Narrow Escape

Today I nearly crashed into the car. I had to turn left and the other car was going straight. My mistake. Applied all the brakes to avoid crashing into the car.

Earlier in the day I was driving when suddenly out of nowhere there was a box lying on the road. The speed limit on the road was 50 miles/hr. Slowed down but still ran over the box.

Cops day Out

Today went for few drives. I saw so many cops car's everywhere than I have seen till my stay here. I saw 6 cops cars in total. Sometimes I following a cops car, sometimes they following me. It's not a good experience, I must say.

Sounds

It's 2.20 a.m here. I don't like the sounds coming from my window pane. I went and looked outside the window. It seems fine. But the sound is eerie. It's not letting me sleep. I have now checked outside around 4 times and everything seems normal.

Christmas in U.S.

This was my first Chirstmas in U.S. Went to one of my American colleauges house. Saw a real Christmas tree. It was beautiful and lots of fun. His kid has got lots of gifts from his relatives and his wife's relatives. We watched "The Italian Job". They ordered Indian food because I was coming and they gave me Christmas presents. One of them was something which I said I couldn't find in a Indian restraunt even after searching for much time the previous day.

Aquarium in Monterey

Morning I went with my colleagues family to Monterey Aquarium. We talked a lot about the differences between India and USA on aspects of education, religion, marriage, bringup, roads, costs and many other things. In the aquarium there were Sharks, Squids, Tunas, Jelly Fishes, Sea Snakes etc of various sizes. There were areas where water will flow over you as a wave above the glass. What I saw cannot be put into words and explained. So many colours, designs, etc of fishes and sea animals.

There were sections where you can touch the sea animals. I touched Star fish, Bat Ray and many more things. Star fish was bit coarse. Sea weeds were soft. Bat Ray was silky. It liked being touched. Initially I was afraid but then seeing that small kids were touching without fear I also got courage. The touch I will never forget.

Happy Cows

Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is the husband! The following add proves it.

Go to http://www.realcaliforniacheese.com/

In that go to "Happy Cows" section.

Inside that go to "Happy Cow TV". "Fence is better and Photograph".

This is one of the Advertisements which come on TV.

Poor Memory

I have a really poor memory. I cannot recall things I have done in the past and sometimes even few minutes or hours back. Today I got up and was getting ready when I had a doubt whether I have brushed my teeth. Ultimately decided that it won't be worth putting in thoughts from my previous experiences. I went and brushed my teeth.

Sometimes I feel as if I have done things when really I wouldn't have and vice-versa.

Cooked Rice today

Atlast I was able to cook amazing rice. My friend helped me a lot. It was yummy :D. Had it with curd.

Lunch

Went on Lunch. He first came to my house. He was amazed. He was so happy to see the house. He wanted a apartment like this for 1 week from company. We had a nice time talking a lot.

Please don't call again

I was supposed to go out on lunch with one of my colleague and give him a call at 11.00 a.m to find the details. I called twice, 11.05 and 11.30. He didnot pick up his cell. Some female picked up (as far as I know he is alone now as his wife has gone out). She said no "wrong number". I called again. She said "look mister , this is wrong number and please don't call again". I realised i didnot know how to dial phone numbers here. I was afraid to dial again because she might dial 911 for harassment.

Few days earlier, I was again calling few numbers. One said it was a non-existant number andanother time a female picked up. She was nice and was laughing that I dialed a wrong number. So contrast experiences.

Not a single time I have been able to make a proper call. Last time I made a call it went to some flirting talk with girls (no more details).

Cleaning Utensil

Took me an hour and half to clean the untensil in which the maggie disaster happened.

Add's

The add's of Chrysler 300C (Car) and Wendy burger have catchy music.

POT LUCK

Thursday 15th Dec:
I have been invited to the BU party here. Everyone has to bring their own food. But they asked me not to as I am a guest there. Eagerly waiting for it as I will be able to meet lots of people and it will be nice fun.

Friday 16th Dec.:
It was great fun. So many varieties of food. I ate lots of good Indian made food. There was arange of veg and non-veg food. Amazing number of sweets and drinks. I tried everything. It was fun. Then we sang some carols.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer : Lyrics
------------------------------------------
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw him,
you would even say it glows.

All of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph with your nose so bright,
won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"

Then all the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,
you'll go down in history!

Another carol was:
-------------------

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;
Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer
We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Then there was a game. I was laughing throught the game. 17 People had got gifts to be exchangedplayed the game. The game has the following rules.
1) All the gifts are wrapped.
2) Those who have got gifts can only participate.
3) Chits will be picked up so that the players will be sorted.
4) The 1st players will select the gift and will open it.
5) The next player has a option to take either the other people's gift or take a new gift and open it.
6) The person who has lost the gift can take a new gift of from one of the remaining persons.
7) The person cannot take the same gift back.
8) Once the gift has changed hands 3 times it cannot be taken anymore.

The whole game was funny with people snatching gifts from one another =)) . I had a great time. Everyone got a Umbrella candy later :D.

Milk

Never I realised that Milk also gets spoilt. I was using a pack of milk for quite some days. I wanted to make cornflakes and started Boiling the milk. Suddenly I saw that the whole water and white portion got separated. I was surprised for a moment and then realised milk has gone bad. Or maybe turned into curd :P.

Truck

Some people like to put truck tyres to their car. Yesterday I parked my car near a car like that. My car was looking like a toy in front of that car. It was a Cheverolet brand.

Mangoes

In India we always say all export quality mangoes are exported to foreign countries. So I thought of checking it out by buying Mangoes. The fruit here look big. I mean really BIG. I got two mangoes for Rs.300. Can you believe that. I had too much expectations. It didnot taste good at all. Now I am sure "looks only matters".

Below the poverty line in U.S.

I said to my friend that in India we get a salary of say $10,000 per annum. He was shocked. He said that is below poverty line here. Here the poverty line is $23,000 USD. :-(.

Whale watching and ICE Hockey

One of my friends said that he will take me to Whale watching and ICE hockey if he get's tickets and if he is free. Waiting eagerly as these are something new and I have never done anything like this before.

BIA

I always used to wonder what bia stands for. Asked Teena. She said it is "Greek Godess of power".

Shower

After much struggling inside the bathroom I was able to find how to operate the shower, but notwithout wetting the bathroom floor. I had to dry it as it might get damaged :P.

Swimming

Two days I have been trying to swim. I keep drowning. When I try to move my legs my hands won't move and vice versa. But I was determined to continue. Come what may. The chill atmosphereor my not able to swim is not gonna stop me. I was still in the 3.5 feet water only. My aim was to start swimming properly across the pool. The scary part is I do it with no one around. But it's okay. I was confident of myself.

However I have kind of given up because the cold water is upsetting my stomach badly. Also without company I find it very odd and boring.

Women's phychology

This was Teena's response to the the "Slap" blog's comments.

"hey! nice responses, though i dont think u'll learn anything from gopa"

"his idea of women's psychology is "crap""

Cooking disaster

Wanted to eat some cooked food today. Since there was no help, so I thought let me do it on my own. Took a big maggie packet. Took out all the pieces of maggie and masala. Put it in a big bowl. Then added 6 big cups of water at the rate of 1.5 cups per maggie piece. Had absolutely no idea how to start. The bowl was filled till the brim. I started heating it. It started boiling in around 10 minutes. What happened next was a complete mess.

The water started falling on the stove. I had no idea that water will boil and start overflowing. The whole stove was gone. Then the quantity of maggie I saw was amazing. It would satisfy 4 people. I realised everything was going wrong and pinged one of my colleagues. She helped me calm down and adviced me how to rectify the mistake. But by that time i could smell burnt smell. Ultimately she asked me to throw the maggie as it was already burnt and bad from what I described her.

I am feeling so bad throwing so much of food which would have satisfied 4 people. Anyway I have decided to ask someone before cooking atleast next time.

Another Car Accident

This time it was pretty nastier than the first one. I had stopped well before the signal line trying to decide which way to go. From behind a car even though seeing I have stopped came right and banged into me. I got scared. I saw that my car's dicky was totally damaged. I have to change the car. That guy took my photograph also and was asking me to sign, though it was his fault. I took down his number. I wanted to check the car really. But I was not able to get up. My eyes won't open. I was trying to come to consiousness praying "OH GOD, please tell me this is not real. Not again.". I was struggling with my pillow which was holding me down.

The Man and the machines

I always have problem operating all these machines.

Everytime I want a chocolate or something to eat I have to put a 1 $ bill. Now I donot know which way to put it. Every single time I put it in a wrong way and it spits it out. Then I change the direction and it succeeds.

Once in a AMEX ATM counter in San Jose I was taking my time getting used to it. I was happily pressing all the buttons trying to get cash out of the machine. Each press I was taking about 15 seconds. By the time I turned around I saw atleast 6 people waiting for me with a interesting look on their faces.

This other time I was in a petrol pump and wanted to fill petrol in my car. I didnot know how to use it. So with full confidence I took the nozzle and pressed it keeping in front of Sudeep. Sudeep paniced. He was shocked by my act. He immediately screamed. "Donot press the button. Petrol will flow out". He got a relief only after I immediately gave him the pump. He must have got the shock of his life :-)).

Transcontinental Laugh

I was calling up one of my friends yesterday and we talked for quite sometime. The funny part of the conversation was that when I used to say something and she used to laugh I will hear it few seconds later. It felt as if she is laughing without any reason. Transcontinental delay. Funny.

When Harry met Sally ...

That's a movie which I watched partly. It was really good. Want to watch the full movie someday. Meg Ryan was looking very good.

Winchester Mansion

This is supposedly a haunted Mansion in which construction kept going on for 38 years or so. Sudeep and myself had a great time. We went for two tours. "The Mansion tour" and the "Behind the Scene" tour. It was great fun. I don't think it will be fun writing it down here. I will rather tell it directly or on chat. The best part was I liked the girl who was presenting the "Behind the Scene" tour. She was damn cute.

Where is the tea??

Today we (Sudeep and myself) went to Winchester Mansion. After one tour I told Sudeep I want a cup of tea. We went to the shop and I ordered a "Hot Tea". I paid the bill. Then the female came with a cup of something which looked like hot water to me. I practically bend down to see whether it was tea. Then I asked the female on the counter "This doesnot look like tea". She started laughing and said "It is hot water. You have to take the tea bags and creamer from there". We all (Sudeep, the girl and myself) were laughing loudly. Apparently Sudeep also was wondering where the tea was :P.

Bath Tub

I always use the bathtub, prolly because I don't know how to operate the shower yet. As usual I filled it to hot water and got it. To my shock the water was boiling hot. I somehow managed to crawl out of the bath tub. My skin was burnt and red it colour.

Another incident was when we went to a 3 (or 5) star hotel in Delhi. My friend instead of putting the foam in the water, she used it as a soap. For the next 1 hour she was bathing only trying to remove the foam =)).

My Dream

Yesterday I was dead tired. Ended up seeing a really nice dream. Then chatted with Gopa for sometime and felt better.

I have got a rank of 115 in CAT and was going to IIM. Siddarth (my cisco roommate) was very happy. I told few other friends of mine and few of my relatives came to know. Everyone was congratualting me. I was really happy. Then I got up and was trying to recall when I gave CAT this year.

Pacific Drive

Pacific Ocean. Touched it for the first time. The water was chill. My feet were very numb. But I was too much excited to miss the pleasure of the scenic beauty which lay in front of me. The waves were huge. The sun had set. There were still few surfers daring against the gigantic waves.

As usual we started late and decided against going to the Haunted Mansion. We were going to the CA 1 Drive. I decided to drive as I had to get used to it. Drove some 200 miles (320 kms) in total. Covered it in 3 hours with 1 hour nearly in the 17 mile drive. The drive was very smooth on the freeways where I touched nearly 87 miles per hour. That is nearly 140 km/hr. Not that I wanted to touch. But if I don't stay with the traffic then someone will come and bang me from the back.

Once we reached the 17 mile drive along the pacific it was beautiful scenery. I missed most part of it as I was concentrating on driving in the windy roads (with occasional commentary which I overheard). Otherwise we all (Sudeep, Rahul and myself) need not enjoy the Pacific. We will be in the Pacific. We stopped at few stops where we amdired the gigantic waves and natural beauty. The 1st place we stopped I removed my shoes and ran to get my feet wet. I was ice cold water. Also the waves were so powerful and huge that not at all advisable to go into the sea unless you are an expert swimmer.

We started back. Quite a lot of things happened which I think I will skip. One of them was we were giving a call to Gopa from a Pay phone. Anyway.

We started back and I took a wrong turn. Then another wrong turn. I ended up taking the CA 17 highway. The roads were so curvy like a roller coaster twisting and turning. There was no shoulder in many places. I was within the speed limits but the roads were really scary. I managed to hold on to the steering and driving with the crowd.

Pacific ...

Candy

I was roaming in a electronic shopping mall. As usual I got bored in sometime and was searching for something interesting. I saw a machine which has something like candy, dolls etc. I wanted Candy but didnot know how to take it. No one was around. I kept roaming near it practically for 10 minutes without knowing what to do. Then I saw someone taking a candy. I clearly observed what he did to take the candy out. I went to the machine with a quater and took out the candy I wanted. It was just smaller than a table tennis ball which made me wonder for a moment whether it is really candy. Still I put it in my mouth and tried biting it. To my shock it was rock solid. I realised it is a playing ball and was laughing in the store loudly. Was about to take it from my mouth when I felt a bit sweet taste. Still couldn't chew it down. Later I showed it to Sudeep and he confirmed it was indeed Candy. I couldn't stop laughing.

Chemical Hazard

"This area contains chemicals known to the State of california to cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive damage."

That is what is written in the front of my complex :-s.

Honked at

Here is U.S people donot use horn unless they think the other person is making a mistake and they are into trouble. Today twice I got honked at. For minor reasons though. I was coming out of the parking lot and was bit to the left. I saw one car wanted to come in. So started reversing without seeing back. Just as I started I got honked and stopped the car. Next as I got out of the parking lot I was talking to Sudeep and the signal turned green and still after 2 seconds I was sitting and happily chatting with Sudeep. I got honked again. Two honks in a matter of 2 minutes. So it was "honking day" for me.

Mobile

Many girls have threatened to hit me. But in this case I really got kicked. I was with Teena and saw that she had a mobile phone. The funny part was that it was in a small girlish purse inside her another purse. When I asked her separately why two purses for a small mobile she said she kept it so that her mobile can use it as a mobile cover. When I tried to make it public I got a nice kick from her. I dared not to speak anything about it after that :-).

Slap

I went with one of my friend (Gopa) and his friend (Teena) and few other people for lunch. During the discussion as usual I started talking that girls should be at home and they should not work, etc, etc. That was the first time I was meeting her. She was smiling all along and I felt better. Later my friend asked me if I want to join them for ice-cream. I said ok. Then only 3 of us were there.

He told me that he pacified her that I was joking otherwise she was planning to throw the chowmein she was eating at me and give me a tight slap. I was shocked. Just imagine what can be worse than drowning in chowmein and getting slapped by a girl.

I will never understand girls :-(.

You need some help Sir?

Yesterday I was roaming around just like that in Best Buy (a big electronic store). I was not interested in purchasing anything. Sudeep wanted to buy something. As I particularly don't like shopping so I started roaming around seeing what all is kept. Suddenly a customer support guy comes and says "You need some help Sir?". I said "No". And started walking. Again he comes to me and says "You need some help Sir?". I looked at him and his stare told me don't loiter around. I told him. "You know what, my friend is the person who might need help" and took him to Sudeep to get rid of him.

Importance of Water

Water is a real important part of our life. Atleast a Indian's life. However that doesn't seem to be the case in the developed countries (though they have lots and lots of water and no water shortage at all). Same thing holds true for Five star hotels in India also. If you havenot guessed it by now I am talking about water in the toilets. Yes I believe every Indian wants a wet toilet. Every place here has only tissue papers. Using tissue papers for ... doesnot appeal to me at all. And I know quite a few other Indians also.

So in pressure situation were you are between the life and death situation a Indian takes his car keys and rushes home. Think I am bluffing? Ask anyone who has been in abroad. So are the toilets in home wet toilets?? Noway. Atleast in my house my tissue paper dustbin is a the water bucket and I took a mug all the way from India.

It's a real art controlling yourself for 48 hours all the way from India through Frankfurt till San Jose #:-s. People gone through this will understand the trauma one has to go through. I mean it's not jet lag which hits you. It's something else.

Shades

I always wanted to wear shades. But because of power couldnot wear one. This time I was decided to get shades for myself no matter what. Waiting eagerly for it's arrival when someone brings it to San Jose. It's a nice rimless plastic dark glasses with power sitting safely with one of my friends.

Burnt and raw

For the first time I thought of having a different breakfast than corn flakes. I got bread and saw the toaster machine. After much effort I managed to push 4 bread slices into the toaster. Was wondering when it will come out. When it came what I saw was I had overheated it and outer sides were burnt and the inner sides were raw. Had to eat it with milk :-( . Toaster experimentation gone wild.

Dish Washer

Atlast I had to open it to get the untensils. All of them were filled with water. I didn't know I have to keep the untensils upside down.

CUT

Never think of something else while shaving. Got a nasty cut on the lips. Bleeding has atlast stopped after quite sometime.

I must say

I was sitting with my colleauge for evening snacks. It was nice of her giving me company as she was already there giving four other people company, one by one. After we ran out of what to discuss I looked around and found another girl across the table. She was a singer. To strike a conversation with her I said "So are you singing when John (CEO) is coming to India". She gave me a hard stare and said "I must say that was a very stupid question". Both of us (me and my colleague) were shocked. Few minutes later we silently deserted that table.

Golden Gate

Started for Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco and covered 50 miles in an hour. I was driving. San Francisco was unlike San Jose. Much more cramped. Lesser space. Golden gate was huge and majestic. It was crimson red in colour. I was trying to see a golden gate somewhere. To my disappointment none was there. We took some snaps and then proceed uphill. From the top we could see the full view of golden gate. As darkness fell we went downhill towards a unknown path. I was okay for adventour. Later we found out we were somewhere in Silcilati, a posh village town named for it's scenic beauty. Stopped there for some time near a lonely area. Tried going down for some distance but then we were afraid of getting mugged. So returned fast. Actually we were suspicious of every car and bike going and were cautious. We (Sudeep and myself) had spent around 2 hours in SFO (San Francisco). Came back in an hour. For the first time I saw the Freeway traffic crawling on Sunday night.

Burning tyres

That day Sudeep was driving the car. When I started back home the car wasn't moving. I somehow accelerated and got it home. It was smelling burning tyres. Later I found out he put the hand brakes on. I never have the habit of putting the hand brakes.

The FOAM

Ever used a dishwasher. Atleast first time for me. I put all the glasses and dishes thanks to me having breakfast everyday. Now I put little bit of detergent in the dishwasher. Started it and went to have MTR ready made meals. Some time later I hear Sudeep's scream from the Kitchen. Ran to the kitchen. Saw it was full of foam. Next 30 minutes I was on the floor cleaning the foam and the water. I used all the possible methods (tissues, towel, vaccum cleaner) to dry the floor as the water can cause permanent damage. Now I don't dare to open the dishwasher as I don't know how much foam is inside it.

My First Car

Hyundai Sonata 2006 V6

It has 5 star crash safety rating.

I find it pretty much convinient to drive.

http://www.hyundaiusa.com/vehicle/sonata/sonata.aspx

The Phone

I generally keep my television on. Most of the times in the channel there will be a door bell ring, telephone ring or police siren. I get confused if the phone in my villa is ringing or my door bell is ringing. Atleast a dozen times I have picked up my phone to see the dial tone and half a dozen times I have opened my door to see the door of the nearby villa and no one on the door step. So now I mute the television before opening the door or picking the phone.

Tschuess

When I was getting off the German Carrier in San Francisco Airport the air hostess were saying "bye" to everyone. When my turn came she said "Tschuess" (Bye in German). I was thinking in which angle I was German. Actually I was flattered.

My Villa in San Jose

I walked into to my house in San Jose for the first time. My jaws dropped. It was a huge front room with a attached kitchen. A small dining room near the main door. A big bedroom with a queen size bed. It has a clothes closet. A attached bathroom with two doors. One towards the living room and another sliding door towards the bedroom.

It's a fully furnished house with washing machine, kitchen utensils, electric stove, microwave oven, fridge, television, video disc player, clothes drier, vacuum cleaner, dish washer, bed, pillow, huge dressing table with a big mirror, sofa sets, dining table, chairs. It's a ground floor house. For people who are wondering this is a Company rented house and K&M relocation angency keeps all these stuff for people who are staying in their complexes and charges the company. Phone and high speed internet is provided.

I was happy. I knew there will be a parking place. I got a car the next day itself. Hyundai Sonata. I checked my parking place. To my surprise I can access it from my house itself. I can got to it from my washing machine room. I was feeling great.

Lick Observatory

Last Saturday went to Lick Observatory with one colleague and another with his family. It was my first day after I landed in U.S. I was kind of happy that Jet Lag didnot hit me. By the time we started it was 2.30p.m. I became adventerous and grabbed a cheese sandwitch to eat. Ate in a running car. The wind was chill and the sun was shining hot. Once we reached the windy road of the 30 mile drive I started feeling sick. Jet Lag hit me severely. Puked. But it was a real bad experience.

The observatory was very good. The telescope was huge. The mechanics were too good. The whole platform which will be around 2000 sq foot raises to the telescope. The air inside the observatory was chill. They seem to maintain the temperature same as outside to protect the lenses. The whole roof can open up to see the sky. The telescope itself was around 25-30 metres in length. It was a 120 inch telescope (that's what i remember, which is the diameter of the lens). The telescope was not accessible. It's only accessible in few months to the public.

The view was breath taking. I wonder how much fun the people looking at the stars from the telescope will be having. The body of Lick who built the telescope lies buried underneath the telescope.

Car Accident in San Jose

Yesterday was a real bad day. Lots of things happened. I was using the dishwasher and ended up putting detergent in the milk in the morning. But it was a accident.

While coming to office I was going at the speed limit. I had to change lanes. I changed it properly. There were 3 cars in front of me. The first one stopped suddenly. That effect cascaded and I had to brake. That made the car behind me come and hit me. I was in absolute state of shock for the whole day. My whole day got spent in running to the rental car, calling them up and finding the details. One thing which you should always do is note down the car number, license number of the driver, the insurance number and contact number. If possible report to the police. Today I had slight back ache. Not sure if it was because of the car accident :-(.

In the night I ended up putting detergant in the cloth drier. This was also a accident. The 1st and the 3rd accident made me laugh. But the car thing was real bad. Will get over it soon I guess.

Air Travel

I was going to United States. I have seen lots of people being crazy about states, but somehow countries like Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Europe and Canada facinates me more. I hope I get a chance to visit all those countries also.

Lufthansa was my flight. German carrier. (I am facinated by Germany. Reason I will give some other time.) The best part of the flight is the turbulance when hit. The first time I experienced it I was afriad that the plane is going to crash. But then I was not worried because there were 300 more people who will go down with me and I won't be alone. I will have company :P . It was on my way back from Japan. Without turbulance the flight becomes boring. You should sit near the window seat and see the wings moving when it is hit. It feels as if they are going to fall apart. Kind of becomes exciting and makes the flight bit more fun.

ICELAND was full or ICE. 11kms up from the air it seems beautiful. Greendland was full of mountains. The mountains bathing in Gold Sunlight. The view was breathtaking. Canadian and American land were also good when looking from such a great height.

But the best of all was Frankfurt. The whole place was bathed in snow. It was exactly similar to the game commandos which I used to play. The houses, the pines were all covered with snow. The images still are in my memories and will always be.