007-02-15T20:59:00.000-08:00

On the occasion of the Valentine's day, here is a song for my Valentine ...

My Valentine Song

Do let me know how you like it (or not ;)) .. as always improvements are more than welcome !

Heera Hai Sada Ke Liye ...

2007-02-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

As you would have already guessed from the title (or if you already know ;)), this India trip has made a special impact on my life ! yeah, you are right ! I am engaged ... engaged to this pretty, smart, cute and really amazing girl who has suddenly become everything for me within a matter of a few days ... 28th Jan 2007 was a very very special day for both of us ... we not only exchanged (diamond) rings but exchanged our hearts (too romantic right ? :) am I watching too many Karan Johar movies ? ;) ) ...

Unfortunately I had to leave for US the next night after my engagement (29th night) .. and it felt bad ... really really bad ... I would have given anything to postpone the flights .. (damn you Northwest airlines .. you lost a customer right then !!) but whatever time we got together was good enough to create a strong bond between us ... as our friends said, looking at our snaps, its just doesnt look like you have met each other just 2 days back .. and its true ... its just wonderful to start a new relationship as if its not new at all .. no awkwardness, no hesitation, no nothing .. a direct jump start as best friends !! now suddenly US to India distance seems way too far .. more than earth to moon !

Its amazing, isnt it ? how life changes in a matter of a few minutes ... you havent seen each other for more than 25 years of your life but still the moment you meet her something inside you tells you, 'yes, she is the one you have been looking for' ... its beyond the reach of science .. its beyond the emotions .. its the heart to heart talk ... whatever it is, it just feels wonderful ! and I am completely in air right now ... floating in it .. enjoying every bit of it !!

I can actually keep on writing on this topic for pages & pages but its not going to be enough ... All I will say is if you have already experienced this, perfect ! but if not, there is more to life than what you think !! :) ... much more ...

Cant wait to write the post where I title it 'ShubhaMangal Savadhan' ;) ..

Whats new ?? Karaoke !

2006-12-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

Our Microsoft project group has a whole week off (which basically means holidays from Dec 23 to Jan 2nd ) !! This was given on behalf of one of the internal deadlines we successfully completed on Dec 15 ... So, apart from XBOX, another thing thats keeping me busy these days is 'Karaoke' !!

I have always been interested in music and singing .. its always been one of my passions .. I havent given as much attention to it as much I would have liked in the past ... but in these 2 weeks, I came across www.taranaa.com and since then I have just been trying out a number of the karaoke tracks up there ...

Its a wonderful site ! There are a number of sites available for Hindi Karaoke but this is the only one which has a community and a forum where people exchange their thoughts and they make suggestions and help each other improve ... There is a strong interaction between each other and thats what's really good about it ! If you have had any khwahish, of giving your voice a try, this is the site to go for !!

Here is what I have recorded so far :

http://taranaa.com/Tarang/index.php?title=User:AniruddhaDaptardar

As always, comments are more than welcome !

Berserker ?!

2006-12-23T15:02:00.001-08:00

Does that term 'Berserker' mean anything to you ? no ? ... no no , I am not talking about your kid sister ;) ... just kidding ! .. Well, it didnt mean much to me either until yesterday ... so what changed between yesterday and today ? I got my hands on the new XBOX 360 and 'Gears of War' ...

Man ! Do I love the game or what !! The other games like prince of persia etc are nothing compared to this one ... An action-packed, almost-real, third person shooting game which keeps you in front of your xbox for hours ... its nominated as the most popular XBOX game going ahead of 'Halo 2' .. btw: its rated 'Mature' for all the bloody, gory and action filled scenes ... guys, if you love playing action games, this one is a must ! The mission is to kill all the Locusts and save the human habitants ... the 3D effects are just awesome & so are the sound effects ...

I have just started playing this one and I already love it ... Especially the 'berserker' character ... its sheer terror !! A berserker can smell you , it can hear you but it can not see you ! sounds easy to escape huh ? But listen to this - One single blow is good enought to tear you apart into pieces .... no standard weapons are of use against this monster ... only the so called 'hammer of dawn' is what works which is basically satellites firing some laser radiation ... so it works only in open air - you have to lure the berserker outside without getting killed and then aim at it - and use the hammer of dawn twice so that it dies .... I was killed a number of times in the beginning and though I succeeded in the end in killing this devil, my heart surely skipped a number of beats in the process ... my hands are still vibrating as I write this post !! You have to play it to know what it is !!

Those, for lack of a better word on top of my head right now, soft-hearted ppl, who tend to have nightmares if they watch a horror film, please dont even think about playing this game and especially facing the berserker. Its gonna haunt you for sure ...

This game is gonna keep me busy for the whole of christmas and new year vacation ... isnt it a great timing ? cant wait to complete this level and move on to higher ones ... you can expect more posts on this one from me in the coming days :)

No Electricity for 1st time !

2006-12-14T23:44:00.000-08:00

In the last 4 and half years' stay in US, today was the first time I experienced no electricity in US. It was just for a minute / 2 minutes and so it was no big deal ... especially if you have stayed in Mumbai (India) for more than 20 years of your life .. :)

The bigger concern is that after the flood, heavy snow storm , northwest has been hit by yet another storm this week. The loss of electricity was one of its side effects. The winds are expected to be as fast as 100 mph !! I sure dont want to be on the roads when thats happening ! Heavy rain and gusty winds with flood warnings is whats on the radar ! Lets see how they fight this one ..

Now who wants to debate with me about global warming ? huh ? anyway, that reminds me of a funny conversation I had with another friend of mine. This guy is in California and he was like, well at least you should be happy about global warming ! you always keep whining that its too cold here is seattle ... global warming is helping you guys ;) ... but for us -ppl in California - its getting hotter !! Look how unaware people are of global warming !!

Update : Just after I posted this one, I & the whole of redmond, parts of Bellevue and Bothel, seattle lost power for more than a day !! The day was a hell ... no TV, no comp, no food (since here we have electric heating everywhere), no hot water .. no nothing !! well, no work for the first time wasnt that attractive !! :) The gas stations were closed since they also opearted on electricity ! So every gas station in those parts which had electricity had a huge line of at least 30 cars !! IN the night, five of us went out for dinner around 7.45 and ordered around 8 O clock ... there was so much rush that we got our food at 11 !!! The longest wait ever for food !

Obviously (now that I am writing this post) power is back up online .. but I will never forget this one day without any power - a thick blanket of darkness over redmond & all around over me !

Update 2: Its Monday morning and still more than 250000 ppl dont have power and its not expected for another couple of days either !! Nature's wrath helped by poor city planning is such a pain for thousands of people ! I hope the city learns from its mistakes !!

Skiing !!

2006-12-07T23:39:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting so long to write this post but was waiting for the snaps ... now that I have the snaps, here it is ... Last weekend, we all decided to convert the seattle snow storm to our advantage ... What better time for skiing, right ?It might sound very ironic but even after being in snowy weather for 2 years during my masters, I had never done skiing before ... so I was damn excited !

Beautiful views on the way

Saturday morning a group of 8 of us left early morning around 8 and reached there by around 9 ... Most of us were doing it for the first time so everyone was as excited as I was ... as we started approaching the summit at snoqualmie mountains, all I could say was, 'Yeh Hasi wadiyan, Yeh Khula Aasaman" .. It was just amazing, truly amazing work of nature everywhere ... Look the at the pics here ..

Ready to skii !!

Soon the long drive was over ... first I felt sad that the drive was over but then I got out and just had one look at the people skiing and all the sadness just vanished in like a second ... Looked like the whole seattle was there ... we found out that everyday ski rental was $34 + lift ticket was ~$50 bucks ... and then there was this pass for beginners called EZ123 which was for $99 - it included 3 days of rental (worth $112) + 3 lessons + 3 days of lift (worth $150) ... so thought thats the best deal ... and we were of course hoping that we will like it so much that we would want to return next time ...

We got our rental stuff ... and my god, the rental shoes !! They were sooo huge and so awkward to wear ! Walking with them on was damn tough ... I had never imagined them so big ! But oh well, it was not if I had a choice, right ? :) .. The beginner day 1 lessons started soon and I found out how tough skiing is ... well not really, to be frank, skiing was easy ! It was very easy to come down skiing down the slope, it would take hardly few seconds for that but walking up the hill would take more than 10 minutes ... not to mention, it was so damn tough !! It was more exercise than 1 hour work out in pro club ! Even in that cold weather, I was sweating like anything !

(Group snap1)

He started teaching with a normal walk with ski and then went ahead with right and left turns, weight balancing, how to stop (without falling ;) ) and so on .. things became tougher and tougher gradually ... but it was mostly about practice & confidence. After a few hours of practice, I could take left turns pretty well ... or at least i thought so :) ... It was great fun !! Falling down in all white snow and getting up and falling again ! :) ... After a while we lost our count ...

(Group snap 2)

After a good workout for 3 - 4 hours, we took a break, had our lunch & rested for a while ... Thats when we took off our shoes and felt like heavens !! thats why putting them on after the lunch was even tougher !

(The lift in the back)

After lunch we practised a little more and then decided to move on the medium level slope - This was at a much higher elevation and was serviced by a lift. Getting on and off from the lift was an adventure in itself ... it was more like a moving bench (imagine a bench in a park) which you have to catch as fast as a local train on Dombivli station :) ... You need a technique to get on it and to get off it ... but we found it the hard way ...:)

Looking down from that elevation, we all predecided our path down - it was a 'Z' shaped path so as to make sure that we dont go down fast on the slope and have a control on our decent ... but let me tell you, no matter how much even you decide, its gonna be a complete fiasco ... I dont remember how many times I fell down while coming down ... and most of the times my planning didnt work ... since to go down Zigzag, you need to turn both right and left :) and I could only turn left properly but I could not control my right turns ... So I always ended up going straight down the slope and falling down ... but it was awesome !! Its difficult to tell it in words, you have to imagine it for yourself !!

(Snoqualmie mountains in the night)

It was about 5.30pm and we were tired ! we decided to call it a day then and left for home at around 6 .. In any adventure, the journey back is the most boring one as everyone is sleepy and tired and all ... I came back home and just threw myself on the bed and handed myself over to sleep .. :) I was a prisoner for more than 10 - 12 hours that night !! Thank god the next day was a sunday ... one full day to recover ...

Next day, whole body was aching and I came to know about various parts of back and neck and shoulders and legs which I never knew existed thru' it ... :) .. still even after all this, I am waiting for the next chance to enjoy skiing again ...

12 or 13 people ?

2006-12-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

Got this cool email forward ... keep looking at the image ...

Snow Storm in Seattle !

2006-11-28T20:03:00.000-08:00

Snow covered seattle (http://bobqat.com/Mazama/Seattle/032.jpg)

For Seattle, snow is something that December or even on a few occasions January brings along as a Christmas or new year gift :) ..but this year, it came as an unexpected thanksgiving gift instead ;) .. and as is always, anything unexpected is NOT welcome so easily ... If you stay in seattle, you know exactly what I am talking about .. A big snow storm in seattle !! In fact, Seattle has broken all the previous records of precipitation !!!

Freezing temperatures - well below zero ... heavy snowfall the first day, sunshine the second and again snowfall the third ... this particular combination is the worst as the first day's snow melts by the second day's sunshine but due to cold temperature, freezes and it becomes ice - and believe me ice is worse than snow ... A place like seattle which is normally considered to be guarded from snow by the snoqualmie mountains, is completely covered with snow ... its all white everywhere .. its completely offguard ... the doorkeepers have given up completely ...

you know whats worse ? Some of the places have lost electricity .. such cold weather (I swear to god, at one time yesterday the temperature was 18 degrees Farenheit thats well below zero in celcius) and on top of that no heat !!! man .. thats like the worst nightmare ever ! So many people have just recovered from the recent floods and now this calamity ... its just getting worse by the day ... in fact its snowing as I am writing this blog ... and I dont know in what state am I going to find my little babe Z tomorrow ... its out there alone fighting the snow all by herself ...

Kid with her snowman (http://clappstar.com/mt/past/295_9599snowman.jpg)

While the kids were enjoying their early 'snowman making time' as the schools were closed, some people had to spend nights waiting in the traffic on the roads ... for some people even that was not possible as their cars went out of control and got banged and had to be abandoned only to be towed the next day ! The offices / schools were closed and people who could stay at home stayed at home and worked from there - like me ! I am at home for the last two days working just like I would if I were in office or in fact more than that ... and believe me it sucks ! when you are in office, you want to be at home but now that I am at home, I want to go out ... why ? because there is nothing to do at home other than working ! its like home-imprisonment ! Especially because of the snow/ ice outside !! Well, at least I am thankful that I have electricity !! I dont know what I would do without that ...

Anyway, do you think this is due to the Global warming ... I mean seriously, havent you started hearing about such natural calamities coming at wrong times, seasons becoming erratic in nature, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis a lot lately ? Has it just started happening a lot or has it just started getting noticed a lot these days ? Are we heading towards the apocalypse ? Who has seen the future ? :) .. (how) can we change it ? ;)

more photos : http://www.komotv.com/weather/photos, http://www.kirotv.com/slideshow/weather/10421635/detail.html?qs=;s=4;w=320

The Lake House

2006-11-19T01:32:00.000-08:00

Kate (Sandra Bullock) is in 2006 and Alex (Keanu Reeves) is in 2004. They both have a lake house connection as they both have lived / live there. They can send letters back and forth in time to each other thru' a mailbox outside this lake house. They fall in love thru' letters - a long distance (or should I say long-time) relationship ... Sounds pretty ridiculous huh ? well thats the story of this movie 'The Lake House' from Warne Bros.

At first, the story is just interesting or should I say different ... it needs you to bend your laws of time being a serial quantity omnipresent (and suddenly aanewala pal jaanewala hai sounds like a lie ) ... but then as the movie goes on, it gets pretty interesting .. an interested viewer would want to know how / why / when / where ... and when he looks for answers, he feels the beauty of the movie ... Dont get me wrong, I dont think its possible or realistic in any way ... but the director has done a good job to handle this delicate story well ... good acting by both stars makes it even better ... I would say a must see .. at least for the different-ness ( I am pretty sure thats not even a word but what the heck .. ) it brings ..

Its not something very very different for those who are in US .. I mean we already have ppl in different time zones right ? or even when we talk to ppl in India, they are already a day ahead of us ... if thats something we can accept, we should be able to accept that we can actually talk to someone 2 years ahead of us through mails etc ... its a stretch but not something impossible ... I like the concept... a well made movie indeed I would say .. ending may be could have been diffeent but its cool ...

In fact, its a pretty good Hindi movie story and I wont be surprised if we actually have a Karan Johar movie with Shahrukh Khan & Preity Zinta (or Rani / Priyanka) coming up soon based on this theme ...

Let me know how you like (or not) the movie as well ...

Who wants a Porsche anyway ?

2006-11-11T09:32:00.000-08:00

night 9 pm ... Seattle weather - so its raining as expected .. I was standing in the 'Hollywood Video' waiting for my turn to rent three movies ... My day had been so-so .. nothing great had happened ... just the usual routine of office work and then now looking forward another routine of cooking was waiting for me ... so I was pretty bored and I think my face made it pretty obvious ..

Right then I saw a bunch of young American / Japanese mix guys walking into the store .. as they opened the door from outside, one of the guys turned back and showed others something ... And a sudden 'Wooaahhh' came out of everyone ... one of them said, "dude ! I will kill for that any day !!!" ... they were very very loud ... fully expressing themselves to the maximum ... Even their eyes wide open ... now everyone in the store (including me) was looking at them ... one guy went out - looked at 'it' closely and literally jumped in air ... all he could say was "Duuuudeee ..." there was a girl in the group and even she was oggling at it ... this went on for about a minute ... then she tapped one of the guys on his shoulder (probably her boyfriend) and told him lets go and get some movies ... so thats when this all stopped ...

Everyone in the store was soo curious to know what were they talking about so loudly ! But not ME ! I already had a huge smile on my face ... :) ... I wanted to hide it but it was so damn tough ! why ?? because I already knew what they were looking at ! still didnt guess it ? It was my 350z - the nighthawk as I like to call it :) .. my babe ...

It made my day (or whatever was left of it !) ...

How long is long ?

2006-11-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

Till this morning, I thought my name is long ... I know there are a lot of South Indian names which could fill up more than one line but guess what ... check out this page 'Unusual City Names' .. Can you believe there is actually a city out there in Thailand with this name :

'Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphopnopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesmaha-satharnamornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit'

(Translates to: The great city of angels, the supreme unconqueralble land of the great immortal divinity (Indra), the royal capital of nine noble gems, the pleasant city, with plenty of grand royal palaces, and divine paradises for the reincarnated deity (Vishnu), given by Indra and created by the god of crafting (Visnukarma))

Or Even this city in New Zealand

Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu

(Translates to: The brow [or summit] of the hill [or place], where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid [down], climbed [up] and swallowed mountains, [to travel the land], [who is] known as the Land Eater, played [on] his [nose] flute to his loved one)

man, Can they actually pronunce this ??? If at any point in life I get a chance to go to any of these countries, I will NOT come back without asking people there how do they pronounce this ! crazy people man ... we live in a weird world man !

Blood Donation during an interview !

2006-10-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

I was at this camp for blood donation on MS campus ... I was waiting for my turn and this guy turned up ... he asked the doctor that he had an interview at 11.30 am (it was about 10 ~ 10.15) and since he had nothing better to do till then, he thought why not donate blood ? do something good !

That was amazing ! Would I do it ? maybe not ... would you ? Imagine, you are in the middle of a Microsoft interview and the next interview is at 11.30 so you have about 1.5 hrs of spare time ... what would you do if you see a blood donation camp ... would you go yourself and donate blood ? I thought that was pretty brave of him ... right ?

A trip to Vancouver, BC, Canada !

2006-10-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

When I was in India studying in BE, it had always been my dream to visit Canada ! Even after going to US, I never actually saw myself fulfilling that dream. But guess what, I realized that I might have a chance after joining Microsoft. I had to get my H1 Visa stamped and what better opportunity than this one to go to Canada was I gonna get ! right ? So I took care of all the paperwork etc ... took the canadian visa (btw, that was my second visa .. for those who have travelled to many countries, its no big deal ! but I was so damn happy to get a second visa on my passport ! its silly I know but still I was happy :) )

Me with my Z in Vacouver Downtown -
parked right in front of this pathetic (from experience) Indian restaurant called 'Taste of India' ...

My friend Kumar (who also had a stamping appointment on the same day as mine) and I decided to go to Vancouver together .. its just 3 hour drive from here so going there wasnt a big deal ... We left on Sunday evening and reached there at about 8pm Sunday night. Hotel stay was already taken care of so no issues on that front. Monday morning we went to the embassy and applied for the visa. It was approved and we were gonna get our passports back on Tuesday at 3 pm. So what that meant was we were free for the next 27 - 30 hrs !

Vancouver Downtown !

At a heliport (not helipad) close to downtown marina ..

Stanley Park ..

So we started our 'Vancouver Darshan' ... Stanley park was first ... and boy ! was it amazing or what ! thankfully it was a bright sunny day and we could enjoy the fall colors to our content ! It was a treat to the eyes ...

Fall colours !

More fall colors !

Next we went to the acquarium right inside the stanley park ... nice one .. we met a few other friends there as well ...

saw the dolphin show and I am going to post this picture here ! Its the best pic I have ever taken .. have a look !

See the dolphin on the top ? It jumped out of the water even higher than 25 feet ! I clicked when it was at the peak of it !! Dont I deserve an award for this snap ? ;)

Octopus !

Apart from that we saw sharks, white whales, octopus and many more ... But we had to call it a day after that since It got dark pretty early ... so we came back home and later for dinner went to the 'House of Dosas' - a well known place in Vancouver for all different types of dosas ... dosa with chicken filling, brinjal sabji etc ... it was pretty neat & pretty cheap ... Vancouver is known for very good Indian food and sweets ...

Next day, we got up by 9 and went to the Grouse mountain. two attractions - 'Capilano Suspension Bridge' and ' ropeway @ Grouse Mountain' ... we went for the ropeway first and it was damnnnn cold ! they took us to the 3700 odd feet ... and it was foggy everywhere - reminded me of that sexy song by Vikas Bhalla - 'Hai Dhuan Dhuan - Har Taraf Hai Dhuan' .. on top there were a number of statues carved out of wood - huge ones ... two live grizley bears ... the view from the top was just great ! snaps tell you more ...

View from the ropeway cabin - going up ...

One more ...

With Wood Carved Grisley bear ...

With real grisley bear ...

After that went to the suspension bridge (btw, if you go to vancouver anytime, make sure you go for the ropeway first like we did as you get $2 off for the suspension bridge ticket - vice versa, you get only $1 off - just a tip ;) ) it was just like the Laxman Jhoola ... really nice .. the big difference between such attractions in US/Canada and India is that in US/Canada, they are well maintained .. even a small attraction is made to look really big and tourism itself earns a hell lot of money for them ... I wish Indian govt learns a bit from them ...

Capilano Suspension Bridge !

Canopy of trees ...

Then we went to this Indian chinese place called 'Chilli Pepper House' - after a long had time I had indian chinese food - Amrican Chop Suey , Chicken Manchurian ... felt good ! after that we got our passports back from embassy and drove back ... on our way back, stopped over at this place called 'Surrey' for some Punjabi homemade sweets ... and then another immgiration check at the border ... we were pretty damn tired by the time we were back ... but looking back, both the days were very well spent ...

A few funny things about Vancouver:

1. Green signals there are almost always blinking ! yellow and red are constant but the green arrows, or just normal green signal blink ! why would you blink green signal ??? Coming from US, took a little time to adjust ..

2. Its just like any other Indian city. Driving there is a mess ... signals are not visible .. Drivers dont listen to the signals ... in fact its a very poor country so not many cops around. in 3 day stay, we saw only 3 -4 cops and it very well could have been the same cop going around the city ...

3. Its very rare to have a dedicated left turning lane. So the leftmost lane is always throttled if there is one guy who wants to turn left. The rightmost lane has a number of cars parked ! You will driving nicely in the rightmost lane and then suddenly out of nowhere you will see a number of cars parked on the road !!! reminds me of india totally !!

4. We were at this McDonalds ... when you go close to the dustbin, it opens up automatically and after you throw the trash, it says 'thank you' and closes ... isnt it funny ? A dustbin saying 'Thank you' to you ? & more than that .. for such a poor country, why do they need such hitech dust bins ?

5. We were at the suspension bridge and there was this place named 'Thinking spot' with just a bench and dustbin there ... Americans really know how to market a place man ! Here is a snap... I am trying to think what to think at the thinking spot ;)

6. The hotel we were staying at, had so much security even for the garage ... the parking garage was in the basement 2 levels down with automatic gates (whose remote keys are given to residents only) and still the doors of the garage had this huge locks so that no one can break in .. it was pretty unnecessary I felt ...

Do go to Vancouver if you get a chance (visit the links I gave above and you will realize the beauty ... the tickets are a little costly but what the heck ! Here is what all you can do) I will make another trip there soon ... have to cover a lot more stuff that I missed in this trip !

Yaaron, Main India Chala ...

2006-10-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

After a lot of thinking and planning, finally I bought tickets for India trip ! I am going to India in Jan !! Yes ! I am so excited .. cant wait for January ...

But buying tickets for India trip is such a herculian task .. In last 4 years of US stay, I have been to India twice and everytime its the same story ... first you got to decide the timeframe .. and you have to do that well in advance ! at least 3 months beforehand you should know about it ... well if you have to get your H1 stamped before re-entering US, then you better know about it at least 4 - 6 months in advance .. You have to take online appointment for stamping either in India or in Canada ... its such a pain !! Well, the story doesnt end there ...in fact, its just started ! Now you have to look for the best deal keeping in mind the frequent flyer thing... so weigh your options, sometimes its better to pay some more money but get yourself some miles. Find yourself the best agent who can take all these troubles for you and will give you the best available deal ... once you get the tickets, then its the shopping time ! thats the phase I am gonna enter in now ...

For this trip, initially wanted to go there for Diwali like last year ... Believe me, Diwali is like the best time to be there ... its the biggest festival, goes on 5 days, everyone has holidays and its cold (at least being a 'mumbai'kar, this is a very important thing... I always hated the sweaty weather there :) ) ... But this years Diwali is like way early .. So it was kind of tough ..

So then the plans shifted to December- around Christmas, new year time ... but the tickets for December are soooo costly ! So finally January was decided as the timeframe ! and I am sooo excited ! Cant wait till January ... its still more than 2 months away and I am desparately waiting for it !

I wish someone develops a time travel thing and we can forward the time wheel so that Jan comes earlier ... that reminds me of the new movie 'click' ... I guess what better time to watch that movie than this one ! right ?

Off I go ...

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham !

2006-10-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

Last 10 overs - 40 runs to win and 5 wickets in hand !! NWCL Regular seasons champions and without a doubt the best team in the NWCL league - 'Microsoft Blues' looked like they were set for yet another victory (which they had gotten so used to by this time) to clinch the NWCL season championship by winning this all microsoft finals !! But destiny had something else in mind !! As Siddhu would describe it - Blues team fell like a bicycle stand, you push one and all the others fall down ! Just 151 required in 42 overs ... looked like a very easy task especially after scoring at 9 runs an over for the first 8 overs ...

But it was a disaster really ... four run outs, a few misjudgements by the umpire (bad LBW decision, docking 3 overs etc) and well it was clear - luck wasnt favouring them either ... so ultimately MS Blues (My team) lost the finals by 18 runs !! 'Microsoft Greens' became the NWCL 2006 season champions and Blues had to be satisfied with the runner-up position ... I had taken a break and wasnt playing for Blues last few weeks but it hurt !! especially just watching the game standing outside the field hurt really bad ... such a helpless situation !! The team which deserved it and lost just 2 games (those losses by the way were returned to respective teams with compound interest thru' convicing victories in the next games) in the whole season !! A great great season and only when it mattered - we couldnt convert it ... It was a pretty sad moment for all of us ...

Its funny but any game - espcially finals you see all types of mixed emotions - one team at the top of the world celebrating and jumping with joy whereas the other deep down, hiding their tears, heads down ... one team has tears of joy and the other team can not believe they lost !!

Anyway, we all put our loss behind us (so to say) and enjoyed the end of a great 2006 NWCL cricket season ... another thing was that the championship had come back to Microsoft ... may it be any team (MS has 3 teams by the way - Blues, Greens and Reds) ! So we gathered at one of our teammate's house - went back in time to cherish a few memories, played pool, celebrated our captains birthday ! It was all great fun !!

At the end of the day, you know what it feels like, its like a thorn in your body ! if you look from outside everything is fine ! you are enjoying and happy that the trophy remained with Microsoft but then it still hurts you from within and only you know the pain and how badly it hurts !

Ending this post with the hope that next 2007 season, I will have a post to write with a title 'Khushi hi Khushi' ...

Been busy ...

2006-09-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

Its been busy life ... I know a true blogger wont say that and will always have time for blogging ... but what to do ! no time for blogging ... hopefully sometime this week / next week ...

Molten Chocolate Cake !!

2006-09-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

Warm Chocolate Cake with chocolate fudge filling. Topped with Vanilla ice cream under a crunchy chocolate shell !! The perfect combination of (hot) fudge and (cold) vanilla ice cream .. I anyway love chocolate flavour ... but this one, I have no words to explain ! This is the best !!

Its a sin ! Really, it is such a sin to eat this 'Molten Chocolate Cake' @ Chili's !! Every bite just melts in your mouth !! Gives you a heavenly feeling !! Its my most favourite desert ! whenever I am in a sad mood & need to cheer up or I am already cheered up and wanna enjoy more ;), I go to Chillis and just order this desert ! ... The food at chillis is so-so .. I am not a big fan of its food but this desert totally makes it worth the trip !

And its not that costly ! some 5 - 6 bucks including tax and its good enough for two (rather 1.5 ) ppl ...although its impossible to be satisfied with even one cake ! I remember the first time I went to chili's with two of my friends for this desert ... one of my friends had had it before and was going on and on about it ... but he was not sure how many of those cakes would be enough for the three of us ... so we asked the waitress there and she said and I quote, "well ... since you are guys, maybe 2 cakes would be good enough ... but normally I would suggest just one !" ... we thought about it a lot and finally ordered 2 ! When the cake arrived, we just could not believe it ! I mean, its just soooo delicious ... so delicious ... we ordered one more !!! :) .. that waitress gave us that 'have-these-guys-come-from-somalia?' look ? but who cares right ? we finished that third one as well and had to stop ;) unfortunately ... stomach was content but the heart wasnt !! And this has been my feeling everytime I have this chocolate molten cake ...

To wrap it up, all I will say it, if you have not had it, you are missing something in life !!! As far as my thinking goes, I am looking for that (Merovingian) guy who can say 'I wrote it myself' ... (remember matrix reloaded? ;) ) great job Chili's !!

Salty Coffee !

2006-09-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

(an Email Fwd)

He met her on a party. She was so outstanding, many guys were chasing her. While he was so normal, nobody paid attention to him. At the end of the party, He invited her to have coffee with him. She was surprised, but just to be polite, she said Yes. They went to a nice coffee shop. He was too nervous to say anything. she felt uncomfortable .. she thought; please let me go home!

Suddenly he asked the waiter: "would you please give me some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee!! ". Everybody started at him so strange! His face turned red, but, still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him what is this ? He replied: "when I was a little boy, I was living near the sea. I liked playing in the sea I could feel the taste of sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, think of my hometown, I miss my hometown so much, I miss my parents who are still living there." While saying this, tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched. That's his true feelings from the bottom of his heart. A man who can tell out his homesickness, he must be a man who loves home, cares about home, has responsibility of home! She also started to speak, spoke about her far-away hometown, her childhood, her family. That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their story. They continued to date. She found that actually he was a man who meets all her demands; he had tolerance, was kind hearted, warm careful. He was such a good person but she almost missed him, thanks to his salty coffee.

Then the story was just like every beautiful love story the princess married to his prince, then they were living a happy life ! and every time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in coffee,as she knew that's the way he liked it. After 40 years he passed away, left her a letter which said : 'My dearest, Please forgive me, forgive my whole life lie. This was the only lie Isaid to you ! The salty coffee !! Remember the first time we dated, I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted sugar but I said salt. It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead, I never thought that could be the start of our communication! I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid to do that, as I have promised not to lie to you for anything ! now Im dying, I afraid of nothing so I m telling you the truth: I don't like the salty coffee ! what a strange bad taste.. but I have had the salty coffee for whole life! Since I knew you, I never feel sorry for anything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness for whole life. If I can live for the second time, still want to know you and have you for my whole life even though I have to drink the salty coffee again".

Her tears made the letter totally wet... Somebody asked her: 'what's the taste of the salty coffee?

"Its sweet", she replied. ..

Badminton is NOT (only) girls' game !

2006-09-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

I have heard this enough number of times now to put it up on the blog ! ... 'Badminton ! you play badminton ? dude, only girls play badminton !! ' ... I am sick and tired of convincing them and laughing back at them for such a blunder in thinking !!

All I would like to tell these people is come with me and play singles (or even doubles for that matter) from 8.30 to 11 pm every tuesday and friday (after playing cricket from 5.30 to 8.30pm) and you will know whether its a game for girls or boys ! After one game suddenly the small court will feel like a football field ! Suddenly 'aankhon ke saamne andhera chha jayega' ! Then you will understand why I turn deaf ear towards such useless comments ! It might look like the easiest sport from outside the court but try stepping in for once and then you will know ... Its such a nice and whole-body exercise ! A challenging game which brings the best out of you, helps you get in shape, improve your judgement, placement while giving you the entertainment ... its a great game !

Nescafe ad ??

2006-09-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember the Nescafe advt that they used to show on TV long time back .. there was a very catchy slogan that they had in there. Something on the lines of 'Start your day with Nescafe' .. something very fresh, very refreshing ! help please .. Anyone ?

Olympic National Park !

2006-09-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

This last long weekend again gave me a chance to get back to my hiking trips ... It had been quite some time since I had done an outing and as my friends had told me, this is probably the best time to go out & see some natural beauty of Seattle as Summer is about to be over ! so, yours truly called up three other friends and decided on a one day hiking trip to Olympic National Park ... The park (or forest is a better name) is so huge that you probably need a couple of days to visit it to satisfaction but we didnt want to camp out and stuff as the plan was a very last minute thing ... we just picked up one trail called the 'hurricane ridge' ...

Four of us left early morning around 8.30 ... The total travel to the Olympic national park was about 3 hours including the 30 minutes travel by the ferry... The best thing about this travel by ferry was that you could load your car on the ferry and then unload it at the other end ... I love ferries and I love travelling on water ! The deep blue color of the water is just amazing ! Again, pics speak much much more than words ... here they are ...

On the Ferry ! (Vaibhav, Mukti and Me)

Deep blue sea ! ;)

So the plan was to drive out of the ferry to a place called Port Angeles... Have lunch here and then start the hike on the Hurriane ridge .. So around 12 noon,we reached Port Angeles ..

Port Angeles !

we found a place 'Secret Garden Buffet' .. now Indian mentality told us that buffet is the best place and the name sounded like a chinese buffet ! Everyone was more than happy to hog on some chinese food !! But we entered, paid for 4 dishes and to our surprise, it was all american food ... Our apetite suddenly dropped to zero :( ... But we had no other choice ! We had to eat that since a 3.2 mile hike was waiting for us and mroe than that, we had already paid up !!

So, anyway after that fiasco, we started driving towards the real attraction and really hoped that this hurriane ridge does not turn out to be like this !! But soon we realized that the park is beyond our expectations ... the drive through the park itself was filled with breath-taking scenery all around ... we stopped at almost each halting point, took snaps, filled all the beauty into our eyes as much as we could and only then moved forward ...

one of my fav snaps .. amazin isnt it ? notice, we are all in air !
Doesnt this look like a 'Dil Chahta Hai' Snap ? ;)

After we reached the hike location, we took only the essential stuff with us and started the hike ... It was a HOT afternoon and we were sweating but still the hike was fun !! We started singing and soon we all four of us were singing pretty loudly ! Many of our american fellow hikers gave us complements for cool group singing !! :) .. It was fun !! Snaps, songs, scenery, jokes etc made the hike a worthwhile one ...

The successful ranger team ! :)

A view from the top !

Once we reached the top, to our surprise, we also found some snow !! There was scorching heat on our head and we were standing on snow !! another one of those natural wonders !!

we played snow-fight for sometime, took some snaps and started out decend by about 4 pm .... coming back down was easy and hence, the song volume was louder ! :)

beautiful sunset !

On the way back ...

But by the time, we reached down, everyone was pretty tired ... It was because of the heat and also the steep uphills ... but it was totally worth it ... We drove back on the ferry and back home ... tired and sleepy :) ... a day well spent !!

when is this gonna change ?

2006-08-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

My typical day (starts @ 7 - 8 am):

I wake up & I am angry at having to get up
I unwillingly get ready
I go to office (about 8 - 9 am)
I work for 2 hours
I take a coffee break
I work for another 2 hours
I go home for lunch (12 - 2 pm)
I come back to office (1 - 3 pm)
I work for another 2 hours
I ping a friend and go for a walk
I come back and start yawning
I unwillingly force myself into working for 2 more hours
I leave for home / cricket (~ 6 to 7 pm)
I watch a movie / play cricket & cook dinner
I have dinner
I blog / sleep (~ 11 - 12 pm)

aahhh .. Dentists !!

2006-08-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

As the wise men have said, never go to a dentist ! ... ;) ! you feel so helpless sitting there with a bright light focussed on your teeth and almost always more than one ppl peeping into your mouth trying to figure whats wrong & where !! Worst thing ? You cant do anything about it ? In fact, you are paying them to do it !!!

The doctor always sees his/her convenience ... whenver they want to check health of your teeth, they will poke it wherever they want, they will tap it, also if they want, they scratch it, do whatever they feel like ! You want to tell them that I need a break now, just 2 minutes break, my jaw is hurting but you cant ! You want to rinse your mouth but you cant !! they make sure you cant say anything by putting 2 - 3 different metal pieces in your mouth ! I mean, its such a pathetic situation ... And the end is almost always the 'sad end' types ... they will tell you, this teeth is on the verge of a root canal or this filling needs to be redone or other comments of that type ...

Dentists are probably one of a kind .. I mean all the other doctors are on one side and the dentists are on the other ! If I have to compare them with anything, then I would compare them with the Mumbai 'Rickshaw-walas' .. We know that we need them and worse enough they know that we need them ! So they are the King of the road ... they will drive the way they want on the road, go in a one-way, create traffic jams and what not ! but still, they are there and we use them for daily travel !! Just cant do anything about it right ? Dentists are just like that !

If you are smart, you will take good care of your teeth or else be ready for the torture !!

Cooking !

2006-08-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

Cooking is one of my passions ... Its not something that I have to be forced into ... In fact, its something I am very very fond of .. Its time well spent for me .. (compared to many other things such as work ;) ) I think, its something I am very good at and proud of ... ;)

I dont remember how it started ... I guess, when my mom was expectant (with me), she must have cooked a lot of dishes and I must have picked it up from her like Abhimanyu :) ! because I have always been fond of cooking (jabse maine hosh sambhala as they say in movies :) )!

I guess, the credit for my love for cooking goes partially to 'my love for food' ... (BTW, my mom is an excellent excellent cook ! She is soo good at cooking, I just cant tell you ! you have to eat it yourself !! Mom, you are the best ! ) so anyway, I love eating !! ;) .. who doesnt, right ? But I mean it .. I love to eat different different varieties of food ... sweet, spicy, salty, sour (sometimes :) ) ... pretty much everything ! And if you like something, you want to be able to make it yourself .. e.g. I love 'pohe' (rice flakes) .. I think I learnt to make them when I was in 12th or 1st year engineering .. I think after chai (tea), Pohe was my first dish to be learnt and then it just continued ... One dish after another ... in fact, I remember during 4th year of engineering (yes, even before coming to US !) when my mom was not feeling well, I had even made rotis alongwith other stuff ... of course they were nowhere close to what my mom makes .. and I dont think I can ever do that ... but I had tried my best ...

After coming to US, it was pretty much on a day-to-day basis that we had to cook (I used to stay with roommates but some of them were horrible at cooking ... roommates is one topic I can keep talking days about but maybe in some other post some other time .. ) .. so that was the time when I got to practice a lot of dishes along with trying a few new ones .. I have been cooking on an average, every alternate day for last 4 years ... and its been wonderful ! now I pretty much leave 1 - 1.5 hrs of my day time specifically for cooking ... I have tried north indian dishes like different (aaloo, muli, onion etc) parathas, chhole, palak paneer, dal makhani etc. also south indian dishes like dosa, idli, puliohara, vada sambar etc ... Mumbai dishes are my favorite though ... Pav Bhaji, Misal, Vada pav, Bhel Poori ... oh I am so hungry !

Believe it or not, I have even made 'Besan Laddoos' here ..starting from scratch as in starting from besan ... I had made 20 laddoos and me & my roommate, we finished them in 2 days !! Again something I like so much that I wanted to learn it ... Of course, I took the recipe from my mom and I guess I spent like 5 hours on it ... but the very joy of it coming out the way you expect is what makes me do it !!

One thing I have not tried is cooking non-veg stuff at home .. I never ate non-veg when I was in India .. I never had anything against non-veg (like some ppl feel that its killling animals etc... I feel its a part of the food chain) but then in India, the places they sell meat are very unclean, filled with flies, bloody etc etc ... so I never felt like it .. but I was always open to the idea .. I started eating it here in US since here its all about sanitation and cleanliness ... now I love all different types of non-veg, seafood and I miss it if I dont have it for a few days .. but I have never ever cooked it at home (except only once when I had cooked frozen shrimp curry .. man ! was it delicious or what !!) and probably will never cook it on a regular basis ... dunno whats with that ...

Another thing is, it is very very very boring to cook for yourself ! I need someone to be with me to eat it ... I will never cook for myself .. I get too bored to do that ... If I have someone to share it with, I am ready to do it .. its like an incentive ...

I have had my share of disasters and failures ... I have even had public failures ... I remember this one time when I was with my friends' family ... They are Punjabis and wanted to know how to make authentic Maharashtrian Pohe .. so bhabhi asked me to make them one day and I happily agreed ... The 'thick poha' they had was very very different and it would not become soft even after soaking it in water ... Pohe I made, were a big big disaster that day ... what an embarassing moment ... bhabhi hadnt made any breakfast thinking that I am making pohe and I ruined it all !! so yeah I have had such embarassing situations .. but thats part of the game ..

Anyway, here are a few things that are troublesome when cooking:

1. Cutting Onions !! - We recently had a potluck sort of get-together .. I had to cook for 10 + ppl .. I almost cried for my life cutting 5 -6 biggg onions !!

2. Washing utensils : I think thats one thing my mom never did when I was to be born ... so obviously that has not come to me ;) .. its such a pain to wash all utensils ... I would never do it if I had a choice ...

3. Cleaning : I want everything to be clean around me and so though this is a painful step, I do pretty honestly .. but nevertheless it counts in troubles of cooking

4. Grocery shopping : You need to buy groceries before hand if you want to cook .. so planning necessary !

5. Marination / Soaking : Things like Chhole, Rajma etc need at least overnight soaking ... all those ppl who cook chicken know that it needs marinating .. so again cooking needs lot of planning sometimes ...

Anyway, these troubles are very small in front of the joy of cooking ...

Get-together ... a complete success !!!

2006-08-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, we had been planning on organising a get-together (potluck sort of) for MS (Microsoft) Indians from Bombay (Mumbai :) ) since a week now ... It was today @ 6 pm .. I just came back from there ... It was a huge huge success !! I had so much fun !!!

The menu included 'Misal Pav', 'Vada Pav', 'Kande Pohe', Dhokala' & 'Kadak Cutting Chai' ... Yes ! You missed it :P .. It was sooo awesome ! I could not believe the enthusiasm everyone showed ... 70 ppl had RSVPed .. Out of them, 42 showed up for the event ... And what a potluck !! ... man ! 5 different types of misal, 3 different types of Wadas .. 4 different Kande Pohe & 2 different dhokalas ... more than enough food for 42 ppl !! It was a feast really !! :) ...

The MS cafe where we had arranged this get-together, had a speaker system .. so we played Hindi/ Marathi/ Pop music in the background while we enjoyed the food ! And then after the dinner, we all sang songs !! well ... not only songs and parodies of songs but also old advertizements (remember BTex, Humara Bajaj ads & Mile Sur Mera Tumhaara ?? ) Yes !! The best thing was though we were all meeting each other for the first time, we gelled with each other sooo well !! There was no awkwardness .. no hesitations .. It was just fantastic ... The group had bachelors, families, families with kids ... everyone really ! And still it was never a boring party at any point !!

(Yep ! Thats me in Kurta ! :) )

(Song Session - post dinner)

Can you believe this whole thing started with a single email from a girl craving for Misal pav !! Within a short preparation time span of merely a week, this event turned out to be sooo good !! Unbelievable !! I am soo happy for being able to organize such an event ... Made lott of new friends, acquaintances .. Hopefully this will continue & we will keep meeting each other regularly ... we planned to arrange something of this sort for Ganesh festival as well .. so lets see how that goes .. I am already looking forward to that one ..

Project open-the-tight-lid !

2006-08-08T00:02:00.000-07:00

Well, day before yesterday I bought this 'Gorkari' pickle from 'Mayuri' - Indian grocery store. (SImilar to the one shown in the image) I really really like this achar ... its perfect ! As the name suggests its from Kairi (Raw Mango) and its Gor (sweet)... Just the right one for me !

So anyway, last two days, I was struggling to open the lid of the bottle. Every meal, I would try to open it for a couple of minutes and afterwards feel too hungry to try further .. but tonight I came home and decided that whatever happens, I am gonna open this damn lid today ! I think I started working on this open-the-tight-lid project at night around 9-ish. Tried it every possible way - with hands, with knife, with spoon ... everything ! But by 9.30 all I had was a few red-ish marks on my hands .. nothing else ! Ok, so the software engineer in me woke up and he thought that many people must have had this problem before and a few might have put up a better solution online ! who knows ! So he went and looked up on google, 'open a tight lid' and guess what ... as usual a few hits showed up ! a few suggested that you need to tie a rubber band around it and give yourself better grip and hence friction ! Well, I didnt have rubber but I had tried similar ways and they had not worked ... so I ignored that one ! The other remedy was to use a nutcracker ! Well, I didnt have that one either ! Apart from these two things, basically there werent any releavent results ! ... My roommate said, lets take the bottle to the same Indian store and get it opened from them ! But I was not ready to accept defeat just like that ... defeated by a lid ??? shame on you I said to myself !

So the frurstrated software engineer gave one last push on the lid with all the strength and this time it opened !! Around 10 O'clock ... it opened !! Can you imagine ? 1 hr wasted on opening one damn lid !!! But I was sooo damn happy, as if I had climbed mount everest !! I jumped in joy ... did bhangda !! what not ... it was my victory !! yes ! victory over a stubborn non-opening lid !! It meant more than anything at that point ...

Setting goals for yourself and achieving them gives hell lot of pleasure ... hai na ?

One night @ the call center ..

2006-08-05T23:42:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading 'one night @ call center' by Chatan Bhagat .. and I am sorry to say but I did not find it as good as the 'Five Point Someone'... In fact I did not like it as much .. If I have to rate this book, I would give it 2 (or if I am in a generous mood then 2.5 - 3) stars ...

Why ? well, lets see ... first and foremost, according to me, the writer has taken too much time to set the plot for this book. The story is far-stretched ... The romantic part does manage to get you reading more but then I feel a lot of the stuff is unnecessary and irrelevant to the story (which was not the case in Five Point Someone (FPS) .. ) The main punch line of the story is 'A phone call from God' ... but the phone call from God does not appear till the last few pages of the book .. secondly, according to me the character of Radhika is totally unnecessary and serves the only purpose of lengthening the short story .. and so is military uncle ..

OK. Lets talk a ittle about the story line. The story mostly revolves around the life of one person named 'Shyam' .. you can say he is the hero of the story, Priyanka being the heroine. Everyone else is just supporting actors like Vroom, Esha, Radhika, Bakshi, Military Uncle ... They have their share of the story but its not much .. its mainly Shyam and Priyanka who've broken up and Priyanka has agreed to marry some guy named Ganesh who works for Microsoft. (This is the biggest reason I didnt like the story ! why does the guy working in Microsoft get to loose ;) ? .. I am in the same boat as Ganesh at least as far as the job/marriage scene goes .. hell no ! I dont like that .. hehe .. just kidding :) ) Shyam is this guy who is talented but has lost his self-confidence on the way and has accepted his defeat .. In the end, like a hindi movie story, the heroine chooses the hero ... so the end isnt something great / different from what you would expect throughout the book ... so the book looses a few points there ... The prologue mentions that the book is gonna try to capture the life of Indian youth .. but I dont think it does anything like that ... it does not revolve around the life of an averge call-center guy ... so its still not a representative of Indian youth ... Also in the end, the girl in the train compartment should not have been God again ! I mean, that was just too much to take by the end of it ! ;) First I thought she would be Payal but alas ...

OK, enough criticism ... here are some good things .. Keeping up with the tradition of FPS, the one-liners in this book are great too ! The romantic scenes are very well described and bring a smile on your face ... So, heres the thing, emotionally this book does pretty well .. all different emotions, such as Shyam's jealousy, Vrooom's anger, Esha's depression, Shyam & Priyanka's romance etc are well described which is why I give the book 2 - 3 stars ...

But yeah, I can understand when girls like ON@CC better than FPS ... FPS is this naughty book which is very boyish and it does not cover emotions that widely ... However, ON@CC, is all about emotions and one's life ! (and not just life @ IIT ) .. But I havent yet met a single GUY who has told me that ON@CC is better than FPS ... and I totally agree !! FPS rocks but I cant say the same about ON@CC ... Sorry Chetan !

Its been a long long time !

2006-08-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah ! I know .. its been more than a week since I last posted .. you know nothing great happened in life ! no trekking, no cricket games, no funny, weird experiences .. nothing worth writing / mentioning .. same old life like a drop of water in the flow which follows the drop of water ahead of it ...

You must be thinking, I must have done something at least right ? what did I do last 10 days or so ? well .. nothing great other than work ..wait .. scratch that .. I did watch a couple of good Hindi movies - 'corporate' and 'Omkara' .. They are good movies but both have sad endings .. I appreciate the director's effort and everyone's acting & everything ... just that according to me, movies should not have sad endings .. I go to a theatre to have some fun, laugh my heart out .. be happy ! But if at the end of the movie, if I come out crying and depressed, whats the point ! whatever happened to entertainment !! (and I watched both of them the same day !! just imagine my state at the end of the day !) But anyway, I guess I could have posted reviews of those movies, but as I said earlier, I think everyone should see the movie to rate it ... anyway, coming back to the main topic, why I didnt blog for such a long time, I think one always goes through these spikes when sometimes suddenly everything around you starts glowing and sometimes its all dull suddenly ... I guess I was in the valley of one of those spikes recently ...

but I am back :) .. actually something interesting happened today .. and it made me feel good .. compelled me to write this post .. I felt like I am back in Mumbai .. inside Microsoft, we have this internal email group (or distribution list) called 'MS Indians from Bombay' ... some girl emailed to the group in the afternoon @ around 3 pm asking if there are any places in the seattle area which have 'misal-pav' the assal mumbai dish .. she has a craving for it .. One guy replied saying that there isnt one but to help her craving, he attached this mouth-watering pic of the misal-pav... and that was it !!

Everyone started replying saying they are feeling sooo hungry after seeing that pic and we should have a get-together of such a kind .. within 1 hour, more than 10 people volunteered to do different stuff starting from taking head count for such an event to booking a venue, cooking food and what not ! The energy everyone showed was just amazing .. By 5 pm in the evening, the date for a get-together was finalized ( its on 12th August) ! I mean it was just awesome .. Just a simple question from some girl, initiated this whole potluck-sort-of get-together ... simply amazing !
It reminded me of the 'fast-paced' life of Mumbai where you hardly have time and you have to be alert, on your toes all the time !! It took me back to those days when I used to hang outside the train holding on to the sides ... thats the time, the place where you feel that the difference between life and death is soo less !! A place where there is rush even in 1.30 am train to Khopoli from Dadar and you literally have to fight your way in !! God ! I love Mumbai .. and I miss it too ...

Anyway, I will keep you posted on the event and its proceeding ... Another thing that happened, is I got my hands on 'One night @ call center' the other day ... I have started reading it and will finish it in 2 / 3 days ...

A very sad poem ..

2006-07-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

I got this marathi poem by email .. almost got me in tears while reading .. thought language barrier should not stop it from posting .. (click on the image to make it readable)

Golmaal ... fultu dhamaal !!

2006-07-16T23:45:00.000-07:00

I just saw this new movie "Golmaal" in theatre ... It was soooo good ... fultoo dhamaal ... the normal gang of ppl .. stupid jokes but a complete fun -filled 3 hrs ... I laughed so much today .. so much ! The songs (except one) arent that good .. but the acting by everyone is superb (Sometimes I felt that Akshay Kumar would have suited Ajay Devgan's role much more but .. I am not the director ;) ) .. I personally believe that there is not much use of reading reviews since movie is something that you have to see and rate for yourself ... so I am gonna keep this post short ... A must see .. 4+ star rating from me !!

Coffee @ 3pm tomorrow ..

2006-07-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

I am sure afternoon coffee tomorrow (Friday, July 14) is going to be a different and hopefully wonderful & enjoyable experience ! I am not going to spoil the fun by telling you whats so special about tomorrow's coffee .. cross your fingers ! :) ..

keep guessing !

Dog dancing on the song ... really cool !

2006-07-12T20:16:00.000-07:00


This one is a really really nice clip .. I love dogs btw and this one is just so cool ... in a few years, I am gonna have a dog at home .. I always wanted one but ... oh well, I will probably have a german shepherd or golden retriever .. Courtesy : Google Video Link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6960295146523698319&q=dog

Five Point Someone ... must read !

2006-07-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

I am not a big fan of travelling by plane... in fact I hate it .. I havent met a single person (except those who are flying for the first time) who is excited about the plane travel ...there is hardly anything you can do on a plane.. you are cramped up for space all the time, food is never good, you hardly get the service you want and you cant talk on phone ... all you can do is just read or sleep or watch crappy movies they show... I pretty much always end up sleeping the whole time ! Anyway, thats not the point of this post ... This time when I went to Austin, one smart thing that I did, was to take a book with me .. and it was not (just) good ... it was very very good !! :)

'Five Point Someone - What not to do at IIT' is one superb book written by Chetan Bhagat. Looking at the title you may think its one of those books that help one to get into IIT but its not ! Its a short and simple story of an IIT student Hari and his two friends Alok and Ryan. Each one has his own personality which is quite different from the other in various aspects. They are broght up differently and hence their thinking is very different from each other. Hari is the happy go lucky guy, Alok is completely bent under the burden of the family expectations and Ryan is the handsome rebellious original thinker. Starting from the (in)famous IIT ragging which brings these three batchmates together, the book revolves around the four years of IIT for each of them, narrating the good, the bad and the ugly!

What makes this book so special is that the story is very touching and feels so real. Everyone who has had at least a little bit of fun during their bachelors (be it IIT or not) can relate to the story in more than one ways ! You may not have stolen exam question papers or may not have slept with the daughter of the head of the department :) but still that whole 'shararati' part reminds you of the kid in you and the good old days ... Its romantic but at the same time very realistic .. It will make you laugh , it will make you cry, it will make you happy, it will make you sad ... most importantly it will make you think ! These three batchmates challenge the good old IIT education system which according to them is the cause for suppressing the real talent in them and as a result they face the consequences in terms of their low (5 point) GPA ... it takes them some time to realize that you need to fight the system by being a part of the system .. This book vaguely reminds you of 'Dil Chahta Hai' (DCH) (I can watch this movie any number of times and have already watched it I-dont-know-how-many-times) where the focus is the friendship of these 3 young guys and their life ... Its similar but also different in the sense the book is tightly coupled with the guys and their life inside the college ... complete fun !

Its a simple story and the narration is just awesome ! The one liners are just amazing !! I did not keep the book down until I finished it cover - to - cover !! The four hour flight to Austin felt so short and also got nominated as the most-enjoyed domestic flight so far :) .. A must read book according to me !! I am waiting to get my hands on the 'One night @ the call-center' ...

p.s. For those who have read the book already : would you wanna be Hari, Alok or Ryan or Neha ? Do you find yourself closer to any of those characters ?

Going to Jiffy Lube ? Think again !

2006-07-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

(I got this video a couple of weeks back and wanted to post it much earlier but .. Though this isnt one of my experiences, its going up my blog since people need to be alarmed about it !)

A must watch video about Jiffy lube and its 'kale karname' ...

http://www.nbc4.tv/video/9152183/detail.html

Think twice before taking your car to Jiffy Lube ..

U r smart but ...

2006-07-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

I was watching this movie 'Undiscovered' and there was a song in the movie which I really liked ... I loved this one particular line which went like this :

'U r smart .. but in a very stupid way' ...

It might sound really stupid like this but it sounded really great in the movie ... listen to it if you get a chance !

Visit to Austin ...

2006-07-05T20:22:00.001-07:00

June 29, 2006 - Microsoft shipped beta 2 of Live Communication Server 2007 and for the efforts that we put into it (yeah right ! :) ) we were given Friday (June 30) and Monday (July 3) off .. which meant a 5 day weekend as Tuesday - July4th is the Independence day, a national holiday !!! Without thinking twice, I booked the flight tickets to Austin ...

Seattle or should I say Redmond (thats where Microsoft campus is) is a very very boring place for a single guy ... This area is over-filled with couples (who hang out with other couples and so on ..) no single/ available girls and the university is way too far in Seattle downtown and so all the hustle bustle and happening roads are way too far ... so if you are single and if you have a 5 day long weekend and if you dont have much work ( & also of course if you dont want to just sit on your couch and watch 4 movies a day for 5 days)- your best bet is to get out of Redmond as soon as possible ... so Austin was an obvious choice for me .. firstly I really miss Austin , also my best friend is in Austin and and few other friends' friends were also on their way to Austin ... so we were gonna be a big group of around 10 ppl ... what more can u ask for ? For last 3 months I was waiting for such an opportunity and I was not gonna let this one go by ..

I am going to keep this post a short one & I am not going to talk about what I did in Austin much in this post as it wasnt something new or something great - out of ordinary .. I have stayed in Austin for almost about 2 years and I know Austin roads better than many of my friends there .. so it wasnt a new city for me ... but the moment I landed in Austin, I felt that closeness .. I always knew that I hold Austin very close to my heart but I realized how very close this time .. that smile I missed in Redmond, came back in seconds after landing ... All 4 days were total fun even though it was normal routine of getting up at 12 - 1 in the afternoon and sleeping at 4 - 5 in the morning (if thats what u call normal ;) .. ) and spending the day doing mere timepass ... visiting same old places in and around Austin like San Antonio (I think I have been to San Antonio like 10 times by now :) and the only thing you can do here is Riverwalk, which reminds you of Venice (Italy) with Restaurants, hotels etc right on the banks of the river, its really good), Austin park etc, playing cricket, golf & other games ... It was very hot in Austin and heat is something I cant bear .. I can live with snow and freezing temperatures but not heat ... but despite the heat and same old places, I enjoyed my trip to the fullest ...

Tuesday evening was my flight back to Seattle and I literally had to drag myself out of there .. back to this dull & dry life .... I wonder, will I ever feel the same way about Redmond ? Will I ever long to go to redmond ? Will redmond ever be a place I would want to stay & own a house at ? I know if Microsoft gives me a offer to relocate to Austin, I will take it with both hands ... but redmond ? Whats the way out ? I think I have to get married ;) !! ... ok ! I have to call up my parents now .. and convey them these thoughts ... ;) ...

White Water Rafting !

2006-06-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

After skydiving, it was time to try something different and equally adventurous ! Last visit to falls hadnt allowed us to go close enough to the nature ... so we decided to get into the water and feel it ourselves ... :) ... yes ! We - 9 of us ( 8 guys and 1 brave girl) - thoroughly enjoyed white water rafting yesterday on (Class V) Skykomish river considered the most challenging river in Washington ! This was the right time to go for river rafting ... there was just the right amount of water in the river as a very little snow melts around this time (beginning of summer) ... Basically u cant go for rafting late in summer as there is too much water (then all the rocks will go under the water) nor can u go too early .. (u dont want too less water as well for obvious reasons ..) It was an amazing experience with just one glitch ... heres how it went.

June 18, 2006. Zeus gracefully accepted my requests and gave us a nice bright & sunny day ! Everything was very well planned, thanks to Akshay ! We had driving directions, food (pohe & pav bhaji which swapna had made !) .. We drove for about an hour and reached the rafting place at around 9.35am as we had hoped for. Since this was the first time for most of us, everything was pretty new .. the wet suits, helmets .. but we got past the awkward feeling of the helmet as soon as we reached the river shore ... heart was pounding really fast ... everything felt perfect to start this new adventure ..

We were about 40 - 45 ppl (including trainers) which were divided into 7 groups with maximum of 7 ppl in one group .. 9 of us got divided into 3 separate boats as 2(I was in this group), 6 and 1. They gave us safety instructions ... DOs and DON'Ts .. Then our trainer told us the commands he was going to use to help us maneuver the boat ... 3 on each side of the boat .. Each of us was given a paddle and the motions were simple, foward, back .. and combinations of that - as in "All Foward", "All Backward", "Left F, Right B" and "left B, Right F" depending on the purpose to go in front/ back or for turning in either directions ... I was in the front of the boat and on the left ..
The trainer sat in the back end of the boat and steered the boat in the right direction ...

It was easy stuff to start with .. water was calm in the beginning and there were only class 3 rapids to start with ... It felt great !! soon we were close to the very infamous "Boulder Drop" .. Before we raft thru' the boulder drop, we were taken to scout the drop ... The guide told us exactly how he wanted us to steer the boat thru' the drop and at what point do we have to turn etc .. the water was really fast around that area and there were 3 stages of that drop where water would fall down to a lower level meaning that boat would not remain horizontal !!

We spent about 10 minutes scouting it and then got back on the boat ... as you can see in the pics, it was a tough one ..

Start of the Boulder Drop

Into the Boulder Drop - Stage 1

Almost Vertical Raft !

Done with Stage 1 but now have to keep maneuvering the raft

But due to the flow of the water, raft turned in the wrong direction.
Now we have to turn it back before we get to level 2

Still no luck .. keep pushing hard .. keep working .. times running out ..

Ok. Looks like we are gonna make it .. and yeah thats me ... rightmost in the pic
sincerely paddling :)

Oops !

Oh ! I am rightmost in the snap ! Totally in air & water !! :)

Still in air :)

Back to the water level :) almost done with stage 2 of Boulder drop

Just going thru the motions .. Thrust of water is so much that what can those little paddles do !

Preparing for stage 3

Push Push Push !

Relxing time finally !

We thought we're done .. almost !

But the boat turned the other way ..

well .. nothing can be done now .. we continued to flow backwards ..

End of stage 3 !

There were times when boat was so high in air that my paddle would not reach water !! But it was fun !! Right behind us was the boat with the group of 6 of my friends ... when they went thru; the boulder drop, I think they hit a rock on the way and one of guy "Alyque" was thrown out of the boat into the water and travelled downstream pretty fast ... A single rescue team guy in a kayak and another boat pulled him over but the damage had been done by then .. he had disclocated his left shoulder ... noone knew exactly what had happened but the guess was that he hit a big rock on his way in water ... he was conscious but in lot of pain .. He was transferred to the same boat again and they started rafting first to the destination to get him some medical help ... but it was still about an hour's rafting remaining ... Alyque did a good job to just sit thru the pain during that time ...

Alyque in water ...

Hello ? Anyone there ? Please help !

Help on the way !

Boulder drop was followed by a number of class 4 rapids including Fisherman's hole, MarbleShoot, Lunch Hole etc. which splashed so much water on us that by the end of it we were completely drenched ... Our guide had been rafting for last 20 years and he had a number of stories to share ... Also the river was so scenic .. We could not capture that beauty as none of us had (dared to take ) a camera ... But overall it was great great fun !

We rafted for abour 8+ miles for about 2 - 3 hours ... Once we reached to the shore, we rushed to the nearby hospital and took Alyque to emergency (since it was sunday, no docs were available in general sections !) ... they fixed his shoulder in no time and he was fine after that ... so that was the glitch I talked about ... Hez doing fine now ... I got to know something important during this time .. A patient which needs medical attention esp a surgery etc should not be given anything to eat as that delays the effect of anaesthatia ... The doctor at the emergency section almost shouted at us for giving aluque lott of food to eat ... we thought food will help him get the energy etc .. but :( !

Anyway, so an amazing experience & a must do at least once ! I would have said that even if I were in the place of Alyque ... mishaps can happen anytime ... and I have a big history of mishaps .. so I am not worried about them at all ... If you are afraid then you should try a class 2 or class 3 river which gives you all the fun you need without anything extreme ... But if you wanna be adventurous, then class 4 / 5 is what you need ! Its great fun & pretty cheap .. this thing cost us around 60 - 70 bucks including lunch ! so not bad I say ... right ?

Do let me know your rafting experiences as well !

Clinging to the past ...

2006-06-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

When will I learn to move on in life ? why is it so hard for me ? especially if the past is back to your present but still has no future ... all its going to become is another past ... how can you ignore it completely so as not to hold on to it ? In fact why do I hold on to everything so tightly ? so tightly that it hurts ... Is it a mistake that I give my 100% - my everything ... I always can see that the path I choose is the one which is gonna bring nothing but sorrows and there is no light at the end of the tunnel and still I choose that path ... why do I do that ? always ? why do I always see that hope or should I say I want to see that ray of hope and so I go searching for it in complete darkness .. why ? why ?

How do I tell myself not to look back ... how .. I dont know the answer to that ... I really dont know .. how do I tell myself to be more practical in life ... think with head and not with heart ... The funny thing is the more I try to tell myself to ignore - the more it seems to be the wrong thing to do .. my mind just doesnt accept it .. and it always overpowers my actions ... I hate it .. wish I could just .. u know .. just learn from the past and not repeat the mistakes ... but the worst thing is I enjoy it .. enjoy being in the past though knowing that its gonna bring tears with it ...
I hate to give up ... I keep trying till the last minute .. try to fight the lost battle ...

Microsoft Office Intern !!

2006-06-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

As usual another Friday evening - 8.30pm - time for Badminton at Pro club ... yesterday wasnt any different till I entered the badminton courts ... as usual I started looking for an empty court to play on ... and there she was !

*Mohabbatein theme playing in the background *

Gorgeous, attractive, slim - her black T which read 'Microsoft Office Intern' and black shorts were showing (or hiding :) ) her very well maintained figure .. I started thinking..

is she american ? ... ummm.. naah ... dont think so ... something like Romanian or something ... and she is alone as well .. she isnt with a guy ... thats one more good news ... Oh what a smash !! she plays also well ... she is athletic also ... what a complete package !! Oh wait ... whats the name of the package ? I sure have to find out ... After all I also work in a sub-branch of Microsoft Office ... so we are branch-buddies ... right ?

Ok .. so.. should I go now ? .. yes lets go ... shubh kaam mein deri kaisi ? but wait .. on second thoughts no ... her game is still going on ... going in between the game would sound too obvious and too rude ...(and too desparate .. but yeah believe me Seattle is no place for a single guy .. there are no single available girls ...anyway thats going off the topic :) ) let me just stand here I told myself and watch the game (yeah right ... the game !! :) )... I think her team was ahead like 11 - 6 or something ... so in about 5 minutes, the game is going to be over ...

* dhak dhak karane laga ... oh mora jiyara darane laga *

I was getting all ready for the intro ... but man proposes and another man disposes ... Just then my friend called me on this other empty court .. on the exact opposite end from my 'no-name' to-be-friend ...shaaa ... with heavy legs, I went there and started my game ... I even lost a couple of points as I was trying to find out the whereabouts of her ... but in vain ... So, I decided to get on with my game ...

* 20 minutes past *

I was playing another game .. and there she was .. waiting for a court ...right behind mine - right in front of me ! I had to impress her somehow. OK ... I knew what I was gonna do .. I was going to smash the next one right back at the opponents ! smash - the shot I was best at ... ok .. here she is ... she is looking .. she is looking ... hit it .. smash it ... and I smashed it .. smashed it hard !! how was that !!! I smirked ... looked at her ... she cried 'ooooohhhh ' and looked at the net ...and started smiling ... oh what a smile !! I found very hard to take my eyes off her .. but after some effort I looked at the net ... birdie was right at the top of the net ...hanging there ... the birdie had gone like a rocket but only managed to find the mesh of the net ... I had smashed it into the net !! *sigh* how dumb of me !! I couldnt even do this ... that point was mine .. I should have got that ... what must she be thinking ? so I looked back at where she was standing ... she wasnt there ... oh ! where did she go ? where did she go ? I have to find out after this game I told myself ...

* Jaane Ja Dhoondhta Phir raha hoon tumhe raat din (read court court).. tum kahan ! *

Another game and then another and then another ... I never got a chance to look for her ... and it was 10.45 already ... time to go home .. I had almost given up.. head down & I was walking back to the mens changing room .. right then I saw her again ... a glimpse of her .. walking with her friends back home .. still no sign of a guy .. whoosh ... ok .. you were lucky today girl or should I say unlucky that you didnt get introduced to me today ! But its gonna happen next time .. intern or fulltime ! ;)

Now waiting for Sunday for the next badminton session ... woh aayegi na ?

Matchpoint !

2006-05-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

I just recently saw this movie Matchpoint and just could not resist writing this blog ... Its such a wonderful thought-provoking movie -Woody Allen's new masterpiece !

A movie which (by the way has been nominated and won a number of awards) focuses on the part luck plays in one's life and particularly in Chris Walton's (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) life ! A former tennis player turned coach - Chris meets a rich guy - Tom - as a student. Tom invites Chris to an opera where Chris meets Tom's family and falls in love with his sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer) & starts dating her. Suddenly Chris's life changes and he gets a taste of rich & high class society life with Chloe's dad offering him a high-stakes job etc ... At the same time, Chris finds himself attracted to Nola Rice(Scarlett Johansson) - a soon to-be-wife of Tom. Nola - a struggling actress is a rebellious, beautiful, sexy, happening girl. Though knowing its limitations, Nola and Chris start having an affair. Tom (unaware of the affair) dumps Nola soon to get married with another girl, he falls in love with. This opens doors for Chris and Nola to fulfill all their physical fantasies with each other. Nola and Chloe both get pregnant with Chris. Now Chris has a decision to make. Does he want to be satisfied with Chloe - whom he loves and who assures him all the money and job he even wished for - or should he choose Nola - who does not have any money or plan for life but for whom he is so passionate about & loves so much ... Should he choose money over passion ? Whatever he does, its gonna make at least 2 lifes suffer ...

<warning>
If you wish not to know what Chris does & rather prefer watching the movie itself, please skip the next para.
</warning>

*This para may spoil fun for you when you watch the movie*

He makes his decision and chooses money over passion - Chloe over Nola. Nola starts getting too cranky about this whole 'chori chori chupke chupke' secret affair and starts pestering him to leave his wife. She even warns him that if he does not tell his wife about the affair then she will do it. Irritated Chris decides to kill Nola and end the matter once and for all. Chris takes advantage of the fact that Nola stays in an unsafe area full of drug dealers and burglars just because the rent there is cheap. First he kills Nola's next-door neighbor and robs her drugs & jewellary and then shoots Nola on the stairs, creating an impression that a Nola saw a burglar robbing her neighbor and so, burglar had to kill her as well. Soon, cops investigate the murders and reach Chris thru' Nola's daily diary. Chris admits that both had an affair and requests the cops to keep it secret to avoid trouble waves for everyone including Chloe's family. After that Chris gets rid of all the stolen jewellary in a pond except one golden ring which Chris throws in a hurry and it hits the fence and falls on the road next to the pond. In the meantime, cops pretty much guess Chris's murder plan and are about to take him into custody when they find another burglar killed in a shootout in the same area, with same - Nola's neighbor's golden ring. Chris is saved !!

* safe to read from here*

Matchpoint is one of those thought-provoking movies which make you think and think hard .. It tries to convey that luck does play a big big role in one's life - a role as big that you cant neglect it ... Hardwork, dedication are all necessary but luck is as much important... It makes you think - How much do you believe in luck ? What part of your decision-making process do you leave out as 'and if we are lucky then ....' or ' and if that works out ...' ? ... Why are those 'ifs and buts' always present in any planning we do ? Because we know that there is always a possibility that things wont work out as you expected ... you may not get as lucky as you thought !

But its not only about the part luck plays in one's life but also about one's own personal decisions ... You are bound to think at the end, what would you have done if you were Chris Walton ? Would you go that far ? If not, then how will you solve this puzzle ? and dont say, I wont get into this kind a situation ... I am saying if you are in this weird situation then what would you do !

All in all, its a great movie with great acting by everyone and also a good storyline. If you happen to see the movie, do let me know what you think of the movie or script or even Scarlett Johansson ;) .. She is absolutely stunning in the movie !! If you dont find the script that interesting (which I doubt) then you should at least see the movie once for her ....;)

Visit to Snoqualmie Falls

2006-05-14T23:43:00.000-07:00

After my new Z came, couldnt just let it stand in the parking lot ... me and my roommate- we decided to go to Snoqualmie falls ... about 20 - 25 miles away ... Google maps (read Windows local) shows 20 minutes drive but anyway we were going to complete it within hardly 10 minutes ... ;)

As they say, a picture speaks more than a thousand words .. will just let the snaps talk it out ... :)

View From Top

View from Top 2

Steep Trail to go down

thats me !!! almost at the base of the falls ..

Me again !!

Look at that !! I am sooo close to the falls ... it was such a lovely scene ... fall , rainbow, light breeze sprinkling water all over me ... too romantic ..;) ..lol

Zoom Zoom !!!

2006-05-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

Zoom Zoom !!! Yes !! My dear Z is finally here !!! Here are a few snaps for starters ... more coming soon :) .. It is such a great experience to drive this supercar man ... Its just awesome !!

Sleepless in Austin ...

2006-04-01T02:42:00.000-08:00

This is my last night in Austin ... Its about 3 am and I can not sleep ... In a way its good ... If I sleep now, I dont think I will be able to get up in time for the flight to Seattle ... But the thought that I am leaving Austin, makes me sleepless ! Believe me when I say, this did not strike me yesterday .. I remember a friend of mine asking me, 'arent you sad that you are leaving austin ?' and I couldnt lie .. I was not then ... as excited as I was, all I could think of was Seattle - Microsoft and new job and new people ... nothing else ! but now as the time to leave Austin is coming closer and closer with every clock tick I can feel that I am going to miss Austin - big time !

Its almost been 2 years in the 'Texas Capital' for me and in this short (or long ?) period, I have fallen in love with this amazing place .. Its the golden mix of everything which amazes me a lot .. Its not too big but at the same time, its not a small town .. Its not covered with freeways like Houston but at the same time, it doesnt only have 25mph roads like Pullman ;) ... Its got true Texans and also a good amount of desis ! It may not be a silicon valley but its got a number of big companies like Microsoft, Qualcomm, AMD, Dell, IBM, Connexant and many more... Its peaceful but it also gives you the world famous 'sixth street' to make all the noise you want !

Austin has a special place in my life as my first job started from here ... This is where I tested myself with the waters of professional life ! This place gave me great friends ! I think myself to be so lucky to have them around me !! For its beautiful hills, scenic trails, lakes, its tex-mex, lovely weather, its people, superbowl championship, longhorns worship & all the cherishable memories of two years & for everything, I will never ever forget Austin ! Such a small word - Austin, now means a so much to me !

Its funny, how when the end comes close, you start feeling wish you could have enjoyed it a little longer ! It always happens ! Suddenly 2 years start looking like such a small span ! Wish I had more time !! All I can say to appease myself is 'Dont be sad that it ended, Be happy that it happened !!' .. I am sure the life will move on .. I will be happy again in Seattle after a couple of days .. maybe overwhelmed with work, I wont have time to think about Austin a lot .. but tears somewhere inside my heart will evaporate without trickling down the face ... My heart will miss a beat somewhere... I will be sleepless in Seattle thinking about Austin ...

I will miss you Austin ! Hope you will miss me too !

Microsoft On-site Interview 03/15/06

2006-03-25T01:33:00.000-08:00

My first MS on-site interview .. it was a great experience! Hopefully this post will help all of you prepare for MS or for that matter any other interview.

Preparation : First a little bit about how I prepared for the interview. This is no way close to complete ...

There's always Google ! I found so many microsoft questions online ! So many good websites talking day and night about technical, logical and HR questions and their expected answers. Here are a few websites that I found useful :

http://www.sellsbrothers.com/fun/msiview
http://www.techinterviews.com/?p=115
http://geekswithblogs.net/jolson/archive/2005/01/21/20636.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog/archive/2004/03/24/95265.aspx
http://www.glaak.com/interviews/ ---> Very Very Useful
http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=17697
http://www.techinterview.org/ ---> Very Very Useful for logical questions

If you search online, you will find many such sites and believe me, just to read all that stuff online, you need at least 2 to 3 days !! There are a few videos available online as well which describe the MS interview process. They are here :

What is it like to interview at Microsoft : http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=18608
Shuttle Experience : http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=18718
Whiteboard Question Example : http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=19171

Go get yourself a copy of the book "Programming Interviews Exposed" ! One of the very rare books which explains the logic and thinking involved behind the correct solution. Starting from obvious (and maybe wrong) solutions to correct and hard solutions - it gives all ... there are a few mistakes in the book but use the book to develop your logic & thinking process !

Interview :

All the above sites had specifically mentioned that you dont have to wear a coat / tie for the interview if you are not comfortable wearing it. So I decided to be in simple formals without tie / coat. The interview was scheduled to start at 9.00 I reached a little early at around 8.30 at building 30. I was to be interviewed by Live Communications Server group for a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) position.

1. My first interview was HR with the recruiting coordinator. She first of all told me about the heirarchy of peple in the group and also gave me names of first three interviewers. She then gave me a few tips such as always ask questions, just be yourself, understand and reiterate the question, state your assumptions clearly etc. Then she asked me a few non-technical questions such as "why Microsoft ?" , "where do you see yourself in 5 - 10 years" and other normal questions. This started at about 9.15 and ended by around 10 or so.

2. My first technical interview was with the SDET Lead (directly under whom I would work if selected). He took me to his room and asked me a few startup questions like which language are you most familiar with ( C/ C++ / JAVA ), tell me a little bit about your previous job and responsibilities .. then he gave me my first whiteboard question "Write a non-recursive function to reverse a singly linked list in place" .. I had done this so many times before but doing it on whiteboard is still different !! I asked him a number of questions such as what should it return ? what if null linked list is passed etc ... then explained to him the algorithm ... wrote the code after that ... he seemed happy. Then he asked me to delete a node from a singly linked list when only the pointer to that node is given. A few more questions on the similar lines and then I was given a chance to ask any questions if any. Its always best to ask questions so I asked him about the job resposibilities and work environment etc ..

3. My next technical interview was with SDE lead (this was a special request by the SDET lead, normally SDET interviewees are not interviewed by SDE leads but oh well !!). He started with some general questions regarding binary trees and their properties. Later he gave me an inverted binary tree (two children pointing to their parent node). Numbered the children in a specific order and asked me to find a relation between the numbered nodes. Then he asked me to write a function on whiteboard to place all the nodes of this binary tree in an array (of nodes) given the depth d. (as depth d is known, the number of nodes will be 2^d - 1 so array can be used). I wrote that and then I had to come up with cases to test it e.g. what if d is negative .. what if d is more than 32 .. 2 ^32 wont be integer anymore ! etc ) HE seemed to be happy with those cases ... then he changed the problem from inverted 'binary' tree to inverted 'n'ary tree and asked me what changes will the code have & so on.. After this excercise, he asked me to write a function to find the intersection of two linked lists. I was very close and had almost solved it ... but then I needed a hint from him to get to the final solution ... he seemed ok with that ...

4. It was about 12 O'clock and it was time for lunch interview with another SDET Lead. He took me out to a chinese buffet ... While driving asked me a number of technical and non-technical questions such as swap 2 integers without using temporary buffer, what problems are there with this solution, previous job etc ... During lunch, he asked me to write a function to find the second maximum in a given array on the tissue paper ! I wrote that and tested it with different examples ... wrote test cases ... then he asked me to write a function to find if the given string is a substring of other string - return true/ false. Again writing test cases and testing it with few examples was necessary. This interview was probably the longest as it was about 1.30 pm when we came back to MS campus.

He told me that my next interview is at 3 O clock and someone will meet me at the lobby. This is normally a good sign. Unlike other places, MS interviewers communicate with each other during the interview process and if the first 3 interviews are not good, candidate is sent back home right then. So when I was told that I have more interviews, that gave me a huge confidence boost.

5. At 3 O'clock, Test Manager (higher up the heirarchy from SDET lead) took my interview. He kind of shocked me with his first question. What is the difference between packet switching and circuit switching ? I answered that and I think I did good as he gave me a hypothetical scenario ... consider an airplane. I am not concerned about its communication with outside world. For what kind of communications inside the plane, will you use packet switching and for which situations, will you use circuit switching ? .... there was no correct answer ... all I had to do was justify whatever I say being consistent with the previous answer. Then he asked me a number of questions about software development life cycle and gave me a number of 'if ... then ?" sort of questions ... finally he gave me a whiteboard question ... 'a new database backup system over a network' .. test it .. I must say this was a very abstract interview as there was no code to be written .. no right/ wrong answers .. but I enjoyed it !

6. The final interview was with the Program Manager who had been working in MS for last 12 years ! He initially asked a number of questions based on previous job and why MS etc .. then gave me another whiteboard question "given a fixed length stream (wrap around possible) of characters, implement a puchar and getchar function" ... queue data structure, head and tail maintenance was what he was looking for .. I did that and he asked me for an alternate solution which I could provide after thinking for about couple of minutes ... then he asked me if there was any project / any particular thing I was proud of and such HR type questions ...

Finally at about 5 - 5.15 pm, the interviews were over and I was told that MS will contact me tomorrow (normally they take a week or so but I explained to them my special situation so ...). Once you give an interview, you also kinda feel how the interview was ... you kinda know what the outcome would be ... I felt pretty positive at the end of the day !! It was a long long day and I was tired !!! Next day MS offered me the SDET position which I was more than happy to acept :) !

Everything happens for the best ?

2006-03-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

When was the last time you felt weak ? when was the last time you realized that you can never have full control over your life ? .. of course we all know it but if things work out the way you wanted them to - for a long period of time - then you start feeling, hey I decide the rules ! I have control over my life !! You start planning your future and then suddenly it hits you !! when you are completely unaware & unprepared ... its like someone out there wants to remind you, you are in the Matrix !! and you play by someone else's predecided rules !! You try to look back and redo all your calculations thinking that there must have been a mistake somewhere ... you must have done something wrong somewhere .. you try to debug the problem but after a long research you realize that ... there is no bug !! (there is no spoon !! remember ?) .. this is the expected behaviour !! what am I trying to debug ?

Why am I saying all this ? coz that realization happened to me just a few weeks back !! and I am glad it happened (of course ! now that its over ! duhh !!) Heres how ..

This new year 2006 had been going pretty well for me ... The job life had been good .. I was getting more and more responsibilities, the start-up I was working for, had been doing well or at least it looked like so .. I was getting more projects and was busier than before ! I had just been to India in Deewali 2005 and spent about a month ! Austin had been treating me well & I liked austin ! So all in all .. I was pretty happy, no issues whatsoever ...

I moved to a new apartment - bigger (and of course much higher rent !), better and close to my workplace on March 1st & signed a 12 month lease ... I threw away my old sofa & bed (they were in a very bad shape anyway !) and was ready to spend some money on buying a new sofa, bed and other furniture .. that day, I came back home a little early from office for unpacking and getting the new house in shape ... around 7 pm, my colleague called up and he is like 'Dude, you might want to come back to office" and I am like "why?" .."The company is closed down !!" ...I must say the first time it was damn funny but after a while when I found out that he was serious .. it hit me ! hit me hard !!!

What does this mean now ? what the hell went wrong there ? I am out of job ? i am out of job ? whats gonna happen next ? am I even allowed to stay here in US ?.. how many days ? what abt my visa ? what abt the money, the paychecks ? again, why the hell did the company close down ? why is this so sudden ? no notice no intimation no nothing ?what am I gonna say to my parents ? questions, questions and questions !! it filled my mind ... 'I am ok .. I can do this .. I can survive !!' I told myself but then looking back, the seven stages of grief were inevitable ... acceptance, anger, denial, depression, fear, guilt and shock. Exactly in that order !! It took me some time before I could get back in my senses and started thinking straight.

There it was .. the worst day of my life or so it seemed ! I was in US .. all alone .. with no job & a grace period of 10 days to find a new job before my H1 visa becomes invalid ! great !! 10 days .. is that some kind of a joke ? I didnt know what to do ... what I needed was a plan !! right !! a plan !!
Next day it became all clear ... we all spoke to a lawyer and here is what I had to do : I had to get a job or at least apply for an H1 visa transfer within next 15 - 20 days !

Next few days were so bad !! no time to sleep, no time to eat ... all the time just applying to any and every job online on dice, monster, yahoo hotjobs and company websites, forwarding resumes to my friends, calling up as many people as I could ... I mean it was just crazy ... But I must say things were not looking that bad ! I had a couple of phone interviews with Qpass, a couple with Amazon, one with Microsoft, Silicon Labs , freescale, Marvell and a few others within a span of hardly 7 - 10 days .. ! A few of them thru' contacts and (believe it or not !)a few by applying on company websites !!

so in all, things were moving .. but then so was time !! Microsoft on-site interview was scheduled for Wednesday March 15. That day was another great experience (check this out !) .. after a whole day's tiring interview, next day Microsoft called me up and gave me an offer !! My dream company was offering me a job !! How could I say no ?

So here I am ! A to be Microsoft-employee !! Truly believing that "Everything happens for the best !!" ... I could not have imagined a better end to this whole thing !! Looking back, I realized that I was at a curve 15 days back ... I could not see whats beyond and things looked pretty shaky at that time ...So does that mean I can see everything clearly now ? of course not !! .. so what has changed ? well, now I know that there will be more curves to come and I will be prepared for each of them ... I might skid on a few, I might hit a few obstacles on the way but journey wont stop ... its only just begun !! and I am going to enjoy every moment of it !!!

Skydiving !!

2005-12-31T10:21:00.000-08:00

This has been one of those sports I always wanted to try ... you know what skydiving is right ? as the name suggests sky-diving !! To be specific, you get to the 10000 ft and then let yourself loose ... how is that ?

I got my first shot at skydiving a few weeks back ! Six of us went to "Texas Skydiving Center" in Lexington (about 1 hr drive from Austin) ... Here is a list of all the skydiving centeres around Austin http://www.bluebound.com/States/Texas/sky_diving.htm .. A little advice ... you have to call these skydiving centers up to let them know when you will be coming and the size of the group etc .. so anyway, we reached there and the lady made us all sign the papers saying if we die / get hurt its not their responsibility !!! Thats a little scary for the first timer !!

(some of us)

But anyway, I get into the jumping suit and all set to fly .. fly high .. actually till the time I was on the ground, I was very excited .. not even a touch of fear .. I was really happy that I was going to do something I always wanted to do ...

(me getting in(to) the gear !)

For whatever reason, they decided that 2 - 1 - 2 -1 was the best ordering and unfortunately that 1st 1 was me .. and so I was going up there alone ... Well technically speaking, I was not alone .. what we were going to do was "Tandem Jump" which means that a trainer would be tied to our back (or we would be tied to his front) and he would jump with us ... So, the aircraft arrived and I hopped in with my trainer ..

The plane was in such a bad shape ... It was rumbling, creaking, shaking and everything else possible ... There was so much air and noise of the plane that I could hardly hear my trainer talk .. At one point, I looked down from the window and it looked much more than 10000 ft to me ! When I asked the trainer about it, he took out the altimeter (I guess) and told me that its just 4000 ft !!! that was the first time, a touch of fear zoomed past by me ... still it was ok .. After 10 minutes when we were at 10000ft, my trainer tied himself to my back and opened the door of the plane !! I swear to God , that was soooo scary ... For the first time, such very fast gush of wind hits you & you look down and there is nothing u can hold on to ..nothing ... I started counting to three but before I could reach to three, my trainer gave me a push and that was it .. I was in air ...

I could hardly breathe thru' the nose .. you go down soooo fast that you have to keep your mouth open to let some air in !! But after the first second of free fall, I started enjoying it, I let my hands out and enjoyed the only time I could fly as a bird !!! For the first time, I felt I am not heavy at all !!!

(thats me in air !)

After 40 seconds (yep ! 40 seconds for 5000 ft !! that is fast ... try calculating the speed !!) trainer pulled the plug ! relax ... he pulled the parachute plug ... a sudden jerk and I was pulled 90 degrees and became stand-up vertical ... after that it was about 10 - 15 minutes of sightseeing from air ... looking at everything tinier than an ant ... I wish I had a camera man ! the view was just so lovely !!!

I can just go on and on about how I felt and how nice it was .. but it will never be enough .. you have to experience it for yourself !!!

A few tips for those who want to try it :

1. As I said earlier, call the place up and let them know u r coming
2. Go to that skydiving place as early as you can - especially if u r going as a big group
3. You have an option of professional video being taken of the whole fall !! (of course you have to let them know before hand as what that needs is another guy to jump with you with an videocamera)
4. Eat properly before jumping ...
5. Dont be scared .. what is the worst that can happen ? u will die right ? whats the big deal !! :D

First visit to Austin !!

2005-10-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

I can never forget the first visit to Austin ! It was for an on-site interview with Ashley Laurent Inc. on July 7, 2004. I was in Pullman, WA and was gonna fly to Austin. Company had booked the flight tickets for me. Here is my itinerary :

Alaska Airlines 2023
Depart	Tue., Jul. 6, 2004	Pullman, WA - U.S. (PUW)	06:35 am
Arrive	Tue., Jul. 6, 2004	Seattle, WA - U.S. (SEA)	07:50 am
Seat	07A
Aircraft	DH8 - Boeing Canada DHC8-turbo prop

>> Connection: 1 hr : 15 mins >>


Delta 528
Depart	Tue., Jul. 6, 2004	Seattle, WA - U.S. (SEA)	11:45 am
Arrive	Tue., Jul. 6, 2004	Atlanta, GA - U.S. (ATL)	07:23 pm
Seat	44G
Aircraft	764 - UNKNOWN


Delta 1819
Depart	Tue., Jul. 6, 2004	Atlanta, GA - U.S. (ATL)	09:10 pm
Arrive	Tue., Jul. 6, 2004	Austin, TX - U.S. (AUS)	10:22 pm
Seat	N/A
Aircraft	M80 - McDonnell Douglas MD-80

So I reached Seattle safe and sound and on time early morning around 8 am on July 6. Delta flight from Seattle to Atlanta was on time as well .. boarding started at around 11.15 and all of us were seated inside the plane. Around 11.40, the doors were closed and we were ready for take off ... Just then captain announced that there's some technical problem and we needed to wait for next 20 - 30 minutes. So we were all sitting there for next 30 minutes after which another similar announcement made us all wait for another 30 minutes ... people inside the plane were losing patience .. after almost 1 hour of wait, we were asked to unboard the flight - all of us - we were told that the problem would be fixed within minutes and then we would again board ...

So everybody went off the plane ... then in about 15 minutes, an attendant at the Delta counter announced that the flight had some hydraulics problem and one of the mechanical parts was found to be misbehaving ... they have ordered the new part which is gonna come from LA !! so it can not reach here today .. so basically flight is cancelled and we will try to put you on separate flights ... everybody was furious ... It was already about 2 O clock and I was sure I was gonna miss my connecting flight from Atlanta ... After a long wait in the line, I reached the counter to get myself new tickets. But guess what, they didnt have a flight which could take me to Atlanta or Austin that day! ... I explained to her that I had a job interview next day and it was very important for me to get to Austin by tomorrow ... she was like, "I am sorry sir, I can not do anything for you right now , let me take care of others and then I can check with other carriers !" .. what could I do ? I was sooo mad but .... I called up the company to let them know about the situation ...

At around 3.30, she finally got some time for me and she searched other carriers and finally found that the earliest I could get to Austin is thru' United airlines flight which left Seattle at night 12 am and reached Austin at 9 am the next day & my luggage would reach seattle with me ...

Now I know Seattle airport in and out since I have spent so much time there ... from 8 am to 12 am that day and then everytime I went to India from Pullman, I had to go via Seattle ... anyway, thankfully the United flights were on time and I reached Austin the next day early morning around 9 - 9.30 ! I had never ever been delayed before but then it had to happen on the day of the interview !! right !!

I collected my checked in bag and found that the handle for the bag was broken ! When asked, the delta guy said that the handles are anyway not covered by the flights' insurance policy !! I was in no mood to argue with him as I was very late anyway for the interview ... I rented a car and drove to the DoubleTree Inn. Well, since I had not showed up the previous night (as was the actual polan), my reservation had been cancelled. But then thankfully he had another available room for me. Without wasting any time, I got ready within 15 minutes and hopped inside the car to get to the company office ... I had taken directions from yahoo maps and google maps both ... but both showed wrong directions (or at least it looked like that :) ). I lost my way in the new city !! After driving for about 15 minutes, I reached a gas station and asked him the way. So much tension ! I was really frustrated. Not exactly a day you would expecte before an interview !! Finally I reached the company office at around 11 - 11.30 only to give a full day of interviews !

Interviews were over at around 7.30 pm .. I returned back to Pullman safe and sound and next day I got the job offer ! At least all that trouble and tension did not go waste !! All is well that ends well !! right ?

Order a pizza at half price & get 2nd free !!

2005-07-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

This is one of the amazing experiences I have ever had ...

Here is what happened. I did my schooling in Pullman, a very small town near Seattle. One night, it was kinda late like 10 or so and we were bored to cook anything. So, me and my friend, we both decided to go to the Pizza Hut (the only place open after 10 pm, it closes at 11) nearby & decided to dine-in for a change . So we reached there at like 10.15 pm and ordered a large 3 topping pizza. I specifically asked for a pan pizza since that was (and still is) my favourite. During the conversation we mentioned that both of us are really hungry so would like it ASAP...

So, in about 20 minutes, waiter came with the order. I looked at the pizza and was very sure that it was not a pan pizza and looked more like a thin crust pizza. So I called the waiter again and asked him if that was a pan pizza as I had asked for. He confirmed that by looking at the order and felt so sorry. It was a thin crust one ... He did not know what to do ... It was his mistake ... so in a flash, he was like, " I can take that pizza back but its already too late, so we probably will have to throw it. And I know u guys r hungry and all .. so if you dont mind, u can start on this one. I will make one more pizza for you and give that to you for free. you might want to pack it & take it with u" ...

Great ! works for me !! We agreed for that & started munching on the pizza. Within 20 minutes, he got another pizza to go and gave it us. We thanked him and asked for the check. He brought the check, again said sorry & handed it to me. Guess what, that guy had also applied some 1/2 price coupon on the price of the single pizza. so basically what that meant was we had 2 large pizzas, at the price of 1/2 pizza !! I was stunned !!! The bill also had a little sorry note on it saying it wont happen again ! (I know this is cheap to say but a thought did come to my mind; why not ? please do make mistakes like this over and over ! )

I mean, I would have been ok even with the option that I had to eat thin crust pizza only & just forget about the pan pizza. Mistakes happen ! But what this guy had done was remarkable .. I hadnt seen or heard of anything like this ...

I gave him heavy tip and left fully satisfied ...

Coming to US for the first time ..

2005-06-26T01:55:00.000-07:00

It was such a great feeling ! man ! I cant forget that day (3 yrs back but I still remember it so vividly ).. I was so very much excited about coming to US ... to add to that - it was my first time for traveling by plane ! well, I was going away from my parents, my sister, my country but I realized that much later (after coming to US !)

So anyway, we (my parents, sis and a few close friends) were on the Mumbai airport. The final good-byes were done. I took a trolly and put all my bags ( I think there were two big ones and one small bag and a carry on bag). Well, it wasnt anything unexpected when NWA staff told me that both the big bags are like 2 kgs overweight and they cant allow that. (Lots of people had told me this but still my mom wouldnt understand... her argument to whatever I said : 'you will be all alone there, who will take care of you there .. at least let me give you whatever I can' .. what can anyone say to that ? ) so I knew those bags were going to be over the weight limit. Still I tried convincing the NWA staff in vain for about 5-10 minutes ... then I removed a few pickle bottles & a few other things which were in the lower half of my favourites list and rushed back outside. I handed them over to my parents who were still waiting outside (and left only after my plane left the airport). Still bags were like 0.5 kg over the weight but this time the guy at the counter agreed. whoosh ! I was good to go now ... oh no ! wait .. there was one more line for passport, security check ... thankfully I cleared that in like 10 minutes and moved ahead to the waiting room till the boarding starts ...

That 20-minute wait till the boarding started seemed like the longest wait ... how will the plane be from inside ? what will i feel when it will take off ? how will the service be inside ? these and thousands of more questions ! finally the boarding started ... I got in and took a look inside ... hmm , not bad I said to myself ... the plane looked alright ... I got to my seat, put one of my bags on the upper shelf and the other under the seat and placed myself comfortably ... it was a window seat. (I had specially asked for one ! as if I thought I could open the windows and take a peek outside !! :) but still in trains we used to die for a window seat so why not in a plane right ? )

I put on the belt and all ... introduced myself to the fellow passenger sitting next to me ... another student going to US ... nice ... at least I had some company .. captain made an announcement about the next stop being amsterdam & bla bla bla .. why cant they just start the plane I thought .. anyway, so finally the plane started to move ... soon it took off .. yeah just like that ... no thrill .. I didnt feel anything ... nothing special ...

In fact, after a while I got so bored of the plane .. I was thinking ' get me out of here guys' ... From Mumbai to Amsterdam, I plainly rejected anything the air-staff offered except for the meal & slept off for the whole of the flight... but on the second flight from Amst'm to Seattle, I thought of experimenting a bit ... but what happened on that plane made me even more nervous ...

the air-hostess came with drinks and asked what I wanted .. I didnt know what all I can order and since this was the first time on plane, I didnt want to take any chances. ' they will surely have water' I said to myself and asked for water. she replied, 'I am sorry sir, I didnt get you' ... 'Water please' I stressed harder on the first word ... ' can u repeat that sir ?' ... and I was like, why the hell is she not understanding me ? Lets try once more I thought. ' Can I have some water please ?' ... 'I am really sorry sir, but what do u want again ? ' ... and I had lost it by now ... ' water, water, can I have some water ? ' this time all those waters had different pronounciations ... guess what , she still had that question mark look on her face ... and I had given up ...

But then the american lady sitting next to me told her, 'he wants water'... and the miracle happens ! 'Oh I am sorry sir ! here is your water !! ' and she handed me that small cup of water ... I swear I felt like asking that air-hostess, what was wrong with what I said .. if not exactly same, what american lady said was very close to how I pronounced water ... cant she just guess ? I mean one of the 4 - 5 waters I said must have been pretty close to what she is used to hearing ... but that time alongwith getting angry, I was getting so embarassed .. 'All the people on the plane must be looking at me' ... so I thanked that lady next to me ... drank that cup of water in one sip and slept off not to speak one more word for the whole plane ...

3 yrs later now, all these things seem pretty funny but that time it was a great experience ...