Archive for the 'Life etc.' Category

Stranded

Published
by
Deepak
on July 23, 2006
in Life etc.
. 8 Comments

I don’t go looking for trouble…Trouble usually finds me

This time trouble found me at O’Hare International Airport, supposed to be the busiest airport in the world.

I could say why.. 4 domestic and 1 international terminal. About 40 boarding gates per terminal. One flight taking off or landing every 42 seconds! PHEW!

As I’m very interested in figures, I’ll add some more.

Crowd - overwhelming
Flights cancelled on Thursday evening - 63. (Did you see it right? It’s sixty-three)

I was about to go to Sacramento, CA, on Thursday. I took lots of effort to reach O’Hare airport that day.

After pushing my way through the crowd, I finally reached gate B1. I stood near B1 for another 1 hour, simply because all the seats were occupied. I went to check the flight status one last time before it was time to board. To my horror, it was shown as cancelled.

I started to panic now. What to do? I was really looking forward to meeting my aunt and cousin after a long 5 years and to watch my cousin’s dance debut. I went to the United Airlines representative near the gate. She told me to contact the Customer Service Desk. I went back. The queue for the customer service center was one gigantic snake which didn’t seem to end. Anyway, I had to stay in the queue.

I started looking for other options. I tried to find out the number of UA, but couldn’t. I called my uncle, but there was nobody at home and his cell was not reachable. There was no other option. I had to wait in the queue.

After about half an hour my uncle called back after hearing my voice message. I explained the situation and asked him if he could get their number for me. He called them instead and looked for alternatives.

No seats available for Friday also. But Saturday was too late for me. So I decided to cancel my ticket and book another one with Southwest Airlines from Midway airport. Unfortunately (yeah…right!!), UA had no tie-up with Southwest, so they couldn’t process that. The very way the UA person talked was as if they didn’t give a fart about the plight of their passengers because this was a FAA directive. So I had to cancel my journey with UA and book anew with Southwest. My uncle did an online booking with southwest.

Now it was almost 2 hours since I’d been standing in the queue, and I was not even halfway through the queue.
As I was talking to my uncle, I got another distraction from behind. The lady who was standing just behind me suddenly screamed and threw her cellphone down. I literally jumped from my place and at first thought that it was because of me. Then she told me that the f***ing phone was drained…that too when she was in the middle of a call with UA representative. She was going to Pittsburg, which was also cancelled. It is okay to get frustrated. But throwing your expensive cell phone was too much.

Anyway, my uncle was able to cancel my UA ticket online, and because I had no checked in baggage, I was able to quit the queue and go back home. I took a taxi. Reached hotel at around 12 am. Slept. Woke up at around 3 am. Drove to Midway airport. 3 hours sleep and no dinner/breakfast. That was a real bad experience.

Luckily, I had a stopover at LA airport. I had my usual veggie sandwich/French Fries/Coke at a McDonalds there.

Reached here finally. Will write about the rest in the next post.

Farewell

Published
by
Deepak
on July 7, 2006
in General and Life etc.
. 10 Comments

CV Sesha Iyer
Born: 1914
Died: 5th July 2006

It is curious that all the great moments you had with and the great things you’ve heard about a beloved person flashes in front of your eyes when you part ways with that person.

The great family tree spanning 17 generations that he had made and had memorised in his mind.
All the great stories he told me about the independence struggle in which he was a part of.
The time when he once fell down while crossing a creek with me on his shoulders as I was a kid.
The time when I once made him run from street to street because I wanted a lollipop and no other candy in the world.
The moments when my mom narrated the way he brought them up using only his wits when they were almost bankrupt.

My grandfather said goodbye to the mortal world after living a great 92 years. He was lucky that he breathed his last on the laps of his son.

I called my Grandma to console her, but it was me who broke down into tears.

Dear Grandpa, you may have bid adieu to the world. But you will remain in my memories till it’s time for me too to go. I will always remember you as the most indefatigable person I have ever known, and a doting grandfather.

I won’t weep now…I won’t ask you to rest in peace…because I know you won’t rest…I know you will be busy even when you are with God.

After all, for the prepared mind, death is but the next great adventure.

American Goof ups

Published
by
Deepak
on June 20, 2006
in Life etc. and Wacky Humor
. 22 Comments

The moment I landed in US, the song “Swapnathilo njangal swargathilo” came to my mind.

For non-mallus, this is a song from the third movie in a comedy trilogy where the heroes land in US for investigating a case. That they solved their cases only by goof ups and some luck, is another story. The song translates to “Are we in a dream? Or are we in heaven?”

Little did I know that I would end up with a truckload of trouble like the protagonists.

#1
On day 1, I went with my cousin to a Restaurant. After lunch, I asked the waiter, “I want the bill back after you swipe my card.”
He just stared at me like I was talking Greek.
My cousin then corrected, “He’s talking about the check.”
“Oh..Alright.”, said the waiter.

“What the hell is a check?”, I asked my cousin after the waiter was gone.
“It is called check in restaurants here. Bill in US means…”
“Currency Notes. Awww. Shit!”, my realisation was audible.

#2
As we were going out of the hotel, a group of people were also exiting ahead of us. The last person of that group held the door open for me. But I was so absentminded that I didn’t notice that and simply went out as if there was no door there at all.

He looked at me in a disgusted manner.

My cousin corrected me again. I should hold the door as I exit. That is the way to return the courtesy here.

#3
This one too was related with open doors. Some of you already know that I have trouble with doors.
This time I failed to keep the door open as I was going through. And there was a lady right behind me.
As soon as she came out, she shouted at me, “Heyyy! You slammed the door right on my nauuuuse!!!” (Spelling of nose changed deliberately to show how she uttered that!)
I thought, “WTF? She should be careful. It’s not my fault.”, but didn’t say anything. Not even a sorry.

#4
I came to know that people are so possessive and money-minded here through a funny incident. I had gone to my friend’s house and we were just having an “epilogue” chat near my car as I was leaving. I just leaned onto the adjacent car casually as I was talking. Some time later, a guy came with a dog on a leash and asked me courteously, “Please don’t lean onto that car.”

My friend told me that he was “most respectful”. She told me that people usually scream at you. You are not supposed to even touch other cars. People would think you are trying to steal it.

#5
Although this was not exactly a goof up, I’ll write this. This happened in the car park infront of a shopping mall. I was carelessly crossing the road around a corner when a car came from the corner and stopped just a foot away from me. (In Bangalore, you say “more than” a foot for the same situation). I jumped, but recovered and casually went ahead.
I saw the person driving the car keeping her hands on her forehead in horror. She got out of the car and nervously approached me. She was a pretty young lady.
“I’m very very sorry about this. I didn’t see you around the corner.”
“Not to worry. I’m alright.”, I said as if it was not a deal at all.
I saw her sweating with jitters. There’s nothing worse than hitting a pedestrian in US.
For another 2 minutes, she repeated “I’m really really sorry”, “Are you okay?” and “Are you sure?”, until she got on my nerves.

BTW, why do girls always say “really really” or, sometimes, “really really really” when they are apologizing?

“I’m alright, alright? I won’t make a fuss of this. Forget this and don’t worry. You are blocking other cars.”, I grinned as I said.

I think the “I’m alright, alright?” will be a classic quote. :D

And I got back a very pretty smile which many men would die for.
I wish I had been hit, then it would have had that “Back to the Future” (Or Five Point Someone) effect.

Looks like I always have some funny things going on in my life wherever I go. :)

Non-mallus, please don’t try to understand this. Because you won’t!!
What is left is to measure “How many kilometers are there from Washington to Miami beach”…
Kilometers and kilometers in these days of degenerating decency where….whatever!!!

Updated: The mist and the hurricane

Published
by
Deepak
on May 30, 2006
in Life etc.
. 15 Comments

I would start with a brief account of what I’ve been doing last week. Last to last Friday, I travelled to US, just after I finished my last post. Didn’t get much time to blog last week.

Anyway, the funniest thing about Chicago is that then sun rises at 4 am and sets around 8.30 pm. Unbelievable?? It was, for me. I mean, I knew about this, but to experience it was a different feeling altogether.

Well..I’m pretty settled in a beautiful countryside called Libertyville, about 30 miles from Chicago downtown. Got a Hyundai Sonata, but still confused whether the right lane is the right lane or the left lane is the wrong lane or whatever.

This weekend was a long one here with Memorial Day falling on Monday. So we decided to have a little visit to Niagara Falls, which was about 7 hours to the east. So we, 3 couples and 6 bachelors, took 3 cars and drove all the way. I went in Nagaraju’s car, which carried the weights of Nagaraju and family, Amal and me. It was a Chevy Malibu.

The American Way
On the way, we saw these people in two cool vehicles. Probably were couples. I was jealous of the way the Americans were enjoying their life.

The freeway

It was time for me to take a couple of snaps of the freeway. I believe this one was good enough to be in the camera of the ace photographer, Amal, being taken from a car moving at 80 miles per hour.

We stopped over to have some food. What we had was some junk food in McDonalds. We took the wrong exit and went into another freeway. We realised it only after about 16 miles when we saw a board saying “Welcome to Michigan state” (or something like that!). We had to come back all the way and take the right route.

Me, Deepesh and Jeetu

Destination Niagara
We went along, took a motel in Cleveland, almost midway through to Niagara.

The next day we set off towards Niagara. That was a good ride. We finally crossed the Niagara river twice. Immediately after the second bridge, we took a wrong exit again, but quickly recovered to come back. Then we saw the exit towards the American Falls, the lesser of the two falls which make the Niagara.

We went further along the banks of the lake Erie. I saw the mist at the edge of the road, and the Canada beyond that.

Exit to Niagara



 The mist

We reached, but had some difficulty in finding parking space. Then we set off towards the falls.

A free trip to Canada
One thing we knew we would miss was the view of the falls from the Canadian side. But Venky and co were lucky enough. A few minutes after we parked our car, we got a call from Venky. They had strayed into the wrong exit, which was the way to Canada and had crossed the borders. They immediately contacted the immigration office in Canada. After a few questions, they were taken back to US side. The result was that they could claim to have gone to Canada as well.

The American Falls
It was about 4.30 in the evening when we saw the American falls. It was looking great. But it was not what I was looking forward to. We spent a considerable amount of time taking pictures of the falls, the Rainbow Bridge and the Canadian skyline. The Rainbow bridge looked majestic, but we couldn’t go on that.

The American Falls


Rainbow Bridge


Observation Tower, as Amal says, the best US can offer

Maid of the Mist
It was time for the famous maid of the mist boat service. We had to enter the obesrvation tower and take an elevator down. This was the best way for Americans to see the Horse shoe falls. The boat would go right into the mist. That was awesome…the second best thing in Niagara.


Maid of the mist


Horse Shoe Falls

After the boat ride, we went to the observation deck. That gives a pretty mediocre view of the horseshoe falls compared to Canada side. We went to the Goat island, famous for “The Cave of the Winds”, in a trailer. That ride was funny.


Trailer

A long queue awaited us at the entrance to cave of the winds. We decided to take it. That was the best decision we took, because the cave of the winds is the best thing there is at Niagara.
There is a wooden deck which would take you very close to the foot of the falls. As they said, raincoat was not optional down there. You would be soaked in the water. And for the daring ones, there was hurricane deck. I went there…it was..well…windy and like a storm. Several WOO! HOO!’s later, I came out. I wanted a picture of mine taken there, but nobody took out their cameras there.

When I came out, I felt my hair to check if it was wet. I couldn’t feel. My hands were so numb.

As I came up the elevator, I called my uncle in CA. My cousin took the phone. She asked me how Niagara is.
“Hmmm…Errr…It’s….wonderful”
“Wonderful? Is that all you have to say?”, she asked.
What could I say? I was speechless.
In fact, it was just as well you were speechless. No one could hear you over the roar!!!

Update

More pictures at http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2105646343&code=22489224&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

Rendezvous with New Delhi

Published
by
Deepak
on April 27, 2006
in Life etc. and Wacky Humor
. 10 Comments

It took 15 years for me to surpass my record. Now New Delhi is officially the northernmost place I’ve visited.

I went to New Delhi to get my visa. All expenses were borne by my company. After finishing my day at the company, I went home, packed and had some light food. By that time, my car had come. At that time my cellphone rang.

“Sir, we are calling from Indian Airlines. We regret to say that your flight has been delayed by 30 minutes.”

I would bet that these Indian Airlines chaps would have the Guinness World Record for the highest number of regrets. I’ve never seen an IA flight departing on time.
You may be asking me why I took an Indian Airlines flight then.
Fate!!! (Didn’t get tickets in any other plane)

So I went to airport and waited, gaped at some Kingfisher airhostesses who were walking, pulling a strolley gracefully. Looked like the VIP ad. Somebody apparently thought that onlookers should be given a heavenly feeling when the airhostesses are around, because suddenly we were covered in thick white smoke. (Remember the old purana-based serials, where they always show heaven filled with knee-deep white smoke??)
Two foreigners who were sitting beside me were looking awestricken. They asked me what that was. I replied that it was a desperate attempt to ward off the mosquitoes. (That was one rare time when I didn’t lie)

Aboard the plane, I was again reminded of the Kingfisher airhostesses. There was an aged lady among the cabin crew. She reminded me of another “granny” of Doordarshan. There was a news reader in DD called Salma Sultan who was quite a granny, but always came with dyed hair and red lipstick which looked awful. I mean, there’s no problem with old ladies, but why do they dye their hair and put lipstick?

I’ve heard a joke about Air India (which is no better than Indian Airlines). Their punchline is “Warm and motherly affection”. By “warm”, they mean that the AC doesn’t work. By “motherly”, they mean that all the air hostesses are about your mother’s age.

I reached Delhi…Well, not exactly!
I reached the airspace above Delhi and was hovering there. The pilot kept going in circles for about half an hour above Delhi. Drat!

When we were about to land, they announced that the temperature outside was 35 degrees. I insctinctively looked at my watch. Was it 12 noon or 12 midnight? Then I realised it was Delhi and it was summer.

Finally, I got down. I found my driver. He took me to Maurya Sheraton. I got a nice room. But I couldn’t sleep. At the time of check-in, they had swiped my card for some five digit figure. Not that I had to pay that amount. But I felt guilty spending so much for a night’s stay.

I didn’t get a feel of the real Delhi until noon the next day. That was when I stepped out of the AC in the hotel. Hot is not the word. It was scorching.

I saw from my car that Delhi was good. Good roads and well-planned flyovers. I had read from some blog (I don’t remember) that Delhi looked ugly. I’ll have to disagree. It looks better than Bangalore at least. Maybe I hadn’t visited the uglier parts of the city. But whatever I saw was top class.

My interview was at 1230. I had to stand in the queue outside. I didn’t feel better until I got inside the airconditioned room. I got my visa without much difficulty. I didn’t have much time, so I couldn’t visit any place. I was unlucky.

I returned to hotel and had a good sleep for 1 hour.

As I was packing before checkout, another phonecall came.

“Sir, we are calling from Indian Airlines. We regret to say that your flight has been delayed by 1 hour.”

History repeats!

One evening in Pune

Published
by
Deepak
on April 7, 2006
in Life etc. and Memoirs
. 14 Comments

It was almost the Northernmost point of the world I was travelling to. (If you don’t consider one trip to Bombay while I was in 2nd) I was feeling okay. I could survive. Having studied in the multi-cultural atmosphere of REC, I spoke Hindi, albeit with a little stammer here and there.

After an eventless journey aboard the train, I reached Pune. The first day was in Naru’s brother’s home. The next day we moved to Woodlands. It was the last evening we would be unemployed (Because, the next day we would officially be “Infoscions”). We decided to roam around places that evening. The nearest hang-out was, of course, INOX.

We went there, walked around the theater complex.
Naru suddenly said, “I’m going to find a girlfriend.”
“You mean from this crowd?”, I asked.

We went to the ticket counter. “Gayab” was the only movie which had tickets available. (Please don’t feel sad for us =) ) We bought two. 45 minutes until the movie starts. We decided to go into Barista. Somehow, we weren’t interested in McDonalds.

“Vaa. Lets have a coffee”
But there was nothing by the name “coffee” in the menu. I knew about Cappuccino and Espresso and other stuff (I mean only the names), but had only tasted Cappuccino. Naru had no idea what these were. So I suggested Espresso as a bit of an experimentation. We ordered two Espresso and “waited and waited with bated breath”.

10 minutes after we got our Espresso’s, we came out. The cups were still full on the table. I swore never to drink Espresso in my life again. Such a bitter thing. How do people manage to drink it?

Outside, we heard some movie-ishtyle dialogues from a youngster. It looked like a car had hit him lightly in the driveway to the theater. He kicked the car, threw a stone and said to the driver, “Apne baap se bol ek plane khareed laane ko….aur us pe ch***”

Naru said with an evil grin, “Enikkishtaayi” (Means “I liked the whole scene”)

After some time, we got into the theater. I still don’t understand why we were desperate enough to waste 100 bucks on a movie like “Gayab”. But the fact is, we did waste the money.
10 minutes into the movie, I wished I had spent those 100 bucks for some food.

Halfway into the movie, there was a song where Antara Mali was showing her skin. I commented something to Naru. He didn’t reply. I turned to look. I was shocked to see him snoring in his seat. His face was pointed upwards and his mouth was wide open. If it was out in the open, it would have been the perfect target for crows to practise their shitting. In the middle of all this noise of the Dolby sound?? Unfortunately, I didn’t have a cameraphone to capture that once-in-a-lifetime scene.

Espresso in Barista - 50 bucks
“Gaayab” at INOX - 200 bucks
A peaceful slumber in the middle of a movie - Priceless

There are some things money can’t buy….for everything else, there’s Mastercard.

The boy who lived…

Published
by
Deepak
on March 5, 2006
in Life etc.
. 9 Comments

…for 23 years and was told he still looked like a boy…that’s me!
I hear very often from people around me that I don’t look my age; I look like a boy who is still studying in college.
People would ask “Where are you studying?”
I would say rather irritably, “I am WORKING”
They would say “Oh. Your look like you are a student.”
I reply curtly, “That’s because I use Santoor soap. Chehra dekhke umr ka pataa hi nahin chalta”

Yesterday I turned 23. But the “boyish charm” is still as fresh in my face as before. Do I really care now? I used to. Even when people say I’m very funny and I tickle their nerves, I was actually covering my disappointment with the one thing called laughter. Now I don’t. But I pretend to be irritated so that they’d remember that I’m a working fellow the next time they meet me.

There are a couple of reasons for that.
I really don’t think I should waste my time on trifles like this. There are more important things in life — enjoyment, family and friends. One of life’s unexplainable things is the idea of friendship. As we grow older and maturate, and life becomes increasingly complex, it becomes more and more difficult to find people who match your frequency or simply those who are true to you. And I realised that I was very lucky in that aspect yesterday, on my birthday. I simply didn’t expect so many people to turn up/call me and wish me. But here they were… as friendly as ever.

Ok, seriousness apart, (I’m feeling bored. I’m never like this.) I’ll tell you about some little secrets about me. (I don’t mind disclosing them)

The title is because I relate myself in more than one way to Harry Potter, the one fictional character, whom I’d love to see in real.
My parents had to fight with me to get my hair cut. I cannot but grin at an early photo of mine (when I was 1 or 2 years old) with locks of black and messy hair covering my head. I was looking like a girl. (I’ll post the photos at a later time. I may need to scan them.)
Needless to say, my hair grows quite fast that I have to go for hair cut every 1 month. And it is usually so untidy, covering my forehead.
I’m bespectacled, although I can live without them.
I stutter and stammer when I talk to a girl to whom I have a soft corner.

I’m stopping here. I’m pathetic at writing serious things.

(BTW, I started my 9th iteration of reading the Harry Potter series yesterday :D)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Published
by
Deepak
on January 1, 2006
in General and Life etc.
. 2 Comments

I know it’s 11 hours past the New year eve now. Nevertheless I would like to wish all my fellow readers a very fantabulous 2006. May this year be the best in life for you.

At 0000 hrs on 1st Jan 2006, I was driving through MG Road after seeing my brother off at the train station. And I was awed by the crowd that had gathered there. The entire Brigade Road was closed for traffic to accomodate the crowd gathered to celebrate there. Pity… I missed that party.

My second cousin

Published
by
Deepak
on December 6, 2005
in Life etc.
. 8 Comments


I’m so glad to tell you that I’m now a second cousin. His name is Rishabh. He’s such a cutie pie, isn’t he?

English is a funny language. You call the child of your cousin as second cousin and the child of your parent’s cousin too as second cousin. In that case, Rishabh will be the second cousin of both me and my child (after he/she is born). I first thought I would be called Rishabh’s uncle once removed (The “once removed” is courtesy Asterix in Britain :D). I am still confused with the nomenclature. Am I Rishabh’s second cousin or first cousin, once removed?

Anyway, he is the first one in the next generation of my nearest relatives.

Big Deal

Published
by
Deepak
on September 8, 2005
in Life etc. and Stories
. 4 Comments

I think…I marvel…about going out tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the day of joy; a day when I don’t need to run away from my work; because it has let me free. I walk comfortably…thinking…marvelling at the beautiful day that calls me.

I call her. I ask her out for a movie.
She denies. She slams the door. I feel…weird. No pain. I recall my strangeness in perception and behavior. I recall that I seldom understand people; and, vice versa, people seldom understand me. I imagine I just made up that slamming-the-door story. She really has some pressing work. I slap myself in the face. I feel disappointed that she’s not there. But I really want to watch that movie. Big deal if she’s not with me.

I call them one by one. Some don’t pick up the phone. I think, “What the *BEEP*!!” I smile because I realise how my vocabulary changed from my first call to the present one. I am a man with two faces. Everybody is!
Those who pick up the phone…well…they answer. Some say they have seen the movie. Others say it is a load of shit.

Nobody is with me. I feel like I have fallen into oblivion. I recover. I make up my mind. I will prove that I can be a solitary eagle. I decide to go alone. Big deal if they’re not with me.

I reach there. I see myself smack in the middle of an ocean; an ocean of humans. I find it rather weird. I wonder why. I have been in the same place under the same situation for the umpteenth time now. I spin around, again without a particular reason. I see colors…and happiness. Couples walking past holding hands, toddlers trotting around, their parents running after them, men chit-chatting in groups, women dressed in lovely clothes. Everybody is looking relaxed, talking and laughing loudly, as if there is no tomorrow for them to worry about. The entire place is effusing joy and din.

I see the guys. They say Hi. I return the wishes. They ask why I’m alone. I smirk. I say I wanted to be alone. LIAR… Somebody just says that from behind me. I turn around. Nobody seems to be there.

I enter the cinema. I don’t watch the movie. I look around. Everybody is enjoying. I feel bad. I curb my anger and sorrow and shout, “BIG DEAL”. Everybody looks at me. I feel unabashed. Big deal!

I get out. I lean against the grill to look down. Why is she not with me? Why have they abandoned me? Tears start coming in my eyes. I feel dizzy. I start falling…I keep on falling. It seems to be a lifetime. I pray to God to make my last moments painless. And painless it is. It seems like I fall on a bed of feathers. Then some divine touch on my chest. Followed by a drop of water that scorches my skin.

I wake up startled. I see her weeping beside me. I look around. I am in a hospital room. I try to get up. I can’t. I hold her hand. She looks up and smiles in the midst of tears.
“Your friends brought you here. You’ll be alright”, she says.
I force a false smile to her; a smile which could not cover guilt; guilt of misunderstanding her and them again…

I wonder, “Who invented the term “Big deal” anyway?”