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News from Beyond the Paceefick Part 4

cheezo — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:35:21 +0000

This is a long pending post, which completes a description of my US trip.
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And now i sit at the A9 terminal at the San Francisco Airport awaiting the boarding call for my flight out of US.
I have barely slept for 4 hrs in the last 2 days; My sleeping hours in the last week have been non-uniform ( sleeping any time between 10pm to 2am ). and now have crossed over from the East coast to the West coast and will go further east towards Asia. So my timezones, biological clocks are all messed up.
I am crossing my fingers in hope that all of this works in my favor and i don’t suffer any jetlag etc.

I was able to spend around 2 months in the US; since my employer sent me here for work. Thats a decent timeframe to get a good insight into this nation. Since childhood, i have had a steady and healthy dose of the US lifestyle (colloquial words,
language, geography, history etc) through all the US sitcoms and movies, i have wasted my time watching.(which i continue wasting my time on )

What did i expect when i was about to land ?
Well, one of the best things about whenever i travel is i never keep any expectations. This comes naturally to me and it luckily works since it doesn’t build any prejudice. Also,as said its the journey that matters not the destination.
So i never had any expections, just the excitement of getting here.

How do i feel about the US now?

Well, i have got a much better look at the country now and has strengthened my feeling about it being a great place to stay.
I don’t want to get into the debate of whether US is better to live in than India which eventually boils down to whether US is better than India. We can’t compare these 2 countries which very different demographics and economic status(emerging economy vs developed economy). Enough said.

What i can say though, is that living in a country/culture/community which is drastically different than the one in we have spent all our years in since birth should be good/interesting experience and even adventurous. It will help to get
a better perspective in life. I never thought from this point of view. An American ex-colleague told me this idea and wants
come to work in India for a few years just for this experience.
The money angle never attracted me, as it does for me and probably will never in the future. Just the experience is probably what attracts me.
I have written about some of my experiences here

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I continue to write from the Hong Kong airport. i am sitting pretty after a nice shower (150 HKD) and some good taiwanese food. Shower at the airport ? Why you ask?

The last interaction my body had with water was on friday and today is tuesday.So lets continue; the thing i want to write about now is the New York trip.

My (sister-in-law) sil lives in Jersey city (just a river away from NYC). One can practically see part of the Manhattan skyline. I reached the night before Black Friday. We got up at 330am and went shopping. My sil (and friends) got some really good deals on shoes, clothes and electronics. We saw people who had a many handfuls of bags just sleeping in various positions in the mall. They had “shopped till they dropped”. Unfortunately, my sil literally dropped i.e fell sick( flu symptoms). Saturday went in taking care of her, which meant she slept and i watched TV. I was there in-case of an emergency. Yeah right.

The next day though, i was kicked out of the house literally.So now i was to roam around NYC with minimal knowledge of their underground metro system. Minimal knowledge means, i just knew that a metro system exists.

Here are the places i visited ( more pics, less talk):

Brookyln Bridge and Times Square

Both are a must for any tourist in NYC. Brookyln Bridge is the first suspension bridge in the world and unless you have been living under a rock you wouldn’t need a intro about Times Square. Brookyln bridge attracts a lot of crowd from around the world. So you get to see a lot of attractions besides the bridge . Times Square has enough electrically-lighted billboards to light a 100 villages in India.

Picasa Album

[postcasa]http://picasaweb.google.co.in/data/feed/base/user/chirag.jog/albumid/5410868795643714769?alt=rss&kind=photo&hl=en_US[/postcasa]

Brookyln

Brookyln is forms one of the main parts of NYC. Others are Queens, Manhattan etc. The view of the Brookyln brdige with Manhattan skyline in the background is one of the most recognized shots of NYC and undoubtedly the most beautiful .

Picasa Album

Top of the World

Gives a real top view of all the buildings in NYC.. Chryler, Metlife, etc

Picasa Album

Central Park

Uptown Manhattan. Real Uptown. High classy folk live around the Central Park made popular by sitcoms like Friends, Seinfeld and a real park. The only one in Manhattan

Picasa Album

Downtown Manhattan

Another most popular landmark in NYC. Wall Street, the BULL etc are few of the places to see.

Picasa Album

Well, as Macaulay Culkin has showed it is so easy to get to lost in NYC. and i have a history of getting lost even while going to from home to my workplace, but the NYC Metro System is so well laided out and organized .. all i could do was try to get lost!!

In the presence of Greatness again!

cheezo — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:20:31 +0000

Here is the first time : Link.

I was lucky once again to be in the presence of greatness. Today I got a chance to catch “Steve Vai” in real flesh and blood, one of the great guitar legends in Borders bookstore near Madison Square Garden!

He was there signing autographs for his latest album “Where the Wild Things are”.

Here are some pics i could take:

News from Beyond the Paceefick Part 3!

cheezo — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:25:54 +0000

The first part of my journey ends (described here and here); another begins.
As one of my friends’ rightly noted, i am going from one area of the US full
of Indians to another area of the US which is full of Indians.
The last two months have been fun. I met some friends’ after a really long time. I met a good friend after a gap of almost 2 years.
I got a chance to drive some really nice cars especially the V6 engines (Nissan Altima/Maxima and the Pontiac GT); got to ride is couple of nice Audis (A1 coupe and A6). Driving/Riding them on the freeways (Max speed 65-75 MPH) was a great experience. Especially after driving in India and that too Pune.
No rickshaw drivers who think they are Michael Schumacher. No motor-bikers who think the road is their shooting locale for the next D(h)oom sequel.
One of things i admired most is that pedestrian is king. All the traffic rules are such that they favor pedestrians.
Coming back to the fun part; another i got a chance to try was a lot of cuisines.
California (especially the Bay area), being a melting pot of a lot of nationalities; there are restaurants that cater to almost everyones’ taste buds. I got a chance to try Mexican, Thai, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, European (Spanish, Greek etc) and obviously American. Not to forget Indian food. More recently(just before leaving for Jersey City), i tried Ethiopian. The spices they used were very close to Indian but the taste was quite unique and tasty.
Out of all the cuisines, i loved American (Salad bars, burger places, chicago-style pizzas etc) the most, with Greek and Asian(Malay/Thai) coming a close 2nd. With thanksgiving around the corner, i got a chance to taste some very delicious Turkey.
The almost puking experience when i tasted Octopus/sea bass belongs to the “fun” part. All part of the game.
While on the subject of culinary interests, one thing i really loved here was the variety of flavors (Strawberry, lemon, orange, peach etc) in which yogurt is available. Frozen Yogurt also deserves a mention. Its a dessert similar to Ice-cream.

Coming to the liquids. Starbucks coffee is really kick-ass. Not just for the variety of coffees (which are great), but also for the ambience itself. People read, play chess, work, surf the net, listen to music or just chit-chat even at midnight!
Napa Valley being near-by, there was lot of variety of local wine available. The pinot noirs and chardonnays kept me good company and worked as a good treatment for the bad throats i allegedly had I tasted a locally brewed beer from a friend’s glass, which tasted very different from the ones i ever tasted.
And Yes, one thing i totally freaked out on was the Coca Cola Zero (yeah! Zero cal Coke). Only people with me can comment on my consumption of Coke. I think the Coca Cola’s stock price went out on account of significant rise in sales in the Bay area.

The main “fun” thing obviously was roaming around during weekends. We did couple of one day/half day trips and one big trip to Los Angeles.San Francisco being just an hour’s drive away. We went there often. Golden Gate, Coit Tower, Twin Peaks, Downtown were the main attractions. The pics are here, here, here and here!Besides that; we went on the scenic California – 1 which runs along the Pacific. Pics are here and Some Beaches . Pics are here, here and here.
Wine tasting/touring in the Napa Valley was great experience. Luckily we went there on a day with perfect weather. Pics are here
The highlight of this first leg was LA trip. A 6-hrs one way trip by car on a very straight I-5 was a great experience.

We stayed very close to USC. Their campus was huge and beautiful amongst other things . The Universal studios was an awesome experience. The rides and shows was worth a every penny spent. Pics are here.
We sent some time near the Hollywood walk of fame which i felt was really in the presence of greatness. Pics are here

Now the main part of the trip is over. I am looking forward the next leg on the east coast where i am *officially* on vacation !!
Get ready New York, another tourist is coming!

Notes from Beyond the Pacifeek – Part 2

cheezo — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:22:38 +0000

Part 1 is here .
Here is another set of incidents that occurred during our trip.

Freak’s world(Think not!):
Electricals of different cars behave differently in the US. When the outside light is low, in some cars
the headlights/dashboard console lights come on automatically and in some it doesn’t.
On this particular day i was driving a colleague’s car; when i reversed out of a drive way
and headed onto the main road. I saw a couple crossing the road; and stopped to let them pass through.
While crossing; they just kept staring at me. i was like wtf?! I had a friend besides me who had the same reaction as mine.
Later on, while driving on the main road; we saw on the right a guy was running
at speed on the walkway; yelling something at us and had a torch in hand.
He was it switching it on and off continuously. I looked at him and i was like, looks like a crazy guy.
Man its freak’s world . first the couple and then this guy. Instantly my friend asked me whether i had the headlights on.
i checked and they weren’t on!!!
Apparently, in this car when the outside lights are low, the internal dashboard lights come on but not the headlights.
Well everything made sense and we were/are really thankful to that guy who ran for a block flashing his torch.

So Freaks’ world .. Think not !
Strip club discussions:

The advice i got even i got my visa was that of the sinly type. Ensure you go to a strip club. Don’t go to the one in the Valley.Go to San Francisco. Some even went to the extent to tell me to take a flight which has a layover at Amsterdam and miss the connecting flight so that i can spend a day there. Unless you spent your life under a rock, you shouldn’t ask Why Amsterdam.
On one of the friday nights which coincidentally happened to be Diwali night, 3 of us contemplated the possibility of paying visit to the
local strip club. Let us declare the folks as DA1, DA2 and DA3.

DA1: so lets’ go guys!
DA2: what does DA3 say?

DA3: (a bit anxious).. I am not sure man!

DA1: You don’t need to strip buddy, u just watch!
DA2: Yeah man, you don’t do anything.. everything happens.

DA3: No man.. instead i would pay the same money to some needy folks!
DA1: The people working there wouldn’t be unless they were needy!!

DA3: Also its costs around 50 bucks as entrance.
DA2: I am not paying that much man!
DA1: 50 bucks .. r u sure?
DA3: Atleast so i have heard for the strip clubs in San Francisco.
DA1: hmmm….
DA2: No way man! I am cheapo…. i see two movies on a single ticket.
DA3: (with probably a change in mind…) Since we have come here to CA, i don’t mind ! ( in Marathi: ite aloch aahe tar….)
DA2: dude 50 bucks!! no way…

What happened ultimately is the million dollar question… I will let it be a million dollar question.
Oh yes, DA means dumbass!

Besides these there have been minor incidents where local experts claimed to have better knowledge of roads than GPS but they didn’t,
we took wrong exits, took wrong freeways (going north instead of south etc) and so on..
Another small incident involved a wine bottle. So i bought this bottle of red wine which got over in less than a week.
One bottle in just a week. My friends with me, were surprised!
My excuse: Well the glass size was big!
Beat that guys …beat that!

News from beyond the Paceefick (Pacific) .

cheezo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:49:37 +0000

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…