Well, a favorite topic of anyone who has traveled westwards from India is the traffic and ease of driving.
I have my own take on that. I actually like driving in India more. Driving in the US is monotonous, almost soporific. Follow lanes, no sudden stops, no maniacal turnings. Boring. Like the assemblies we used to have back at school. Everyone stand in line and follow each other. Curbs our independence.
Driving back home is an altogether different thing. Its excitement every kilometer, you need to be alert guessing if the old man would walk across your path right when you are too close. Keeps the reflexes well oiled.No way can you switch on the music and have a relaxing drive. Except maybe at 2 in the night. But not anymore in Bangalore. The call center cab drivers make sure you relax only after the car's safely parked in the garage (well, whoever can afford having a garage, else it's just the public road with all the alarms on high alert).
Drivers in America drive like the American do (always on the right). While back home, half the drivers drive like Indians should, on the left and the other half drive the American way, on the right.
You miss a turn in India, just turn around on the same side and merrily merge into the oncoming traffic to find your way back. And if your bike or car is upto it, just drive it right over the divider and across. Other drivers will generally understand. You must be in a hurry to get somewhere. Though some drivers might think you are really in a hurry to meet Him up there.
And you really get a good brushing up of your vocabulary on the road. Either directed at you or you directing at someone. While in America, everyone gets along with a wave of the finger.
It is like an nationally approved signal. Can imagine air hostesses showing the finger while welcoming you into the country. Can imagine AirIndia's Maharaja proudly showing off the finger instead of the famous bow. Hehehe.
A pedestrian crossing a busy street in Bangalore is really testing in the ancient scriptures of the belief in karma. Every time I have to cross a road, I say to myself "God, if I have been good through my life, let me reach the other side safely".
Why did the chicken cross the road in Bangalore?
It didn't. It just chickened out.
I have had quite a few incidents on the road myself. Once, I ran across after my friend and got hit by a bike. Nothing much except bruised elbow and knee skin. Another time, I jumped off a bus and chipped off my front tooth. Stupid driver didn't stop at the busstop.
Every time I look in the mirror, it's a grim reminder of what could have happened. I was lying face down on the road, arms flayed. Any vehicle coming behind the bus, and they would have had to scrape me off with a spatula off the road. Heh heh. shouldn't make fun. that could have been much more serious :(
Here's a nice time lapse video of the traffic in India. Funny to watch all the chaos. But what the heck, I revel in it. trying to sleep now. Maybe I should go for a drive. That should do the trick.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Another funny sign I came across...
Was strolling in downtown Memphis, and found this on Beale Street. Nice sense of humor, the artist has :)
I should have got my portrait just for the humor put in by the artist, but then I knew I wasn't up for the discount!
Watched 2 good Bollywood movies over the weekend - Pyar ke Side effects and Khosla ka Ghosla.
PKSE was a fun movie - Rahul Bose in a role tailor made for him (he seems to be getting slotted, though), Mallika showing enough character (and enough of the character, if I may add! :D) in a very unlike-her role and Ranvir in a typical over-the-top performance. The dialogue on superheroes and marriage was a ROTFL-er!
KkG was another well made movie - on the land sharks and grabbing, which anyone in an Indian metro would be aware of.
Ranvir was the common link in both movies - I always enjoyed watching his antics right from his MTV days with Vinay, and more recently, the GretIndianComedyShow. His mimicking of Amitabh is especially howlarious on the show!
Also watched Cheeni Kum last week. A sweet movie. The dialogues are really great throughout. I heard they are making a 3-part series for this?
Cheeni Kum, Cheeni See, Cheeni Conquer!
And the Chinese are flocking to see it - the title welcomes them!
Hehe, I can think of much more poor jokes - but then, they would need to carry a censor rating :D
P.S: My Yosemite update still is to happen, but then a grand place deserves a grand scale. Any description of that place would run into pages. Needs some time :)
So keep waiting (if you are!).
I should have got my portrait just for the humor put in by the artist, but then I knew I wasn't up for the discount!
Watched 2 good Bollywood movies over the weekend - Pyar ke Side effects and Khosla ka Ghosla.
PKSE was a fun movie - Rahul Bose in a role tailor made for him (he seems to be getting slotted, though), Mallika showing enough character (and enough of the character, if I may add! :D) in a very unlike-her role and Ranvir in a typical over-the-top performance. The dialogue on superheroes and marriage was a ROTFL-er!
KkG was another well made movie - on the land sharks and grabbing, which anyone in an Indian metro would be aware of.
Ranvir was the common link in both movies - I always enjoyed watching his antics right from his MTV days with Vinay, and more recently, the GretIndianComedyShow. His mimicking of Amitabh is especially howlarious on the show!
Also watched Cheeni Kum last week. A sweet movie. The dialogues are really great throughout. I heard they are making a 3-part series for this?
Cheeni Kum, Cheeni See, Cheeni Conquer!
And the Chinese are flocking to see it - the title welcomes them!
Hehe, I can think of much more poor jokes - but then, they would need to carry a censor rating :D
P.S: My Yosemite update still is to happen, but then a grand place deserves a grand scale. Any description of that place would run into pages. Needs some time :)
So keep waiting (if you are!).
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Yo San Francisco!
The long weekend for Memorial Day was a welcome one with a well-deserved vacation. This was the first weekend that I was traveling out of Memphis after coming to the United States.
After much deliberation, we had zero-ed in on San Francisco with a 2 day visit to the Yosemite National Park, the oldest national park in the United States. Sups and Mitesh agreed to be our gracious hosts :-)
After initial hiccups, with everyone having last minute speed breakers, we met up on the morning of Friday. It was good meeting Vikas after a long time. But unfortunately, my baggage got delayed which led to a day of inconveniences (am still fighting with the airlines for that). Had to get new sets of clothes, chargers, etc. But then, the charm of SJ and SFO went a long way in lessening the pain of the delayed baggage.
After a sumptuous breakfast of dosas and biryani, thanks to the ladies cooking (a special mention for the yummy Harissa, thanks Sups), Mitesh took me shopping for emergency clothes. Finally, by afternoon, we were freshened up and ready to hit the town. First stop was the Indian cafe, Amber, where we had some tasty kaati rolls and veg frankies, which satisfied out palate with great Indian taste. Next was the visit to the world-famous Golden Gate bridge. We first stopped at a Sunset Point outside Mountain View and then drove through the Pacific Highway Coast on the way. We stopped at one of the ocean shores to take in the might of the Pacific. We reached Vista point to see the bridge shrouded in a thick fog. It was impressive, nevertheless. We decided to return when the lights were switched on at the bridge. We visited Sausulito, a sleepy town with a good view of the Alcatraz - The Rock, the famous prison from where there is no escape. It was tough to get a clear view of it in the encompassing clouds.
You can see the outline of Alcatraz just to the left of the boat, way back blurred in the fog.
After having some hot coffee at a quaint little cafe, we shopped for souvenirs. I picked up some fridge magnets and an Alcatraz t shirt.
By then it was past dusk and we drove up to a higher point to get a view of the bridge from top. It was so windy out there that the cameras left alone, could have flown off. And mind you, the S1 IS with 4 batteries, is no ballet dancer! But the views were amazing. A fully lit Golden Gate really lives up to its name. Covered in swathes of golden light and the ensuing fog added to the magic effect. Thought not too good for photography. But who cares. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, not some Carl-Zeiss lens :-D
It was time for dinner and Mitesh had arbitrarily picked a Greek restaurant, Mezes in SFO. And what a good choice it was. To say that the food was great, would be a gross understatement. Each and every dish we ordered was something special. And the wine did help in adding its bit of taste. I surely recommend it to anyone who's in that part of the town to try it out. You wouldn't be disappointed.
After dinner, we drove down the Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. I had seen videos of this street earlier, and the experience was just as good.
Finally, reached and and everyone crashed expecting the early start to Yosemite the next morning. I stayed up still trying to locate my baggage from a pretty customer-unfriendly service at Aloha Airlines. They didn't have the courtesy of calling me with updates all through the day. I had to keep calling them to check for updates. Finally, slept thinking the baggage was a goner for ever.
Woke up pretty early next morning and got the news that my baggage was found. Had to make a change in the travel plan to drive to the airport to pick up the baggage. Had breakfast at the highly recommended iHop, which we found on the way. It was true to the recommendation. The omelettes and pancakes were really some tasty stuff. Finally, we were on our way, stomachs filled with food and hearts filled with anticipation :)
Wait for PartII for the Yosemite update!
Until then, check out the pics at www.flickr.com/photos/prashanth_ak
Also, this kept us in splits -> http://www.makkadman.com
Especially the background score! Man, was it awesome!! Complete ROTFL material!!
After much deliberation, we had zero-ed in on San Francisco with a 2 day visit to the Yosemite National Park, the oldest national park in the United States. Sups and Mitesh agreed to be our gracious hosts :-)
After initial hiccups, with everyone having last minute speed breakers, we met up on the morning of Friday. It was good meeting Vikas after a long time. But unfortunately, my baggage got delayed which led to a day of inconveniences (am still fighting with the airlines for that). Had to get new sets of clothes, chargers, etc. But then, the charm of SJ and SFO went a long way in lessening the pain of the delayed baggage.
After a sumptuous breakfast of dosas and biryani, thanks to the ladies cooking (a special mention for the yummy Harissa, thanks Sups), Mitesh took me shopping for emergency clothes. Finally, by afternoon, we were freshened up and ready to hit the town. First stop was the Indian cafe, Amber, where we had some tasty kaati rolls and veg frankies, which satisfied out palate with great Indian taste. Next was the visit to the world-famous Golden Gate bridge. We first stopped at a Sunset Point outside Mountain View and then drove through the Pacific Highway Coast on the way. We stopped at one of the ocean shores to take in the might of the Pacific. We reached Vista point to see the bridge shrouded in a thick fog. It was impressive, nevertheless. We decided to return when the lights were switched on at the bridge. We visited Sausulito, a sleepy town with a good view of the Alcatraz - The Rock, the famous prison from where there is no escape. It was tough to get a clear view of it in the encompassing clouds.
You can see the outline of Alcatraz just to the left of the boat, way back blurred in the fog.
After having some hot coffee at a quaint little cafe, we shopped for souvenirs. I picked up some fridge magnets and an Alcatraz t shirt.
By then it was past dusk and we drove up to a higher point to get a view of the bridge from top. It was so windy out there that the cameras left alone, could have flown off. And mind you, the S1 IS with 4 batteries, is no ballet dancer! But the views were amazing. A fully lit Golden Gate really lives up to its name. Covered in swathes of golden light and the ensuing fog added to the magic effect. Thought not too good for photography. But who cares. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, not some Carl-Zeiss lens :-D
It was time for dinner and Mitesh had arbitrarily picked a Greek restaurant, Mezes in SFO. And what a good choice it was. To say that the food was great, would be a gross understatement. Each and every dish we ordered was something special. And the wine did help in adding its bit of taste. I surely recommend it to anyone who's in that part of the town to try it out. You wouldn't be disappointed.
After dinner, we drove down the Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. I had seen videos of this street earlier, and the experience was just as good.
Finally, reached and and everyone crashed expecting the early start to Yosemite the next morning. I stayed up still trying to locate my baggage from a pretty customer-unfriendly service at Aloha Airlines. They didn't have the courtesy of calling me with updates all through the day. I had to keep calling them to check for updates. Finally, slept thinking the baggage was a goner for ever.
Woke up pretty early next morning and got the news that my baggage was found. Had to make a change in the travel plan to drive to the airport to pick up the baggage. Had breakfast at the highly recommended iHop, which we found on the way. It was true to the recommendation. The omelettes and pancakes were really some tasty stuff. Finally, we were on our way, stomachs filled with food and hearts filled with anticipation :)
Wait for PartII for the Yosemite update!
Until then, check out the pics at www.flickr.com/photos/prashanth_ak
Also, this kept us in splits -> http://www.makkadman.com
Especially the background score! Man, was it awesome!! Complete ROTFL material!!
Monday, May 21, 2007
Insane Ramblings...
Just came across this piece of poetry that circulated among our Jundk group (people in the slideshow up above at the top of the page) with each one contributing. Just started off as a harmless reply to fun mail...and boy, did it snowball into a poetic free-for-all! We rock! 'Twas fun! And I thought I should post it here. Vikas even put it up on the NDTV poetry site :D
Insane Ramblings
- Jundk
Unknown:
In the confines of cubicles by artificial light,
Sipping coffee from the machines day and night.
Speaking on phones , in meetings we sit.
Staring the monitor, the keyboard(s) we hit.
Far away from loved ones whom for days we do not meet.
Remembering them, working, on our seat.
This is life for us,
Working away from homes and loved ones in places afar.
What a life, techies we are.
Prashanth, Software Engineer echoes his heart:
What you say is true, my friend
Sitting on the revolving chair, the misery never seems to end
But there are the plus points too, you bet
Which include free phone, email and Internet
But when the month reaches its last day
And the bank accounts are credited with your pay
One's joy knows no bound
Because ultimately, its money that makes the world go round.
A Friend, Vidya asks
Did you just write that??
Prashanth replies:
Yes, I did write that now
But even I wonder how
Coz with so much work to do
The insides of my head feels like a zoo
To tell you, for writing things like this
For a brief while, I can afford to give the work a miss
Suprada an MS Student from Arizona State Univ adds:
And there are us student too
With deadlines to meet and profs to greet
Day or nite means nothing to us
Slog all the time..Thats our curse
We speak to the comp, our best pal
And Everybody thinks we're slightly off
All we want are no deadlines
And then its Partytime!
A frustrated sleep deprived Vybhav,
Onsite support bemoans;
And then there are blokes like me,
That wake up in the hours of wee.....
Just to receive some stupid phone call.....
Only wishing it was some cool gal
But there alas, goes the system crash .....
Here it is, the same old trash .......
There are phone calls from everywhere , left , right and centre ...
Away then from your TL , you want to canter ...
Sorry life it is of a software engineer
Away from everything you want to meander.
Suprada continues in a blaze:
For some its day, for the others, nite
But similar is our plight
This misery we share...
Of the comp and its stupid software
Ah how nice it would be, to sit and chill
As once we all did!
Gone are those days...
All's left is my mind in a daze!
Vikas Pitches in shyly:
Are you guys good or what !!
Thought would try my hand too, in that
Be it Student Be it Engineer
All of us have the same veneer
Of taking on the world and making a Difference
Of deciphering this thing called Life and making some sense
To write such stuff and give ur work a miss is no crime
Hey, know what? I can also rhyme :)
Another Novice Sathwick says "NOW EAT THIS":
And then there are other folk,
Who sit all day looking ard for work,
And when it comes there is hardly any,
Surf and chat, happily,
Plan for the weekend,
And thus week ends
By painting the town RED... !!
The Grateful Prash:
Thanks for collating the poems Charlie
Tis really wonderful to see
All you people writing ode upon better ode
Which is really better than looking at ____ing software code
And for all you students
There is no reason to get tense
Coz JundK is always there
In times of joy, to share
And in times of strife, to care
That is what makes each one of you, a friend rare!
Vidya says ruefully:
Well, well, well,
All this hullabaloo rings a bell
I was a Software Engineer
Only to move from the pan to the fire!
I fear
Now that I'm here
I'm no longer free,
The best of my life is now behind me
:-(
And Rashmi has a valid Point:
I feel sorry for all u'r plights
Being a S/W engineer's wife is my plight
S/W Engineer's work is never ending
And their wives frustrations beginning.
Only the four walls of my house is my sight
Which is making me lose my insight
Atleast You guys get a better bait.
Hope to see a "coming home early" side of my mate..
Insane Ramblings
- Jundk
Unknown:
In the confines of cubicles by artificial light,
Sipping coffee from the machines day and night.
Speaking on phones , in meetings we sit.
Staring the monitor, the keyboard(s) we hit.
Far away from loved ones whom for days we do not meet.
Remembering them, working, on our seat.
This is life for us,
Working away from homes and loved ones in places afar.
What a life, techies we are.
Prashanth, Software Engineer echoes his heart:
What you say is true, my friend
Sitting on the revolving chair, the misery never seems to end
But there are the plus points too, you bet
Which include free phone, email and Internet
But when the month reaches its last day
And the bank accounts are credited with your pay
One's joy knows no bound
Because ultimately, its money that makes the world go round.
A Friend, Vidya asks
Did you just write that??
Prashanth replies:
Yes, I did write that now
But even I wonder how
Coz with so much work to do
The insides of my head feels like a zoo
To tell you, for writing things like this
For a brief while, I can afford to give the work a miss
Suprada an MS Student from Arizona State Univ adds:
And there are us student too
With deadlines to meet and profs to greet
Day or nite means nothing to us
Slog all the time..Thats our curse
We speak to the comp, our best pal
And Everybody thinks we're slightly off
All we want are no deadlines
And then its Partytime!
A frustrated sleep deprived Vybhav,
Onsite support bemoans;
And then there are blokes like me,
That wake up in the hours of wee.....
Just to receive some stupid phone call.....
Only wishing it was some cool gal
But there alas, goes the system crash .....
Here it is, the same old trash .......
There are phone calls from everywhere , left , right and centre ...
Away then from your TL , you want to canter ...
Sorry life it is of a software engineer
Away from everything you want to meander.
Suprada continues in a blaze:
For some its day, for the others, nite
But similar is our plight
This misery we share...
Of the comp and its stupid software
Ah how nice it would be, to sit and chill
As once we all did!
Gone are those days...
All's left is my mind in a daze!
Vikas Pitches in shyly:
Are you guys good or what !!
Thought would try my hand too, in that
Be it Student Be it Engineer
All of us have the same veneer
Of taking on the world and making a Difference
Of deciphering this thing called Life and making some sense
To write such stuff and give ur work a miss is no crime
Hey, know what? I can also rhyme :)
Another Novice Sathwick says "NOW EAT THIS":
And then there are other folk,
Who sit all day looking ard for work,
And when it comes there is hardly any,
Surf and chat, happily,
Plan for the weekend,
And thus week ends
By painting the town RED... !!
The Grateful Prash:
Thanks for collating the poems Charlie
Tis really wonderful to see
All you people writing ode upon better ode
Which is really better than looking at ____ing software code
And for all you students
There is no reason to get tense
Coz JundK is always there
In times of joy, to share
And in times of strife, to care
That is what makes each one of you, a friend rare!
Vidya says ruefully:
Well, well, well,
All this hullabaloo rings a bell
I was a Software Engineer
Only to move from the pan to the fire!
I fear
Now that I'm here
I'm no longer free,
The best of my life is now behind me
:-(
And Rashmi has a valid Point:
I feel sorry for all u'r plights
Being a S/W engineer's wife is my plight
S/W Engineer's work is never ending
And their wives frustrations beginning.
Only the four walls of my house is my sight
Which is making me lose my insight
Atleast You guys get a better bait.
Hope to see a "coming home early" side of my mate..
Monday, May 14, 2007
Cool Firefox extensions
Cool Firefox Extensions:
For all those who are Firefox fans, here are some cool, funky extensions.
There are guaranteed to make heads turn towards your monitor (even if you are not having a page with Pamela Anderson photos all over it!)
Beware, these may not be the best in terms of memory utilization and all the geeky stuff. So if you are one who cringes at the task manager turning Matrix-like green, then this might not be your cup of tea. But they are kinda fun to have.
Tab Effect -
One of my favorites. But a resource hog. It makes a cool 3D transition when changing tabs. Its like a whole cube moving around to the next tab. It does take a second to do it, considerably slower than the normal tab shifting. But its fun.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4258
Firesomething -
A timepass funny add-on. It has a cache of different names and changes your browser name (on the top left of the browser screen) from Firefox to random names - I have had names ranging from ThunderElephant to SuperPorcupine to FireUnicorn..it guarantees you some humor whenever you notice the names. But you might need to do some fix for it to work on Firefox 2.0
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/31
Dictionary Tooltip -
A pretty useful add-on. When on a webpage, double click on any word and see its meaning in the accompanying slide-out window. No more opening dictionary.com and keying in a word to find out its meaning. Gives you dictionary, thesaurus, synonyms and antonyms as well!
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1171
Galleropa -
Again an useful tool rather than a cosmetic one. You can load your frequently used webpage links into galleries and use it as the default page when Firefox loads up. If there are a host of sites you log into each morning regularly, save them in the gallery and make it your Firefox default. So you have easy access to the links to each of this pages. And get to it without much navigation.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3374
VideoDownloader -
Use this download any video file from youtube, google videos, metacafe, etc. This saves the file as a flv file which then needs an FLV player to playback the clips.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2390
Other cool tools
ATNotes -
A very, simple Post-It notes software. You can configure colors, sizes, etc. You can even send each note to a different computer connected on the network.
Looks like I am not able to find the link to it. Google and find out yourselves.
Process Explorer -
Its an advanced version og your Windows task manager with lot more advanced features. One use I used to put it to is to find where the downloaded youtube/metacafe files are being stored by IE. And fine details of unknown processes that somehow appear.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Security/ProcessExplorer.mspx
BGInfo -
It gives information about you hostname, MAC Id, ip address, free space, memory used and available and can be displayed on the desktop. It gives an easy snapshot of the system at any given time (not real time though. You need to update/restart it every time you need to exact current information). But good, all the same.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/BgInfo.mspx
For all those who are Firefox fans, here are some cool, funky extensions.
There are guaranteed to make heads turn towards your monitor (even if you are not having a page with Pamela Anderson photos all over it!)
Beware, these may not be the best in terms of memory utilization and all the geeky stuff. So if you are one who cringes at the task manager turning Matrix-like green, then this might not be your cup of tea. But they are kinda fun to have.
Tab Effect -
One of my favorites. But a resource hog. It makes a cool 3D transition when changing tabs. Its like a whole cube moving around to the next tab. It does take a second to do it, considerably slower than the normal tab shifting. But its fun.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4258
Firesomething -
A timepass funny add-on. It has a cache of different names and changes your browser name (on the top left of the browser screen) from Firefox to random names - I have had names ranging from ThunderElephant to SuperPorcupine to FireUnicorn..it guarantees you some humor whenever you notice the names. But you might need to do some fix for it to work on Firefox 2.0
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/31
Dictionary Tooltip -
A pretty useful add-on. When on a webpage, double click on any word and see its meaning in the accompanying slide-out window. No more opening dictionary.com and keying in a word to find out its meaning. Gives you dictionary, thesaurus, synonyms and antonyms as well!
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1171
Galleropa -
Again an useful tool rather than a cosmetic one. You can load your frequently used webpage links into galleries and use it as the default page when Firefox loads up. If there are a host of sites you log into each morning regularly, save them in the gallery and make it your Firefox default. So you have easy access to the links to each of this pages. And get to it without much navigation.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3374
VideoDownloader -
Use this download any video file from youtube, google videos, metacafe, etc. This saves the file as a flv file which then needs an FLV player to playback the clips.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2390
Other cool tools
ATNotes -
A very, simple Post-It notes software. You can configure colors, sizes, etc. You can even send each note to a different computer connected on the network.
Looks like I am not able to find the link to it. Google and find out yourselves.
Process Explorer -
Its an advanced version og your Windows task manager with lot more advanced features. One use I used to put it to is to find where the downloaded youtube/metacafe files are being stored by IE. And fine details of unknown processes that somehow appear.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Security/ProcessExplorer.mspx
BGInfo -
It gives information about you hostname, MAC Id, ip address, free space, memory used and available and can be displayed on the desktop. It gives an easy snapshot of the system at any given time (not real time though. You need to update/restart it every time you need to exact current information). But good, all the same.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/BgInfo.mspx
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