Year 2010 reviewed

Reviewing 2010:

I know 2010 has been nice to me and it’s so plain. Still there are few nice things I want to recollect and pain things I have to review.

Departing to India beginning of this year:

No doubt, I had struggle staying in US last year. But when I decided to go back, my mind turned fresh and balanced (neither excited nor sad), going back to my home pacified visa issues and struggle. My flight kind of landed me into trouble during transit, but with fresh and balanced mind, I found this trouble nothing.

Completing stamping:

My plan after visiting India is to complete stamping and decide on my next steps. If I am successful in stamping, I already got a job to take up after 3 months. Stamping went successful and I hard coded my mind “I have a job waiting in 3 months and all I have to do is enjoy my stay at home”.

Good times with kids:

I never spent so much time with kids anytime in my life. Once I visited India, I stayed with my brother’s family in Pune. Here is my nephew (4) and niece (2). I watched all their comics along with them, I use to pick them from school sometimes, and I use to take them out sometimes, take my nephew to movies some times. We have been to Mumbai twice to watch t20 match. I remember the fun my nephew had when we watched a cricket match in an amphitheater. He loved cheer leaders there ;).

Special mention to a situation, where my nephew was hurt because of me. When he was unbearably mischievous during lunch, I had to handle him hard out of frustration and he fell down from couch (I didn’t see him sitting at the corner). His hand was hurt for at least 2-3 weeks and he missed his dance programs and stuff at annual day celebrations. I felt myself sick for being hard (though part of it was mistake, you cannot bring back his annual day celebrations).

D-time:

3 months are over. Now I am in Kadapa, having discussions with “I” company. I got an offer to join Chennai location (after 3 months of simple and long interview process). Now they tell me” we don’t do visa transfers”. It is all a mess now. I spoke to “M” people and worked out with “S” and I booked tickets next day. There was nothing much I could do here. Late night long distance calls concerned mom and Dad a little as I keep too many things in dark some times.

Seattle En route Houston:

I took Emirates. I decided to pay more, spend more time in flight and avoid BA. I reached Houston, met my employer and took pot full of Chivas Regal. Hang over after long time and in 6 hours flight to Seattle. Everything was much comfortable than earlier this time.

Casino’s and crazy stuff:

I won 600 on my first visit to Casino (poker). Thus, I loved it. I didn’t believe in beginners luck and thought it’s my poker talent. You have to pay for wrong analysis and I did the same in coming weeks. I don’t want to talk about crazy things which happened later. These incidents only kicked my inner impression on” being dark” (when you start making relation with non-human stuff, you are to be reviewed immediately).

Activities and self-analysis:

Finally I ended with me, myself with more activities. I stepped into gym, hiking, climbing, snow-shoeing etc. these are lot of activities to keep you occupied. But there are various occasions where my weak nesses took over me. My poor self-marketing skills, my lack of continuous focus, my curiosity (taking poor decisions later) surfaced back and slapped me saying “you have few gaps to be filled to be complete”.

I give this year 3.5/5 for being soft and plain to me.

SFO trip for Thanks Giving 2010

Quite honestly, after staying for 3 months in Fremont last year, if I have to go back to SFO it would only be to enjoy night life, bicycling and etc stuff. So when Bhanu and Phani proposed a trip to SFO, I reluctantly accepted it. I sniffed on how it’s going to be? On a discussion, I proposed down town, golden gate bridge, Alcatraz, pier 39, 17 mile drive and Livemore temple as the famous places to visit.
There were couple of hiccups due to snow on Monday, but we took a start on Wednesday morning. So members of our gang are Bhanu, Phani, Sajay, Sowjanya (w/o Bhanu) and Divya (w/o Phani). Our vehicle, white colored Chrysler. If you have seen our gang before, you would only notice us for spontaneous and crazy fun (not much by me and Sajay though).

Day 1:

When we started at 5 AM in the morning on Wednesday, Phani was our pilot. We have 4 drivers on record just to make me comfortable. Bhanu extensively used Facebook check-in feature for IPhone at every road and made people perceive that we are having blast. Our first stop was Portland rest area. It was so damn cold and we couldn’t have our home made breakfast (Idly) comfortably. Sajay took over the driving seat for next couple of hours and we stopped at some unknown (means I don’t remember) rest area. Here I heard some good news, a call from MS that I cleared first few rounds of interview and asked me to be prepared for final round next week. We had lunch here and we started off. Ash ford drive is recognizable drive surrounded by Snow Mountains and curvy roads cleared from snow so soon. It ends Portland and takes us to California. No need to give any special mentions on California roads, they are the best. As soon as we entered California, bright sun was awaiting us and certainly a view for Seattlites. It was at 8:30 we reached Fremont

We checked into Homestead, Fremont. I give it top position from the bottom of all the hotels I have stayed. Roll away bed was listed on the site, but hotel just got 3 roll away beds for so many rooms and they didn’t offer one to us. Some essential stuff was not given too. We had dinner and immediately slept as it was a long day.

Day 2:

I took over the driving seat and we started at 9 AM to SFO down town. Headed to Pier 39 straight, not many sea lions were available for us to watch. We had couple of photo sessions at piers and fisherman’s wharf. Later we visited wax museum. I wish I haven’t seen it. After visiting Madame Tussuads in London, it seemed below average to me. We decided that morning to go to New Delhi restaurant near union square. So, after wax museum we headed to this Indian restaurant and we missed directions for some time after that tiresome first half (of the day). Bummer, restaurant is closed for thanks giving. We took a turn back to have taco at Mexican restaurant, but same there. Subway had no sitting tables. We hopped on to Tian Sing, a chinese restaurant to experience the pathetic service. No one was content with quantity of food or quality of service. Our next visit is to Golden gate bridge, I didn’t find any one enjoying the bridge but I walked on bridge for some time and I bet, it’s the best experience one can have.

I have called my engineering senior friend Sateesh and we fixed on meeting that night for a movie. We all went to Orange movie. Orange is about the age of love and honesty. Honestly, I liked the movie if not the best. It was not the same with others around me. I desperately needed some drinks though we are so tired. I took Sajay and Sateesh to some nearest bowling arena and had drinks. Then we left Sateesh at Sunnyvale and planned to meet him later.

Day 3:

17 mile drive, Monterrey, CA

One of the best drives I have experienced last year. We reached there at around afternoon and had lunch at Anbrosia Indian restaurant. Not a great lunch, but ambience is appreciated. We had fun time at one point and I am little disappointed to say that we neither covered all points nor any one enjoyed the drive. I don’t want to talk about rest of the evening. It was certainly fun.

Day 4:

Downtown and temple:

We visited Livermore temple, one of the best temples I have seen in US and glad that everyone experienced the sacred feeling. I met Sailaja, my friend/partner during some social activities down in India. We maintained a school at Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad in a slum for a year. I have visited her after long time and it was good to see her again. We headed down town to visit Crook Street, china town and etc. More than Crook Street, our struggle to get off the steep uphill road on Lombard will be on memories. It was not an easy drive and we scared the vehicle behind us to hell. Crook street is very good scenic spot (but not worth our drive I feel, it may be easy drive for drivers who are used to such conditions). After a photo session at Crook Street, we visited few shops and thanks me, I didn’t take anything. We played some rummy after reaching hotel.

Day 5:

We headed back to Seattle. Except for couple of traffic jams due to crash, everything was smooth.

New Activities

I love to meet new people and know them. Later, I observe them and later, I absorb part of their activities as well. If you ask me, who inspired you to get into this activity, “I don’t know” will be the honest and right answer because I don’t track it, but I am planning to track it now

Shooting:

It’s been long time, I thought of “shooting” ranges. But I didn’t know where to start. I left it there as I had no clue on how to start it.
I have chosen to close this bad week end with a movie on Sunday night. My self and Subhash checked into “Due date” at regal cross roads, Bellevue. Movie is about two strangers who end up in a road trip for few days. It got some unusual action and unhealthy comedy sequences but not every movie is “hangover”. It still got some ridiculous comedy worth your ticket price. I enjoyed the movie and was happy to end the week end with a good note. Bummer, my car got flat tyred and I don’t have road side service covered in my insurance. So, estimated cost given by my insurance company is 68$ and minimum of 1 hour for towing the vehicle. I am used to these unexpected incidents which will test you during bad times. I called in Sajay (my roommate) and realized that we can fix it with the help of AAA and called them. I didn’t want to waste that lag time and I offered another movie to my friends  (movie after movie, I am fine with it unlike others). We started playing video game for 2 quarters and some gun shooting game. It triggered my interest towards shooting and I proposed it to my 2 friends there and they were ready for it. So, I made an enquiry with Wade’s guns, Bellevue. They offered a package for beginners. We visited them following week, there was a small training on how to handle the gun without hurting yourself and others. Trainer also decided that my left eye is dominant and I have to do left hand shooting. We took some easy targets and started off with 0.22 caliber pistols and then jumped on to semi -automatic pistol. It is a kind of experience I want to have again and I want to try more guns.

Whole big poker tournament and new rummy buddies:

On the same bad week end, one of my friends offered me to join their poker tournament following week. It’s just a 5$ check-in and far better compared to my 200$ investment for 0$ output. Again, I took along Subhash and Sajay with me for this tournament. This tournament went on for like 6 hours and finally I took a poor decision and got eliminated in last table. But, 6 hours for 5$, that’s like greatest thing for me. I just hopped on to my friends place (Bhanu) and we started rummy there, thus I got rummy buddies too. I came back home at 1 AM that night after lot of activities.

Rock Climbing:

When I been to hiking for my first time formally (I call it formally because I did many informal hikes at India), I was thinking about mountain climbing. But I don’t have any directions again. So I gave up. I was always impressed with TG’s activities. Her face book page is full with pics of so many activities. When my cricketing season is over, I immediately emailed her about snowboarding and rock climbing. Busy girl took a week to reply me and offered a free rock climbing training. Wohoo! What else do I need, a nice group and a nice start off, I happily accepted the offer and started off climbing yesterday. She helped with couple of easy climbs (5’6’’ and 5’7’’). I did 4 climbs well and 5th one, I couldn’t and I just gave up. I know I easily give up. Yes, something to work on. Thank full to TG.

Snowboarding, I am coming soon.

Deepawali - One such memorable festival

Is there any Indian festival, which doesn't mark the end of evil? I rarely come across such except for the birthday's of God (which is often referred as Birth of Good to end evil), so its again one and same. But the way we celebrate each festival definitely changes the pattern of one's life. Change may be unrecognized and invisible, but i still believe in it.

Talking about Deepawali, Shop keepers launch opening ceremony a week before festival by opening stalls. We step into festive environment by bugging parents to buy more clothes and crackers. Lay over between the time we buy fire crackers and the time we crack them is all an exciting phase. Every evening we feel like journey to cloud 9.

With a slight variation to other festivals, Deepawali starts evening. So, our foot hardly stay on ground during the last hour of the school. On the way home, we feel the festival, every home got smile on its face.

When dusk makes an entrance, clay lights at every home lightens the place. Very symbolic philosophy. I have reached cloud 9. Mom lightens the home and places fire crackers on Wool stiched holder (dont know the exact term). I know they are not all we got and other fire crackers are hidden. But yeah, we have to fire them economically as festival is for 3 days. Except for deaf and old people, every one will be on street firing crackers. You will see some adventorous guys making some adventures (like firing rockets horizantally, i did that after my schooling :)) and your parents will be watching you to make sure you run a mile away from fire cracker as soon as you fire it. This is the right time to take on some painful neighbours (those who mess with you). All you have to do is, fire crackers at 12 AM in front of their home. Its fun. As we will have to celebrate the festival for 3 days and my father's peanut budget to crackers is inversely proportional to my excitement (and me and my brother has to share crackers), it was always incomplete. But yes, Mom know the art of solacing. The word "we still have festival tommorrow" makes it complete.

Our family used to celebrate next day morning and i don't see many families doing it. One extra session brings edge over neighbours and makes neighbour hood kids jealous. Wow, this is a complete feeling. It ends during night. We clear everything. Though we crave for more. But that's it. Deepawali is over.

Oops, did i miss the part of sweets and new clothes? They can be ignored. For other festivals, they definitely take front seat, not for Deepawali.

My writing got a long break and my mind is so occupied with some crap now. I have a good feeling that i am going to set off everything after this writing and work on new resolutions.

Inter state trip for labor day week end

It was just Portland for labor week end 2009. This time, it’s whole different experience. There is no long plan involved, Agassi just asked me to come to Santa Ana for long week end and the thread got extended in a random manner.

September 3rd 2010 - South California by South West

It was total different experience with South West. There was no seating assignment and you will be given code somewhere between {A1 to A60} to {C1 to C60} with good priority to passengers who planned and brought their tickets early. Though i was allotted B20's, i got window/Aisle every time. Crew was totally attentive. Ah! I don't like middle-aged crew, but it happens with every airline in US. There was lay over at Las Vegas, so in a way, South West gave me first LV experience. It started with amazing view of red rocks and red soil. Curiosity level doubled while departing LV to Santa Ana. On reaching Santa Ana, took a cab to La Quinta Inn hotel. Surprised, to see unhappy cab driver though I offered $2 tip for 10$ worth travel. Hotel receptionist was the first happy person i saw after landing. Dropped my luggage and planned to hang out whole afternoon, when asked for the right place, hotel guys pointed me to south coast mall. Couldn't really understand what makes mall a hang out place. But with no option, went ahead. Again, i could see no smile around that area.
So, high lights of the day were "lay over at LV", "Lunch at Italian Cafe and tasty wine", "Dinner at Indian restaurant".

September 4th 2010 - On our way to Grand Canyon

Here comes Agassi, Suman later joined by Vinay and Rakesh. Agassi is the only person known to me, but it wasn't long for others to have easy talk. We started off with lunch at "traditions" and then buying camera and aux cable at radio shack. It was an eye feast watching Californian Mountains and then Arizonian red mountains. We reached best western hotel at Williams and took rest. Denny's was real bad experience for us. I vowed myself never to visit Denny's again. They took one hour for our To-Go, which almost made our friends sleep after tiresome drive and they were defiant.

September 5th 2010 - Canyon Experience

Till now, it was more of food and drive experience, activity actually started today.

We booked Jeep Safari at 11:15 AM from Grand Canyon to visit Canyons. We were to be picked at 11:00 AM at McDonalds. So, we went around and William's beauty and its railway station. We didn't count on minutes as we had lot of photography. At 11:10, we realized that we are 60 miles away from Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon also got Best western hotel and McDonalds sitting closer. So we missed Jeep tour and management was kind enough to void our charge. Same people booked our Helicopter tour for afternoon. We reached Grand Canyon and rushed to check-in at Helicopter tours to make sure we won't miss it again. But it was a windy day and we were asked to expect delay. So we were off for lunch and by the time we came back, stage is set for tour. We missed safety video and rushed to helicopter. We couldn't wait any more for that exciting trip. We posed for a pic and soon started our trip after fitting safety equipment. Though pilot was less interactive, we got over this when we were over canyons. Awestruck! Once in a life time experience. We had some bumpy ride due to winds, but it is all negligible after flying closer to Canyons. Nothing else was closer to exciting after this tour.

September 5th 2010 night - Entering Sin city

Traffic was not that bad. Everyone was super excited to visit LV. It started off with Hoover dam followed by few Casino’s followed by stunning view of Vegas. Is there any one, who is not excited about Vegas? From the day i started poker, i always wanted to play at Vegas. I hated slow moving traffic, not even interested in capturing alluring view of Vegas. Want to sit at table as quickly as possible. We crossed MGM, and decided to make fortune at Bellagio. Couldn't get parking for long time. Oh no! We got it early and we were waiting for other car to back off. As it was taking time, we allowed the car behind us to move on. It may be funny/foolish, but we considered it rude behavior to make our-self comfortable :-). It is downtown Vegas...Moved on and took a room at Bellagio. Woo! Hot girls, well dressed people. We are so tired and i wanted to step into room ASAP to avoid being odd.

There are many items in fridge, but touch it if you want it, otherwise ignore it. They got motion sensors..loll..if you have to use internet, you have to pay. Man! Insane prices and limited facilities. I stepped into poker room and started off losing 100$ (I got 2 K's, but 2 8's won the game..dang). I continued with another 100 and made decent profit of 110$ on a whole. Later i stepped into Vegas streets along with Suman. We had dinner-fast at Subway and continued to mm..some other places.

Again visited Bellagio and played Blackjack and made profit of 75$.

September 6th 2010 - Back to Santa Ana

Pretty tired and back in La Quinta. Postponed my flight few hours late so that i can sleep enough. It was so sad, but unavoidable, had to come back to Seattle on 7th by South West.

How Puli works - My View

When your favourites patch up for a project and when it takes too long time to be "live" and when it is "Live", How do you feel? Excited! Alright, this is all about music album "Puli". ARR and PK worked together for this project. Audio release is scheduled for Sunday and i was in that excited state called "eager". and how is it, audio got leaked and i got all the songs prior to release. Wohoo! Thrilled!

Is this album up to my expectation? Definitely not! But what is this music? Much awaited change! Telugu music industry lost its originality and quality. People here love music but most of the favourite music directors come from "Tamil" industry. Use of quality instruments was never an accepted change in Telugu. ARR tried it in his olden days and we refused to accept "Oscar winner from India". Sri tried it but industry politics cornered him. Mickey J Meyer is trying it, but he never got a big project. Even if he gets big project, he will be rejected. Only big projects will take music to every corner of Andhra Pradesh. Now its certainly a big project and every corner will not accept the album initially, still they will forcibly get along with music as it is PK's (and marketing ARR's Oscar craze) project. This change will certainly help the music industry. Next Mickey J Meyer's album will be no stranger to audience going forward.

PK and ARR: PK's choreography is all about music and concept. Its pretty little about dance. "Maaralante", "Mahah Maaya" and "nammakam" songs exactly fall in those category where visuals will be on same pace with song.

With this, i welcome ARR to bring change to Telugu music industry and i wish he will be roped into many projects. Down! Down! Copy cats...get off low quality morons.

New Iphone 4

I am no phone freak and i neither change phones/nor explore deep into phones while using them. I will just settle down with comfortable features and keep using them forever.

But for IPhone 4, i tested a lot. I am sure, i love IPhone just for the sake of data plan and nothing else. Still i tested it for the reason "I don't know".

I have pre-ordered the phone as my 3GS was in replacement period and got it on 27th of June. By the time, i got it..there was lot of discussion about bugs in Iphone 4. This was the same time, i was inactive in Facebook and desperate for a topic to make myself active :-). Surely, my Iphone test results helped me glow on facebook. Not that it is requirement to stay active, but i want to be net savvy for few months :-).

Now coming to my IPhone and its test results :-)
First look (and also signal reception bug :-))



Front Camera and Me :-)



Face Time with my friend



3GS and 4 Tested with Speedtest.net App

Whats the fate of week end, if you have an unpleasant friday night? - Continued

Wondering! This was my facebook status, there is lot to continue. There is no "Lost" season 6 on netflix to kill my time. I don't wanna booze and don't wanna watch movies as well.

It has been long time since i updated my activity though there was lot of activity. I entered Seattle and my immigration was smooth, my flight was smooth and my baggage was on time.

Had a smooth start @ Job. My tasks were defined well before i arrived. Its not easy, believe me, i am working :-)

This is my third visit to US. It will be a different activity every time i visit. Like first time, i was more into movies and drives kinda stuff. It was more about exploring. Second time, It consisted of Movies, TV Seasons, tours, pubs...it was more of balanced activity. This time, i don't know yet but yes, i should plan it well.

I am expecting the fillers to be sports, books and movies. No tours and other activities. But hell ya, its just thought for a moment, you never know :-).

But will be updating blog regularly as self analysis test :-)

Books, Media and Internet

They have been tremendous entertainers and good pals for me during this long n slightly boring vacation.

Books - Though i love books, i need healthy n crowded environment to read books..like television should be occupied by some one and internet by other. Thus, i will be left with only option and not dark/alone. I cannot read on travel as well.

Book#1 "3 Mistakes of my life" by Chetan Bhagat: An Indian Novel. Story was localized to Ahmedabad. 3 lead characters of the book were scripted very well and are interesting. Australia tour and Climax were very much filmy and takes you away from book. Fate cannot be called a mistake, It is a poor justification to the title. Strong characters and localization doesn't stand strong before mistakes made in the book.

Book#2 "Kane and Abel" by Geffrey Archer: Its a big book contrary to earlier book. It takes a while to make it gripping because the very child hood doesn't interest me. Second stage of the book picks up the pace and makes it too interesting to keep the book away for a while. War episodes and love story (which brings quick ending) doesn't really justify their presence and weakens the 400 pages narration a little. To summarize, a very well narrated book.

Book#3 "Associate" by John Grisham: "Gripping" and "Clean" Novel. Anticipating interesting move, you will flip pages till the end just to realize that there would be no filmy climax in real world. It was so good being in a big law firm and handling shady part.

Book#4: "One Billion Customers" by James McGregor: China. China is the focus and viewers getting some business knowledge on China is the end goal. "China is the neighboring country". I have more knowledge than this fact now. My extract is: "China is a super power", "China will destroy itself one day" and "i hate China". Very interesting book.

Book#5: "Five Point Some one" by Chetan Bhagat: One word "Excellent". Any Indian student can easily replace him with one of the 3 IITians. There are few books, which you tend to complete every time but couldn't for some reasons. This is one such book for me. I tried to start it many times, but couldn't. But this time, book was a gift from stranger for dropping him at airport when he needed much. All the lost impression with "3 Mistakes of my life" is gained back and prompted me to purchase "One night @ Call center"

Book#6: "Other side of Mid night" by Sidney Sheldon: Revenge, Love and Hate. Tale of two women, one betrayed by family n boy friend, who takes strange path to get her love back. Another wonderful virgin, who thinks a lot about wonderful men and gets trapped by a play boy. Every chapter has its own steamy bed room scene you would love and then an interesting twist. A good book.

Now started "Client" by John Grisham, which should be followed by "Street Lawyer" by JG and then by "One night @ Call center" and "Fifth estate" by Jeffrey Archer.

In media, IPL and Hungama TV (kids channel) were most watched.

Internet: Lot of activity on facebook. Farmville occupied first half and poker the second. Also finding some new friends in poker. Now in twitter as well (Following a lot)..

Braboure Stadium, Mumbai

So making it clear, i am not writing about stadium..Its about my visit to stadium.

Though not the oldest in India, i visited "one of the oldest" stadium in India yesterday. Stadium got decent seating capacity with old kinda infrastructure.

So the fight was between Mumbai Indians(MI) and Delhi Dare Devils(DD), an IPL T20 match. Really not interested in supporting any team, But Delhi losing will open chances for Deccan + match in Mumbai + Sachin Tendulkar...Something to cheer MI...

Got to know on April 12th 11 PM that we got tickets for this fight next day. But will have to collect tickets at 11 AM next day. So me, bhabhi, nephew and niece started from Pune around 8:30 AM, will be joined by my brother in Mumbai.

My brother asked me to call "Robin Singh", coach of MI and collect tickets. Oh yea, remotely my contact. My brother's friend helped us get these tickets and contact. I called Robin and inquired. Later i was stuck thinking, should i add "sir" tail to his name. After all, he represented India and now helping us. I can think of no better qualification. I was about to get tickets from Robin Singh Sir, but traffic thirsty Mumbai roads, you must have your own chopper flight to plan things.

So i got tickets from reception of Trident hotel leading to "missing opportunity" of meeting Robin.

Now its 4 PM and match and match started. I was waiting to pick my brother, who started 150 minutes prior from a place "15 minutes" away from stadium. 15:150 sucks any time.

Finally there he iz, now we have to deposit his baggage back in our taxi. So i asked my brother to take my niece in and i took baggage back to our taxi. You cannot curse roads every time, Its your right to get stuck in traffic. So curse yourself and contribute to some illnesses in such situation.

When i entered stadium, it was strategic time out and Sachin was playing. So thought enuf lucky. So break over, got that whistling music instrument to cheer Sachin. I dont know if bowler took my encouragement, he got Sachin the very 2nd ball after i entered. Dont know whats wrong with bowlers some times.

Got to settle with Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary for some time. IPL turned into ranji match now. Finally Delhi managed few wickets and Pollard joined Duminy. Now IPL is back and action is back. We needed it. My nephew and niece dancing on chairs along with crowd, though some times cry for unknown reasons.

Thanks to Dinesh Karthik, who made it worse for Delhi. A thumping win for Mumbai. Mumbaikars had enough fun with the performance. But wth is that match...no tight fight, Sachin didn't play, not my team..Just that kids enjoyed the match.

Cheer Leaders were good though :P, But wth is this Cheer Leading concept...Dancers will be dead by the first quarter of the match. IPL is nothing but series of wickets and boundaries. something happens for every 4 balls on average. Bloody owners wanted show up at every stage. I pity cheer leaders though they should be earning decent money. And crowd, they are always charged, dont know how.

College Trip

Lately all the vacation has been spent at home and i missed many occasions last year. So it was my friend/class mate's marriage, which brought an "occasion" for a nice get-together.

Initial plan portryaed it as an inexpensive trip because i thought of visiting my parents after this marriage. But a sudden appointment on Monday changed the scope. If i had to come back my monday morning using inexpensive transport, i will have to start on sunday evening and whole purpose of the trip (attending marriage) will be tossed. So tried to think a little about expense and fun involved, but finally made decision with an absent mind and decided to go.

By friday evening, 2 of us were at Bangalore and headed to my friend, later took more than air time. We had 2 hours time in Bangalore and we know every minute has to be counted. Food was totally ignored that night and i was surprised to see Gobi masala on my plate (with no naan/roti/chapathi/rice) instead of Manchurian - the ultimate side dish for any vegeterian involved booze party. We had enough fun with an intoxicant friend disturbing neighbour.

Landed in Chittoor by Morning in a famous lodge. It is always exciting to recollect old memories (good or bad) and that too in a place where we spent our first four years of maturity (Engineering college time).

We headed to college to keep the pace and college trip was a disaster meeting single professor and arguing with him for restrictions imposed during our engineering. It was totally unnecessary but the "clarity" factor in answers was amazing. After all, he is one of my fav professors.

Afternoon - we visited our town's best theater to watch "Leader" and it was a satisfactory investment for us.

Evening - We planned kanipakam, which didn't happen and we started our party with 2 more people joining us. Saturday night was amazing with few people completely out of their mind and generating humor. We got them for atleast few years :-).

One more interesting part is money shortage, i was expecting a deposit on Saturday, which didn't happen. Not sure if it is coincidence, no body got money. We gave some business to Vijay Mallya due to the shortage, but never got convinced and spent what ever we had.

First half of sunday was almost dead with hangover around room. Afternoon, we visited Kanipakam and had good darshan. Again, we were accompanied by few more people and party followed and all of a sudden our pockets were full :-).

We headed to function and met few of our old friends..shared where abouts...dispersed later at night ending the trip with a walk on famous road :-)

An expensive though but a satisfactory trip.

A long vacation

What ever circumstances lead to this vacation, its turning out to be a good one. After joining Accenture on March 16th few years back, i was into shifts. Shifts brings week end in the middle of the week, so better to forget about vacation. After leaving the first company, with in a gap of 0 days, i joined another company and same with next company. If i look back, there was no term called "vacation" all these years.

Now i have 3 month long vacation, though circumstances which brought this vacation is little odd. But a fact that, i have a secure job after this break makes me feel happy.

Though planned to make some part time teaching out of this vacation, it didn't happen.

But my nephew and niece, they occupy nearly half of my time. Their commitment to break every thing at home, kicking and jumping on me (its so hard to secure few places, they can't understand it), envy among each other, exploring all electronic items, playing, singing, rhymes, games....etc....its fun, real fun.

I never play games, but for a change, i am playing few facebook games. Reading books, its going on rocket pace..completed 3 books in 3 weeks (books are heavy enuf)...

So altogether a good vacation.....

Stamping experience at Hyderabad consulate.

As soon as i landed in India, i made an appointment with Hyderabad consulate for January 19th 2010 8:15 AM.

At Hyderabad Consulate:

I dressed myself in formals to make a professional impression. I would have seen atleast 100 members for stamping at 8:30. Considering this figure, Hyderabad is a well deserved place for consulate.

After completing Biometrics and waiting for some 45 minutes, I attended visa officer. Discussion was simple and here is the transcript -

Why are you going to US? To complete a technical assignment assigned by my employer.

Have you ever been to US? Yes

Who is your client? xxx

Do you work for xxx? No, i work for YYY

Have you gone through the Booklet provided? Yes

Your visa is approved and you will be receiving your passport in couple of days sir.

Thank You.

It took 7 working days for them to stamp and print visa on my passport. I got my passport back on 29th January 2010. My extension for another visa was in process and i got approval on that extension very next day after my interview. So i guess USCIS will clear all records on your name before stamping.

My employer is desi consultant and type of visa is H1B. i used "counter passport collection at Blue Dart" as my option to collect passport.

I called consulate during this process and i was educated that it takes minimum of 2 working days and maximum of seven working days to complete processing. So guys, don't be panic if it takes long time and forget the rule "VFS will get passport immediately after interview", atleast with Hyderabad consulate.

I wont say every discussion is this simple. I witnessed next counter officer checking LCA, Client letter, Pay stubs, I94 cards, previous visit details etc etc. But few confident Yes or No's would make it easy for both visa officer and you.

With new memo and few rumors on Port of Entry issues, I would say entering US got another tough step ahead.

Lost @ London Airport

I am back home. Started at Seattle on Jan 5th and now in India on Jan 8th. Its a long painful journey.

Jan 5th @ Seattle

I was expecting shuttle express at 3:40 PM. I planned to reach airport prior 120 minutes at the least. Max reached apartment at around 4 PM, i was little tensed. It was limousine in front of me, Wow...not bad. He dropped me at 4:30 PM at airport. Though appreciated, i didn't tip him as 10 minutes delay was unacceptable for me. It was smooth till London.

London - A Geographical error

If not for London at the center of the globe, There is no largest airport called Heathrow and British Airways would have suffered for Business.

Lot of airports around London are closed. There is snow. But BA 277 is expected to start little late after cleaning the ice on wings. It took 6 Hours for Airlines to announce that flight is canceled. Infrastructure is not proportional to Business, It is not the first time i witnessed.

Pathetic Airlines

All other BA flights were canceled. It took 4 hours for us to collect Hotel vouchers (Hotel@ Central London, more than an hour from Airport..you must be kidding, we didn't use the voucher after standing in line for 4 hours), Immigration check - Another 4 hours (4 counters for thousands of passengers). 8 hours for re-booking (Surprise, British Airways cannot arrange staff late hours when thousands of passengers were stuck. 8 counters were helping passengers at a slow pace. I got lucky to catch my friends at Lane 1, Its tough just to think about last row, i guess they are still waiting). Counter for re-booking opened at 8 AM or around in the morning. Very regular time by staff on an irregular day.

My flight BA 119 got delayed for 5 hours without notice. After reaching Bangalore, i realized my baggage missing. Here is the good news, Around 75 passengers had similar problem. Airlines doesn't have enough infrastructure to take our complaints real fast. Is it unexpected? You don't know that you didn't board our baggage? Shouldn't you be arranging some thing at destination to make it fast for passengers?

This is the second time my baggage is missing, they did not reimburse claimed amount yet.

Globalization @ Heathrow:

Everyone had same grief, They wanna go home. Everyone tried same tricks, Calling travel agent/Friends/Family to book tickets, trying online, sharing mobile. So you gotta talk to next one for sure, You gotta talk about your country and you a little for sure. You gotta scold BA for their poor organization of work. It was fun.

Acquaintances

One big guy asked me, do you work for microsoft (i had microsoft bag)? I said, yes i was and yes i will. Emily also works for Microsoft he said. Whoz Emily? My daughter. Hmm, after some time, his wife expressed her love to India. She said i wanna visit Taj Mahal before i die. These words filled me with joy and was energy booster. Incredible India.

There is another girl. Interesting, talkative, simple, good-looking. Her name is also Emily. She connected to every passenger around and brought cheer on everyone. She would listen to everyone, which makes her interesting. She must have saved her energy without talking much (Like i do), but she didn't. She was grouped with an old lady Robson, whose passport is filled with a stamp by every country and an young boy reaching out US to complete his graduation.

There was russian old lady, who missed Birthday party next day and Bolivian, who wanted this delay in New York instead of London so that New York can be toured. One Italian, who least bothers about situation and doesn't pity himself for whats happening or doesn't scold any one for situation. He got his tickets re-booked my travel agent. One Italian couple was still on lane.

Indian Intruders - I am from this group :P. Rule is, you have to intrude into nearest lane. Thats what we did and thats why i am back :-).