Pappu pass ho gaya :)

I still cannot believe that I cleared the "Road Test" for the driving license. I have not posted about it previously as it was very shameful to write that I flunked the test twice previously.. :(

This was my third shot at the test and I was very low on confidence [1/3rd * confidence on the first occassion :) ]

Let me start with my experience this time round...
I was greeted by the same woman who had failed me twice in my first two endeavors. This itself doubled the pressure and halved the confidence :(

But this time I said to myself "I will drive very cautiously and will get the license (YOU CAN DO IT)". This sounds a lil funny but that was exactly my situation.

Now, it starts, we sat in the car and initially everything went on smoothly. She took me to a new route and I had no clue about what was coming up ahead (I had practised on the routes which are most common). The excitement begins "She asked me to merge onto the left lane but forgot to tell me whether I have to take a left turn or a U-turn. The lights went green and I assumed it to be a left turn, but after I had committed to the turn she yelled at me to take a U-turn, but I couldnt do that as I was committed to the left turn." Apparantly this turn took us to the I-40E. This was a blunder and I lost hopes of securing a license the third time :(
I had no choice but to just drive the supervisor to DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) form where we had started.
On the way back, I remembered the things which she had said before I started the car "Do not break any rules". I stuck to it and drove to the limits all the way back.

As I parked the car at DMV, she did not utter a word and went back to her counter at DMV. Confused, I went behind her and patiently waited in the appropriate queue. She called me and TO MY SURPRISE, asked to pay $16 (the fee to get a license)....

I couldnt believe that coz I knew this woman (very strict and ruthless)......

It mught seem pretty easy to get a license but for me, it was no less than a war which I had to win desperately inorder to sustain the faith in my driving and to boost my confidence.... :)

As it is said "Everything is well at the end, If its not well, then it is not the end." :)

Blown away with the WIND :)

Its been a while since I have posted on my BLOG.....

I felt like I should write about this experience of being literally blown away by the wind....I was working in a parking deck (it's my JOB to give tickets for any parking violations on parking lots on the campus..) this morning and the wind (blowing at around 35mph = 56.32 kmph...) was so strong that I could barely stand stable....

There was a severe weather alert (wind advisory) which I have posted below...

MON APR 16 2007

...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON HAS ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING.

WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH ARE AGAIN EXPECTED TODAY. STRONGEST WINDS WILL OCCUR DURING THE EARLY TO MID AFTERNOON HOURS. GUSTS DURING THIS PERIOD COULD APPROACH 50 MPH.

A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WINDS OF AT LEAST 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT... ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION. RESIDENTS SHOULD PREPARE FOR THE STRONG GUSTY WINDS. SECURE ANY LOOSE OBJECTS AROUND THE HOUSE SUCH AS GARBAGE CANS OR OUTDOOR FURNITURE.

Source: http://www.weather.com/

HOLI Dhamaka'07

Rang Barse at NCSU DJ at Work :)

Ever imagined celebrating HOLI in USA on a grand scale?? We (Maitri) organized HOLI on 18th March 2007 at Talley Students Center (NCSU).
Believe me, I enjoyed playing HOLI in USA more than what I enjoyed in INDIA...

We started off with dry HOLI (only with gulal), while people gulped down "THANDAI" and danced to the tunes of "Rang Barse".
This is one of the editors of our campus newspaper "Technician" who had come to cover the event. He had no qualms in getting himself colored :)


This is the long queue of people waiting to be served delicious samosa's, batata vada, idli, and sweets. After relishing the food, everyone got ready for the second round of HOLI which was dry anymore :)
Spraying cold water at each other at temperatures hovering around 4 degree C.


Thats it. !!

After the event, everything was back to the same old stuff (assignments/ homework et. al.) but "An event worth remembering"!!

Three cheers to MAITRI '07 !!!

U-Haul and U-Party

Have you ever thought of hanging out with friends in their luxurious cars ??
I am sure you have :)

Probably what you would never have imagined is to hang out at restaurants and multiplexes in a TRUCK !!!

You read it correctly :)

Once in a life time experience......We rented a U-Haul (for those who don't stay in US, it is truck rental company which provides trucks when you have to move your furniture (specially sofa's ....)) from one place to another.....

We sweated it out from morning till evening taking(loading and unloading) our furniture from our old apartment to the new apt (2355 Champion Ct, Raleigh, NC-27606)...

Please note the new address if you were planning to send gifts..... :)

BY the evening every1 was tired, but we had a master plan...Go for dinner and watch a movie with friends. The interesting part of the plan was not the movie or the dinner but the mode of transportation (a TRUCK !!!)

We loaded the sofa set onto the truck on which five ppl made themselves comfortable (now you understand why sofa's were made bold earlier .....) and the truck driver(Harsh) took the wheel....

We proudly parked our truck far away from the restaurant entrance....We had dinner at Cool Breeze (an Indian restaurant in Raleigh which serves "mumbai chaat") and then watched the movie "GURU" at Galaxy......

After the movie, we were the last ones to leave the parking lot, so that no one catches us :)
(i meant no one could steal our idea.... :) )

Birthday Party (not mine)

Birthday Parties in US are similar to ( HOLI - colors + Pepsi + Diet Coke [for calorie concious buddies] + Milk + Dish Washing liquid + Eggs + Ketchup (Heinz) + Pasta Sauce etc .....) Ohhhh...forgot to mention the stale food

I hope you get the picture.... :)
We ended up spoiling our carpet , walls , sofa, etc with the above mentioned items ...So have to forget about the Deposit paid for the apartment .(those who are staying in US will know what and how much does that mean )....

We had planned a surprise for Harsh (b'day boy ) on his B'day but as my experience goes, most of the surprises end up not being surprises ... :)

So, no surprise that the surprise was not a surprise ...

We got b'day messages from his friends , cousins, members of the family in US (dont assume that its a green card family :P......by family i mean Kunal, Nirali, Zankhana and Myself).....

Well, I think that messages are a very common thing , but I do agree that one should receive such a gift atleast once in his life....Such things help us convey that how much special that person is in our life... but its sad that after writing a b'day message for almost all my friends I have never received such a gift :(( [Anyone listening ??? ]

Its time to stop sulking and start drinking.... :) after all its my cousin's first b'day in US (India Return :) )

World of Coca Cola

6th Day : Kunal, Nirali , Yuvaraj , Navish, Krimy and Myself went for grocery shopping at Publix as we all are going to stay together at Navish's Friend's place for the next 7 days.....Prepared dinner and chatted till around 3 am about our lives in US.....Everyone had something different experiences to share ....Experiences with their room mates, at job , etc....

7th Day : Finally we left our place to visit two tourist attracations in Atlanta (World of Coca-Cola and Olympic Park).

World of Coca-Cola Musuem :
This is the entrance to the musuem....

The musuem is about the history of coca-cola, how it was founded, who founded it, etc....

It also contained the legacy bottling and vending machines....They also showed how coke is made by perfect mixture of soda and coke syrup....

They also had a theater in which they played all the major advertisements of last 50 years....

Below is the bottling plant at the musuem....

This plant was one of the major attraction of the musuem..

The refreshing beverage was first created in Atlanta in 1886 by a chemical company.....

Initially it was sold without soda, but later, it was discovered that it tasted pretty good with the soda....
Coca Cola was first sold at a small pharmacy soda fountain in undergorund Atlanta.
Here is the link to the world of coca cola.

On the right is the old fountain which was used to serve Coca-Cola.


















Below you can see flags of all the countries where coke is available....Spot the Indian flag .....




While going through the musuem, I also found the reason why the coca-cola is called classic Coke....
The company had stopped the most famous drink and replaced it with a new formula which didn't go quite well with the masses. So the company was forced to switch to the old formula and then named it the classic Coke....

After going through the history of coca-cola, we entered the area where we could drink coca-cola of all the countires....


Later that eveing we went to Centennial Olypic Park where we did ice skating...
Sounds exciting ...!!!




















It was my first time and I enjoyed it ....The small kids in the ice rink were doing it better tham me, but I was happy in falling frequently....
Here's an example... :)

















Once I gained some confidence, I started attacking Yuvaraj, navish and krimy and was successful in bringing them down.....

Can you see me ??


After ice skating, we went to the CNN center , but it was close...so had to be content by clicking snaps just outside the center....

That was the end of the day ...We went back to our place, cooked food and went off to sleep ...

First Vacation in USA....(dec' 06)--Atlanta

Looking at the skyline of Atlanta , finally I feel like I have come to USA....because Raleigh is like a village and it does not have any skyline or the city like feeling.....

(This pic has been taken by kunal, so doesnt really give the true picture of the skyline)

Kunal, Nirali and myself have come to Atlanta for a few days and plan to celebrate christmas and new year in Atlanta itself......

First Day: We met Yuvaraj (after about 5 months and were very pleased to meet him..) and was good to see that he hasnt changed a bit......
Saw Atlantic Station, a new tourist spot in Atlanta which host a number of malls and coffee shops and other hang out places....The place was very well decorated for the christmas eve,...(They have a huge 3 storied christmas tree in the courtyard between the tall buildings....)

One thing I noticed that these people celebrate christmas on a really huge scale which none of the Indian festivals can beat.....

They light up every nook and corner and that too with different kinds of lightings.....

As you can see in the picture the height of the christmas tree ...












The lighting on the streets is really amazing.....

Also travelled in the train after a long time (and I truly missed the local trains back in mumbai....)Was trying to draw analogies between the stations and was successful in figuring out the "Dadar" of Atlanta(Marta trains)..... :)

Second Day:
Had lunch at a great Indian Restaurant (Menu : Ragda Patties, Dahi Vada, Paani Puri, Pav Bhaji, Dosa, Uttapa, Noodles, Biryani, Kheer.........) awesome menu and I had everything.... :)

You can imagine a desi going to a desi restaurant in USA .....
After lunch we headed off to the Stone Mountains ( an awesome place ...worth watching.....)


(Kunal,myself and nirali at the Stone Mountain.. The sculpture on the mountain is amazingly huge....)


We walked the trail to the top of the mountain and it was a great experience....It reminded me of the days when I used to climb the Mulund Tekri with my friends.....Missed Maulik and Rushabh ....

We came down by ropeway (called the skyride...) and then later watched the laser show which was truly entertaining for the kids which had come to celebrate the christmas weekend......

To view the entire album of this day click here.