Driving in Geneva...

After we took off from Amsterdam, Neeraj and I were very excited about having rented a car in Switzerland. Also, since we booked it online, we were able to rent a Mercedes or similar and we were extremly eager to see what car we got. Obviously we did not get the Mercedes :) however, the "or similar" was a Renault Scenic. We were paying considerably more than we anticipated because of the insurance coverage but driving in new country, you are better off with the full insurance. If we paid 20 CHF more each day, we would have been able to get an automatic instead of a stick-shift. But I am not fond of driving and I like to navigate...(or so I thought)

Here is snippet of conversation shortly after we left the car-rental office.

K: I hope this car is worth the money we have paid.
N: Don't worry..Enjoy!
In the car:
N: Cool, there is no key, just press this card in and press the start button.
K: Hey we don't know the way to the hotel
N: I am sure we will find it.

Few minutes later
K: I am lost
N: Wow..this car is soo nice...No wonder we are paying so much.
K: I need some help with this map, it's all Rue d' and Rue de la...
N: I thought you learnt French
K: Ha Ha..you have not seen my marksheet
N: Here is how you read this map. Read the name of the street from the list behind, then locate the Y co-ordinate on the grid in the map, then fold the map so that the X marking show up and then locate the street...simple!!
K: HUH??

A few minutes later..
K: Careful, we could easily miss an exit and go to France. We do not want to do that..my visa is valid of 15 days only!!!
N: Don't worry..we are doing fine..see the sign to Geneva city?
K: yeah!! :) You are so good with directions

I sit back and relax..the map shows a long way to the city center
K: Careful!! Don't you think this car is a little big for these streets..
N: Hmm..No, its fun to drive a powerful car...its new!!
K: It almost seems like a city in India..but cleaner..wonder where we are...WATCH OUT FOR THAT bike....the traffic is also a bit like India
N: hmm..why don't you locate us in the map?
K: I think its a long way..whats the name of the street we are on?
N: I thought you knew where we were..
K: Relax..I am sure we are on the right road..I just need to find the street name, locate it on the map
N: Okay, hey this car has some anti-lock gear first gear shut down (this is where I tuned out:))

A few seconds later, Ketaki visibly panicked..
K: What is the name of the street...why does it say Geneva city 3 km? how could it be possible? What is the scale of this map? Where is the name of the street? I don't like this at all.
N: Relax! But where the heck are the street names?
K: Whats that little thing on the side of the buildings with small letters?..Rue de...Oh No..Those are the street names??
N: Are you serious? Do you know where we are on the map? I wonder if that sign means we are supposed to stop? or maybe slow down?
K:We should have never rented this car. We should have never rented a car..I can't find a single street on the map. By the time I find one, we have gone past it long back. The scale of this map is not like what I thought. I don't want to navigate
N:You are not helping by panicking. Why don't you focus on the map?
K:But I can't!! You think its easy? We should have printed directions before we attempted to do this. Are we on this side of the river? I don't think we crossed any bridge?
N:No we didnot. Do we need to?
K: I don't know. Stop this car. I can't do this. This car is too big
N: Okay, it is, I am doing fine..Okay?..So where do we want to be?
K: (Sulking) The other side of the river.
N: As far as I know, there is not river in Geneva..
K: But I see it on the map!!!!
N: Ok ok..Here goes the bridge..Do you see a name?
K: Okay...now I know where we are..now we need to turn right..then left...(looking up) Now where are we?
N: I thought you knew where we were..Should I keep on going straight?
K: Yes...should buy us some time..why are we going up these cobbled streets? Do you think we are allowed to go here?
N: Well, I can't stop in the middle of the street. Anyways, looks like the rules are not as strict as US. People seem to drive as they please.
K: Hey, I think I know where we are..turn around now..
N: I can't ..the streets are so narrow...I think the car is a little too big...

A few minutes later, Neeraj pulled over and read and explained the map to me.
K: Okay...however, I think we made a big mistake.
N:Lets first get to the hotel.
K: I think we are lost again, how did we cross the river? I mean the lake?
N: Okay, I need to find a way to turn..I wonder if its our right of way? I guess it is (zooming and going to the other side). Wonder how many laws we have broken?
K: Not funny...lets try and get to the other side...
N: Okay, I am trying to...
K: We are going towards the airport again..
N: I am trying to turn...Okay, here we go...
K: by the way, we are driving on the tram path..I don't see any more cars ..Are we allowed to do so?
N: At this moment, I don't care, lets get to the other side of the lake first..
K: Finally, I know where we are..
N: Have I heard that before or what?
K: Okay I am lost
N: I think I have heard that before as well!!
K: Turn left ..turn left...don't cross the river again...
N: I have to ..I am in the turn-only lane..
K: I don't think it matters here.
N: Okay..here is the main street..The hotel should be on one of the cross-streets.
K: (sinking feeling) I think we just went past it.
N: Okay, then I know how to get there.

Finally, this continued for another half an hour, and we found 'Rue du Constantipole" and the hotel. Neeraj waits in what seems like a no-parking zone, while I run up to the reception. The girl there tells me that we cannot park on the street below, but need to park in the public parking, below the lake...She hands me a paper.."follow these directions, and you cannot get lost". Yeah right..It been two and half hours since we set out.

K: Okay, we need to park under the lake..
N: What?
K: Just listen to my directions..we can't get lost
N: Okay...here we go..
K: Hey we were not supposed to cross the river!!!
N: You did not tell me that...

After about half a dozen wrong turns, we finally found the public parking, gladly got out of the car, and walked towards the hotel thinking...Maybe the car is too big....

Amsterdam part 2

The twilight tour was in a small low boat with glass windows and dinner table. The one we took was a candlelight tour with drinks only. The boat with the twilight, with the tiny red candles was quite romantic. There were about 8 other people in the boat. The served free nuts and we just bought some pepsi. The tour guide was multi-lungual speaking in english and french. They took us around 6 of the 100 canals. Extremely cute. Showed us the twin sisters and twin brothers( two similar buildings in front of each other). People in Amsterdam in the olden days, paid their taxes proportional to the width of their house. So people built their houses slender and tall.

Also the buildings because of all the water, move and shift little bit. Sometimes even gaps of aout 6 inches between two buildings. They showed us the unassuming Presidents house, Anne Frank's museum( from outside), the point where we can see seven bridges in a row all light up, and the infamous "red light area". I was not prepared to see two girls in the show window gesturing to people. I instictively turned the handycam off, much to Neeraj's amusement. :)

The tour took about 90 minutes and by the time, the main city center was very quiet. The next day we went to Kukenhof Garden. It takes about 60-75 minutes by rail and bus to get there. We were armed with 1 handy cam and two digital cameras. Nothing could have prepared us for the sight. Although it was then end of the season, the various colors, shapes, sizes, textures drove us mad..We went clicking like crazy. The handy cam battery died within 2 minutes and after that was just a bag to carry.

A lot of the flowers had been plucked or were being plucked. It gave us an idea of what we missed :) There was also and Orchid and Lily competition which made up for the tulips slightly. We ate something like a burger called croquettes (shaped like the cutlet in Deccan Queen). We were really sad to leave, it helped a little to know that anyways after two days, all this would be gone.

Since we had a light lunch, we decided to have a proper dinner. Desi was out, we had just left US. :) Neeraj wannted to try Indonesian food (Indonesia was ruled by the Dutch and there is a lot of influence in Indonesia). We found this place that seemed reasonable. We did not realize that the fact that people can smoke in restaurants in Europe can be such a nightmare. Women seemed to smoke more than the men. To top it all, I had my own bottle of water, the guy in the restaurant pointed out that "its not considered good to get your own water". Not like US!! :)

The food must have been good, but the smoke was so terrible, that we almost wanted to walk out. The one hour that we sat there, I almost felt like the smoke chopped off a day from my life...WHY?????

Neeraj started feeling pretty sick after that and that continued well into Switzerland. However, at that time, our clothes were stinking pretty bad. The next day we asked about a cab to the airport and we were told to take the tram and train which works out cheaper and faster. Who would have thought the tram would breakdown bring all the trams to a standstill!!! It was quite a sight...We got off and walked the way to the station..
All in all, we loved Amsterdam and enjoyed the people, the food and the sights there...

Out of US..into Europe..

The flight to London was quite uneventful, except the fact that Neeraj and I had to sit apart. Aparently, everybody books seats online..we were left with none. :( Fortunately, it was only a 6 and half hours flight and I had some work to do :)

After landing into London, the immigration was quite smooth, we were going there just to drop all our stuff. No point in lugging around 4 suitcases 25 Kgs each everywhere. Moreover, the luggage restrictions are stricter withing Europe. Way too strict!!

We had booked most of the Europe trip on easyjet or Ryan Air. We were pleasantly surprised that EasyJet allows no restrictions on hand luggage. (Within reasonable limits :)). These flights are cheap and are very basic, make Southwest airlines look like a luxory! The other thing is that there is no food served on these flights ..not even soda and pretzels. Well in an hours flight, it does not really matter. Also these flights usually do not use the main airports, but the ones that are out of the town or not so well connected. Luton is one such airport. Neeraj's bro-in-law had to drop us off at 5 am and it was almost an hours drive. The taxing in Luton takes so long, that you almost feel like this plane will just drive its way to amsterdam :)

When we were close to landing in amsterdam, we could see a few fields that looked red, but having been told that the tulip season was almost over, we were skeptical. After reaching amsteram, we realized that the entire printout of the iternerary was missing. Neeraj forgot it at the check-in counter in Luton. Then began the mad rush to find an internet cafe only to be old that there are none and we had to go to the city. It was about 8 in the morning and we immigrated, bought tickets for KuKenhof gardens and then bought the rail tickets to go to the City. It took about 20 minutes and was quite crowded with British teenagers. I simply could not understand their accent. !!

The train stops at the centraal station which is in the heart of the city. It was crowded with commuters, except that they were on bicycles. :)
It was still too early and after getting the information for the nearest internet cafe, we set out to drag our bags on the oh-so-European cobbled streets. We needed that to get directions to the hotel although we vaguely knew where we wanted to go.

After walking about 20 minutes, we finally gave up and asked a local. He asked us to get on a tram and we did. You can purchase a one-time ticket, though we purchased a day-pass. These need to be validated, that is the date and time is stamped. After a few minutes, we did not know how long to wait and asked the train-conductor. He told us that we had passed Ramada long back.
We immediately stepped out. The other problem is that not all the stops were marked on the free map we got. There was no way to know how far we went. Once we got off, we walked over to the other side to go back. A desi, mostly software, guy smiled at us and asked us if we were staying in Ramada. Out of the blue!! He said he was living there was two years and it was about 20 steps away from where we were...thank God for small mercies.

The hotel is in a residential area, away from the city center, however neat and clean. The rooms are small but functional.
We crashed and went off to sleep and woke up only at 3 pm. Then we set out to look for lunch. We took the tram back and found a money changer to change the travellers checks that we got from Neeraj's sis. Its a good idea to get these from US, since 50 Euros = 45 Euros. You lose some in conversion (not exactly conversion)

We found a place which looked like mediteranian food and went in. I ordered Falafel and neeraj ordered something like a satay. Mine was sufficient with one sandwich and one round of salad. You have to buy water and a small bottle cost 2 Euros. We decided to keep this bottle for the rest of the trip and stepped out.

The city was still not very bustling. Night-life in amsterdam is famous (or notorious ;)). We booked a twilight tour in the canals and walked along the canals waiting for the tour to start...

Chi-town

The landing in Chicago is pretty dramatic. Midway is not the main airport and it shows. The runway is so close to a freeway that you almost feel like you are going to scrape the cars on the road. I have seen plenty of places where the road is close to the runway, however this was the worst.

The flight itself was uneventful, or so I think. I feel asleep even before the engines started to hum and woke up right before we landed. I can easily fall asleep..anywhere..anyhow. As I child I hated to sleep. However, a night full of physical work for enough to knock the lights out.

After we got all our luggage (all 8 bags of different sizes, weights, volumes), we got our rented car (a nissan Sentra), stuffed the back seat with the luggage and headed to the hotel.

The hotel we had booked was very close to the main airport, O'Hare. It was a good 30 minutes drive. Again, after making several trips to take the bags up, we headed out to find dinner. Elk Grove is a really small suburb and the only place that looked decent and was open was an Italian restaurant called 'Avanti'. It had several pictures of movie stars, sports people etc. Had Gnocci which is a pasta made out of potato and Neeraj had a sandwich. Both were good, except that the sauce was very sour. I am not really fond of tangy stuff and I am extremely worried about finding food in Italy.

Anyways, came back to the hotel and slept for the next 11 hours. We meant to wake up at 7 am, we did, only that the alarm went off at 7am PST :). We missed the free hotel breakfast, so had to go to Dunkin Donuts to get coffee and a bagel. On a side note, I think California misses a lot by not having Dunkin.

This Dunkin, like our hotel and many other places around here, is owned by desis. Apparently a lot of the places are. The drive into Chicago downtown is just like any other, except that even on thursday at 11 am, there was traffic. Parking that was safe and cheap was hard to find and eventually, we parked close to Sears tower. We immediately went up the tower. It was an amazingly clear day. You are on the 100th floor of this 1700 feet tall gigantic building. You can see the flat terrain as far as the eye can travel. The Michigan lake is a sea. There, I have said it. After years of teasing friends who called it a sea, I agree it is a sea.

After we got down, I shocked Neeraj by suggesting pizza for lunch. Found a place called Giordino's which had a long wait for the single person serving of stuffed pizza. I am not a pizza lover, hence I won't do justice to the pizza by commenting on it.

Then we walked around millenium park, the diamond cut building. The strange thing in Chi-town is that security guards and cops go around on Segways. Pretty cool. We rested our feet at Navy Pier which was quite quiet as it was a weekday. We sat there, watched the sun set and then treaded back to the car park. Here is when it got a little scary as it was getting quieter and lonelier. We kept on telling each other that next block we get into a cab. The problem was that we did not remember the exact cross street where we parked. After a few fights, wrong ways, we made it to the car and rushed out of the city. The only place we found open near the hotel was a DQ. Had a really awful sandwich and worse fries.

The next day, I saw one of the worst thunderstorms. Luckily, our flight was one of the few not cancelled or delayed.

Chicago is clean (cleaner than NY), its multi-layer downtown is different and confusing. I think I did not see all the better parts of chicago, so it seemed just like any other big city. The lakeshore drive, the navy pier, the skyline and most of all the weather were what I enjoyed the most.

Ketaki's Guide to moving to India

Hmm..so much has happened. We are on our way back to India for good! It was something Neeraj and I wanted to do since the day we met. We finally got around to it.

We left bay area for good on the 9th may with not a minute to spare. We were packing (mostly Neeraj ;)) for over a week. The last weekend was a crazed rush to get the apartment empty. The ambitious plan was to get it spotless...

We shipped about 150 cubic feet of stuff on Friday. We hugely underestimated the amount of work left after that. We fortunately were able to give away a lot of the stuff. However the time it takes to get the stuff out of the apartment is huge. We ran out of trash bags, plastic bags, brown paper bags, boxes to throw out stuff. We even ran out of space in the trash cans in the apartment. We even used up the two trashbins futher away. We made countless trips to the donation center for almost an hour at 3 am in the morning. Fortunately, the guy who lives below, was not at home.

The best part about doing this at this unearthly hour was that I was able to throw out stuff that I would have to clung to had I been even slightly more awake and in a slightly less in a "don't care" stage.

As luck would have it, early in the morning (or was it late in the night :)), I realized that I was not able to log into my laptop. I drove to work at 5 am in the morning and sorted that out while poor Neeraj was still throwing stuff out. Its just unbelievable how many things can find nooks and corners of the aparment. Almost seemed to defy all laws of physics :) Think about it this way, there is a huge pillow stuffed in a fairly small box. Imagine you pull it out and now try to put it back in...seems impossible..So how in the world did all this stuff fit into our one bedroom apartment?
Bad anology...but I can't think of anything better.
Ah yes, and there was stuff that should have been shipped to India, but was inadvertently left behind. We had to post it to Neeraj's sister in Boston, or leave it behind with friends ...you know who you are...we really appreciate it!! :). Fortunately, another good samaritan came with coffee, bless her...and more trash bags :)

Amongst random things we left behind, theres my car, some clothes, my hair dryer...

Finally, at 11 am in the morning, we handed over the keys and left the place that has been home for almost three years now. We will always cherish the memory of our apartment.
Now we shall live in and out of bags, hotels, homes of relatives for the next one month. We are going to the following places:
1. Chicago (done)
2. Boston (here right now)
3. UK
4. Holland
5. Switzerland
6. Italy
7. France

The next few blogs will be travel blogs. I will write them regularly..post them when I can...

adios ...

Going to NYC..

It is one place I just love. I went there once last year and always wanted to go there again. I just love the hustle-bustle. I think its a place which has vibrance like no other place. Its like the city is alive ..of course, I should I add that I spent all my time in Manhattan. Oh well, I loved it and so going there back again!! :)

Went to the tech museum with the smartest guy on earth..daddy!! :D I think he would have enjoyed going with Neeraj more since they could have had a technical discussion, but he was stuck with me..And I had a wonderful time. We also rode the Segway. It was more fun to see the guy there struggling to discuss it with daddy. One of the things that daddy asked was.."Why Segway?" And its true, after all, what can it do that a bike can't. Apart from all the technical comparison between the true, the one thing he mentioned was "Status symbol". Amazing, aint it?

Also going to Chicago in May. Am going places or what?

Unprofessional...

Why is it that some cultures have more unprofessional people that the others. It is almost sure that when you deal with people from a particular culture or geographic location, they are almost surely a pain to work with.

Its frustrating when people do not want to do their work and come to expect that others will do it for them. This post cannot continue without getting politically incorrect. Hence thats all I have to say..

Travel anxiety....

Is there a word for people who have a phobia of travelling? I have recently discovered that whenever we go somewhere, I get nervous. A little voice in me constantly screams. Its screaming right now..we are off to Lake Tahoe...

British accent..

rocks..listening to Bridget Jones Diary the edge of reason. It is soo funny.

Happy new year...

Wish everyone a happy new year.

Not a very joyous beginning to the new year. The brain numbing events in Asia, the death, the fear, the apprehension. Just last year my dad left Indonesia for good after having lived there for over 8 years. I have spent plenty of summer vacations in Indonesia. Beautiful country with the most amazing people. Its unbelievable that this should happen there. Its like the country just does not get a break :(.

I have been to Chennai as well. My best friend just moved from there to B'lore. Can't imagine the places I have been to and loved are gone. Just not fair....This is not something anyone can be blamed for, makes it harder to vent out..whom do you hold responsible? Population, religion, political beliefs, heard them all..ridiculous explanations. What if ..looms over the mind of ever Californian.

May God give peace to the people whose life, love has been washed away...

Bought my first item on ebay!!

It was more of an adventure than some thing I wanted..but it was fun! ;)

Yes, I am guilty....

I have not read Da Vinci Code and now I am trying to get my hands on a copy. Reason for the inspiration, National treasure. The movie is alright..surely deserves a watch..on the DVD. But after the movie, I heard from a lot of people that the decryption in Da Vinci code is a lot more interesting and challenging..I guess a trip to Borders today evening is a must.

On the other hand, I guess I should get my wiper blades changed ASAP. I drove to work at 6 am (insane I know). It was pitch dark and had rained all night and was still drizzling a bit. As soon as I turned the wiper on, the entire windshield turned into red and yellow lines shining against the dark road. I guess the wiper is not actually removing water, just spreading it and so I could not decipher where the lane markings ended. Very scary indeed.

Borders and AAA, I think triple A is gonna win today..

Trip down memory lane....

Dug through Neeraj's cassette collection, yes my primitive car does not have a CD player, and found a whole bunch of old movies. The reason to do this was that we watched Naach, which reminded me of Rangeela so much. I had "pyaar yeh...jaane kaisa hain" playing in my head over and over and I had to listen to it. I knew Neeraj had it somewhere, so dug through the old bag.

By the time I reached the car, I was curious to find what was in the unmarked coverless cassettes. First one is was some marathi sidey concert. Popped the second one in another sidey marathi album..side flip..very softly..."Lonely is the night, when I am not with you..." turned up the volume in sheer disbelief. That is NOT something Neeraj would have ever listened to. But I did, all of my teen years. "Knife..cuts like a knife" "Everything I do.." "Hello" "Can't stop loving you"...Does not get any mushier..

Neeraj has officially disowned this cassette, it is definitely not mine, it could not have been mine. Because the other side would never have been wiped :)

You can run but you can't hide...

Hehe, tried to run from blogging, but I guess the urge to write brings me back here :). So what have I been doing these past two months? Reading a lot of books. I am a self confessed romantic and a sucker for mushy novels. I guess I will never really grow tired of reading "and they lived happily ever after" kind of books. I love to curl up with a novel, coffee and rajai.

It all started with getting a free rental of "Pride and Prejudice". I remember attempting to read this when I was 7. At that time, just loved to read. All I could lay my hands on was this book. And I also remember how amused mom was. So then I just gave up on that since nothing made sense. The words did, the feelings did not.

So, we got this 2-DVD set from blockbusters. Started watching it at about 10 pm, thinking we would watch it in parts. Was so hooked on it that Neeraj and I watched the entire 5 hour movie in one go. Darcy played by Collin Firth stole my heart. Next few days, Neeraj had to listen to Darcy praise. hehe. Plan to get my hands on "Love Actually" to watch it again.

After that, regular trips to library. Did not enjoy Emma as much. Sense and sensibilty was okay, but nothing beats P&P.

Its shocks me that I had stopped reading completely. I guess as long as I get an occasional love story and an occasional Harry Potter, I am fine!!

I am back....

Just been caught up with a lot of things...Parents-in-law visited for two weeks. Action-packed food-filled days :) Now I am one of the senior people in the team...means lots of responsibility...

Its always fun to have someone you have known as a child tell you how much they like you, your non-stop chatter...

Dad's friend visited us this weekend with this wife and sun and they had such nice things to say about me. It definitely was a feel-good weekend! Made punjabi food and for once we did not make enough to feed entire Santa Clara. We also managed to finish the leftovers! Thats too much by our standards, usually we throw out food, or land up getting nauseated with it.

Went bowling and mostly caught up on sleep...12 hours each day... :D

RDIAENG.
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

forwarded to me by Medha...Awesome isn't it??

Bourne supremacy rocks..

loved the movie....you know what I liked the most, the ease with which he moves around..like I have always said, I would love to travel around the world!! So I was fascinated by that!! I mean not with the whole CIA after me! :)

I enjoyed it.

Shopping for a guy....

can be exhausting!! Went shopping for Neeraj's birthday gift, I know I am late, but can barely get him to go to the mall with me. So finally today I dragged him to the mall, to buy the white shirt he said he wanted. Phew!! A plain, simple white cotton shirt is all we wanted..Not a tall order, was it? Sears, Macy's, GAP. No plain white semi-formal shirts. So like I always complain, they don't make clothes for the real women. All of them are meant for models, or plus size. There were no decent shirts. If we liked the material, it had a big golden sun on the sleeve. Or design on the collar, or simply transparent and thin that will surely get spoilt in the washer. Finally we ate at Panda Express and promised ourselves that we would be back.

Camping was fun...

was tiring and hot. Did not do touristy things like various falls etc. Hung out at the lake on the way back from Glacier point. Guys did some rock climbing.

Back to  work, parents-in-law got their visa and will be visiting next month!

 

Going camping for the weekend....
 
Yosemite, 8 people, one 8 seater van! fun times...
 
more when we are back
 
PS: drove all the way to SF and back. Am I getting better or what?? :D

Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell.
Jimmy Rogers on the Victrola up high.
Mama's dancin' with a baby on her shoulder.
The sun is settin' like molasses in the sky.
The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything.
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for.

Black velvet and that little boy's smile.
Black velvet with that slow southern style.
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees.
Black velvet if you please.

Up in Memphis the music's like a heatwave.
White lightning, bound to drive you wild.
Mama's baby's in the heart of every school girl.
"Love me tender" leaves 'em cryin' in the aisle.
The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true.
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for.

Black velvet and that little boy's smile.
Black velvet with that slow southern style.
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees.
Black velvet if you please.

Every word of every song that he sang was for you.
In a flash he was gone, it happened so soon.
What could you do?

What could be better that this blasting in the car on a friday evening, sun setting behind you, and me singing at full volume? Back to back Black Velvet on two different radio channels!! Aah maybe I might be exaggerating a bit..am so ready for a weekend!! So much a good review can do for a morale boost..

Fun weekend..

SF and pier 39, bbq at Vasona County Park, Santa Cruz and Boardwalk and 4th July Fireworks. Some observations...numerous trips to Lombard Street and I am still terrified every time, especially, if we take Neeraj's stickshift. Though nowadays, we just take mine. No poing getting a high BP every single time. Fisherman's wharf, clam chowder and garlic fries. Yum Yum. And I am always fascinated by the spray painting artists. They are good, although, sometimes they tend to be repeatitive. Shalimaar, always associated with over-eating, no parking spots. Went to "naan & curries" last time and its not half as good. Maybe its more non-veggy and beefy than us brahmins are comfortable with :). Shalimaar suits Indian/maharashtrian palate well. Drive on Golden Gate gives you a rush and a sense of power. I did it last time, although I jumped off the driver's seat as soon as we reached the other end. Marine headlands is not my cup pf tea, yet.

We always want to visit other places in SF like the Museum of Fine Arts, Japan town, China town, Haight and Ashbury, but somehow every single time we do the typical tourist things. I think a few days in the city is what we need!!

Tandoori bbq can stir up quite an interest amongst people around you. "Chicken Teeeka"..um um good! New found love, Fish bbq. Tilapia and Cajun spice.

4th July fireworks, too short :((. Missing Diwali poluted smell, continuous noise and faraal. I have been lucky to visit India once in Diwali and its just something that I miss every single Diwali here in US. Well, not for too long. :)

At Boardwalk, you can't be weak at heart or weak in stomach. Weak in heart is fine, you can just walk around and eat. All the forbidden delicacies find a way into your stomach. The beach, I think I will pass on the tan part, but I always get sun burnt. Red flaming cheeks is what I have right now. Something I never had in India. I guess I am my father's daughter in more ways than one :D Americans dress down at boardwalk, Indians dress up, Saadi, Salwar kameez..the whole nine yards, or maybe six. :).

As it shows, I had a very relaxing weekend...back to the grind..

Carpet clean, kitchen clean and car clean..

yippppeeee. Isn't that great? We haven't put the furniture back yet. This is so clean and nice. Caught Lakshya on the big screen. Was pleasantly suprised. Decent movie, decent pace. Gonna watch Munna bhai again. Loved it the first time I saw it. Nothing more to blog..so toodles!

Its hot in Santa Clara..

so hot that one day home of cleaning can drive you mad!! Since I am in an extra-cool office all day, just don't realize how hot it is. I miss the free utils and A/C in Fort Collins. Were we spoilt or what. We used to leave the A/C on in the morning so we would have the apartment cool when we got back from school. I want an A/C....

How come people with authority think they don't and those who don't have any think they do....

Or maybe thats how I see things, whereas in reality, who seem to have authority don't really have any and simply project they do. Does that make sense? I guess not. Anyways, plans to clean my kitchen, carpet, car, go jogging, cooking...and I know all I am going to do is flop in front of the couch and do nothing. :D

I need the motivation....

Finally issue resolved..

and some sanity is restored here at work :). Had a very high calorie weekend. First made some italian-mexican chicken that I made that was soaking in butter and cheese. Then has a lunch of shrikhan puri and dinner of awesome puranpoli and masale bhaat and batate wade! Why can't I eat and not put on weight??? Its sooo unfair. :)). Anyways, who said life is fair?

So what else, been watching all sorts of silly movies, Aan, Dev. Amazing how reel life is so divorced from real life. If I want to seen unrealistic movies, then might as well go all the way! The ones that claim to be hard-hitting and are ridiculous are the bad ones. Anyways, never ever watched soo many indian movies ever in a week. Time to go to blockbusters or AMC to catch up on foren movies.

What else? No news on the stolen stuff:( Have pretty much washed our hands off it.

Phew..been sooo busy. :( Putting in 12 hours a day at work. with production issues, upset customers. Although i like it when things are lively, this is getting hyper. will post soon..promise

The reason for the previous blog..

was some people who are obnoxious and overbearing. And I find it hard to sometimes say no. Maybe because I don't care about somethings strongly enough to get into an argument and hence I comply to certain things easily. However, sometimes it backfires and then you are in a soup!! :) I try to avoid confrontations unless I am passionate about it. Then run for cover!! ;)

Listening to radio on itunes, and I tuned into some top 40 and everything is new to me, saw an 80's section and tuned into those stations one by one, and heard a familiar song on almost each one of those :D. We used to beg mom to buy blank audio cassettes (90 minutes, 60 minutes were too short). Then we used to get cassettes from Rushi and Radha who always had latest music, and then copy the songs we liked. Then play it over and over again in the car. Wham, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson, Madonna..all of them. Atul and I used to tune our radio's into voice of America, he also had a list of radio frequencies and times when there were countdowns. Then we used to exchange notes, record if it was good quality.

I also sent a letter to VOA for a free calender, and I did get it. At that time, however, I lost interest in the calender very quickly and lost it. :). After all, did it matter if it was Chicago downtown or SF? Now with everything available on the net, I guess the novelty of tuning into a radio chanel and listen to the entire countdown to hear the lastest songs is gone. I just look it up on the internet and listen to it. Especially, hindi movies.

Internet did kill the radio star..

Technical support, not my cuppa tea...

how many times have I heard this? How many times have I had to convince people that its a challenging job. It needs an in depth knowledge of many aspects of the term "computer". And it requires the skills to handle people. And yet, time and again, I have heard "Support???!! Call center??" "Is your job related to computers" "You must have forgotten programming by now??..ahem..I do html and jsp as a consultant" WHAT????????

How come everyone who is a developer thinks of themselves as superior? Ooooh, I am a DBA oh a big bank, I did not know that my database is not being backed up, and I don't know how to check if the storage is about to exceed, but YOU do support, hence you are a mere "technician".

"I am the manager and I am certified in all these blah blah blah things, but can you show me how to find the ip address of the machine I am on". "I am this java expert, but somehow I never had to catch an exception, so can your technician show me" "I am not too sure how to use winzip, but I am a leam lead here". There are true sentences I have heard.

I just had a tough day...maybe tomorrow holds a better day....

Back to Alaska and good things...

Looooong days. Restaurants open till midnight. Nice food even in the remotest of places. "Hun ..Sweetie...Dear" in the conversation. People smiling at strangers. Relaxed mood. Pure air....If only the camera did not get stolen.

I have my car back...

aaaah..the bliss. Its amazing how easily you get used to comfort. For almost a year I did not have a car and I was ok. Of course now office has moved much further away. And considering I spent two years in Fort Collins, CO, with no bus. The place I lived had no direct bus route. So I walked, come rain, snow (it always did). I used to thoroughly enjoy it. The tread back from department to home, listening to songs on the cool MP3 played daddy gifted me when I visited Indonesia the first time. That was almost 3 years back.

And look at me, withdrawal symptoms for not having a car for one week...shame on me ;)

I did get something back from Alaska...

a bad cold. :( And it is Alaska, simply because Anu and Sheetal also have a cold. Could it get any worse?

I guess, now I should stop cribbing about Alaska, and talk about the good things. The Portage glacier was extremely beautiful and considering we went there only because we were looking for a restroom, it was a pleasant surprise. Here is the link to get an idea.

http://www.alaska.net/~design/scenes/portage/portage.html

It was even prettier than the pictures here. The Kenai Fjords national park is also fantasic, certainly something to experience, though not for those with weak stomach :)). Seeing a glacier and touching one, never would I have realized how blue they are.

Also did white water rafting. Level 3/4. Thank God, the lady convinced us, because since I don't know how to swim, I was a bit skeptical. But its worth every penny. Also also on this one, we did not have to row, we just sit and hold on tight :D

More positive things about Alaska to follow....

I got an A...

so finally I think I am all set to graduate..and the documents are falling in place too.

Alaska was no fun...

first Sheetal lost her contact lens. Then we had our car broken into and lost a lot of stuff. thats so unfair. Considering that we bought the camera a week back (a digital SLR), its very very bad. To top it all, we took a cruise at Kenai Fjords, and Neeraj, Sheetal and Anu were sea-sick all the time. And it was a 9 hour long cruise. They missed out on the Salmon dinner. :(

So when I think about Alaska, I can't help but think about that and I can't really say its the best trip I had. Considering a similar trip we had last year to Yellowstone was so much fun.

My two cents:
1. Don't ever leave anything in a car, even for a few minutes
2. Get the maximum possible insurance on a rental car
3. Get expensive stuff insured ASAP
4. Don't park in an uncovered parking, if a covered parking is available. (Even if both belong to the hotel)
5. Be alert of people around you.

I am off to Alaska....

for the long weekend!! So what if weather.com predicts showers, so what if Denali park tours are still closed, so what..I am taking off for four days, pure unadulterated fun! yaay..

We will be visiting Denali National Park, Kenai Fjords, and Anchorage. Last year's trip to Yellowstone was simply amazing, this promises to be fun too! :) Never in a thousand years did I think I would go to Alaska...as I pack all my winter stuff, can't help but think of Madhuri in a sari in the song from Pukar, on a glacier. Should I pack my one and only saree?? haha.

PS: Grades are partly out and looks like mes heading to atleast an A-, mostly an A

I am playing with templates...

I must say I am really challenged when it comes to art!!! :)

Happy birthday dear Aai....

I hope you have a great day!! I miss you a lot!!

Finally I got to see Shrek 2. Loved Puss in Boots. :) Very very sweet movie. Totally worth going to the theatre to see this. Although the music was much better in the first movie. Also Lord Farquaad was more funny than Prince Charming and Fairy GodMother. Donkey is awesome as expected.

I heard they are planning to make two more movies. I will surely watch both the movies.

Came across something very interesting...

India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software, reported in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century.
The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart.; Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century)365.258756484 days.
The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.
Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India; Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th Century;The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 10^6(10 to the power of 6) whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10^53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10^12(10 to the power of 12).
According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.
USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of Wireless communication was Prof. Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called 'Sudarshana' was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology,digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC

Quite amazing eh?

You fill up me senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses come fill me again.

Come let me love you, let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you
Come let me love you, come love me again.

:) puts a smile on my face, every single time.

Heard a very interesting comment

'sometimes when I talk to cranky people, I am glad that I am not like that'. That is so true. I mean, it must be so hard to be grumpy and sour all day long.

Got my car serviced today, so got a ride in my co-worker, Danny's, Mercedes SLK 320. That is some car, although you feel like you are sitting at 3 inches from the road (you probably are :)). Its way too cool with the automatic roof sliding back in about 15 seconds. When I came to CA the first time, I totally flipped to see a metal hard top just glide into the trunk, much to Neeraj's amusement. He, anyways, thinks Fort Collins is a gaav (village).

But given a choice (yeah right:)), I will still prefer a four door sedan or even an SUV, small cars scare me...Neeraj almost bought a Mazda Miata when he got his first job. I am most thankful to people who discouraged him. Of course, then he went to the other extreme to buy a SUV...

Liars..

put me off completely. Sometime you know that you are right and the other person is lying..blatantly. But you cannot do anything, because the customer is always right. And there are others who are so sweet. Its really so nice to work with them. Then you automatically spend more time on them.

Vent out by shopping?? :D

Reality shows ....

Seem to go beyond imagination as time passes. Is there any theme that has not been tried? There is a show about restaurants. Gimme a break. They are so gross sometimes. Saw a trailer for Inferno, could not believe what I saw. They have to lie down in water which had dead body parts. Or atleast thats what I heard. I certainly hope I was wrong. Makes me shudder to even think of it.

PS. IPOD rocks

I am done with my finals..

and I have spent an idyllic day. No hurry to get tihngs done. Went to the mall to buy some clothes for Neeraj. Spent 3 hours in the mall for shopping for a guy. It can get quite tiring :). I never realize it when I am shopping for myself.

Went to Shoreline park today in Mountain View. Its a really nice place. When we went there the first time with aai, we did not know there was a lovely lake in the park and we came back thinking there is nothing in that place. And we also wondered why people praized that place. Today we found out. Its very green, fun place for a family outing. Reminded me of Saras bag. :) The fugewala was missing though. :))

Also went to Bayland's park and turned back halfway, thinking there is nothing there, maybe if we walked some more...

If I had all the time in the world (and money, of course :D), I would....

visit new countries..I want to go to Peru to see Machu Pichu, to Egypt to see the pyramids, so Mexico, it just seems so colorful and vibrant. I want to go to Europe - Go around the countryside, sip coffee at a streetside cafe, or see Greece. I want to go to Japan eat sushi (on seconds thoughts, I don't think they would have california roll, its the only one I simply love :)). I want to go on an African Safari. I want to go to Canada. You can't consider the "Maid of the mist" ride much of a Canada visit ;). I want to see Mount Rushmore, Badlands national park. I want to go to Sikkim, Mizoram, Assam..all the states there. I want to go to Calcutta...I want to see the world.

Places I actually have been to

Indonesia - Bali, Yogyakarta, Mount Bromo, Solo, Thousand Islands (Putri and Pelangi), Suryakarta. Oh I just love it there. Its a fabulous country with such happy smiling people. I associate summer vacation with Indonesia, cause usually, the day our exams got over, we would go there.

Singapore - Amazes me with the blend of high tech and culture living side-by-side at the same time. Even people from US are impressed with this country. I would love to stay and work there.

Jamaica - Reggae music, Beach, Jerk food, jolly people, Dunn's waterfall, blue mountain coffee, Rum and Cigars (Last two no relevance to me, but its an integral part of a visit there)

US - :) I am here and I have been here for 4 years now. Too much to write.

Next on agenda: Alaska in two weeks!

PS: IPOD mini delivered to apartment office...Gotta rush to pick it up :D

Why have I started blogging regularly all of a sudden

No specific reason. Just trying to see if I have the will-power to be regular at something if I want to. Reduce the adhoc way in which I do things in life. I tend to give up on things easily, so is there something that I can stick to?

My ipod has been shipped and it will be here on 17th. yippee.

To be praised....

Is always good thing. To be praised publicly, even better!! :) To be praised publicly but subtly, priceless!!

So, its okay to be soft and non-assertive. hehe. Its easier for me that way!
Not a very important thing for most, means a lot to me, because I have worked for it. So its nice to know that all is not in vain. Its not like people don't realize. So, its all good. Its something I wanted to do once. I did it :D

Keeping quiet....

is not always a bad thing, is it? I just got "gyan" (as Gayatri calls it) from a couple of people at work that I am too soft sometimes and that I have to be more assertive. Well, there is a sense of responsibility that sometimes makes you push harder. It can get stressful, but then I'd rather be stressed than have someone stressed because of me! Makes me seem like a saint, eh?? ;) But no, I have been told by numerous people that I have a caustic tongue when I am irked. So, I am trying to control that as well. At the cost of being over-worked.

So moral of the story, if you are too soft, it ain't good. If you are too harsh, that is totally not good. SO, what to do? :D

Lunch at Saravana Bhavan...

Yumm..its the best South Indian place in Bay Area. Of course, nothing beats Vaishali. Neeraj and I, like all other puneites, miss it so much.

My parents, after their wedding in Indore, had a reception for my dad's co-workers in Telco. They were so busy meeting people and being hosts, they did not get anything to eat by the time all the guests were gone. So they went to Vaishali and since then, we have always gone there atleast once in two weeks. The year that it was closed for renovation was so strange. Its a place you go to hang out, get a quick bite, catch up on old friends.

Everytime I go to India, or my dad went to India, we just HAD to go to Vaishali. Fortunately Neeraj and his family also love it as much as we do! So simple!

I wish they open a branch here. Although on second thoughts, I think I don't think they can bring the entire FC road :)

New look for the blogger..

Pretty cool.

Saw Main Hoon Na yesterday. Can't say I am too crazy about it. I went with very low expectations, so it was okay. The make-shift IMC6 theatre in San Jose is a joke. Blue carpets on the wall with multi-color lights and folding chairs for the excessive people in the theatre, not my cuppa tea. We were in line for about 40 minutes to get in, and yet sat in the third row from the front. I have no idea whats the deal with not having seat numbers. Very irritating.

Sushmita looks pretty cool, loved the look. The other girl is okay. The guy who plays Lucky looks extremely weird with the long hair, looks like anything but the school heart throb. Shahrukh is, as always, larger than life. The matrix and Mission Impossible spoofs are funny (assuming they are spoofs :)). The best part is the last song. Never get to see spot boys, make-up crew on the camera. I think the most loveable part of the movie. And what was Tabu doing in the blink-your-eyes-and-miss-me shot?? Anu's take was that she must have been shooting for Meenaxi some where near, and must have strayed away from the set in search of some action.

All in all, no comparison to Kuch Kuch Hota hain. Somehow the class is missing.

10 hours undisturbed sleep..

Can put a smile on my face! :) I simply love saturday mornings. There is no routine, schedule or hurry. Except on weekends when I work. But oh well, not this weekend!!

What is even better is catching an old episode of Beverly Hills 90210. I was majorly into it when I was in India. I used to think it was so cool to be a teenager in US. I used to love the clothes, the hair and wonder how it would be. Now as I watched them again after a good 8-9 years, I could not believe how my perceptive has changed drastically. For one, the serial seems cliched and almost silly at times :) I could not help but smile to see these actors who were well into their 20s play 17 year olds. It was fun to watch it and just that. No profound meaning of life in it. Though as a teenager, I certainly used to think there is so much more to it!

They are together...

Ross and Rachael. So I am happy, being the eternal romantic, I was hoping that that would be the end. I think I liked the episode, not too mushy, not too senti. Maybe a wee bit cold. Oh well. Maybe I was almost sure it would be weepy, that I was surprised it was not. :)

So I am finally done with all the course assignments and now with just the finals to go! I am seriously looking forward to not tuning out of work and into assembly language everyday. I just can't switch tracks easily. Mental inertia I suppose! :)

PS: Pizza hut's buffalo chicken pizza is quite nice, if you like the tangy buffalo chicken sauce to replace the regular tomato-basil sauce. Not something you can eat often, but surely satiates the craving for something tasty.

Last assignment of course done..

Yippe. I just have to make some cosmetic changes to it, but otherwise its done!! Now a final to go, and finally I am done. Now I can peacefully watch and enjoy Friends today. :) I am a self-confessed addict of Friends. Drive Neeraj nuts with all the marathon runs that I make him watch. Took a quiz on Friends, got a 11/12. :D Yes, I am guilty and I am proud of it.

I can't wait to see how they tie everything together. Its going to be challenging to please the expected. 40-60 million viewers today. Interesting observation today on the radio, that a reasonably large number of male viewers of Friends are victims of wives hogging the remote during that time. Interesting because, I know Neeraj watches it because I watch it.

Anyways, there rings the phone....

Stereotypes...

Its strange how we try to not conform to stereotypes and yet somehow, we just keep on doing it. I thought that the move to US for my Masters was breaking the conventions, yet, when I reached Fort Collins, I was surrounded by Indian girls who had just completed their BE. :)

I don't claim that thats even 0.001 % of the girls I know, just that its not an uncommon theme. Similarly, the number of DINKS (double income no kids :D) amazes me.

I think the life we have is like any other average couple in US, but when we have guests from India, its amusing to see how shocked they are to see Neeraj help me with cooking, or Rahul doing the dishes after Anu is done with the cooking. "aaj kaal chya muli expect their husbands to help them gharchya kamat" translated "girls these days expect their husbands to help them in the house" LOL. Isn't that amusing. What would they think if they saw Neeraj make expert polya while I made bhaji yesterday? Sacrilege!!

Weekend shift is the only time I blog...

I find myself with absolutely no time. I think I have received a smaller day than the others. :) I think I seem to not get time to just sit down and relax. Just a matter of time. 12th May is when my course gets over and then hopefully I will have more time.

Weather in bay area has been so chilly past few weeks. Don't feel like stepping out of the house after I come back from work. Its just nice to be at home. As much as I want to drive, it just can't drag myself out once I am home after work. Somehow as the course has become harder, work's getting hectic too. Been putting in almost 12 hours a day each day. Poor Neeraj has to put up to my weird hours and schedules.

Had a long chat with Sachin today after ages. Met Medha after a long time. And have Neeraj's friend visting Bay Area. Thats too much socializing for someone who spends most of her work time talking to people. People say these days I have become extermely quiet Imagine talking to people all day. You really don't want to talk much after that :).

My Birthday is fast approaching. I am reaching that age that I should start hiding my age :D. The only three months that Neeraj and I are of the same age. I look at all the blogs that are like "Happy 21st birthday" "Happy 18th birthday" and I think.."Happy 27th Birthday" just sounds OOOOOOOLLLLDDDD. :D. In my early twenties (long time ago), I used to think I will never hide my age ever. Now I think I might not go an proclaim it to the world ;)

Back to work..Hasta Manana till we meet again

I wish I was more regular...

Too many things happening and things to do! so just can't find to time to sign in and write.
Had a very intersting trip to India, attended my sister in law's wedding, got my visa stamped and fell sick !! I refuse to drink boiled water and much to my parents and doctor's chagrin. Oh well. its a price to pay. Could not go out to all our favorite places since I was sick and then the bird flu completely sealed the deal.

It felt nice to be in India when earning. I was able to spend on clothes, music, tv and not think much. Once in your lifetime, you should spend and not think..aah! the bliss. Met some of my newly wed friends, some getting married. Its like everyone I know is getting married, getting engaged or having kids. It was strange to meet school friends and talk about husbands, marriage, in-laws rather than boys, crushes, studies.

When you walk into places like Vaishali, earlier, my parents used to dread going there in the evenings with me, because of the number of people I would run into and time that was spent chatting with them. Now I feel like this alien, who looks at people who come there and thinks, "kids!". I find myself looking at some of the stuff these kids wear and cringe. I guess I am getting a bit older. And the cell phones drive me nuts. I am a person who hates carrying a cell phone. Its just another bother to carry and so most of the times, my phone is not charged or not with me. But in Vaishali, almost all college kids have cell phones, hanging off their necks, SMS.

Pollution was one more thing that really amazed me. And the traffic, I know I am getting more and more used to the organized traffic, but the traffic in Pune is insane. I was almost scared to cross the road. Its time to take some drastic action. Pune has developed so haphazardly that it just seems to explode with the number of people and vehicles.

Anyways, back to US. Got my driver's license. Love the freedom. More sooner than later

PS: congrats rohit!

Its a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shamala gave birth to a baby boy friday, 15 days ahead of the due date! :) totally exciting! Can't believe that she is a mom! Congratulations Shiva and Shamala!

:) I never relealized it was Kachhi_Kali's Bday!! thanks to Sid

..Happy BDay kalis!

Life update: after almost 3 months!
Amazing fun when aai visited. Visited Seattle, Washinton, portland, Florida (for a conference), New York Niagara etc..
Neeraj and aai also visited Las Vegas. It was so cool to come home to a cooked dinner and to not come home to an empty house. Was a whirlwind trip. Lots happening..Daddy is quitting his job and going back, Neeraj switched jobs, I bought a car!! yippppppeee...Bought India tickets for Jan..

Now can't wait to get a license to start driving on my own. The DMV does not have appointments for the next one month in South Bay...how boring can it be!! I wish I had gotten my license in CO..I know ..my bad ;)

Also...fast approaching first wedding anniv!! 29th Dec..no plans as yet..

More detail post soon! got to get some fruit-loops...These weird hour shifts make u hungry! :)

Long Post

I am working on a weekend. Dont expect any calls but I have to be here and not move away from my desk for more than 2 minutes for the next 8 hours.

So what do I do??!!
I have loads of pending work, but I can get to that later. The last thing I want to do right now is work.
This is like a forced relaxation! :) Some of my co-workers think that is a funny phrase. Especially thats what I call some mandatory training for some stuff that we dont need to spend an entire day on..but oh well..it is such a relief!!

So well I am here in the office, it is eerily quiet. Barring a couple of people who stopped by...
Want to call friends..will do that later in the day...Maybe hours might not be enough for all the things I want to do, and once I go back home its a mad rush to get the apartment cleaned before Mom gets here..4 days to go..yippppeeee.

Thought I should get my very (in)famous group on the web!! We are a group of 8 friends from my grad school, Colorado State University, Fort Collins. To the amusement of a lot of people, our group is called Kacchi_kali. There is story behind this name.
Cannot be shared.! :)

There is Atul, Medha, Priti, Ritesh, Rohit, Sachin, Siddharth and of course..I
(This is an alphabetical list)
Atul: The "thinker" of our group. He maintains an awesome blog. Check it out in my "I read" section. He and I have spent a lot of fun times especially during courses that we took together and did projects. We will always share the trials and tribulations that we suffered in CS581. We wanted to do well in that course so badly. And both of us messed it up...we were sooo upset after that..
The only person from Kacchi_kali to attend my wedding.

Medha: Hehe..cant help but smile when I think of this nutcase..she is beyond repair..:D She and I loove shopping and we love making the other buy stuff. We have made countless trips to Walmart and Foothills fashion mall to buy clothes, shoes..Most of the times we landed up buying two of the same design. :) Miss the afternoon coffee, the gym sessions, the gossiping, the crying-ur-heart-out. We hated each other when we met for the first time..Both of us thought that the other was a bit oversmart. I guess we are..but then can;t help it..

Priti (Darling): God, what has Kacchi_kali association done to this girl, this sweet innocent girl..now she uses the language that would make a sailor blush (i love my fair lady). She taught me typical marathi phrases like "ovalele karta" :) The only person I know who used to call Neeraj "tumhi" haha..Had a major ball about it !

Siddarth: Probably the most infuriating, outright shocking, and devil-care attitude..I don't know what fuels this boy..on the second hand...I dont want to know! :p. Great writer..great at dramatics..other KK on my blog. One of the very few people to have come to US with funding in his lap. I think I have had maximum fights with him..he justs keeps on hurting me ..Remember the day you threw that ball in my face...yeah yeah..when I stormed out...:D

Ritesh: The guy from Indore..He is the only non-marathi in this group of pune-mumbai people. He is almost converted to a maharashtrian. He follows marathi quite well..I guess and speak a few sentences if he wants..:) He visited Neeraj and I for a week..It felt like Neeraj;s friend was visiting him rather than mine! He is the quiet guy...or so you would think on first impression. Great cook!!

Rohit: My best son!! hehe..he is the guni bal ..well behaved caring, sweet. The first person to meet Neeraj in person. Neeraj still finds it funny that on introducing Neeraj, Rohit blushed the most. He plans to go back to India for good. :( Will miss u...keep in touch..

Sachin! :D Last but not the least..
So many things we have shared. When he first stepped out of the shamrock shuttle, I was looking around to see this Indian guy who was supposed to be arriving. Then this fair, green eyed guy starts talking in marathi!! We have had a blast since day one! People actually thought we were going around for some time! Then all the navra thing, the diamond thing, the walk in the oval, the fight (we had one..remember ritesh?), india night, his bay area trip, his engagement..that lasted a few minutes :D...so many things...unbelievable...he is the next KK to visit CA this December.

Miss you all...

Topsy Turvy

Have you ever felt like you life went on a roller-coaster ride and you did not want to get on the ride..and never knew when you got on it..

Its strange how life takes a different course in a matter of a day..You are used to some things..and your life follows a pattern, and there is no un-predicability. And then it something shakes that and there is uncertainty. Uncertainty need not necessarily mean a bad thing..but then its new..

I am not too sure I like it....

U2..

I heard "With or Without you" after a long time..Made me want to go to a U2 concert. Always wanted to hear them live..now maybe we will. Got to watch out for their next concert in the bay area.

Been a crazy week as usual. Highlight is that mom got my papers for visa. She will be applying for her visa soon. I am so excited. I have been dreaming about aai-baba's trip almost everyday. Only thing is strangely, last nights dream, they landed in Boston, where the reached by railway and the railway station uncannyly looked like Pune railway station and it said "New York Railway station" ..it gets weirder..I walk from my office to pick them up. My office is in Sunnyvale, CA. And I have been to Boston once for a few hours.

Anyways, hopefully she will be here for the long weekend. Other nice thing was along and overdue chat with my best friend, Shamala. She is the sweetest person I have known. She makes me want to be a better person. She got married in Dec 2000. I so badly wanted to be there, but I was not funded and simply could not afford to fly back. I met her husband Shiva for the first time for my wedding. Was so thrilled to see her so happy. And she is now expecting a baby in Dec..Dec 20th to be precise (their third wedding anniversary). I am sooo happy for her. We had always planned so much to be together. we even planned to get our kids married and "dosti ko rishtedari mein badal dalenge" .

We used to do the craziest things, we used to love this particular song "WAlking in the rain". I went "I am just walking in the rain, and I missed you once again.." Please please please if you have thing song, send it to me..We both lost it. Anyways, we used to drive back from Camp singing this at full volume, chat in college all day and then call immediately after reaching home. I love her mom's cooking and she loves to cook. I had prayed that I got my Toefl center in Banglore cause Shamala had moved there a year back. I was so happy when I got to go there. In the excitement of meeting her and chatting into the wee hours of the night, I almost forgot to go for the exam..

Anyways, Shamala is going to have a baby...and I am going to pamper my little neice/nephew..YAAY!!

God!! ..some people are sooo ungrateful. Its unbelievable..But then I think its all a part of the job!..

I think I am a disgrace to all the wizard world. I am still on chapter one of the book....waaaaaah..:( But been doing a lot of things lately. Went to Yellowstone, learnt to (well tried to learn to) play basketball and almost broke my finger, clean the apartment: even pigs would refuse to stay there, been driving a bit.

I am okay as long as there is no one behind me. Then I go into a panic mode and make the silliest of mistakes. The worst one I have made till now has been not yeilding to a person but since he was kind of far away, I was okay, but the minute I saw in the rear view that it was a ford explorer, my panic returned, and in that state, my car came to a stand still. I am sure the guy was quite indignant. Since it was a single lane road, all I could do was start the car patiently and go on till he got a chance to cut me.

I have realized that I am not much of a driving fan...Maybe once I get the hang of it, I will love it just the way I loved driving my kinetic pride on the streets of Pune...

HARRY POTTER

I think the vegas post can continue later...

Right now I am totally excited about the new Harry Potter book. I want to be the one of the first ones to get my hands on it..I can't believe that thieves stole a truck full of those covetted books in UK. People!! Stop doing that...
So well..what might happen? Umm..my guesses:

1. There is going to be something about Dumbledore in this book thats more than just the one who tells Harry some unknowns and then sorts out things when they wrong. There will be more of his personal life..I think it was hinted in goblet of fire.
2. More love will be in the air ...
3. Its hinted that Ron will be the best student (something of that order/sort) in all the books. So he has to become a house prefect or something like that.

Thats all I can think of.....Can't wait!

Las Vegas.

We drove to Las Vegas last weekend. I always wanted to visit Vegas ever since I flew over it last year. In the dead of the night flying over this city of lights was quite an experience. We had been planning to go there and then one day about ten days earlier I just went and made hotel reservations. We decided not to fly and save that money and get new tires for our car. We were not too thrilled about the Marriott Suites we got on priceline. Its not on the strip. But then once its done, its done.

The day we were supposed to leave, it was a long day at work, and Neeraj picked me up at 4 pm. By the time we hit the road it was 6 pm. We knew it was a long drive and decided to take all the stuff to make bhel and just eat it on the way. (small pleasures of living in CA :P). Just stopped on the way once to make the bhel and eat it. And then got stuck in nasty traffic. By the time we got out of it, we were all set to stop at one of the bigger towns on the way. But then Vegas was waiting for us.

The interstate to Vegas that we thought would be deserted was teeming with people. It is in the middle of death valley and we thought we were the only fools to drive at that time. It was like a carnival. It just kept us going. As we neared Vegas, we got a couple of false alarms with the outlet fashion mall and Nevada Landings (another city). Finally when we reached this city of lights, We were so tired, it was 4:30 in the morning. We barely crossed the strip to reach the hotel (which in fact is in a really nice location). After seeing all the huge hotels and casinos, we were a bit skeptical about this little hotel that seemed so insignificant. As we opened the door to our room, we were pleasantly surprised. It was a beautiful suite with a european touch.

Next day we got up at 2 pm and it was HOT. We were contemplating going out, when we saw the magazine with an ad to fly over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter. It was going to drain us out of all the money we saved by driving was going to be spent on it. We decided what the heck and made the reservation to go ahead with the ride in the starry afternoon at 3 pm.

Then we stepped out in to the Mayanagari. We parked in the parking lot for one of the casinos. And stepped into the Casino. Its an unbelievable. Even at 3 pm in the afternoon, the place was full of people gambling. All we needed was food. We found a little mexican place call Margarita. Nice fajitas.

Then we walked on the strip for some time. It was hot and dry and we came back with a headache. Cesar's palace, Bellagio live up to the expectations. We spent some time walking there. Gambled 4 dollars. :) Not worth it. And we were already broke. We came back for a change and then went back to the strip. We walked around for some time and then dragged ourself back to the room.

More later......

My first 100

I am bad at bowling..its a fact. My highest score for quite some time was 36 :D. As a student in CO that was an expensive hobby, and also not worth going all the way in the snow to get a measly 36. So never really tried it much. Here in CA we go bowling often, and my performance has been slightly better..my maximum was 69. And today I rocked (not exactly :)) but well I made a 75 in the first game and 104 in the second. The second game was a combination of strikes and 8-9's but no 2s or threes. So if I had not gotten so many in the gutter I could have easily made 150 ..hehe..

I am happy!! NOW I am going to buy bowling shoes.....

Frustration.

I am at work..and I need to get the frustration out.

I have spent over 9 hours with a customer trying to get the simplest of the issues to resolve. It is so logical and simple, that I feel like an idiot because I can simply not think of any thing else to do. There is nothing to do. I have tried it here on my machine and it works and it just does not work on the customer;s side.

It is so frustrating when you know you can do it and yet you can;t. I do not want to stop trying but I could not keep the customer for so long.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGH

This is for Radha.

Chicken Biryani

Chicken (cut in cubes) or drumsticks / mutton cubes
curd
ginger-garlic paste
garam masala
turmeric
chilli powder
salt

This is for the marinade. Marinate will in advance, atleast 4 hours.

For the rice,

soak rice in water and drain and keep for about 30 mins. (This will help to avoid making the rice sticky).
Heat some oil (ghee even better). add black pepper (whole), cloves, ilaichi, tej patta (optional), dalchini. To it add ginger garlic paste.
Then add onions and let them fry on low flame till they are done well. Then add tomato.
The onions have to be well done or else on adding tomato, they will no longer get fried, then tend to get soft and cooked.
Let the tomato cook till the oil starts to leave the paste. To this add some kasuri methi and some mint.
Then add garam masala. (if you can get some biryani masala, even better)
Add rice to this and let it mix well in this masala.
Add the chicken with all the curd and mix it well. Then add water and let it cook. (pressure cook if needed).

Other way of doing this.

Heat some ghee and add some pepper, dalchini, ilaichi and tej patta and then put the rice in it. Cook the rice and then add some kesar to the cooked rice.
For the curry, in the cooked onion and tomato paste, add chicken and cook it.
Then make layers of rice and curry and cook it in a pressure cooker.

Quick recipe:

Veggie Pattice

Pepperidge puff pastry sheets
Boiled potato
green peas (frozen is okay too)
ginger garlic paste
jeera (cumin)
oil
Turmeric powder

Heat some oil and add jeera to it and turmeric, then add the ginger-garlic paste. Add the peas. Then add boiled potatoes.

Cut the puff pastry sheets to make 12 equal pieces from one packet. There are two sheets in each packet make 6 from each sheet. Defrost the sheets in the microwave and then this is the trick. Using a polpat-latna (rolling pin) press the sheets and spread them out a bit. Then fill the potato mix and then in a pre-heated oven bake the pattice till they become slightly golden brown.

Always a sure hit! :)

First Day in US

Fort Collins, CO is an extremely charming place that you just fall in love with instantly. When I first came to US, I had the typical Indian student carrying 32 kg suitcases with 15 kg in the hand bag and backpack which was stuffed with things I gathered over the flight(I was in first class, which is another story altogether) MY port of entry was Atlanta. When I left Mumbai, there were people that Delta had to help the girls with their luggage. But after landing in Atlanta, I had a hard time getting the luggage out of the conveyor belt. And lugging the hand bag was no joke. I was extremely tired. The other Indian sudents were helping the girls, but then that was more because everyone was as lost and scared as I was. But then once everyone dispersed, I was the only one going to CO. So after I immigrated, then carrying the luggage and rechecking it in the domestic flight was a task of extreme strength. Once I checked that in, I took the train and reached the terminal and the departure terminal. I was so ready to collapse. I had not realized till then that te flight that seems to be an hour was actually three hours, I didnot realize the time zones. Once I found out that it was a 3 hour flight, I was about to give up. All I wanted to do was go home. "Yeh kaha aa gaye hum" kept playing in my head. To top it all, very smartly I had all the important addresses that I needed once I got to FC and US were stored in a digital diary. Somehow there was nothing in it when I got to US.

As soon as I started looking for a place to sit, someone walked upto me and asked if I was Ketaki. It was an old school friend, who was studying in GaTech. I had sent an email to him before I left India to ask about the immigration and stuff, and he actually came to meet me at the airport. I was so relieved to see Satyan. He took me to a food court where we had iced tea for 3 bucks a piece, 150 Rs I was calculating at the back of my mind. I almost had half a mind to tell Delta that I simply couldnot travel, and that I would travel the next day!! But just seeing a familiar person eased the tension so much. By the time we got back to the gate, it was extremely crowded, and I just had to sit. Satyan sat on the carpet...I was shocked. Satyan said " This is US..yaha kuch bhi chalta hain" I just couldnot bring myself to sit, (Side note, now when I wait for Neeraj to pick me up from work, I sit on the pavement, when I don't have my leather jacket and when its not raining).

I was so sad to get back on the plane. Once I got on the plane, as I struggled to get my bags into the overhead luggage compartment, some blond guy got up and helped me. I couldnot believe it. I sat in the plane and held the iced tea to my heart. I was not going to throw away 150 Rs. As we landed in Denver, it was almost 8pm. Took another train and came to the baggage terminal. I didnot have to touch a single bag. there were people who helped me.

As I waited for the shuttle to Fort Collins, I wrote down the 5 dollars I had spent to call home from Frankfurt. In the shuttle, parting with 21 dollars wrenched my heart. People were chatting like they were all friends and I dozed off. When I got up, we were in Loveland. I was so scared...I wanted to go to Fort Collins, Did I get on the wrong shuttle??!!! I looked around and saw all blond people. I had always known that this would be tha case in a place like Colorado, but I had never prepared my self to people chatting like they knew each other for life. I remembered the bus trips to Indore to meet my grandparents. You always look at your fellow passengers with suspicion. This was an entirely different experience. And even in the horror of landing in Loveland, I feel asleep. Next I woke up at about 11 pm local time and they had started dropping off people at their homes. He told me I would be the last one to be dropped off as I was going to the other side of the town. Finally it was just me and the shuttle driver in the shuttle and he was like "West Myrtle"??? There is no West Myrtle. I was shocked..He said Myrtle runs north-south. Are you sure???

I kept on thinking this was a dream, and I would wake up in my bed in Pune with my mom sitting outside sipping on her tea as she does everyday. I told him this was the address the Indian student association gave me. Thats when I actually realized that the electronic diary had been wiped off. I was in a state of utter panic. All the emergency contact numbers had been wiped off. All i remembered was the phone number of the girl who was going to be my host and room mate. I gave him that. He called her, she told the address. As we approached the apartment, there was cops all over the place. Apparently there had been a shoot out near the Seven-Eleven and all the roads were blocked. The driver tried different ways of approaching the apartment in vain. He told me he would take me back to Denver International Airport and bring me back the next day.

Next I knew we were in front of the apartment and Shefali, my roomie, was waving at us. I was in such a shock, I dont remember the next few minutes. Shefali;s mom had made hot poli and hbaji for me. As luck would have it, my friend Dhananjay who was in the same university, went to pick me up at the airport as a surprise and his car broke down and he got back at 4 am.

Till this date I remember each and every thing that happened in those few hours vividly....

On the phone!!
the action begins..having been answering a lot of phone calls..and its nice to know there are a whole lot of nice people out there..
Bloopers :

1. Instead of asking the customer if he had the "Downtime" schedule set, I asked, if he had the "Downtown" scheduled...I am sure he got that I was in a party mood. :D
2. I had been calling a lot of customers, and I go "This is Ketaki calling from ..." and when I actually picked up a call that came from a customer, instead of just saying, "This is Ketaki.." I went." This is Ketaki calling..." The customer was like what??!!!
3. I forgot the name of a customer...So I looked at Warren and Warren quickly wrote the customer;s name on the board...

Went to this really cool sale at Sears...Jamba juice is good..sipping on it now!! missed lunch because of the sudden high call volume.

Clarification
:) Had to post this soon..We didnot buy 500 dollar tix, we bought 500 dollars tix for 100 bucks...Thats why we were such outcasts. And I have to apologize for all the typos in the earlier Rahman blog, I was chatting with my mom and my mama, and typing..Should fix the typos, I realized its almost impossible to read it..

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!!

Had to get a post for my bday!! i feel like a princess..I have been pampered!!

A R Rahman
Is God. Had a chance to listen to him live in SF in the Cow Palace. We got tickets in the 22nd row in this huge indoor stadium. So we were practically in seats where not only could we see them up close and personal, but I think, they could see us too!! It was a sammelan of Hondas, Toyotas and Mercedes. Never have I seen so many leather jackets in one place. And even in my marriage i didnot wear as much gold as the women wore. Me in my perenial jeans and tee-shirt (it is cold in SF) seemed like and outcast in those 500 dollar seats. As of course, like all desi events, this one also started late. Was to start at 7:30, started at 8:30. But then it was a "be Indian" sort of an event. So I didnt see a single hassled soul because of the delay. Everyone was going about talking, mingling, showing off merrily. There was chai stall, mango lassi, samosa, even posters of bollywood kings and queens. It was like being in the theatres in India.
Rahman started with a bang with SP Balasubramium. Then Sonu Nigam crooned to Sathiya and stole each and every girl (from 16 to 60). I think I am totally mesmerised by the songs of Saathiya. So it was quite a treat to hear him alive. And I have been a fan of Sonu since Sa Re Ga Ma. It is quite short built though...
Neeraj said that last year they sang a lot of tamil-telegu songs that the non-south indian people did not know. So after interval, half the stadium was empty, this time however, they sang almost all hindi songs, and only sang a few lines from each song in tamil/telegu. In fact it was quite enjoyable for everyone.
Lagaan and Saathiya were extremely popular, though humma humma had almost everyone dancing up on their seats.
Shivamani rocked!! His antics had the crowd entertained in the interval. And..hold your breath. Zakhir Hussain was sitting in the audience. He has something about him that just melts your heart. hehe..I am sure neeraj was amused at my fickle heart. Cant help it. Small trivia, Shankar Mahadevan used to work in Oracle(just outside SF) before he decided to quit everything to becaome a musican. Oracle buildings are quite a landmark while going from San Jose to SF. Bollywood, here I come!!!
Sadhana Sargam sang Chupke se to the tee. Missed Chandralekha, since I had heard so much about it from previous shows.
When we got out, it took us some time before the euphoria died down. Absolutely fantastic experience......

BUSY
I have been terribly busy the past few days. There were whole day exams that went on from 10 am to 7:30 pm, there were meetings, presentations. Also, Neeraj's younger sister Anuja was visiting us along with Shashank, her would-be. So we took them to Gilroy, Mystery Spot. And all sorts of places to eat :) We went to Santa Cruz, to this place called Capitola which was a small beach town, which the most charming downtown and awesome seafood...but no more food posts..:D.

Anyways, saw a really good movie "Basic". John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson and a whole bunch of other people. Quite a different movie, with an intelligent plot and a gripping end. It was a movie in which you cannot afford to get distracted for a minute. You just wont be able to follow it. So I was quite irritated by the couple sitting next to us. Leave rest to imagination ;).

But definitely worth seeing once, preferably in a theater, because you have to be engrossed.
Small post, really tired.

Perfumes
I love perfumes..I donot like the sporty perfumes, neither do I like very floral perfumes. I like exotic smelling perfumes. My favorites are Paris (by YSL and my mom has been wearing it for a number of years..love it.), I like Obsession by Calvin Klein, and I simply love Joop!. Its a very different smelling perfume, and believe me, I get complements every single time I wear it. I remember I was in Carl's Jr in school, and this lady stopped to ask me what I was wearing, then as I was leaving my apartment building in CO, another girl asked me, and when I bought in Wal-mart (!!), as I carried the bottle to check out, another woman asked me if they were selling Joop!. So my first pay, I pampered myself to a bottle of Joop!. As I ran out of my earlier bottle last year. Anyways, thrilled...oooh...just smells divine....

These are a few of my favorite things.....

I had two days of training specializing in a particular tool. I had to go at 9 am officially get done at 5 pm. Today, I started at 9:15 am..and was done by 2:30 pm :D. This was such a welcome break! Since that was the only thing expected from us, I took the chance and rushed home. Never been out of my office that that time..It was nice and sunny. I was so thrilled to be home. I docked myself in front of the TV, chatted with aai, slept, chatted with friends, cooked. I have not done this since I joined work. I know people who have been working for a year or more, will think how lazy I am. But I got a break!! :)

So I have been very happy. Such small things make one happy.
1. Getting an unexpected break!
2. Sit in front of the tv, rate of channel change 1 per milli sec
3. Soda with ice-cream
4. Weight loss with no efforts.
5. Getting loads of emails that are not junk.
6. nice new shiny credit cards...no scratches
7. new clothes.
8. new pens and pencils
9. new shoes
10. My hair being manageable
11. Clean, vacuum cleaned carpets
12. Sugar cane juice on a hot sunny afternoon
13. Sleep when u are sleepy.
14. Good music.
15. a good hug
16. warm feet

There are soo many things that make me happy...Helps to not think of the pain and suffering of all the people in the world..as shallow as it sounds.

Matrubhumi jyachi tyala...
Matrubhumi jyachi tyala...
Hot bandishala..
Parvashata paash daive jyanchya gala lagala

YAAAAY weekend.

I must apologize for the incomplete and haphazard post. It was written over a week. Should not do that.

Had the most relaxing weekend. It was raining quite a bit in CA. I got my first pay on friday. Took Vandan, Rahul and Anu out for a treat. Neeraj recommended "The Cheesecake Factory". Awesome food. If gluttony is a sin...I think we are all guilty of it three times over. I started off with virgin Pina colada. Neeraj has same. Then for starters we had buffalo wings, pop corn shrimp and bruscheta. (thats garlic bread with a lot of salsa on it.) Then I had Jamaican black pepper shrimp, Neeraj had Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp, Anu had Chicken and Cashew, Rahul had Chicken Madeira and Vandan had Miso Salmon. Then to top it off, we had dulce de lycee and caramel cheesecake. It was sinsational :)

Every single one of this had a different taste that was very authentic. Reason for this confidence: I have been to Jamaica, big fan of Jerk Chicken. I know the black bean rice they serve with every meal. It was all there. There was a mango pickle (not the indian pickle, more like mango in vinegar). I know it was authentic. Neeraj's dish was very very authentic far-eastern. Been to Indonesia and Singapore. So I know that those two dishes were authentic. The others were equally yummy. The only thing that was kind of different that did not taste authentic was the buffali wings. The tangy, spicy sauce was just not there. It was dry. Buffalo wings are supposed to make your hands all dripping with the sauce, should make your lips tingle. Strangely that was a letdown. But one not-so-good dish out of all the out-of-this-world dish we had was just very forgivable.

After we got out, we just had to get some exercise just to settle the food in. We decided to go bowling after much debate :). Vandan, Anu and I wanted to play cards at home ( we are lazy :)) and Neeraj and Rahul wanted to go bowling. So as we all believe in democracy, we went bowling ..hehe. Neeraj won the game. I managed to break my all-time career low of 36. :). I score a 49. awesome isnt it? Then we played pool in the alley. And then a round of darts. At about 2 am, when they were about the lock the alley, we left. Saturday was spent much in cleaning the house, watching the most aweful movie, Encounter the Killing. Naseer, Dilip Prabhawalkar caused us to be misled. Then we had guests over for lunch. Made Tandoori chicken tikka, bharli wangi, gawar bhaji, matki usal, kanda-tomato koshimbir, polya. We also has mini samosa (ready-made) for starters. And for sweet dish, we had lychee and falooda icecream.

Then we went to buy some clothes for me...I never seem to have enough clothes. :D Bought myself a leather jacket. I still feel silly wearing a smart jacket..coz I dont feel smart enough to wear it :D
Anyways, really restful weekend full of gluttony. Back to work tomorrow....

A week of work

Today I completed an entire week at work. Its kind of hard to imagine that I started a week by. Days are literally zipping past. Its a plethora of new technologies, new people. Almost everyday I am learning new things, not always technical :) Like how the coffee machine works. It is quite funky. The first couple of days, it was quite hard to stay awake in the afternoons, given my leisurely routine. I needed coffee just to keep my eyes open. So in absolute stupor, I was reading a 1000 page user guide, when Vaughan, an extremely cheerful Australian, stopped by my cube.(There is something about australians ..cheerful and Australians fo hand in hand, except on the criket field:)) He reprimanded Warren, my mentor, for not showing me the most important thing you need to survive first few days of training.Vaughan showed me the coffee station closest to my cube, and gave me a quick demo of how to use the machine. At about 3 pm, when I realized that I had a reached the point when the lines I was reading were converging into each other, I realized I needed coffee. I made Leena tag along with me. This time I kind of grasped how to use it.

Managed to survive the next couple of hours. There are meeting, web meeting, weekly reports, certification exams, HR stuff, taxes...phew!! just too many things. It was so much better in school ;). Even in grad school, you are spoon fed almost every step of they way. Almost all the ladies who work as secretaries in our school are about 45-50 year old, extremely loving, absolutely lovable women. I actually has Carol, our department's acountant call me her Indian daughter. So whenever I had any trouble, all I had to do was rush to them and they were always willing to offer help, or at times even a shoulder to cry on :). As compared to that laid back life of grad school in CO, the fast paced work life in the Sillicon Valley is way too stressful. In CO, you were always a "hun", "sweetheart"..Here you are Ketaki..plain ol' Ketaki

I guess sometimes I miss the warmth In CO. Well I am sure I will get used to this also...After all first few days in CO..I was scared of probably the most loving women I have ever met.....

First Day At work

I must look like a lost puppy..It seems to me that I am the only one around here who doesnot know what she is supposed to do..Everyone else is doing their work, and basically look busy..
Well my mentor Warren called in sick today, so I was given some stuff to read by my manager. I read that and now I am supposed to hang on till 5 pm. Well since most of the things are explained by the mentor, and since he is not here, I am at a complete loss of things to do. I have completed everything in that checklist I was given..And its still only 4 pm.
Feel slightly more courageous now, I have installed MSN messenger. Connected me to the outside world. :) Being Neeraj ;). Now I am gaining more and more courage...I am blogging :D
So how is my cube like? Well its slightly bigger than my CSU cube. And a lot more equipped. There is a welcome gift for me, that has a MI cup, glass, card holder. And a big welcome note posted on my cube wall. :) And I have a packet of stationary( heheh..Medha will know why I am sooo excited...I looooooove stationary).
I have helped myself to the free coke..tried to get coffee...couldn't figure how that works...
(reminder to self: learn to use it)
So survived on water. What else??!! I have a pentium 4 machine. It is blazing fast as compared to our machine at home. The monitor seems smaller..
How do I find my way around? There is this absolutely huge stuffed toy from Monster's Inc, right by my cube..That sits on top of the cube walls. You can see it from anywhere. So once I am there..I know my way around.
I also know how to make phone calls out of MI. Went to the HR and guided myself back with reference to the Monster's Inc toy. (Sully??!!) I think thats what that guy is called in the movie.
Blessing, to have Leena (Neeraj's band member Ajay's wife here) I would not have been able to pee if it werent for her. They need an ID to get out. duh??!! Dont want to spend the first day locked in the loo. But the traffic in the loo was pretty heavy. So may be I could have let myself out. But don;t want to risk it and make a fool out of myself.

Hehe..Now to people who pass by my cube..it must seem like I am doing some work..Thank God for blogging. :) Atleast the keyboard is clicking :D.
Another reminder to self: to get one of those mirrors that you can attach to your monitor. This was a problem I faced in CSU too..Since I face the walls, I can not see whoever comes in. A lot of the people here seem to have a generic mirror, maybe I can get it in office supplies or whatever its called :)

All in all, nobody ate me, nobody killed me ..and I think I will survive the next 45 mins...

New Job
I start my job tomorrow..I am excited and nervous. I have been out of a job (well not a job technically, since May 2002. Thats when my funding as a TA ended) And since I have been studying all these years, I have never actually had a job. The only two things I did that put money in my bank account was my little teaching stint in my under-grad school, MIT, in pune. And being a teaching assistant in CSU. So this is my first job ever.

Tomorrow is a big day for me. People with experience in the big bad professional world tell me such varying things. Neeraj quotes the pedro's law...Nobody can go beyond their level of incompetence. :) that sure makes me feel better. I can never go beyond being "my worst". :)
So things I am scared about:
1. Making a sheer fool of myself.
2. Sounding like a child when talking to customers. (I have been told time and again that I sound like a kid on the phone :(. Its genetic. )

Things I am excited about.
1. PAY PAY!!
2. lots of shopping ..
3. Neeraj has to drop me off every morning at 6 am...thats romantic..hehe
4. some more shopping.
5. paying of those credit card debts.
6. just having a job in this market.

So well there is more I am excited about. Makes me feel a wee bit better.
Anyways..I have loads to read..better get back to it!