What has changed?

Yeah, I am acting a bit weird, a foreigner in my own motherland. Why so? Things have changed quite a bit in the last 2 years that I have been away. So I thought I make a list of things that have noticeably changed!

1. Electricity load shedding up to 4 hours everyday. Its a pain, but I guess my city of Navi Mumbai is facing energy crisis, and electricity is actually being rationed for all of us here :( !!
2. Toll for parking anywhere and everywhere!! I can't believe, but I have to pay toll at every place that I try to park my car. I mean, even my neighborhood grocery store parking is no longer free :( !!
3. Huge malls and movie theaters everywhere. Before I went, my town just had a single theater and a single mall. Now there are more than 4 movie theaters with a gazillion screens, and yeah as I write there are 5 huge malls in my vicinity with 3 more coming up.
4. Traffic. Now practically everyone in my neighborhood owns at least 2 cars. Traffic is a mess, and am scared of driving :( !!
5. Mobile phones. They are ubiquitous. I am probably the only one in this country that doesn't own one now :) !!
6. Mobile phone models. Yeah, in US you just drool over the iPhone, come to India and you have so many drop dead gorgeous phone models, that you end up wagging your tongue in the phone shop :P
7. Pollution. Smog smog everywhere.
8. Customer service. Yeah that was an unknown term for most of us. But now its amazing. Most people in the service sector have become amazingly courteous and friendly!
9. Health clubs. Yeah, lots of choices now!!
10. FM Stations. Yippeee... So many FM stations, its cool, entertainment on the run!! I haven't ever heard soo much radio and soo many Hindi songs, as I have in the last few days!!
11. Internet speeds are increasing and prices are dropping. Yippeee... now I can actually thrive :) !! Imagine, I had the option to choose between ADSL, PPPoE over Ethernet, and a Wireless Internet connection protocol which I have no clue what it is, but they actually install a dish at your home!! Freaking awesome :) !!
12. Mouthwatering food. I am rediscovering Indian cuisine, that I missed so much. I have been thriving on Vada Pav, Samosa, Masala Dosa, Indian Chinese, Tandoori and the rest. Huh, and I managed to regain all the 3 pounds that I had painstakingly burned off in the last 1 year. I am eating as if there is no tomorrow :) !!
    

Hats-off to Alcohol!!

What happens to all your electronic equipment when you leave it unused in a damp dusty environment? You guessed it right they simply stop working. Well its a bad feeling to see all your favorite things dead.. but you won't believe when I say that I could revive most of them. Huh, its amazing the amount of torture electronics can take today!! Most of my electronics could be revived by just cleaning its contacts by the "Music Cassette Head Cleaner fluid". I ain't exactly sure but it just contains some kinda alcohol is what I believe. So there it is. Alcohol saved my day!! My lovely music system, my car deck, all my remotes and my Computer (at least part of it!) are revived and rocking. Huh, I saved quite a bit of money all thanks to Alcohol. Yeah, and you thought that only consuming it was good :) !!

Back home

So, I am finally back in India, back at home, and enjoying the new found freedom. No work, at home or in office, and kinda enjoying this "no responsibilities" phase of my life :) !! I am gonna be gone on vacation for 2 weeks, and since there is no Internet around, I wouldn't be writing for at least 2 more weeks!!

3 Pancakes down

Yeah, me reached Hongkong Airport. Don't know why they made us get out of the airplane. But, well here I am, sitting in the Burger King in HKG Airport, already gobbled 3 pancake breakfast for 26 HKG dollars. Wonder how much it shows up in USD on my Credit Card day after!! Very forgettable 14 hour journey I had from SFO to HKG. Did nothing but eat and sleep. Yeah, got to catch up on my sleep and technically dreamt for the first time in a flight!! Actually, had a nightmare and got up to see the guy next to me sleeping on my shoulder! Yikes!! Shrugged him off and went for a leisurely tour of the plane at whatever unearthly hour it was!!

Its actually 3:15 PM for my bio-clock, but I guess I already have adjusted myself to the Hongkong Standard time (how else do I explain the sudden urge for a pancake breakfast?). Anyways, now my next halt will be Singapore before I reach my country!! Adios amigos, until we meet again!!

A day to go

I can't believe I can get all sad and nostalgic about this. But leaving a place that you have inhabited for 2 years sure does hurt. Its a bitter sweet feeling actually.

There are all these people you have been with that make you feel special, make you feel important and wanted. You know that you are gonna miss this place, but the reality doesn't really dawn on you. I somehow have never felt the pain of leaving a place till I actually left it! You try to assimilate as much as you can. You try to do that routine one last time!

Today when I packed up all my stuff in my office, and looked at it, I actually relived the entire 2 years in a flash. I sure am gonna miss each and everything and each and everyone that I have been associated with. But, on this last evening in California, as the sun sets behind me, I have this small flicker of hope in me, that things are going to be far better for me in the future and I am gonna enjoy my life to the fullest!

Ferrari Spotting in the wild

Every guy's dream machine. If you can't spot the difference between a Corvette and a Ferrari, your life is doomed to misery.


My proximity to Walnut Creek and my infrequent visits to Beverly Hills have helped me to do one thing in plenty - drool on a lot of Ferraris in the wild. I mean, I know every guy on this planet has seen a picture of a Ferrari atleast once in his lifetime, but watching her zip past you is a different feeling altogether. I have been privileged enough to have seen more than 10 Ferraris (mind you it still is just around 10 in more than 2 whole years!). I remember once I followed a Ferrari F430 for 6 miles (completely away from my destination) just so that I could see her. The funny part of the entire session was that every signal we would be together and then the car would zip past me only to hit her brakes again (remember the speed limit on most California city roads is just 35 mph?) and I would happily catch up with her till the next signal :) !!!

Well, the reason for this post of mine is two fold. I not only shamelessly followed a Ferrari 360 Modena today (again!), but I also got to take her picture. Well, so close was I, that I actually could see "Ferrari" written on her brake calipers!! Yippeee... I feel soo good. I know I should be dreaming of owning one, but the feeling of seeing her itself is ecstatic :) !!

And for the uninitiated amongst us, Ferrari 360 Modena is the same car that Fiat gave to our beloved Sachin Tendulkar...

Yo!

Oh yeah! I am finally writing again. A 1 month hiatus was a bit too much wasn't it? I actually saw the world fly by in the last month as I literally tried to relax and enjoy California for what it is - a beautiful state!

Lots of changes happening in my life. The Project on which I spent 8.4% of my life (yeah statistics! I know I am good at that ;) !!) is finally getting over (atleast for me!). So the 2+ years that I spent at uncle sam's land are slowly coming to an end. Like the last shopper on a sale, I am trying to grab all that I can. Every weekend is thus spent exploring that one last State Park, or that one last Restaurant that I couldn't make it to, in the last n months!

I made it to Disneyland in Anaheim CA three times. I know thats an achievement for an elderly gentleman like me. Come on, its for kids ain't it? Well nooooooo!! Disney is for people who are still in touch with the kid in their heart. If you guys want advice on planning your trip to Disney so that you sit on every ride, see every show and do all that you can do, come contact me :) !! I have done a PhD in running around there :) !!

What else happened in the last month? Hmm, for me ... well lots of things ... go-lives, apartment moves, dejections, recession and everything in between :) !!

Nano?

I bet all of thee motor-souls have already read the news that India built the "cheapest production car in the world!" Holy cow, Tata could actually fit a whole 624cc 2 cylinder engine along with 4 wheels, chasis and a steering and then extract a 54mpg from the engine while still meeting the Euro-IV and Bharat Stage-III emission norms in the Tata Nano!! Sometimes I feel that some of us Indians are simply crazy :) !!

And, now let me take the pleasure of introducing my most favorite portrayal of an Indian. It sure is "Asok the Intern" from the Dilbert comics. Not only is he extraordinarily brilliant, but also he knows telekinesis and shape-shifting!! If this is not enough, he could also re-incarnate himself :) !!

Haha, I bet the mysterious land of holy-men, snake charmers and software engineers has more in store than what meets the eye ;) !! Watch out world, a land of 1.1 billion people can't be just sleeping...

Time travel

Though technically, more than half of the world is already into 2008, the land that I currently contribute my weight to, is still in the last year. Taking advantage of this great time difference, I try to squeeze in my very last post for this year.

I am not much into resolutions. The last one that I remember I promised to myself was long back when I was learning to tie my shoe laces! I couldn't keep mine, and if any of you have noticed, I still use slip-on shoes. So much for resolutions. I don't keep any.. (well, that's a lie, in the last century I kept a resolution, that I won't ever keep any more resolutions, and I have stuck to it :) !!).

Now let me get into some numerology. 2008 will be a good year for all of you who read this post. The reason is simple. 2008 is an even number. It ends with 8 which happens to be the cube of 2. 2 is the base of our binary world. Also 8 bits make a byte, the fundamental foundation of this great virtual world. The word "blog" is a 4 character word. 4 is a divisor of 8 (got the connection?). 2008 starts with a 20. The prime factors of 20 are 5 and 2. Its an interesting combination of an odd and an even prime number. You will have a great financial year this year! All your financial trouble will be washed away. Your love life will be rocking and if you are married your spouse will be very happy with you.

Thank you for your attention. Wish you a very happy new year 2008. I cant believe we are already 9 years into the 21st century. None of the essays that I wrote as a school boy on "Life in the 21st century" have come true yet! Come next new year and 10% of 21st century will already be over!

Slash

Being from the field of computing and computers, we inadvertently use a lot of "slashes" everyday. Thought I make a stupid tutorial for all those of us who are confused between the terms "back slash" and "forward slash" :) !!

Imagine a slash to be a guy ---> |- with a head and a toe.

If he leans on his back he becomes a back slash like this --> \
If he leans on his front he becomes a forward slash like this --> /

If he can hold a guitar in his hand and wear a hat and play with his hair on his face, while smoking a cigarette, he becomes Slash and is a part of the Guns N' Roses :P

And if you didn't find this post funny, its absolutely okay, neither did I :) !!!