Warming up...

Its funny how things are different here...

For example, nobody knows what a 'fortnight' is... They only know 'biweekly'!!

People don't hire a car here... they 'rent' it. But the rich ones hire a chauffer!!

Nobody 'talks to you after sometime'... they would 'talk in a bit' or just 'later'!!

At the other end, they are a pain in the f*cking ass... They have not given me my social security number yet.. And so, I cannot get my DL... And hence, no renting a car.... Thats a bummer!!!

BTW, that's not a 'driving license'... its a 'driver license'!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thank you guys for being my ardent fans ;-)
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Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American holiday to give thanks for the things that one has at the conclusion of the harvest season. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada.
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I am at Irvine today and tomorrow. And, in San Diego for the weekend... visiting some of my friends here.
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TV shows.. talk shows... its a totally different animal here...

People literally going at each other, pulling each other's hairs, rolling on the floor hitting one another... that seems to be order of the day in these talk shows... typically, its about a couple and one of them cheating... and then the third person turns up.. some heated discussions follow... or I should say, some heated volleys are hit (you can never hear one full sentence... it will be filled with censoring sounds)... And then Kaboom!!

There is a dating reality show called “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila”... The speciality of this show is that it features 16 straight men and 16 lesbians. The competitors vie for bisexual internet sensation Tila Tequila, a 25-year-old entertainer it seems. I guess it runs mainly on the shock-value!! It is again filled with fights and fisticuffs.

And on another serious note, this guy Hugh Hefner should retire from public life... He looks pathetic in front of the blond bimbettes...

Here you go, Vegas!

As I said, here are the pics from Vegas!


The place we stayed


The slot machines!


Can you guess?


This is where the sports betting go on... And what you see on the screens are the American football games and horse races that you are gambling on!!



The Eiffel restaurant


Which limo is this?

And more here!!

Newport & Artesia!

One of the best aspects of California is the weather and the beaches around. Here are some pics from the Newport beach and Artesia (Little India)












Jumping with joy on eating the Indian lunch at Sri Krishna Sweets "Tirupati Bheema's" ;-)

More pics here..

And here..

Other (incl. Vegas) pics coming soon!

TV ??

TV shows here are quite good.. I don't need to watch a movie for sometime.. I mean, I don't need to rent or download a movie for sometime...

There's one called 'Law and Order'... and some more with names I don't know yet.. Well, I keep flipping channels as usual :-)

And then there are other ones... Like the 'Play girls next door'.. its a reality show with Hugh Hefner and his play girls... These blondes are a li'l obnoxious... But man, this old guy is having all the fun!!

There are ones in the format of 'who wants to be a millionaire' (our Kaun Banega Crorepati)... its called 'are you smarter than a fifth grader?' ... And if you lose, you have to declare yourself (on camera) to be NOT smarter than a fifth grader... I heard something abt another 'are you smarter than a second grader' today.. let me check that out!

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Oh.. I found out.. one of them is called the 'Nip/Tuck'..

Read the storyline and see for yourself..
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361217/plotsummary

Vegaland!

Vegas Rocks!! Man, there is so much here that I need another couple of visits before I can say I've explored this place well!!

I spent my time doing what Americans love doing (since I'd gone with my Amru friends/colleagues).... boozing, gambling and watching American football.... I wandered off by myself sometimes leaving them to their betting and football matches... Man, words are not enough to describe the experience.. I need to upload some pics soon ;-)

It is a marketing extravaganza, no doubt, enticing and addictive... Otherwise, why would hundreds of thousands of people fly-in every week, shed their money and fly back? I had seen tens of limos in NY... But here it is easily in the hundreds, may be thousands... Ever seen a Hummer limo? You can find that and much more (Ford Expedition limo, anyone?)!!

We were staying in this hotel called the Monte Carlo... Its a huge one with so many casinos, food courts, and stuff... There are atleast 10-15 such big hotels. (I'm not looking at the small ones at all) And some 5 more are being built...

I think the casino table hosts have some remote control... Anyways, I made some money and lost more money on the Roulette... did not play blackjack... that would be for the next time... got to learn fully before that...

Enroute.. we passed through Edwards Air Force Base... thats where the Columbia and other space shuttles land, it seems... Its in the Mojave (pronounced, Mohave) desert... Just around the place there is this aeroplane junkyard too, where we could find old and discarded jet fighters and passenger planes...

We passed adjacent to the death valley (supposed to be the lowest and hottest place in the US) and this place named Zzyzx (wonder why they named such!!)

We also saw Area 51 (or the UFO center). Area 51 is actually a part of the Nevada Test and Training Range and is owned by the United States Department of Defense and the United States Air Force.

Area 51 contains an airfield whose primary purpose is believed to be the operation and analysis of enemy aircraft and weapons systems, and secret development and testing of new military aircraft. Many of blackbird and stealth flights have been created here and the entire area is 'highly classified'. Until a couple of decades ago, nobody knew about this place. It did not appear in any of the maps and the US govt. did not acknowledge the existence. It required the highest govt. clearance to access even the details related to this base.

Area 51 is the frequent subject of UFO conspiracy theories. Its secretive nature and undoubted connection to classified aircraft research, together with reports of unusual phenomena, have led to the popularity of Area 51 and it being a focus of modern UFO and conspiracy theory. It was believed that this was a storage, examination, and reverse engineering center of crashed alien spacecraft!!

So much for one visit... more later!!!

BlackJack

Its that time of the year to undertake pilgrimages and I am going on one tomorrow... Well.. I told you already!!!

Anyways, so here I am getting ready... I need to know some stuff, right? I am learning the rules and tricks of BlackJack... After all, that is supposed to be the only game that involves some skill in a casino... The odds are 7 to 3 in my favor, or is it?!

I would update the pilgrim's progress when I get back... bloggin' from Vegas would be so geeky and wasteful ;-)

Life @ Calabasas..

.. is groovy baby!!!

I don't have my camera, otherwise I would have posted some pics already... I am loving this setting... mountain ranges around (some burnt from the recent forest fires)... beaches (Malibu!) nearby... Hollywood round the corner..... And Vegas not too far away!!!

I saw this guy.... Michael Clarke Duncan (of 'The Green Mile', 'The Whole Nine Yards', 'Scorpion King', 'Sin City'.... fame) last weekend... He was just behind us in the Whole Foods market!!

Mez going to Vegas this weekend!!!!!!!

Singapura!

Blogging from Singapura.. I got a visa on entry here and I'm going to be seeing some parts of this beautiful city before I catch my connecting flight to LA.

This place looks good... free broad roads, nice cars, great ambience, and better still neither as desolate as Austin nor as populated as New York.

more later!
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My friend picked me up at the airport (poor thing, she had to get up early on a Saturday... but then I told her she would not get to host a VIP like me often!) After catching up on the intervening months and some rest at her place (and some bloggin'... that's where I wrote the above), we left for the Boat Quay. There were the national triathlon championships and dragon boat races that day. We had lunch overlooking the races and then proceeded to the Orchard road. It is the MG road/Champs Elysee of Singapore... Had a brief window at Takashimaya plaza before we caught the metro to get back to Changi - the airport.

Short yet extremely sweet stop!!

Does Modi have balls?

The Tehelka expose on the Gujarat riots of 2002 and how they had been masterminded by the various (so called) Hindu fanatics post Godhra, has proved what a lot of humans in their right frame of mind have long suspected - That the riots of 2002 are not actually riots but cold strategic mass murder.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107Conspirators.asp

You would understand why I say '(so called) Hindu fanatics'.. B'cos these guys are just people who have gone nuts and use religion to cover up their madness. They are not doing it for the Hinduism 'cos Hinduism never stood for murder of innocent people.. Hinduism (and that is true for any religion) has never and shall never advocate cutting off one's own balls.

What happened in Godhra was a calculated instigation, most likely with the roots across the border. And then, these fools just fell into the trap.

The burning of the Hindu activists on the train was gruesome. But these jokers, including Modi, did not have the balls to acknowledge that their intelligence had failed. The political and police machinery did not have the courage to accept their responsibility for the massacre of innocent men, women and children. Instead, these bu**ers instigated the others who call themselves the Ball-less Rang Dal & Vasectomized Humanoids Personified and tried to push the blame on the hapless Muslims living in the state.

Such ball-less bu**ery needs to be stopped immediately and the perpetrators of the false revenge brought to the books. Surprisingly, not many media have come out in cry against the injustice after the Tehelka expose.

I suppose it is time for us, the bloggers and the new age media, to contribute our mite in restoring justice and making sure we defeat these ball-less imbeciles.

To quote Dina
"My request to everyone who is blogging this, or writing letters online, or even putting up content around this on Flickr or Youtube or Social Networks, or any other place that permits tagging, is to please use common tags:

Technorati tags: gujaratriots2002, prosecutetheguilty, narendramodigovernment, manmohansingh, lkadvani, humanrights, takeaction
Del.icio.us tags: gujaratriots2002 narendramodigovernment prosecutetheguilty humanrights

These tags will ensure that our collective voice rises up and is heard strongly. Smart mobbing, but we need to keep it going on a sustained basis."

Dina Mehta's blog. http://dinamehta.com/blog/2007/10/27/gujarat-2002-tehelka-expose-what-can-we-do-as-citizens/


A press statement has been released by Citizen for Peace requesting all citizens to:

1. Write to the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister demanding that they take immediate steps to prosecute the culprits of the carnage.
2. Write to all national political parties in India asking how and why the constitutional crisis, of a dysfunctional judicial system in Gujarat, is allowed to persist and urging them to address this grave threat to the idea of India with utmost urgency.
3. Write to the BJP, impressing on them that this is their chance to dissociate themselves from those responsible for these crimes, and to help this country make a new beginning towards justice for all.

Text of letters by Citizen for Peace are available here: these posts on our website.

I would say that the best punishment for these BBs (ball-less bu**ers) would be to put them into life-long rigorous imprisonment and get their daughters married off to forgiving Muslims.

The count is 5..

Only by late evening today, I started to feel that I'm undertaking a trip... That is when I started packing my first suitcase.... But even then, the mood is 'just for a few months' type...

Its like 'I'd spend a few mths (maybe a few years) and then I'd be back - after all, what would I do in that place filled with strangers' and 'let me take some things that would make my stay easier - stuff I cant buy there and stuff I wont need to buy there' and 'I'm still an Indian earning an Indian salary (well, not from next month!)' and ...... Anyways, I had been to the US on two short trips earlier(3-4 weeks each) and I guess 'been there.. done that'!!

But then, at the same time, I am preparing for a long haul... saying good bye to people I know but not well enough to come back and say hi again... saying good bye to people I know well enough and wondering if I would get to meet them again... saying good bye to my own people and still wondering if I would get to meet them again... and so on...

Getting send-offs from friends... one who arranged an inpromptu (thats what she would want me believe ;-) party/get-together [thats so very sweet of her; and she would want me believe she is so by birth!!]... another who was the guest of honor and initiated my shopping binge.... parties with cousins [one at the Windsor Manor with Champagne and all... that should be a separate post!]

So, here I am with 5 days to go and unsure if I would come back... "To Bangalore and all the lovely folks I shared this place with!"
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"To you sweetie and D apple of ma eye!"
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One big task done... finalized on the suitor to my Ford Fiesta.. He seems a nice guy and I think he would treat her well.. "To you my darling and to all the rides we have shared!"
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First suitcase... man... it seemed so empty, but it is already quite heavy... need to check the weight tomorrow...i'm filling the case with all kitchen related stuff... a small cooker.. utensils.. some oil... sambar masala... rasam masala... custom-made masala/powders... ready to cook stuff... And I still need to decide what more to add based on the no. of kgs left...

Any tips??

Shopping of a different kind

I'm getting busy shopping.... But before I get to do the shopping for stuff I need to carry along... I am doing a different kind of shopping... actually, searching for a shared accomodation....

With the internet and with Craigslist, its much easier these days without having to be there physically... So, I hope to short-list some 4-5 good places before I even land there... And then, the same day I can finalize my place of stay... High hopes? let me see....

One more thing I want to do is to find the suitor for my beautiful lovely Ford Fiesta 1.6 ZXi.... Before leaving this place, I would say 'En kannayae un kitta oppadaikkaraen... indha kanngalil ini aanandha kanneer dhaan varanum' [nevermind!!]

Dumble....

It seems.. Dumbledore is gay....
What the hell do I care, any which way??!!

Here you go!

Once upon a time there was a small settlement by name Calabasas. Indians, explorers, squatters, and bandits are all part of Calabasas history. The Chumash Indians led a peaceful life amidst the rolling hills, making their homes in canyons where streams and springs ensured a plentiful supply of wildlife. The Indians living closer to the ocean foraged into the area for acorns, berries and small game.

Settlements of Chumash Indians named the area Calabasas, a word perhaps descended from the Indian word for "where the wild geese fly." Others think Calabasas comes from the Spanish word for pumpkin or wild gourd.

Then came the spaniards and the explorers... Along came some bandits... blah blah blah....

Today, Calabasas is still a small-time city with just about 23000 people. Los Angeles is situated 1hr away (by road) from here.

But, now that Bhaskar is going to be there, this place is going to be world famous!!

Online support SUCKS!!!

I tried contacting the online (chat) team for something on eBay... And this thing SUCKS big time.... The response times are pretty bad... And then they claim they have a 'slight technical difficulty' and that they 'appreciate my patience' and all that crap....

And on top of that... now I am being transferred to the billing team and have to wait another 10 mins to get to chat with this other person.. My query category was related to billing anyway... why didnt they direct me to the billing faggot directly?

I can imagine what the Dell customers must have been going through if this was their experience not just online but also over the phone... I have known people wait for 30/40 mins on the call queue only to be put on hold by the person on the line while trying to answer some query.... or being transferred around....
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One of my neighbors was doing Ayudha pooja at her home... and she did the pooja for her son's motorbike and placed a couple of lemons underneath the tires (tyres, for you UK guys) to be squashed under. The lemons (squashed) are supposed to ward off the evil eyes or something...

And then she did the pooja for her granddaughter's small tricycle. She also placed 3 lemons underneath the three tires and goaded her g.dau to peddle the cycle. That poor girl... she must be a year old or something... Neither was the tricycle heavy enough to go over and squash... Nor was she big enough to exert the pressure on the pedal to go past the sizable lemons. Then the grandma also joined in pushing/pulling the tricycle so the lemons could be squashed.... This struggle went on for sometime... Man, that was sooo funnny!!!

A Quick Quiz

This place was shaped by Leonis Adobe & Kathleen Beachy..

They have the annual pumpkin festival here in October... And the name of this city also stands for pumpkin..

The City's official logo depicts a red-tailed hawk flying..


Which city am I talking about?!

Vaginal??

What is that supposed to mean... "You are not just grumpy... you are vaginal!"

Read it somewhere.... kinda get the meaning.... but then, what a word!!
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That reminds me of a play that created a hue and cry.. "The Vagina Monologues"... I immediately searched for the script and here it is!

The Vagina Monologues

I read the script... it is amazing... brings out the discriminations and superstitions (if I may call it so) associated with women and her vagina (as a symbol of all those things it stands for... and all those things that are denied)

I am sure it would be even more amazing to see the play... I think Shabana Azmi was in one of the plays... I should check out on the tube...

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Orkut says...

Today's fortune: Society prepares the crime: The criminal commits it

WTF!!!!

Dedication!

Someone dedicated this song to me!! (Creep by Radiohead)



Happy Birthday to you!! ;-)

A trip is all I ask...!

I don't know why exactly... but I have been taking a break from blogs... one the one hand, the bsnl dataone connection at home is so erratic... does not connect and even if it does, it gets cut every other second... it is a pain even to check the scraps in orkut... on the other hand, I finished my book 'The Namesake' and my project engagement also got over... I was in the finishing up mood... Making sure not many ends are loose and all that.... on the third front, the idiots (may be just me) in the US consulate and the passport office, in turn, were reminding me of red tape.. while I was trying to get my visa, renew my passport and send it to the consulate for my stamping....

Now that all of that are coming together and sorting themselves out... I also am applying for my next project in the US of A... Let me see how soon that comes through... Wish me luck, dude!
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The Namesake is a good novel... but somehow I did not feel all that elated as some of my friends did... may be b'cos I have already gone through quite a bit of that in real life... rebelling against a conservative upbringing, searching for my own identity, the turmoil in relationships, etc etc.... not to say that I have reached my destination... just that the novelty factor was missing!

Every man to himself, but... people travel across the world searching for one's identity when they ought to be traveling within!!
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Saw Bourne Ultimatum.... amazing movie... superb velocity!... this guy has managed to keep the fast pace going in the trilogy without repeating too many things... neither stereotyping Jason Bourne nor the stunts... Kudos to the director!!

Weird!!

News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
Thanks to CU

->News that Sounds Like a Joke
In July, National Hockey League player Derek Boogaard, an "enforcer" known for his willingness to brawl, opened the Derek and Aaron Boogaard Fighting Camp in Regina, Saskatchewan, to train teenage hockey players in that highly essential skill. [Chicago Tribune-Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 7-17-07]
Sharing of best practices...!

Iran's state-sponsored news agency IRNA announced in July that its agents had broken up a Western countries' "spy ring" that employed more than a dozen squirrels trying to bring "spy gear" of foreign agencies into the country. [Washington Post-BBC, 7-20-07]
How creative can they get...!
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->The Continuing Crisis
Modernizations: Congregants of Rev. Tom Ambrose, of St. Mary and St. Michael Church in Trumpington, England, met in September to complain of several things about their vicar, most notably that he delivered the Christmas sermon last year (and several since then) using Microsoft PowerPoint. [Daily Mail (London), 9-4-07]
Microsoft and sermon? ungodly!!


One priority of President Vladimir Putin's Nashi national youth movement is procreation to build up Russia's declining population, according to a July report in London's Daily Mail (which also charged the Nashi with inculcating authoritarianism). Its two-week convention in July (with 10,000 in attendance) featured on-site sexual encouragements with not a condom in sight. [Daily Mail (London), 7-27-07]
Guess its a great time to live in Russia...!

And in Russia's Ulyanovsk province, the government again this year promoted Sept. 12 as a patriotic conception day, featuring SUVs and other prizes to couples who manage to time their blessed events for June 12, which is Russia's Constitution Day. [Denver Post, 8-15-07]
Man..I should start floating my resume to Russian companies...!!
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-> Civilization in Decline
Video Nation: A 38-year-old man drowned off Ocean City, Md., in July, trying to save his two sons from a rip current. Two men from a nearby parasailing boat had jumped in to help and could have used more assistance, one said, except that the boat's passengers declined, with several more concerned with video-recording the drowning. [KMGH-TV (Denver)-AP, 7-25-07]
How pathetic...!!
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->Everyone Has a Button Waiting to Get Pushed
In August, employees at the bar Changes, in Seattle, had to break up a karaoke-night attack by a woman on a man who was singing the Coldplay song "Yellow." The woman had shouted, "Oh, no, not that song. I can't stand that song." She charged the stage, screamed at the man and shoved him (and it eventually took four men to hold her for police). [Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8-9-07]
What song is that...!!

Megan Conroy, 18, pleaded guilty in Brisbane, Australia, in September, to assaulting a 40-year-old man in May (by kicking him in the testicles) because he had mispronounced her first name. (And if you ever meet her, it's "mee-gan," not "may-gun.") [The Age (Melbourne), 9-6-07]
Say that again...!!

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->Least Competent People
Quinton Thomas, 22, inadvertently strengthened the murder charge against him in April when he mailed a letter from the jail in Rockville, Md., believing that the contents would not be read by jail officials. However, Thomas had gotten the recipient's address wrong, causing the post office to "return to sender," and, as longstanding policy, officials inspect all incoming mail (for contraband). According to an August Washington Post report, Thomas characterized his emerging alibis and also wrote about a witness, "This white (expletive) can't make it to court on May 7 through May 12, ya feel me. I don't care what you gotta do, you don't even gotta stink the cracker, he just cant make it to Rockville that whole week, Homie." [Washington Post, 8-10-07]
Ha haa...!!