NYC Trip: Part V - Life in the Fast Lane

Nothing much more to write about, except that we reached our hotel only past 4am on both nights and crashed. Saw a lot of the New York nightlife in those two nights that we spent out. Was surprised to see our Desi 'seedhi-saadhi ladkies' doing a lot of not-so-innocent stuff too. Haha..not kiddin. India is truly globalized my friends. Rejoice! :)

Anywayz, we left New York around evening the next day and headed back to Rockville.

When you leave New York, you ain't goin' nowhere' -- Sammy Davis Jr

True.

We'd spent more than 12 hours driving during the trip. It was a brilliant experience zipping at 100mph and more on the interstate highways. With all the windows open and the wind rushing through at a force that is almost hurting. Truly exhilarating I say! Therefore, I just thought I'd end this NYC Trip series by posting some pics that were taken in motion, while travelling in our car mostly.

NYC was truly an experience. And I felt sad leaving honestly. It's the same feeling you get when you leave a place you were always a part of. But that's funny too, cos I was hardly there for two whole days.

'One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years' -- Thomas Wolfe

Guess I can't be blamed right? :)

A wet and busy Times Square














Night lights - blurred and psychedelic














The Tunneling effect














OMG!What an accident!(Not really, go figure!)














Parting scenes














PS: Credit to 'the_trainee', from whom the idea for naming these NYC posts came. If you haven't figured it out yet, try some 'pink champagne on ice' ;)

NYC Trip: Part IV - The Girl from Yesterday

"On my first day in New York a guy asked me if I knew where Central Park was. When I told him I didn't he said, 'Do you mind if I mug you here?" -- Paul Merton

*Excerpt from NYC Trip:Part-I*
You do not fool around in subways, else you'll seriously regret it. (As luck you have it, I would find out exactly why later that day)

Well, after all the sightseeing was done, we decided to take a break, go back to the hotel and then come back at night. After all, it was a Saturday night. And if you ain't gonna party in the Big Apple, its better to head home. Anywayz, we had all been out for more than 10 hours and done quite a bit of walkin too. Well, how we had to get back was not sure to us, but we did know our hotel address, so we decided to try the dark subway metro again. We asked a guy who told us it wasn't possible to get direct train, that we may need to change at atleast 2-3 trains. We headed down into the 42nd st station...we decided to ask someone and get the right one. Usually, the subways are very deserted and not nice places to be at for a long time. Got some weird people too, and a very good potential location for theft, mugging etc.

We had stood there for like 10 min (the trains are pretty frequent) when I saw a train arriving..I was at that time taking a video of some guy playing the violin in hope for a few cents.

A very sad, depressing and eeiry tune too.
Just the setting needed for a twist.

Thinking that my team-mates were behind me (actually not thinking at all) I stepped into it, without turning around. The doors are automatic and close after approx. 15 seconds. I looked back after getting in, and saw to my horror that they were still howering over some vague map we had got on the way. They looked up, saw me. I looked back at them with a sense of shock creeping in. They had the "What the F*&% do you think you're doing??" look on their faces...I rushed towards the doors...and...

zzzzzzzzppphhhhhhhhh...

The doors shut full force on my face.
The train started moving...away...away..away from the only people I knew within 400 miles of that spot. My PM ran towards the door, but these trains do accelerate pretty fast. As the train started speeding away, I saw him showing desperate direction signs. You see, I consider myself pretty good in Dumb Charades. Ambadi and Jimmy (my college DumbC team-mates) will give excellent testimony to that (won't you dear buddies??? :p ) But there was no way in Hell (read NYC) that I could figure out what my PM was saying in those 3 seconds. Would have been a national college-level record if I did.

And then silence....
We were in a tunnel and I came back to reality.
I looked around, at the strange unfamiliar faces of even stranger, unfamiliar people around me. The bogey was pretty deserted, hardly 5-6 people. I felt my heartbeat rate increase. I forced myself to shut out the rising panic and focus at the pros and cons of the situation.

pros : hmmm...lets see...I knew my hotel name and address. The Grant, 94th st, Manhattan. Not even sure about this too. ummm...nuthin more...

cons : I had no idea how to reach my hotel. I had no idea where this train was going. I hardly had a few dollars left in my pocket, cos I'd spent quite a bit that day and the rest of my cash was in my bag, safe (and useless) in my hotel. I had my new citibank card though. Problem was, I had never used it before. I didn't remember the PIN. As luck would hav it I had left the sheet having the PIN at my hotel. In RockVille. I had no phone, I didn't know my hotel number. My team-mates didn't have phones either. There was not a single way to contact them. I was in a crazy busy city, famous for its dark side and I was lost.

Well, you could say the odds were heavily stacked in my favour. *smirk* I asked an old man sitting beside me about the train's route, but he just kept on nodding his head. He didn't understand a word I presume. Or he was just plain deaf.

I think I started sweating. Ten minutes went by.This train was a limited stop one maybe cos it hadn't stopped yet.Five minutes later it did. No one got out. No one got in either. I did'nt get out too. I looked outside, didn't see any people and I didn't wanna totally freak out in some isolated subway station.

I waited for the next station and got out. I could either find my way back to 42 st. and hope my team was waiting patiently for me. What I didn't know at that time was that my PM had almost passed out due to tension. He'd already started imagining his superiors enquiring about what had happened to me, and put the blame on him. hahaa..every developer's dream - his boss hearing the music. Well, atleast this time, I didn't want that to happen.

Well, I decided to find my way back to the hotel. Somehow. It was the most logical thing to do. Looking at the walls, all the destination station names I saw did'nt make sense to me. The Bronx, Chambers st., Lincoln. DEAD END.

And then my luck changed. Night became Day. Hell became Heaven.

I looked up and saw a female standing some 20m away, holding a luggage bag, waiting for a train. So I walked upto her. She was blonde. American maybe. Beautiful without doubt. And she seemed to be around my age too. She was a bit shocked when I said Hi. A stanger approaching you on a dark subway station ain't very pleasing. I couldn't blame her for being paranoid.

"I moved to New York City for my health. I'm paranoid and it was the only place where my fears were justified." -- Anita Weiss

Well, as nicely as I could, and trying not to sound desperate, I asked her which train I could take to reach 94 st. She was said there wasn't any direct train but Train C was going to 168 st so maybe I could get down somewhere near 94th. I said thanks and almost walked off. But then I stopped myself and decided to tell her my about my plight- that it was my first day in New York City, I had got separated from my friends and that was I kinda lost. She was so shocked and whispered "Ohhhhh-My-Goddddd". And then she said "Hey, say what, I'm waitin for Train C too cos I'm headed the same way, why don't you come along with me?"

"alliiiyaaaaa cheyyyyyy...."
PEACE.

Well, we sat together on Train C, talking to each other - on stuff like India...New York..the places I'd visited...why I'd come to the US....etc. Her name is L* (sorry guys) and she's from Los Angeles. She had come to NYC to visit her friends. She told me came here often cos she loved the city.Well...she was very friendly and sweet and we kept on chatting, and after about 40min...we reached 96 st. and got down there. I felt kinda surprised that she was headed the same way, but what I didnt know was that her house was just 2 blocks away from my hotel! She took a route so that we could reach her place first. We kept on walking, past Central Park and 95th street, chatting on topics ranging from DC to our personal Saturday night plans, until we reached her doorstep 10 minutes later.

//the rest of this post has been edited and will be sent, by request, to the very curious.

Naaa..jus kiddin...we said our goodbyes right there and parted. I came back to my hotel...and my team-mates reached 20 minutes later, very surprised to see me sitting there smiling and looking very happy.

I don't know why, but looking back now...
Perhaps getting seperated from my friends was the best thing that happened to me in New York.

NYC Trip: Part III - Love will keep us Alive

I did not mention a certain place yesterday because I wanted to dedicate a whole post to it.

The IX/XI Story.
Ground Zero.

Its just a few blocks from South Ferry. So we walked past Wall Street and reached the spot,following sign boards that gave us directions to the site. The whole construction site has been secured. But there were many tourists and locals at the place.

Well, what i witnessed there can't be described in words.What I felt either.

You feel a deep rage welling up inside you at the horrible act of terrorism and the people who did it. Standing there, looking at that huge empty space where the Twin Towers once stood, you also feel a sense of amazement of how something so huge came crashing down. You kinda re-live that moment, perhaps using bits of video that you once saw over and over again on the television. Your brain brings it all back to life. The only difference is, you're right there admist it. You see hell breaking loose all around you. You see smoke rushing at you and feel the ash in your mouth and lungs. I'm not kidding. I unknowingly shuddered twice or thrice.

There was an old black man who was explaining to a group of tourists the stuff he saw that through his eyes. I stood there listening to the horror story for 10 minutes and then walked off, not wanting to hear more. There were people standing there and crying, perhaps for their loved ones who perished that fateful day. There were messages scrawled everywhere.

There were official 9/11 Timeline charts put up, showing how the events took place that day. There were large boards put up, showing ' Sept 11th 2001 Martyrs, giving thousands of names of people who were victims of hate. It's a quiet and silent site. The Police do not allow any commercial tourist activity around that place. We spent almost an hour day, just walking, looking, and hardly speaking.

When did Hate become so powerful? Is there any way to put an end to all this? Here is a poem, written by an NYPD police officer, that was written in chalk on a board....

The Road to Heaven

While travelling along,it's never too late.
Take the road that leads to love
Not the one to hate.
Hate is what took these buildings down
With love is how we'll remember those
no longer around.
Take the right road and you will see
how much sweeter life will be.
The road may be uphill and
strewn with stones.
So get rid of the weight
and lighten the load.
At the summit there is
a beautiful view,
All of God's peace open to you.

Here are a few pics. God Bless.

The poem



































pic taken through the steel fence














The WTC cross..it was found among the rubble














A choir singing hymns

NYC Trip: Part II - ln the City

If you haven't read Part-1, go here. Or just scroll down.

So where were we?
Well....after getting back onshore after going to the Statue of Liberty...we decided to walk and go sightseeing. In fact, that's the best option in New York if you don't wanna use the metro. It isn't easy at first to understand the city's complex road planning. We were almost cursing it the night we arrived cos we were totally lost and could'nt locate our hotel.There are hajjar streets and Avs intersecting each other...so many one-ways... its easy to go mad. However,by the end of our trip, I was left amazed at actually how much planning has gone in. The roads are actually very logical and everything fits in beautifully. Its funny really..when you look at the city, you feel things are totally out of control,the city is so packed and crowded and everyone is in a rush, and you feel its only a matter of time before the whole place collapses. It doesn't however.

New York has always been going to hell but somehow it never gets there' -- Robert Persig

Well, we spent time at Battery Park, walked to the NYSE Stock exchange...where there were like 200 tourists clicking pictures around the famous Bull. Walked further down Wall Street...the World Financial Center etc. New York City's architecture is very unique...its a mix of neo-classical style buildings and ultra-modern skyscrapers. Ranging from elegant brownstone houses and apartments to giants like the Empire State.There is architecture of such breath-taking variety, you can spent a day just looking at the buildings. Made me start thinking about Howard Roark. Seriously. (*Hi-fives Polo*) Ok..after roaming about Lower Manhattan, we went to the Empire State. However, we did'nt go to the observatory on top, cos we were told that due to extreme foggy conditions, visibility was very poor, 1/2 a mile max, and not worth the 16$ ticket. Did a little bit of shopping after that...and we literally got thrown out a shop cos the guy didn't like it when we asked if the discount was genuine. He just put down the digicam he was showing us and slowly said..."Do not make me curse you. You can leave now." As we were walking out, he shouted right in my ear,"Get the F*** out of my shop!" Our first experience of the famous blunt rudeness.

'This is New York and there's no law against being annoying' -- William Kunstler

Well, that's all for now...more tomorrow.
Here are a few pics...

The Manhattan skyline - need i say more?














Liberty Island - view from the ferry














The statue and me mouth-wide-open


















Me,Mitesh,Shan and the NYSE Bull














Empire State - broke my back for dis pic!


















Architecture - US Customs House














The old with the new

NYC Trip: Part I - My New York Minute

'It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.' -- Agatha Christie

/* Room 201, The Grant Hotel, W 94th st, Manhattan */
What a day. Our weekend trip to New York City is underway! We left
DC at around 6:00pm. Our mode of transport - Road - in our rented
Chevy Impala. 7 hours later and 231 wrong turns later, we reached our destination. The Big Apple. The City that never sleeps. Oh,yeah its true. Need proof? We reached Broadway street at around 1:00am, and got stuck in a traffic jam for 30min. Not kiddin! This place is buzzin.
Checked into our hotel at around 1:00am, threw our luggage in and headed staright out. Went and grabbed some dinner at Subway, and then went city roamin! Oh yeah, we don't waste any time! Woh-ho. The City is famous for no simple reason. I guess I still haven't recovered enough from the initial effect the view of the Manhattan skyline had on me. Ahhh, I can't put it into words. Its like watchin an artifical sky of stars. Of different colours and sizes. Only thing is that the sky is not above but right there in front of you. Made by the hands of men and magnificient beyond anything I've seen so far. Ooohh...too much i say! Gotta try n take some sesski snaps. Ok, enuff of babbling, its past 3:30am - time to sleep, Got a long day tomorrow.

/* Present day - 2 days later* /
Ohkkaaayy....that was the start. I'd planned to do a day-to-day write-up but I didn't get time after that initial paragraph. Now I'm back now in Rockville after the NYC Trip. Very very tired. I've slept a total of 10 hours in the last 3 days. How could I? It was my NEW YORK MINUTE time. I've got a lot to rant about...here goes -

First of all, the NEW YORK MINUTE.

[SOURCE - WIKIPEDIA]
A New York minute is a very short period of time, sometimes significantly shorter than sixty seconds, and sometimes a form of hyperbole for "perhaps faster than you would believe is possible". The term refers to the common perception that New York City is very
busy, with much happening at all hours of the day, and people often in a hurry and likely to be impatient. It is a joke, especially in New York City, to define a New York minute as the amount of time between the light in front of you turning green and the taxicab behind you honking, and to suggest this may actually be half a second or so, or a negative quantity of time.

There may be an ironic link to use the term in an alternate way, suggesting "as a New Yorker, I can't spare 60 seconds to tell them what they deserve, so I'm packing the same abuse into a shorter time, and being proportionately more intensive in my abuse." It could also be a reference to the famed rudeness of native New Yorkers.

If I could summarise our trip in 2 words - It would be FAST and ABUSE. Everything happens too fast. People don't waste 2 secs in using the F-word. I "saw" a lot of FAST and "heard" a lot of ABUSE. BUT I LOVED IT ALL. I guess that's what makes New York City so
special. You just can't get enough of it.

"When its 100 degrees in New York, it's 72 in Los Angeles. When its 30 degrees in New York, in Los Angeles it's still 72. However, there are 6 million interesting people in New York, and 72 in Los Angeles." -- Neil Simon

The first we did the next morning afer we reached was grab breakfast and head out into the city for sightseeing. Another thing NYC is notorious for, is its parking. Having a car and trying to park it is a major P.I.T.A!!!

A car is useless in New York, essential everywhere else. The same with good manners.' -- Mignon McLaughlin

So we decided to take the Metro. The first thing that struck me walking into a subway was....Max Payne. Seriously. It looked exactly the same as it was in the game. It's dark and scary. You do not fool around in subways, else you'll seriously regret it. (As luck you have
it, I would find out exactly why later that day) Anywayz...From there we decided to go straight to the southern tip - South Ferry and go to the Statue of Liberty. 1 hour and 11.5$ later, we were on our way to Liberty island. The Mahattan skyline takes you breath away as you
move away from the city. Your breath is taken away again when you near the Statue. We spent approx. 2 hours in Liberty Island, just taking it all in. The place was packed with tourists, and it felt like mini-India too...so many of us! After that, we were ferried to Ellis Island and then back to the city...It was late afternoon...but our day in the Big Apple was just getting started...

On my way. Sweet desert rose..whose shadow bears the secret promise..














Midnight Jam at Times Square














Aaaaahhh..my PM's tryin to push me over!














South Ferry Junction














One fake Statue of Liberty and a super fake American














More Later........

How many....

/*beware - extreme Mallu chalu humour*/

kilometres from Washington DC to Miami Beach?

Laletan: ha!ha!ha! I am the answer...I am the answer...Kilometres and kilometres in these days of degenerating decency of Washington DC to Miyami beach when diplomacy and n supercity become interchangeable from complicated America to America!!

Well, even after years of hearing this answer...it still hasn't satisfied me. The question has been lying somewhere in my brain all these years...what is the actual distance??? What is it??

And now...finally...after 10+ years...at 3am, sitting in my hotel room watchin tv and sippin on stone cold's fav drink....I've found it!!!

With a little bit of help from Google ofcourse.

The exact distance from Washington DC to Miami beach is 1604 miles.
Which when multiplied by 1.6093 gives 2581.3172 kms!!!

Aaaahhhh....peace!
And I know I've provided the answer for many of you folks also, no thanks necessary! :)

/*extreme non-sense too*/
/*My sincere apologies*/

Crazy Frog Bros.

Watch the crazy brothers do Axel-F - The Crazy Frog Dance. LMAO!!!

faaheeratugoh? (Damnit!)

Well..work has begun. The office is good and the people are very friendly.
Had an introductory session to all the employees yesterday and a mock "raggin" session. Was fun though! Today was the 2nd day at office...its just 5 mins from where we live and a morning walk can do wonders i say! Some of my second impressions and first observations are...

* The news channels are crazzy! The only things I get to watch on them are - Terrorist attack rumour..Saddam Trial...MJ Trial... some arbit Murder Case Verdict...even more arbit Serial Killer case verdict...do people have a real appetite for these things or are they just being over-fed with gore and violence?
* You gotta have thankyou and welcome at the tip your tongue always. You're gonna hear it more times in an hour than you do in a day in India.
* You do not say zero. You say "oh".
* You do not say sms. You say text.
* You not use water. At all. At all. You drink soda instead. You use paper instead.
* Do not get confused if you see 768 different types of sweeteners. Its ok, use any.
* Light switches are operated upside down. upside means ON and downside means OFF.
* Please press the "cross" signal and wait for the "walk-signal" before crossing. You can get run over anytime.
* There's too much parking space available everywhere. Cos all the parking lots are meant to be empty always.
* Its ok if the Sun sets at 9pm. Its not the end of the world.
* UTC,GMT,DST,TZ- Very important in more ways than one. Learn them well. (self-reminder)

and finally....

* Do not get scared when you hear the sweet female behind the counter at BurgerKing say "faaheeraatugoh" after taking your order. Do not get hysterical when you say pardon and she repeats it a dozen times but you still don't get it. It translates "for here or to go" - which just means that she's askin you if you wanna eat it right here or parcel it. Dumbo!

Ok, thats all for now. It's 3am here...time to try and get some shut-eye. Here are some more pics before that.

A walk to remember - naa,not really - just the morning walk to office.














With the gang at Burger King. That's Mitesh's Pontiac btw.














Buurrrp! This is what happens when your appetite for clicking away reaches enormous proportions.














Near the Town Center...nice view - in more ways than one! :)














Looks like its outta UT/Quake aint it! Sesski :))

Pictorama..

crasssshhhhhhh...na,juz kiddin - just another plane on the busy runway.














Over Mumbai - cold and wet after the drench.














viva France! looks sparsely populated from up here.














Yours truly n Shanmugam - thank God i had company!














Immigration at Newark - phew! had to stand in that long queue for 30min, after the 20 hr flight!














Hotel room:view1,my home sweet home!














Hotel room: view2, yea we've got a 6ft kitchen!

The day the Sun never set

/* Paris Charles de Gaulle Intl. Airport - onboard AI-191 seat74K/*

Ohhkaayyy...
Hi all, me right now sitting in the location given above, while our plane is being cleaned, refueled, and reloaded at the Paris Intl Airport.Local Time: 1:00pm, IST: 4:30pm.
Ok..here's the update so far:
My flight AI-261 BLR-BOM was delayed by an hour yesterday.
We finally started off at 0445. God! i was so tired, had spent the entire day packing and getting ready for the trip, that I didn't even get 40 winks the whole time! I slept off almost as soon as I got on the plane. Didn't even realise we had taken off and landed! Seriously! Anywayz, reached Shivaji airport at around 7am. Got into our Newark-bound flight almost rightaway. Well, the journey has been pretty eventful. Saw 4 movies onboard, which means I haven't even started reading the Ken Follet book I picked up from the B'lore airport.I've been pretty busy with my cam too - will post them soon!
From here we'll be off to Newark, which means another 10 hours or so onboard. Aahhh,my legs are already paining!

There are times in life when you feel humbled and overawed by nature. You then think about the universe, God, creation etc. Moments such as watching a peaceful and clean night sky, a sunset on the beach, etc. Well, a window-seat on a flight makes u kinda feel the same way too. The clouds below you and the shadow they cast on the vast terrain underneath..phew..mindblowing! France looks pretty much like a green and brown jigsaw puzzle from above. Makes me wonder if they divided land for cultivation or otherwise to make it look great from the air! Tehran and Istanbul were totally brown. Hungary had colours ranging from very light to dark green. Actually, the whole damn view is Google Earth alike. Duh! Should be, its the same Earth after all. I think the low oxygen is getting to me! :)

Well,lemme see, there's approx. 7 more hours left for the WC Finals. Damn! I feel like wishing luck to the French cleaning crew who are onboard right now. Go Zizou! After Amelie Mauresmo's Wimby victory yesterday, it'll be a double-celebration spree for zeee French..aahh..zaa gooda timeza fora zem! The Wi-Fi networks i can access right now is Orange France and HubTelecom. Well, 48-50 Mbps is shown but the signal strength is so damn feeble I can't connect! Grr!

/* Dulles Intl. Airport - Newark */

Phew...seems like a different world. Its 7:20pm local time, and the Sun is so high, it seems like 3 or 4, IST. The Wi-Fi LAN costs 8$ (damnit!), so I'm still only typing...lets see when I can post. My flight to DC has been delayed. Well, first impressions of the US of A: People seem friendly and everything looks spick n span. Supreme order everywhere. I can see Indians around, especially behind the counters at the Coffee/Snack Bars. Well, I haven't set foot outside an airport yet, so my impressions are likely to totally change though.

The day the Sun never set. I haven't seen 'NIGHT' for more than 24 hours now. Since we've been travelling back in time (pun in vain), the Sun has been our loyal companion ever since we reached Mumbai. Also, I've only slept for like 6 hours in the last two days I think! Well, actually no, cos of the time-difference, I'm still stuck on July 9th! :)

/* Room-105, HomeStead Studio Suites Hotel, Rockville, Maryland */

Local time: 3:30am. My head is spinning, my body is aching, but I cant sleep. Jetlag...my bio-clock gone bonkers, I don't know. But I have to reach office tomorrow at 9am. God help me! Reached Washington DC at 11:30pm. Reached the hotel after midnight. My hotel room is awesome. More importantly - I have a 58Mbps wi-fi connection! jai! I'm very happy I've reached here in one piece. It's been a long, long day, perhaps the most eventful of my life. Lots to say, but my brain has stopped functioning. I have to stop now...will blog later tomorrow. Cya!

PS: I came to know only a few hours back that Italy had won. The pilot had announced it was 1-1 in regular time and that France had eventually won (much to the joy of the many french passengers onboard) but later apologised saying it was wrong info. God! I hate to think of the utter despair those french passengers went through on hearing the correct news.

Change is inevitable I know...but sometimes pretty fast too!

Whoa...
It's been 2 weeks since my last post....
Now let's see...what all has changed around me and in my life...... A LOT.

Hmmm..for starters..
England is out of the World Cup!!! (boo hoo! I rushed home to tvm via a rickety AirDeccan flight only to see them crash out.)
Brazil is out too!! (Yeaaah!!!! Atlast those overhyped samba boys have been given a dose of reality.)
Argentina is out!! (I feel sorry for them. Germany, who is also out, somehow managed the upset. Credit to them.)
Portugal is out!! (Double YEAH!!! Serves them right!)

So now its an Italy-France final.
Italy: I started respecting them during the Australia match. They're playing very well, and combining brilliantly as a team.
France: What a comeback story! and Zizou is signing off his career in style..if they manage to win it, he'll be surely beheld as one of the Gods of all time..if he isn't already that is.

Well..on the personal front, there's a lot to say too.
I'm into a new project - for HillCrest Labs, who are based out of Rockville, Maryland. Getting selected for the project was tough; I had to scrape through a written test, followed by lengthy HR and Tech interviews. Got through (luckily) somehow, and 5 of us have been selected.
I was in Delhi last Friday for my visa interview. Got through that. It was sursprisingly pretty easy, and went something like this:

Me (speakin): Good Mornin Ma'am.
Interviewer (Strict-lookin lady) : Gooooood Moaarnin!
She starts lookin through my docs, but has difficulty in getting the bar-code read.
Me(thinkin) : Damn! All over before it started!
She: Okaaaayyy..how many months in MindTree?
Me(thinkin): phew..atlast its underway..the tension is tooo much i say!
Me(speakin): 10 months Ma'am.
She: And before that?
Me(speakin): First Job Ma'am.
She: Why are you going to the US?
Me(speakin): Requirements Analysis..blah blah.
Me(thinkin): Oooohh pleeeezzz...no more questions regarding the project...don't make life tough!
She: Do you have any family in the US?
Me(speakin): No Ma'am.
She(givin me a doubtful look): Hmmm...where did you do your schooling?
Me(thinkin): Damn...do i have to say my college's name?
Me(speakin): Marian College of Engineering Ma'am.
She(givin me a sharp look): You don't have anyone in the US?
Me(thinkin): Ohhh i told ya already! But i do have like 20+ cousins..relatives...
Me(speakin): No Ma'am. (n giving my best smile)
She: Where is your family then?
Me(speakin): Trivandrum, Kerala.
She: Ok, thank you Staney, we will send your visa-stamped passport to you by courier.
Me(thinkin):Whhaaaa!!!! Over so soon!!! I'm I dreamin?? Did she say it was over!!!??? No way!!!
Me(speakin): ThankYou Ma'am!

Aaahhh...phew...it got over within 3 min! And then the whole day was spent sightseeing...Lotus Temple, Qutub Minar, Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, Humayun's tomb etc. Aroused my interest in Mughal history by leaps! and Delhi is seriously preparing well for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. What roads! What order and discipline! Bangalore take a hint! Reached back via KingFisher.(Yippeee!!!! Now that is sakkath hot magaa!)

Well, I'm leaving for Washington DC this Saturday night. (Which means i'll miss the WC finals most probably, unless there's a delay somewhere and i catch the match at some Airport.)
Will be there for 3-6 months. Hmmm...seems my hotel's name is Sleep Inn Shady Grove.
Hehe..i can already forsee some very mysterious things in store! Can't wait!

I'll be blogging every part of my trip right here...so keep checkin in regularly folks!
Adios! Take Care!