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!!!

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!!!

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!!!


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!!!