And i am back! This is a post after almost a gap of 2 months. The excuses can be aplenty. Writer’s block, too much work, too lazy, etc etc.
Many things have happened since my last post. I have moved from my Blogger blog to my own domain . I share with some friends here in Pune. And yes the “.com” in the domain name is there just in case we want use this webspace for commercial purposes.
The blog platform has also changed from Blogger to WordPress. Why? Well i couldn’t migrate my old blog template along with all the widgets. Since anyways i would have to create everything from scratch, i thought of giving WordPress a shot. Lets see how that goes.
Besides that, what else is happening in my life?
I made it to the US of A safe and sound on the company’s expense. I had to convince the Consulate folks really hard (twice that too) that:
- My weight wouldn’t add significantly to the average BMI of the US .
- I would tip even the pedestrian who waves and greets me (while startling me nonetheless). Startling? because from where i come from if you are walking down the road and some one greets its only because he wants money from you i.e beggar or mugger .
- I will not complain about the fact that every time you buy something, you get a whole load of tiny coins (cents, pennies, quarters etc). Yes! if it costs $9.54 . You get back .46 cents .
- Also being from the rash drivers’ city, i will not drive at all . Although the law of the land permits me too.
- I will not stare at couples’ making out in public view, rather i will not stare at all at anything except other desis who for some reason stare back.
The first word of advice i got before landing was “Vegas girls are not cheap!” . This was from an Ameeerikan in the flight.
This could mean so many things at so many levels. I decided not to get into the specifics.
Now, Bay Area California (where i am put up) has as many Americans as Koramangala has Kannadigas. Thats right . Not a lot. East Asians, Europeans, Indians( and its friendly neighbors) etc. We have Indian Stores, Chaat Houses, Paratha houses, Chinese markets and so on. At my first day at work, i was psyched to see so many East Asian folk around each with totally different English accent.
Now, if you have been reading my blogs on a regular basis, you would know i am disaster prone.Why am i disaster prone? Well let me put it this way; if i wasn’t such a screw up, the blog would not have existed.
Now that i have invested some money in this blog (domain names, web spaces cost money), might as well screw up and write about it.
I am digressing, so coming back.
The first accessory i decided to buy for my DSLR was a tripod. I got pretty good one at Radioshack.
I experimented a bit with it and got this lovely pic . The other side-effect was that i turned one of the knobs too tight and the entire camera mounting mechanism came off in multiple pieces.
Although, this realization of broken tripod did not happen immediately. The coming weekend we went for dinner and after that our local colleague took us up a hill to a place from where we can see the entire valley.
Now this hill was secluded, dark and totally empty. The road was narrow. We took some quick pics with the SLR mounted on the tripod and rushed into the car. (since one is not expected to halt a car in such an area). As we were going to the next point, i was fidgeting with the tripod and the entire assembly came out. I was totally pissed.
We reached the next point, now i had to click the pics without the tripod which was also ok. After moving ahead i started searching for my camera bag which had the another lens.
It was no where to be found.
Damnit!!! I realized i had forgotten it at our first stop spot. We rushed back . People in the car speculated whether someone would have picked it up, or in these times an unattended bag can mean different things. Some even went to the extent that probably a car ran over it.
All i was doing, was counting the money i had spent on that lens. As soon as we can to the spot, one of us spotted something unshapely lying on the road and concluded that the bag had been run-over. But instantly , on the right we saw the actual bag.
It was safe and sound.
I guess i was lucky to get the bag and lens back. The next day i went to Radioshack got the tripod replaced promptly.
Yes folks, the adventures have began ! Keep on the lookout for more…
call me