India's Honking Problem

Everybody that lives in India knows all about the roads we have here. Even a 10 minute ride out on these roads is equivalent to jumping out of a plane with no back up parachute. It is true that the roads are quite dangerous and very poorly built but from my observance, the primary reason for all the danger is not the build quality but the people themselves!

After having spent 3 years living in Wichita, Kansas, the realization of how dangerously we live in India was like a punch in the face. It's been 9 months I've been back in India and I still cannot cross the road in front of my house by foot. It's just way too scary, way too unpredictable. There is never a break in the traffic, so you've got to force yourself in between the zooming vehicles. I'd rather drive 3 miles and waste fuel, than risk my life getting across 100 ft of pure madness.

I've better adapted myself to the driving conditions but still get jolts of fear when I see someone perform bravely foolish stunts just to overtake a single vehicle. I've also realized most of the traffic jams are also caused by the lack of common sense of motorists, rather than the road builders. Of course the road building jobs are themselves so silly, even a teenager would be capable of building better roads and the rains multiply this problem ten-fold. And then there are the illegally parked vehicles, sentimental religious structures in the middle of the road and all sorts of animals having a picnic.

Even though it is an undeniable fact that the management of traffic and road quality is of the lowest quality, this post really is about the motorists.

I feel quite justified in stating that we have among the worst drivers in the world. I don't know who trains us to be like this but surely something needs to be done. I am guilty of being a part of this system myself but there is little I can do to set it right. And I've noticed that is what everyone else says too - "I know I'm breaking the rules but we are forced to do it since everyone else does it". Who is this everyone and why do they constantly "find themselves" in a situation where they are "forced" to break traffic rules?

I've tried driving without breaking at least the most basic rules and it works! I still get to my destination, thankfully unscathed, and maybe, just maybe, a few minutes late. Seriously it isn't so bad! Sometimes I've waited alone at a red light while the rest of them simply jumped, I've slowed down for pedestrians to cross while the others zoomed even faster just to get past the poor walking people already risking their lives. I feel I'm among the few that use turn lights too!

But I've noticed the use of the turn light just does not work! There have been many situations when there were 4-5 motorbikes on the side I was turning into, and I switch on my indicator to "indicate" that I'm turning. Not one guy notices this! All the motorists promptly speed up trying to overtake me from the wrong side before I make my turn. One time a biker nearly crashed into my car's left side and I was more angry that I stopped and saved him a trip to the hospital instead of just smashing into him and breaking his bones.

So basically, the turn light kind of works the opposite way. Instead of warning people I'm about to turn, it seems to be sending a message that I'm allowing them to over take me from that side. And this is basic driving sense, you don't have to live in another country for years to know how to use a turning indicator!

And then comes another irritating part of the driving experience, the Honking! Oh man.. where do I start? All I can say is, it is a major mess. I simply fail to understand what prompts people to use the horn so excessively. The road is perfectly straight, most - if not all - of the vehicles seem to be moving in the correct direction, and I still hear non-stop honking from at least 4-5 vehicles around me! The reason for the honking is something that only the honker can explain.

I've actually observed (and I'm not exaggerating) people honking almost sub consciously! I remember one instance very well - there was this guy on a bike and was driving straight on a mostly empty road and his finger was on the horn button pressing it in regular pulses - beep-beepbeep-beep.. i seriously felt something was wrong with him. But this kind of behavior is something you can observe in a lot of people. Some sort of psychological disorder in the general mass of motorists? Give them a horn button to press and they'd do it while sleeping.

Also another thing i've noticed is that a surprisingly huge number of people absolutely fail to honk at least once when turning into blind lanes. Now that's another major management disaster of not having organized traffic in the smaller lanes (not unexpected if they can't manage the major roads either!). The introduction of a Stop Sign (and the threat of a ticket for not stopping) might take a few centuries to come by, but in the meantime, the safest way would be to slow down at a blind turn with a short friendly beep on the horn. While these guys overdo it on the big straight roads, they don't do it where it is actually useful!

I cannot even remember the count of how many times I've ended up face to face with another motorist at blind turns, just because he didn't beep. The worst part is, I never fail to beep and the only thing that prevents me from crashing into him is my own low-speed which allows me to stop quickly. The other idiot simply corrects himself without even slowing down and zooms away past me without a second glance! And like I said, this has happened so many times, I just cannot count.

All these are just a few examples of how bad the situation is. There are hundreds more such issues on our roads, each of which cause accidents, sometimes fatal. Each of these occurrences leave me astonished about the mentalities of people around me. I have no problem against anything Indian, in fact, I love everything about it, but there are a few things that are to be realized as faulty. It is a clear example of a flaw being repeated over and over again till it actually becomes acceptable and even believed to be right.

I hope that in the coming few centuries, if the human race can survive long enough, our country can correct a few flaws like these and making living here a better experience. 

Music. Drawing. Pleasure with Passion.

I knew I've always been on the creative side ever since I remember existing. Right from that day when I actually won a prize in a 'drawing competition' at the age of 2. Well, technically, I won that because I had the sense to draw on my paper and not the tables and chairs and others' papers, plus, I had happily managed to use all colours, including some that my parents borrowed from other 'budding artists' after I had used up all of mine. I still laugh to think of that memory I was reminded of.

But my affinity toward drawing, music, graphic design, etc. is not just a one off lightning strike hitting an 'unlucky' - in this case, lucky - person. I did attempt to get trained in these when I was younger, but I never actually showed true interest in them. I realized, I was just trying to follow my father's footsteps.

But suddenly, out of the blue, it clicked. It was a different kind of realization. Something that came from within. It was an energy stored inside that just wanted to flow out in some form. I found music and drawing to be the perfect hobbies to release this inner energy. It was not like a tennis champion personally training his kid right from the age of 3, to create a champion of the next generation. It was an artist's son, discovering an artist in himself at a time when he wasn't pushed for it.

So, I finally gave in to my inner energy and let it flow out. The results are astonishing, something at one point in my life, I never believed I was capable of. As the energy flowed out by itself, in the meantime, the brain was absorbing useful knowledge and experience. I always thought composing music was something only a highly skilled genius could do. But it happened with me and I love the tunes that I make. How did I make them? No idea.. it just came from somewhere inside of me. It completely changed my definition of the word 'musician'. I was one, and here I was, all this time, thinking they are extraordinary people who play in front of thousands and make loads of money. But it's also true that the people who go out there and do this are in fact, extraordinary people! So there are hobbyist musicians, like me, and extraordinary musicians, like say, Joe Satriani.

Along with music, my interest in Drawing has gradually evolved me from a line artist to a serious but still hobbyist, portrait artist. Of course, I still have a long way to go in that direction but I know I'm heading the right way. And who showed me the direction? No one, it was a compass built inside of me. That's all I can say. I had the interest and the eye for such detail, and the inspiration from my dad, and all I had to do was develop the skill. And I'm working on it in quite a satisfying way. Today I just feel like sharing some of my recent artwork that I am pretty sure, I hadn't dreamed of being capable of 4-5 years back..

The Guitarist - Date Drawn : 11th Jan, 2009

Audi R8 - Date Drawn : 4th August, 2009

LedaMonsterBunny (reference from internet) - Date Drawn : 21st August, 2011

Michael Schumacher (photo reference - internet) - Date Drawn : 4th September, 2011

David Beckham (Photo reference : Internet) - Date Drawn : 9th September, 2011

Sachin Tendulkar (Photo Reference : Internet) - Date Drawn : 24th September, 2011.

So clearly, in the last one year, my interest and skill in drawing increased greatly and it feels good to be heading that way. I hope there's much better stuff to come in the future...

Purpose?

After experiencing so many different things in life, I was suddenly hit by this very intriguing question.

"What IS Man's purpose on Earth?"

A child is born and he is the most beautiful thing on Earth. He is sent to school to Learn. To get educated. But in what? And what is this education? What are we learning about? Why are we learning how governments are made, how airplanes are built, how DNA can mutated, etc? What are we learning if, all we are really doing is following what somebody else told us? And who gets the authority to test another person about his 'knowledge' in a certain field? Why is there a 'certain' field? Why doesn't Man learn Everthing? And what is Everything?

Why does one have to set up a 'career' in life? Why are we trying so hard to beat each other when we are supposed to be looking at a bigger picture? What is the bigger picture? Why should we be able to go a Restaurant and get food served? Why is there a need for somebody to cook for us, and why should there be a person to serve? They are people with a lot of questions too. Why should they be restricted to that small space? Man is all of them. The cook, the server, the customer, the buyer, the seller, the bartender, the drinker, the entertainer, the manager, the lawyer, the plaintiff, the defendant, the richman, the beggar, the loser, the prodigy, the actor, the audience, the lover, the hater, the inventor, the destroyer, the creator and also the Killer.

All these are things that man does for himself. Why is the waiter serving you with extra care? So you would tip him and he would make more money. Why is an exotic dancer showing off her body? Not for somebody else's pleasure, but to make her own living. Where is the Man, that would do things for every Thing other than himself? Why does Man have to start a career and do things for his own good? What is success? Man beating Man? Man beating other creatures? Man defying Nature?? How is any of this called Success?


Why are we even living on this Earth?  I still haven't found out a purpose in Life. Are we supposed to just live it out and wait for the day to die? Or are we supposed to do something with this chance of life? It clearly isn't a video game where the character has a clear motive right from the beginning - rescue the Princess. From what I see, we aren't really living. We seem to be surviving. Humans are just trying their utmost to survive. And unfortunately the only thing that's stopping us from 'living freely' is our own Human Race! We've got to beat our own kind to prove a point to our own kind! Sad. 

All this brings us back to something that has apparently become as important as oxygen - Money. It's like opening the Pandora's Box if one starts talking about money. Pretty much everything on this Earth and Beyond has a price. It's a well known fact. Land, rocks, wood, water, shelter, energy, knowledge, experience, happiness, freedom, friendship, love, marriage, divorce, and even death. Nothing has been spared from that ever sticky price tag. Almost all of these were supposed to be available for free. Something happened in the history of the human race that created this thing called Money, and it has turned out to be the root of all evil. It can't be more true that even something as simple as freedom costs money. Today we are struggling to go back to the Moon because it's expensive! It's one of those saddest eras in the 13 Billion Year history of the Earth.

It has come to a point where the "Purpose" of a human being is to earn Money. Purpose - The title of this blog post. So is this what it brings us down to? Earning a man-created materialistic thing called Money? Man does awesome things, there's no doubt about that. But all that awesomeness was for the sake of money? In today's world, it defines who we are or rather sadly, how better we are than the others. Ugh, my brain is filled with that one sound, Ugh!

Earning to live, living to earn, earning to earn, living to live. I don't know which one of these is relevant to human life anymore, but I do hope we choose wisely and find the real answer to the question nobody seems to care about - What is the Purpose of Life?

Haunting in Wichita

We found out from a few friends that there's this bridge somewhere outside Wichita that's haunted. We never really cared about it until one night we decided to go! We were feeling like we were living inside 4 walls all the time and desperately needed some adventure. So this was the place we decided to go. At 4:00 AM.

We did some of our own research about this place. We found out it was North of Wichita and about 18 miles from our place. Not too far. 2 gallons would do it. The name was Theorosa's Bridge and we found a few websites that described the bridge and the "myth" behind it. There were so many versions to the story that we didn't know what to believe. The only common link to many of the versions was the mother who lost her baby.

We could also see that each person had his own story to tell. So rather than trying to believe what happened to the others, we wanted to find out ourselves.

1st Time : So 4 AM it was when 3 of us drove up to the bridge. The road leading to it was obviously very lonely and it looked like we were just driving into darkness. Then came the last turn that we were supposed to take to enter the dirt road that had the bridge. Within a few seconds of driving on the dirt road, we were already on the bridge and the next second we crossed it. It was such a tiny section that one would hardly notice he drove on a bridge. We turned around and drove on the bridge again, this time much slower. This time it took us 10 seconds to cross it. To be honest, it was quite disappointing. We didn't get off the car, but I knew we had to come back and experience more.

2nd Time : This time we had 5 people in the car and a little more confidence. We went up to the bridge, stopped on it and even got off. We were randomly talking, loudly. We spent over 5 mins on the bridge and one of the guys pointed at another friend and shouted "He has your baby!". We started laughing at that and suddenly heard it. It was a distinct howling kind of sound. We listened silently. The sound seemed to be growing. I first thought it was a dog howling. And then, second thoughts told me, it oddly sounded like a siren. But these guys were convinced it was a baby crying. The moment one of the guys said, "It's a baby", we panicked. We quickly got back into the car and drove off. I felt the whole thing thrilling and definitely creepy but I was still not ready to believe what I heard. There had to be a next time.

3rd Time : This time, I went there with a slightly different group. We had earlier gone to a beautiful Buddhist temple and now we were coming here to find out about ghosts. Talk about irony. Anyway, we got off the car again and just chatted around, sipping coffee. We were all quite relaxed and we mentioned, "I have your baby" quite a few times. We were doing quite fine. Suddenly we heard a sound again! I said to myself, "If this is a baby wailing, I'm NEVER coming back here". It sounded so much like a baby wailing that I was 80% convinced. But we just hung on for a few seconds more and I forced myself to think about any other object that would possibly make such a sound. Then it clicked, it was a wooden door. It was creaking it the wind. I was so relieved after I realized it. We all cooled down and continued hanging out there for some more time. We finally left that place happily. But there was one major question that was Unanswered! The nearest house was atleast 200 meters away.

How could we have heard the sound of a door creaking when there was no door nearby????

4th Time! : I managed to get here a fourth time. This time, we were nearly 10 people in 2 cars. Some of the first timers in one car were totally freaked out and wanted to leave as soon as possible. My other friends and I were having a good time there. We rested back on the hood of the car and looking out into the sky, we were counting the stars. This place was so far away from city lights that it was perfect for star gazing. The others were still freaked out and already started driving out. We were forced to leave, following them. But overall, it was a different experience. We never spoke about the bridge, or the mother, or the baby. We were in peace and we let the spirits (if there were any) rest in peace. Nobody bothered each other and everyone was happy.

That once again justifies my belief that all the God/Demon stories were created by us. While we believed in God, we also believed in the existence of Evil spirits. We created both and we actually fear both. I found peace when I believed in nothing but getting lost in the expanse of space. There was no fear of anything, neither God, nor evil.. I found my peace on a Haunted Bridge.

New Year and All Those Months!

Blogging was like the most interesting things 2 years back when I felt every small event in my life was worth posting. It was like a typical online diary. Everything had to come. Slowly that frequency reduced and now it has come down to a few posts a year!

Anyway, that was the worst possible start... "re"start to a new stint in blogging.

First of all, Happy New Year! 2 months after the New Year, I still feel un-embarrassed enough to say that. It hasn't really been eventful except for the fact that my 3rd semester in Aerospace Engineering has started. As time progressed, I was liking my coursework less and less, and now it has come to a point where I've given up complaining. Anyway, this post isn't about that. This post is about a new beginning in a new year called 2011. It's a good number for me psychologically because I was born on the 11th.

But I've had similar 'feelings' about certain numbers being good for me and the result was the exact opposite. I had to swallow back my own stupid theories.

2010 was like the most perfect definition for Yin-Yang/Dark-Light/Happy-Sad/Bittersweet/Good-Bad ... Also it wasn't just the brightness. The contrast too was overwhelming. I was surprised how things could change in no time and leave you in a completely different world. While the start for 2010 had almost everything I could ask for in my life, the middle got only 10 times better. The summer of 2010 was the time I think I would never ever forget in my life. The kind of fun and experiences I had, I might probably not get to have again. Maybe I should write a song - The Summer of 2010.

Once Fall settled in, the trees turned the scenery into beautiful desktop wallpapers. While the outside was so happy and beautiful, my insides were just burning up. Everything in the semester was going so horribly wrong that by the end, I had to give up. The stark contrast in a span of a month was what was the most shocking thing I observed. A month before, I was have the time of my life. A month later, I felt lonely around friends, I felt heavy when my head was empty, I felt tired when I took rest, I slept during the day, I stayed awake at night, I felt lost and clueless in familiar places, I felt comfortable when I was alone.. everything was just out of place. I began to feel, for the first time, that it was me who was out of place.

In much 'simpler' words, 2010 was the typical stress-strain curve. The graph rises smoothly up all the way up to the Ultimate Strength where there's a sudden SNAP! Fracture...

And with that, the very distinct year of 2010 ended. On the last day of the year, I managed to find myself hanging around with a bunch of strangers in a bar holding up a glass of champagne. Everyone else was celebrating the start of a new year while I was celebrating the end of a bittersweet year. I was in no mood of looking forward to another long weary year. But time never stops. That point has been proved with how late this post is coming up.

The third semester has started and the load on my head is back to it's usual "more-than-I-can-handle" self. Turning in scratch-paper style homework 5 minutes before close of office, losing contact with the closest of friends, unable to remember what day of the week it is, losing track of my list of things to do, sleeping during the most productive time of the day, losing touch of all my creative skills (drawing, music, photography, etc.), "forgetting" to eat and drink.... the list will go on.

So that's how life has become in a few months. A complete turn-around. Some people say, "What goes around, comes around". Will that work? Such things usually don't work on me. There's more harm hoping something good will happen, than just accepting that nothing good will ever happen. With that, I'll close this rather "not-so-happy" first post of 2011.

Breathe! Aim! Fire!

My July adventures did not seem to have an end. Just a couple of days after visiting the Hutch Salt Mines, I did another thing I never did before in my life. Here's how it went.

It was a pleasant morning with clear skies and almost no breeze. Perfect day for a Space Shuttle launch? Yeah, but also perfect to test your shooting skills at the ranch!

That's what I got to do with Jim and it added to my Memorable Experiences list. We got to a shooting ranch somewhere out on the west side of Wichita all geared and loaded. I never heard a real gun go off so close to me and I was mildly startled. Some of the shots that others were firing down the range felt like jolts in my body. I took some time to get adjusted to these mini explosions and felt it better to wear the ear protection. Soon we got down to business.

Jim started pulling out his collection that included a .22, a .38 cowboy gun, a .45, and a couple of rifles, one of which was a Swiss one that had the mark of one his own ancestors. Pretty amazing feeling that would be!

We set up the targets and Jim gave me some knowledge about how to handle these arms and told me about the Rules of the Ranch. Never having held a real firearm in my hand, it felt very weird and heavy. The .22 gun was pretty easy to hold and fit well in my hand because of its size but I seriously had no idea about how it would recoil. After struggling to find focus with my eyes, I pulled the trigger. It was quite a bit off the bulls-eye but it actually struck the target. I was surprised. I know for a fact that I don't really have a steady hand (which I found out while taking photographs in low light with higher exposure), but this really surprised me. The rest of the shots were all pretty decent for a first timer. Then came the cowboy gun which was by far, the best suited gun I fired that day. My shots were so damn consistent and so close to target that I wondered if this was some kind of magic. Of course the magic wears off eventually.

The .45 was so heavy and powerful for my hands that I managed to get some shots on the paper but no where near target. One of them actually struck Jim's paper target and a couple of them just missed everything. Whoa! I was plain horrible. Meanwhile, Jim was doing an excellent job with his practice. That wasn't unexpected anyway.

Then came the rifles. I had a struggle with finding a good position to rest my arms for stability. Also the rifle was so long that I couldn't get it to fit between my hands and shoulder. It kept slipping away. After some adjustments here and there, I found a balance and had my go. Because of the supports, my aim was much better than just holding the gun up without support. These recoils were a little more scary because the face is so close to the rifle. But I had fun nonetheless.

After a satisfactory amount of shooting, we decided to call it. My ears were still ringing with the sound of the shots, so I thought I had enough too. I some guys firing .45 automatics at blinding speeds and the sound was just deafening. I wouldn't dare stare up or down the barrel of that gun.

Overall, it was a fun day that gave me an opportunity to do something I never did before in my life. I don't know how often I would be able to do this, but I would definitely love to do more of, Breathe, Aim, FIRE!

650 Feet Underground!!

July was probably my most fun filled month ever in my life. 5th July, just a day after good fun with fireworks, was another long, tiring and fun day. We planned out a small trip to Hutchinson a town about an hour's drive from Wichita. This was the second time we were going to Hutchinson to visit a 'famous' tourist attraction. Hutchinson is tiny, but it's got enough to force you to go a second time..

This time we were taking a tour deep into the Earth. One hell of a scary place if there's no lighting and ventilation! We were going to the famous Hutch Salt Mines where Salt is extracted, mostly for Industrial purposes. Though it's still an active mine, there's an actual Museum and Storage Vault 650 feet underground.

After the short drive, we bought tickets that included a "dark ride". Just moments after entering the lobby at ground level, we did really have a proper dark ride. And I'm talking about "absolute" darkness. There was not a speck of light. Suddenly in this kind of darkness we feel a kind of emptiness though we know there are lots of people standing around us. Once we got to the level we were supposed to get off, the scary sounding elevators opened and we moved on.

The view was close to what I expected and actually better. The floor was flat and done with some kind of a salt-sand mixture. I'm not very sure what that was. The walls were rough and jagged and had beautiful layers. Typical Earth-clock that shows how each era passed layer after layer.. freeze-unfreeze.

We had a guide that kept describing some of the 'phenomena' that would occur this deep down. It was all very interesting. There was a certain patch of darker rock that strangely looked like a sea horse. That was the closest resemblance to any kind of life in such a salt-filled world. Obviously, it wasn't a fossil. Just a random shape that co-incidentally looked like a sea-horse.

The museum was built into the mine or the mine was converted to a museum.. whatever. We came across some of the 'tools' the miners use. 'Tools' is very inappropriate in terms of size. Mega-tools maybe.

As we moved on, we found rock samples that had different compositions. The rest of the displays were pretty general for basic understanding of the Earth's history and evolution.

We finally came to the more interesting part of the tour. An entire Underground Storage Vault that preserved some important stuff for the country. Original drawings, movie costumes (like the ones from Superman, Batman, Charlie's Angels, etc..) and original film roles. Apparently the moisture content here was good enough to preserve these pieces for ages to come. And most importantly, they were free from most natural disasters that occur on the surface. And I don't think an earthquake would occur in the middle of kansas.. just assuming.

Then came the 'Dark Ride'. We hopped onto a small motorized train that was driven by one of the miners. He took us deeper into the mine where there was no lighting. Once again, if not for the train's headlamps, the darkness was absolute. No leaking light anywhere. We were shown how the earth constantly moves inch by inch and how the 40 foot wide pillars the miners left untouched to avoid roof-falls would slowly compress.

We saw and collected more samples and finally got back into the light. There was some interesting merchandise for which I was in no mood to spend. So we made it straight back out and 650 feet up to ground level.

Once out, we wasted no time in finding a restaurant and Bogey's it was. After a typical American lunch, we headed back home. The short drive back was sleepy and tiring. Once I got home, the day was done for good!

July 4th Special

The whole week just came alive everywhere around me. It was the week of July 4th. I got all kinds of crazy deals by mail. Especially the ones from the Guitar Center were just mouth-watering. It was the week of celebration. By the 2nd of July, things got really moving. It was a new experience to see another country celebrate their Independence, their way.

On the 2nd, we went to a local fair called the Bradley Fair, where there was a live band performing and was accompanied by super-awesomely timed fireworks. We only managed to catch the last 10 minutes of it, but those 10 minutes were the most intense ones. The sky just lit up all over and there were reflections of the fireworks on the calm lake waters just ahead of us. The whole feeling was just... different and the experience, mind-blowing. All the other people, who came in for a nice evening with lawn chairs and food, were applauding the stunning display of light and sound in the sky.

But that was only the 2nd. Then came 4th of July. The real day when everyone tried to push the limits of the State Law regarding fireworks. While most of the fireworks give similar results to stuff I've seen in India all my life during Diwali, there were some really crazy and wild ones and some really silly ones too. Not to forget some awesome ones! Damn, some were not even legal! I had crazy fun that night, mostly watching and taking photographs of the wide array of fireworks that were being shot up into the sky. There were waterproof fireworks which we would drop into a bucket of water and that would explode sending out a big splash of water.. and the ones that went up into the sky were simply mindblowing. Ofcourse fireworks are a pretty expensive affair too..

Overall, it was a great evening, watching and clicking fireworks on the 4th of July. It felt like new found Freedom, looking up into the night sky and being amazed by bursts of light..

Flying in a Stearman!!

I still feel so excited to post this. Well, here it goes!

It was June 19th and I accepted a sudden invitation to visit Jim's house. I was expecting the day to be quite a lazy one with some swimming and then relaxing in front of the TV. There was another Indian family visiting so there was quite some stuff going in the house. On the way he told me something that made my stomach do a internal flip. He told me that later that afternoon, we'd be going to check out some private owned aircraft and possible even get a ride on one of them. He told me about this before but I didn't expect it to come so quickly and so unexpectedly.

Trying to keep my excitement in control, I let the day go by. I went bicycling out in the sun for a few miles and it was fun. The almost unlimited combination of gear settings helped me well against the constant 10-15mph wind. After lunch, we had a session of watching a recorded show of the top 25 moments of MythBusters. And then, finally came the moment I was really waiting for. It was time to get movin' to get flyin'!

It was in a small airport in a small town called Benton. The airport was easily the smallest and most accessible I ever saw. The parking lot was quite literally inside. Step out of the car, step onto the grass and you're already a few meters from the runway. We casually walked around looking for Jim's friend who was no where to be seen. We accidentally gate-crashed into a private party that was being held in one of the hangars. We came across some exotic antique cars, planes and helicopters and I wanted to take photos of everything. Among the antiques, there were also some modern Camaros, Carreras and Aerobatic planes, gliders and stuff. There was just too much to take in.

After long walks up and down the runway in the extreme heat, we still couldn't find Jim's friend. There was a rock band playing outside a bar and we even looked inside to see if he was there. Finally after a long wait the stearman flew in. It landed just a few meters away and it was quite spectacular to watch. After the plane taxied, we could meet him at last. It was a little disappointing to hear him say he was almost done for the day. He wanted to take some of his family members out into the sky and end the day. Jim and I just hung around watching the smoke fly-bys and taking bursts of photos. After 2 rides, we realized he was done for the day.

But suddenly, he pointed straight at me and pointed into the empty seat in the cockpit! For a second I was like, "You're Kidding!" But he wasn't! Jim urged me forward and said, "Here's your chance". Unable to believe my luck, I went forward. I got into the leather head gear and got buckled to the seat. I had to receive a few instructions on not to step on or hold any of the delicate fabric made wings. Of course the main thing was not to touch any of the controls in the cockpit. I was sitting in the front cockpit and Randy (the pilot) was sitting behind me. Within seconds, we taxied onto the runway and off we went. The noise of the wind was almost drowning the sound of the engine. The moment we took off, the ground just disappeared under me. The take-off speed was much lower than usual commercial aircraft so there was no feeling of everything draining out of the head. Or maybe I was too excited to notice that! The view was amazing! The green fields and an unobstructed view of the horizon. I felt like I was flying free. The lack of any barriers or noise insulation just made the whole thing 10 times more exciting.

I'm getting into the seat carefully

Once in the air, he tapped me on my elbow and did a thumbs up asking me if I was ok with continuing. Is that even a question to ask? Of course I wanted to go on. And I did a healthy thumbs up to say go on as long as you can. I tried taking pictures with my camera but just couldn't hold it up. Inspite of both hands supporting the camera, I was still struggling to hold it in place. The drag my hands were experiencing was just too much. 80mph is not really an easy speed to hold hands out. At one instance, I got distracted and almost had the camera slipping out of my hands. Luckily I held on. By this time, I switched to video shooting mode to see how it would come out.

My view from the cockpit of the Stearman

And this went on for just 5 minutes. We were making simple trips around the airport and releasing occasional smoke for some effect. Soon we were descending and lining up with the runway. Everything was so undramatic. Very unlike the usual commercial jets that take hours to taxi and prepare for take off and follow similar procedures for landing, regarding altitudes and rate of descent. One second we were many hundreds of feet in the air and next second we almost touching the ground, the grass rather. The approach was undramatic again and I held on to my camera recording the whole sequence. I could feel some bounces during touch down but I never really cared. My camera was still running while we were taxiing. I was still very excited even after coming to a rest and getting ready to get off the wonderful ride.

After experiencing the 5 minutes of ups and downs and swerving and maneuvering, I suddenly felt the ground a little too stationary. First I bumped my head into the upper wing on the biplane configuration while getting down. Later I found I wasn't walking straight and steady. There was a little disorienting feeling while walking. So all the weird feelings came to me on the ground, not while in the air. Maybe that's a hint that I belong in the air..! I wish... After giving some big handshakes and thank yous, we finally headed out.

Anyway, I also noticed my lips were stuck on a wide smile even 10 minutes after it was all over. We went to a gas station to buy an energy drink because of all the dehydrating heat around. In my case, I used it to calm me down. I was so excited that the energy drink actually brought my activity/adrenaline levels a little lower. I finally settled down in the passenger seat still thinking about those 5 minutes.

After getting back, we had dinner and it was time for me to end the day. Clearly, I wasn't ready to end it. I knew I'd have trouble sleeping and it was true. Jim dropped me home and I couldn't hold my excitement narrating all the events of the day. After spending hours going through the photos and videos and showing them to friends, uploading them on social networks, I managed to settle down to sleep. That was when I realised how tired I actually was and ended up sleeping like a log..

Welcome Back!

I know, it's been really really long that I posted. Probably the first time I went more than a month without posting. I don't know what to blame it on. The best guess would be Laziness! As simple as that. After getting used to 'micro-blogging' the need for posting novels, spending hours at a stretch seems pointless. But I actually like this. I hope I do continue posting here and not leave this blog to rot...

Well, to recap some of the things that happened after that last post talking about the end of the semester, I have a pretty small list of things to say.

First of all, the semester did end! Exactly a month back. May 18 was the last exam I wrote Space Dynamics which I thought I screwed up pretty bad but ended up getting an A- grade in the subject and boosting my GPA to 3.33. Not so great I know. But for a first timer in a particularly strict Aerospace Department, I think I did well. After that, it's just been empty. Practically empty.

The holidays came and are still here. But I'm in just the same position as I was a month back. Probably worse considering my financial situation which is going out of hand day by day. The most horrible set back came just a few days back when I unwillingly accepted to block a Statistics course for someone I didn't know. Story went like this - I took the course, and didn't know what was going on or who was taking it. So I dropped it. Next day a friend comes to me and asks why I dropped it. I say, I don't know who I was blocking it for in the first place. After a week, I find my University balance to have lost $182. Why? I lose $17 for registering a course (don't matter if I dropped it later), and another $165 for Health Insurance for the Summer Semester! Thank you very much. Just the thing I asked for in the summer. Everyone talks about finding part-time jobs and refilling their pockets. Mine on the other hand went dry.

And now, among things so miserable, I still find myself going out and eating happily like nothing ever happened, not caring that the bank balance is slowly heading towards a Void.

Thankfully, there are a few good things that are happening around me. My guitar, my Savior is playing a huge role in keeping me Awake and Alive (too hooked to Skillet or what???). Hanging out with Jim, my friend from the American Friend Program, has always been quite an enjoyable experience. Meeting up almost every week, eating new stuff, hanging out at the pool, discussing just about anything all day long, watching movies, talking all about Photography, Graphic Design and any other creative art, right down to routing my guitar through an iMac's Garage Band into a mixer and then into my Amp to try different effects... all this despite an age-gap of almost 4 decades!! It's all been a pretty awesome experience for me. Learning the American life, the American way...

Well, that's what my life is about right now. Highs and Lows. Just the same as my life had always been, but in a different place. If I don't learn it now, I never will...

Er.. End of Semester!

Yeah. It's a little hard to believe the fact that the first semester of my Master's program has already come close to closing. It still feels like yesterday that I started a completely new life in a new country with a new environment, and the first semester is already done! Am I supposed to say I've learned enough to know how to exist all by myself now that I've lived through a semester here? I doubt that.

January was when it all started and it's only been 4 months now and according to plan, I should have been all settled and comfortable by now. But in reality, I'm still getting used to a lot of things. Its quite true that I've learned certain things too quickly, for example Cooking! And also living alone! Both of these, I've never ever done in my life before. I suddenly jumped into a life of being away from family, having to cook for myself, but I've caught on very fast. That's something I didn't expect from myself.

Suddenly I'm staring at 2 months of absolute freedom in which I have no idea what to do. Not managing to land a job on campus sucks big time! This summer is really a huge waste of time as there are no summer classes for me to choose from either!

Anyway, that brings this uninteresting post to and end. Started this a long time back and left the draft pending till I had the patience and interest to get back to it. When I regain some interest, I'll be back...

Treasure in the Middle of Nowhere

Ever since I heard of it, I've been desperate to go to the Kansas Cosmosphere Space Center. Finally one good looking Friday, I got the chance after Jim invited me to go with him. I was able to convince Chaky into coming with me. The 'convincing' part was pretty easy because he was just as interested as me to go there. So off we went on the Friday during the Spring Break.

The place where its located is called Hutchinson, about an hour from Wichita. The ride was good and once we reached the place, I could see 2 tall rockets sticking up around the building. The excitement in me doubled. Finally we entered the 'small' looking building. The moment I entered, I was dumbstruck.

It was hanging right there in front of me. The aircraft that I read so much about. The aircraft I admired so much because of the amount of technology that was put into it at a time like the 1970's. The aircraft that could travel at 3 times the speed of sound and is still the fasted manned aircraft. An Aerospace Engineer's dream, the SR-71 Blackbird. A few months back, I never thought of actually seeing this aircraft up so close. "I'm pretty sure the surviving models won't be anywhere near where I'm gonna stay in the US", I thought.

But here it was. Right in the middle of the Mid-West where everyone thinks there's nothing here. I found pure pleasure in moving my hand across the smooth 'carbon-fiber feel' exterior of the aircraft. The material felt like it could break with a punch. This material resisting pressure-waves and high temperatures at Mach 3 was a little hard to think of. After a huge photo session to make sure I covered every possible angle of the aircraft, I moved on with the others to see the rest of the stuff in the museum, some of which were more precious and prestigious than the SR-71.

There was a model of the Space Shuttle Endeavor which merged itself into the building and made way for the stairs and escalator. Half way between the Ground floor and the next level, we stand on what's supposed to be the wing of the shuttle. Felt pretty cool to look all the way down to the nose from the wing area to understand the size of the shuttle. Also the backview of the SR-71 was cool from this location.

Another plane hanging from the ceiling in the front hall was a so-called "Astronaut's Sportscar". It was like the personal ride for the astronauts who had a pilot's license and were not currently in space. Cool!

As we moved underground, treasure and treasure kept popping onto us. There was a complete room dedicated to the 'famous' German V-2 Rockets - more or less the foundation to modern rockets. The stories behind these Buzz bombs, V2s and other Cold War stories were just great to listen to. I wondered why all this wasn't so interesting when I was learning History in School.

The space capsules, real ones that flew and came back, were just mind blowing. The space inside to sit or rather 'lie down' was just so narrow that I would find it hard to fit in myself, being so thin! Again the stories of the Astronauts who struggled through these difficult phases of Space Exploration and made it all possible, were just awesome. After checking out a models of the Lunar Lander and the famous Soyuz-Apollo project, we came to the end of the museum. What an experience it was. Liberal amounts of knowledge was flowing into the brain. I was so full that I was hungry!

We took a few more pictures of the SR-71 and soon moved out into the cold! It was a warm bright day when we started and chilly and rainy when we stepped out. There was a prediction of snowfall by midnight (it actually came sooner than that!).

We came to Wichita and stopped at a restaurant called Passage to India. After nearly 3 months, I was tasting proper Indian food (Americanized of course!). Chicken Pakodas, Meat Samosa, (Cheese+Ginger+Butter) Naans, Chicken Tikka Masala, and some rice. Ah. That was quite a good meal but as expected there was a definite lack of flavour and spice in spite of asking for the spiciest available dishes.

That was 'supper' at 6:30PM. Felt weird as I am pretty much used to 10PM-12PM dinners. And finally we came back home and immediately it was time to upload pictures all over the network to 'let people know'.

In the end, a great day and a great experience. A perfect qualification for a blog post. That's why it's here. And I'm outta here..

Break Time!

Phew! I finally got some time to post. It's slowly coming down to a post a month. A pretty bad record considering the fact that I started off with almost 20 a month. Anyway, Spring Break is here, and I finally am getting to look around me, feel myself to make sure I'm ok, and know things. The last month was pretty hectic. Hectic enough to make me come to a point of throwing my hands up in defeat. The innumerable number of assignments and exams that I had really brought me to the edge of my patience. Somehow, I held on and lived through it.

The results weren't good enough in spite of working extra hard. What I did in the last 2 months, had I done in the last 4 years, I would have been guaranteed a Gold Medal in the University.. heck!

Anyway, after all that books and studies and silence, I finally got to stretch my wings before Spring Break (March 6th). A trip to Ponca City, Oklahoma was the exact antidote to my brain filled with Aerodynamics Relations and Orbital Mechanics. The trip was fun, and I had a real pleasure time looking at the vast expanse of endless land of Mid-Western America. It was also the first time I was stepping out of Kansas, and Wichita for that matter. After setting foot in Chicago, Illinois, I never saw another city or town or state. So this was quite an eventful trip.

Just when Spring Break was just about to start (March 10th), I had the next big thing of my life. A GUITAR! After almost 2 weeks of confusion and tough decision making, I decided to buy an Ibanez Metal Guitar Jumpstart Package. Just about the right thing that I needed in a new country filled with music of my favourite genre. From then on, its just been a breeze, playing around the frets of the guitar and having some real good time. My friend Jim infact had his new Apple Mac Desktop installed and we had a blast connecting the guitar to the amp through the Mac's pre-installed Garage Band's FX modules. What great fun it was! Overall, half of my Spring Break has already gone in spending time with the new guitar, highly addictive as it is.

Hopefully this week will end with me paying a visit to the Kansas Comsmosphere (something we've been postponing from a long time!). This is a museum where an actual SR-71 Blackbird is hung from the ceiling. Ever since I heard of that, I've been highly impatient to visit that place. If this saturday works out, I'll get to see some really cool NASA junk and the retired "Fastest Manned Plane on Earth". Finger crossed tightly for this one!

That's all for the wrap on the last one month. Hope there's lots more exciting stuff to come in the future, and I hope I get back to blogging a little more seriously!

Memory Lane

Damn, I almost forgot I maintain a blog. After a month, I suddenly was reminded that it exists and its rotting! Just to silence the silence, I came back to post something. Something about nothing. Lots of things happen around me, and yet nothing's worth posting. Or maybe its the other way round. Everything is so highly worth posting that my brain isn't enough to store all the sights and sounds that I'm currently experiencing. I've already forgotten the names of stuff I ate outside, and the places I visited. By the time I get the idea to post about something, something more happens and I wait for a little more time, or that memory simply disappears from the memory. The endless loop went on and on till today when I finally found some time to post.

Its about nothing! Really. True, I'm traveling around a lot. Seeing new things. Experiencing new cultures. Making new friends. Hmm, sounds like a lot? But really, it's all been nothing. When I look back, nothing big really happened. Maybe the tolerance level that a certain event could qualify for a post on the blog has turned strict. Back home, a visit to a computer store would make it to the blog. And now, I visited one of my favourite stores on Earth, the Guitar Center, and yet I didn't bother posting!?! That was after I made it a point on the blog to visit the store! Tolerance level definitely very strict.

Every exam in college would make an appearance here. And I just completed 2 very difficult exams, one of which I screwed so badly, I feel like pulling all my hair out, and yet it didn't make it here. Not before now at least!

Every time I went out to eat (family or friends), I would make it a point to put it in here. In the last month, I went out so many times, saw new Restaurants and Bars and Clubs(ex. Buffalo Wild Wings, Denny's, Hooters, 2 Bros BBQ, etc.) in Wichita, liked them, but never bothered to post it before this.

So nothing really big happened. But all that posted above did happen. So I think I'm the bad judge here who couldn't decide what was worth posting and what wasn't.

But then, there's one thing that's actually worth posting. I took part in this program called American Family friend, and was matched with this really nice family that has kept my weekends alive. Last weekend's BBQ lunch buffet was excellent. For once, I tried proper American food, something I didn't do justice to every since I landed here. Learning new cultures first hand, rather that reading it about in some book turned about to be quite interesting. Probably the biggest discussions relate to food, but then lots of other things crop up and time just passes by over a plate of lunch or dinner. On a recent visit to the family's house I spent such a long time there that my friends actually got worried what happened to me. And an upcoming event that I'm really really looking forward to is the Kansas Cosmosphere where an actual SR-71 Blackbird is suspended from the ceiling. Ah! Somebody take me there!

As for experience, I think the rather long story, which actually promised that there was nothing, ends here. I hope to come back to post as soon as possible.

Leaking Money Week

Ah! What a week I had. Crazy is a small word for it. And all this suddenly makes me wish (can't believe this is the 10th time I'm saying this!) I can revert my life back 4 years to join in as an undergrad student.

It started off with the start of the semester with subjects I only had a vague idea about, particularly after giving a major pause to studies. The classes go on as usual and there's lots of notes to jot down, lots of things to listen to (unlike the monotonous classes I experienced for 4 years!), and lots of things to finish up before and after class (unlike the previous 4 years again!). While that threatened to keep me busy all the time, I did manage to find a few elements of what we call 'fun'.

Phew! Thanks to an Indian-born friend who wanted to check out the city just like us and he had a car thankfully! I was surprised at how difficult it is to do small things without a car. Finally after nearly 10 days of sitting at home and doing nothing, I entered Wichita like a visitor. A bright eyed visitor who wanted to absorb every sight that came his way. We weaved our way through the downtown areas, the old town areas and stuff. The weaving and wandering was mainly because we were constantly getting lost. We didn't have the GPS system in the car and we had to find our way with phone conversations and stuff.

What I observed was, the buildings are pretty damn old and they were all sending out some kind of a historical message. The effect was there. The medium tall buildings standing out with quite some exquisite modern designs all surrounded by these majestic old buildings. It was a nice sight to watch. Like a blessing in disguise, we got lost almost everytime we went out. I had to keep referring back to the maps and find our way out (it was possible to find our way because it wasn't India). Every time we were lost, we found places and new roads and how they connected back to where we wanted to go. As of now, the only place I'm dying to walk into is the Guitar Center!!

On another note, roaming around at night inside the safety of the car was definitely fun but sometimes scary! After the snow fell, the roads gave up what we call in Physics, "Friction". We were slipping and sliding around everywhere and one of the skids was a little too dangerous when we fish-tailed during a turn, and once more when we er.. came sliding down an exit ramp. Scary!

Coming to the main note. Money-Leaking! Ok. Here comes the bad part. Wanna have fun, keep cash. Lots. We went crazy going around town and throwing money here and there (quite literally!). While some basic things are real damn cheap, food just bores a hole through the pocket! As far as I could count, the prospect of dinner outside always ended up with us returning with half empty pockets.

So this week, money went down the drain like soap water. Money leaking at its peak. Keeping the hope that the coming weeks, months and years won't leak money this way, I'll sign off...

P.S: Heavily delayed post because high-speed internet access is no good unless you have hours of time to spare with you (writing a post does take time!!)

Mind Maze, The

Hating to wake up every morning. Its a nightmare opening the paper and reading mood-spoiling news. I still do it. I still read it. The sickness sets in immediately. The mind goes into a maze.

What all should I do today? What all can I do today? Can I step onto the street and come back home safely? I'm taking a risk with this one. What if some stupid guy draped in 'pink' misses his shopping-mall-window-pane target and breaks my head with a stone? What if I meet a friend on the road and some cop comes and arrests us for forming a 'group' on the road? What is happening to the city I only just began to explore and love?

I gotta buy some stuff. I gotta get some vaccinations done. I need to rush to the bank to finish up the financial stuff. I need to meet my friends before I leave the country. I need to meet relatives/family. I need to step outside home for all this. When do I do all this? Life cannot afford to go out of gear because of some stupid 'pink' guys who are lead by lying Pinocchios with noses so big that the point is way too obvious!

I go out to buy stuff. I go get my vaccinations done. I reach the bank amid all worries about closing... oh! And the bank is another whole new problem at hand. We have these 'bankers' to deal with! The T issue is nothing before this. Applying for a loan for the first time? Aha! Enjoy the ride of your life! You ask what documents you gotta bring to finish up the process, and they lazily say, "Ah! Your usual visa, passport copies, stamps, BURP! (no "excuse me" follows), and yeah.. that's it". And you go there the next day with the required documents and the lady at a counter gives you a letter and says, "Get a Rs.10000 registrar stamp on this". Bam! They mention docs but not the money? And here comes the tighter slap. She gives me a draft with recipient as the bank itself and the value on that? "Rs 1,21,583 /-" "Pay that downstairs and come back now". NOW? What do you think I'd carry that amount in my pocket and walk around??? That 'simple' thing cost us a whole day.. how very appropriate when time's happily running out! The next day, another bandh. Tell me something new...

These frustrations piled up so bad, my head got jammed for a few hours! I entered the mind maze. Trying to find a way out. Every turn seemed to lead me only deeper and deeper in but never out. The walls were getting higher, darker and creepier. The self-confidence was ebbing. It was matter of holding on to the last fragments of confidence.

Somehow I held on and things got clearer. Some quick calculations led us to understand why we were expected to pay that amount in the first place. What lessons for first timers!

Reached the end of the maze at least! The cup was there, gleaming in the darkness. Is this another Harry Potter plot? Will this portkey transport me to a darker, creepier, more dangerous place after all this struggle i went through? I just hope not. But it may well be so.. only the next year will tell...

Head First into Water

Right from as far as my memory could go, my bony structure always faced crazy criticisms and advices to improve. I tried my hand at the gym but didn't like the atmosphere there and decided to quit inspite of many attempts to not giving up. Funnily, despite leaving my body without exercise and spending all day 'on the couch' watching TV or on the computer desk, I never managed to build up any kind of fat. Infact I hardly changed in about 4 years which is weird for a 21 year old. Though that's an okay in some ways, the lack of exercise simply made me so lethargic that I realised I was crossing my own tolerable limits of laziness.

Suddenly Chakradhar's brain performed its odd-time genius thinking and he suggested swimming. I felt like that was the thing missing in my life right now, like I was forgetting something and he mentioned it now. We flew into action and within a few days, we managed to get ourselves into a morning batch of learners.

Today was my first day and it was good fun. The coach just asked us to paddle holding the rods attached the the walls. After about 30 min of paddle-break-paddle-break pattern, we moved out. It was fun, and I think the biggest secret to learning to swim is to get rid of the fear and relaxing the body-tension. Infact Chakradhar (who once had an incident when he nearly drowned twice on the same day) suddenly attempted to swim a few meters and actually did it. It was a tad messy, but he did it on the first day itself. That was commendable stuff I thought.

One issue though is, we took this up at a time when the weather is starting to get cold. And the timing is early in the morning at 6. Hope we don't fall sick just because of our determination to move our bodies out of the bed. We did have some shivering in the first few minutes, unable to accept the cold. In a way, I thought it was a good thing we were going early in the morning. Once the sun rises, the water on the body evapourates more quickly, leading to more shivering and the temp difference inside and outside could be higher.

Anyway, that should be the end for now. If i do make any noticeable progress, I'll post again.

One Down, How Many More To Go?

Finally, the countdown has officially started. It’s already become ancient, the fact that most of the students who complete college in India, move out because of the so-called ‘lack of quality education’. Like most of my friends have decided to study abroad, I’ve joined the same pack of wolves.

 

Some of my class-mates have already left and more are on the way, but the one that concerned me most was Yaseen’s. We expected to Sudershan to leave this August, but apparently, some glitches held him back and now suddenly he has a job that he loves to do. The next one in the line was Yaseen who was planning to land in Manchester for higher education. He successfully completed the process and finally decided to leave on the 24^th which was a Thursday. I wanted to meet him a last time for the send-off and made up my mind to make it to the airport on Thursday. Raj and Chakradhar were also willing to come and so the plan was to start off from my home in my car.

 

It was the first time I was going to the airport after it was relocated at Shamshabad. And to top it off, it was the first time I was driving to such a far off place. Quite a few ‘firsts’ happened on that day. He wanted us to be there by 7:15AM so we took off by 6:00 at my house, not expecting what kind of roads and traffic we could probably experience. It was a pleasant drive, mostly hovering around the speed of a comfortable 70Kmph. The roads were fine thanks to the early morning drive. And though the boards put up by the Government in Habsiguda say 30KM to the airport, it was a good 40KM by the time we reached there. And it did take a full hour to travel. It was 7:00 AM when we entered and just waited till he came. He stepped in nearly at 8:00 and it felt foolish to have waited a whole hour just for nothing. Anyway, after he came, it was time for some quick traditional Muslim style goodbyes and he was off through the doors. Finally it set in. One down, but how many more to go?

 

With that thought hovering in our heads, we made our way to the small McDonald’s outlet at the airport for a quick bite. And soon, we were heading back. The one peculiar thing I noticed was the quality of construction work inside and just outside the airport. After exiting NH7 and entering under the welcome arch, I noticed a sudden change in the way the wheels were rolling. It suddenly got very smooth. I had no hesitation in pushing beyond 100 Kmph cuz I was sure the road ahead was definitely obstacle free. And I felt the same on the way back. After doing a smooth 4 KM of the exit, I reached the trumpet interchange that merged into NH7 and bam! Bad quality! The small elevated way that joined the exit of the airport road to the Highway was in stark contrast to the road we just left. It was so blatantly clear that I couldn’t believe it. The ride became bumpy and there was too much noise from the wheels. And the worst fear of all is that the new elevated expressway that’s opening shortly might as well turn out to be as bumpy as this. And if it does, its going to be a 11+ KM noisy, bumpy ride. Lets just hope that won’t be the case.

 

After getting home, these guys were in a mood for more. They wanted to watch a movie now. And off we went again. This time, into the city. GVK One. I expected a few more stalls to open up but didn’t find much of a change compared to last time. We had to waste 2 hours before getting into the movie and this we used up by roaming around and filling up with KFC. The movie was Wanted with Salman Khan as the star. I never imagined in my life that I would end up watching a Salman Khan movie in theatre. I lived through the hours yawning and sighing, hoping that people would stop whistling and shouting every time he delivered punch line. Clearly, the audience was in love. After all the endurance, I was happy to be out into the brightness and reality.

 

Once home, I realised how tired I was. Waking up at 5:30 AM was something I didn’t do in almost an year. Adding more than 100KM of driving to that had disastrous potential. I succumbed to it and fell asleep.

 

Desert Roads

Sunday is supposed to be the most relaxing and comforting day of the week. Or maybe I thought so, because this Sunday was entirely different. It was filled with a strange sequence of uplifting highs and madly frustrating lows.

 

Like a deceiving monster, it started off on a good note. I met up with friends I didn’t meet for a long time. For the first time in almost 2 years, my whole group of six friends from college could meet at once. Every other time, someone or the other ended up missing the get-together. This meet was special. Yaseen was ready to leave for Manchester in a few days and we wanted to see him one last time. And thankfully, everyone showed up (at least for sometime). We all met at AlleyGator and chilled out for a few hours. It was fun. Fun after so many days of boredom and lonely days at home. After Yaseen’s plan was settled, it was Sudershan’s turn to stun us. He managed to get himself a job that dealt with the high-end Dell XPS system. Apparently, he was absolutely loving his job and seemed very excited about narrating it to us. All in all, the afternoon went well. We were satisfied that the 6 friends who stuck together for 4 years had a last chance to meet up and chill.

 

Time flew by very fast and though I was supposed to be home by 3:00 PM, I only got home at 4. There was a party to attend. A birthday party of a 60 year old man who recently became a relative. We were supposed to pick up a cake (not exactly on the way!) and then reach the party. I got the car out and was nearly ready to move out of the gate when my watchman shouted for me to stop. He noticed that the right-rear tyre was completely flat. I was shocked. I leaped out and placed my hand near the nozzle. Cold air was still gushing out. The puncture happened just seconds ago. I couldn’t believe my bad/good luck.

 

Bad because my family had nearly 50KM of travel today and the tyre went flat leaving us stranded and car-less! ‘Good’ because the tyre flattened before I even left the house gate. If this same thing happened somewhere in between a flyover, I would have been ready to jump off the flyover out of frustration.

 

I hastily parked the car back and ran to get an auto. Ah! Here starts the trouble. The famous Hyderabad autos! Well known for their rash driving, ignorance of the law and tampered meters that run at double speed, this one was no different. This auto was fully-loaded with the above mentioned features and when we told the driver of our plan, he must have thanked the heavens for hitting Jackpot. We were supposed to go to Thirumulgherry to collect a cake and then to Banjara Hills for the party. My mood was so off that inspite of spotting a huge number of exotic cars on the road, my spirits couldn’t lift. My sullen face said it all. We had to fork out about Rs. 250 (I can easily do 2 complete trips to the airport and back with 250) for the whole travel and we knew we would have to pay much much more than that while returning because it would be late in the night.

 

The party was okay and kinda improved my mood. There were a few fun games for the married couples and I had to time them. Sounds like fun right? Yeah I know…. Sigh…

 

The dinner was good (again!) though I couldn’t force myself to eat much. It was way too late to find autos on the road and that kept me on the verge of leaving ASAP. Finally when it was past 11, we stepped out and the scene was just as I expected.

 

Deserted Roads!

 

Not exactly what one would call ‘deserted’ though. They were deserted for stranded people but they were heaven for people with adrenaline rushes and an exotic car at disposal. Only an occasional vehicle would zip by at blinding speed and we were even scared to cross the road. What else could one expect at KBR Park road? It was a hub for street-style racing before the Outer Ring Road came and it still bore signs of those high-speed days. Not a soul was present anywhere. And the only moving objects visible were Porsche Cayennes, Audi Q7s etc. In a dramatic movie-style, one couldn’t even ask for a lift. Probably the Cayenne owner would zoom past so fast that he would never know of people walking down the pavement hoping to find a means of transport. Finally when we reached an intersection of sorts, we found an auto. And this one turned out to be meter-less! The driver though was a nice guy and agreed to ‘transport’ us. We were literally ready to pay anything for that! In the end I thought we kinda underpaid him because, he practically pulled us out of a desert and he was a Muslim who was supposed to be preparing for the big day, Eid the next day. He deserved a lot more than a mere 150 bucks. But I was too tired to think any more about this and quickly retired to bed reflecting on the fluctuating day.

 

Met with friends, a high. Tyre punctured, a low. Fun at the party, a high. Stranded in Banjara Hills at midnight, a nightmare!.

 

Dreamless Sleep, the Ultimate High!!

Shock of the Lightning

Contd. from prev post again...

Ah! What a great last week. I had a good break in Vizag for the first time in like 3-4 months. Still craving for more, I reluctantly came back home (26th Aug). But once inside home, I truly realised what all I missed for a week. I wanted to catch up on everything. My friends. My e-mails. My social networking accounts. My BLOG. The EPL matches. The Formula One updates. Everything. I was bluntly cut off from all this and I had a lot of catching up to do. All this lightened my mood and I felt good that I came home at last. And then, The Big Shock.

Time and again, certain things have gone horribly wrong when I was away from home. The reasons? Not something connected to my going out. Just a strange twist of fate!

This time, my joy of being back home lasted about 3 minutes. The moment I stepped in, I rushed to my system only to find out the display was in a weird dulled colour. I couldn't understand the problem. There was a dull reddish patch near the centre of the screen which puzzled me even more. When I asked my mom about this, the reply just left me like a person who lost all his life's belongings in a single go.

Apparently, just the previous day (25th Aug) there was a huge explosion about 4-5 Kilometers from my home and my house people say they heard it like it happened in the next street. They assumed that it was a Lightning Bolt that hit very close by. But the newspapers said there was an acid barrel that leaked and exploded. The moment the blast/lightning occurred, my system that was running got turned off and later refused to show anything on the screen. And at the same time, the set-top-box connected to the TV also weirdly stopped showing any display. Only audio was being heard. And weirdest of all, nothing else happened in any other neighbouring house.

All this left me dazed for sometime. So basically I go out for a week and come back to find that I have no computer or TV to spend time with. Though the monitor was displaying some colour, it was very hard to 'work' on the system for more than half and hour. The dull colours were too cold to handle. And to add salt to the injury, I found out that the LAN card stopped working. I made an attempt to dig in, searching for the hardware on the device manager and was shocked to find no ethernet card there. The whole network connection was just wiped out. Moreover, I found water leaking out of the internet cable. Ah! It was like the whole world tried to act against me. I was stuck in a situation where nothing would fall back into place on its own. I had to do it, I was the only one who could bring things back. I just kept my head to myself for the rest of day with the help of a novel and let the time pass by as quickly as it could.

And so it started the next day. I first got the lan card replaced and had a long wait before the internet guys reset my account so that it could be accessed. By the end of the day I had access to internet, which brought me some relief. We take so many things for granted, for example, being connected to the rest of the world. When that connection is suddenly lost, we are lost. After some thorough checking with another monitor and cable, I found that my graphic card was spoilt. This was sad news because getting this done would take days. And getting the set-top box repaired was another mystery I didn't wanna solve just as yet.

On Saturday I stepped out with the Monitor and CPU in the hope that nothing else turned out to be spoilt. When I got it checked, the graphic card was found faulty and by a strange twist of fate, it was 1 day past it's warranty period. Something like the card was expecting the 11 months to get over soon, and stole the first chance to get spoilt. And the monitor was found to be ok. But I wanted to get rid of the bulky CRT and go for the sleek LCD (something I should have done 2-3 years back). I was just waiting for the CRT to get spoilt so that I could buy an LCD but the CRT just refused to do so. It's been 5 years and the CRT worked properly except for a minor repair.

We gave away the fully functional CRT and took an LCD at last, a 19 inch. The moment I bought it, I repented the fact that I didn't take a larger screen. The 19 inch widescreen looked way too small even in front on the 17 inch CRT. Everyone at home is kinda upset that I made one hurried decision. But what's over is over... no point rueing bygone mistakes. The display card was taken away for repair and I would get it back only a week later. So I had to revert back to my on-board display card temporarily.

Finally it looked like most of my system problems were solved. The Graphic card is also on its way back in a few days. But the problematic thing was the set-top box. I just read that ManU defeated Arsenal 2-1, and Fisichella of FORCE INDIA took POLE!! I would have done anything to watch these on TV, but my sad cable never allows for that without a set-top box. I missed an important match and will now miss an exciting Belgian Grand Prix probably because of some stupid explosion miles away, days ago.

And with that, my week is coming to an end. Something to cry about, something else to cheer about. It's just the way good/bad things go in harmony. Look at the bright side of it and stay happy, stay sane...