stepping into the United States

12 Sep 2009 - 19:24 (EST) : 04:45 (IST - the next day)

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I noticed that it'd been raining all afternoon. I just came out of a shower, after a 4-hour afternoon sleep. With no-one around and also with no mood to go out, 'the best time I should write something', I thought. Preferring to have a view of the outside, I adjusted the blinds of my window .. Darkness was fast falling in, adding to the already cloudy weather. I remembered someone saying, 'bye bye summer'.

It's been a little over two months I came to US. Work had been hectic. I thought of writing many a times, but never got into the mood. Pretty ironic, isn't it? Given the fact that we are hooked onto the internet 24 hrs a day ! :-) baaah !! never mind ...

1 Jul, 10:45 AM: I was at the Liberty International Airport, Newark, waiting for my colleagues to come and pick me up. The wait was long .. owing to their errands at work. I felt helpless without a cell phone until I found a gujju, who lent me his for a call. Nevertheless, it gave me ample time to get a first-hand view of one of the developed nations of the world. The fast moving cars, the maze of roads in front of me, the govt officials.... Much of it seemed the same way I had heard of. Rules existed and people consciously followed them. I was amazed, probably this is their way of life.

I must say the first few days seemed very different for me. Much like, I was not ready for the change in things. Almost everything outside home was new. People, cars, rules of the road, public transport, seemingly-little options of veggie stuff at eateries etc .... I used to get irate at times, maybe viewing things, the way I did not like them to be. 'silly guy, this is the way it is. Learn to live it', said my roommate, 'you will find it difficult otherwise'. I was still in a state of denial while !!

After a month, I got used to all of it. There are options: you just need to look for them with an open mind, I realized. I got habituated to the sandwiches, pizzas and of course the entrees, which I treat as main course !! ;-)

My workplace, Lucent Technologies, is in Murray Hill. The place is all open spaces with sparsely built blocks. You can see long stretches of lawns all over .. I will write a photo blog about it sometime. It's about 14 miles from the place I stay. We travel by car. No no...I don't drive ;-) my colleague does !!

..that's it for now. Try to put in more about other things here soon, the next time I get the mood !! :-)

... flying out of country ...

... yes, as they say in the industry I work in, I am going onsite, to work from New Jersey, US for the next few months ... It's been very very hectic for the past two months, onus to this trip as well.

I will keep posting while I am away from my country too .. if I get time to fill in

after the rain

There is this red-flower bearing tree just outside a window at my work place. It looked awesome the other day, with a backdrop of dark clouds. And during this season, this tree looks even more beautiful, with all red coloured flowers all over it. It withers away after the rains.

Captured few shots after a heavy rain. My N73 comes in handy many a times for these shots.

another weekend

feels like we have more holidays this time, with 2 consecutive weekends being 3-day long ones :-) Last week it was 'Ugadi' falling on a friday and this time it was 'Ram Navami'. The former marking the first day of another new South-Indian Lunar new year. Exaclty 9 (lunar) days later, comes 'Ram Navami', with whole India worshipping Lord Rama, an avatar of Lord Vishnu on Earth.

With scorching heat, beating on the otherwise said-to-be-cool Bangalore, I did not prefer to venture out except late evenings. Indoors seemed better....

khelo, aur khelo ... par abhi nahin

I was sure relieved to read the headline in the newspaper at my doorstep. 'IPL matches to be played elsewhere'. Guess everyone is happy now. Taken the craze, the monetory involvement (whosoever be the benefeciary) etc etc the business takes off, a second time. I would little be surprised if some of the IPL fans do not realize the general elections coming by at the same time. Interests of we Indians change from time to time ....

After all, what was wrong on the part of the Govt showing concern about the less security personnel available for some show business? There seemed a hue and cry over the Govt's apathy towards IPL. C'mon people, it's just another game mized with huge investment and fanfare ..that's it.

experiment: phir se !!!!!

Ever tried eating 'poori' with mango-juice? Or spicy mango-pickle rice with little 'rasam' by the side? :-)

Wierd combinations of dishes, they say. Well, 'wierd' is certainly not the word I would use, but that's how my friends put it. Some attribute it to my 'hybrid' nature. Being a south-indian, born n brought up almost as a north-indian, now back to the south and caught in the midst of variety ;-)

Not just with eating, I try my hand at experimenting at cooking as well. Someone who has read about my mango-methi rice, would know it. This time it was ....now wait. I haven't thought of a name yet. May be, you can help me :-)

This dish has got tomatoes, onions, mango and raw-banana. One more lazy Sunday - one more new curry dish.

The roots of this dish can be aknowledged to the sweet  mango-curry given at this site. Not wanting to waste the raw bananas kept at home, we tried this: making the mango 

curry, along with, add nicely fried raw banana pieces.

Does the photo look tempting? :-) Here is a brief, but elaborate enough summary of 

making it: fry well nicely cut raw banana pieces. Meanwhile, add medium sized cut 

mango pieces to well fried onions and tomatoes. Allow to cook for a while, till the mango softens. Add the fried raw banana pieces. Mix well. Garnish it, if you too want to take a photo of it, as we did ;-) Goes well with phulkas ..

It would be bad of me not to acknowledge the willingness of my roommates, to bear with and eat too .....

That's it. A bachelors Sunday, well spent .. :-)

a deserving one though

A friend had talked about this movie nominated for Oscars. Man !!!! ain't there any better ones made in Hollywood? I had thought. I guess we folks in India were too fast ahead in giving an average verdict to that movie. Made me proud for a moment.

The verdict is out. ARR got it, so did Rusool as well as the film Slumdog Millionaire, the Oscars. Great to hear the news that day.

I felt Rahman deserved it. Certainly, he has given much much better tracks in indian film music, just that they did not get showcased at Los Angeles. Umpteen reasons maybe, let's deal with the fact that he, as well the other Indians involved in it, just deserved it :-) Might it be for a hollywood flick.

Let me stop here. I don't want to turn this light-hearted blog of mine to that of a film bluff ...

dear prime minister

Firstly, let me wish a speedy recovery to our leader of the state, Dr Manmohan Singh. I am sure you are just one of the many people suffering from similar health issue as yours. And as someone who just got enlightened of the kind of life style you follow each day, am sure you would recover very fast.


I had got a chance to watch some TV at a friend's home. I just had to flip through the channels for some 15 mins to get the whole story. There he was, all over every news channel. Felt good, watching the update about the health of a person, really important for the state. And thanks to the same media folks, we all got to know the daily routine of Singh Saab, under a special edition article on 'what kind of life-style can lead to heart issues' !!! And there was much much more about Asian Heart Institute, AIIMS etc etc...many facts as they said.


But finally, just one question: was it an 8-hour surgery as shown on TV or an
11-hour one as pointed out by my favourite The Hindu? I will never know.

slumdog crorepati

well, THE most talked about film in this first month of 2009: Slumdog Millionaire. I am sure the fame and hype multiplied with the movie winning the Globe awards, including one for the music score by our very own AR Rahman.


It is stated to release in Indian theatres on the 23rd of Jan 2009. And I am writing this on the early hours of the very same day. I just finished watching the movie. Now stop wondering how, okay?? !!! the DVD rip is already out, a good quality print of course. Baaaah, I know am into this piracy ... :-|


Hmmm, what to write about this movie ...fine, let me put it this way: we played a few minutes of the movie, to check for the print quality of the file, and I just couldn't wait one more moment to watch it completely. The pace and interest you get from the beginning is good. I had heard the story from somewhere, but still wanted to watch the taking of the movie. The story of how a man, brought up in the slums, gets to know all the answers of the crorepati show !!! Wow !!!! Don't worry, I haven't stolen anything out of it. This is just a single line tag, which I gave to the movie. You can as well go and watch it.


On the dark side of it, the movie shows rags and living of the slums. Just for a few scenes, but it does show some stark reality. True, one cannot deny it. Such things exist in the developed world as well. Just that they don't make a movie out it, or at least it doesn't become a hit.


Nevertheless, a nice movie to watch. I bet you won't have the need and feel to stretch your legs a bit while the movie is on ...

under-utilized bangalore roads - looking the other way

I was trying to inch my way beside a car, through the crowded Bannerughatta road, when someone honked behind me: pee peeeeeee !!!! It was more of a 'Yell !!' than a simple give-me-way sound. I moved away, giving way to the big bully dragging behind me, trying to overtake me and head ahead. The car was real big - occupying as much space, which otherwise would have been taken by half a bus. I wondered at the thought, going back home from office.


Welcome to a scene on a narrow road of Bangalore. And there I was, stuck in the middle of all these vehicles, trying to sneak through even the slightest space I could find. And here was this big bully, with it's enormous size. Hold ON .. it doesn't end there. Let me tell you the fact that this big moving car had just ONE person inside !! Yes, just ONE. Sitting in the driver seat, with AC surrounding him, he was obviously unaware of some facts and his responsibility.


And they say, roads are narrow in Bangalore. Agreed they are, but it's little odd to occupy such a big space on the road, where if two of such kinds would have give way to a volvo bus, carrying some 50 persons !!


No hard feelings towards the car owner, but at least the commute to office can be thought to be shared or the office cab facility can be used, rather than traveling alone on a narrow road as this Bannerughatta road !!!



Let me tell you, if taken the number of the people effectively passing through this very same stretch of the road, the number would surely be surprising, no wonder.


Luxury is good, appreciated. But can we think of a way to utilize our roads effectively ...