s-NOW !

It was predicted and it did happen. The day started with cold wind and temperature of -17 C. The sky was dark. I got ready and left for office. On my way, small snow flurries started. They were too small to pay attention. The roads were clear, the car was warm and we reached office in 10 mins. Later that afternoon, the snowfall continued. Like we have light rain, this was light snow but was non stop from 10 am. Its been more than 12 hours now, the snow shower has not stopped. When we started back from office at around 5:30 pm, The sky was all dark and the earth was all white. This night is brighter than a full moon night. As we left the parking lot, we noticed the road was full of snow. We had to maintain a very low speed. all the dividers, markings on the road were covered. The headlight beam made the snow ahead sparkle. Along with snow, there was a breeze as well. That made the snow fly around on the road. Imagine a dust cloud which is created if a car zooms on a dry muddy road.

As we passed the houses, all we could see was white, All the trees had shed their leaves and were now covered with snow. The green lawn was now a white desert. And all the cars parked outside had snow on them from top to bottom. When we drove the car on snow, we could feel the loss of friction between the tyres and the road. At times the steering would get jammed as there wasn't enough room for the wheels to turn when sunk in snow. We reached home after a 25 mins ride. I was all tempted to feel the snow outside. I came out of the car.The wind was towards me and I was facing the snow head on. I knew they were just snow flakes, but I felt like someone is throwing sand at my face.

I went home and decided that I should first get equipped and then face the snow. It takes at least 10 mins to get ready and go out. With me, my wife was also interested in wandering outside. I saw out of the balcony- it was covered with snow. I opened the balcony door, and all stacked snow came in. In 10 seconds, the whole living room got cold. We decided to clean the balcony later. First, lets feel the snow.

To get ready, Here what I need to wear :
1. Baniyan
2. Thermal T-shirt
3. Full sleeve Shirt
4. Full sweater
5. Snow jacket
6. Ear plugs
7. Muffler
8. Gloves
9. Fur cap.
10. Thermal pants
11. Snow trousers.
12. Shoes.

We went out with a camera to take some snaps. Wearing gloves, it was difficult to handle the camera, and with gloves removed and camera in hand, it was difficult to take a snap.
I couldn't keep our hands exposed for a long time. I took off one glove, took 1 snap, put the camera in my pocket and put back my gloves. We took all snaps the same way. The cars parked outside were fully covered with snow. No room to open the windows, run the vipers. And it will get worse in the coming days. You might think, WOW SNOW ! LETS MAKE SNOWBALLS AND PLAY But here, the temperatures are very low. This was not the right time to have fun. I dared to make a snowball with my bare hands and in 5 seconds I had to abandon my plan. My palm became red and I felt the urge to put my hand in something hot. In India, you might get your hands burnt because of heat, but here, you can get your hands burnt because if cold :-)
The biggest issue faced here is by smokers :) They cannot smoke in the house as all doors and windows are always closed. You cannot go outside to smoke as it is too cold. Still some brave souls dare to smoke. for the 10 minutes of pleasure, they get ready with their jackets, ear bands, gloves etc. go out in the balcony / smoking area and somehow finish the smoke. To sustain this weather, ordinary gloves are not sufficient. You should wear very thick gloves. And holding a cigarette with them is another mighty task. If you drop the cigarette on snow, forget it.
If anybody wants to quit smoking, I recommend him to come and stay in Minnesota.
But even in such weather, people here live happily. The snow on the roads is cleaned everyday. Every building is equipped with an air conditioner and 24 hrs hot water. Cars used here come with powerful heaters, some even have heaters under the seats to keep the butt warm :-) Its a costly affair, but people here love it. The weather will get worse in the coming days and I will survive it and keep posting about it :-)

Happy Semi Anniversary !

Happily sitting next to my wife, I write this blog about successful 6 months of married life. People say woman brings luck. For me it is 100% true. Sonam brought luck. All the bottlenecks in my life were free after she came into my life. As an engineering student, I wondered, who will ever love me ? Will I ever fall in love ? If it is an arranged marriage, will we start liking each other ? All my questions were answered by a simple 'Yes' to Sonam. Just after marriage, we had a chance to fly to the US. We spent 3 months in Bangalore and 3 months (and counting) in the US. We celebrated 1 month of married life with a chinese dinner at Chungs. Semi anniversary, we had home made food. I helped Sonam, she helped me. These 6 months were too good to describe and the coming years will be even more interesting.
We had a good time together when in Bangalore. We didnt have a TV, Music system, Laptop, internet, not even a 2 wheeler. Daily entertainment was Times Of India during day, Card tricks during night. Everyday my wife would get up early, and prepare good food for breakfast and for lunchbox. I would get up and go out for a nice 2-3 kms run. By the time I am back home, Sonam would keep hot water, towel and office clothes ready. By 8:30 I was out on my bicycle to office. As I left my house, she would wave me good bye till I took a turn towards the main road. When I was in office, She would clean all the utensils, wash all the clothes, sweep the whole house and cook dinner. When I came home, She was ready to serve me dinner and do all the leftover cleaning. She did this with love and enjoyed doing it. After marriage I never took her for a movie just because the tickets are too costly and I couldn't afford the pop corn. We didn't buy any of the leisure items like a geek cellphone, wristwatch, Levi's jeans. We hardly ate at restaurants. If we went outside, we used the public transport instead of auto rickshaw. I had to press myself from buying an imported bicycle. Every month we saved money for a 2 wheeler with hopes that we will buy one in 2010. Buying a flat in software engineers' terms was"Out of Scope". In spite of all these sacrifices, we both were happy, no complaints, no demands. I feel really lucky. This was our life for the 1st three months of marriage.
Luck turned around. We had an opportunity to travel to the US. Now we both are having a luxurious life. Every person who comes to know that we are "Just married" comment saying we are still not finished with our honeymoon :-) As I recollected the memories in Bangalore, I compared the life over there and life here. Today we have a 29" Sony Trinitron, Phillips DVD, IBM Laptop with an unlimited download 16MBPs internet, bicycle worth 15K , dish washer, washing machine, oven, microwave, huge fridge, vacuum cleaner and lots of luxurious items. Now Sonam has time to do other activities than washing clothes and utensils. She has started learning more recipes from the internet. She also owns a sewing machine on which she has started stitching dresses. Even I get time to go to the library, browse the internet, learn magic and help Sonam in her work. We enjoy cooking food at home, go out for a walk often, make late night calls to our dear ones.
6 months of happy living. Still going good and hope to continue the same way for the rest of our lives.

US Trip fun - 1. leaving home

Finally, I write this blog sitting near the balcony on a recliner with its seat positioned in the most comfortable condition, a laptop on my lap and a cup of hot coffee besides me. After a long wait, it happened. Got an assignment for which I was told to go to the US for a couple of months. I came here with my wife. Both were new to air travel and traveling abroad as well. We both had a fair idea that we might have to leave this weekend. but due to some official paperwork, I could see the trip postpone for another week.
It was Friday, 21st August and I was in the office awaiting the arrival of an important document needed for my US travel. Since it didn't arrive in the morning, I was sure it wont come till Monday. So going to the US will be postponed by 1 week. As time passed, my manager came running to my desk and said, your document has arrived, pack your bags, book your tickets and leave tonight !
I was shocked. It was already 6 pm and I had to book tickets, get insurance, pack bags and leave India on a 1:40 am flight !
I called up the travel desk, gave them the details and told them to book the tickets as soon as possible. In the mean time, I went running to the insurance desk to get overseas insurance for myself and my wife. As I went out to reach the insurance desk, it started raining. That was the last thing I wanted to happen. The lady there was ready to pack up and go home. I requested her to do this for me. She agreed and did the paperwork. I called my wife and told her we had to leave today. She was fast asleep and woke up in surprise. Thankfully, my wife with the help of my Mom had packed the necessary things in the bags. She couldn't believe what I told her. Even she panicked. After the insurance was done, I went back to my desk, took the ticket printouts, necessary documents and left the office my 8:30 pm. It was a Friday evening and you know the generous auto wallas of Bangalore. No one was ready to take me to my destination. And on top of that it was raining ! Finally, convinced an auto who took 50 rs from me for a distance of worth rs 14. As I reached home, I booked the taxi to the airport. At home my mom and Sonam were waiting. Even a couple of my friends arrived home. All the bags were packed. I got fresh, prayed to God and awaited for the taxi to arrive. I was tensed as I feared whether I took all the necessary documents with me or not. As this was my first time, I had 100 doubts in my mind.
Finally the cab arrived and we got in and started to the airport. Inside the taxi, we made calls to relatives, friends, and close ones. The rain was pouring. Since we had a fair idea about leaving tonight, Sonam's Mom, dad and brother had also started from their home early in the morning with hopes that they will reach here in time to say goodbye to both of us. Her mom had prepared home made snacks for us to carry. But rain spoilt everything. Even their bus got late. We reached the airport by 10:30 pm. We checked in at 11 and went towards our boarding gate. We were both hungry. We had a cup of coffee worth 60 Rs and Gobi Manchurian worth 210 Rs at the airport. This was the last time maybe we tasted Gobi manchurian and the last time we used Indian Rupees as well.
We patiently awaited for our flight terminal to open. We both were excited and at the same time were tired due to all the happenings in the past 6 hours. Sonam's parents reached Bangalore but couldn't meet us as we already checked in. They traveled more than 600 Kms and 13 hours of day journey just to meet us and missed the chance by nick of time. Finally the terminal opened and we got in. We had the worst possible seats anyone could get. The arrangement was like this :

|AB CDEF GH|

We are the D and E of the seats. It was a tiring 9 hours journey from Bangalore to Paris. The seats were very congested. The Volvo buses which we have are far better. We reached Paris. The airport was so huge, we had to take a bus to go to another terminal. There were internal trains as well in the airport.The security check there involved us to remove our shoes, wallet, belts and keys and then get checked by a security staff in front of everyone. As we reached the terminal, we decided to make a call to our parents. We took a 10 Euro (700 Rs) worth calling card and spoke to our parents. Then we roamed the airport to kill time. There were awesome beauties roaming around wearing all kinds of dresses. I was amazed, even Sonam started to feel awkward looking at those ladies. There was time for the flight to arrive. So we decided to eat something. The counter there had all sorts of foods but vegetarian. We carefully read the ingredients of all the items and finally bought potato chips :) and a bottle of water. only this much cost us 700 rs. (or 10 Euros) The flight arrived. This time we got window seats. As the plane took off, we enjoyed the sight outside. Within a couple of hours, we both slept. The flight started at 1:50 Paris time and was scheduled to reach at 3:45 US time. The journey time was 10 hours. We spent time looking here and there, watching movie, talking trash with each other and commenting on other people in the flight. We got a form called I-94 which is required to be filled by everyone who lands in the US. we filled it. Along with that form, there was another form which declared that I have not brought any items with me which can be sold commercially, have not bought soil, pets, meat, foods, germs etc etc. It also mentioned about the address where we will be staying while in the US. The journey decision happened so quick, we didn't book the hotel itself. Thankfully, I had the hotel address with me. Just that if the hotel was full, we are in trouble.
At the port of entry at Minneapolis we were asked whether we carried any food items, I proudly told I have sweets, snacks and spices. They told me to put my bags through the scanner and frisked out one bag. Since we were 2 of us, we had dedicated a bag for all Indian foods we carried. It included Maggi packets, rice, dal, pulses, spices and other small stuffs. The security guy over there got furious at us. He started to open each and every packet we had. We told him that we were to stay here for an year and that's why this much is needed. He was not in a mood to listen to our explanation. He scolded, showed rules, reminded us we were aliens to them and have to obey what they say. I got scared. Inside my mind, I said, take the whole bag, but let us go. Finally, (and thankfully) he didn't throw anything from our bags. We packed the stuff again and got out of the airport as soon as possible. We took a taxi straight to the hotel. Fortunately, there were rooms available. We took a room and dumped the luggage. The hotel was all self service. We had to carry our own luggage to the 4Th floor using the carriage and return the carriage back to the reception. We got fresh, and slept. It was Saturday 22nd August 7 pm in the US.
We had heard about Jet lag and what happens due to that. Same happened. Both were awake at 2 am. We prepared coffee and enjoyed the highway view at night. Since we were awake, we decided to call home. The call card we had with us didn't work, so we decided to call directly from the hotel room phone. (for 5 mins of talk, they charged us $73 i.e. 3500 rs ! ) In order place an international call, we had to dial 9-011- 91 number. We missed the zero in between and the call went straight to 911. The lady spoke to Sonam, She couldn't understand what she was saying. I took the phone, and heard the lady saying, "This is 911, do you have an emergency ?" I was shocked, we reached US and the first number we dial is 911 ! I convinced the lady there was nothing to worry, it was our mistake and dialled this number. Morning we woke up at 9, had stomach full breakfast and requested the hotel cab to take is to Mall of America, One of the nearest attractions there. As we walked on the streets, we could'nt believe ourselves we were in America !

Part 2 . New house, new fun coming soon with fun we had moving into our new house.

10 Random Things

Getting bored in office and nothing to read. Thats when I went to Ojas' Blog and found out that I am tagged ! Tagged to write 10 random things about myself. After reading his blog, I thought lets do it and lets make other do it too !

Rules of the game: Check if your name is at the end of this blog post. If so, type out a similar blog copy-pasting these rules. After that, list down 10 random things about yourself (that many do not know) and then tag 5 more people who have to do the same.

My List:

1. I am 26 and I still dream of having a huge collection of Hot wheels cars. Small cars, remote control / battery operated toys still facinate me.

2. I hate people who waste food. Especially in the cafeteria where people who take the food by their own hand and later throw it away. I feel such people dont have the value of money and the quantity of food thrown in the dust bin is directly proportional to the money they earn excess to what they deserve.

3. I love to sleep. Everybody loves to sleep. But I love to sleep early and get up early. This way, I put myself into a good habit, going to office and coming back is not affected by the usual road traffic at peak hours and I get to sleep early that day so that I can get up early the next day.

4. I am not obsessed with luxuries which everyone dreams of. Fashionable dresses, gold, silver, High end mobiles, laptops, watches, bikes, cars etc. I am happy riding a descent bicycle.

5. I am very bad at maths. I need help even for the smallest of the calculations. Every addition, multiplications, division happens on a calculator, not in my mind.

6. As a kid, I badly wanted to become spiderman. I had told my mom cut my wrist and put some thread inside so that I can throw the thread on buildings and swing like spiderman.

7. I love my wife and Quake III :-)

8. I can solve a rubik's cube in less than 5 mins. Yes, I have drilled the logic and moves in my mind and I can do the last bit of moves blindfolded.

9. I dont believe in God. I believe in Nature. God is in Nature.

10. I remember the faces of people I met, but completely forget their names seconds after our introduction.

I tag : Manjunath, Swaroop, Arjun Rajan, Samudyatha

Swine Swine

Was thinking of a better title for this blog, but couldnt think of one. Recently there have been reports of so many casualties due to the deadly swine flu. This has scared me too and I am taking precautions. Everybody is taking precautions. Nobody wants to die. I always felt that I was one of the most unfortunate people in this world. There were things which I thought happened only with me. But now, I have started to think different. Everyone has their own fortune and misfortune. I consider myself very fortunate thinking that I am not affected by the swine flu as I write this blog. I always beleived that God is in Nature. Whatever you think is in God's hands, same powers are owned by Nature.

When do we pray to God ? before going to an exam ? On some festive ocassion ? When in distress ? When your close ones are ill ? or maybe everyday ? We pray for all sorts of reasons thinking that God will take care of the troubles. But what I think is, Its not God, (or Maybe God in disguise of Nature) its Nature who answers your prayers. In this blog I will only write about natures way to save the world from trouble. Science is advancing, world is becoming a safe place to live, people are closer to each other due to better connectivity, theres internet thru which you can read my blog and so many good things we talk about. since the 19th century, there has been an population explosion. Nature know how many humans it can handle. It keeps on adding some obstruction (which we call as natural calamities) and at the same time, man is trying its best to keep its origin alive. When Nature saw this growth in population, we saw diabeties. This disease tries to kill a human being due to shortage of insulin in his body. Somehow we managed to produce artificial insulin and saved the sure death of diabeties affected people. If there was no artificial insulin production, millions of people might have lost their lives without they at fault. Even today the number of people having diabeties goes on increasing.

Next came world wars. We think the war was purely because of human misunderstandings. But its was Natures' plan to control population. There were so many epidemics, droughts, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes etc. These are natures best ways to control population. Swine flu is just one of them. When all failed to control the population, there was AIDS.

Nature will try its best to save the world, and we should try to save ourselves. Thats the rule.

Chaha-pohe karyakram

My mom got a call from my aunty saying, they have found a nice girl for Nishad. Send them his horoscope and a photo. Please note down these 2 phone numbers. They will be in touch with you soon. I was very casual about all these things. I was mentally not ready to get married as I felt I was not settled enough to get married. I had a dream of having a bungalow and a Mitsubishi Lancer before I wed. Right now I have difficulties paying my house rent, and forget a car, I ride a bicycle. It is now that I realise, "You are never settled until you get married."I was ignorant to all these issues as I was confident no one would accept a guy who calls himself a software engineer and rides a bicycle to office.  
 As a part of horoscope match, my mom sent them my photo too. This one. This snap was taken more than 3 years ago when I flaunted a big moustache and was at least 10 Kgs heavier than what I am today. When I came to know about this snap, I was even more confident of myself getting rejected.

 

One day during my vacation, I was told that the girls's parents want us to meet. I was shocked. This was the first time I was going to see a girl the typical arranged marriage way, or in marathi we put it as "Chaha-pohe karyakram". One day before we decided to meet at her uncle's place, I got to see her photo for the first time. Sonam had given a snap specially taken from a professional photographer. My first impression was "Not bad". We went to her uncle's house. Her father gave us a warm welcome. I was made to sit straight in front of her father. My mom and aunty were to the left, and my elder brother was to my right. 
             Now comes the interesting part. Many try to keep this program as a secret. But let me tell you the full uncut story. This was my first "Chaha-pohe" programme. Coincidently it was Sonam's first programme too. So you can imagine the amount of tension filled in both of our minds. I was in a state of silence. Just the feeling of me being looked as a groom for someone made me nervous. All eyes were set on me. Her father, mother, uncle, aunty were all looking at me, and I was simply looking down at the third button of my shirt. In my mind, I was thinking, right now what would the girl be thinking about all this ? In this house, where she must be sitting right now ? when will they call her ? Will she get the tea and poha tray herself with a ghoonghat on her head ? Is she really in the house or not ? With all such thoughts dangling in my mind, My aunty introduced me to her parents. I simply nodded my head to what she said. Then, her parents started asking me questions. Where in Bangalore do you stay ? How many people do you stay ? what about food ? how far is the company ? and some similar questions. I replied them promptly. Whenever I opened my mouth, everybodies eyes were staring at me. I felt, this arranged marriage was harder than an IBM interview. Then suddenly, someone called her down. At this point, I only remembered who her father was. Out of the two ladies, I was not sure who was her mother, and who was her aunty. 
            Sonam came down, touched the feet of my mom and aunty and silently sat on the chair. I just glanced at her face. Like me, even she looked tensed. She also glanced at my face. Inside my mind I said, "She looks better than the photograph". (After the marriage was confirmed, I was told that even her parents were surprised to see me without moustache and in beter shape than how I looked in the photograph) I looked at my Mom, Now it was the reverse, My mom, aunty and brother were staring at her, and I was still looking down at button #3 of my shirt. Then, it was "Chaha-pohe" turn. I dont remember who served them. I was given a plate with Pohe and small bowl with a sweet(Shira). In order to eat, I had to take the plate closer to my body. In doing this, out of tension, my hands would shiver. This shiver caused the bowl on the plate to shiver and make a cracking sound. While putting the first spoon in my mouth, I realised this. It was going to be tough finishing both without making a sound. I looked at Sonam. She had happily rejected the plate and had took only the sweet bowl. I was thinking to myself, She has done this purposefully after hearing my bowl making crackling sound. To avoid the sound, Even I finished the sweet first and then the rest. Then came tea. I am not a regular drinker of tea and I take longer time to finish it as I cannot drink it hot. It took me 5 extra minutes after everyone had finished their tea. 
           After everyone was done, suddenly everybody got up to show us the house. I was wondering why do we have to see the whole house now ? Later did I realise that this was all made up so that finally me and sonam end up in a room so that we can talk to each other in privacy. Finally, it was only me and Sonam in one room. The rest disappeared here and there. I was tensed, She was tensed. I asked her a few questions and gave a few confessions. 
Q1. Is this marrige going as per your wish or you wanted something else?
A1. I am happy with what is going on.

Q2. Is the age difference between you and me Ok ?
A2. Ok.

Q3. Do you know where I work, how much I earn ?
A3. yes.

Q4. Are you ready to go anywhere with me after marrige ? Currently it is Bangalore, later even I dont know. I will try for Pune though. 
A4. Yes. I am ready.

Q5. Do you believe in God ?
A5. Yes. I am a devotee of Ganesha.

Q6. I sleep early, and get up early regardless of any holidays and I would be happy if you too do the same. 
A6. Yes.

Q7. Do you eat non veg ?
A7. No. Never. I even hate the smell of eggs.

Q8. I see you are very silent, please ask me also some questions.
A8. I cant think of any question.

I gave some of my confessions to her.
I told her about my dream of a bungalow and a car, and where I stand today. Instead of taking an auto, I prefer the bus. I get up early and go for running. I run Marathons. When I told your father I ride bicycle, I really meant I ride a bicycle. for the past 2 years, I have been riding it. Its not that I cannot afford a motorcycle, but I love a bicycle and would love it even after marriage. I eat chicken, fish, eggs. I too believe in God but not the the extent to which you do. While telling all this, I was looking at the floor and she was looking at the wall.

Before we could talk more, We were called back downstairs. It was time for us to go. Her parents told us to give them our reply in two days. Even now I was quite casual thinking that they might still reject me. Also, She didnt speak to me much which made me think, something is stopping her from talking to me. My mom was very happy with her. My Aunty was very happy with her. My brother was happy with her. I told mom, she didnt speak to me at all. I cant say yes unless she talks a little. A months later, we did get a chance to talk, and this time even she was happy with me, and even I was happy with her answers. Finally, it was "YES" from both the families and we had a happy begining.....

Happy Valentine's Day

A Very special way to celebrate Valentine's Day....