Interlaken..

We started early in the morning to pick up the rental car, again..:) this time we got a modest peugot 206 (something like that) and it was such a relief to drive that car. We started off well on time and soon hit the highway towards Zurich. Interlaken is about halfway and the whole drive can be completed in about 2 and half hours. We immediately fell in love with the countryside although we have heard so much about it. After some time, Neeraj, who had a bad cold and cough by then, needed a cup of coffee. We pulled over at a gas station and found a place called "stop and go". This has usually has very clean restrooms, grocery store and a cafeteria-like place where you can get several things like bread, quiche, pizza, soups and of course, coffee!!

We skeptically ordered the veggie soup only to be pleasantly surprised since it tasted more like the gravy of veg-korma :)That with garlic bread was just divine!! Also, this place had free internet, where you could send emails. To read them, you needed to insert coins. For a couple of CHF, you got 15 minutes. We determined that even if we stopped at every place we liked, we would still make it by lunch time! Then we fought!! :D for reasons undisclosed :)

Even when you are really upset, Switzerland entralls you with its beauty and peace. And friendly people. One thing to be aware of though, is that there is plenty of road construction all over the highways, you have to be really careful when driving on a single lane road.

The approach road to Interlaken is simply breathtaking, although I must add, having seen the Colorado rockies and Poudre Canyon, it can seem alike, if not that gigantic. The hotel we were staying in again was a B&B owned by the friendliest people we met in our entire trip(Chris and Ursula). It was called Rugen Park and was a little on the outskirts of Interlaken. On the outside it looks like any other building, but once you step in, you are greeted by a huge but harmless dog and Chris/Ursula with a warm concoction while you complete the formalities. Chris even offered to help us carry our stuff up. This time, we had a shared bathroom and W/C. It was fine, since we were the only ones on that floor at that time.

Ursula offered tips on what to do while we were in Interlaken. Ursula is a native of the region and Chris is an American. And then Neeraj set his eye on the advertisement for Paragliding....

Shopping in Geneva..

After spending the day in Geneva City, we were going to rent the car back the next day and drive to Interlaken to spend three days and two nights in the mountains. After having spent two years in beautiful Colorado literally steps away from the Front Range and Rockies, we were aware of how easily the weather can change. Because of the luggage restrictions on the airlines, we had very limited clothes and definitely no sweaters and warm clothes..Another reason to shop !! :)

Looking at all the smartly dressed women in Geneva, I wanted to see what the stores had to offer! We found a Bata shop (which had more than just shoes, jackets, purses...:)), a C&A and another store called EPH. Having heard so much about C&A from my mom, I wanted to check it out. The store was cheaper than the average Macy's and JC Pennys. But as much as I love to shop, I am a very finicky shopper and can take forever to shop. We walked into EPH and found that the store had a major closing down sale..upto 70% off. We did not really want to buy any warm clothes and found just the right pair of gloves for me. Also, they had a decent grocery section. One thing I must mention is that two things are strangely expensive, water and tomato ketchup. Mac D's etc charge .50 CHF for ketchup which was so weird. We found a bottle of hunts ketchup for 1 CHF and 2 liter bottles very cheap. We also found a whole lot of swiss chocolates.

At the last moment Neeraj bought a sweater and thats when they announced that the store was closing. We were on the mens section and walked over to the cashier to pay. She almost yelled at us, saying that we could not pay for my gloves on that floor. D-UH? So Neeraj rushed down to pay while I paid for the sweater. In that rush, Neeraj took all the swiss currency with him and I had to pay in Euros!!

After reaching the hotel, we found out that the water was sparkling water (with gas as its locally known). We were stuck with 4 liters on gas water to take to Interlaken. By then Neeraj had a fairly bad cold and cough. We were grateful for the Ricola and cup-o-noodles. The sweater Neeraj bought was one size small. :) So much for warm clothes...

Geneva..the "timebound" city

After we checked into the hotel, we slept for the next three hours exhausted from the whole driving experience. was a B&B called "hotel Cental" aptly named for its location. It was located on the main street in Geneva on the sixth floor of a building that had offices as well as shops. Although they had an option of using a shared bathroom, we paid a little more and got our own bathroom. It was a tiny room with a tiny TV and a table on the side. The weird part was the room door opened into the bathroom which then opened into the room. However, at that time, we were too tired to care.

After we got up, we set out to get food since we were famished. Neeraj loves Italian food (anything with cheese and I dislike it). So the dreaded moment had arrived. We were surrounded with italian restaurants, sandwich shops and all sorts of shops. We walked around for a reasonably priced restaurant and it seemed like all the restaurants were quite expensive. Finally, we found a Chinese restaurant which looked like the spring roll-fried rice-kung pow chicken places. The owner ushered us in and immediately we saw dozens of people smoking. Politely we asked to sit outside. We ordered tom yum soup, chicken sweet and sour and rice. The food was alright and once our stomachs were full, we broached upon the delicate topic of the car.

It was costing us about 171 CHF per day to keep the car. Since street parking in not allowed for more than an hour, we had to leave it in the public parking which was another 24 CHF a day. We called the car rental company and told them we wanted to return the car and then rent another car (smaller) the day after. Thankfully, they agreed to do it. However, we would not get the internet deal, and the smaller car would cost almost the same as the bigger car. But it was smaller and we did not have to worry about it for a day!!

We grabbed a quick sandwich at Mac Ds , carefully read the map and at about 9 in the night returned the car at the airport and sat in the public bus which brought is back to the hotel in about 10 minutes and 6 CHF :)) The next day, breakfast was served in room which was coffee, orange juice and two kinds of bread, butter and marmalade. We set out to see the wonders of this city...

We spend considerable time at the Geneva Jet d'eau (Jet of water). Once we reached it, thats where it hits you that this is the city of Time. There are hoardings for almost all the watch companies all over. By noon, we were quite bored of the jet and were heading back to the hotel when we saw the tourism offices on one of the bridges. Grabbed a free booklet and map and found a list of top ten things to see. Turns out that the undergroung parking was right by the famous Flower Clock. Just that we were too hassled to notice. Also a couple of statues that were listed in it were right by the jet and we had seen those. That left us with six things to see. The lady in the office said they were about 5 minutes walking distance behind hotel Central. :) We again patted our backs for the wise decision of returning the car.

It so happens that all the places we saw the previous day, were these places. Just that we did not know. :) We walked up the hill-like roads which were cobbled which lead to a cathedral. Below the cathedral was a real archeological site which we paid 8 CHF to see. But they let us take as many pictures as we wanted. It was so spooky to know that there was an entire catheral and parts of the city under the existing cathedral. Definitely a must see. We spent plenty of time there, peeped into the cathedral for a few minutes. It was quite spendid and first of many in our trip. The walk around the cathedral was oh-so European!! I have falled in love with the cobbled streets. There is an administration building which was quite artistic, the place where there were some cannons. There was a garden where there were chess game boards marked on the ground and almost life-size pawns. People were actually lifting them and walking to change places. Very funky!!

Also, Smart Cars all over the place...They grow on you!! :) I hope they decide to launch 'em in India. Had dinner in one of the open air restaurants in the middle of the streets. Had pizza, finally!! :) Just a little one too many sparrows...I think I amused everyone by ducking everytime a sparrow flew my way...The street side musicians playing accordians and singing typical European music was so enchanting..I can still close my eyes and hear them play music..

We managed to see about 9 of the 10 of the items. This changed our opinion about the city. It is a city with character and history..just that it is hidden under a "chronological" life...

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??