The story of a Picture

Somewhere in the last month when it was a rainy weekend, I had plenty of time. I did not knew what to do then. I was thinking of doing something different which could keep me busy for both the days. At that time, I remembered an age old of picture of my friends from skool, which I had committed with them to potray, around hmmm.. three years ago. I had carried this picture all the way to Beijing with the intensions of sketching and those 5 months went in a flash. Even Priya & Venu had followed me to China in pursuit of this sketch and despite after Pri's many pop-up reminders I could only escape by asking for a few more months of time. I had the fears of doing the same thing even in my one and a half year (and still going strong) stay in U.S. But it was not the case when I got into form this time and could complete.

Pri, thanks for waiting for so long :)
I will hand over the original when I'm back home :)

Thanks-giving Mela

It has been a very long time since I have put anything in my blog. Thought would share my experience about thanks giving sale. The holidays were brilliant, I just relaxed at home. Unlike last year, even after almost a week after thanks-giving it is not snowing yet. The weather channel reported that it was the record high temperatures since 1905. Snowing was thus ruled out. Lucky enough were the guys who had camped all night in front of those Best Buys or Circuit Citys. I guess even an earth quake would not have stopped them from attacking the shops as early as it opened to bag those huge Plasma TV's being sold for more than 1000$ less or a 500 GB phantom hard disk being sold for meager 69$ or a gigabyte of thumb drive for just 3$. I had no intensions of camping all night, but had determined to getup early. Weather or getting up early would not have intervened with my addiction to buy a new gadget in anyway. The only factor that was inhibiting me was doing a “second round” of shopping for similar gadgets as my knapsack has already reached high watermark levels. Yet, I had a small list of *to buy items*. I was all set to wake-up at very early morning to start my thanks-giving shopping spree. So were all my roomies.

Somebody had dropped a bagful of advertisements at our door, the previous night. We were badly in need of that. After doing a combined research, our approach, our priorities, the order and time of entering the shops were made.
My manager had told me that he would pick us up and had precisely given a wake-up call at 4.15 A.M. Despite that, I just couldn’t miss the last few minutes of (lazy) sleep until I heard the second wake-up call about 10 minutes later ;-). I could hear my roomie answering the call. Soon after that we were all geared up in proper winter attire from head to toe.

By 4:45 AM we were at Wal-Mart. The parking lot which seemed like a barren land the previous day was completely swamped. People were finding it difficult to find an empty parking space to throw their car. They were rushing towards the tail of the queue from all directions. We were given an additional catalogue for the whereabouts of the items in the shop at site. Sharply at 5 A.M the shop was opened. The queue was long enough and after little bit of struggle to withstand the chilly winds, we could make an entry. It was not as bad and as delightful as getting a seat on a bus going from Mysore to Mandya. After New York visit, it was the first time I saw such a phenomenal crowd in Wal-Mart and in our Eagan Halli. Shoppers were on a rush. Almost all aisles were clogged with people and their carts were overloaded. Amidst all these we were running aimlessly in the shop. I could not find what I wanted though I was so early to the shop. My friends could manage to sneak in a few in their list. By 5.15 A.M all of us were out. We walked past to the adjacent Kohls. Kohls which is famous for marketing gimmicks of putting huge retail prices on tag along with a wide discount margin, this day was showing upto 70% discounts. A price tag for an ordinary 29" luggage bag showed 329$ with a brilliant 65% discount to come down to yet unrealistic price of 115$. I laughed at that and moved to the apparel section. I was looking for few exceptional ones. I was saturated in buying T’s or jeans and was not in anyway thinking of buying them just because it was cheaper. This saturation was not because I had enough but because my cup-board is filled way beyond limits and I’m sure I have to pay for excess baggage on my return to India. I was still wondering whether it was this determination of mine or it was that the shop did not have any good ones that day. I could just find the boots that I was looking for - the last thing which was on my list.

The same scene were followed at Best Buy, Office Max and Old Navy. All of us came out empty ended. I was just wondering that our usual shopping would have been better and happier. It was 10:10 AM and we were completely tired and restless. We decided against going to any other shops on our list. I was cursing myself for ruining my morning sleep. I badly wanted a coffee. I had fabulous brew at Caribou Coffee, reached home and dozed off to mark the end of my fantasy with the thank-giving sale.

Shadows of Light

Taking pictures have become passion for me ever since I bought my Canon A80 about 2 years ago. One of my friends was teasing me that I saw the whole of Newyork only through the view finder.
I have shared some of the photographs that appealed to me in a seperate blog.
Your comments and suggestions are most valuable!.

The Charming Princess

I could do a very little justification for her ravishingly delightful looks. Drawing her sketch was one of my weekend work. For the first time, I have given more prominence in drawing her hairs and eyes. Her pictures used to reside in my chemistry and physics lab records long long ago. I searched for one of those missing pictures on the net, but in vain. The original picture of this sketch was the best one that came close to that rare old collection and here she is.

Parting Gift

23 Hour Sunday!!

I saw my alarm. It was 12:32 PM on a Sunday morning!. The room had become very warm. The sun rays were getting diffused from from the tiny gaps between window shutters. I was sleeeping still. I was very reluctant to get up. I had been playing a "Need for speed" cousin "Mid Night Club 2" with my new cordless gamepad on my PS2 yesterday, oh!!.., rather early morning today, and till what time, I donno!. May be until 5 AM.

I was lazy enough to get up. I tried to simulate some amount of darkness by covering me under my bedspread. It was making me more hot. I was trying to somehow make myself believe that I had some more sleep left for that day. I kept myself under those covers. I could listen to that latest Shakira's song "Hips, don't lie" being played on our TV outside my room. That made me completely awake. I jumped from my bed to reach the hall. Oh man!!.. her "hips" really dont lie.. and I'm just crazy to see her hip dancing!!!... Her song goes like this... "My hips tell me where and when I should move. And my hips don't lie - my hips tell me the truth"....
I joined the party in the hall to see Shakira. Lazily, we continued to watch a few more songs on MTV 2.

Just then, somebody spotted the time on the TV Cable Setup Box. My friend said "Dude, it is 2 PM, we shall have some breakfast!!"... 2PM!!... The LCD was showing 1:56. 25 Mins ago it was 12:32 and that was the time I woke up!. I checked the time with an another watch lieing there. It showed 12:56. Then I realized, it was April 2. No, no.. you are wrong.. nobody was playing April fool games on me. The day light savings had just been applied. It begins on the first Sunday of the April at 2AM. I got this info later from google. So the time was infact 1:30 PM when I had woke up!.

I was cursing the US Energy Commission for having secretly applied the Day Light Savings. This actually meant a 23 hour Sunday to me. Yes, I just had 23 hrs, this Sunday. The shortest Sunday in my life. Frankly, this was not a complete surprise to me, as, 6 months ago, when I had the longest Sunday, (which I never realized then) when the day light savings for the last year was removed. I guess, we humans dont discern until we loose something.

And the positive part of the Day Light Saving for me is - I will be nearer to India by an hour - and for the next six months!!.

I guess just as sunflowers turn their heads to catch every sunbeam, so too these people have discovered a simple way to get more from the sun. They have learnt to save energy and enjoy sunny summer evenings by switching their clocks forward by an hour!!.

Inches away from a collision

It was a Friday night. Nothing seemed to have worked in the office.
I was thinking of coming back to work again on Saturday.
I went down to meet my roommates in the Smoking area outside the office. I took the keys of my car from my friend. I had learnt car driving from scratch here. It is no big deal learning a car here as the transmission is automatic (in most of the cars). If you could steer the car and if you are aware of the traffic rules, then you are done.

I sat inside my car and put on my seat belts. I ignited the engine. I waited a few minutes until the battery got heated up. The battery goes into a kinda comma here because of the severe cold. A couple of times we even had taken help of a jump start!. It seems like the freezing winter wont get over at all. Yet again it had snowed yesterday. After a couple of minutes, I removed the hand breaks, shifted the gear from "Parking" to "Reverse". I started steering the car to its left when the car was getting out from the parking space. Then I thought I have moved as much backwards as I could have and felt that I could drive my way. At that time what was going on in my mind I dont know. My work was tiresome and without any luck. I was not thinking about anything. I was feeling that my limbs had gone numb on a long days work.

I could see outside from the window, some Hexaware guys grouped together to decide on something. It was at this juncture that I shifted the gear from "Reverse" to "Drive". Without even I could realise in the coming moments that what was happening, the car was going at its maximum speed to hit a gorgeous navy blue coloured Ultima. In a nick of a time, I hit the brakes as hard as I could. Sckreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch...............................................
That sound would scare anybody. It scared the hell out of me. It was audible for the hexaware guys who had gathered meters away. The screeching sound had got their complete attention. My room mates inside the car were dumbstuck. So was I.

The car had just kissed the navy blue Utima! in style!!. There was just an inch of gap!. I just had attempted a wheely in my Nissan Centra!. I still cant believe myself why the hell I had hit the gas so hard. I could not find a justification too.
I guess I survived a major collision and further my future plans of going back to India.