iamneo

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year.

I and my folks are boarding a flight to Kerala at 0130 hrs IST. I will have no access to the Internet but can be reached over my cell – 9870383024. We will be back on the 28th.

Wishing you a very warm and merry Christmas!

Podcast wishes

Transcript:
English – Hello World. This is Binoy Edathiparambil wishing you a very warm and merry Christmas and also a prosperous new year from Kerala – God’s own country.

Malayalam – Keralathilninum Binoy Edathiparambil ningal ellavarukum christmasinteyum pudhu valsarathintheyum mangalashamsagal nerunnu.

Last week before going to Bangalore, I went to have a hair cut. Not that I have a lot of hair but still decided to get a haircut done. I went to a hair cutting saloon which had a decent appearance. I did not have to wait for my turn and was quickly seated on the chair. The hair dresser promptly went about his business of trimming my hair. He used new razors and sterilized all the scissors and metal ‘tools of the trade’. The cape too was a clean piece of white cotton cloth. As usual the hair cutting process was over quickly. I decided to pamper myself and choose to get a head massage done. When the head massage was over I had this soothing feeling and generally feeling happy! I felt even happier when the hair dresser told me that the hair cutting and massage – both cost INR 40! I even gave him a tip of INR 5. The entire experience cost me a total of INR 45 which at an exchange rate of 43 comes to about $1.05. Compare this to $12 + $2 tip = $14 for just the haircut!

I visited our family doctor for the common cold and cough that was bothering me. I walked into his office during his practice hours. I did not have to take any appointment or talk to any nurse – just walk in! He examined me and we chatted a little bit and he wrote me a prescription. His fee and the medicines cost me INR 160 which at an exchange rate of 43 comes to about $3.72! No phone calls, no appointments, no insurance cards, just your doctor when you need him!

These two experiences made me think about standard of living, cost of living and the relation between the two.

I have a 3:30 pm bus to Pune. This the first time I am travelling by a Volvo bus and the Mumbai – Pune route takes the Express Highway. More about this trip in my next entry.

Last weekend I visited Bangalore for the first time. Visiting Bangalore was on the agenda from a very long time because I had heard so much about the city that I had to check it out myself and find out what the hype was all about!

I flew to Bangalore by an early evening Jet Airways flight. Jet Airways service turned out to be better than many of the domestic flights that I had previously taken in America. Meals were served during the flight and the food was excellent. My sister – Bincy and my school mate – Niral picked me up from Bangalore airport and we head for my sister’s residence and dropped off my luggage. We then had our dinner and walked around on MG Road and Brigade Road to get the feel of sights and sounds of Bangalore during night time. Unfortunately there was not much ‘sights and sounds’ since almost everything comes to a stop after 11:00 pm. Bangalore unlike Mumbai does sleep at night

Accommodation for the weekend was with a few guys who were working for Infosys. Thanks to them – I had a comfortable stay. Gaurav, Sumit, Roshan, Mukund and rest of the gang – thank you so much. Saturday morning Niral picked me and we went over to my sister place. My sister had a few things to be done so Niral and I went to have our breakfast and also caught up with a few things. Things that happened since our last meet up. After breakfast we decided to look around in a handicraft store at the intersection of MG Road and Brigade Road – Cauvery. In the mean time Bincy joined us and we went to a very big mall – Forum. We all did some serious window shopping Thomas – my sister’s colleague joined us in our window shopping spree! We had our lunch at Transits which is food court located inside the mall.

After lunch we all split and I went along with . This was planned two persons LJ meet up! We had coffee at Café Coffee Day and some interesting conversations. It was here that I meet up with an old NCST colleague of mine. I was very happy to meet him. Hopefully we will be in touch in the future! I then checked my emails from a nearby cyber café. I bid good byes to and went to meet Bincy at Cauvery. We both then waited at a coffee house for my engineering school class mate – Samico. It took a while for her to make it but the wait and the effort were all worth it. It was so nice to meet up after some 5 years. She had not changed a bit in these years. The trio then had dinner and then split for the night. Samico happened to stay near the place where I was being accommodated so we both took an auto rickshaw to our common destination. Samico dropped me at my place and she went to her place.

On Sunday I went to St Mary Basilica for the 7:30 am Tamil mass. Bincy and her roommate – Roshini were also there for the mass. I did not carry my camera – a thing that I regret for the church was very beautiful. Hopefully my sister will send me some pictures of the church. Tamil is a very sweet language and the Tamil mass was one most beautiful mass that I have ever attended. After the mass we had our breakfast and we split one more time. This time I took a public transport bus to Forum to meet up with more colleagues from NCST. I also spoke over the phone with my first boss at NCST. After lunch my friends dropped me at Brigade road and I walked over to Cauvery were Bincy and Roshini joined me for some handicraft shopping. We shopped quite a bit and in the mean while Niral too joined us. I also bought some silk sarees for my mom. Buying sarees with female company is highly recommended.

After all the shopping, we all went over to my sister’s place and packed my luggage and then took a bus to the airport. Tara – Sesha’s wife was to meet me at the airport but she got held up with traffic. By the time she reached the airport I had cleared the security checks and was not allowed to return outside – So had to suffice waving at each other from a distance. I had a late night Jet Airways flight to Mumbai. My dad picked me up from Mumbai airport and by midnight I was at home.

Random places/landmarks I saw: National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Yahoo India, Oracle India, HP India, Garuda mall, Kemps Corner, Forum mall, National Silk Board, Bangalore Military School, Army Public School, Army supply depot, Military Police HQ, Army recruiting HQ, St. Mary’s Basilica, St. Patrick’s church, St. Johns medical college, MG Road, Brigade Road, Commercial Street, BTM Layout, Kormagala Road and many more.

Please let me know if I have got the names wrong!

I will soon post some of the Bangalore pictures and my thoughts about the place.

I am going to Bangalore for the weekend. I am all excited to meet my sister and my friends and hopefully some LJ friends.

You crash your car in to a median on the interstate at approximately 100 kilometers per hour. You and your friends walk out of the crash without a scratch. Your car is totaled and you have to buy another car. You are set to leave for your home trip in just 4 days after the accident! Imagine that!

This is what exactly happened to me. I, Sesha and Hari were on our way to Gurnee, IL on Saturday, November 26th. It was a bright sunny day with clear skies. A prefect day to drive the car. We planned to stop at Chicago, have our lunch at an Indian restaurant and then go to mall at Gurnee. We had all the ingredients for a perfect drive – good weather, great company, music and coffee.

Saturday, November 26, 2005
11:50 am!
As we approached Chicago, the interstate became a three lane highway. The traffic was busy with people going back from their thanksgiving holiday. I was in the left most lane and doing a descent 70 miles an hour (speed limit is 65 miles). I was surprised when the van in front of my car suddenly swerves to the shoulder! The reason for the weird move becomes apparent when I see a wheel barrow and bunch of other debris in my lane. I decide to take a similar evasive action of going over the shoulder and swinging past the obstacle. But when I went over the shoulder, the car skids due to the gravel on the road and bham! Then every thing starts to happen in slow motion.

Quarter mile!
We crashed into the median wall at approximately 100 kilometers per hour. The left side of the front bumper made the first contact with the wall, deploying the air bags in an instant. The car jerked sideways due to the impact and caused the left side of the back bumper to hit the wall. The two impacts bent the left side wheels out of alignment. I braked hard and the ABS in my car jumped into action. I was able to steer the car and keep it from going back in to the drive lanes. I rolled down the windows to clear the car cabin which was full of smoke due to air bag deployment. I was not able to stop the car with normal braking and finally brought the car to a halt by engaging the hand brake. In the mean while we had traveled at least a quarter mile from the first impact to the final halt.

Go in a car, come back in bus!
Once the car had stopped, we checked ourselves for injuries and called the emergency services. We were very fortunate as in none of us had even a single scratch! The cop showed up in some 20 minutes and soon completed the paper work. The car was towed to a local tow lot and the cop gave us a ride to a near by restaurant. From the restaurant, I made calls to my insurance company and initiated the claim process. We ate our lunch there, took a cab to a near by bus station and took the bus home.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Hope!
The impaired car was towed to a local collision repair shop. I took a second look at the car to see the extent of the damage. I was amazed at what I saw. The inside of the car was intact and there was no sign of damage except for the air bags. I lifted the hood and the engine compartment was also intact. Parts of the front and back bumper were scrapped off at places and whole chunks missing. Surprisingly even the front head light was not broken! The left side wheels were completely misaligned. I could see the force from the impact had traveled through the entire chassis of the vehicle. The roof of the car was buckled up due to the impact. The repair shop guy told me that there is some hope that the car can be fixed but he would have to take closer look at the car.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005
No hope!
The repair shop guy informed me about the preliminary estimate to fix the car. The cost was about 75% of the value of the car. The car had sustained substantial damage to its underside, the transmission, and the axle.

Thursday, December 1, 2005
The car is totaled!
This was the day I was leaving for my vacation and the bus for the airport was at 11:30 am. At 8:30 am I go and meet my insurance agent to check on the status of my car. By 10:30 am the decision was made to scrap the car as it was not worth to fix the car and the claim was settled. So now I have no car! I lost my first car!! The car died for me and my friends. I think one’s first car is like one’s first love, there might be many more but none like the first!

Lessons Learned
1. Buy the safest car you can afford. You cannot afford a safe car don’t buy a car.
2. Wear the seat belt no matter where you are sitting in the car.

Car crash photos

Today I had my H1B visa appointment at 9:00 am at American general consulate here in Mumbai. I reached the place at around 8:50 am. I quickly made my way to the back of line for the 9:00 am appointment. I made some acquaintances with the people standing in my line and found out that at least two of them had a similar case like mine – graduated from an American university and then started working in America. At around 10:00 am, a batch of 15 people was let inside. We got through the security checks, collected the necessary documents and gave our finger prints. We then proceeded for our token numbers to be called out. The only question the visa officer asked me was why did the university hire me after I graduated from the university? At 11:23 am I was issued the H1 B visa.

With the visa being issued, I can now work on my other mission goals.

Kaham hai sab log? Where is everybody? It has been over 5 days since I came to Mumbai and I have not got in touch with all my friends. Many things have changed here in the last two years since my previous home visit especially with my friends. All my friends have jobs and are busy with their lives. Some of them are in different cities. Even phone numbers have changed – I have spent a lot of time in number hunting. I know it is selfish on my part to expect my friends to come and meet me and hang out with me – they have their jobs and things to deal with. But still!

I feel like as if I am left behind or something. I think my laid back approach to meeting friends is not going to work. I guess it is time for a more proactive approach.

I have always been biased towards Air India despite the bad reviews you get to hear about it. I feel if you fly by Air India, no matter what happens, they will always take you home! So for this home trip too, I flew with Air India from Chicago to Mumbai via Frankfurt. I had a wonderful flight experience. The flight was on time from start to end. The flight crew was very professional and took good care of us – so what if the air hostess was not young In my opinion the highlight of the flight was food. Every single meal served during the flight was just awesome. It was worth every dollar I paid for the ticket.

——————————————-
Mission status
Telecommunication: Online (91-9870383024)
Internet: Online
Health: Getting back to 100%
Establishing contacts: Work in progress