RockBottom, Rockit, O’Callahans , Funky Buddha , Mothers , Mothers Too , Bootlegger, McFaddens , The Apartment , Bull & Bear , Kincade’s , Zella , District Bar , Hub 51 , Duffy’s , LaSalle Power Co, SpyBar , Martini Park
3 weeks..and I am already Loving the Windy City!!
Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Food & Culture
Last spring, I had a chance to visit Seoul on business. My office colleague picked me up from my hotel and told me, "I am going to take you to an Indian restaurant for dinner". But, I immediately protested, "I get enough of that in Houston. I want to eat authentic Korean food. I'll eat anything except dog!". For the next 3 days, I had the most awesome local cuisine by way of some great kimchi, soju, Korean bbq and kalbi. More importantly, these local restaurants gave me a peek into the local culture and gave me opportunities to interact with local people and not tourists.
Over the last few years in US, I have sampled and feasted on cuisine from all different countries - Chinese, Korean, Thai, Malay, Ethiopian, Colombian, Greek etc. In most cases, my exposure to a particular country and its culture has been primarily through its cuisine. For instance, I knew absolutely nothing about Ethiopia till I visited an Ethiopian restaurant many years ago. I was very surprised to find that their cuisine is spicy and delicious just like Indian curry. A little more research later (reading "Guns, Germs and Steels"), I learnt about how tropical countries evolved to make spicy food to compensate for high heat and humidity and lack of refrigerators. These spices acted as natural preservatives! I also learnt about the great Ethiopian coffee through these visits and my love for coffee. Similarly, I was surprised to learn that even the Chinese consume hot milk tea which is very similar to Indian masala chai. The other day I was at a Vietnam restaurant. The backside of the menu gave me a short lesson in Vietnam's geography and made for some interesting reading as I waited on some delicious Bo Luc Lac.
Most major cities in US have local neighborhoods devoted to a particular nationality. These neighborhoods which are full of ethnic restaurants also represent the best opportunity to showcase their respective cultures. Your odds of getting exposed to these neighborhoods is vastly increased if you like the restaurants in that neighborhood. Lets face it, you are not going to frequent China Town, if you are not a dim sun fan, or for that matter Little Tokyo if you are not a Sushi fanatic. These restaurants are a big doorway to these cultures. A curios mind would naturally learn more about a country beginning with the restaurants and the people there, and then in turn through the neighborhood!
Over the last few years in US, I have sampled and feasted on cuisine from all different countries - Chinese, Korean, Thai, Malay, Ethiopian, Colombian, Greek etc. In most cases, my exposure to a particular country and its culture has been primarily through its cuisine. For instance, I knew absolutely nothing about Ethiopia till I visited an Ethiopian restaurant many years ago. I was very surprised to find that their cuisine is spicy and delicious just like Indian curry. A little more research later (reading "Guns, Germs and Steels"), I learnt about how tropical countries evolved to make spicy food to compensate for high heat and humidity and lack of refrigerators. These spices acted as natural preservatives! I also learnt about the great Ethiopian coffee through these visits and my love for coffee. Similarly, I was surprised to learn that even the Chinese consume hot milk tea which is very similar to Indian masala chai. The other day I was at a Vietnam restaurant. The backside of the menu gave me a short lesson in Vietnam's geography and made for some interesting reading as I waited on some delicious Bo Luc Lac.
Most major cities in US have local neighborhoods devoted to a particular nationality. These neighborhoods which are full of ethnic restaurants also represent the best opportunity to showcase their respective cultures. Your odds of getting exposed to these neighborhoods is vastly increased if you like the restaurants in that neighborhood. Lets face it, you are not going to frequent China Town, if you are not a dim sun fan, or for that matter Little Tokyo if you are not a Sushi fanatic. These restaurants are a big doorway to these cultures. A curios mind would naturally learn more about a country beginning with the restaurants and the people there, and then in turn through the neighborhood!
The above three paragraphs brings me to an interesting conclusion. I think that people who don't experiment with their food choices miss out on a lot of opportunities to learn about different cultures. Being a vegetaranian presents one such hindrance to this exposure as your choices are very restricted. There are certain cultures whose gastronomic delights are meant only for carnivores. Non-meat eating people would thus be disinclined to try out these restaurants. I am not implying that vegetaranians are less culturally aware, but I do think that being one presents a big barrier to such learning opportunities as mentioned in this post. More importanly, it might represent a severe handicap while trying to assimilate with one of these cultures.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Non-Fiction
I am not a big reader. Most of my reading occurs during my travel or vacation on an aeroplane. Lately, exhaustion induced sleep and work has robbed me of the precious airtime reading. Reading has never come easy to me. I am neither a fast reader, nor do I comprehend things quickly. As reading a book represents a major effort, I expect some value addition in return. Hence over the last few years, I have been reading only non-fiction as I believe there is much more information in them than in an investigative murder thriller or a fictitious political scandal. 3 weeks of vacation in India presented me an opportunity to read these 3 (long overdue) wonderful books.
The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman
This book is an eye-opening account of how technology, globalization and certain political events have leveled the playing field for the entire world. If you are an American or West European, be afraid, be very afraid because the Indian and Chinese are going to mother you unless you start innovating and creating more value added special jobs. The book dwells on important questions like why the largest exporter to US is China, situated 8000 miles away from US, and not Mexico which is across the border and pays no taxes courtesy NAFTA and has abundant cheap labor like the Chinese. It would have been better if the 600 pages of the book had been condensed into 300, but nevertheless the book packs mountains of information.
Wise and Otherwise - Sudha Murthy
This book is a compilation of about 50 simple experiences in the author's life which teach us great lessons in various human virtues. Most importantly it shows how certain attributes are not privy to a particular class or caste of people. This humbling tale is written in a language that even a fifth grader can understand. But the same simple language packs a very powerful tale. It made me realize that once doesn't need special vocabulary and sophisticated language to make an impactful story. Being a CEO's wife, Sudha Murthy could have chosen a life of leisure involving shopping, day spas and high society partying, but she chose to dedicate her life to something more noble. I have always had great respect for her social endeavors and more importantly her vocal support for woman's liberation. Now, I respect her as a writer too. May her tribe increase!
Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
If you live in America, and if you eat, you must read this book. I am not sure how I picked up this book, probably the title seemed interesting, but this book is definitely one of the best I have read in a long time. It dwells into the fact that how increasingly what we have for lunch and dinner is not necessarily our choice, but something which is forced upon us by profit hungry greedy corporations and government regulations. More importantly, I realized that food is no longer simple and natural, everything is chemically processed and in America , everything is CORN!! Most shocking is the fact that how we have manipulated nature and changed nature forever. If you are vegetarian this refers to the chemicals in form of fertilizers and pesticides that goes into your produce. If you are a meat eater, it only gets worse, cause courtesy corporate farming, animals today are raised on stuff which goes beyond evolution and reason. And before anyone screams organic, it might make sense to investigate the company and see how they define organic.
PS: If you read this blog and know of a good non-fiction title, I would appreciate if you could put it down in the comments section.
The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman
This book is an eye-opening account of how technology, globalization and certain political events have leveled the playing field for the entire world. If you are an American or West European, be afraid, be very afraid because the Indian and Chinese are going to mother you unless you start innovating and creating more value added special jobs. The book dwells on important questions like why the largest exporter to US is China, situated 8000 miles away from US, and not Mexico which is across the border and pays no taxes courtesy NAFTA and has abundant cheap labor like the Chinese. It would have been better if the 600 pages of the book had been condensed into 300, but nevertheless the book packs mountains of information.
Wise and Otherwise - Sudha Murthy
This book is a compilation of about 50 simple experiences in the author's life which teach us great lessons in various human virtues. Most importantly it shows how certain attributes are not privy to a particular class or caste of people. This humbling tale is written in a language that even a fifth grader can understand. But the same simple language packs a very powerful tale. It made me realize that once doesn't need special vocabulary and sophisticated language to make an impactful story. Being a CEO's wife, Sudha Murthy could have chosen a life of leisure involving shopping, day spas and high society partying, but she chose to dedicate her life to something more noble. I have always had great respect for her social endeavors and more importantly her vocal support for woman's liberation. Now, I respect her as a writer too. May her tribe increase!
Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
If you live in America, and if you eat, you must read this book. I am not sure how I picked up this book, probably the title seemed interesting, but this book is definitely one of the best I have read in a long time. It dwells into the fact that how increasingly what we have for lunch and dinner is not necessarily our choice, but something which is forced upon us by profit hungry greedy corporations and government regulations. More importantly, I realized that food is no longer simple and natural, everything is chemically processed and in America , everything is CORN!! Most shocking is the fact that how we have manipulated nature and changed nature forever. If you are vegetarian this refers to the chemicals in form of fertilizers and pesticides that goes into your produce. If you are a meat eater, it only gets worse, cause courtesy corporate farming, animals today are raised on stuff which goes beyond evolution and reason. And before anyone screams organic, it might make sense to investigate the company and see how they define organic.
PS: If you read this blog and know of a good non-fiction title, I would appreciate if you could put it down in the comments section.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Indian unReal Estate
This weekend, I visited a friend of mine in Colaba in South Mumbai. This commercial part of Mumbai is infamous for its exorbitant real estate prices. I remember about 10 years ago, the commercial space in Marine drive costed Rs 22,000 sq /ft!! I am sure that things have only gotten worse since then. In Mumbai, the further south you live, the richer you are.
My friends house was about 2 blocks away from Nariman house - the sight of the infamous siege on the Jewish community on 26/11. For a 600 sq ft 1 bedroom hall kitchen, my friend and his room mates were coughing up Rs 45,000 /- a month. My friend corrected me that the real rent is actually Rs 50,000 / month but he is getting a discount because of some renovation going on in the building. Judging by the fortune he paid for the apartment, you would imagine it to be an ocean facing villa with modern amenities like swimming pool, gym and manicured garderns. Horror behold! His apartment was actually in a very busy market area, in a dilapidated building which was probably more than 40 years old and might come down any minute. Once inside his compact apartment, I immediately started comparing this with my $700/ month (Rs 34,000 month), 800 sq ft 1 BHK in Houston in a very wealthy neighborhood. If Senior Bush could live a mile away from my apartment, I am sure my neighborhood must be really good! So even if I earn in rupees, it is much easier for me to afford a place in Houston than in Mumbai!!
Throughout my trip to India, real estate had been a hot topic of discussion for me. As my trip unfolded, I first got a taste of prices in Pune, then in Madras, then in Chembur (suburbs of Mumbai) and finally the shocker in South Mumbai. The prices kept going up in the same order too. Consider this analysis - Lets assume two individuals one in Indian and one in US, both with a post graduate degree and working in the IT industry. Someone who makes Rs 10 lakhs per annum in India can be compared to someone who makes about $80,000 a year in the US. In US for 4 times his annual salary ($320,000) he can afford a nice house in suburbs of most cities with a backyard and garage. But 4 times annual salary of the person in India (Rs 40 lakhs), wont even buy you a 1 BHK in most cities. This person would have to probably invest 8-9 times his annual salary to get a decent 2-3 BHK apartment.
With no significant property to my name in India, all of a sudden I felt like a really poor man in India. I cannot imagine how I can ever start from ground zero and establish myself in a city like Mumbai. On the same lines, I wonder how first time property buyers without significant savings can afford a property? For people who did not buy property 3-4 years ago, the prices now are so steep that they will invariably have to make a comprise on the area and neighborhood. Many say that a correction is already happening, but I haven't seen any signs of it in the market.
I think this real estate price should be a top consideration for NRIs planning to return to India in near future. With 7% inflation rate things have become expensive in a hurry. The only way I could come to terms with most prices was by converting them into dollars. For the first time in 5 years, I felt that I cannot return to India yet, as I cannot afford to return!
My friends house was about 2 blocks away from Nariman house - the sight of the infamous siege on the Jewish community on 26/11. For a 600 sq ft 1 bedroom hall kitchen, my friend and his room mates were coughing up Rs 45,000 /- a month. My friend corrected me that the real rent is actually Rs 50,000 / month but he is getting a discount because of some renovation going on in the building. Judging by the fortune he paid for the apartment, you would imagine it to be an ocean facing villa with modern amenities like swimming pool, gym and manicured garderns. Horror behold! His apartment was actually in a very busy market area, in a dilapidated building which was probably more than 40 years old and might come down any minute. Once inside his compact apartment, I immediately started comparing this with my $700/ month (Rs 34,000 month), 800 sq ft 1 BHK in Houston in a very wealthy neighborhood. If Senior Bush could live a mile away from my apartment, I am sure my neighborhood must be really good! So even if I earn in rupees, it is much easier for me to afford a place in Houston than in Mumbai!!
Throughout my trip to India, real estate had been a hot topic of discussion for me. As my trip unfolded, I first got a taste of prices in Pune, then in Madras, then in Chembur (suburbs of Mumbai) and finally the shocker in South Mumbai. The prices kept going up in the same order too. Consider this analysis - Lets assume two individuals one in Indian and one in US, both with a post graduate degree and working in the IT industry. Someone who makes Rs 10 lakhs per annum in India can be compared to someone who makes about $80,000 a year in the US. In US for 4 times his annual salary ($320,000) he can afford a nice house in suburbs of most cities with a backyard and garage. But 4 times annual salary of the person in India (Rs 40 lakhs), wont even buy you a 1 BHK in most cities. This person would have to probably invest 8-9 times his annual salary to get a decent 2-3 BHK apartment.
With no significant property to my name in India, all of a sudden I felt like a really poor man in India. I cannot imagine how I can ever start from ground zero and establish myself in a city like Mumbai. On the same lines, I wonder how first time property buyers without significant savings can afford a property? For people who did not buy property 3-4 years ago, the prices now are so steep that they will invariably have to make a comprise on the area and neighborhood. Many say that a correction is already happening, but I haven't seen any signs of it in the market.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
2008
The 2008 new year was wrung in with an unshaven beard and a severe hangover from my best vacation ever - my trip to Costa Rica. However, like most of my new years, this one too was a very low key affair. In the first month of 2008, I got an interesting fortune cookie at a regular Thai lunch haunt.
'Travelling will bring new perspectives to your life this year'
A big proponent of the above theory, I could not agree with it more. I liked this fortune so much, I saved it in my wallet for a whole year. 2008 was a good mix of both personal and business travel. Earlier this year, I got a chance to travel to Portland and get a flair for the northwestern hippie culture. The biggest learning experience this year was my trip to Korea where I finally got a chance to see the Far East. Apart from work, I did a fair bit of leisure travel too. I finally got a chance to visit my dreamland - Alaska, but looking back, it still feels surreal that I was actually there. I hope to revisit it multiple times to learn more about this elusive land. Then, there was an eye opening trip through the great plains of South Dakota. However, my favorite trips were the 5 times that I got to visit Los Angeles on business. But flight was not the only travel mode. There were numerous road trips around Houston, most of them to my current second favorite city in the US - Austin.
Sometimes traveling was hectic, but most times it was fun and I have always come back learning something new. I think every trip teaches you not only about the new place and people but also teaches you about yourself. While work trips enhanced my professional experience and taught me about different work practices, my leisure trips helped me bond better with my close friends. For what its worth, all the travel finally got me Gold Elite status from Continental. This gives me more ammunition to act smug amidst my less traveled friends :)
I typed the above two paragraphs while in transit at Frankfurt airport, which by the way is definitely one of the worst airports I have seen. On my second leg of the journey from Frankfurt to Mumbai, my co-traveller was a lady from Lisbon on a 2 month trip to Goa and Southern India. As we shared similar passion for travel, we immediately hit up a lenghty conversation on various travel destinations and experiences. But travel discussions often lead to further cultural and political conversations. For instance our discussions ranged from corruption in Nigeria to the Pakistani troops build up at our border. We also pondered on interesting issues like how Mexico City can sustain a population of 20 million despite being situated at 5,800 ft above seal level. More often than not, travel always provides me the best ice-breaker and a good topic of conversation. These discussions normally make all the involved parties wiser and more aware of the world around us. I always revere well traveled people for their experience and knowledge.
But 2009 is set to begin in a much more anxious note. Amidst an uncertain future, and probably some rough times ahead, rescue comes in the form of another apt fortune cookie prophesy which I found in my dinner couple of weeks ago.
'You will be transforming a situation in your life now with a positive attitude'
This fortune has replaced the 2008 traveling prediction and probably will accompany me for the rest of the year. I guess traveling can wait a bit, I need to muster up positive attitude to handle the situations I envision coming my way shortly.
'Travelling will bring new perspectives to your life this year'
A big proponent of the above theory, I could not agree with it more. I liked this fortune so much, I saved it in my wallet for a whole year. 2008 was a good mix of both personal and business travel. Earlier this year, I got a chance to travel to Portland and get a flair for the northwestern hippie culture. The biggest learning experience this year was my trip to Korea where I finally got a chance to see the Far East. Apart from work, I did a fair bit of leisure travel too. I finally got a chance to visit my dreamland - Alaska, but looking back, it still feels surreal that I was actually there. I hope to revisit it multiple times to learn more about this elusive land. Then, there was an eye opening trip through the great plains of South Dakota. However, my favorite trips were the 5 times that I got to visit Los Angeles on business. But flight was not the only travel mode. There were numerous road trips around Houston, most of them to my current second favorite city in the US - Austin.
Sometimes traveling was hectic, but most times it was fun and I have always come back learning something new. I think every trip teaches you not only about the new place and people but also teaches you about yourself. While work trips enhanced my professional experience and taught me about different work practices, my leisure trips helped me bond better with my close friends. For what its worth, all the travel finally got me Gold Elite status from Continental. This gives me more ammunition to act smug amidst my less traveled friends :)
I typed the above two paragraphs while in transit at Frankfurt airport, which by the way is definitely one of the worst airports I have seen. On my second leg of the journey from Frankfurt to Mumbai, my co-traveller was a lady from Lisbon on a 2 month trip to Goa and Southern India. As we shared similar passion for travel, we immediately hit up a lenghty conversation on various travel destinations and experiences. But travel discussions often lead to further cultural and political conversations. For instance our discussions ranged from corruption in Nigeria to the Pakistani troops build up at our border. We also pondered on interesting issues like how Mexico City can sustain a population of 20 million despite being situated at 5,800 ft above seal level. More often than not, travel always provides me the best ice-breaker and a good topic of conversation. These discussions normally make all the involved parties wiser and more aware of the world around us. I always revere well traveled people for their experience and knowledge.
But 2009 is set to begin in a much more anxious note. Amidst an uncertain future, and probably some rough times ahead, rescue comes in the form of another apt fortune cookie prophesy which I found in my dinner couple of weeks ago.
'You will be transforming a situation in your life now with a positive attitude'
This fortune has replaced the 2008 traveling prediction and probably will accompany me for the rest of the year. I guess traveling can wait a bit, I need to muster up positive attitude to handle the situations I envision coming my way shortly.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Detroit Airport Fountain
There is a very interesting water fountain in concourse A of Detroit Airport. Its hard to describe it, but I will continue to do it anyways. There is a huge circular flat-top granite structure, with tiny holes at different locations through which shoot jets of water. These water jets float in the air before they find their landing spot. Their are random patterns generated, but the water jets fly like birds with different trajectories without hitting each other .The entire surface is extremely flat and yet not a drop of water spills out to the area surrounding the fountain. Capillary action takes the water stream around the contour of the structure and channel them back. Here is a link to a youtube video of the same
As I sit there sipping my latte and typing this post, I see numerous amazed passengers stop by and take pictures. I hear a small kid say, 'This is science. Science is cool'. But its not just kids, there are grown ups who stop to admire this fountain as well. I see an old guy going in circles taking a video of the fountain. I see a teenager who tries to mess with the fountain by blocking one of the holes and stifling the jet, only to find that the lower half of his jeans is now completely wet. I mutter to myself 'Serves you right...you brat!'
This is not the first time I am seeing this fountain. I vividly remember that eventful day in August 2003 when I first landed in US. As if my arrival wasn't eventful enough, the entire North East suffered a power-grid failure the same evening causing a blackout that canceled all flights from Detroit. On that day, anxiety got the better of me, and I never spent enough time to admire this fountain. After being stranded for 6 hours at DTW, our flight finally took off to State College. As I sit here at Detroit Airport on this Thursday morning, it brings back a lot of memories from that young nervous evening. Since then, whenever I fly through Detroit, I pay homage to this fountain.
So if you ever happen to fly through Detroit Airport, take a hike to concourse A and see this fountain. While at that, walk through the funky musical tunnel connecting Concourse A to Concourse B & C. Off all the domestic airports I have been to in US, I would definitely rank Detroit Wayne Airport as the best!
As I sit there sipping my latte and typing this post, I see numerous amazed passengers stop by and take pictures. I hear a small kid say, 'This is science. Science is cool'. But its not just kids, there are grown ups who stop to admire this fountain as well. I see an old guy going in circles taking a video of the fountain. I see a teenager who tries to mess with the fountain by blocking one of the holes and stifling the jet, only to find that the lower half of his jeans is now completely wet. I mutter to myself 'Serves you right...you brat!'
This is not the first time I am seeing this fountain. I vividly remember that eventful day in August 2003 when I first landed in US. As if my arrival wasn't eventful enough, the entire North East suffered a power-grid failure the same evening causing a blackout that canceled all flights from Detroit. On that day, anxiety got the better of me, and I never spent enough time to admire this fountain. After being stranded for 6 hours at DTW, our flight finally took off to State College. As I sit here at Detroit Airport on this Thursday morning, it brings back a lot of memories from that young nervous evening. Since then, whenever I fly through Detroit, I pay homage to this fountain.
So if you ever happen to fly through Detroit Airport, take a hike to concourse A and see this fountain. While at that, walk through the funky musical tunnel connecting Concourse A to Concourse B & C. Off all the domestic airports I have been to in US, I would definitely rank Detroit Wayne Airport as the best!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Bottled Thoughts
'IKE'
'Letter to I-Phone Users'
'Human Nature II'
'Short Story'
'Texas Rediscovered'
'Airport'
.....Blogging will resume in November
'Letter to I-Phone Users'
'Human Nature II'
'Short Story'
'Texas Rediscovered'
'Airport'
.....Blogging will resume in November
Friday, July 25, 2008
Missed Connection
"Is this elevator going down"
" Yeah it.. it is" I stuttered, not because it was unusual to see such a pretty lady early in the morning, but because I was tensed about the test.
"Are you here to give a test", she quizzed.
"Yup GMAT"
"Oh...me too....I am so nervous".
She probably repeated that a couple of times, but she seemed far more relaxed than me.
Under normal circumstances, with the ice-broken, I would have continued into a meaningful discussion with this pretty lady. But today, I was tense, and was swallowing half the words I spoke and decided to limit my words to a diplomatic minimum. However, she seemed more interested in striking a conversation. As we settled in the hallaway waiting for the doors to open, she queried
"So where do you work?"
Blah...Blah..Blah..we went on for couple more minutes
Once inside the test room, she was ticket number 7 and I was number 8. So we waited our turn to be signed in and ushered into the test room, and I made myself comfortable in a seat next to her. After a few minutes of random conversation, I started staring at the passport she was holding in her hand.
"Are you wondering where I am from? I am from Ecuador"
I showed her mine, "I am from India".
I discovered more commonalities too. She had come to US in the same year as I did. 2003.
Our merry chatter was broken by the Test administrator, who yelled out "No. 7"
I patted her back and said, "Good luck"
She turned back, " Wish you the same. I think you would be gone before I finish the test"
Coincidentally we ended up sitting in adjacent cubicles. Through her fervent typing, I knew she was in the same section as I was in - Essays. Hour later, I opted for my first 10 minute break. As I turned the corner from the restroom, I see her smiling in front of me. Hmmm..our breaks had coincided.
"How were the essays?" she asked.
"Well..I used up 20 minutes to write them, and relaxed the next 10 minutes. I don't like typing on random topics. I heard you type a lot"
"Yeah...I tried"
..a few words later, she bid adieu and excused herself to the restroom.
I went back to write my Quant section, and as I was poring over my Question # 1, I could hear her tip toe behind me into her cubicle. 75 minutes later, after exercising my brain with algebra and geometry, I contently opted for my second 10 minute break. Again, I went to the restroom and hoped she would follow suit, as her timing should have been very close to mine...and as I turned the corner, it was no surprise that I saw her again. She was still smiling, so hope things were going well with her.This time, I was real nervous, because I was 75 minutes away from my score.
"Hey, looks like we are working on the same schedule." I remarked
She smiled and probed, "How did your Quant section go?"
"It went OK. But I am very worried about the verbal. I hope I do well"
We chatted for a couple more minutes, and once again she excused herself to the restroom and we wished each other well. 75 minutes later, I was satisfied to finish the test, but nervous to click NEXT and check my score. Thats when I heard her hurry behind me...this time she had finished the test few minutes earlier....strange I thought! Relieved with my effort, I took the printout of the scoresheet and tried to get to the parking lot as soon as possible. But she was nowhere to be found. As my empty eyes gazed at the few remaining cars on the rooftop, I noticed that she had gone - probably dejected by her score, cause I was very confident that she would have waited otherwise. But I hope she did well, she was a nice person, she definitely made my day better.
" Yeah it.. it is" I stuttered, not because it was unusual to see such a pretty lady early in the morning, but because I was tensed about the test.
"Are you here to give a test", she quizzed.
"Yup GMAT"
"Oh...me too....I am so nervous".
She probably repeated that a couple of times, but she seemed far more relaxed than me.
Under normal circumstances, with the ice-broken, I would have continued into a meaningful discussion with this pretty lady. But today, I was tense, and was swallowing half the words I spoke and decided to limit my words to a diplomatic minimum. However, she seemed more interested in striking a conversation. As we settled in the hallaway waiting for the doors to open, she queried
"So where do you work?"
Blah...Blah..Blah..we went on for couple more minutes
Once inside the test room, she was ticket number 7 and I was number 8. So we waited our turn to be signed in and ushered into the test room, and I made myself comfortable in a seat next to her. After a few minutes of random conversation, I started staring at the passport she was holding in her hand.
"Are you wondering where I am from? I am from Ecuador"
I showed her mine, "I am from India".
I discovered more commonalities too. She had come to US in the same year as I did. 2003.
Our merry chatter was broken by the Test administrator, who yelled out "No. 7"
I patted her back and said, "Good luck"
She turned back, " Wish you the same. I think you would be gone before I finish the test"
Coincidentally we ended up sitting in adjacent cubicles. Through her fervent typing, I knew she was in the same section as I was in - Essays. Hour later, I opted for my first 10 minute break. As I turned the corner from the restroom, I see her smiling in front of me. Hmmm..our breaks had coincided.
"How were the essays?" she asked.
"Well..I used up 20 minutes to write them, and relaxed the next 10 minutes. I don't like typing on random topics. I heard you type a lot"
"Yeah...I tried"
..a few words later, she bid adieu and excused herself to the restroom.
I went back to write my Quant section, and as I was poring over my Question # 1, I could hear her tip toe behind me into her cubicle. 75 minutes later, after exercising my brain with algebra and geometry, I contently opted for my second 10 minute break. Again, I went to the restroom and hoped she would follow suit, as her timing should have been very close to mine...and as I turned the corner, it was no surprise that I saw her again. She was still smiling, so hope things were going well with her.This time, I was real nervous, because I was 75 minutes away from my score.
"Hey, looks like we are working on the same schedule." I remarked
She smiled and probed, "How did your Quant section go?"
"It went OK. But I am very worried about the verbal. I hope I do well"
We chatted for a couple more minutes, and once again she excused herself to the restroom and we wished each other well. 75 minutes later, I was satisfied to finish the test, but nervous to click NEXT and check my score. Thats when I heard her hurry behind me...this time she had finished the test few minutes earlier....strange I thought! Relieved with my effort, I took the printout of the scoresheet and tried to get to the parking lot as soon as possible. But she was nowhere to be found. As my empty eyes gazed at the few remaining cars on the rooftop, I noticed that she had gone - probably dejected by her score, cause I was very confident that she would have waited otherwise. But I hope she did well, she was a nice person, she definitely made my day better.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Disaster Technology, Heartless Dictatorship & Garbage Media
Couple of day ago, I was watching my daily dose of world news with Charlie Gibson on ABC. They ran a small piece on a town in China, where a school building collapsed during the recent earthquake killing almost all the students in the building at the time. Since the Chinese dictatorship has been steadfastly following the 1 child programme for years, most parents lost their only kid in that building mishap. The images and the story of these disconsolate parents were really heart wrenching. With most parents not in a position to have kids again or too distraught to even think of raising another family, this village had surely lost a complete generation.
This got me revisiting my old idea of humans controlling the nature. Its hard to believe that we can build unmanned instruments that land on the moon, robots which can conduct an orchestra, cell phone service which lets you talk to anyone anytime in any corner of the world, but yet fall short in understanding this natural phenomena. Is it just unfathomable or are we not trying hard enough? How difficult would it be to predict the next earthquake or the next Tsunami? After all these events are not uncontrollable natural things like the rotation of the earth or the explosion of a star.
Technology is often driven by government policies and funding, and not always by people's necessity. For example, we can easily clone a sheep or a dog. Now, had the government and other organizations not vehemently protested, we would have had human clones walking around us by now. Stem cells would have let us grow artificial meat and completely eliminate corporate farming of animals. Sometimes I think that lack of funding and strong regulations is one reason why we don't have great disaster management technology? Unlike cellphone, aeroplanes, automobiles or entertainment this would not be a profit begetting venture for any corporation. This technology has to be completely bred and developed by a strong willed cash rich visionary government.
The magnitude of the Chinese earthquake was so huge that it was easy for the media and people to forget another major catastrophe which happened in the same part of the world - cyclone Nargis in Burma. This cyclone managed to permanently change the southern Burmese coastline and alter the lives of most families living in that neighborhood. 15000+ people lost their lives, and thousands lost their families. But the heartless military rule refuses aid from other countries and worse, maintains its visa restrictions and impedes rescue workers from entering the country. Is this ego of the ruling leaders or is it just a fear of letting the outside world an inside view of the administration's atrocities ?. Either ways, its pitiable to see that innocent lives are lost due to a governments stubbornness to stick to its guns.
Lastly, the US media sucks as usual in its coverage of the world events. After dismissing Fox as a republican mouthpiece, I used to trust only CNN for my daily dose of news. But in a country where Hillary Clinton's inability to operate a coffee machine and the American idol results are the biggest headliners, a loss of 50,000 lives is not big enough to merit 2 days of headline news coverage. Independent media is necessary to criticize the government and give a fair and balanced news. But one can only expect so much from corporate run news networks pandering to a market which thinks the world only consists of 48 contiguous states!
This got me revisiting my old idea of humans controlling the nature. Its hard to believe that we can build unmanned instruments that land on the moon, robots which can conduct an orchestra, cell phone service which lets you talk to anyone anytime in any corner of the world, but yet fall short in understanding this natural phenomena. Is it just unfathomable or are we not trying hard enough? How difficult would it be to predict the next earthquake or the next Tsunami? After all these events are not uncontrollable natural things like the rotation of the earth or the explosion of a star.
Technology is often driven by government policies and funding, and not always by people's necessity. For example, we can easily clone a sheep or a dog. Now, had the government and other organizations not vehemently protested, we would have had human clones walking around us by now. Stem cells would have let us grow artificial meat and completely eliminate corporate farming of animals. Sometimes I think that lack of funding and strong regulations is one reason why we don't have great disaster management technology? Unlike cellphone, aeroplanes, automobiles or entertainment this would not be a profit begetting venture for any corporation. This technology has to be completely bred and developed by a strong willed cash rich visionary government.
The magnitude of the Chinese earthquake was so huge that it was easy for the media and people to forget another major catastrophe which happened in the same part of the world - cyclone Nargis in Burma. This cyclone managed to permanently change the southern Burmese coastline and alter the lives of most families living in that neighborhood. 15000+ people lost their lives, and thousands lost their families. But the heartless military rule refuses aid from other countries and worse, maintains its visa restrictions and impedes rescue workers from entering the country. Is this ego of the ruling leaders or is it just a fear of letting the outside world an inside view of the administration's atrocities ?. Either ways, its pitiable to see that innocent lives are lost due to a governments stubbornness to stick to its guns.
Lastly, the US media sucks as usual in its coverage of the world events. After dismissing Fox as a republican mouthpiece, I used to trust only CNN for my daily dose of news. But in a country where Hillary Clinton's inability to operate a coffee machine and the American idol results are the biggest headliners, a loss of 50,000 lives is not big enough to merit 2 days of headline news coverage. Independent media is necessary to criticize the government and give a fair and balanced news. But one can only expect so much from corporate run news networks pandering to a market which thinks the world only consists of 48 contiguous states!
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Phone-Book
Last week, I finally made the switch from Verizon to AT&T. This decision was not a result of my personal choice but rather a necessity, given the wireless carriers of my current friend circle. Having battled with my minutes usage for past 3 years, I finally relieved myself of the hideous contract structure and shifted to AT&T. Due to false advertisements (my own perception), I was under the impression that AT&T had great phone deals. One visit to the store later, I realised that I might have to settle for something ordinary if I didn't want to dent my wallet. Luckily, a resourceful colleague at work hooked me up with one of his connections and I ended up getting a $50 value of phone for free.
Having carried an almost unrecognisable 814 area code for last 4 years, I finally got a more known 281 area code. Although I am still kicking myself for not making use of the opportunity to obtain a 310 area code, I am satisfied to carry the 281 code for the rest of my life. Atleast it belongs to a big city and not some small county. For the unaware, 310 is the area code for West LA, Beverly Hills, Malibu and all those fancy places along the Los Angeles coastline. It definitely would have given some sort of pride and bragging rights to have the same area code as those of Cameron Diaz, David Beckham & Tom Cruise.
Changing phone numbers is never an easy procedure. Unaware that a single message cc-ed to 15 recipients is equivalent of 15 text messages, I gleefully texted all and sundry. After having sent such an announcement to 120+ recipients, a thoughtful friend reminded me of my ignorance. Pheww...there goes my $50 savings!! Added to this, there were some really old contacts who messaged back "Who is this?". At first I was ashamed that I was already erased from phonebooks of some of my old friends, but I soon regained common sense not to message these folks back. If I am not important enough that you would retain me in your phone-book over the years, then sorry, you are not important enough for me to keep you informed of my new number!
Later that night I spent some time sifting through my contacts in order to trim it. As I paid careful attention, I came across several of whom I had know well in the past, but have had no contact in a long long time. I wondered if these people still had me in their phone-book and whether I should still have them in my phone-book? Even if I erased them from the phone-book, they would still be in my memory. But the wiping of the physical address seemed symbolic of a lost time and hence I thought twice before proceeding with any action.
On a different note, it is always amusing when a friend with whom you don't have a close contact calls you after a really long time. In such instances, my first feeling is always that this person must be in my town. As you nervously pick up the phone and speak to this friend, you always keep thinking in the back of your mind "Why is this person calling me?". This thought blocks a free flow of converstation as you exchange in a few formal greetings and wait for the person to state the real reason why he is calling. A few months ago, I had a friend call me, probably, after 2 years. My gut feeling was proved right when after exchanging a few pleasantries, my friend said, "Dude I am in LA this weekend. I am going to the club Vanguard in Hollywood for a party. Do you wanna join?" I said, "I wish I could, unfortunately I now live 1500 miles away."
Having carried an almost unrecognisable 814 area code for last 4 years, I finally got a more known 281 area code. Although I am still kicking myself for not making use of the opportunity to obtain a 310 area code, I am satisfied to carry the 281 code for the rest of my life. Atleast it belongs to a big city and not some small county. For the unaware, 310 is the area code for West LA, Beverly Hills, Malibu and all those fancy places along the Los Angeles coastline. It definitely would have given some sort of pride and bragging rights to have the same area code as those of Cameron Diaz, David Beckham & Tom Cruise.
Changing phone numbers is never an easy procedure. Unaware that a single message cc-ed to 15 recipients is equivalent of 15 text messages, I gleefully texted all and sundry. After having sent such an announcement to 120+ recipients, a thoughtful friend reminded me of my ignorance. Pheww...there goes my $50 savings!! Added to this, there were some really old contacts who messaged back "Who is this?". At first I was ashamed that I was already erased from phonebooks of some of my old friends, but I soon regained common sense not to message these folks back. If I am not important enough that you would retain me in your phone-book over the years, then sorry, you are not important enough for me to keep you informed of my new number!
Later that night I spent some time sifting through my contacts in order to trim it. As I paid careful attention, I came across several of whom I had know well in the past, but have had no contact in a long long time. I wondered if these people still had me in their phone-book and whether I should still have them in my phone-book? Even if I erased them from the phone-book, they would still be in my memory. But the wiping of the physical address seemed symbolic of a lost time and hence I thought twice before proceeding with any action.
On a different note, it is always amusing when a friend with whom you don't have a close contact calls you after a really long time. In such instances, my first feeling is always that this person must be in my town. As you nervously pick up the phone and speak to this friend, you always keep thinking in the back of your mind "Why is this person calling me?". This thought blocks a free flow of converstation as you exchange in a few formal greetings and wait for the person to state the real reason why he is calling. A few months ago, I had a friend call me, probably, after 2 years. My gut feeling was proved right when after exchanging a few pleasantries, my friend said, "Dude I am in LA this weekend. I am going to the club Vanguard in Hollywood for a party. Do you wanna join?" I said, "I wish I could, unfortunately I now live 1500 miles away."
Monday, March 31, 2008
Your Car & You
This is what your car says about you
Hummer - My grand dad owns an oil field and I am a jackass driving a huge vehicle to over come my shortcomings.
Chevy Suburban - Ever heard of the word "excess". Well, I am the definition!
Cadillac Escalade - I am either a rap star or a drug dealer.
Ford 150 - I live in Texas!
Ford 500 or Taurus - I am a die hard patriot or this is a Corporate Car.
Buick LaSabre - I am 75 years old.
Toyota Camry - I am wise with my money.
Toyota Prius - I am rich enough to care for the environment.
Honda Accord - If there are more than 3 people in my car, I am an Indian!
Nissan Altima - I didn't want to be stereotyped with those Accord & Camry folks.
Subaru - I live in Colorado.
Chrysler 300 - Give me a big powerful spacious box.
Black Mercedes Sedan - I am driving my wife's car.
Mercedes AMG models - I understand Horse Power.
Cadillac XLR - Curves are for the pansy, give me the chisel edge super car.
BMW Z4 M - I am young and driven by pure adrenaline
Mustang - I am poor, this is the best sports car I can afford.
Porsche Boxster - The only reason I am driving this is because I could not afford a Carrera.
Jaguar XKR - I belong to a blue blooded family.
Corvette - I only care for the looks of a car not its performance. I drop cash for the Bling factor.
Lexus RX350 - I am a soccer mom
Land Rover - I am a trophy wife.
Bentley Continental GT - I am not sure if I want a killer sports car or a stately luxury Sedan
Ferrari - I have loadsa money
Lambhorgini - I have more money than the guy above
Hummer - My grand dad owns an oil field and I am a jackass driving a huge vehicle to over come my shortcomings.
Chevy Suburban - Ever heard of the word "excess". Well, I am the definition!
Cadillac Escalade - I am either a rap star or a drug dealer.
Ford 150 - I live in Texas!
Ford 500 or Taurus - I am a die hard patriot or this is a Corporate Car.
Buick LaSabre - I am 75 years old.
Toyota Camry - I am wise with my money.
Toyota Prius - I am rich enough to care for the environment.
Honda Accord - If there are more than 3 people in my car, I am an Indian!
Nissan Altima - I didn't want to be stereotyped with those Accord & Camry folks.
Subaru - I live in Colorado.
Chrysler 300 - Give me a big powerful spacious box.
Black Mercedes Sedan - I am driving my wife's car.
Mercedes AMG models - I understand Horse Power.
Cadillac XLR - Curves are for the pansy, give me the chisel edge super car.
BMW Z4 M - I am young and driven by pure adrenaline
Mustang - I am poor, this is the best sports car I can afford.
Porsche Boxster - The only reason I am driving this is because I could not afford a Carrera.
Jaguar XKR - I belong to a blue blooded family.
Corvette - I only care for the looks of a car not its performance. I drop cash for the Bling factor.
Lexus RX350 - I am a soccer mom
Land Rover - I am a trophy wife.
Bentley Continental GT - I am not sure if I want a killer sports car or a stately luxury Sedan
Ferrari - I have loadsa money
Lambhorgini - I have more money than the guy above
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Road Rage
When I learnt driving 4 years ago in the small town of State College, PA, I was unaware of the term called road rage. There were less lanes on the road, there were lesser cars on the road and people never seemed to be in a hurry. There was a 5 second delay between lights turning red in one direction and turning green in the other. In addition to this, people would wait a couple of seconds before they rev their engine. In those days, driving outside the small town was always an adventure.
My first encounter with traffic was on the garden state parkway in NJ. Thanks to the traffic and some rude drivers, I was introduced into the world of road rage. In my early days, I was still a little apprehensive of my driving skills and would therefore mind my own business and be careful of other jackasses on the road. As I set out on various road trips across the north-east, I got a further flavor of traffic and road rage in cities like Philadelphia, DC & Pittsburgh.
You encounter different kinds of people on road. There are those who are on cellphone and thus too busy to give an indicator, and then there are ladies who are busy putting their make-up and wont budge when the light turns green. Then there are drifters who change lane unknowingly cause they are busy looking for a CD in their back seat. The tailgaters are the most annoying, and a lot of times I wish I had a Hummer just to jam my brakes and let them rear end into my vehicle. In the east coast, people respect the left lane and always yeild to the fastest guy on the road - but apparently this idea has never hit the west coast, as people refuse to respect the left lane and fill it with some really slow drivers.
When it comes to traffic, no place can rival Southern California. Despite having a whooping 26 lane interchange between the 5 & 405, there is still traffic at this intersection. By virtue of traffic, I developed a lot of patience to wade my way through bumper to bumper traffic. No other freeway in the country can get on to your nerves like the 405 - a virtual parking lot at places, don't be surprised to hit traffic at 1:00 am at night. Some of the interchanges in LA are phenomenal, especially the 5(or possibly 6) layered 110 & 105 interchanged. For all the hype, I found the traffic in LA to be mellow. At times, you were driving on a 10 laned highway, and lane changes would have seemed to be a challenge. But, I found traffic to be more sane than a lot of other big cities.
Over the years, as I have become more and more complacent with my driving skills, I have seen a steep decrease in my patience for nitwits driving on the road. Despite having far less traffic than LA, Houston gets on my nerves with its uncivilised traffic. At most times indicators don't mean a thing, as people refuse to yeild. The road is ruled by the size of the vehicle and there is no dearth of super sized Texas trucks in this town. On a daily basis I see many of those, who cut you abruptly, give no indicators while turning or drive really slow on a fast lane. Most of the times, I shout expletives from the comforts of my car and relieve my aggression. But what is annoying is the fact that these reckless drivers think that they are cool or they have a laid back attitude. However, they fail to realise that anyone can drive recklessly, its the common sense which prevents us from doing so and converting our freeways into a tolled accident way.
I know cities in Asia are clogged with traffic, and I have met with the same fate here in US. All major cities, despite the number of lanes are still bad. Some stay bad only at peak hours, while other like LA or some of the Bay Area freeways (notably 880) are bad all the times. I was expecting to see a different story when I travelled to Europe. But Alas! the traffic was the same, the lanes were lesser, but the cities still had traffic galore....and more traffic only translates to more road rage.
My first encounter with traffic was on the garden state parkway in NJ. Thanks to the traffic and some rude drivers, I was introduced into the world of road rage. In my early days, I was still a little apprehensive of my driving skills and would therefore mind my own business and be careful of other jackasses on the road. As I set out on various road trips across the north-east, I got a further flavor of traffic and road rage in cities like Philadelphia, DC & Pittsburgh.
You encounter different kinds of people on road. There are those who are on cellphone and thus too busy to give an indicator, and then there are ladies who are busy putting their make-up and wont budge when the light turns green. Then there are drifters who change lane unknowingly cause they are busy looking for a CD in their back seat. The tailgaters are the most annoying, and a lot of times I wish I had a Hummer just to jam my brakes and let them rear end into my vehicle. In the east coast, people respect the left lane and always yeild to the fastest guy on the road - but apparently this idea has never hit the west coast, as people refuse to respect the left lane and fill it with some really slow drivers.
When it comes to traffic, no place can rival Southern California. Despite having a whooping 26 lane interchange between the 5 & 405, there is still traffic at this intersection. By virtue of traffic, I developed a lot of patience to wade my way through bumper to bumper traffic. No other freeway in the country can get on to your nerves like the 405 - a virtual parking lot at places, don't be surprised to hit traffic at 1:00 am at night. Some of the interchanges in LA are phenomenal, especially the 5(or possibly 6) layered 110 & 105 interchanged. For all the hype, I found the traffic in LA to be mellow. At times, you were driving on a 10 laned highway, and lane changes would have seemed to be a challenge. But, I found traffic to be more sane than a lot of other big cities.
Over the years, as I have become more and more complacent with my driving skills, I have seen a steep decrease in my patience for nitwits driving on the road. Despite having far less traffic than LA, Houston gets on my nerves with its uncivilised traffic. At most times indicators don't mean a thing, as people refuse to yeild. The road is ruled by the size of the vehicle and there is no dearth of super sized Texas trucks in this town. On a daily basis I see many of those, who cut you abruptly, give no indicators while turning or drive really slow on a fast lane. Most of the times, I shout expletives from the comforts of my car and relieve my aggression. But what is annoying is the fact that these reckless drivers think that they are cool or they have a laid back attitude. However, they fail to realise that anyone can drive recklessly, its the common sense which prevents us from doing so and converting our freeways into a tolled accident way.
I know cities in Asia are clogged with traffic, and I have met with the same fate here in US. All major cities, despite the number of lanes are still bad. Some stay bad only at peak hours, while other like LA or some of the Bay Area freeways (notably 880) are bad all the times. I was expecting to see a different story when I travelled to Europe. But Alas! the traffic was the same, the lanes were lesser, but the cities still had traffic galore....and more traffic only translates to more road rage.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Golf
In the corporate world they say, "As you grow older, your balls get smaller". When you are a newbie, you play basketball. After a few years you abandon basketball in favor of softball. After softball, comes tennis, and after that racketball. When you are old and higher up in the management ladder, you switch to the golf - the epitome of leisure, richness and laziness. About 2 months ago, I could not have agreed with this statement more. But after having played golf for a little more than 2 months now, I have fallen in love with the sport.
I always used to think of the game as something which balding men and CEO's would play over a casual business meeting on a sunny weekend. It only took a few trips to the local golf courses for me to realise the popularity of the sport. Infact the richest and second richest sportsmen in the world today are Tiger Woods ($97 mil in 2005) and Phil Mickelson ($67 mil in 2005) followed by Michael Schumacher (below $50 mil). Although it might still be predominantly an old man's game, there is a large chunk of youth who play it too over lazy weekends.
I always used to say to myself that even if I can't play golf, I should be able to talk golf. In the corporate environs it seems like a very handy tool for casual conversation with people from a different background and age group than you. It is also a topic of conversation, dear to many, and hence has a potential of creating a good impression in the minds of the person you are talking with.
Contrary to my assumption, it has turned out to be an extremely skillful game. It might not be physically challenging, but walking around 9 or 18 holes with a heavy golf set of clubs can drain you physically too. On the other hand if you can cough some more dough, riding a cart around the field could be a relaxing experience. There is a lot of techniques to be learnt to become a good golfer, and it goes without saying that you need long hours of practise too. It can be expensive for starters, but so is true with any sport.
But the best part of the game is just to hang out with friends (where else can you drink beer in public ?), walk on the well manicured greens and enjoy the nice weather. A lot of golf courses are well terrained with lakes and ducks, rabbits etc. The pretty ones are by the ocean or on the foothills of the mountains. But there are also the expensive ones. In Southern California, the excellent weather, has bred umpteen number of golf courses, and needless to say, tee times are hard to get on weekend !
I always used to think of the game as something which balding men and CEO's would play over a casual business meeting on a sunny weekend. It only took a few trips to the local golf courses for me to realise the popularity of the sport. Infact the richest and second richest sportsmen in the world today are Tiger Woods ($97 mil in 2005) and Phil Mickelson ($67 mil in 2005) followed by Michael Schumacher (below $50 mil). Although it might still be predominantly an old man's game, there is a large chunk of youth who play it too over lazy weekends.
I always used to say to myself that even if I can't play golf, I should be able to talk golf. In the corporate environs it seems like a very handy tool for casual conversation with people from a different background and age group than you. It is also a topic of conversation, dear to many, and hence has a potential of creating a good impression in the minds of the person you are talking with.
Contrary to my assumption, it has turned out to be an extremely skillful game. It might not be physically challenging, but walking around 9 or 18 holes with a heavy golf set of clubs can drain you physically too. On the other hand if you can cough some more dough, riding a cart around the field could be a relaxing experience. There is a lot of techniques to be learnt to become a good golfer, and it goes without saying that you need long hours of practise too. It can be expensive for starters, but so is true with any sport.
But the best part of the game is just to hang out with friends (where else can you drink beer in public ?), walk on the well manicured greens and enjoy the nice weather. A lot of golf courses are well terrained with lakes and ducks, rabbits etc. The pretty ones are by the ocean or on the foothills of the mountains. But there are also the expensive ones. In Southern California, the excellent weather, has bred umpteen number of golf courses, and needless to say, tee times are hard to get on weekend !
Saturday, April 23, 2005
So Far Away........
(As a rule I blog only close to midnight. ....but I had to make an exception for Friday night. I start my day on a wonderful Saturday morning, with coffee and a little bit of Staind. Though I am against the idea of blogging someone else's ideas, I just couldnt restrain from posting lyrics to this wonderful song by Staind, 'so far away')
This is my life
It's not what it was before
All these feelings I've shared
And these are my dreams
That I'd never lived before
Somebody shake me, 'cause I, I must be sleeping.
Now that we're here, it's so far away
All the struggle we thought was in vain
All the mistakes, one life contained
They all finally start to go away
Now that we're here, it's so far away
And I feel like I can face the day
I can forgive, and I'm not ashamed, to be the person that I am today.
These are my words
that I've never said before
I think I'm doing okay
and this is the smile
that I've never shown before
Somebody shake me 'cause I, I must be sleeping.
Now that we're here, it's so far away
All the struggle we thought was in vain
All the mistakes, one life contained
They all finally start to go away
Now that we're here, it's so far away
And I feel like I can face the day
I can forgive, and I'm not ashamed, to be the person that I am today.
I'm so afraid of waking
Please don't shake me
Afraid of waking
Please don't shake me.
Now that we're here, it's so far away
All the struggle we thought was in vain
All the mistakes, one life contained
They all finally start to go away
Now that we're here, it's so far away
And I feel like I can face the day
I can forgive, and I'm not ashamed, to be the person that I am today.
This is my life
It's not what it was before
All these feelings I've shared
And these are my dreams
That I'd never lived before
Somebody shake me, 'cause I, I must be sleeping.
Now that we're here, it's so far away
All the struggle we thought was in vain
All the mistakes, one life contained
They all finally start to go away
Now that we're here, it's so far away
And I feel like I can face the day
I can forgive, and I'm not ashamed, to be the person that I am today.
These are my words
that I've never said before
I think I'm doing okay
and this is the smile
that I've never shown before
Somebody shake me 'cause I, I must be sleeping.
Now that we're here, it's so far away
All the struggle we thought was in vain
All the mistakes, one life contained
They all finally start to go away
Now that we're here, it's so far away
And I feel like I can face the day
I can forgive, and I'm not ashamed, to be the person that I am today.
I'm so afraid of waking
Please don't shake me
Afraid of waking
Please don't shake me.
Now that we're here, it's so far away
All the struggle we thought was in vain
All the mistakes, one life contained
They all finally start to go away
Now that we're here, it's so far away
And I feel like I can face the day
I can forgive, and I'm not ashamed, to be the person that I am today.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Dream/Concentrate/Confusion........
I still cant remember exactly when I started placing these three "dream", "concentrate" & "confusion" totally unrelated words together. But something always felt right about it. Was my sub-conscious telling me something about reality which my rotting brain wasnt able to decipher ? Over a period of time I started identifying these words with the current state of my mind and life, and decided to print / type it out.
The reflection of my thoughts on paper didnt give away much. But I could feel sheer energy beneath them. In short the lyrics sucked...and it probably sucks till today. Though I wrote it with a common theme in mind, it was left open to induvidual intrepretation - at that point of time I was trying to learn more about Maynard Keenan's (Tool) deep allegorical lyrics through various forums.
Pinky (my room-mate) who spends a considerable amount of time and money on his fender and amps decided to pick up the thread from here and promised to compose music for the song. I would never know whether he did it out of sympathy for his roomie or just because it seemed a coveted opportunity to show off his mettle.
Mudit (my other room-mate) initially started videographing our rehearsals but later promised to come up with his own rap interlude for the song. The first attempt at the song was pathetic, but it was raw and above all humorous. But I and am assuming pinky too, were serious - we went back to our studio (Pinky's bedroom which doesnt have a bed actually :)) and worked on our project. Recently we shot the 2nd and 3rd take of the song......and believe me, we have come a long way. Although we were more professional in our approach in the later videos, we seemed to have lost the rawness....the energy has stopped oozing from the song.
Thinking big, is this what commercialisation has done to most of the contemporary bands. I am a big fan of Hetfield (Metallica) and his boys. Any die hard fan would agree that there later albumns are not even a tenth as powerful as they are old albumns like "Ride the lightning", "...Justice for all" etc. MTV and commercial market forced them to make songs which were 4-5 mins long - abandoning their earlier powerful 9-10 min metal thrashing...
( By the way lyrics and a sneak preview of behind the scenes of DCC can be obtained on request)
The reflection of my thoughts on paper didnt give away much. But I could feel sheer energy beneath them. In short the lyrics sucked...and it probably sucks till today. Though I wrote it with a common theme in mind, it was left open to induvidual intrepretation - at that point of time I was trying to learn more about Maynard Keenan's (Tool) deep allegorical lyrics through various forums.
Pinky (my room-mate) who spends a considerable amount of time and money on his fender and amps decided to pick up the thread from here and promised to compose music for the song. I would never know whether he did it out of sympathy for his roomie or just because it seemed a coveted opportunity to show off his mettle.
Mudit (my other room-mate) initially started videographing our rehearsals but later promised to come up with his own rap interlude for the song. The first attempt at the song was pathetic, but it was raw and above all humorous. But I and am assuming pinky too, were serious - we went back to our studio (Pinky's bedroom which doesnt have a bed actually :)) and worked on our project. Recently we shot the 2nd and 3rd take of the song......and believe me, we have come a long way. Although we were more professional in our approach in the later videos, we seemed to have lost the rawness....the energy has stopped oozing from the song.
Thinking big, is this what commercialisation has done to most of the contemporary bands. I am a big fan of Hetfield (Metallica) and his boys. Any die hard fan would agree that there later albumns are not even a tenth as powerful as they are old albumns like "Ride the lightning", "...Justice for all" etc. MTV and commercial market forced them to make songs which were 4-5 mins long - abandoning their earlier powerful 9-10 min metal thrashing...
( By the way lyrics and a sneak preview of behind the scenes of DCC can be obtained on request)
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Adieu
(Just saw this very nostalgic video of IIT Madras. The credits was replaced by this brilliant poem, which I would like to share with the visitors to my blog. I donno who penned it down, but its really sweet)
A life which is to end
Only when I am no more
A life which transformed me
In a fighter to the core
A season of love and friendship
for eternity which will last
In my future to follow
I will long to relive this past
Memories of this part of journey
I'll carry all life long
Memories of those precious moments
which made my life a beautiful song
My eyes go teary
Emotions fill my heart
As my days left here are few
Now its time to bid adieu
A life which is to end
Only when I am no more
A life which transformed me
In a fighter to the core
A season of love and friendship
for eternity which will last
In my future to follow
I will long to relive this past
Memories of this part of journey
I'll carry all life long
Memories of those precious moments
which made my life a beautiful song
My eyes go teary
Emotions fill my heart
As my days left here are few
Now its time to bid adieu
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
ROMM - Time enough at last
(Before you begin to read this blog, you should read the previous blog on Henry Bemis. Only if you understand and appreciate the previous story, should you bother to read this blog.)
.....And now there is time. Time to do what you always wanted to do.....Time to go where you always wanted to do...Time to be spent with someone you always wanted to spend with. Phew ! Time enough at last.
Its strange that dreams that you have nurtured for ages due to paucity of time, has been dismissed into nothingness with the sudden surplusness of Time. Coming to think of it, where they really just dreams, a figment of imagination never ever to be translated into reality - be there time or no time. In the moment of current clarity, those dreams are being forgotten faster than the rate at which new dreams can pre-occupy self. Or does this just mean, that somethings are better left to thrive and perish only in dreams, cause by the TIME arrives they have already evaporated into vacuum.
.....and just when you thought that you had time enough at last, its gonna pass you so fast that it would make you look back at it and comment in a Bemisque style "But there was time!".
(This blog is turning out to be a little too heavy for me, and though I can think of things in a very abstract fashion, I am not able to pen them down in a coherent manner. I am pretty sure there is a better sequel to this on its way)
.....And now there is time. Time to do what you always wanted to do.....Time to go where you always wanted to do...Time to be spent with someone you always wanted to spend with. Phew ! Time enough at last.
Its strange that dreams that you have nurtured for ages due to paucity of time, has been dismissed into nothingness with the sudden surplusness of Time. Coming to think of it, where they really just dreams, a figment of imagination never ever to be translated into reality - be there time or no time. In the moment of current clarity, those dreams are being forgotten faster than the rate at which new dreams can pre-occupy self. Or does this just mean, that somethings are better left to thrive and perish only in dreams, cause by the TIME arrives they have already evaporated into vacuum.
.....and just when you thought that you had time enough at last, its gonna pass you so fast that it would make you look back at it and comment in a Bemisque style "But there was time!".
(This blog is turning out to be a little too heavy for me, and though I can think of things in a very abstract fashion, I am not able to pen them down in a coherent manner. I am pretty sure there is a better sequel to this on its way)
Henry Bemis - Time enough at Last !
I have seen only 7 episodes of Twilight zone, but what I have seen has already made me a big fan of Rod Sterling's creation. The best episode of the 7 that I have seen surely has to be "Time enough at last". I am planning on writing a blog under the ROMM column with this title and I thought a little background might be useful. So here goes this great story....
(The quote italics text are Sterling's comment at the beginning and end of the serial)
"Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the printed page but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a world full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just a moment Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or clocks or anything else. He'll have a world all to himself - without anyone."
Henry Bemis is a bibliophile. He reads all the time - at work as well as home. At work, the bank manager is very irritated by his insatiable appetite to read. At home, his wife reprimands him for neglecting other chores and immersing himself in reading. Between the stern supervision of his manager and wife, Bemis has his moments when he gets to read what he likes.
One fine day, Bemis is having lunch in the bank vault while reading a book - the vault seemed to be the only place where he could escape his nagging peers and concentrate on book in hand. Meanwhile a H-bomb explosion devastates the whole town. Bemis is now left with no company, food etc. The isolation is intolerable, and as he is about to take his own life he stumbles upon a library of books. There are more books than he would ever have time to read them.
As he settles down to do what he thinks he has time enough at last - his spectacles fall to the ground and shatter into pieces.
"The best-laid plans of mice and men - and Henry Bemis, the small man in the glasses who wanted nothing but time. Henry Bemis, now just a part of a smashed landscape, just a piece of the rubble, just a fragment of what man has deeded to himself. Mr. Bemis... in the Twilight Zone."
(The quote italics text are Sterling's comment at the beginning and end of the serial)
"Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the printed page but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a world full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just a moment Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or clocks or anything else. He'll have a world all to himself - without anyone."
Henry Bemis is a bibliophile. He reads all the time - at work as well as home. At work, the bank manager is very irritated by his insatiable appetite to read. At home, his wife reprimands him for neglecting other chores and immersing himself in reading. Between the stern supervision of his manager and wife, Bemis has his moments when he gets to read what he likes.
One fine day, Bemis is having lunch in the bank vault while reading a book - the vault seemed to be the only place where he could escape his nagging peers and concentrate on book in hand. Meanwhile a H-bomb explosion devastates the whole town. Bemis is now left with no company, food etc. The isolation is intolerable, and as he is about to take his own life he stumbles upon a library of books. There are more books than he would ever have time to read them.
As he settles down to do what he thinks he has time enough at last - his spectacles fall to the ground and shatter into pieces.
"The best-laid plans of mice and men - and Henry Bemis, the small man in the glasses who wanted nothing but time. Henry Bemis, now just a part of a smashed landscape, just a piece of the rubble, just a fragment of what man has deeded to himself. Mr. Bemis... in the Twilight Zone."
Monday, March 28, 2005
V6
Just a forthnight ago I bought a car - the car of my "affordable dreams", Ford Mustang. Since the time I have been in the US, I have been a great fan of this car. Introduced in 1965 by Lee Iococa and others at Ford to compete against the corvettes, Mustangs have now evolved to be a part of American legend.
The 1965 - 1968 models were great. Caroll Shelby got the much needed power into these muscle cars. Who could forget the 1967 Shelby GT 500 - Eleanor to Nicolas Cage in "Gone in 60 seconds". But post 1968 the cars grew big and ugly. They corrected this in 1973, but the early 80's cars never looked great.
1994 saw a much needed make over to the car. This design stayed till 1998, and after that came the cool looking Mustang design, the ones which we mostly see on road today. In 2005 they decided to go retro and restyle the car. Infact in my opinion the 2005 is the best looking of all the lot.
Mine is a v6 and packs 200 HP under the hood. The dual stainless steel gas exhaust amplify the famous Mustang sound. The manual transmission makes the ride much more thrilling. Sometimes I wonder how people handle the GT versions with V8. I would love to get my hand behind the wheels of one of those.
Some of the other cars that I like are Nissan 350Z, Infiniti G35 coupe, Acura RSX, and Mercury Cougar. Some of them might be better than Mustang, but there is a mystic aura surrounding the Mustang which none of the others possess and hence my money would always be on a Mustang.
The 1965 - 1968 models were great. Caroll Shelby got the much needed power into these muscle cars. Who could forget the 1967 Shelby GT 500 - Eleanor to Nicolas Cage in "Gone in 60 seconds". But post 1968 the cars grew big and ugly. They corrected this in 1973, but the early 80's cars never looked great.
1994 saw a much needed make over to the car. This design stayed till 1998, and after that came the cool looking Mustang design, the ones which we mostly see on road today. In 2005 they decided to go retro and restyle the car. Infact in my opinion the 2005 is the best looking of all the lot.
Mine is a v6 and packs 200 HP under the hood. The dual stainless steel gas exhaust amplify the famous Mustang sound. The manual transmission makes the ride much more thrilling. Sometimes I wonder how people handle the GT versions with V8. I would love to get my hand behind the wheels of one of those.
Some of the other cars that I like are Nissan 350Z, Infiniti G35 coupe, Acura RSX, and Mercury Cougar. Some of them might be better than Mustang, but there is a mystic aura surrounding the Mustang which none of the others possess and hence my money would always be on a Mustang.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Laws of attraction
"If ρ be the distance to O
Mr. Newton said he could show
That the force of attraction
Behaves like the fraction
Of one over the square of rho"
-R. Rosengberg
Mr. Newton said he could show
That the force of attraction
Behaves like the fraction
Of one over the square of rho"
-R. Rosengberg
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