Life is not fair

It has never been fair to me. My stay in U.S is now getting over. I have to be catch a flight on Monday. I will miss the people and the friends whom I developed here. The most I will miss will be my car, my relationship with it is now more than 5200 kms.

More Dove...

What I didnot tell last time was that I got a dove soap which was in a big box as big as tiffin box. I was planning to use that instead of bath gel. However didnot open it till today. I opened it today and pulled out the soap. It was suprisingly light and when I opened it it was just tissue papers. I was shocked. That day I had no intentions of buying gel and thinking that I would have to have bath with lots of tissue paper, yuck. I will not have bath at all rather.

Dove

Whenever I want to bath, I will go and get soap. That's what was in my mind when I went to buy soap early morning because I found no soap when I was about to start my bath. Got liquid dove bath gel. I had never used it before. So ended up using lots of soap. When I came out soap was still coming out of the body. Had to bath again to get rid of the soap. By the way, the good part was the whole house was smelling of dove lavender :-).

More incidents

The other day I slept for a split of a second while driving. Today I was standing at the intersection for the light to turn green. The VTA train was next to me standing for the green light. As soon as the light turned green I started. The train came right in front of me. For a second I was shocked and moved the car. It took me a second to realise that the road is curving and so are the train tracks and I am moving towards the train tracks and hence the train.

Managed to break my bathroom door. So either I have to squeeze through this door or run the full length of the house to reach the other door.

Fused the philips bulb which was there.

Today's Menu

Rice, Tomato Rasam and Aaloo sabji.

Tomorrow planning to have Bindi sabji with curd rice. Let's see.

Current thought: Blank
Current Mood: I don't know.

Listening to the song: http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/f4XwKltus9.As1NMvHdW/?done_detect

Watching TBS as usual.

Fire Alarm

This happened during my first cooking of aalo sabji. I didnot know that so much of smoke will come it you put oil mustard etc. I happily started cooking. Suddenly smoke filled in the house house. The fire alarm went off. I immediately put the exhaust. Opened the door. Still the alarm was on. It remained on for 5 minutes of so. I was wondering if the fire engine and police will come. Nobody came. Nothing happened. Only aaloo came out fine. Bit burnt but then there is always first time for everything. The only thing that happened was that the house was smelling of aaloo for the next few days.

Clean House

Keeping the house spotless clean has become a part of my daily routine since all others left. Maybe not because I cannot live in the without having a clean surrounding but maybe because I found it a nice way to kill time. Washing utensils by myself than using dishwasher. Now I have gone to the extent of cleaning toilets also :P. Maybe that is a alternative job I can think of :P. Also I am now doing full time cooking with rice, curry, dal. The other day I didnot want to go out. Immediately I cooked rice and ate with curd and pickle. Never felt it could be so easy. One day I will plan to call my friends and cook for them if they are free :-) .

Busy week

Everyone became busy with work after the LA trip. On Friday I went to drop Sunil to SFO. We started at 8.30a.m and he had to be in the airport at 10.30a.m. When we reached 101-North to my surprise it was Jam packed. Luckily we were able to carpool and reach the airport in time. Coming back I took El-camino Real and was a long drive except for the scenic parts in between. Reached office late.

Los Angeles trip (14th-15th Jan, 2006

LA trip was good. We had to start early in the morning and as usual I was late getting up. I was the one who was excited the most I guess. Reason? I had to drive a "Land Rover" to LA. I was bit worried also. It was huge. Bigger than my Hyundai Sonata v6, 2006. So I asked Sanjay to drive first so that I can observe him. I told him that I will be uncomfortable driving it. He said I will learn quickly. It was true. I was able to drive pretty quickly.

It was a huge powerful 7 seater. The seats had capability of heating. We put all the luggage in the back seat. Lots of space. Good leg space and I think everyone was comfortable. Sanjay drove along 101-South and then on I-5. At I-5 I took over as the driver. There were warning of gusty winds and hence drive slowly.

I-5 was one major disappointment. I was so sad after coming to I-5. I kept cribbing all the while to Sanjay about I-5. I wonder how many times I would have repeated the statement. "But Sanjay, I-5 is disappointing. I thought it will be a 10 lane road and speed limits of 85mph. This is just a 4 lane road with speed limit of 70mph. This is really disappointing. Everyone who told me about I-5 fooled me.". Those were the exact statements I must have repeated like a broken record countless number of times.

As we reached LA it started raining and the traffic was terrible. It was crawling and I was bit concerned also since I have not driven Land Rover in traffic. Not that I made any mistakes but then Sanjay asked me to pull over somewhere so that he can take over. I pulled over at some place and then we exchanged. It was kindof relief because after hours of driving I was able to look around.

DisneyLand:
We reached LA and directly went to Disneyland. After some confusion it was decided that we will go to California Adventures. Go there and see for yourself. I won't talk about it. We were lucky in the sense since it was raining so the wait times for the rides was 0 minutes for nearly all the rides. We were able to complete all the rides.

I liked the "Jelly fish jumping ride" particularly because it was very nice and "california driving". There were 4-D shows (sense of touch). I missed the fun of "Allaudin" because I was too tired sleeping. "Tower of terror" was good fun.

I yes, we drew "Goofy".

Manish and others had amazing sense of direction. They knew where to go and all. I was as usual lost in my own world and blindly following them.


Stay in LA:
Sunil, Sanjay and Manish went in search for a accomodation when we waited in the car. The room was very comfortable and I slept as soon as I hit the bed. After sometime I was woken up for dinner. When we came back we had a nice boyish discussion and laughing loud. Later my colleague told me that she was able to hear us laughing and talking. Damn, these wooden walls....


Universal Studious:
We woke up in a sunny morning next day and went to the Universal Studious. Again due to some reason we were very lucky. We were able to do all the rides with 0 minutes wait time for more. Again come and see yourself.

One was the 4-D shows was "Shrek". I liked "Shrek" in that. Especially when there will be instances where someone sneezes what will fall on you, someone farts smelly gas will come and then the seats will move and insects will move around you.

"Mummy" ride was good. We went for the studio tour which was ok.

The best I had fun was "Van Heiselgal". My colleague was freaking out. Literally freaking out. She was screaming at the top of her lungs and very afraid. The magnitude of her fear could be judged from the fact that she never let go my Jacket and was pulling me all the while to get out of that fast. And I think I took the best ever "picture" of her as soon as we came out.

Few funny incidents happened. We were trying to take a snap as the flintstone. Manish and my colleague stood as the flintstone husband and wife. I didnot want to stand as the female. So I was standing near the male side waiting for my chance. When my turn came, Sanjay was smart enough and came rushing in and occupied that position. I waited for another turn as no way I wanted to stand in the female position.

Then we went to watch "Fear Factor Live". There they said you are late and one female directed us to another guy to get us seat and he directed us back to her and she directed back to him. It took me sometime before I realised that we were being fooled.

In fear factor they made people drinking disgusting stuff and put scorpians on one female's head. Then suddenly they threw a torantula on the crowd. The girls there fell down here and there. Later they told it was fake. But few of them were already freaked out.

Another thing was a sound recording studio where Manish volunteered to shout. He had to shout when the light glows. But then it never glew and they said he was not good enough and sent him to a room behind. We then saw him being attacked my a monster and he running. It was his shadow. Later he denied doing anything like that. But I still think it was his shadow and wonder how they faked it.

Return was fine. Again Sanjay was driving for sometime and as I was not feeling great, sleepy and slight headache I slept. Later we exchanged the seat and I drove continuosly for 300kms.

The fun part was the lateral thinking but I guess I slept and missed major part of it.

Dinner at Macroni Grill

I donot like junk food at all. However I like being in company of people. So everyone decided to go to "Macaroni Grill". As usual others were telling me what to order. I decided I will ask myself what is there for me to eat. So I called up the waiter and told him

"I was vegetarian food, no meat, no fish, no beef, no pork, no seafood, no chicken, no lamb, no egg, no mushroom and no cheese (no brinjal ofcourse)."

He said, "Oh then I can get you some coriander leaves with ketchup".

Birthday Party

My colleague's 4 year old son's bday was there. We all went to his house. It was good fun with everyone trying to play about with the kid. One I remember. My colleauge was telling his son how he will be boiled in oil by GOD incase he lies. Immediately Sanjay stepped in and said "Look your father is dark in colour.".

We went to a South Indian restraunt and it was my day for selecting the menu, maybe for the first time I was suggesting people what to order.

Abhi Abhi syndrome

The "Abhi Abhi" syndrome is not leaving me in U.S also. We go to "Banana Leaf" and I order "Malay Ice Coffee, abhi abhi" and it never comes.

P.S:- There is a long story behind this. It won't be funny unless you are already know the history behind it.

The Beach (Bigsur trip)

We wanted to touch the water (The Pacific) on our way back in the Bigsur trip. We stopped at a nice place and then walked down trying to reach the beach. The wooden steps were washed off my the rains and sea. So we had to climb down the rocks. There was this sandy part which Manish and Rohan slided down which was interesting.

We took a much easier route down. But we still had to jump since there was no steps.

The beach was good, it was sunset time. It was very clean. We dared to remove our shoes and enter the Pacific freezing water. The huge waves.

The best part was we wanted to take a snap on a rock in the water. We stood on top of the rock. We waited for the photo to be click and as soon as the picture was taken a huge wave came and crashed on us :-) . Rest of the time was spent shivering.

We spent quite sometime on the beach. Way back up was more difficult assuming that I had to carry my shoes, the soft drink can to be disposed and I don't know if there was something else also.

With so many people around I felt home.

Wrong side of the Road

Many have entered the wrong side of the road, and I have heard stories about the same. However luckily I have programmed my mind so much that I didnot ever did that in nearly 1.5 months of my driving in U.S. However following incidents did happen.

Actually I have been ticketed in India for entering a one way on my bike. I was fined and given a ticket.

Manish was driving. I said till he is inside the apartment complex I will stay with him. However he entered the road even though I kept saying "NO". And to my shock he was entering the wrong side of the road. I shouted and asked him no to enter. He just stopped in time. Then he took a U turn and entered the apartment complex again. Good that it was a small road with less traffic. But at 35mph the results could have been deadly.

Another time we had to pick up someone and me, manish and my colleague were in the car. I was thinking something and the signal was red and I wanted to take a right turn. I was wondering why I am stopped though you can take a right turn on red. As soon as it became green I went right into the wrong side of the road. Later when Manish and my colleague screamed I realised my mistake. Luckily we were still on the other side of the road. I immediately backed and proceeded. Good that this time also there was no traffic on the road.

SF and Bigsur (7th-8th Jan, 2006)

I can't recall when we went to SFO and which date we went to Bigsur.

San Francisco:
SF we started and went to golden gate vista point. From there we went to another vista point at the top of a mountain. Then to Sausalito. Something really happened there.

I was backing the car and forgot to put the car on drive. Since it was a downhill the car started going down. Then I realised the drive was not on and put it on drive. But then something really scary happened. The brakes failed. I simply failed. The roads were turning and there were cars parked in front of me. The steering failed to move. It was locked. I used all my strength to turn the steering and apply the brakes. Somehow the car stopped after all these. Then I put on the parking lights and switched off the car. Restarted it and then slowly started it. I was moving the car slowly testing the brakes. Warned everyone that I will be putting sudden brakes and hard brakes to test it. It was fine.

Before this happened we were in Sausalito. It was good. My collegue's wife showed that there was a person making few rocks stand on top of each other. I laughed saying that they are glued. But then I saw the person making the rocks on top of each other. Hmm.. Forget about what happened after that.

We went to Lombard, Union Square, went on a cable car ride. We then went to a Indian-Pakistani restraunt Shalimar. That is another story. We relied on the GPS and ended up taking 14 miles tocover a distance of 0.2 miles. Had a nice dinner and came back home late.

Bigsur:
Bigsur trip was good. Nice ride. Nice forest. Good trek. On the way back we went to a beach. And at time the superb card game 29. We were on a winning spree ;-). You can ask people who were involved in the game. Something happened on this trip too.

I parked the car in such a way that the tyre was coming on the pavement. My steering wheel got stuck. I was not able to turn on the ignition. Then ultimately me, manish, my colleague and his 4 year old son pushed the car enough to get it started. That was one experience :-).

Nothing much happening (3rd-6th Jan, 2006)

Rest of the days was nothing much. Daily work and we used to meet sometimes for dinner. Being in different building we had to plan while going for lunches. I went to a movie on 7th I guess. Everyone else was busy so I went alone. The theatre was good and I was one of the 5-6 people in the theatre. It was as if I have booked the whole theatre and watching the movie :P. The movie was great, it was "Munich".

Half Moon Bay(2nd Feb)

This was another day where everyone was planning to go for shopping. Considering that I love shopping too much I decided not go for that because I will end up buying a lot of things.

I instead asked everyone and then headed for Monterey bay. One more reason why others decided not to go on a trip was because there were storm warnings. I didnot want to stay at home. I started to Half Moon Bay.

Once I started it started pouring heavily. I had not driven in so much of rains before. It was a new experience for me. I set my GPS and kept to the slow moving lanes. Anyway the traffic was also moving at a speed of 40 miles per hour in a 65 mph zone. Suprisingly back glass of my car was clear thanks to the technology of car. I drove like that till Half Moon Bay when pouring stopped to drizzling. The drive became through the woods which was really nice. I stopped by a Gas station and then I asked her the places to visit. She told me a nice beach which people visit. Went to the beach and took a walk along the beach. I was scenic and pleasant. Water was freezing cold. It was drizzling all the while and the waves were huge.

I walked for quite sometime and reached a place which seemed to be a wooden bridge. I walked across it. It was scary because I was the only person there. The bridge was surrounded with lots of plants and water was gushing beneath. I kept walking to the other side. Then after walking for quite sometime I decided to return and see some other place. I had this plastic in my hand to dispose. I was searching for a dustbin. Surprisingly I didnot find any. I saw one box but with wildlife animal on it. I thought people keep injured birds or animals in it. When walking back on the wooden bridge I saw few people taking the garbage out. I then went and gave them the disposable and told them that there might have been some animal in it. They were amused :-)) .
There was a flock of birds near the beach. I tried slowly walking towards them. They will move bit far. I will move bit more closer making sure not to make them fly. They will move a bit more far. It was funny. Started back to other beaches but then I saw that all of them had $6 ticket and didnot seem asgood as the beach I had been to. So I started back home. Wanted to reach home before it was dark. But didnot want to take the same route. So I told the GPS least use for freeways. But again thanks to my bad sense of direction I took two wrong turns and ended up on CA-35.

I must say, it was awesome, just awesome. I wished only if others were with me to see. Milesinto the forest and only me. It was foggy and there were flood warning signs everywhere. Butthe view was awesome. I was driving 25mph at a 40-50mph zone. Didnot matter as I was the only one on the road. After long time I reached CA-84. That was another superb drive. UnfortunatelyI donot have right words to tell how good it was.

Atlast reached home and then I think we went to downtown. I don't remember if this was the day when we did ICE SKATING. I think it was this day only. Anyway I have already mentioned it above.

I don't have a camera so couldn't take the snaps.

New Year 2006 (Dec 31st, 2005)

Everyone is suffering from jet lag. Plan was to go to SFO and spend the New year there seeing the fireworks. Started to SFO. But the plan was to not to take car since there will be too much crowd. We went to SJ station to take the caltrain. Just missed it by 3 minutes or so. Went to *$s grabbed a coffee and came back to catch the 5.00 p.m Caltrain. I was surprised it was a double decker train. I wanted to sit in the top and everyone agreed. It was a slow long boring journey. Most of us slept, few because of jet lag and other because of fatigue. We walked to Pier 39 and roamed around that place. As New year arrived we moved closer to the bay bridge and to see the fireworks.

And yes I showed everyone the Milky Way :-) .

We saw the fireworks and were there till 12.30 a.m or so. The last train to SJ was at 2.00a.m. We wanted to catch the 1.00 a.m train as otherwise it will be too late. We had little time left and nearly 3 miles to cover. Others thought it might have been 6-8 miles. I still disagree. Running at a good speed (5.5 miles/hr) for 30 miles you can cover only 2.5 miles. And we were running for only 30 minutes or so. Anyway that's not a point here. It was fun. We saw police everywhere. Infact it seem more police than people. Everyone around was drunk and shouting "HAPPY NEW YEAR". Atlast after much running we reached the station. As usual i was the last person. Not because of stamina but because I am bad in directions, very bad. So was following everyone. Actually it was lots of fun running. We had a great time. My best New Year I ever remember (mymemories are short lived so this had to be the best).

Sunil and myself were the last in the group to then the Caltrain station. It was 12.55 a.m. As we ran into the Caltrain station the police stopped me and said, "NO speeding sir, you have caught the train." It was funny. Sunil was with me that time :P.

On the train we waited for 30 minutes more before the train started it's slow journey back. The lively part was different people shouting and passing comments. One of the guy was talking about the matching Cap he buys of the dress and other said I buy matching shoes. I found it amusing. We reached SJ around 3.00 and then went to a colleagues house to celebrate more. We put a movie "The shawshank redemption". Me and my colleague slept in the beginning of the movie. I think other's survived the whole of the night.

We started back home at 7.00 a.m in the morning and I slept till 11.00 a.m. Evening of 1st Jan was nothing great. Went to a Mall with others doing the shopping.

P.S:- There might be more things which might have happened. Unless I am able to recall them I will not be able to write them up. If anyone remembers they can tell me.

Colleagues coming to U.S.(Dec 30th, 2005)

So much free time but still no time to blog. Anyway taking time now and starting again. I was quite excited. My colleagues were coming. That too 4 of them. I went with another of my colleague to pick them up from SFO. We kept circling the airport some 10-15 times before we found them. Good that my colleague's wife was with us. She was going and checking if the flight has arrived. Drive back was good. Came back home. But then I didnot know where the other two colleagues were staying. When I went and checked with the apartment agency they denied giving me the address telling me that it is a safety breach. I tried convincing them a lot but they didnot budge. Ultimately I gave my number incase they were trying to reach me.

It was funny because incase their laptops are down then there is no way to meet them for the next two days unless they login and contact me from somewhere. Anyway ultimately contacted the colleague who dropped me and got the numbers.

Everyone got ready and then we just went to the downtown to roam around. This was the first time I went to downtown. Previous two occasions I have tried going there but then once I reached a railway track and another time I reached a prison.

We saw lots of christmas tree. I think we went for Ice skating also. I cannot recall whether we went on that day or some other day. But Ice skating was good fun. That too Manish fell lots of times. Another of my colleague, she didnot dare to leave the railing and was the only person who never fell down. People were skating so well. Some of themwere skating backwards also. Whatever, everyone enjoyed.