Stuff n Stuff

2010-08-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

Got my Green Card after a looong wait!!

This merits an ascii chart of the process with timeline:

F1 Visa->OPT EAD->H1B Visa 1-->H1 B Visa 2-->EAD----->Green Card!
Labor App-->PASS-->AOS App-->Adv Parole----->

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Each step above comes with it's own anxiety, from interviewing in the Mumbai consulate to not being able to change your job, your job location or your job title while awaiting your green card.

I have stacks and stacks of legal documents collected over the last few years as well as at least $15,000 legal fees (most of it covered by my former company - Thank You Verizon!)

During one phase, you are actually "on parole"! Can you believe that? Don't know why it's called that but if anyone knows, drop me a note!

Many decisions are made based on the green card status including major career moves as well as going to b-school. My advice would be to decide early and make a choice. I was on the side of the fence that chose to wait for the GC. I can't complain, it is a good feeling of relief. They make the process feel so hard that it can't be any other way!

What does it really change for me? 'Peace of mind' : yes, I feel it. I can have multiple jobs now too, and they don't have to be related to technology - weekend barista is me.

That's all for now and I am glad this ordeal is over. Now what?

2010-06-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

Live Soccer New York! With the world cup around the corner - it's time to watch some live soccer - duh.

Just setup a live soccer meetup group! Join in!!

http://www.meetup.com/Live-Soccer-New-York/

2010-02-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

My next foray into fiction. A story called "The Race".

Adam revved the engine as he grinned at the neighboring rickshaw driver. He wondered what he was doing at the start of a rickshaw race in the dead of a Bombay summer night.

It had been three years since he moved to the outskirts of Bombay, jettisoning his Wall Street investment banking lifestyle. He had seen it all; private jets to the Carribean negotiating island purchases for Texas oil billionaires, dinners at the Cipriani Club closing international pharmaceutical mergers, banquets with Saudi sheiks discussing oil trade strategies and a plush Soho penthouse overlooking Broadway. With his no limit expense account and VIP credit cards, no destination or restaurant was out of reach.

Like? Click here to read more.

Official Google Blog: Exploring a new, more dynamic way of reading news with Living Stories

2009-12-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

Official Google Blog: Exploring a new, more dynamic way of reading news with Living Stories

2009-11-08T17:18:00.001-08:00

Biked around Manhattan today - checkout the route.. took 2 hours flat.

2009-11-08T15:46:00.000-08:00

New York has a good share of people from cricket playing nations: UK, Australia, India, Pakistan & The West Indies. With this in mind and the T20 Cricket World cup around the corner, I set out to watch some live cricket, but was disappointed to find that there were not a lot of options for this.

As a result, I started a cricket Meetup group to watch cricket. I thought it might be a challenge to get a place to host it. But The Blue Donkey on the upper west side jumped at the opportunity, and offered their backroom with a large flatscreen TV.

This resulted in several fun nights and weekends watching some awesome games, including India vs. Pakistan as well as the T20 World Cup final. I made some great friends, and the group is now upto 85 members and growing!

Here's the Meetup Link. Join the fun!!
http://www.meetup.com/Live-Cricket-New-York/

2009-07-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

In my final year of engineering in India, I worked on a project with BARC (India's atomic research center) called BLISS (Balloon Imaging and Surveillance System). The idea was to mount a camera on a balloon, let it float above sensitive areas and search the video for known images (tanks, trucks etc) using neural networks.

Jump cut to a decade later, to a different life in a different place. We were in central park, and I'd just got a brand new iPhone 3GS with video for my birthday. I've always wanted to rerun some of my experiments with more advanced equipment, and it felt like the day had arrived! I biked to a toy shop on 72nd street and figured 10 helium balloons would be enough for the experiment. I ended up needing 24!

We fastened the phone to the balloons, and let it go! And here are the results:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEu6IEq-7c

2009-07-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

I was recently at Times Square, enjoying a slice of Pizza on the new lawn chairs on the now traffic-free Broadway. I saw a man dressed in a superman costume talking to a couple of policemen. They had asked him for ID after he put on a fake fight with another young man dressed as Batman.

It looked like they were waiting for a senior officer to decide what to do about it. While they were waiting, Superman decided to give the cops a slip - and made a run for it. I suppose he hoped he could fly away as he ran, but the cops were close on his tail. As he turned to free himself, he hit a cop, and three cops jumped him. He swung, and hit a policewoman, who went flying and rolled into a chair.

Soon there were seven policemen on him, and he put up a good fight. It took a good 5 minutes to tie him down and handcuff him. This would all have been more fitting for spidey or batman who all had their scuffles with the law. Not supe, they were on his side.

Anyways, it was covered by NY Post and NY Times:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/even-superman-needs-his-mom-and-dad

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07152009/news/regionalnews/manhattan/supeman_arrested_again_following_dust_up_179409.htm

He was arrested a second time a week or so later.

Here's the video I took, but my phone camera lens has oil from my pizza slice, so the picture is not so clear. Got over a thousand youtube views though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VyNrxRWsBc

2009-07-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

On the day Michael Jackson died, I put up a Michael Jackson RIP group on Facebook. As soon as I created the group, and as the news of his death was being confirmed, I noticed that in 10 minutes 500 people had joined the group.

About a month later, there are 420,000 members in the group. It's the largest group on Facebook related to Michael Jackson. Take a look:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=100704011805

Facebook also has a concept of Pages, which are newer than groups, but can only be set up by people or representatives from the brand of the Page. This seems to be a good way to balance the fallouts of Facebook's excessive democracy, if that's even a thing. Pages evolved to solve this, because there were probably hundreds of 'Groups' related to famous brands and people.

Pages lend themselves to more customization and are of course tend to be more authentic than groups, for the reasons mentioned above. You can only create a Facebook Page related to a person or brand if you are that person or an official representative of that person or brand. When I tried creating an MJ Page, I was asked to for my digital signature confirming that I was an official representative. Of course I wasn't, so I didn't create the page.

Because pages are more dynamic, more lightweight, and something that people are more familiar with now than groups, those that created MJ pages now have millions of fans. I chose not to challenge the legal eagles at Facebook, and went with a group. 420,000 and growing is not bad for a group I would say.

The most spectacular outcome of all this has been the pictures on the group - this has got to be the most comprehensive photo album of photos of MJ, capturing every period of his music career and life: http://bit.ly/MZTpl

Anyways, RIP MJ, and thanks for all the music.

2009-05-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

My Foray into Fiction

Thought I'd write some fiction for the fun of it. A story about a boy, related to the migrant Sikh workers to Africa in the late 1800's. Here goes...

Gokul skipped a stone over the salt pan, trying to beat his own record of eight skips. He collected flat stones suitable for this feat in the pocket of his kurta (shirt). It was what kept him busy in the lazy afternoons of late nineteenth century Bhuj (Gujarat, India). The heat lulled the townspeople into a dreary hebetude, but drove Gokul to an animated bout of stone skipping.

At fifteen years old, he was strong enough to help collect dried salt in gunny (jute) sacks and stack them for collection every week. Gokul looked forward to these collections, when he would often be allowed to ride the camel pulling the loaded wagon.

Of the two camels, Gokul preferred Luv, the gentler one that would eat hay and jaggery from his hand. Kush, the other camel, would ignore Gokul's offerings and instead express discomfiture over his harness, the heat or the weight of his load.

You like? Continued at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15600079/Skipping-Stones-A-young-mans-adventure-in-India-and-Africa

2009-05-07T13:40:00.000-07:00

I sold my Ducati last week - a sad day indeed. It was quite a bike but I guess it was time to move on.

I bought it 4 years ago, partly inspired by the Indian movie Dhoom, partly by Chips from the 70s and partly by the bromance and bonhomie of my biker buddy Vineet who also bought a bike.

It was a half fairing yellow 750 CC sports bike. Not a lot of Ducatis are made a year, and certainly not a lot of half fairing (the shield around the sides), so it was definitely a unique bike. Italian made, it could do 0-60 in 4 seconds - faster than a Porsche and most Ferarris. Some can even do it in less than 3 seconds.

The longest ride ever was from Boston to New York, which I don't recommend. I underestimated the exposure to exhaust fumes and dealt with the consequences for a couple of weeks.

It was most fun to ride it to work down the west side highway. I once made it to dinner from 18th St to 79th St up the West Side Highway in 5 minutes - started at 7:55 PM and made it at the planed time of 8:00 PM.

Oh well, time to move on, but it was good eDUCATIon.

2009-01-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

2005-10-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Indventure is over......

I'm back from India - what a trip - so much happened at work and outside!

My trip back was interesting. I'd bought some eucalyptus oil (used to fight colds and has a strong menthol smell) at Kodai and I had it in my carry-on baggage. Of course it leaked which is why I'm writing this. So when I was going through the baggage check at CDG the security guard asked "Que-est-ce que c'est".With my smattering of French I sputtered that it was an oil and "C'est bien pour votre sante" ie "It's good for your health". As my person was being checked, a lady officer in the booth ahead was sniffing the air. To make light of it, I said "C'est bien pour votre sante!". They didnt seem to appreciate my raising a stink. I asked them where my gate was. They replied "C'est la. Allez, c'est bien pour votre sante" read "It's over there.. now get going, it'll be good for your health".

Thanks to everyone in India for making my stay there as wonderful as it was. Have to say, So Far, So Good!!!! :)

2005-10-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

1) Parliament house Vidhan Sabha - Bangalore
2) When I met Aishwarya Rai and a few other stars on Marina Beach, Chennai
3) My prize winning picture "Too Hot for the Ice Cream Man" - Marina Beach, Chennai

2005-10-15T04:12:00.000-07:00

Bang-la-door

At least that's how a friend of mine, Steve, pronounces Bangalore. It also happens to be where I am right now.

I'm currently at the intersection of Brigrade Rd. and MG Rd - the 2 most happening streets in 'downtown' Bangalore ;) I had lunch at Pizza corner as I observed the Bang-la-doorians in their natural habitat through the glass pane - gotta say they are 'with it'. Everyone's well dressed and has a certain coolness about them. I guess this is coz Bangalore attracts a young crowd with it's various colleges and companies including Infosys and Wipro, and multinationals like IBM, Sun, Microsoft, Cisco and many more big boys. I might go see these if they arent too far out. It would make a good starting to my book - "As I stood on the golf course in Bangalore, on the horizon I saw IBM, Sun, Microsoft etc. It felt like I was in Silicon Valley. Wow, the world is flat!". Bangalore is also cool because it is miles above sea level so lets not flatter it too much. But the world is flat! "Amish".... "What?"....."Shut up".

Earlier in the day I went sight seeing and saw the summer palace of Tipu Sultan, the Botanical Garden and a couple of museums. Somehow what fascinated me the most were the martial weapons - swords of different shapes including wavy and saw edged ones, and spiked cannon balls!

As I cruised down MG Rd in the hummer .. I mean auto rickshaw (its easier, no valet hassles), I got off at the Coffee Day cafe where I had the stongest espresso. I'm still pretty wired. This is going to last me 3 days.

I then met up with Sriram and we hung out for a bit. We reminisced about our Vegas trip a few years back. In particular the incident where after a certain challenge, our friend Vivek was lying flat on his back in the hotel lobby :)

Then we walked up to a restaurant for dinner.. but the security guard told us it was closed. It was rather early so we gave him our 'what the' looks. So in no uncertain terms, he snapped back - "It's ceased". Or did he mean "seized"? Geez.

2005-10-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

Cellphone Cybercafe

When I visited Kodai, a hill station, which isnt among the top developed kind of places in India, I got some deep email pangs. I never thought I would find a cybercafe around, but lucky enough there was one right next to my hotel.

I went there and the speed was -decent-. Much faster than dialup at least.

When I was leaving, I was curious what the backhaul for the setup was so I asked the cafe guy - "Do you use Cable, DSL or something else". "Something else" he replied. He smiled, lifted a curtain, and connected to the PC through a USB port was a cellphone - proudly streaming the ether.

2005-10-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

Riding the Bull

One thing I noticed here is that people drink Red Bull like soda. A friend of mine went to the hairdressers for a haircut. They asked her if she would like a softdrink while she waited. She said "Sure, why not". And they brought her a chilled can of the bull! The reason I think is that it simply isnt advertised here. In the US it is as something that 'gives you wings'. Maybe sometimes you shouldnt advertise your products hmm. But dont people read the ingredients? A sample straight off the can "taurine, glucuronolactone, caffeine, inositol, niacin, D-pantothenol, pyridoxine HCL". Yikes!

Having said that, when I need the odd boost, I chug the bull myself. It happened this afternoon. I was up pretty late last nite doing some paperwork for my bro. So I stepped out this aft for some but I had to make do with a coke, since the store across the street was out. D'oh!

2005-10-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Mumbai is Metro!

I just got back from Mumbai - a lot had changed, including people's dress sense. Yes my friends, Mumbai is now Metrogenderal, to be PC. I thought I'd checkout a club there so some cousins and I decided to go to Enigma at a pretty swanky hotel. I was wearing my standard Kenneth Cole blue shirt with slanted stripes, when my cousin, who's a fashion designer mind you, said "nope, that wont do. you need some real club wear". I was 'ok, sure, what u got?'. Next thing I knew I was in a distinctly black and white striped shirt. I could just picture myself working the room in the club going "Hi, I'm Zebra Man".

2005-10-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

The Video!! (of the play from 15 yrs back)

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22The+Poisoning+of+Pierrot%22

2005-09-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

Day 15: Back to school...

Some of you know, a long time ago ~15 yrs back I spent a year at a boarding school at a place called Kodaikanal (Kodai for short) the same state as Chennai. So I figured why not use the weekend to go visit. I tried emailing and calling the office about my intentions of visiting, but got no responses. So I didnt even know if the school would be around! And there was a special reason I wanted to go too. Back then, I took part in a play - "The Poisoning of Pierrot". I was Pierrot. I remember they caught it on video, but I never got to see it and have wanted to ever since. I had very low hopes of getting it - it had been way too long. But did I? Read on to find out.

I took a redeye (bus) from Chennai. The fun started when I missed the bus from the starting point in Chennai. Thing is, my ticket had 2 times - one was the time it left the main terminal and the other was the time it reached another one on the outskirts at chennai. Everything on the ticket of course was in Tamil. I tried reading it but it came out as "look at the moon" or something. So then I just figured that one time was the reporting time and the next was departure time; rather surprising for the world of Indian standard time but I thought they were learning a thing or two from people who came down for outsourcing. So I took an autorickshaw again from the main terminal, and explained my situation. The man said - "Dont worry, I will get you there". And then he floored it.

When you floor a Rickshaw, it gets interesting. The sound is a sharp shrilly rev, and people in the way hear this high pitch above the thousand other sounds around, and they dive. Serious, they dive. Soon we hit a main road and our man was letting it rip. Soon enough we were behind a big purple bus! Yeah it was mine. I didnt pick the color.

We passed the bus and got to the other terminal - I think it was called Kookooburra or something. Soon enough the bus came and it was there quite beyond the departure time for the 2nd terminal. Oh well.

We started off and it was a good thing I reloaded my ipod the previous evening. After a couple of hours there was a stop for dinner. I wanted to be cautious about getting off coz my brother was once left at a rest stop on a bus from boston to new york. His stuff got to new york before him and it was a good thing my dad could go pick it up. So when I was almost done with my dinner, I saw the purple bus move! I threw some money on the table and darted off, barely grabbing some napkins on my way out. I sprinted for the bus and caught it just in time. When I entered it was empty. The driver said "I was just parking it". Brilliant.

The rest of the trip was ok - I'm glad I was able to sleep!

I reached Kodai and got over with the hotel room formalities, and then took a cab straight to the school. It really wasnt far from the town center. When I was at school years back, I always thought we were miles away so I never really executed on my escape plan.

As we entered a rush of memories gushed through my head. The first thing we saw was the soccer ground. So many afternoons whiled away there! I went straight the the dining hall, expecting that students would be having their Saturday breakfast. But when I got there, it was empty. Like a ghost town. I thought - oh damn - they shut the school down. I went straight to my dorm next door, and it too was deserted. I asked the cleaning lady there - and it was a relief to see someone - where is everyone? And she replied - "They're in class". Only then did I remember that students had a half day on Saturdays.

Next I went to the admin offices and as I entered - there was a familiar face - Rajendran Sir. He was the head administrator and he had brought a bunch of us from Mumbai to Kodai the 1st time I went there. Of course he didnt recognize me but he remembered after I explained. He was happy to have me and took me back to the dining hall for some snacks. The food tasted the same it hadnt changed one bit! Turns out it was the same cooking staff, and I remembered being served by many of them!!

The school in general had not changed much and that was the biggest surprise. They had a couple of small new buildings and more signs everywhere but otherwise it was the same! I found it incredible that everything had been preserved the way it had!

We went back to the office and met the principal. He was in general a cynical kinda guy not very happy about his students' academic performance. To motivate them, he asked that I talk to them on how good the Indian education system is and especially how good the school is , how Indian culture is good as it is and they shouldnt copy American culture, and to make their own goals and not take up their fathers' businesses (60% of the people were in that category). I figured why not. So after lunch, when we came back to the auditorium, there were 60 students neatly arranged to hear what I had to say.

So I gave my speech and told them that being cool is not wearing a harley davidson jacket but getting good grades, they should aspire to be heart surgeons and wall street bankers and CEO's of the next Infosys, and other good motivational stuff. I succeeded in confusing them sufficiently and afterwords I heard many of them questioning the concept of life.

Next I asked Rajendran sir about the video of the play. He looked skeptical and was pretty sure they didnt have it. I was pretty upset. He asked me to check in the library anyway. I went there and the librarian pulled out lots of old photos, some dating back 1985. But that's not what I needed. I got up and was about to leave when I saw a shelf with some cassettes. I asked her if we could check them - she said we could try but they were all newer videos and some general knowledge tapes. We checked anyway. There was a tape with the title facing the other way. We turned it around - and it read " Utsav 1992". But I needed "Utsav 1991". I turned the next tape around - and BINGO!

2005-09-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

Days 11 - 14

Writer's block, work,writer's block, work, writer's block, work,writer's block and work.

2005-09-19T14:37:00.000-07:00

Days 9 and 10

Sunday was very relaxed. I was at the hotel for the most and had some time to kill, so I went to Landmark again (no they are not paying me to plug them). I came back to the hotel and slept for a bit. Then I went to the gym and resumed my well evolved exercise technique. The idea is to burn around a thousand calories on the cross trainer and do a 100 or so sets of heavy weights, once a week or two. It works well I think - at least I feel fit.

Today was mostly uneventful apart from an inebriated irritating man at the pasta bar going on about a certain graphics card company he worked for and in the process revealing inside info at the top of his voice. So if you're looking to buy a video graphics card sometime soon, just wait a month. Ask me for details ;)

Oh btw - I'm organizing an auto rickshaw race - Rs 1000 to the winner (that's just $25). It will be some night on a deserted highway. Stay tuned!

2005-09-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

Day 8: Crocodile Gandhi

Yay! The weekend is here! I slept so well that when I woke up, it made me feel like doing what I do best. So I went right back to sleep.

When I awoke again, I went downstairs for brunch. As I ate, I was also reading the Chennai guide book we got from Landmark the previous weekend. The drive down the coast to some beaches and spots on the way appeared most enticing, for my 'city tour' today. So East Coast Road (ECR) it was!

I got a car for 2 pm and headed out south on the highway. I wasnt driving of course - I wouldnt dare - not only do I dread the traffic, but also the fact that cars drive on the other side of the road - being so used to driving on the right side, I might just do that and drive head-on into a rickshaw.

On the way down ECR I saw some sites where the Tsunami hit. I didnt see much evidence of destruction, but I did see many communities- rows and rows of thatched huts built specially for the Trunami victims. It sent a shudder down my back to be at the very site that the Tsunami hit!

We headed straight for Mahabalipuram which is a town full of temples, beaches and tourists. When we got there, tour guides made a beeline for the car. We got this guy named Kumar who had the best elevator pitch. The 1st temple site was the monolithic rathas (vehicles). It was essentially one big rock which was laboriously chiseled away to form wonderfully intricate carvings of the chariots of the highest gods - like Beverly Hills cars of that day and age. It was hard to believe that they were all carved out of a single rock - it was more like a hill!

Next we went to the 'Shore Temple' - no prizes for guessing what it was. The temple looked majestic, the king of the sea purveying its acquatic domain. Though the corrosive sea breeze had abraded its walls, unfaltering, it still stood to tell the tales of an era long forgotten. There was a reservoir for fresh water designed to collect fresh rain water, and it still captured clean water. This was useful as there was water water everywhere but not a drop to drink.

The next site was the largest bas relief in the world - depicting Lord Arjuna's meditation in the himalayas, the river ganga in the form of a snake, a mischevious cat, and a teacher who - brace yourselves - decapitated his students to discipline them! Talk about corporal punishment. You wonder why Indian students are so well behaved.

As we proceeded beind the bas relief, there was a lawn with many monkeys on it. And there I had this big deja vu. No not from my last life as a south indian monkey, but from when I came to the same place 18 years ago with my folks. Back then, I was sitting on the steps next to the lawn and a monkey came and scratched me - for no good reason. Now I was much bigger and stronger and had an urge to pelt them with stones and step on them and employ the tae-kwondo I learnt ever since. My violent simian reverie was interrupted with Kumar nudging me and showing me the next site.

There was a large rock balancing on a ledge above the gardens, which looked like it would tip any minute. Kumar said that has been like that for over a thousand years. Hundreds of years ago, they tried pulling it down with 7 elephants - lest it roll and crush an unsuspecting visitor. but it didn't budge.

The place was so endearing that I had to take some of it back with me. So we went to a souvenir shop where there was more haggling and convicing that I was a Rupee person from Mumbai and not a Dollar person from the US. But after agreeing on a price, I ended up paying in Dollars as I didnt have enough rupees, much to the sellers dismay.

Our next stop was the croc farm! I saw crocs of all shapes and sizes. The best part was that I got to hold a real live crocodile. It was about a meter long and felt like a heavy leather belt. After I held it for a few seconds it started squrming and I was so ready to throw it onto the people watching. Luckily Paul Hogan's Indian conterpart came and freed me of it. I also saw India's largest croc in captivity. This guy was a monster. I thought I was on the sets of Jurassic Park! 800 pounds and 14 feet long! They called him Jaws 3! The barriers were pretty low and it made you think what might happen if they all escaped. I can imagine the headline - Chennai under alligator siege. But seeing how little they moved, even if they did escape they would never get too far. And the traffic would probably kill them anyway. After, I was hoping I could get buy some good shoes and belts (just joking animal freaks).

The next and final stop was the Fishermans Cove beach resort - it was a perfect cap to the day - I dug into the sand and watched the waves splash against the rocks as I lapsed into the twilight zone. People who know me know that one thing I've been wanting to do in a while is lie on a tropical beach with a drink in my hand. Well, voila!

2005-09-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

Day 7: Street Credit..

I'll finally get some sleep tonite. What a week!

I wanted to get away from the ensconced existence of my hotel so I took an auto rickshaw a few blocks away. I tried to haggle for the price, as a local, with the little Tamil I know. I brought it down from Rs. 50 to Rs. 30. I was rather proud of myself. But when I got to where I was going, it turned out it was only a kilometer away. So the price should've been much less.

On my way back, I beckoned some autos. The first guy stopped. I told him- Rs 15 - close to Park hotel - he refused. Another auto arrived with a passenger and he was ready for the next fare ie me. I said - Park hotel Rs. 15. He said Rs. 20. Just at that time another auto came by. So I could now play them against each other - an evil scheme.

I told the guy who just stopped - Park hotel Rs 15, looking straight at the on-the-go driver, as if I was gonna go with him. The guy who stopped took the bait! Rs. 15 it was!

So I'm pretty proud of myself - who has street credit!! What say, fiddy?

2005-09-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

Day 6: Horn Ok Please

The rear end of all trucks and buses in some form or another asks the following motorist to sound their horn. And you wonder why the traffic is so noisy. The most common phrase to convey the message is "Horn Ok Please". I have eternally wondered how it's to be broken up - "Horn, OK please" or "Horn Ok, please" or something like "Horn, OK...... please" . I think the last one makes most sense. You ask the trailing driver to "Horn, Ok" and before he can refuse you add a preemptory"Please"!!

The streets are also full of advertising - ads for soap, food or a political campaign. Rarely do you find a bare wall. Even one that would otherwise have been bare had written across it's span in large letters "Post No Bills". Well...

2005-09-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - Chennai - it's different..

Chennai isnt like other indian cities I've seen. It's different.

It's very uniform - from downtown all through the suburbs. In Mumbai you would never see auto-rickshaws in the city proper. Here there are hoards. A street corner downtown looks very much like one in the burbs - a tea stall with a 2x2 ft phone booth for STD/ISD/PCO (self telephone dial / international self dial /public call office) calling.

Also, as Anand told me, Chennai is a spread out over a wide as opposed to long geographic area like New York or Mumbai- so the subway model doesnt work. So there is no subway. Just buses and auto rickshaws like the one you see in the picture. That one was my 1st sighting on this trip btw. You can tell, it's right outside the airport.

People are very conservatively dressed. Recently there was a dresscode mandate at a top college here Anna University that disallows girls from wearing 'modern dress' ie jeans and t-shirts!

There's something very raw about it that makes it feel more like India than other cities I guess. The people are extremely nice - everyone calls you sir. I got tired of it once and said to a bell boy "Just call me Amish. What's your name". It rendered him perplexed.

The weather is very humid. My shirts hanging in the closet in my hotel room are damp, and my windows arent even open!

The TV channels here are 90% related to film - with film songs, film interviews and films themselves.

The food is simple. There's something in the air... breathing it raises ur spirits. Or maybe some molecules in the pollution combine to form a drug of some sort. Chennai.. heady stuff. Oh and did I mention the pink elephants walking around?

2005-09-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

Day 4 - The Malaysian Dancers...

Aman was right. Working from here is ennervating and draining. I think it will take a few days to get used to it. I am so tired!

I came back to the hotel, and they were there again! The Malaysian dancers in all their splendor. There is a Malaysian festival going on in the hotel, and to promote Malaysia and to convince people to go there, what better method than presenting some colorful Malaysian dances?

They are amusing to say the least... if nothing a comedic end to the long day. And they are there everyday for a whole month. They do the same routine. They wear the same clothes and makeup. Everything happens at the same time everyday. It's to a tee, almost military. But the diversity of dances and costumes - unbelievable! The funniest part was that on that day, one of their dancers was MIA and they clearly had someone filling in. In fact he looked like a waiter who served me coffee in the morning, no jokes! They had a routine where the ladies are dancing and the men rush in with sticks. In his haste, the waiter's stick struck a light on the ceiling and it came crashing down! Oops! He can make coffee, but can he dance? NO! Sometime after the comedy show I mean dance, there was a group of college kids having dinner. They looked awful familiar. Oops, they were the Malaysian dancers! Obviously I didnt recognize them in their Jeans and Tshirts! I asked the chef - hey arent those the Malaysian Dancers? He said "Yeah. They're Professionals!" :)))

PS: I have nothing against Malaysia. Just it's people ;) [Just joking]

2005-09-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

Day 3 Contd: Long day!!

A company car took me to work.. what a commute! There are no lanes on the roads - it's almost as if the vehicles are particles in brownian motion progressing in the same general direction - the only thing preventing a collision is putatively that they have the same charge. Someone not familiar with Indian driving would have a heart attack the 1st time!

I got to work at 9 - of course there was no one there but Anand, coz people tend to come late and stay late. Anand introduced me to someone from another team coz he was the only other person there.

Next we had to go to the other facility where I am based. We had the option to take a cab, or the open air auto. Guess what we took? It wasnt such a great idea, coz it was still rush hour and exhaust fumes were rife. We got caught in a jam, so bad that we were pushed onto the lane going in the opposite direction. Since we were there anyway, the driver turned right back and took some backroads - lowdown time. And how! There were cows lounging in the streets, roads put together like jigsaw forced together with all parts in wrong places. I had to duck to escape laundry (in particular, lungis) and almost shouted when we skidded to avoid another rickshaw. I mean I've been on the badassest rides at 6 flags, but this was the real deal.

We got to the other facility and setup my access card network etc .. fast forward. I had coffee with the whole team in the cafe - it was a good chilled icebreaker. Later we all had lunch at a local southindian place - for Rs 35 (80 c) we had a 3 course meal so to speak. Ca(lories) Ching. bad one, sorry :) Fast fwd - in the afternoon I addressed the team about who the heck I am, what in the world do I do and why in tarnation I'm here. It was well received (I think) especially after I put their chocolates on the table.

Then we had some drilldown sessions and took come calls with the US team. I looked at the clock and it was 9pm. Sum!! I was done. I came back to the hotel and plopped into the bed for a half hr. Then grabbed a simple din. Am back now and soooo ready to zzzzzzzz

2005-09-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

Day 3: 1st Day of work in Chennai

Kalai Venakkam! I put my alarm for 7 am, and scheduled a wake up call too. Early by my standards.. but this is how it's going to be looks like. Didnt sleep too well, some residual jetlag looks like. I was up a lil late coz my internet wasnt working so had to call the network folks. I think a sherpa stepped on the wire that brings internet to India over the himalayas, coz it just suddenly started working again.

More tonite..

2005-09-11T02:47:00.000-07:00

Day 2: Everyone's a biker!!

I had lunch with Anand, Sivaram and Venkada from work. We went to a place called Ganges.. Rs 175 buffet.. scrumptuous! i had 2 veggies and naan, some chinese (by default indian chinese). then I wanted to get a map of the place so they took me to a mall, which is not too far and is awesome.. u can get everything!! so my hotel is pretty much in the heart of chennai 'downtown' so it's a grt place to be.. theres a cineplex close by too.. the beach is not too far either.. when we were on the way to the mall, we were stopped to make way for the ganesh processions- it's ganesh chaturti and people were on the way to the sea to submerge the idols.. i took a few photos and will upload them next time i sync my pda..I came back to the hotel and had a lil nap. When I woke I craved for some caffeine. So I went down to the local barista coffee and had a 50 cent cappuchino. A tenth the cost of starbucks, but as good! As I sat there I looked out the window watching the traffic... motorcycles were everywhere! (though that's an MA RMV phrase, it applies more to MAdras). Lots of women were riding too.. houswives with their mother in laws in tow, clinging on to the groceries and precariously perched on the backseat. Vineet and I have motorbikes and we make a big deal about it. But it turns out most of the team here has a motorbike. Everyone's a biker!

2005-09-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

Indyea!

My flight from Paris to Chennai was cool - I got 3 seats to myself, I slept 6 / 10 hours. Before I slept they served a nice lunch - dal rice and a sweet. It was too good, and i felt sleepy immediately. They showed 2 tamil movies in the flight. and we didnt even have our own personal screen, so it was the only thing u cud really watch.. i watched a bit..u shud really see tamil movie fights -when the hero punches a villian, the villain goes flying for meters and meters - in the scene i saw, the villain ended up on top of a coconut tree..hehe.. i got to chennai airport and the immigration / customs was completely hassle free! i was out in <1/2 hr..when i stepped out, that's when i realized - ok im in india! the autos and cabs and messed up roads and the heat and humidity.. but felt good.. not too many ppl arnd it was 1:30 am. there was someone waiting for me .. they took my bags etc.. Not having any rupees, I tipped the porter a dollar and he was pretty happy :). the driver drove me to the hotel.. he didnt know much english.. i asked him how far kodai and other places were.. then i wanted to ask him the minimum auto fare and it took 5 minutes to explain what i was asking. after that we didnt talk much. but at the end i gave him a dollar anyways. We got to the hotel.. which is in a busy part of town ... it's real nice! it's called 'the park' .. they have a theme going.. i mean it's modern and has some traditional touches - it has a pool, a gym, a spa, a niteclub (pasha) which closes at midinte tho, internet etc. so no complaints ;) I went to the gym this morning and i'll probably go checkout the club tonite - there's some dj from pune. I had breakfast in '601' this sleek restaurant in the hotel..delicious mini dosas and wadas with sambar and yummy chutneys.. so yeah i definitely am loving the hotel! after that i came out for a walk.. i need to get a 220V to 110V convertor for my laptop.. and when i stepped out into the busy street, it hit me - sumbyach im really in india!!!! the autos and bicycles and roadside chai stalls!! 2 much! i went to this computer store and got a tamil tutor cd .. they've ordered my adapter so i'm just waiting in this cybercafe till it comes