Last blog is here.... Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!
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May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastro-enterologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your astrologist & even your plumber and the I.R.S.
May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.
May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parent, your siblings; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your games instructor & teacher.
And may we live in a world at peace and with the awareness of God's love in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile, every lover's kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.
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Wishing a very happy and prosperous Year 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
A soldier's Merry Christmas!!!
It was the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one bedroom house made of plaster & stone.
I had come down the chimney with presents to give,
And to see just who in this home did live.
I looked all about a strange sight I did see,
No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand,
On the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.
With medals and badges, awards of all kind,
A sober thought came through my mind.
For this house was different, so dark and dreary,
I knew I had found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.
I heard stories about them, I had to see more,
So I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
And there he lay sleeping silent alone,
Curled up on the floor in his one bedroom home.
His face so gentle, his room in such disorder,
Not how I pictured an Indian soldier.
Was this the hero of whom I'd just read?
Curled up in his blanket, a floor for his bed?
His head was clean shaven, his weathered face tan,
I soon understood this was more than a man.
For I realized the families that I saw that night ,
Owed their lives to these men who were willing to fight.
Soon 'round the world, the children would play,
And grownups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year,
Because of soldiers like this one lying here.
I couldn't help wonder how many lay alone,
On a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.
Just the very thought brought a tear to my eye,
I dropped to my knees and started to cry.
The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,
"Santa don't cry, this life is my choice;
I fight for freedom, I don't ask for more,
my life is my God, my country, my Corps."
With that he rolled over and drifted off into sleep,
I couldn't control it, I continued to weep.
I watched him for hours, so silent and still,
I noticed he shivered from the cold night's chill.
So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
And I covered this Soldier from his toes to his head.
And I put on his T-shirt of military and black,
With a tricolor and an Army patch embroidered on back.
And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,
And for a shining moment, I was Indian Army deep inside.
I didn't want to leave him on that cold dark night,
This guardian of honor so willing to fight.
Then the soldier rolled over, whispered with a voice so pure,
"Carry on Santa, it's Christmas Day, all is secure."
I knew he was right, they are always there for us,
Thanks a lot my friend, and to all a Merry Christmas!!!
In a one bedroom house made of plaster & stone.
I had come down the chimney with presents to give,
And to see just who in this home did live.
I looked all about a strange sight I did see,
No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand,
On the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.
With medals and badges, awards of all kind,
A sober thought came through my mind.
For this house was different, so dark and dreary,
I knew I had found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.
I heard stories about them, I had to see more,
So I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
And there he lay sleeping silent alone,
Curled up on the floor in his one bedroom home.
His face so gentle, his room in such disorder,
Not how I pictured an Indian soldier.
Was this the hero of whom I'd just read?
Curled up in his blanket, a floor for his bed?
His head was clean shaven, his weathered face tan,
I soon understood this was more than a man.
For I realized the families that I saw that night ,
Owed their lives to these men who were willing to fight.
Soon 'round the world, the children would play,
And grownups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year,
Because of soldiers like this one lying here.
I couldn't help wonder how many lay alone,
On a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.
Just the very thought brought a tear to my eye,
I dropped to my knees and started to cry.
The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,
"Santa don't cry, this life is my choice;
I fight for freedom, I don't ask for more,
my life is my God, my country, my Corps."
With that he rolled over and drifted off into sleep,
I couldn't control it, I continued to weep.
I watched him for hours, so silent and still,
I noticed he shivered from the cold night's chill.
So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
And I covered this Soldier from his toes to his head.
And I put on his T-shirt of military and black,
With a tricolor and an Army patch embroidered on back.
And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,
And for a shining moment, I was Indian Army deep inside.
I didn't want to leave him on that cold dark night,
This guardian of honor so willing to fight.
Then the soldier rolled over, whispered with a voice so pure,
"Carry on Santa, it's Christmas Day, all is secure."
I knew he was right, they are always there for us,
Thanks a lot my friend, and to all a Merry Christmas!!!
Monday, December 15, 2008
My village trip adventure...
I am writing after 2 weeks now; one week was spent in being pissed as I was and the second week was spent on my trip to my village. I had not been there for almost 3 years now, so i wanted to see my relatives, my place, my people and everything. Also I wanted to enjoy my status of having a good job, US return and an awesome eligible bachelor, LOL. I mean the last time I was there I didn't have this nice job & stamp of US return and I had the excuse of being young (for my relative's aspirations of getting me married, I don't know why but ur relatives always seem most interested in getting you married). Its fun to get appreciations from people you love and get there good wishes & blessings (& be praised n flattered!!!).
My own village is located in Distt Ambedkarnagar of Uttar Pradesh (UP). My uncles & aunts, my grandma and some other relatives live there and around. It's a small place which is around 60 KM east from Ayodhya (A holy place in Faizabad where Lord Rama was born) and 7 KM west from Akbarpur. Our whole area is known as Shravan-Kshetra of Awadh-Prant. The local language is Awadhi, the language of Ram-charit-manas of Tulasidas. My 'NANIHAAL' (my mom's parent's village) is in Sultanpur Distt. I had plans to go to Nanihaal first as their was my cousins marriage. And then I was planing to go to my own village from there.
I was not getting a confirmed reservation in a train to get to my village. I was trying like a week in advance but there was no confirmed reservation available in Sleeper, AC, Chair-car or anything. And it's close to hell traveling in Indian railways without reservation (could be hell with reservation too though). I guess the rush was because of Bakreed coming in the same week. Later I even tried TATKAL reservation but that was full too. TATKAL is a emergency kinda reserved quota of seats in Indian railway which just opens 5 days before the travel date & you have to pay 150 extra for sleeper & 300 for AC. Also to let people know, you cannot officially board a train unless you have a confirmed reservation or atleast RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation). However you might board a train in India with waiting or even without a ticket if you have the green-ticket (Money-Money!!!). I tried to check online reservation in Flight and it showed the fare as just Rs 125 + TAX. I was so happy that this is what I needed, just Rs 125 & awesome journey through plane. So I decided to check the complete fare with tax; it was just Rs 4375. Yep, the tax was freaking Rs 4250, WTF!!
So I decided to board a bus till Lucknow from Delhi & then take a bus further to Sulatnpur & village from there. The buses to UP run from Anand Vihar ISBT Bus Station. I heard there is an AC bus to Lucknow and I wanted to get that. But I was late as per my habit and I missed it, it runs around 10pm. So I had to board an ordinary UP Roadways bus at 12 in night. It's a 12-14 hrs journey with some stops every 3-4 hours for people comfort. I got seat in the last row of bus (as you might know how much a bus rocks at the back, and i mean rocks in a bad sense) in the cold winter of New Delhi, where the roadways bus' window hardly close. With in 5 mins I was feeling that I am in hell and I am gonna regret it really-really BAD.
I was wearing my Track-Suit I bought in US. It's really well insulated to wind & pretty warm too. I used to wear it in sub-zero weather of US and it used to work great; it worked great here in the bus too. I had 4 stinking (not really, but they did look like that) guys sitting around me and a old Mullaji sitting besides me who was leaning over me every time falling asleep. If it was some pretty girl, I could let my shoulder stay steady all night for her support, but damn a second for the old man. How could he sleep in this kinda bus and that too on my shoulder. Then the bus stopped in some time, it turns out that we have just covered 20-30 KMs in one hour. The drivers & conductors of the bus get free food at these roadside dhabas (desi restaurants) as they are bringing customers to them in buses. I was feeling more and more doomed.
We got in bus again and I somehow I started feeling sleepy this time. I didn't realize when I fell asleep and by the time I woke up it was morning. I didn't feel as bad as I was thinking, more than half the time was spent without much trouble. Mullaji was off the bus and I had enough space to sit comfortably. I had a tea at the next stop, stretched my self a bit & was ready. I got in the bus & fell asleep again. I don't sleep that much on flights but it was working well in the bus somehow. I was in Lucknow by 1pm (13 hours journey) and most of the journey was spent sleeping, it really wasn't that bad. More like an adventure, which i enjoyed sleeping. Then I boarded a bus to Sultanpur from Lucknow and then to my Nanihaal from there. Also the buses aren't that bad anymore, They have cushioned seats which are not push-back but still okay. Roads also have improved so the ride isn't that bad either. Things are getting better...
I was at my nanihaal by 7 in evening. My Nana-Nani (mom's dad & mom) and Mama (mom's brother) were really excited and very happy to see me. It was a cool surprise for them to see me. There were many other relatives there due to the occasion of marriage. All of them were glad to see me after so long and so was I. I enjoyed the marriage food and slept all night. Next day woke up little late and then met all my relatives there. Everyone was asking 2 things, my experience in US & plans of marriage. I was able to answer first but was speechless to second. The answer has been same for years,'I am not ready, I would like to wait few years'. I don't know why relatives are sooooo interested in getting us married, they must be getting some commission or something out of it. Specially the grandparents are always more interested than even parents in getting there eligible grand children married. the line is,'We want to see you married and settled before we die, we want to see your bride and possibly children too'. Why, why should I do something like this just for their wishes and pleasure. They and all the relatives try to torture you to get married, its painful and FUN!!!!
Also, a cow had given birth to a calf on the same day and I got to eat fresh 'Inri'. When a cow gives birth, for the first few days the milk is kinda stuffy and thick. If you boil it, it curdles itself and turns into kinda paneer (cottage or farmer cheese). Sugar is added to make it sweet and it tastes pretty good. The new born calf starts standing & walking in few mins after he's born, they jump a lot though. I also tried my hands on milking a cow, I have done it earlier too and I am okay at it. I wonder who was the first guy that look at a cow and said," I think that I'll drink whatever comes out of those things when I squeeze them?", sick people LOL. Also I wandered in woods near the village and also the fields & farms. I'll put all the pics up soon, got some pretty cool ones. (link to pics I hv uploaded on Orkut: http://www.orkut.co.in/ExternalAlbum.aspx?uid=14373366021617571617&aid=1229595165)
I went to my village from there. Met my uncles & relatives. It was fun hearing them praise me & feel proud of me . They might be jealous inside, i mean you never know but it was still fun. I hope they really are proud of me though, I have been good and done good. Best is yet to come. I saw my beautiful fields & farms, the canal near my farms, the railway line crossing in between my village; everything was fun & filled with memories. We used to climb & jump from trees to play different games, run in canal, take the cattle to field for grazing grass... lots of memories.
There was SHRAVAN-KSHETRA Mela (Fair) on Dec 12th which happens once a year for 3 days, I went there to. It was kinda stupid and totally village-ish but fun. There were small & big jhoolas (rides), lots of CHAAT & sweets (filled with oil & fat but YUMMY!!!) to eat and different kinds of stupid stuff selling all around (starting form house hold item, to clothes, to utensils to gifts, almost everything). Also there were magic shows & 'maut ka kuan' kinda stuff which is gr8 FUN. I enjoyed the mela with my cousins and then went to SHIV BABA. It's a holy auspicious place in our area which is very famous, I do visit it almost all the time when I go to my village. Shiv-bab ki Jai!!!
Then I went to Lucknow to my other uncle's place. I like Luknow, it's clean, organised and nice looking. Specially the areas of Indira Nagar where my uncle lives & Gomti Nagar etc. It does looks like a nice metro. I love to visit it but can't stay there, i guess its because of people with old mentality and all that. Also I guess people & government are the reason taht a nice place like Lucknow is not turning into another hot-spot for IT & MNCs like Gurgaon, Banagalore, Hyderabad or Pune. But i would still say that it does seems safer & cleaner & nicer than Delhi. Delhi might be the most unsafe place with the rising crime in the city. But still, Dilli is Dilli, Dilli hai Dil waalon ki...
Yeah, I came back to Delhi after Lucknow trip. Getting a reservation was not easy again. I tried the reservation online & got RAC in BSB Delhi Spl somehow. I like the online reservation system of Indian Railways, its pretty cool and it does works. However I was not able to get a seat inspite of my RAC. I was told on inquiry that the reservation got confirmed but there was no chart on platform or the train. The train came late by 3 hours without information & the TTE did not know anything about seats. He must have sold the seats & filled his own pockets. I travelled sitting on a seat next to the door in this cold winter all night. But again I fell asleep, sleeping adventure... LOL. The train arrived late by 4 hrs next day. Few things never change I guess!!!
Anyways, coming back to home was a great relief. Delhi always feels like HOME sweet home. & It's cool that you can catch Metro from Both Old & New Delhi Rly Stn to your destination. Few things are changing, for good. Delhi weather is getting cold, lets see how it goes. FYI, I installed Airtel Digital TV and seems to be working pretty good for now. I saw Transporter-3 today, okay movie. Lots of action & stuff & Jason is pretty good. I am also looking forward to see RNBDJ very soon. Not much to do anyways as I still don't have work yet...
Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. This one's a HUUUUUUUUGE blog, my biggest (blog entry) I guess. So really have to thank you for reading it (till here!!). I tried my best to keep it small (and this was the result, either i didn't try well or my best needs to be better) but then it would have been what I told all my friends earlier,"It was a gr8 fun village-trip however tiring too"... that's it, lol. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (please COMMENT to let me know of your views too). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
My own village is located in Distt Ambedkarnagar of Uttar Pradesh (UP). My uncles & aunts, my grandma and some other relatives live there and around. It's a small place which is around 60 KM east from Ayodhya (A holy place in Faizabad where Lord Rama was born) and 7 KM west from Akbarpur. Our whole area is known as Shravan-Kshetra of Awadh-Prant. The local language is Awadhi, the language of Ram-charit-manas of Tulasidas. My 'NANIHAAL' (my mom's parent's village) is in Sultanpur Distt. I had plans to go to Nanihaal first as their was my cousins marriage. And then I was planing to go to my own village from there.
I was not getting a confirmed reservation in a train to get to my village. I was trying like a week in advance but there was no confirmed reservation available in Sleeper, AC, Chair-car or anything. And it's close to hell traveling in Indian railways without reservation (could be hell with reservation too though). I guess the rush was because of Bakreed coming in the same week. Later I even tried TATKAL reservation but that was full too. TATKAL is a emergency kinda reserved quota of seats in Indian railway which just opens 5 days before the travel date & you have to pay 150 extra for sleeper & 300 for AC. Also to let people know, you cannot officially board a train unless you have a confirmed reservation or atleast RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation). However you might board a train in India with waiting or even without a ticket if you have the green-ticket (Money-Money!!!). I tried to check online reservation in Flight and it showed the fare as just Rs 125 + TAX. I was so happy that this is what I needed, just Rs 125 & awesome journey through plane. So I decided to check the complete fare with tax; it was just Rs 4375. Yep, the tax was freaking Rs 4250, WTF!!
So I decided to board a bus till Lucknow from Delhi & then take a bus further to Sulatnpur & village from there. The buses to UP run from Anand Vihar ISBT Bus Station. I heard there is an AC bus to Lucknow and I wanted to get that. But I was late as per my habit and I missed it, it runs around 10pm. So I had to board an ordinary UP Roadways bus at 12 in night. It's a 12-14 hrs journey with some stops every 3-4 hours for people comfort. I got seat in the last row of bus (as you might know how much a bus rocks at the back, and i mean rocks in a bad sense) in the cold winter of New Delhi, where the roadways bus' window hardly close. With in 5 mins I was feeling that I am in hell and I am gonna regret it really-really BAD.
I was wearing my Track-Suit I bought in US. It's really well insulated to wind & pretty warm too. I used to wear it in sub-zero weather of US and it used to work great; it worked great here in the bus too. I had 4 stinking (not really, but they did look like that) guys sitting around me and a old Mullaji sitting besides me who was leaning over me every time falling asleep. If it was some pretty girl, I could let my shoulder stay steady all night for her support, but damn a second for the old man. How could he sleep in this kinda bus and that too on my shoulder. Then the bus stopped in some time, it turns out that we have just covered 20-30 KMs in one hour. The drivers & conductors of the bus get free food at these roadside dhabas (desi restaurants) as they are bringing customers to them in buses. I was feeling more and more doomed.
We got in bus again and I somehow I started feeling sleepy this time. I didn't realize when I fell asleep and by the time I woke up it was morning. I didn't feel as bad as I was thinking, more than half the time was spent without much trouble. Mullaji was off the bus and I had enough space to sit comfortably. I had a tea at the next stop, stretched my self a bit & was ready. I got in the bus & fell asleep again. I don't sleep that much on flights but it was working well in the bus somehow. I was in Lucknow by 1pm (13 hours journey) and most of the journey was spent sleeping, it really wasn't that bad. More like an adventure, which i enjoyed sleeping. Then I boarded a bus to Sultanpur from Lucknow and then to my Nanihaal from there. Also the buses aren't that bad anymore, They have cushioned seats which are not push-back but still okay. Roads also have improved so the ride isn't that bad either. Things are getting better...
I was at my nanihaal by 7 in evening. My Nana-Nani (mom's dad & mom) and Mama (mom's brother) were really excited and very happy to see me. It was a cool surprise for them to see me. There were many other relatives there due to the occasion of marriage. All of them were glad to see me after so long and so was I. I enjoyed the marriage food and slept all night. Next day woke up little late and then met all my relatives there. Everyone was asking 2 things, my experience in US & plans of marriage. I was able to answer first but was speechless to second. The answer has been same for years,'I am not ready, I would like to wait few years'. I don't know why relatives are sooooo interested in getting us married, they must be getting some commission or something out of it. Specially the grandparents are always more interested than even parents in getting there eligible grand children married. the line is,'We want to see you married and settled before we die, we want to see your bride and possibly children too'. Why, why should I do something like this just for their wishes and pleasure. They and all the relatives try to torture you to get married, its painful and FUN!!!!
Also, a cow had given birth to a calf on the same day and I got to eat fresh 'Inri'. When a cow gives birth, for the first few days the milk is kinda stuffy and thick. If you boil it, it curdles itself and turns into kinda paneer (cottage or farmer cheese). Sugar is added to make it sweet and it tastes pretty good. The new born calf starts standing & walking in few mins after he's born, they jump a lot though. I also tried my hands on milking a cow, I have done it earlier too and I am okay at it. I wonder who was the first guy that look at a cow and said," I think that I'll drink whatever comes out of those things when I squeeze them?", sick people LOL. Also I wandered in woods near the village and also the fields & farms. I'll put all the pics up soon, got some pretty cool ones. (link to pics I hv uploaded on Orkut: http://www.orkut.co.in/ExternalAlbum.aspx?uid=14373366021617571617&aid=1229595165)
I went to my village from there. Met my uncles & relatives. It was fun hearing them praise me & feel proud of me . They might be jealous inside, i mean you never know but it was still fun. I hope they really are proud of me though, I have been good and done good. Best is yet to come. I saw my beautiful fields & farms, the canal near my farms, the railway line crossing in between my village; everything was fun & filled with memories. We used to climb & jump from trees to play different games, run in canal, take the cattle to field for grazing grass... lots of memories.
There was SHRAVAN-KSHETRA Mela (Fair) on Dec 12th which happens once a year for 3 days, I went there to. It was kinda stupid and totally village-ish but fun. There were small & big jhoolas (rides), lots of CHAAT & sweets (filled with oil & fat but YUMMY!!!) to eat and different kinds of stupid stuff selling all around (starting form house hold item, to clothes, to utensils to gifts, almost everything). Also there were magic shows & 'maut ka kuan' kinda stuff which is gr8 FUN. I enjoyed the mela with my cousins and then went to SHIV BABA. It's a holy auspicious place in our area which is very famous, I do visit it almost all the time when I go to my village. Shiv-bab ki Jai!!!
Then I went to Lucknow to my other uncle's place. I like Luknow, it's clean, organised and nice looking. Specially the areas of Indira Nagar where my uncle lives & Gomti Nagar etc. It does looks like a nice metro. I love to visit it but can't stay there, i guess its because of people with old mentality and all that. Also I guess people & government are the reason taht a nice place like Lucknow is not turning into another hot-spot for IT & MNCs like Gurgaon, Banagalore, Hyderabad or Pune. But i would still say that it does seems safer & cleaner & nicer than Delhi. Delhi might be the most unsafe place with the rising crime in the city. But still, Dilli is Dilli, Dilli hai Dil waalon ki...
Yeah, I came back to Delhi after Lucknow trip. Getting a reservation was not easy again. I tried the reservation online & got RAC in BSB Delhi Spl somehow. I like the online reservation system of Indian Railways, its pretty cool and it does works. However I was not able to get a seat inspite of my RAC. I was told on inquiry that the reservation got confirmed but there was no chart on platform or the train. The train came late by 3 hours without information & the TTE did not know anything about seats. He must have sold the seats & filled his own pockets. I travelled sitting on a seat next to the door in this cold winter all night. But again I fell asleep, sleeping adventure... LOL. The train arrived late by 4 hrs next day. Few things never change I guess!!!
Anyways, coming back to home was a great relief. Delhi always feels like HOME sweet home. & It's cool that you can catch Metro from Both Old & New Delhi Rly Stn to your destination. Few things are changing, for good. Delhi weather is getting cold, lets see how it goes. FYI, I installed Airtel Digital TV and seems to be working pretty good for now. I saw Transporter-3 today, okay movie. Lots of action & stuff & Jason is pretty good. I am also looking forward to see RNBDJ very soon. Not much to do anyways as I still don't have work yet...
Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. This one's a HUUUUUUUUGE blog, my biggest (blog entry) I guess. So really have to thank you for reading it (till here!!). I tried my best to keep it small (and this was the result, either i didn't try well or my best needs to be better) but then it would have been what I told all my friends earlier,"It was a gr8 fun village-trip however tiring too"... that's it, lol. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (please COMMENT to let me know of your views too). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
Monday, December 01, 2008
I am PISSED... (also I didn't vote)
First day of last month of this year and I am really pissed. Why... or why not... I mean doesn't this world kinda sucks, at least right now. I have not been very well lately; have not had any project (on so called bench/beach) for more than 2 months; the world is going through this awful recession & economical downfall; and some bloody $%^&#$@ enter in to our own country, blow up our places, kill our innocent countrymen and try to spread terror.......
As for not being well, it's been both me & my lovely home. By living in US for sometime, my immunity power has definitely weakened (it's like a superpower most of us Indians have; immune to dirt, pollution, noise, political downfall, crime, corruption, all kinda enforced pain etc). I can't stand pollution, dirt & keep falling sick; or at least not in best of my health. And on top of that I had that surgery (see my previous blogs) which has definitely affected me for sometime, I am much better and almost recovered now though.
I don't talk much about my work here (bcoz some of my colleagues & managers read the blog too, lol). But I am not very happy with my current situation. I have been on so called beach (usually called as bench in other companies), which means I don't have any project to work on. There were project opportunities in Philadelphia/Kansas/Portland but thing's didn't turn up well. Sometimes because of me being sick or not available or mostly because of this recession because of which new projects are not coming up. I don't have much to do and I am getting kinda bored and concerned too. I want a nice project soon, in US!!!
Recession and Economic Downfall sucks soooo much, many of us have been affected by it in some or other way. Many of my friends have lost there jobs or are on the verge of losing there jobs because of this. I lost two project opportunities, because they could not get signed-off owing to recession I guess. The dollar is strong as compared to rupee these days (around Rs 50 for a dollar); whereas it used to be pretty low when I used to transfer money sometime back (I have even transferred on Rs 37 per dollar). The prices are so damn high of everything now; the usual vegetables, milk, ration and everything else is damn expensive. Even the burger & pizzas are almost twice the price now. What's there to be happy about it??
And on top of that... these Mumbai Attacks. Some bloody $^&*%@ enters in our own country and try terrorize our own people in middle of the daylight. They captivate places like Taj & Oberai and kill innocent people there for no damn reason. What kind of f***ng religion or faith or aspirations can lead anyone to such actions. And I despise those Indians who are involved in this or supporting this; yeah, I mean how can someone enter into your own house without anyone knowing unless someone from your house lets them in or helps them. There has to be some of our people who are helping them. I consider Rape & Terrorism as two of the biggest crimes; those who are hurting innocent people for just there pleasure should be punished mercilessly. Because these people do not just hurt the victims but also affects the whole society in negative way. People are afraid to get out of there houses, or even stay in there houses; how bad is that? We do not feel safe in our own homes, we see our own people killed & hurt and we can't do much to save them.... This has to be stopped, if the government and our leaders are not capable enough to fight for us, we the 'people of India' have to rise together to bring it to justice!!!
Hmmmmm, also I didn't vote this time in Delhi Elections. As it was being said this time around,'Pappu vote nahi deta'. I guess its better to be a 'pappu' than to go ahead & vote for some jerk whom you have never heard of or you are not sure what is he gonna do for you, your place & your country. I heard there is an Article 49-O under which you have right to not vote, or say that I don't like anyone and want to vote for no one. And if no votes are more than total votes in the region, a re-election will happen with all new candidates. Earlier in paper polling, an unstamped vote was considered as no-vote. But with electronic voting, there is no option yet for a button for no-vote. I have heard that it has been suggested by election commission in electoral reforms but lets see when it actually happens. I am sure our cunning politicians would never like to give us a right to not vote for them; but I hope this happens sometimes and all of us can get together to show we do not like them. I guess the situation would be same for me, until I go ahead and contest in election myself!!
So... so much to be pissed and not much to be happy about!!! But I watched 'Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye', pretty nice movie. I always have liked Abhay Deol out of all the Deols; he's charming, smart & a good actor. The movie is a story of a young boy wanting goods in life who turns into a smart thief. Stealing stuff by outsmarting people with his intelligence is not just his profession but passion too. A nice comedy movie with decent presentation & good acting by Abhay as the thief and Paresh Rawal in 3 different roles. Overall it's a nice fun movie. Also I am waiting for 'Rab ne Bana Di Jodi', seems interesting movie.
Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (please COMMENT to let me know of your views too). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
As for not being well, it's been both me & my lovely home. By living in US for sometime, my immunity power has definitely weakened (it's like a superpower most of us Indians have; immune to dirt, pollution, noise, political downfall, crime, corruption, all kinda enforced pain etc). I can't stand pollution, dirt & keep falling sick; or at least not in best of my health. And on top of that I had that surgery (see my previous blogs) which has definitely affected me for sometime, I am much better and almost recovered now though.
I don't talk much about my work here (bcoz some of my colleagues & managers read the blog too, lol). But I am not very happy with my current situation. I have been on so called beach (usually called as bench in other companies), which means I don't have any project to work on. There were project opportunities in Philadelphia/Kansas/Portland but thing's didn't turn up well. Sometimes because of me being sick or not available or mostly because of this recession because of which new projects are not coming up. I don't have much to do and I am getting kinda bored and concerned too. I want a nice project soon, in US!!!
Recession and Economic Downfall sucks soooo much, many of us have been affected by it in some or other way. Many of my friends have lost there jobs or are on the verge of losing there jobs because of this. I lost two project opportunities, because they could not get signed-off owing to recession I guess. The dollar is strong as compared to rupee these days (around Rs 50 for a dollar); whereas it used to be pretty low when I used to transfer money sometime back (I have even transferred on Rs 37 per dollar). The prices are so damn high of everything now; the usual vegetables, milk, ration and everything else is damn expensive. Even the burger & pizzas are almost twice the price now. What's there to be happy about it??
And on top of that... these Mumbai Attacks. Some bloody $^&*%@ enters in our own country and try terrorize our own people in middle of the daylight. They captivate places like Taj & Oberai and kill innocent people there for no damn reason. What kind of f***ng religion or faith or aspirations can lead anyone to such actions. And I despise those Indians who are involved in this or supporting this; yeah, I mean how can someone enter into your own house without anyone knowing unless someone from your house lets them in or helps them. There has to be some of our people who are helping them. I consider Rape & Terrorism as two of the biggest crimes; those who are hurting innocent people for just there pleasure should be punished mercilessly. Because these people do not just hurt the victims but also affects the whole society in negative way. People are afraid to get out of there houses, or even stay in there houses; how bad is that? We do not feel safe in our own homes, we see our own people killed & hurt and we can't do much to save them.... This has to be stopped, if the government and our leaders are not capable enough to fight for us, we the 'people of India' have to rise together to bring it to justice!!!
Hmmmmm, also I didn't vote this time in Delhi Elections. As it was being said this time around,'Pappu vote nahi deta'. I guess its better to be a 'pappu' than to go ahead & vote for some jerk whom you have never heard of or you are not sure what is he gonna do for you, your place & your country. I heard there is an Article 49-O under which you have right to not vote, or say that I don't like anyone and want to vote for no one. And if no votes are more than total votes in the region, a re-election will happen with all new candidates. Earlier in paper polling, an unstamped vote was considered as no-vote. But with electronic voting, there is no option yet for a button for no-vote. I have heard that it has been suggested by election commission in electoral reforms but lets see when it actually happens. I am sure our cunning politicians would never like to give us a right to not vote for them; but I hope this happens sometimes and all of us can get together to show we do not like them. I guess the situation would be same for me, until I go ahead and contest in election myself!!
So... so much to be pissed and not much to be happy about!!! But I watched 'Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye', pretty nice movie. I always have liked Abhay Deol out of all the Deols; he's charming, smart & a good actor. The movie is a story of a young boy wanting goods in life who turns into a smart thief. Stealing stuff by outsmarting people with his intelligence is not just his profession but passion too. A nice comedy movie with decent presentation & good acting by Abhay as the thief and Paresh Rawal in 3 different roles. Overall it's a nice fun movie. Also I am waiting for 'Rab ne Bana Di Jodi', seems interesting movie.
Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (please COMMENT to let me know of your views too). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving... & IITF-2008
Happy Thanksgiving to all my dear ones and thanks for there love & support!!!
For my friends who may not know about thanksgiving... Thanksgiving, also known as Thanksgiving Day, is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is primarily a North American holiday which has generally become a national secular holiday with religious origins. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members.
I was talking to one my russian friends recently and I asked if they celebrate
thanksgiving. The resposnse was an astonishing NO saying 'its an american festival so why should they celebrate it' and I am funny. I am not saying that thnaksgiving has to be celebrated all over world or it is not an american festival but why should anyone feel offended by this. I think thanksgiving is a beautiful festival where people get to thank there loved ones fro all the good they have done. We are always thankful to people around us for tehre goodness but we hardly put it in words. Saying that THANK YOU sometimes is not bad I guess. So this is a festival in very good spirit and I like it.
Last year I was in US during thanksgiving. A day before thanksgiving, I went to one of my dear friend's house and had delicious dinner (not a usual turkey dinner though, but some kinda hen). Then I went to Los Angeles for a fun trip and on the day of thanksgiving I had an awesome thanksgiving turkey dinner at the hotel. And then had an aweosme fun in Los Angeles & Las Vegas (I spent $3500 in 4 days, never done that). Thanksgiving is gooooooooooooood!!
Second news is that I went to IITF-2008 today i.e. India International Trade Fair organized at Pragati Miadan in New Delhi. I have been going to Trade Fair since 1998 regularly every year (except last year when I was in US). The awesome thing is it hasn't changed much in all these years. It still looks almost the same every year with thousands of p[eople & hundreds of stalls everywhere. I went to few stalls as usual like Electronics, Saras/Handicraft, Good Living & few states (Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Punjab etc).
I feel that food is not as interesting as earlier anymore, especialy in state stalls. The stuff is ususally very expensive as compared to other places, i ma not even sure if it's origianl or even good quality stuff. But it's really interesting to see all different kind of stuff at just one place. It used to be an amazing experience when i was in school. I used to go to Techmart & all oher halls/stalls and collect tons of pamphlets & information brochure (for no reason). And later just visiting all the food stalls for eqating only. And now just roaming around and watching lil stuff here & there to finish the whole thing in less than 4 hrs (which used to take 10 hrs & twice or thrice visit). But it has always been a nice FUN!!!
Anyways, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please, if you wanna). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
There have been terrorist attacks in Mumbai... WTF!! Why do people do stuff like this? Or maybe they are not people anymore, just Weapon Of Mass Destruction. And we know what needs to be done against WMDs, destroy them completely from root. Afterall how can anyone ever justify killng hundreds of innocent people; there cant be any appropriate reason for this ever. Something really needs to be done to end this now & forever.
May god bless the souls of all who lost there lives, got hurt and there families; bad things like this may never happen again to anyone......... Amen!!
For my friends who may not know about thanksgiving... Thanksgiving, also known as Thanksgiving Day, is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is primarily a North American holiday which has generally become a national secular holiday with religious origins. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members.
I was talking to one my russian friends recently and I asked if they celebrate
thanksgiving. The resposnse was an astonishing NO saying 'its an american festival so why should they celebrate it' and I am funny. I am not saying that thnaksgiving has to be celebrated all over world or it is not an american festival but why should anyone feel offended by this. I think thanksgiving is a beautiful festival where people get to thank there loved ones fro all the good they have done. We are always thankful to people around us for tehre goodness but we hardly put it in words. Saying that THANK YOU sometimes is not bad I guess. So this is a festival in very good spirit and I like it.
Last year I was in US during thanksgiving. A day before thanksgiving, I went to one of my dear friend's house and had delicious dinner (not a usual turkey dinner though, but some kinda hen). Then I went to Los Angeles for a fun trip and on the day of thanksgiving I had an awesome thanksgiving turkey dinner at the hotel. And then had an aweosme fun in Los Angeles & Las Vegas (I spent $3500 in 4 days, never done that). Thanksgiving is gooooooooooooood!!
Second news is that I went to IITF-2008 today i.e. India International Trade Fair organized at Pragati Miadan in New Delhi. I have been going to Trade Fair since 1998 regularly every year (except last year when I was in US). The awesome thing is it hasn't changed much in all these years. It still looks almost the same every year with thousands of p[eople & hundreds of stalls everywhere. I went to few stalls as usual like Electronics, Saras/Handicraft, Good Living & few states (Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Punjab etc).
I feel that food is not as interesting as earlier anymore, especialy in state stalls. The stuff is ususally very expensive as compared to other places, i ma not even sure if it's origianl or even good quality stuff. But it's really interesting to see all different kind of stuff at just one place. It used to be an amazing experience when i was in school. I used to go to Techmart & all oher halls/stalls and collect tons of pamphlets & information brochure (for no reason). And later just visiting all the food stalls for eqating only. And now just roaming around and watching lil stuff here & there to finish the whole thing in less than 4 hrs (which used to take 10 hrs & twice or thrice visit). But it has always been a nice FUN!!!
Anyways, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please, if you wanna). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
There have been terrorist attacks in Mumbai... WTF!! Why do people do stuff like this? Or maybe they are not people anymore, just Weapon Of Mass Destruction. And we know what needs to be done against WMDs, destroy them completely from root. Afterall how can anyone ever justify killng hundreds of innocent people; there cant be any appropriate reason for this ever. Something really needs to be done to end this now & forever.
May god bless the souls of all who lost there lives, got hurt and there families; bad things like this may never happen again to anyone......... Amen!!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Feeling better, getting better... I m still the BEST!!!
Yeah, I am feeling better than last week. I mean, I was in terrible pain. OMG, that pain for 2 days after surgery was just too much, couldn't almost live with it. Thanks to all these painkillers, i was getting 'Voveran' injections which really helped me. FYI... all that painkiller drugs do is to primarily deaden the nerves so that they cannot transmit pain signals to the brain. Therefore you do not feel the pain after you swallow a painkiller. Yeah, So if you don't want to land up in a sick bed, think before popping that easy to reach painkiller.
Possible Side effects of painkillers:
Aspirin: Intestinal hemorrhage, peptic ulcer, precipitates asthma.
Ibuprofen: Stomach ulcer, vomiting, skin reactions
Novalgin: Blood disorder
Voveran: Liver and kidney damage, water retention leading to high BP
Nimesulide: Toxic liver failure, kidney damage, blood in urine
Paracetamol: None
Note: Prescription painkillers can be highly dangerous if taken without medical supervision. Also, I am not responsible for any of this information, just collected from net and wanted to share...
So with the help of all those prescribed/supervised drugs/medicines i am getting better. I am popping like 10 pills twice a day, that's a lot I guess and it does seems to be working. So I am feeling & getting much better. And yeah, I am still the BEST. I mean that's a fact, can't be changed. I was talking to my old friend Sumantho today after a long time, cool guy. He told me that I haven't changed, which is obvious as I told him... "Perfection can't be improved", LOL!!!
BTW, people have been asking me what's DNS & Septoplasty which is an obvious questions since I have been through that and have mentioned them in last two blogs. I thought that interested people might go ahead & search it on net if they want to know. I even had mentioned the links to info about it in my first blog's comment too. Anyways, let me talk about it a bit here.
DNS is acronym for Deviated Nasal Septum. A deviated septum is a common physical disorder of the nose, involving a displacement of the nasal septum. Doctors told me that it's a very common condition found in many people, just the extent of it and affect may be different. I didn't have any problems myself either. But depending on the extent, it might lead to Sinus in future. So I thought of getting it treated and the treatment is a surgery called Septoplasty. Septoplasty is a corrective surgical procedure done to straighten the nasal septum, the partition between the two nasal cavities. It's very safe & fine surgery, doesn't leaves any visible scars and nothing very complicated or risky about it I guess. I mean it does feels kinda weird when you feel that someone is working inside your small nose with not just knives but hammer & chisel too (yeah, to cut that spur of extra bone growth. I was on local anesthesia but it does feels scary). The surgery takes around 2 hrs and I really appreciate the accuracy & art of surgeon hands, i mean imagine them working inside a nose with chisel & hammer... WOW!! And then 2 painful days when ur nose is stuffed and you can't breathe which is terrible. Then you realize how important the nose is and mouth is not for breathing or you can't do anything else with it much. And a week to 10 days or maybe more of recovery. And yeah, every surgery may have its complications & risks so beware of that. Here are few links for more info about DNS & Septoplasty:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviated_septum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septoplasty
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/deviatednasalseptum.htm
http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/56/main.html
http://www.healthcentral.com/encyclopedia/408/56.html
http://www.medindia.com/surgicalprocedures/septoplasty-surgery.htm
http://www.facialbeauty.com/Nasal%20Septoplasty.asp
Hmmmmm, so lots of medical information this time. I feel like a doctor or something like that now. But I guess lots of my regular readers or I should say admirers are not reading my blog anymore. Like my cool manager Ganesh Letchumanan, he really used to appreciate my blogs (or atleast he says so and I would love to believe that too). He's a great guy, I had a conversation with him (which I can't disclose here what it was about, kinda confidential) and it was nice. I mean, its a good sign if you feel good about or after talking to someone; it shows that a person is nice. Like most of the people feel good after talking to me, which shows how awesome I am, and blah, blah, blah!!!
BTW, I watched 'Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa' y'day. Nice movie, pretty old concept of close friends but confused about love until they find it. But presented in a nice & fresh way, faces look fresh and the music too. Imran Khan is here to stay, looks good & acts well too. As for Genelia, she's the same. Her role was pretty much like her old movie 'Tujhe Meri Kasam' with Riteish Deshmukh, can't believe she was just 16 when she did that. Also, one funny thing happened. I wanted to see Sarkar Raj as I thought I had it, I started watching it and felt as if it was very similar to the first one (with VIshnu getting jailed & attempted murder, Shankar killing his brother and all). Later I realized that I was watching the 2nd part of the first movie Sarkar only, LOL. I mean I had recently watched Godfather and it has been long since I saw Sarkar, and it has lots of elements of Godfather-II so I thought I am watching new Sarkar HAHAHA. Need to see that one and other movies which I have missed too...
That's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please, if you wanna). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
Possible Side effects of painkillers:
Aspirin: Intestinal hemorrhage, peptic ulcer, precipitates asthma.
Ibuprofen: Stomach ulcer, vomiting, skin reactions
Novalgin: Blood disorder
Voveran: Liver and kidney damage, water retention leading to high BP
Nimesulide: Toxic liver failure, kidney damage, blood in urine
Paracetamol: None
Note: Prescription painkillers can be highly dangerous if taken without medical supervision. Also, I am not responsible for any of this information, just collected from net and wanted to share...
So with the help of all those prescribed/supervised drugs/medicines i am getting better. I am popping like 10 pills twice a day, that's a lot I guess and it does seems to be working. So I am feeling & getting much better. And yeah, I am still the BEST. I mean that's a fact, can't be changed. I was talking to my old friend Sumantho today after a long time, cool guy. He told me that I haven't changed, which is obvious as I told him... "Perfection can't be improved", LOL!!!
BTW, people have been asking me what's DNS & Septoplasty which is an obvious questions since I have been through that and have mentioned them in last two blogs. I thought that interested people might go ahead & search it on net if they want to know. I even had mentioned the links to info about it in my first blog's comment too. Anyways, let me talk about it a bit here.
DNS is acronym for Deviated Nasal Septum. A deviated septum is a common physical disorder of the nose, involving a displacement of the nasal septum. Doctors told me that it's a very common condition found in many people, just the extent of it and affect may be different. I didn't have any problems myself either. But depending on the extent, it might lead to Sinus in future. So I thought of getting it treated and the treatment is a surgery called Septoplasty. Septoplasty is a corrective surgical procedure done to straighten the nasal septum, the partition between the two nasal cavities. It's very safe & fine surgery, doesn't leaves any visible scars and nothing very complicated or risky about it I guess. I mean it does feels kinda weird when you feel that someone is working inside your small nose with not just knives but hammer & chisel too (yeah, to cut that spur of extra bone growth. I was on local anesthesia but it does feels scary). The surgery takes around 2 hrs and I really appreciate the accuracy & art of surgeon hands, i mean imagine them working inside a nose with chisel & hammer... WOW!! And then 2 painful days when ur nose is stuffed and you can't breathe which is terrible. Then you realize how important the nose is and mouth is not for breathing or you can't do anything else with it much. And a week to 10 days or maybe more of recovery. And yeah, every surgery may have its complications & risks so beware of that. Here are few links for more info about DNS & Septoplasty:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviated_septum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septoplasty
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/deviatednasalseptum.htm
http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/56/main.html
http://www.healthcentral.com/encyclopedia/408/56.html
http://www.medindia.com/surgicalprocedures/septoplasty-surgery.htm
http://www.facialbeauty.com/Nasal%20Septoplasty.asp
Hmmmmm, so lots of medical information this time. I feel like a doctor or something like that now. But I guess lots of my regular readers or I should say admirers are not reading my blog anymore. Like my cool manager Ganesh Letchumanan, he really used to appreciate my blogs (or atleast he says so and I would love to believe that too). He's a great guy, I had a conversation with him (which I can't disclose here what it was about, kinda confidential) and it was nice. I mean, its a good sign if you feel good about or after talking to someone; it shows that a person is nice. Like most of the people feel good after talking to me, which shows how awesome I am, and blah, blah, blah!!!
BTW, I watched 'Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa' y'day. Nice movie, pretty old concept of close friends but confused about love until they find it. But presented in a nice & fresh way, faces look fresh and the music too. Imran Khan is here to stay, looks good & acts well too. As for Genelia, she's the same. Her role was pretty much like her old movie 'Tujhe Meri Kasam' with Riteish Deshmukh, can't believe she was just 16 when she did that. Also, one funny thing happened. I wanted to see Sarkar Raj as I thought I had it, I started watching it and felt as if it was very similar to the first one (with VIshnu getting jailed & attempted murder, Shankar killing his brother and all). Later I realized that I was watching the 2nd part of the first movie Sarkar only, LOL. I mean I had recently watched Godfather and it has been long since I saw Sarkar, and it has lots of elements of Godfather-II so I thought I am watching new Sarkar HAHAHA. Need to see that one and other movies which I have missed too...
That's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please, if you wanna). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
Sunday, November 09, 2008
I am BACK!!!
Yeah, I am BACK!!! Again, sounds soooo damn cool naa... I feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger (had to google him to get his last name, lol). Anyways, all I mean is that I am back from the hospital. If you guys remember I was hospitalised for Septoplasty surgery for my DNS. I am at home and resting/recovering now. It would take around a week for recovery and I should be fine.
I was operated on 6th, the operation went well. It was a 2 hour operation and then I was hospitalised for 2 days for review. The surgery was done with local anaesthesia, which is not painful butkinda weird when you can feel that how you are being treated. Some one operating on you with knives & blades and even hammer/chisel (to break/cut the bone, wow). Very precise and nice hands, its surely a tough job. Surgeons are real artists & craftsman. My surgeon, Dr Maj DK Gupta was pretty cool too. I was in huge pain for 2 days, had to take painkiller injections too witrh all he medicines. But much better now!!
Anyways, i'll keep posted with more updates. Not much to say right now. I am still on so called beach without any project. Waiting for something interesting and nice. Conversations are on for few projects, lets see what do I get...
I watched Lovestory 2050 and it was not bad either. I mean Harman is cool; he does seemscopy of Hrithik, with his looks, acting, dancing, dialogue & even style. I mean, he should try to be different and make his own unique style. But he was pretty nice for his 1st movie. The overall movie is fine too, I just think that our Indian audience cannot handle Futuristic & Sci-Fi Fantasy. They are fine with historical or mythological fantasy & stuff but not scientific & futuristic, which is weird. But anyways, people should try to make these kinda movies in India, I liked it. It was stupid at few places, but all the movies are. Nice attempt, keep it up.
I'll sign-off for now. So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
I was operated on 6th, the operation went well. It was a 2 hour operation and then I was hospitalised for 2 days for review. The surgery was done with local anaesthesia, which is not painful butkinda weird when you can feel that how you are being treated. Some one operating on you with knives & blades and even hammer/chisel (to break/cut the bone, wow). Very precise and nice hands, its surely a tough job. Surgeons are real artists & craftsman. My surgeon, Dr Maj DK Gupta was pretty cool too. I was in huge pain for 2 days, had to take painkiller injections too witrh all he medicines. But much better now!!
Anyways, i'll keep posted with more updates. Not much to say right now. I am still on so called beach without any project. Waiting for something interesting and nice. Conversations are on for few projects, lets see what do I get...
I watched Lovestory 2050 and it was not bad either. I mean Harman is cool; he does seemscopy of Hrithik, with his looks, acting, dancing, dialogue & even style. I mean, he should try to be different and make his own unique style. But he was pretty nice for his 1st movie. The overall movie is fine too, I just think that our Indian audience cannot handle Futuristic & Sci-Fi Fantasy. They are fine with historical or mythological fantasy & stuff but not scientific & futuristic, which is weird. But anyways, people should try to make these kinda movies in India, I liked it. It was stupid at few places, but all the movies are. Nice attempt, keep it up.
I'll sign-off for now. So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Getting hospitalized for a surgery...
Yeah, sounds cool naa... I mean, people are really getting concerned to hear that line of mine as my status. And I am publishing this line on all my messengers & websites etc. It's kinda nice to see people concerned for you and caring about you. Well, we all love that.
So, I am just getting operated for DNS, and the surgery is called 'Septoplasty'. I should be hopefully fine soon. I am getting hospitalized today and the surgery date is tomorrow. Would be kept hospitalized post-surgery for 2-3 days. Might take a week to 10 days for recovery. This is what I have been told by the doctors. Hopefully things go well and great!!!
So, I am just getting operated for DNS, and the surgery is called 'Septoplasty'. I should be hopefully fine soon. I am getting hospitalized today and the surgery date is tomorrow. Would be kept hospitalized post-surgery for 2-3 days. Might take a week to 10 days for recovery. This is what I have been told by the doctors. Hopefully things go well and great!!!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Do Indians need VISA to travel in India... & be treated as immigrants now
When I initially thought of creating my blog, i thought I would use it to express my thoughts and feelings on different issues & topics. Not just writing about my day to day life or like a diary/journal. However I didn't do that, as I dont blog that much. But this might be a start...
I heard about Raj Thackeray, a politician from Mumbai talking about lots of stuff today. He recently became a controversial political figure in India due to his rhetorical speech against people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar; this includes statements against actor Amitabh Bachchan and the Mumbai Police Officer. He blamed north Indians immigration into the state of Maharastra as the reason for a shortage of jobs for the local Maharashtrians.
I really don't understandthat how to understand this whole concept. I mean, if today Mumbai says that so called outsiders should not come there. So they should stay in there own states. Now if people move to big cities (like Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Patna, Ranchi, Bhopal etc) in there own states, the people from those cities may accuse them of the same, that why are they immigrating to there cities and stealing there jobs and places. And further they might be accused of the same if they move to there near by towns for better opportunities. Or at the worst, if people move even to a village outside there village (or native place) they would be accused and treated as immigrants. Afterall once you leave your native place where you were born, you are an immigrant anywhere. So... i guess we should just stick to place where we were born and survive there as we can, because we are not supposed to move out... RIGHT?? Just be a "KOOP-MANDOOK" (famous sanskrit word which means, a well's frog who does not knows the outside world).
Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and many other metros and major cities have always been a target for people to move to. They get better job oportunities, better money and better life which helps the people to grow and prosper. Then it helps there native places to grow & develop and in turn it helps in our countries growth and development too. I mean people growth is country growth. Also it helps these metros & cities to develop as well, because these people who move there do a lot for the places. Afterall they treat it as there home, infact it becomes there home.
Anyways, people move all across India to any and many places. We are a country of diversity and we see people from all over country, settled and established all over country. And we have never heard such complaints form any other part of India. Not even south India, where the cuture seems a bit diffrent to some people and they think its differnt. But it's one country and we all live and prosper together. People do have some language or cultural barriers some times but we always take them off by the unity and bonding we have of being one.
Then why do we hear this in Mumbai from a person who is not a representative of Mumbai in any sens. He's not the government, he's not an elected representative, he's nothing. I don't know why are we even paying attention to anthing like this. I don't think that this is the coplain or pain of a commom mumbaikar or marathi person. They are so loving and nice people, they are all our fellow Indians and we have been together for ages. With love, with prosperity and with unity. Our Army or defense forces, our Indian cricket team, our film industry, our national government or any and everything consistes of people from all over the country and we excel together as ONE!!!
Why are we even hearing to a person who's not making any sense? Why are we even paying any attention to him? This should never be made a politcal issue and its ridiculous the way politicians and news channels are trying to give it a political color. I was glad to see the support we got from people Like Mr Bachchan or even Amar Singh and some others. I was not very glad to see that the Maharshtra govt or maybe some Marathi leadres have not come clearly in opposition to this. But it's not time to be glad or unglad. It's time to come together and tell this world and these people that we united, we are one and we dont pay attention to these stupid concerns. We have bigger and better concerns for our people & our nation and we'll take care of all of them together.
As my mom was saying today, "if we won't be able to accept our own countrymen and not let them prosper & develop in our own country; how do we expect that from other countries and other people all over the world". We blame western countries of treating us as thirld world or racism or not letting us grow, we expect them to be fair. Are we not doing the same to our own people and our own country???
Anyways, I guess I have said something (not enough ofcourse) and it shows what i think. Please let me know about your views about this too. I'll sign-off for now. So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
Jai Bharat, Jai Hind!!!
I heard about Raj Thackeray, a politician from Mumbai talking about lots of stuff today. He recently became a controversial political figure in India due to his rhetorical speech against people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar; this includes statements against actor Amitabh Bachchan and the Mumbai Police Officer. He blamed north Indians immigration into the state of Maharastra as the reason for a shortage of jobs for the local Maharashtrians.
I really don't understandthat how to understand this whole concept. I mean, if today Mumbai says that so called outsiders should not come there. So they should stay in there own states. Now if people move to big cities (like Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Patna, Ranchi, Bhopal etc) in there own states, the people from those cities may accuse them of the same, that why are they immigrating to there cities and stealing there jobs and places. And further they might be accused of the same if they move to there near by towns for better opportunities. Or at the worst, if people move even to a village outside there village (or native place) they would be accused and treated as immigrants. Afterall once you leave your native place where you were born, you are an immigrant anywhere. So... i guess we should just stick to place where we were born and survive there as we can, because we are not supposed to move out... RIGHT?? Just be a "KOOP-MANDOOK" (famous sanskrit word which means, a well's frog who does not knows the outside world).
Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and many other metros and major cities have always been a target for people to move to. They get better job oportunities, better money and better life which helps the people to grow and prosper. Then it helps there native places to grow & develop and in turn it helps in our countries growth and development too. I mean people growth is country growth. Also it helps these metros & cities to develop as well, because these people who move there do a lot for the places. Afterall they treat it as there home, infact it becomes there home.
Anyways, people move all across India to any and many places. We are a country of diversity and we see people from all over country, settled and established all over country. And we have never heard such complaints form any other part of India. Not even south India, where the cuture seems a bit diffrent to some people and they think its differnt. But it's one country and we all live and prosper together. People do have some language or cultural barriers some times but we always take them off by the unity and bonding we have of being one.
Then why do we hear this in Mumbai from a person who is not a representative of Mumbai in any sens. He's not the government, he's not an elected representative, he's nothing. I don't know why are we even paying attention to anthing like this. I don't think that this is the coplain or pain of a commom mumbaikar or marathi person. They are so loving and nice people, they are all our fellow Indians and we have been together for ages. With love, with prosperity and with unity. Our Army or defense forces, our Indian cricket team, our film industry, our national government or any and everything consistes of people from all over the country and we excel together as ONE!!!
Why are we even hearing to a person who's not making any sense? Why are we even paying any attention to him? This should never be made a politcal issue and its ridiculous the way politicians and news channels are trying to give it a political color. I was glad to see the support we got from people Like Mr Bachchan or even Amar Singh and some others. I was not very glad to see that the Maharshtra govt or maybe some Marathi leadres have not come clearly in opposition to this. But it's not time to be glad or unglad. It's time to come together and tell this world and these people that we united, we are one and we dont pay attention to these stupid concerns. We have bigger and better concerns for our people & our nation and we'll take care of all of them together.
As my mom was saying today, "if we won't be able to accept our own countrymen and not let them prosper & develop in our own country; how do we expect that from other countries and other people all over the world". We blame western countries of treating us as thirld world or racism or not letting us grow, we expect them to be fair. Are we not doing the same to our own people and our own country???
Anyways, I guess I have said something (not enough ofcourse) and it shows what i think. Please let me know about your views about this too. I'll sign-off for now. So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
Jai Bharat, Jai Hind!!!
Monday, October 27, 2008
HAPPY DIWALI!!!
Shubh Deepawali to all of you!!!
I am at home in India this Diwali unlike last year when i was in US. As most of the festivals or special occassions i spent in US, nothing happened. I mean, thats the difference of being far from family & friends. Anyways, did some usual shopping & home decorating for Diwali today.
We went to Rishikesh & Haridar this weekend. I did a whole family trip after a very long time, it was great fun. But I guess I have really lost my immunity power or its getting weak. I caught cold n fever just because of the travel. Ofcourse the weather was kinda cold there and also there was hell lot of pollution & dirt in all the way there. I almost couldn't breathe. Hope i get well very soon, want to enjoy my diwali & have fun...
FYI... There was a Diwali Festival last week in my company and I won the prize for 'Best Dressed Male'. I was wearing my Shervani style kurta set. Ofcourse I was looking awesome, it was really great. Havent got the prize yet, lets see what I get.
I wached Himesh Reshamiya's KARZZZ and it was fine. I already like him as a singer & composer and now as an actor too... wow!! the guy must have something. I also saw WEDNESDAY & AAMIR last week, really great movies. Saw HELLO too, not bad. I could have done it much better though, lol. Looking forward for watching all other nice movies i missed or the one's coming soon.
I'll sign-off for now. So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
I am at home in India this Diwali unlike last year when i was in US. As most of the festivals or special occassions i spent in US, nothing happened. I mean, thats the difference of being far from family & friends. Anyways, did some usual shopping & home decorating for Diwali today.
We went to Rishikesh & Haridar this weekend. I did a whole family trip after a very long time, it was great fun. But I guess I have really lost my immunity power or its getting weak. I caught cold n fever just because of the travel. Ofcourse the weather was kinda cold there and also there was hell lot of pollution & dirt in all the way there. I almost couldn't breathe. Hope i get well very soon, want to enjoy my diwali & have fun...
FYI... There was a Diwali Festival last week in my company and I won the prize for 'Best Dressed Male'. I was wearing my Shervani style kurta set. Ofcourse I was looking awesome, it was really great. Havent got the prize yet, lets see what I get.
I wached Himesh Reshamiya's KARZZZ and it was fine. I already like him as a singer & composer and now as an actor too... wow!! the guy must have something. I also saw WEDNESDAY & AAMIR last week, really great movies. Saw HELLO too, not bad. I could have done it much better though, lol. Looking forward for watching all other nice movies i missed or the one's coming soon.
I'll sign-off for now. So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
Thursday, October 02, 2008
I am back to India...
So the latest news is that i am back to India. There are tons of other news, but as many of you might have realised that i am terrible when it comes to regular blogging. I really have no idea 'why', but that's the way it is. I really hope though that it doesn't remains the same, i do need to change that.
Anyways, i came back to India last Monday night (landed 29th Sep at 11pm IST). The flight with British Airways was cool ,as always. I like them, tehy are pretty good. I landed in India at exact right time too. Surprisingly, the immigration process didnt take too long this time. It was over in few minutes. I liked that. Even the IGI Airport in Delhi looks better than before. I am hearing it would be even better or best in coming future. I hope so too. I had to wait really long for the luggage to arrive though, almost an hour. But everything was safe & fine. This time the TSA guys in US did not screw up my bag like last time (if you guys remember, they tore my bag using a knife even when it was unlocked. thats what they call as security inspection, huh). Anyways, the guy at custom did try to stop me and scanned my bag. Ofcourse teh purpose was to draw some money out of me, but i had nothing to worry about. Somehow, it always sucks teh ost when you come back to India. I mean I change 3 flights in my trip going through 4 airports (Kansas City, Chicago, London, Delhi) and it's most tough and painful in our own country. The worst airport and worst service, everyone looking for making money out of you or create trouble for you. This really needs to change, really!!!
My mom, dad and my friends were waiting at the airport to receive me. It's an awesome feeling. My dad got kinda emotonal again to see me, it happens i guess. It was amazing to see DAD & MOM and also the friends. 4 months is not too long, but coming back froma long distance always feels different & cool. It's again like a scene from Johors or Chopras movie, lol. But it was not that dramatic this time, I guess my paents are getting used to it. They are very intelligent people, i just love them. It's so nice to see them and be with them, coming home is always coming HOME.
It feels good to be back home however it does comes with its some downfalls. Yeah, I am saying downfalls. Thats what most of the people say when they come back to India from US, you start seeing downfalls in India. I am talking to my friends like,'Your country is like this/that'; WOW, 'your country'. I was asking my friend taht do people drive in lanes in India. He ws like, you have stayed here for 23 yrs, you should know. Yeah, It seems as if I don't know my country. Or i dont like what I know so I pretend not to know...
Anyways, I am back home now. My mom is feeding me like a.... lets say elephant or Dinasour. She loves me a lot and ofcouse I missed Indian food so I am all for it. But my body doesnt seems to support it that much. I am already having indigestion and watever, really not feeling well. I guess your immunity becomes weaker when you come back from India. Cleaner air, healthier food and whatever, we forget the strenth of our 'desh ki mitti' (soil of our nation).
The overall US trip was pretty cool. I had tons of fun this time. Drove some amazing cars (Hyundai Sonata/Azera, Buick Lucerne), did skydiving, went to chicago and had an amazing experience. I had been sharing my experience on & off. there is a lot more and i'll try my best to put it on here very soon.
So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck... I love my India!!!!!
Anyways, i came back to India last Monday night (landed 29th Sep at 11pm IST). The flight with British Airways was cool ,as always. I like them, tehy are pretty good. I landed in India at exact right time too. Surprisingly, the immigration process didnt take too long this time. It was over in few minutes. I liked that. Even the IGI Airport in Delhi looks better than before. I am hearing it would be even better or best in coming future. I hope so too. I had to wait really long for the luggage to arrive though, almost an hour. But everything was safe & fine. This time the TSA guys in US did not screw up my bag like last time (if you guys remember, they tore my bag using a knife even when it was unlocked. thats what they call as security inspection, huh). Anyways, the guy at custom did try to stop me and scanned my bag. Ofcourse teh purpose was to draw some money out of me, but i had nothing to worry about. Somehow, it always sucks teh ost when you come back to India. I mean I change 3 flights in my trip going through 4 airports (Kansas City, Chicago, London, Delhi) and it's most tough and painful in our own country. The worst airport and worst service, everyone looking for making money out of you or create trouble for you. This really needs to change, really!!!
My mom, dad and my friends were waiting at the airport to receive me. It's an awesome feeling. My dad got kinda emotonal again to see me, it happens i guess. It was amazing to see DAD & MOM and also the friends. 4 months is not too long, but coming back froma long distance always feels different & cool. It's again like a scene from Johors or Chopras movie, lol. But it was not that dramatic this time, I guess my paents are getting used to it. They are very intelligent people, i just love them. It's so nice to see them and be with them, coming home is always coming HOME.
It feels good to be back home however it does comes with its some downfalls. Yeah, I am saying downfalls. Thats what most of the people say when they come back to India from US, you start seeing downfalls in India. I am talking to my friends like,'Your country is like this/that'; WOW, 'your country'. I was asking my friend taht do people drive in lanes in India. He ws like, you have stayed here for 23 yrs, you should know. Yeah, It seems as if I don't know my country. Or i dont like what I know so I pretend not to know...
Anyways, I am back home now. My mom is feeding me like a.... lets say elephant or Dinasour. She loves me a lot and ofcouse I missed Indian food so I am all for it. But my body doesnt seems to support it that much. I am already having indigestion and watever, really not feeling well. I guess your immunity becomes weaker when you come back from India. Cleaner air, healthier food and whatever, we forget the strenth of our 'desh ki mitti' (soil of our nation).
The overall US trip was pretty cool. I had tons of fun this time. Drove some amazing cars (Hyundai Sonata/Azera, Buick Lucerne), did skydiving, went to chicago and had an amazing experience. I had been sharing my experience on & off. there is a lot more and i'll try my best to put it on here very soon.
So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck... I love my India!!!!!
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Yesterday was my B'day...
Yes, y'day was my 25th b'day which I spent without my family & friends here in US!! would be writing more about it soon...
I always thought that I would celebrate my 25th b'day with a huge celebration. An amazing b'day bash with my family & friends. Afterall, you do not turn 25 everyday (Actually you don't turn any age everyday, but 25 is like silver jubilee... a quarter century, wow!!). But we all know that things dont always turn the way u want them. I was not even in my own place or country at the occassion. I was in middle of USA, in Kansas. Not many friends there and no family atall...
I had planned on caling my parents to US so they could celebrate my b'day with me this time. We would go to some outside place, like Chicago or somewhere and have a unforgettable amazing time. But my parents could not manage to come (they could not get the passport in time). So yeah, things again didnt turn up as I planned and I ended up alone.
I was really sad & disappointed since Aug 31. I spent the night of August 31 with a friend and had some nice pie cae & fun, thanks. It was sweet & nice. Went back home & slept for nothing. I wanted to go out somewhere but couldnt get any friends with me. In the evening, 3 friends showed up with Brownie cake & wine. That was lil fun too. And thats it, it was all over. Not what I had planned or thought for the day.
But anyways, things dont always turn the way you plan. And you should try to make best out of what you have. And still be damn disappointed and hurt sometimes. Afterall sadness is part of life too. Everything is an experience...
That's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
I always thought that I would celebrate my 25th b'day with a huge celebration. An amazing b'day bash with my family & friends. Afterall, you do not turn 25 everyday (Actually you don't turn any age everyday, but 25 is like silver jubilee... a quarter century, wow!!). But we all know that things dont always turn the way u want them. I was not even in my own place or country at the occassion. I was in middle of USA, in Kansas. Not many friends there and no family atall...
I had planned on caling my parents to US so they could celebrate my b'day with me this time. We would go to some outside place, like Chicago or somewhere and have a unforgettable amazing time. But my parents could not manage to come (they could not get the passport in time). So yeah, things again didnt turn up as I planned and I ended up alone.
I was really sad & disappointed since Aug 31. I spent the night of August 31 with a friend and had some nice pie cae & fun, thanks. It was sweet & nice. Went back home & slept for nothing. I wanted to go out somewhere but couldnt get any friends with me. In the evening, 3 friends showed up with Brownie cake & wine. That was lil fun too. And thats it, it was all over. Not what I had planned or thought for the day.
But anyways, things dont always turn the way you plan. And you should try to make best out of what you have. And still be damn disappointed and hurt sometimes. Afterall sadness is part of life too. Everything is an experience...
That's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
Monday, August 25, 2008
I did SKYDIVING!!!
(My pics of skydiving:
http://picasaweb.google.com/it.rahul/Skydiving
Small video taken by my camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF8BRvZwVVk
P.S. The pics have been uploades and video taken by the skydive-centre would be coming soon :)
Yeahhhhh, I DID SKYDIVING… another one of my accomplishments, lol. I mean it really feels like an achievement when you do it, it feels great. Jumping from a flying airplane at the height of 10000 feet in sky, wow!!! A free fall at the speed of 120 mph (that is approximately 200 Km/hr), wow-wow!!!
Was I scared? Yes I was, when they show you that video stating “This is a dangerous sport where you may get seriously injured or even killed. And no one but you yourself is responsible for any accidents. You do not have any right to any claim or sue anyone”. By the way, who would like an opportunity to die just because they’ll get to sue someone, it hardly happens. But its great fun and great fun comes at a price.
As many of you may know, I love adventure sports. I have never been interested in outdoor sports in general (yeah, I am not a BIG fan of cricket either… and I am not sorry for it). But a rush of adrenaline when you do something crazy, I love that. Adventure sports are my deal. I love going to adventure/fun parks too, I mean rides can be crazy but they are fun. The rides in US are anyways amazing. I have been to Six Flags park, Kings Dominion park and also to the rides in Stratosphere tower in Las Vegas. I have done rafting, rock climbing, skiing, trekking and Scuba Diving too (in Philippines). I want to do these again and many other new adventure sports stuff too, I will.
So, let’s talk a bit about my experience with skydiving. I did skydiving at Butler in Missouri (it’s a state in US, near Kansas). The place is known as SkydiveKC, and it’s good. It is around 1 and ½ hour from Kansas City, my Sonata did the driving. We were 3 friends out of which only 2 were doing it, after all it’s not everyone’s plate of cake. We were supposed to be there at noon and I did manage that (for me being somewhere at noon on a Sunday is almost like impossible, I am actually used to waking-up after noon on weekends). You have to go through a small training. They’ll show you 2 videos, one about all the stuff you need to know and the other about the risks involved that anything may happen to you and no one is responsible. The video is kind of scary, may make you upset.
But believe me it is not as bad in actual. Jumping out of the plane seems the scariest part, I mean jumping out of a plane flying at the height of 10000 feet seems ridiculous. Why would anyone ever do that?? But we humans do lots of crazy stuff just for the feel and zeal of it I guess. Just to prove to ourselves that we can go to extreme and try doing anything possible or maybe impossible in this world. That’s why we are different and that’s why we are superior. Apart from that, no airplane is perfect (no machine is perfect after all). So little bit of experience with jumping form a plane might be helpful, lol. Sorry, no jokes here… but the whole thing is just so great.
I had opted for a ‘Tandem jump’ package where you jump with a professional trained diver/instructor. That’s the only way you can do your first skydive, unless you are in an emergency situation while you are on a flight and you might be asked to jump. Maybe you don’t have to pay for that jump, but I am sure that is not going to be any fun. I am not even sure if they give you any parachutes to jump. They always talk about using that life jacket and I guess they just want you to jump in water, damn!!! Anyways, the Tandem jump comes for $205, plus $95 for video & photos. Another diver jumps with you to take your photos & video too. I’ll share them soon.
After the training, they tell a bit about how to sit in plane & how to get out etc. You should listen carefully and follow it, I did. Then I got suited up in the jump suit and got into the plane. Ride to 10,000 feet is little boring, it takes long and you just have to sit through waiting for jump. But once the doors open at the height, it’s totally different. I could feel the wind striking my face & I could see the height I was at… way above the ground. And I could see that I was about to jump from a plane. Hanging at the door before jump, I felt ‘is it the right thing to do’, lol. However after jumping from the plane there was no scary falling sensation, it’s more like a floating or flying sensation. I was flying in the air. The free fall just lasts for around 30-40 seconds and then the parachute opens up. By the time you realize what happened, it’s over; but still its amazing FUN. I could feel flying in air & I could feel the thrill. I also did a 360 degree spin during free fall, that’s cool. I also did a spin while coming down hanging to parachute, that’s cool too. Then I landed safe & fine, totally excited & happy.
My instructor was John Paul, he was pretty good. His son Chris was the cameraman. They together own the place & do pretty well. I just hope they had better planes and could do more height, would be way more fun. I would surely say that if you want thrill, you should definitely try Skydiving. It’s a great thing. I would love to do it more & maybe even get certified sometime in future. I want to do Scuba certification too (yeah, wanting is easy… so it’s good to want at least). Overall, it was really AWESOME & AMAZING!!!!
SO, that’s pretty much it for right now. I know I am damn slow at writing blogs. That is really bad and I am sorry for it, I am really trying to improve that. The problem is I am really busy these days and writing a blog takes long time for me. I don’t just write it, I think & write and edit & improvise to make it look better for myself and my readers. Thanks for reading it & enjoying my experiences. I still have to write about my great CHICAGO Trip and some new movies I saw (Mummy-3, Tropic Thunder, Death Racer). Would try to pen them down soon.
So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/it.rahul/Skydiving
Small video taken by my camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF8BRvZwVVk
P.S. The pics have been uploades and video taken by the skydive-centre would be coming soon :)
Yeahhhhh, I DID SKYDIVING… another one of my accomplishments, lol. I mean it really feels like an achievement when you do it, it feels great. Jumping from a flying airplane at the height of 10000 feet in sky, wow!!! A free fall at the speed of 120 mph (that is approximately 200 Km/hr), wow-wow!!!
Was I scared? Yes I was, when they show you that video stating “This is a dangerous sport where you may get seriously injured or even killed. And no one but you yourself is responsible for any accidents. You do not have any right to any claim or sue anyone”. By the way, who would like an opportunity to die just because they’ll get to sue someone, it hardly happens. But its great fun and great fun comes at a price.
As many of you may know, I love adventure sports. I have never been interested in outdoor sports in general (yeah, I am not a BIG fan of cricket either… and I am not sorry for it). But a rush of adrenaline when you do something crazy, I love that. Adventure sports are my deal. I love going to adventure/fun parks too, I mean rides can be crazy but they are fun. The rides in US are anyways amazing. I have been to Six Flags park, Kings Dominion park and also to the rides in Stratosphere tower in Las Vegas. I have done rafting, rock climbing, skiing, trekking and Scuba Diving too (in Philippines). I want to do these again and many other new adventure sports stuff too, I will.
So, let’s talk a bit about my experience with skydiving. I did skydiving at Butler in Missouri (it’s a state in US, near Kansas). The place is known as SkydiveKC, and it’s good. It is around 1 and ½ hour from Kansas City, my Sonata did the driving. We were 3 friends out of which only 2 were doing it, after all it’s not everyone’s plate of cake. We were supposed to be there at noon and I did manage that (for me being somewhere at noon on a Sunday is almost like impossible, I am actually used to waking-up after noon on weekends). You have to go through a small training. They’ll show you 2 videos, one about all the stuff you need to know and the other about the risks involved that anything may happen to you and no one is responsible. The video is kind of scary, may make you upset.
But believe me it is not as bad in actual. Jumping out of the plane seems the scariest part, I mean jumping out of a plane flying at the height of 10000 feet seems ridiculous. Why would anyone ever do that?? But we humans do lots of crazy stuff just for the feel and zeal of it I guess. Just to prove to ourselves that we can go to extreme and try doing anything possible or maybe impossible in this world. That’s why we are different and that’s why we are superior. Apart from that, no airplane is perfect (no machine is perfect after all). So little bit of experience with jumping form a plane might be helpful, lol. Sorry, no jokes here… but the whole thing is just so great.
I had opted for a ‘Tandem jump’ package where you jump with a professional trained diver/instructor. That’s the only way you can do your first skydive, unless you are in an emergency situation while you are on a flight and you might be asked to jump. Maybe you don’t have to pay for that jump, but I am sure that is not going to be any fun. I am not even sure if they give you any parachutes to jump. They always talk about using that life jacket and I guess they just want you to jump in water, damn!!! Anyways, the Tandem jump comes for $205, plus $95 for video & photos. Another diver jumps with you to take your photos & video too. I’ll share them soon.
After the training, they tell a bit about how to sit in plane & how to get out etc. You should listen carefully and follow it, I did. Then I got suited up in the jump suit and got into the plane. Ride to 10,000 feet is little boring, it takes long and you just have to sit through waiting for jump. But once the doors open at the height, it’s totally different. I could feel the wind striking my face & I could see the height I was at… way above the ground. And I could see that I was about to jump from a plane. Hanging at the door before jump, I felt ‘is it the right thing to do’, lol. However after jumping from the plane there was no scary falling sensation, it’s more like a floating or flying sensation. I was flying in the air. The free fall just lasts for around 30-40 seconds and then the parachute opens up. By the time you realize what happened, it’s over; but still its amazing FUN. I could feel flying in air & I could feel the thrill. I also did a 360 degree spin during free fall, that’s cool. I also did a spin while coming down hanging to parachute, that’s cool too. Then I landed safe & fine, totally excited & happy.
My instructor was John Paul, he was pretty good. His son Chris was the cameraman. They together own the place & do pretty well. I just hope they had better planes and could do more height, would be way more fun. I would surely say that if you want thrill, you should definitely try Skydiving. It’s a great thing. I would love to do it more & maybe even get certified sometime in future. I want to do Scuba certification too (yeah, wanting is easy… so it’s good to want at least). Overall, it was really AWESOME & AMAZING!!!!
SO, that’s pretty much it for right now. I know I am damn slow at writing blogs. That is really bad and I am sorry for it, I am really trying to improve that. The problem is I am really busy these days and writing a blog takes long time for me. I don’t just write it, I think & write and edit & improvise to make it look better for myself and my readers. Thanks for reading it & enjoying my experiences. I still have to write about my great CHICAGO Trip and some new movies I saw (Mummy-3, Tropic Thunder, Death Racer). Would try to pen them down soon.
So please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Happy Independence Day & Hapy Rakshabandhan
A Happy Independence day to all My fellow Indians!!
Happy Rakshabandhan to my sweet sister Kavita!!!!!!!
Happy Rakshabandhan to my sweet sister Kavita!!!!!!!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
I got my American Driving License!!!
Yesssssssssss, I got my American driving license. Yes, I got it. Someone told me that you need two basic things to survive in US, one is a credit card & other is a driving license. Not sure how true it is, because I survived without both for a long time. But you should have money in some form & cards are always preferred in US of course (try surviving without money anywhere in the world and that’s going to be tough for sure; unless you are rich because then you have to have money... lol). And of course it’s not easy living without a car or at least capability to drive. The places are so far in a place like Kansas & there is no public transport.
About ‘capability to drive’, in US having a license does means you are capable to drive. Not just lawfully but technically as well, because you do need to know how to drive okay if you have to get a license. Unlike in India where many of us didn’t even go to the licensing office to get a license. Yes, it did use to happen long time back, now you do have to go but the only reason is that they take a picture on the spot for your license. But I think there might be a way out of that as well, after all it’s our India (No offense, because I love my India very much. However there are few things where we say,'It happens only in INDIA').
So even if you have a license in India, you may not even know how to move a vehicle (unless you are thinking of just pushing/pulling it, maybe). I was one of those guys too, but I did get my license legally by giving the written exam & everything, just as they never asked me to actually drive a car. Actually I didn’t even have a car; I went on a bike only which they didn’t ask me to drive either. I learned driving a car after getting my license and even the learning didn’t help much, those guys just strip you off 1000 bucks or more for no reason. All you need is some real practice on your vehicle & that’s all you need to learn driving. Not a person sitting besides you with controls under his legs & you just feel as if you are driving, uhh!!
Anyways, getting a license in US is quite a process. For beginners it may feel like getting a green card or citizenship itself. Actually getting a license for the 1st time gives you almost as much pleasure I think, it feels great. It really does, it works as an ID proof (no need to carry your passport all the time), age proof, residence proof and whatever else it may works for. But anyways, let’s get to the story of me getting my license… It starts from the first time I went to DMV in Herndon, Virginia but I’ll share it in another blog. This time let’s get to my success story in Kansas (and that does not mean that Herndon story is a failure story… it just might be one!!!)
So, I tried to read the DMV rule book for Kansas first. Every state has there own huge rule book which you have to study and pass the written exam to get a license. I tried my best to read half of the book and remaining half I read when I was standing in the line, Reading is no fun, not unless I am reading my own blogs (which are not many ofcourse) or the comments by you guys (which you hardly ever do). Anyways, they verified all my documents first; you need to have 2 valid ID proofs, one current residence proof and whatever else they might ask for. My documents were fine, and the vision test was good too so I was forwarded for written test. It’s not really tough but may seem stupid sometimes with the kind of questions they ask. You have to score 80% to pass, so it means you have to get 20 rights out of 25. I attempted 21 questions and got them all correct, yeah!!! The examiner told me that ‘you could have left one more’, lol. So, I was moved for the real tough part, the DRIVING TEST…
The guy who took the test looked like Indian, but he was not… may be a Mexican or someone. He looked very serious like our big uncles, so I was kind of concerned but there was no way out. Her checked my car for the signal lights, horn & stuff to make sure its okay (like I was going to go with a broken car and it would make thing easy for me, huh). I had a rented Chevrolet Cobalt, I got a small 2-door car so I can get license easily. He took me on the drive then, or we should say for the driving test (because first one seems like a date, which would & could never happen… I won’t ever do that for a license). I was totally cautious & alert, driving as smartly as possible. I was chanting in my mind… stop at all STOP signs (I try to do it all the time actually, sometimes just too much that it annoys people with me or at back of my car); always remember ‘right of way’ and yield when required (I know it sounds funny, because in India ‘right of way’ is who ever manages to go first without hitting. If you hit then of course you stop to hit the person. And ‘yield’ is only done by idiots who don’t know how to drive ); be under the speed limit (which I can hardly do in actual scenarios); follow the traffic signals strictly (not mandatory in India mostly so I am not sure how good I am it, and breaking signals is fun sometimes anyways); stop at all the school signs (yeah guys, its mandatory even if its evening/night or holidays/vacations as well… you know kids are stupid as I said last time, so of course they can show up anytime) and wherever you see people/pedestrians ‘STOP’ and make sure they are safe (yeah.. its not India, that if you are walking on road its your fault & be ready to hit anytime by any vehicle owner… huh!!!). Hmmmmm, I followed all these rules. Just as I said, I was just bit too careful on a stop sign almost yielding way even when there was no one to yield to. The guy told me that he could fail me for that as I was being over-cautious which is not good. But he didn’t because I did a good job of driving overall. Thank You John (or whatever your name was). Yessssssssss…. I did a good job of driving overall and I got my American Driving License!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow!!! This was quite a huge blog. I should stop now, I should. My friends are telling me that I am really good at writing these blogs. They are… my manager Ganesh (I know that it may not be the best thing your manager reading your blogs, but if it’s someone as cool as him its fine. And I am not saying this just because he may be reading it right now, lol); my friend Rama & his wife (he told me they both like it and I trust him… as he’s praising me); my friend Sonika (she really praised me very well, I guess girls have that art of praising or lying maybe. But i know she's speaking truth) and few others too (I really don't have any of those few others yet, but doesn’t harms in writing so...). Thanks dear friends, but please put some nice comments as well... all the time on all the blogs (yeah, I know I can never get enough!!!)…
Anyways, I would close for now. Just one big news, which has been pending though. I returned my $200 glasses back and got my money back as well, would tell more next time. I would also try to be more regular by writing more, I’ll try. Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
About ‘capability to drive’, in US having a license does means you are capable to drive. Not just lawfully but technically as well, because you do need to know how to drive okay if you have to get a license. Unlike in India where many of us didn’t even go to the licensing office to get a license. Yes, it did use to happen long time back, now you do have to go but the only reason is that they take a picture on the spot for your license. But I think there might be a way out of that as well, after all it’s our India (No offense, because I love my India very much. However there are few things where we say,'It happens only in INDIA').
So even if you have a license in India, you may not even know how to move a vehicle (unless you are thinking of just pushing/pulling it, maybe). I was one of those guys too, but I did get my license legally by giving the written exam & everything, just as they never asked me to actually drive a car. Actually I didn’t even have a car; I went on a bike only which they didn’t ask me to drive either. I learned driving a car after getting my license and even the learning didn’t help much, those guys just strip you off 1000 bucks or more for no reason. All you need is some real practice on your vehicle & that’s all you need to learn driving. Not a person sitting besides you with controls under his legs & you just feel as if you are driving, uhh!!
Anyways, getting a license in US is quite a process. For beginners it may feel like getting a green card or citizenship itself. Actually getting a license for the 1st time gives you almost as much pleasure I think, it feels great. It really does, it works as an ID proof (no need to carry your passport all the time), age proof, residence proof and whatever else it may works for. But anyways, let’s get to the story of me getting my license… It starts from the first time I went to DMV in Herndon, Virginia but I’ll share it in another blog. This time let’s get to my success story in Kansas (and that does not mean that Herndon story is a failure story… it just might be one!!!)
So, I tried to read the DMV rule book for Kansas first. Every state has there own huge rule book which you have to study and pass the written exam to get a license. I tried my best to read half of the book and remaining half I read when I was standing in the line, Reading is no fun, not unless I am reading my own blogs (which are not many ofcourse) or the comments by you guys (which you hardly ever do). Anyways, they verified all my documents first; you need to have 2 valid ID proofs, one current residence proof and whatever else they might ask for. My documents were fine, and the vision test was good too so I was forwarded for written test. It’s not really tough but may seem stupid sometimes with the kind of questions they ask. You have to score 80% to pass, so it means you have to get 20 rights out of 25. I attempted 21 questions and got them all correct, yeah!!! The examiner told me that ‘you could have left one more’, lol. So, I was moved for the real tough part, the DRIVING TEST…
The guy who took the test looked like Indian, but he was not… may be a Mexican or someone. He looked very serious like our big uncles, so I was kind of concerned but there was no way out. Her checked my car for the signal lights, horn & stuff to make sure its okay (like I was going to go with a broken car and it would make thing easy for me, huh). I had a rented Chevrolet Cobalt, I got a small 2-door car so I can get license easily. He took me on the drive then, or we should say for the driving test (because first one seems like a date, which would & could never happen… I won’t ever do that for a license). I was totally cautious & alert, driving as smartly as possible. I was chanting in my mind… stop at all STOP signs (I try to do it all the time actually, sometimes just too much that it annoys people with me or at back of my car); always remember ‘right of way’ and yield when required (I know it sounds funny, because in India ‘right of way’ is who ever manages to go first without hitting. If you hit then of course you stop to hit the person. And ‘yield’ is only done by idiots who don’t know how to drive ); be under the speed limit (which I can hardly do in actual scenarios); follow the traffic signals strictly (not mandatory in India mostly so I am not sure how good I am it, and breaking signals is fun sometimes anyways); stop at all the school signs (yeah guys, its mandatory even if its evening/night or holidays/vacations as well… you know kids are stupid as I said last time, so of course they can show up anytime) and wherever you see people/pedestrians ‘STOP’ and make sure they are safe (yeah.. its not India, that if you are walking on road its your fault & be ready to hit anytime by any vehicle owner… huh!!!). Hmmmmm, I followed all these rules. Just as I said, I was just bit too careful on a stop sign almost yielding way even when there was no one to yield to. The guy told me that he could fail me for that as I was being over-cautious which is not good. But he didn’t because I did a good job of driving overall. Thank You John (or whatever your name was). Yessssssssss…. I did a good job of driving overall and I got my American Driving License!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow!!! This was quite a huge blog. I should stop now, I should. My friends are telling me that I am really good at writing these blogs. They are… my manager Ganesh (I know that it may not be the best thing your manager reading your blogs, but if it’s someone as cool as him its fine. And I am not saying this just because he may be reading it right now, lol); my friend Rama & his wife (he told me they both like it and I trust him… as he’s praising me); my friend Sonika (she really praised me very well, I guess girls have that art of praising or lying maybe. But i know she's speaking truth) and few others too (I really don't have any of those few others yet, but doesn’t harms in writing so...). Thanks dear friends, but please put some nice comments as well... all the time on all the blogs (yeah, I know I can never get enough!!!)…
Anyways, I would close for now. Just one big news, which has been pending though. I returned my $200 glasses back and got my money back as well, would tell more next time. I would also try to be more regular by writing more, I’ll try. Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (& COMMENTING as well please). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Mamma Mia, the movie I saw halfway but still enjoyed...
Being used to the Indian movies makes you a fan of 'song & dance routine' in movies. So a musical is never surprising for us. Infact movies without nice song & dance may seem strange to many of us. For me it has been disappointing mostly, when it comes to hollywood musicals, especially Chicago which was terrible or even Moulin Rouge. Why the hell they even speak dialogues by singing them, that's stupid (like singing & dancing around trees with changing clothes & all other ridiculous stuff is so sensible & smart, but we are used to it). Somehow the Hollywood musical doesn't seem to work much to me (The Enchanted and Music & Lyrics were nice though) but this was a clear exception.
The movie looks fresh and interesting, the performances are subtle and keeps you hooked having fun while watching. That's what you expect from a musical. The storyline is well known, (hopefully... it was not well known to me though) a girl searching for her real father out of all 3 men her mom has dated earlier. She plans her marriage and invites all 3 men to figure out who is it. And the story goes through twists & turns and lots of SONGS, coming to a happy ending (sounds like bollywood).
I haven't seen the Broadway show but this film is definitely captivating enough to hold the audience. It was interesting to see Mr Ex James Bond singing and dancing on musical tunes. Others looked good as well. Just one suggestion, if you enjoy the movie then don't leave theater immediately after it ends, there is a nice song and dance routine with the end credits (ABBA songs 'Dancing queen' & 'Waterloo'), so ENJOY the Hollywood's bollywoodization!!!
One more thing, this was one of the very few movies I didnt see from begining, even in the movie theatre... yeah was kind of late. One my friend used to hate watching movies if he missed the initial credits (he called it numbering, 'I cant see movie if I miss numbering'). Even I enjoy the advertisements & trailers before movies ( but not the mandatory government promotional messages for dowry, family planning or stuff like that shown in India still. Those ads have been made 50 years ago and they still show the same boring & embarassing stuff, why!!) . So I felt I didn't watch the whole movie (unlike in India I didn't evn ask the person next to my seat that how much movie has gone & what all happened, always used to do that in India though), so I would be watching it again sometime on DVD. Also would love to see a hindi dubbing and see what they do with it, lol...
Anyways, I'll sign-off for the time being but would come up with lot more movie reviews of mine very soon (Hellboy-II, Hancock, Wanted, Incredible Hulk and Ironman). Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
The movie looks fresh and interesting, the performances are subtle and keeps you hooked having fun while watching. That's what you expect from a musical. The storyline is well known, (hopefully... it was not well known to me though) a girl searching for her real father out of all 3 men her mom has dated earlier. She plans her marriage and invites all 3 men to figure out who is it. And the story goes through twists & turns and lots of SONGS, coming to a happy ending (sounds like bollywood).
I haven't seen the Broadway show but this film is definitely captivating enough to hold the audience. It was interesting to see Mr Ex James Bond singing and dancing on musical tunes. Others looked good as well. Just one suggestion, if you enjoy the movie then don't leave theater immediately after it ends, there is a nice song and dance routine with the end credits (ABBA songs 'Dancing queen' & 'Waterloo'), so ENJOY the Hollywood's bollywoodization!!!
One more thing, this was one of the very few movies I didnt see from begining, even in the movie theatre... yeah was kind of late. One my friend used to hate watching movies if he missed the initial credits (he called it numbering, 'I cant see movie if I miss numbering'). Even I enjoy the advertisements & trailers before movies ( but not the mandatory government promotional messages for dowry, family planning or stuff like that shown in India still. Those ads have been made 50 years ago and they still show the same boring & embarassing stuff, why!!) . So I felt I didn't watch the whole movie (unlike in India I didn't evn ask the person next to my seat that how much movie has gone & what all happened, always used to do that in India though), so I would be watching it again sometime on DVD. Also would love to see a hindi dubbing and see what they do with it, lol...
Anyways, I'll sign-off for the time being but would come up with lot more movie reviews of mine very soon (Hellboy-II, Hancock, Wanted, Incredible Hulk and Ironman). Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The Dark Knight, Batman movie... I watched it & enjoyed it
Yeah, I saw The Dark Knight yesterday night; the first day, last show of the movie. And the deal is it was awesome, so I want to share it here. There are lots of movies I have seen lately (Hellboy-II, Hancock, Wanted, Incredible Hulk and Ironman). I would share my thoughts about it very soon in coming blogs but here comes what I have to say for this one...
So as I said, it’s really Awesome. I realized while watching Ironman that even superhero movies can be above just fantasy, having decent storyline & impressive concept behind it. And Dark Knight proved it even further. It's not some sci-fi superhero fiction with no sense around it (yeah, like Daredevil or Catwoman... it really sucked. You gotta be really something to make such a stupid big budget super hero movie, CATWOMAN... ewww!!). This is one superhero film which has got an amazing storyline with lots of action, drama, great effects and some superb performances.
Christian Bale as both Batman and Bruce Wayne is unmatchable; I don't think any of earlier versions have even been close to him. He seems made for this role, suits the charm & style of Bruce or power & darkness of Batman. He has taken it one step forward in this movie and proved his mettle. Heath Ledger as joker has been really impressive; he may get some villain awards for this. I kind of didn’t like his appearance initially in trailers (I was too stuck on Jack Nicholson’s joker I guess) but he has done such a good job that he seems the perfect choice. He has presented a crazy psychopath villain in the form of Joker. Also Aaron Eckhart as both Harvy Dent & 2-Face has done a great job. Looks both noble man as Harvy & hideous villain as 2-Face. Every other character has been also well drafted & well played.
As for the storyline, I won't reveal much. But just to let know, In Gotham City, Batman has been fighting crime with Gordan. Harvy Dent as the District Attorney is trying to be a true hero by cleaning up the city of all the criminals & thug. But the city is terrorized by crazy killer Joker who just wants to unmask & finish Batman. He terrorizes the whole city by his mad ideas & the other 3 are trying to fight him. But joker does get his way on many occasions accomplishing his targets of destroying both the city & its people (including the heroes). What happens further, you need to watch it friend...
One more thing... you know that feeling when you come out of a great movie which you really-really liked and felt was pretty awesome. And there is this person or bunch of people walking in front of you and says that 'this movie was so boring, it's such a stupidfmovie' or something like that. And you just feel like ripping that person's head off who was not good enough to enjoy such a great movie and is now complaining. That's what happened yesterday, this guy was walking in front of me after the movie and he says,'this movie sucked, it was so bad. I slept all the time'. And I was feeling so angry over him thinking that if this jerk was awake he could have enjoyed the movie. But anyways, people are people and everyone has right to there opinion!!
(I just had one thing at the end of the movie to say though. How many days we have been sitting here and watching the movie. It was kind of long for a hollywood movie but still interesting and captivating enough. Unlike watching some Indian movies like Yaadein or Veer Zara where I felt I have been really sitting 22 years bearing that movie as a punishment, aahhh!!!)
I'll sign-off for the time being but would come up with lot more very soon. Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
So as I said, it’s really Awesome. I realized while watching Ironman that even superhero movies can be above just fantasy, having decent storyline & impressive concept behind it. And Dark Knight proved it even further. It's not some sci-fi superhero fiction with no sense around it (yeah, like Daredevil or Catwoman... it really sucked. You gotta be really something to make such a stupid big budget super hero movie, CATWOMAN... ewww!!). This is one superhero film which has got an amazing storyline with lots of action, drama, great effects and some superb performances.
Christian Bale as both Batman and Bruce Wayne is unmatchable; I don't think any of earlier versions have even been close to him. He seems made for this role, suits the charm & style of Bruce or power & darkness of Batman. He has taken it one step forward in this movie and proved his mettle. Heath Ledger as joker has been really impressive; he may get some villain awards for this. I kind of didn’t like his appearance initially in trailers (I was too stuck on Jack Nicholson’s joker I guess) but he has done such a good job that he seems the perfect choice. He has presented a crazy psychopath villain in the form of Joker. Also Aaron Eckhart as both Harvy Dent & 2-Face has done a great job. Looks both noble man as Harvy & hideous villain as 2-Face. Every other character has been also well drafted & well played.
As for the storyline, I won't reveal much. But just to let know, In Gotham City, Batman has been fighting crime with Gordan. Harvy Dent as the District Attorney is trying to be a true hero by cleaning up the city of all the criminals & thug. But the city is terrorized by crazy killer Joker who just wants to unmask & finish Batman. He terrorizes the whole city by his mad ideas & the other 3 are trying to fight him. But joker does get his way on many occasions accomplishing his targets of destroying both the city & its people (including the heroes). What happens further, you need to watch it friend...
One more thing... you know that feeling when you come out of a great movie which you really-really liked and felt was pretty awesome. And there is this person or bunch of people walking in front of you and says that 'this movie was so boring, it's such a stupidfmovie' or something like that. And you just feel like ripping that person's head off who was not good enough to enjoy such a great movie and is now complaining. That's what happened yesterday, this guy was walking in front of me after the movie and he says,'this movie sucked, it was so bad. I slept all the time'. And I was feeling so angry over him thinking that if this jerk was awake he could have enjoyed the movie. But anyways, people are people and everyone has right to there opinion!!
(I just had one thing at the end of the movie to say though. How many days we have been sitting here and watching the movie. It was kind of long for a hollywood movie but still interesting and captivating enough. Unlike watching some Indian movies like Yaadein or Veer Zara where I felt I have been really sitting 22 years bearing that movie as a punishment, aahhh!!!)
I'll sign-off for the time being but would come up with lot more very soon. Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Five weeks
Yeah friends & all, I completed 5 long weeks in Kansas City. This is coming very late and wanted to write for so long but anyways, now it comes…
These 5 weeks have been nice, better than I expected actually. One of my friends was saying that if you keep low expectations from something, even the least they give will make you happy because you never expected it. Higher expectations are one of the major causes of disappointment in life… very true!! (However, someone also said that high expectations and targets motivate you to push yourself harder and perform better… very true too. These philosophers and people said so many contradictory things which all seems true and they are called smart… if we do the same we are stupid, huh!!!).
Anyways, as I didn’t expect much from Kansas because everyone told me it’s a boring place; it turned out pretty well for me. It’s a nice green place with beautiful landscapes. Weather is kind of unpredictable as I told last time, could be rainy or sunny anytime. And of course bad tornados & stuff; I was told that the place I am in, Overland Park/Kansas City is safe but the places little far away can be terrible. I have not been to a lot of places around, except a few decent parks, movie theatres, malls, downtown etc. May be I’ll plan something in this coming long weekend, let’s see…
When I came here I was staying in Homestead Studio Suites Hotel, the most terrible hotel I have stayed in US. Bugs in the room, AC doesn’t work and staff not very friendly. Had to stay there for 4 weeks, which wasn’t a lot of fun. Now I moved into an apartment with a roommate, which is definitely better. And hey, I got a car (just rented) too. It’s a 2-door Chevrolet Cobalt this time which is okay. As I am not a big driving enthusiast, I can’t say I am having lots of fun driving (I guess I am too used to chauffer driven cars!!), but its okay. I would get some other nice car next time. Gas is very expensive these days, so that’s another not so fun part of it (and I mean Gasoline, i.e. petrol. Americans tend to say everything different than whole world I guess).
Other news is that I got my promotion. I am happy for it. Some things give you lot more happiness and pleasure when they happen at a particular expected time; but anyways, better late than never. Thanks to my parent’s blessings, god’s grace and well wishes of all my loved one’s like you…. Thanks a lot!!! (trust me this was a very short speech, i didn't thank my dog, my bus/cab driver, my neigbours, and tons of other people. I am always ready for a long thank you speech like stars, but maybe i'll do it in a seperate blog sometime...)
I thought I had so much to say but can’t think of much right now. So I would stop it for now and would try to be more regular from next time onwards. Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
These 5 weeks have been nice, better than I expected actually. One of my friends was saying that if you keep low expectations from something, even the least they give will make you happy because you never expected it. Higher expectations are one of the major causes of disappointment in life… very true!! (However, someone also said that high expectations and targets motivate you to push yourself harder and perform better… very true too. These philosophers and people said so many contradictory things which all seems true and they are called smart… if we do the same we are stupid, huh!!!).
Anyways, as I didn’t expect much from Kansas because everyone told me it’s a boring place; it turned out pretty well for me. It’s a nice green place with beautiful landscapes. Weather is kind of unpredictable as I told last time, could be rainy or sunny anytime. And of course bad tornados & stuff; I was told that the place I am in, Overland Park/Kansas City is safe but the places little far away can be terrible. I have not been to a lot of places around, except a few decent parks, movie theatres, malls, downtown etc. May be I’ll plan something in this coming long weekend, let’s see…
When I came here I was staying in Homestead Studio Suites Hotel, the most terrible hotel I have stayed in US. Bugs in the room, AC doesn’t work and staff not very friendly. Had to stay there for 4 weeks, which wasn’t a lot of fun. Now I moved into an apartment with a roommate, which is definitely better. And hey, I got a car (just rented) too. It’s a 2-door Chevrolet Cobalt this time which is okay. As I am not a big driving enthusiast, I can’t say I am having lots of fun driving (I guess I am too used to chauffer driven cars!!), but its okay. I would get some other nice car next time. Gas is very expensive these days, so that’s another not so fun part of it (and I mean Gasoline, i.e. petrol. Americans tend to say everything different than whole world I guess).
Other news is that I got my promotion. I am happy for it. Some things give you lot more happiness and pleasure when they happen at a particular expected time; but anyways, better late than never. Thanks to my parent’s blessings, god’s grace and well wishes of all my loved one’s like you…. Thanks a lot!!! (trust me this was a very short speech, i didn't thank my dog, my bus/cab driver, my neigbours, and tons of other people. I am always ready for a long thank you speech like stars, but maybe i'll do it in a seperate blog sometime...)
I thought I had so much to say but can’t think of much right now. So I would stop it for now and would try to be more regular from next time onwards. Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Four Times:
Please don’t be frustrated, I have always kept my content to my topic-headings… so this isn’t going to be vague either. But again it proves how good I am NOT in math. I directly came to fourth, I bet you guys were waiting for third (I bet you were, I am still not sure what do I think myself as a writer or blogger. But it feels good to write like that, hehehe!!). Actually this is not a planned blog (wow!! So people like me are planning blogs now, sounds funny huh...), however something just happened and I had to write…
I was kind of busy today, so I didn’t get time to go out for lunch. I hadn’t eaten anything in breakfast too, as usual (trust me, not eating breakfast & specially lunch in time, makes you feel n sound like you are really busy!!). So I was feeling hungry like anything, very-very hungry. We have a small but nice (hopefully, I haven’t seen it yet.. just assuming) cafeteria in office and I went there. But as luck wanted, it was closed too. 16 hours of not eating anything just feels amazing!!
So I decided to get something from the office vending machine (for the people who may not know by any chance, you have to put money in a vending machine & you can buy some stupid snacks kinda stuff). I thought of buying Trail-Mix (nuts & chocolate) which was for $1. I put the bill in to buy it but the machine didn’t accept it, it was not working. These are the times we realize that we may have as much money as possible but sometimes, it feels useless (trust me, i don't mean useless to me. I am just talking of people in general... I never feel money is less important).
So, I went to another floor’s vending machine to try my luck. I put my money in and it’s accepted, the machine was working!! Then I select code ‘150’ to buy my trail-mix, the line of trail mix in vending machine moves forward and I am waiting for my delicious trail mix packet to drop (I was hungry to eat the vending machine itself this time). And…
Yeah, the news is the packet didn’t drop. Yes, the packet didn’t DROP!!!
The machine took my dollar bill & the packet didn’t drop. But I was not giving up so easily, I thought maybe it got stuck. So this time if I put another dollar in, then 2 packets would drop. And after all I am still very hungry and I haven’t got anything to eat. So I put another dollar bill in machine, line moves forward and the packet drops. But…
Just one packet has dropped, Just ONE!!!
The machine is not giving up my first dollar’s pack, it still seems stuck. I was still hopeful of getting it, so I decided to put one more dollar in. It’s always worth to try thrice, you can’t rely on just trying twice. And anyways, I am hungry so I can eat 2-3 packets. So I put another dollar bill in to get my 2 packets of trail mix, and now…
Only one packet drops again, AGAIN!!!
What the hell is happening in this world? Even machine’s are cheating on us (I guess the time of machines ruling the world like Terminator movies is coming true. Movies are not always fantasy, this is how it starts… on a vending machine). I could clearly see my packet still hanging on the verge, but every time it does not falls somehow. Ohh my God!!! Why are you doing this to me?? These are the times when we remember god and our faith tries to become stronger in him. So I thought of finally trying in the name of god. After all I had just tried twice… the 1st one was not a try, I was just getting my food. Attempts after those were tries, so I still have one more chance. (This is how we try to fool ourselves with stupid reasoning when we want to do something. And all this thought just comes in a split second. Our mind really works fast, specially to fool ourselves)
So I put another dollar bill in, being very positive that god’s not going to let me down. I’ll have 4 trail mix packs, out of which I’ll eat 2 and keep 2 for future when I have similar situation (see a dollar and a trail mix packs are making my future plans now, either it’s the hunger making me mad or this futuristic ruler machine is controlling my mind). This was like the Judgment Day, and guess what…
One packet drops, yeah just one packet. HUH!!!
Same as all the times, only one packet dropped and one packet was still hanging down not ready to fall. It was smiling at me, actually laughing at me. Infact the whole vending machine was laughing at me. You know what, the whole cafeteria was laughing at me!! There is no place for honest people in this world! God doesn’t listens to us poor people, he just listens to ‘I don’t know who’. (I know it's getting crazy, but this how I really felt for that sad moment... no comments on this) Some lucky bastard gonna get 2 pack out of my money and he’ll laugh his way back! He’ll be rich & happy and I am poor & wretched! And suddenly my hunger was disappeared, totally gone. Ohh My God!!!
But, I remember I was hungry… so I decided to eat. Trail mix was good, I ate 2 packs. Kept one for future (I am poor by a dollar, future planning is more important now). My four attempts to get my right, didn’t work. Righteousness doesn’t work. But whatever… this was the story of four times. I can still guess what all might have come in to your mind when I said ‘four times’, but this was it. Only the ones of you who have been through this pain can understand the ache in my heart.
So friends, hoping to write my planned blog soon which should not be such an emotional and heart breaking story. Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
(FYI… while I am writing this there is a terrible rain & thunder storm outside. Weather was partly cloudy in the day but it suddenly has become stormy in the evening. My friend just told me that this is how Kansas weather is, unpredicatble at these times. If we hear the danger siren which indicates hurricane/tornado might hit, we should run and hide in bathtub as we do not have basement to hide. Sounds frightening... hopefully we all will be safe and everything should be fine...
And at the same time... I would like to take this opprtunity to express my grief and sorrow for the people and families struck with natural calamities all over the world. Some things are really out of our control and all we can do is to just support each other and try to make this world a happier place to live. God Bless All!!! )
Monday, June 02, 2008
Second Time...
I guess I am just too easy at selecting headings, writing whatever I feel like. Or may be I am too mathematical, first second, third… nth, lol. But my friends who know me well, they know how distant I am from math; it has always been the scariest monster to me unless its math related to the money or the girls (see, sometimes I do speak truth!!).
But what do I mean by second time… It’s the second time I am writing my blog (I mean I am writing my second blog here). But do you know what… there is another important second time for me here. It’s the second time I am in US; I mean I am in US again from May 25, 2008. I just came back from US to India after 1 year in April end, and with in a month I got a call to go back to US. Sounds great eh… not to everyone though.
My parents are not very happy, I think. All the parent’s are like that I guess, they love there kids so much, always. I don’t know from where, but there heart is filled with love and affection for there children. My parents love me a lot, just a lot and of course I love them a lot too. Although I love them most in the whole world, but I can’t ever be sure if I can ever love her as much as they love me. That’s the kind of love parents have. My mom was still getting as sad & emotional at the airport, as she was the first time I left last year. So few things remain the same even the second time it seems (Atlast this paragraph got over; I was feeling like going through a Karan Johar script, too emotional... huh!!!).
Anyways… this time I am in Kansas City, in Kansas. It’s a city/state at the centre of US. Flight to here was very-very long. 9 hrs flight form India to London, then after 4 hrs stay in London Airport 8 hrs flight to Chicago and 3 hour stay at Chicago airport 1.5 hrs flight to Kannas. I was mostly sleeping or watching movies (I saw ‘Bombay to Bangkok’ which was pretty nice & Jumper which was okay). And yeah, the 4 hour wait at London made me poorer with $200, I bought a Ray-Ban sunglasses. My passion with glasses is taking its toll it seems, why do they have these beautiful but expensive ‘duty-free’ shops at the airport… huh!! (trust me, I m not really happy for this purchase of mine… the girl at Sunglass Hut robbed me. Yeah you are right; I also guess it all happened because of that pretty salesgirl... girl math screwed my money math!!!)
British Airways service is always decent, the food the seats, all seem nice to me; apart from the fact that they have some stupid baggage restrictions (yeah, they were questioning my little big hand-baggage, why should they question when I am carrying my bag in my hand... lol. I mean as long as I can lift it and fit it in the overhead bin they shouldn't be giving me eyes). The experience with Korean Airlines last time was also nice, they have an amazing selection of entertainment where you can select the movies you like and play them when you want; unlike BA where you only have to watch what they play. But the food was terrible, I mean all they were serving was just beef & pork, no other non-veg or veg option… just ridiculous!!
I reached in Kansas City and collected my bags, to find out that TSA (Transport Security Administration of USA) did an open check on both my checked in bags which were transferred to AA from BA in Chicago. I appreciate the security concerns but you are not supposed to damage my baggage or luggage. They tore one of the bags and disarrayed the stuff inside causing damage to my luggage too. I hate that, so irresponsible & stupid (I thought of complaining but haven’t done it yet. You always should). But anyways, I collected my luggage in KC and took a cab to my hotel.
Anyways, this was more like a diary entry… nothing interesting, huh!! Sometimes, the second time may not be as good as first time. So wait for the next time, I’ll try to write more soon (like everyone is just waiting for me to write something, haha!!). Until then keep blogging & keep reading my blogs. This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
Friday, May 16, 2008
First Time!!!
Everything for the first time is quite special; first school, first college, first fight, first girlfriend, first love, first marriage and of course first birth & death (ohhh, sorry. that's always first & final!!!). But I am not writing about any of those, for me today it’s about my first blog. Is it special for me... I don't know yet, but it did take me a long time to write one of these. Someone told me long time ago,"Rahul, you should blog". And I asked the usual 'why', that i ask to any advice that is given to me; "Why?". I was told that I am very creative and this is a great form of expressing our creativity. Is it?? (see, I am questioning again. some habits never change!!).
Today morning I was talking to my friend about blogging so I decided to write my blog today. I thought something similar when I had almost no work 2 yrs back (I was on 'Beach' or 'Bench', that’s what IT industry calls it when you don't have work but you are still luckily employed. Just FYI, I am again on beach from 1 week) and I registered to blogspot but never wrote anything. Blogging is for people who have time to waste, not me (like I am such a busy person, who may have nothing to do. doing nothing keeps you really busy!!). I utilized (or wasted) most of that time going through wikipedia and creating wiki posts there. By the way, I love wikipedia a lot!!
Then last year when I was going to US, I decided that this is my time to blog. I was going abroad(you know, I was riding an airplane for the first time in my life and that too directly to US. does not feels anything special though, it’s a tiring 22 hrs flight including halt) for the first time in my life, so if I can't write a diary then I should at least write a blog. (at least?? like I am some Shakespeare or Javed Akhtar or Gulzar that writing is the least I do, huh!!) But again, who has the time to write a blog, it’s good to roam around in a new country or even better to just sit idle but to write a blog. MAN!! I am lazy or what!!! I don’t know how I managed to write a personal diary for 3-4 years (but then I was in school and at that time and its fun to be someone who writes a diary. You tell all your friends that you write a diary and show it to them like a big-big secret. They all are dying to read it and then you show it to some of your real-personal good friends and they are the lucky chosen ones with whom you share your personal diary. Are we all so stupid when we are kids!!). Or how was I the college magazine editor and I used to write almost all the articles my self and then put it on other people's name (After all you can't just have your name spread all around the magazine. Again the childhood game of who's the luck one whose name would be put under the article, like you get a noble prize if your name's in college magazine).
So I never blogged, never till now. But here I am scribing and scraping whatever is coming in my mind. I guess that's blogging. Definitely easier than writing a diary (computers are always better to write than pens after all, "cut-copy-paste-delete & dictionary" I love it!!) or even writing those big articles (some times stealing from other magazines, yeah I did that too). Only difference is you are writing an online diary which you know & want people to read, it’s my stupid & easy definition.
So this was or is my first time blogging. I know what all may come to mind when you say "First Time" (dirty minds, hehehe!!) but this was it. I hope to write more & even more but till then keep blogging & keep reading my blog(s). This is RAHUL saying Good Bye & Good Luck!!!
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