Gamut of Emotions!

This post is solely for my friends whom I have made through my (was) community in Orkut. 2 days back I decided to delete my Orkut account, that meant cutting off myself from the community which I created two years back. A community which was became part of my soul. It was just a click of button to delete the account, but it led to whole lot of emotional turmoil. I was emotionally divided into two parts. One said, I did right thing and the other telling me it’s a foolish act. To top it all, my hubby was let down by my decision. He was shocked and angry at the same time when I told him I deleted my Orkut account. He got all the more agitated when he observed that I disconnected my landline and did not attend calls of my friends who were trying to get in touch with me to know why I vanished suddenly.

I used to keep telling my hubby that this community gave me some kind of identity in the society, a kind of self-confidence which I never had till now. Now all of a sudden when I deleted the account, my hubby questioned me, where has my identity and self-respect gone?? He accused me that I don’t know how to fight the odds and with disconnecting myself from friends, is an act of cowardness. He says when somebody did something wrong, then have the strength and courage to tell that person straight forward. He knows, how much time I used to dedicate for the community, now when its gone, he questioned me how am I going to spend my day without it??!! Join another networking site?? I replied that I would try to spend time by exercising, reading novels, blogging, making friends in our apartment. To that he asked me what if the mentality of the people in our apartment doesn’t match that of yours? I said may be then I will do some voluntary job and make myself busy. He then asked what if you don’t see an eye with somebody there too, will u leave that too? For the first time, I could not defend myself to what my hubby was arguing because I know deep inside, that what he was saying was right. He said with coming out of the community, the person with whom I was pissed off, I made that person winner/correct. That person would give a damn about you, and here you would be sitting depressed giving away all the hard work you did.

I knew that one day I would have to give away the community to somebody as I could not carry it on for ever. But I wanted to come out of it in dignified manner. This time I feared that I may loose dignity if I stay longer in the community. I have been really hurt by one of the members of the community who once was supposed to be my very good friend. Her sharp remarks/comments made a deep impact on me. She was the one who remarked that I should rest and give community to someone else as I was stressing myself!!! Yes i said previously that as the community is getting hacked constantly, i should quit, may be this will resolve the problem, but not that i am stressed!! She never understood that the community could never be a stress to me as its my brainchild, I was just worried that it should be out of all kind of hacking problems. Her every comment/post later, whether it was genuinely positive or not, I was finding her every word negative. To say the least, when there were sharp remarks from her, other friends/members of community remained silent and none defended me though they later expressed me privately yes, what she did was wrong. Everybody wanted to play the safe game and even I thought I should do the same, play the safe game! Remain silent!

I know I received lot of appreciation for my work in community. With the same enthusiasm I tried to protect the community, tried to solve problems, tried to bring together all. I didn’t want a situation where my out of control nature would hamper the sanctity of the community. I know it will take only two days for everybody to forget me. I am happy atleast now the community is in the hands of a person who is better in control of her emotions, has better judging power than me and ofcourse a darling for everybody in the community. Will miss you all and the happenings in the community with my whole heart!!

My West Coast trip!

Thanks to my swollen foot caused due to 8 day trip, my post about my West Coast trip took time to shape. This is my first long trip after coming to US. You already might have got a little peek into my trip through my last post. I would like to share (torture u!!) some really memorable moments during the trip.

My hubby is currently working in software division of a Hotels brand which has likes of Sheraton, West Inn, Le Meridian as their brand hotels. So, we got employee rebates in the above 5 star hotels, which we otherwise might have not afforded : ) . We started our trip on 15th april 08 and returned back to our abode on 23rd april 08 with our first stop at San Francisco.

San Francisco – What impressed me most about the place, is its streets. Almost all streets in San Francisco are steep and hilly. The way people parked their cars in those almost 70 degree inclined roads, was worth watching. The most correct example for this is Lombard street which is known as Crookedest street in the world. What is awesome about the street is not its crookedness, but the approach to that street which was so steep, that while driving, we feared we will fall/roll back. Hubby had to put one leg on Breaks and one leg on Accelerator!!! Other than this, the major thing to visit San Francisco is obviously Golden Gate Bridge. I always wondered why the bridge is called Golden Gate when infact it is red in color. So after visiting Golden Gate Bridge, I had gyanodyam, that its called Golden because, with the amount of iron used in the construction of the bridge is equal to that of Gold!! Other things we covered in San Francisco were China Town, Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park, Union Square, Transamerica Pyramid, Pier 39 and Embarcadero. Outskirts of San Francisco, we had a glance at Bay Area too.

Los Angeles – Our next stop after San Francisco was Los Angeles, where we arrived on 17th April. Our hotel was just adjacent to Universal Studios. The best part of the trip, we rented a Mini Cooper to travel around LA. The first thing we visited after arriving LA, is Hollywood Boulevard, the world famous street where the venue of Oscar awards rests, The Kodak Theatre. Other than Kodak Theatre, the street is famous for Hollywood Hall of Fame stars, where the whole pavement of the street is embedded with star tiles with names of some famous Hollywood stars. One memorable part of this trip is, I had a glimpse of Kodak theatre from inside and it was truly mesmerizing. After the Hollywood Boulevard, we headed to Beverly Hills, where many Hollywood stars reside. Though I didn’t get glimpse of any Hollywood stars about whom I had knowledge of, but homes there were simply out of the world. Other things we visited here were Paramount Studios, Universal Studios, Hollywood Sign and Rodeo Drive. Gyanodyam I had in this trip was about Hollywood Sign, that it was just an advertising gimmick of some Real Estate people to attract people to invest in that area, it had nothing to do with Hollywood as such!!

Las Vegas- Our next and last stop in the trip was Las Vegas, and the trip could not have ended with a better place than Vegas. I was appalled by the energy the city oozed. I was under impression that Vegas comes to life only during nights, but no, its cheerful and lively 24/7. There is nothing particular to see in Vegas but yet there is so much to see that for us 3 days were not enough. Luckily we stayed in Planet Hollywood Hotel, right in the heart of Vegas strip. Enjoyed some free shows in different hotels of Vegas strip. Enjoyed one paid show known as ‘V-The Ultimate Show’ was true to its name. We missed the real Gondola ride when we visited Venice 2yrs back, so got the opportunity to ride one here in the staged up Venetian. After loosing some 20$ in casino, didn’t attempt much of our hands further in gambling clearly knowing our fate in such things!!! The most attractive part of Vegas is not only its Casinos, but how each hotel, based on particular theme, have decorated their casinos, lobbies, shops etc. For example our hotel, Planet Hollywood was based on Hollywood theme, Newyork Newyork hotel based on Newyork Skyline, Luxor hotel based on Egyptian art, Caesars Palace hotel based on Greece art and so on so forth!..

Already 30!!!!

10 years back I was scared when I was leaving my teens and entered my 20’s. Now 10years later, the same fear has creeped inside me. I turned 30 on 17th April. Thankgod, I was vacationing in California otherwise the fact that I am approaching middle age would have made me go mad. But to say so, my birthday this time was one of the memorable ones. For the first time in my life, had the opportunity of cutting two surprise cakes, may be this was God’s way of telling that ‘Be happy my child, you are not that old yet :) !!!' .

My friend SRV whom I met through orkut, insisted that we meet when we visit Sanfrancisco. I was not so sure as were spending only 2.5 days there. Somehow I convinced my hubby, and agreed to meet SRV in an Indian restaurant for dinner on 16th night. Then again she insisted to visit her home first and then we all can leave together for dinner. We agreed as it was on the way. The route from San Francisco to Fremont, where SRV stayed was horrible. Roads were too bumpy and as we rented the car there, we were under the impression that there was something wrong with the car but later we realized it had nothing to do with the car but the road conditions were such. Anyway after nearly 45 minutes drive we reached SRV’s apartment and as I knocked her apartment door. There she was standing with the birthday balloons. For a second, I didn’t understand what was it that she was holding, as it was still 16th and moreover SRV didn’t show a clue that she knew about my birthday while we talked on phone. Actually I was so surprised that I didn’t react!!! Later she even brought a yummy cake for me which I cut and relished eating it. SRV’s hubby had lot of work that day, but still he took time for us and we all went to Sarvana Bhavan for dinner. Food was simply awesome there. Later after dinner we all roamed around Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Santa Clara area till 12AM in car. It was amazing to see all those areas, as it reminded me of Bangalore, with all software companies, desi shops, desi restaurants and hardly one can see Americans there. As it was late to go back to our hotel, we opted to sleep in SRV’s house.

My phone started ringing from the night itself. First it was my sister, then to my surprise next call was my Father-in-Law and Mother- in-Law. This is the first time after my marriage that they have called me and wished me for my birthday. Surprisingly even got a call from sister-in-law(hubby’s sister) and her hubby to wish me. Hmm it was too much of happiness for me to weigh!!

Next day on 17th morning, we went back to our hotel and checked out as we had flight to catch that evening for Los Angeles and we headed to San Jose to my relative’s place. After nearly 1 hour drive, I was surprised with yet another cake from my relative. This time again, I had no clue that she knew about my birthday. She prepared some awesome dishes for lunch and had long hearty chit-chat all together. Soon it was time for our flight and we had to bid adieu to San Francisco and one of my memorable day.

My 1st year in US!! Huh!!

So much has happened since last 1 year yet time went by with such great speed. One year in USA, huh! Before coming here, I made a lot of preconceived notion about this country. Like most of the fellow Indians, I felt whole of US is like New York, Chicago..with high rise buildings everywhere and busy life almost like our own Mumbai. Even so I went to Germany with the same notion 3years back and to my surprise, the place we stayed was such a laid back city. I dreaded the hustle bustle of India during my 2years of stay in Germany. After coming here, I realized why Indians adjust to this country very fast than any other country in the world. The shocking fact for me was Americans are more cultured and traditional than Europeans which I used to assume otherwise. So here is how my past 1 year in US was:

Approach : Americans are very friendly in approach than the kind of experience we had back in Germany, ofcourse the blame goes to our lack of deutsch language proficiency. But as much as Americans are approachable, Indians are not as approachable. May be because of population of desis here, that one desis doesn’t give a damn about other desi, even if we look at them and give our sweetest smile. Or there is some certain Quickstar/Amway danger that they see, everytime an Indian smiles at them!!! Hmm cant blame them either, even we were pulled into the above marketing gimmick, but thankfully we came out of it in right time. So I better don’t go into this subject!!

Disappointment: Next thing was, I had a tough time accepting the fact that there is almost nill public transportation here except until you are staying in Downtown(main city area!!!). Almost for everything you have to depend on Car. With so much scarcity of Petrol all over the world, an American would take out a big Dodge just to go to next mile!!! That’s really sad isn’t it!

Experience: The other thing I learned here is, you are nothing here without a CREDIT HISTORY. If you are an Alien(foreigner) over here, for everything like purchasing car, or getting a credit card you need to have a good CREDIT HISTORY. Well the name itself tells, if you want to survive in US, start taking credit!!! So for newcomers like us, due to lack of credit history, our car loan, insurance, credit limit, etc everything sucked, which actually results into less savings than our counterpart back in India. Well to gain some, we have to loose some!

Incident: Next came our terrible car accident. It was like just death approaching in front of us, that suddenly we were given chance for another life by Yamaraj! Our car was Totaled(that’s how Americans refer to total damage of car!). But I was amazed that how quickly, we were taken care of during the accident and everybody from the Cop(police) to general public were co-operative. Bought a new Camry after the accident and just loving it.

Places: Had the opportunity of visiting Niagara falls, which i dreamt of since a long time. It was as breath-taking as it was in my dreams. After that even got a chance to see Big Apple(New York downtown!). Enjoyed in the sands of Cape Cod beaches of Boston. Cherished the falls colors in White Mountains, New Hampshire

Missed: Missed my brother’s house warming ceremony. Missed to see my new born nephew. Missed my best friend’s wedding.

Best part: My hubby got a good job. I got a chance of meeting lot of my virtual friends face to face which was another high for me!

Worst part: Wasn’t able to make through the h1 lottery system. I keep wondering why the H1 rule changed only when I landed here. Other worst part, I could not climb up the next stage of my life. Hmm well that’s fate!!

Allari Naresh – The next Rajendra Prasad?

I guess every telugu person will agree that Rajendra Prasad’s movies brings smile to every person who watches his movies. I heard somewhere that even though Chiranjeevi has biggest fan following in Andhra, but still every telugu family can see Rajendra Prasad’s movies more than once just to enjoy the humour. Now its ditto with Allari Naresh. Though he is not as famous as other top actors in Telugu movie industry, he is consciously choosing all comedy movies and making a mark. . I feel more than any emotion, making the audience laugh is a biggest task for an actor. Just few months back I saw Allari Naresh’s first movie ‘Allari’, and I couldn’t digest the movie at all. But his last movie ‘Seema Shastry’ which I saw, was a 100% hilarious movie I have seen during recent times. I have seen a significant improvement in his acting skills too. I hope he chooses such movies too in future and becomes a legend in comedy movies unlike others who choose stereotypical macho guy roles!!