Driving in US

One of the good things that happens when you travel to Redmond on business trip is the car rental. Compared to cars in India, there are so many firms, models and varieties. I have had a chance to drive around 7 cars in the two trips that I made in the past 6 months. So I thought I should list down which ones are my favourites.



Ford Mustang
a nice, really quick, two door convertible. Thanks to my friend Varun, who allowed me to drive this for a while. It has a meaty sound, and is awesome for summer time.


Ford Focus





This is a 4 door car with very little power, and very average drive feel. Its probably my worst experience, right next to the outlander( mentioned below)







Chrysler Sebring Touring
This is definitely one of my favourite cars, a nice two door convertible, not as meaty as the mustang, but very elegant, and drives comfortably. The low seats do give you the feel of the power of the engine, every time you hit the freeway.


Ford 500


This is without any argument my favourite car of all. A nice big car, which is at least 1 feet longer that most full-sized cars, very comfortable, and this baby purrs even at free way speeds. A very comfortable family car and great handling. I miss it :(



Mitsubhi Outlander





Worst car, IMO. Even though its in SUV class, its very uncomfortable, less spacey (seating max 4 people) and with very less boot space. Very ill-designed, and makes driving around in curves a highly uncomfortable experience


I actually gave it up within a week, as the particular one that I had was warning for engine service from the day I rented.

Chevrolet Monte-Carlo








A 2-door car, with a really long tail, great boot space, very comfortable drive, has a sporty feel to it.





and finally, the one that I am driving now.
Chrysler 300M

This is an awesome full-sized car, very comfortable, huge, has a nice beefy look to it, ideal for long drives and family outings. Like the 500, it is silent but effective, ideal for long freeway drives.

You still reading... ?Well thank you. :)

My private space ...

Its funny, how much things are different in US, when compared to India. In India, if one has to see a movie on a weekend, then at least by wed/Thurs he would have to start hunting the online URLs for some movie, otherwise it is assured that there would not be any seats available. In US, I have never seen such a situation, even if you make it the last moment, you still get tickets. Just the difference in population, I guess ... :(

During the Christmas week end, I had a chance to watch couple of English movies, Apocalpyto and The Good Shepherd, both of which are ok movies, nothing great to write home about, but that is not what this blog entry is about. It is about the concept of space.

For Apocalypto, we reached the theater on a cold 24Th night (Christmas eve), and as expected there were hardly any people for it, so we ( a group of 4) sat right in the middle of the hall, and watched the movie together. There were hardly 10 more people, in that hall beside us.

While watching TGS, we reached just 5 mins before the show began, and to my surprise, I saw that even though the hall had at least 20% free seats, there was not even one place, where 2 people could sit together. This is mainly because of two things - no seat reservation, and the concept of private space in US.

Can you imagine that in India? I am amazed at the inefficient packing mechanism that theaters have employed. In such a scenario, what would one do in India?
1. Go back and start whining to the theater mgr?
2. Talk to people to shift so that they could sit together?

But in US, I saw that the concept of space is so highly (often over-rated) concept, that they want to maintain distance from the next group of people watching the same movie. People were actually willing to sit separately, and watch the movie, instead of taking the pains to get some re-arrangement done.

The reason I think is that, in India, movies are also a social thing, people sit together, talk, laugh, cry together, and this makes almost every movie worth it, whereas in US, I actually saw many persons coming just alone to watch a movie. Have you ever watched a movie alone? At least not me, of all the people I know, I just know one person who did this in his college days in India.

So coming back to the TGS show, it so happened that there I was sitting alone next to a young couple, who looked pissed that I was encroaching into their private space; and that pretty much made the movie even worse.

It will be an interesting exercise to see what would be the human behaviour in
1. India, without any seat reservations - I believe there are some theaters like this.
2. US, with seat reservations :)

Any one listening?

Little pleasures in life

How much would you pay for hot shower?

What about a small candle or a torch light?

What about a really hot cup of coffee?

What about a nice dish of hot chicken tikka masala or a dal fry?

I have started appreciating these small things in life, thanks to the really bad weather here in seattle. On thursday, night we had heavy winds of upto 100 miles/hr, that hit the entire north-west coast and rendered most parts of WA, Oregon - powerless.

In my hotel room,heres no power for the past 3 days, and in US, that translates to - no heating, no cooking, no hot water, and of course no light

In these times, I was willing to give anything for a really hot cup of coffee, or nice bowl of hot soup. (and I still am). The situation is getting better, as most parts of town are getting back on line, but unfortunately my hotel still remains in darkness (and thats from 4:00PM to 7 AM, this is something thats very strange to me, but entirely different topic- something that i intend to write about some time)

Thanks to my office building being nearby, I was able to charge my cell, and have a great cup of coffee, which was a gift from GOD. A nice hot shower - thanks to one of my fortunate friends, was another big thing to me. A nice hot dinner with chicken tikka masala, dal and lamb, with naan in a small indian hotel was like amazing. It was totally worth the 20 mile drive :)

So people out there, start appreciating the simple things in life, coz the day things fall apart, these would be the things that really matter!!

my first hollywood celebrity ...

Well, after a long flight of 12 hours from Hong Kong, when I landed in LA, I didn't really think I would be able to do anything. I had around 4 hours to kill, and initially though I thought that I will take a quick tour of the city, I reneged.



So there I was in the terminal with lots of time to spare( as my flight was further delayed). I visited all the shops, doing window shopping. Somehow this time, I had a sense of home-coming, all the brands seemed so used to, the trail-mix, and candy bars, the magazines, and stuff... I kind of enjoyed the re-union of sorts.



So there I was in a star-bucks cum burger king joint, happy with a double whopper and cappuccino, when I saw my first Hollywood celebrity. OK, so hes not that big as a Brad Pitt, or Tom Cruise, but he was..



Ray Liota (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000501/)

OK since most of you might not know him ... check the above link...

See, that's a problem (or a gift) with me, I remember faces... I mean .. once seen I remember a face for my entire life, and that has put me into lots of awkward situations, but then that's a different story altogether.


Anyway ... here's to Ray.. my first Hollywood celebrity meeting.


FYI: I didn't talk to him, or get his autograph or shake hands. I was very busy with my burger and cappuccino :)

I am back!!

ok, this has multiple meanings.

Last time around, there was a flurry of activity on my blog (most of it from me :)) when I came to US, and after a long hiatus of around 4 months I am back to blogging, the reason or the impetus being the same - being in US of A.

Well I was just listening to hindi songs on raaga.com and just missed India and everything back home so much, that I just had to put my thoughts in some place.

Man, its a big wonder, how much a hindi song, or a old hindi classic or a hindi tv program can make so much difference, when one is living outside of the country.

Kudos to Bollywood and the television world. Hats off!! You deserve the dollars that you rake!!