Maa...

A couple of events spurred this post. One was a conversation with a colleague and the other was a Wall Street Article sent by a friend.

India, Bharat, Hindustan- A land of multiple names, a force of over a billion people. A country steeped in history,culture and traditions. A democracy that is forcing it's way to the top. The land of Gods, from Sages to Gandhi, from M.S.Subbalakshmi to Sachin Tendulkar, if it is talent you are seeking, you are looking at the oh so familiar, vaguely triangular piece of land jutting out from the base of the Asian continent.

As students and now, as working professionals a lot of us squeezed out of the protective arms of our motherland to seek solace elsewhere, but the domestic call has been ringing in our ears. Trends are changing now. The quintessential Indian who opted for the prized Green Card and US citizenship, is now thinking his thoughts through. I have come to know a lot of people who, are returning back home to their motherland...to their roots.

As these events surround me, I wish to present my side of why the Mother's call has been ringing in my ears too! So here goes...

-> I want to get stuck in traffic with horns blaring and mobile shops selling chana
-> I want to walk on Worli sea face with the waves splashing it's misty foam on my face
-> I want to drink filter coffee made by my mother each day before going to work
-> I want people to stare at me awkwardly when I thank them
-> I want to drive a manual transmission vehicle on the "right" side of the road
-> I want use the public transport at wee hours in the night
-> I want to be served food on the flight even if it is only for thirty minutes
-> I want to see "General Stores" which is a one stop Wal-Mart at walking distance from home
-> I want to go to a medical shop and get medicines without hundered forms and prescriptions
-> I want to have official, expired auto insurance and still be able to drive my vehicle
-> I want to have the local mechanic work on my vehicle and charge me a nominal fee
-> I want to drive on Marine Drive and experience freeways right in the heart of the city
-> I want to be able to wear formals to work and have my boss yell at me
-> I want to interact with "don't give a damn" government servants
-> I want to go to my college where the first thing you see is Lord Ganesha
-> I want to use the toilet without toilet paper
-> I want the familar plastic tub and mug to have my bath
-> I want to be able to eat outside beyond midnight
-> I want to take a late night walk around Shivaji park with hundreds of people
-> I want to get directions to a place by asking people on the road
-> I want to use the SI system for measurment
-> I want to see women dressed in Sarees or salwaar kameez
-> I want to go to temples and hear the namaz chants from mosques early in the morning
-> I want to build my furniture thorough carpenters and not assemble it myself
-> I want to see senior citizens discuss current affairs during their morning walk
-> I want to see my kids start their day in school with prayers
-> I want to eat Alphonso mangoes during the summer
-> I want to celebrate festivals with family and relatives
-> I want to see people being driven around
-> I want to go to the beach to eat bhel puri and sandwiches
-> I want to be able to travel by Indian railways in three tier coaches and sleep on the top
-> I want to eat Idli, Vada and chutney served by the Indian railways
-> I want to see my kids hear bedtime stories from their grandparents
-> I want to travel in a double decker bus and sit on the top front row
-> I want to see houses made of bricks and concrete with multiple layers of paint
-> I want to see friends who have known me better than I know myself
-> I want to get up early to stand for hours to see Siddhi Vinayak on Ganesh Chaturthi
-> I want to use sms and missed calls as the main form of communication
-> I want to see Mahatma Gandhi's face on the Indian Rupee note
-> I want to carry more than a thousand rupees in my pocket
-> I want to travel during rush hour in Mumbai local trains
-> I want to send my kids to school in auto rickshaw pools
-> I want to be amidst company that talks about cricket and movies
-> I want to read India Today
-> I want to be able to read The Times Of India whilst having my morning coffee
-> I want to visit orphanages and donate to the needy
-> I want to go to Meenakshi temple and just stare at the beauty of the Goddess
-> I want to seek blessings from temple elephants
-> I want to eat Krishna sweets' Mysore Pauk and Grand sweets' potato chips
-> I want to drive by all the streets and roads that I used to frequent and invoke nostalgia
-> I want to see entertainment programmes in languages that are native to India
-> I want to look at the Bandra Worli sea link from a small street at Shivaji Park
-> I want to go for unplanned, destinationless drives on a motorcycle at night
-> I want to go to Nariman Point and compare it to New York city
-> I want to be able to say town and not downtown
-> I want to meet all my teachers
-> I want to have long talks with my friends late into the night
-> I want to just look at my parents and thank them without having to say a word

Some things that can only be longed when you are far. Just to take a leaf out of the Mastercard advertisement, there is only money that USA can provide, for the bigger picture called life there is India!

Dreamt in India...Made in Germany...Owned in America

Automobiles are synonimous to guys much the same way jewelery is to girls. Every guy has a dream car that he hopes he will own someday. From collecting pictures to dinky cars, from technical expertise to silly arguments, guys have always been passionate about the automobile.

BMWs, Ferraris, Mercedes Benzs, Lexuses, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Mustangs...aaah... every guy gets to orgasmic stage immediately after this foreplay! To us, the car is not just a means of transport from point A to B. It is about passion and the pleasure that's as sweet as drinking water from an oasis.

One of the first major purchases after obtaining full time work. The thrill of test drives, the feel of the machine is just awesome. Having gone through one myself, I can vouch that the time you first drive your baby out is truly a Kodak moment! It is doubly exciting when all my friends have gone into this mode pretty much at the same time. So long telephone calls and knowledge transfer has been the order of the day.

My black beauty is my pride and joy at the moment. For a guy who's been passionate about cars ever since I can remember, the Blue/White symbol with trademark twin headlamps and grille meant that nirvana had been attained. I can almost touch the halo over my head now!

I know she'll keep me happy for a long time and I know I'll not give her a reason not to! So symbiotic relationship it is. So I'll end this post with the excitement that is, my dream, my babe, my soul mate, my pride, my joy...my car.

Looking Washington Talking Seattle

A recent trip to Seattle invoked a lot of mixed feelings. While I had an absolute blast during the trip, I also witnessed generous portions of change in how my friends think, react and perceive life. I have known these people for the better part of my life and it is pretty amazing to understand how rapidly one grows into maturity.

There were a lot of issues touched right ranging from future plans to attitude about life. I found myself being engulfed with ideas that, to be honest that were thrust right into my face. I have always been a keen observer and listener to others' thoughts and views and this time was no different.

A feeling of an identity crisis swept through me. When you hear other people convey emotions, there is so much that hits you that all you are left with is wonderment. Sometimes even insecurity crept up. I am not an individual that conveys his thoughts too much but this time I wanted to but somehow, could not. A lot of times when your near and dear ones have a viewpoint towards life, you would want to match them. This is normal human tendency. But then, when will you be on the giving end as compared to the receiving end? Kinda easy to discriminate between the two but hard to realize!

Anyway, moving forward, professional life has been on the up over the month and I hope it continues to remain that way for quite sometime!

On the lighter side of things, San Diego totally rocks! But I'd urge everyone to pay a small visit to Seattle. I know you'll not be disappointed!

Dad-A Father Figure

When you have a lot of things to say about a person, have you realized you do not know where to start? And worse still, where to end!

When I was small, everyone talked about mom looking after me but he was there to look after me when no one was looking. When I was having problems with Math and Science, he was the patient teacher. When I needed money for the hot samosas at the school cafeteria, he gave me money without asking a question. When I demanded an increase in weekly allowances, he never budged so that I could learn to save. When I reached adolescence, he took all my emotional outbursts and still managed a smile and suffered alone. When I left for college, he consoled mom when he was crying inside. When I left for higher studies, he pretended to be busy so that he would not have to bear the pain of being away from me. When I bought him a gift from my first salary, he showed it to everyone like a small kid. When I returned back, he showcased me proudly to all his friends. Today he gives importance to my opinions like a second self.

To everyone, a dad is someone who is not around a lot. Someone who goes to work the same time you leave for school and gets back much later than you. Someone who worships work and respects it. Someone who keeps a check on expenditures and draws the line between luxury and moderation. Someone who likes to read his morning paper with his coffee. Someone who does not like to be disturbed when the news is on. Someone who maintains an account of day to day expenditure. Someone who never discusses problems in front of the kids. Someone who is always practical. Someone who has a wealth of experience in holding and pulling a family through thick and thin. Someone who does not support boyfriends or girlfriends. Someone who has the super sense to spot the good and bad qualities in your friends. Someone who does not opinionate unless asked for. Someone who will not hesitate to do anything when it comes to providing the best education for his kids. Someone who gets your daily meal by spilling his sweat and blood. Someone who always cries inside and never on the out.

Yet, he is always the under acheiver of the family. A mother's love is truly alturistic. But no one ever talks about fatherly love. The truth of the matter is, why do we look upto our fathers the way we do? A professional and a practical man who would call a spade a spade. Maybe because, a motherly love is more coaxable, makes you feel more secure?

These were some of the thoughts that ran through my mind as I was watching an episode of The Wonder Years, where the dad has been portrayed as a closed man. I thought of mine while watching that episode and my entire life flashed in front of me. I thought of how I gave him joy, how I caused him pain, how I hurt him and how I respect him. Family ties tend to strengthen over distance. Mine surely has.

To Revise or Not to Revise

Graduation with no job is like dressed up with nowhere to go! Suddenly time stands still. How much can you search for jobs? I'm pretty sure each database server in every company knows my Resume by heart. I'm pretty sure it must be thinking....Shit this guy again!

But that's just the order of the day. Funny that after 16 gruelling years, we come to USA to become small entities in "The Land Of Opportunities". The next couple of years instills a firm resolve in everyone never to touch a texabook once more! So thinking thus, we graduate...only to find that the ordeal does not end there. This time we have a powerpack of the previous 18 years. Pretty easy to receive a powerpacked punch! I seem to lose the mark of differentiation between funny and irony.

So I have been brushing up right from my multiplication tables to complex technologies. From A for Apple to behavioral interviews. It's a good feeling that you still remember your multiplication tables from 1-12. Beyond that, my Casio fx-115W does the job without complaining. Inspite of this, we get screwed in the interviews. I think God has branded us to get fucked time and again so much that we can earn our bread and butter just by passing on the knowledge or maybe the art. I'm not being a pervert so please sense my sarcasm.

Over the past few weeks, I have been regularly clocking close to 6 hours per day pouring over books, online materials and what not. I even have a pdf version of my multiplication tables. Pretty high tech huh! I truly feel sorry for my laptop..the poor guy sits awake the whole day. I guess when Sony built mine, they would not have realized that this guy's birthright is to get screwed. Kinda similar what God thought about me! So I guess we are made for each other. Oh I cannot forget bandwidth utilization. Time-warner is surviving because of me!

So with my grey cells going black, I better end this blog before it shuts down completely!

Rajni Mania

A friend of mine recently sent this about Rajni! I actually wish some of them were true! Thalaivar rocks!!!

*There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Rajnikant has allowed to live.
* Outer space exists because it’s afraid to be on the same planet with Rajnikant.
* Rajnikant counted to infinity - twice.
* When Rajnikant does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
* Rajnikant is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.
* Rajnikant doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.
* Rajnikant gave Mona Lisa that smile.
* Rajnikant can slam a revolving door.
* Rajnikant does not get frostbite. Rajnikant bites frost.
* Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after watching a Padayappa on Satellite TV
* There are no races, only countries of people Rajnikant has beaten to different shades of black and blue.
* Rajnikant’s house has no doors, only walls that he walks through.

Adolescent Graduate

So end of the innocence is here. Tomorrow I graduate from being a college student to a job seeker. I would like to take this opportunity to be thankful for all those sleep inducing classes over the past couple of years. The teachers put us to sleep so quick that we would be dreaming about the hot chick in the late night movie the previous night. Too bad we won't relive those memories again.

So memoirs of a student life that taught me the following definitions...

Engineering: Logical excuse to screw up...Every single time.

Studies: New word in your dictionary...Visited by accident.

Research: Forceful imprisonment in a lab.

Lab: Deadlier than Alcatraz.

Assistantship: Formality for freeloading some money.

Library: A place where you get high speed internet access for any non academic websites.

Classroom: A place where you hone your skills to sleep with your eyes open

Books: A commodity that weightens your backpack tenfold.

Notes: Something the professor gives to show he has free access to the copier.

Exams: Quick and painful fuck.

Girls: Anything that is non-male.

Confidence: A feeling of getting through the month with only 100 bucks in your pocket.

Frustration: An engineer's bosom buddy.

Late: An engineer's definition.

Wishful thinking: Hooking up with a girl.

Booze: Best friend on Friday nights.

On-campus job: Timepass for many hours in the week.

Gymnasium: A place that NEVER should be visited during the semester.

Laptop: Style statement that burns a hole in your pockets...pants...thighs

Apartment: Hang out place for your friends...friends' friends....friends' friends' friends....

Kitchen: Home for cockroaches.

Internship: Money for nothing.

Permanent Job: 9-5 burnout routine.

Car: Owned by a friend...Driven by you.

Groceries: Monthly savings wholloped in an hour.

Road-Trip: Long drive where expenses are divided by 5 or more!

Vacation: Actual excuse to get up late.

Weekend: Something that lasts for as long as the blink of an eye.

Cooking: Something only eaten to live.

Your cooking: Your pride...and only yours.

Friend's cooking: A foreplay to food poisoning.

Cleaning: One time activity before inspection.

Wal-Mart: Cheaper than a dollar store.

Mall: Never to be visited with a girl.

Time: Only available to waste.

Graduation: Ceremony to commemorate the above knowledge.

Jobhunt: Every graduate student's worst enemy.

Thus I graduate into ignorance. But then again ignorance is bliss. So I shall stick with that. Congratulations to me!