Rain and Flood

I miss Chennai during rainy days, that too my house. I love the smell of earth or mud whatever you want call it( manvasanai that is how they call it in Tamil). It evokes lot of good memories and which kid doesnt like rain.

My house was in a low lying area so it use to flood a lot when it rains. Flood use to be running water not stagnant water. My dad knew about the flooding in the area before he constructed the house there, so we had a high basement for our house compared to others, it was 4 1/2 feet i guess. The kind of preparation we use to make for going to school would be nice, cover the school bag with polythene cover and carry the school shoes and socks in a polyethene bag and then walk till the point where there was not water then dry the feet put the socks and shoes on. The whole thing has to be repeated when we have to come back home too. Going to school when we have a white uniform without getting dirty was a big challenge by itself. My dads two wheeler choice was also based on the flood water, he had Bajaj M80 which had the silencer higher than a TVS Champs ( those were not the ages for fancy bikes). Usually the flood use to be atleast 1 1/2 to 2 feet of running water, he cannot bring his two wheeler in, he us to park it in his friends house in some what higher area compared to us.

My parents would allow us to play in water one hour a day if it is an holiday during flood. We use to make paper boats, convert any stick into boat and send it, there use to be competition on whose paper boats goes the farthest before it sinks in water. The flood water use to come the stream nearby, thanks to google earth it is actually the source for river Adyar, it is very clean since it is very near to the source. So whenever there is flood water there use to be fishes and obviously snakes around of different colors, I don't know what it is may be it comes from my mom, we were never scared of snakes in water. Another thing what we use to do is try to throw flat stones in water and make it to glide in water. Miss all those days....

Till 2005 December water never entered into the house, but 2005 december it was very very heavy rain from october and almost all the lakes around our area was full and some miscreants broke lot of lakes off( since they have constructed house near the lakes illegaly) and it was high tide in sea that day too, so water was pushed in through Adyar river and with so much water rushing in to Adyar River with breaking of lakes it kind of created a backflow and started circling around our low lying area. When i came home the night before from work, there was hardly any water on the road and in the morning at around 6 water was entering our house, we had to vacate our house. Fire fighters had to be rushed into even more low lying areas with boats to rescue people. It was a bad flood that year and it was the last flood i saw.

And why did write this blog, since it is monsoon season in chennai and it is raining heavily there now

This is disgusting

We understand that media runs on money from investors and the money earned from Advertisements but running ads disguised as news items is disgusting. I read this article in Hindu, I like Hindu newspaper for their un-biased views on lot of things.

Thanks to Hindu for writing is article and bringing this to the public attention not worrying about the wrath they may face from the media organizations.
Hindu
There have been lots of instances off late where media turns itself into a self proclaimed saviour of justice and starts convicting the accused(in a case) in public, even though accused would not have even had a chance to defend himself in court. All the four pillars of democracy should be in harmony for the country to prosper, there have been cases of judicial arm extending more than what is suppose to and then legislature approving themselves more pension for their job ( I don’t think they should even receive a pension) and then executive passing government orders in favor of someone. It is not this did not happen before but then there were good news papers and media which brought this to public, but now media being more tainted than ever, it is very tough for the general public to believe what is true and what is not.

1st weekend in US

My parents arrived in US on Thursday at around 5.30. I was super super excited to receive them in the airport, most of my colleagues saw the big radiance smile in my face.

Airport is a mile away from my place, I saw the flight landing visually (From our office we can see the run way of the airport) and then I left to the airport. In excitement I forgot to take my camera along with me, otherwise I could have captured my mom and dad’s excitement or smile in their face.

I made lot of plans for cooking for them and then finally my friend invited us home for dinner that night (they had good food ;)). There started my eating spree for 3 months, made me put on lot of weight. I received a pat on my shoulder from my mom for keeping the kitchen clean (obviously I never cooked there ;)). I got nice scoldings for keeping Masalas and spices worth for 4 or 5 families for a year and I don’t cook, she just couldn’t understand why I need so much garam masalas for cooking. I tried to explain to my mom that it came from so many people and I just kept it there. Un packing of all the stuffs they bought from India and the wet grinder what they got for me, they slowly unpacked and assembled all the things.

That weekend was a long weekend so I took them around in and around Philadelphia. My mom got a shock on how big the people in US are, the way they dressed and how much the eat and drink. I got her a venti chai from star bucks, she gave me a stare and asked if it is for the whole day, May the potion is high here, I never realized. She started carrying the extra paper cups wherever she goes so I can get one Grande Chai from star bucks , she and my dad would share that and drink. Philadelphia zoo trip was fun, saw a king cobra and it was a good way to start the trip. Food was a major concern for my parents and we ensured that we pack our food wherever we go. There was this big gorilla in the zoo and it knew what was doing and posed for the cameras, it gave a very good pose and damn memory card in my camera was full at the time, I missed that shot. We took chapatti and potatoes ( poori kelangu ) for the zoo trip. It was a short trip of about 5 hours.






I played in a doubles co-ed volleyball tournament in Maryland on Sunday. I took my parents along with me for that, they have never seen me playing volleyball. We were all prepared with a Canopy, chairs and off course food from my mom. They met most of my volleyball friends their and my doubles partner becca and her friend john. My mom and dad felt cold on a warm and sultry day and they were in their sweaters for the whole day. They were observing how people are and the particularly had questions about the sunscreen lotion what people used. My dad then explained to my mom about the whole melanin pigment and why they should use a sunscreen. Becca and John both love Indian food and they enjoyed the food. John is 6ft and 11 inches tall and my mom being 4 foot 11 inches looked diminutive standing next to him. Becca isn’t short either she is 5foot 11 inches. We made it to the playoffs and then it started pouring down so we took off back home and it was a 100 mile drive back home. My parents had a good time but started feeling bored at the end of the day. Drive back was good my mom never sleeps in the car she was wide awake after the whole day out and was watching all the trees, road and traffic and she is very inquisitive too, asked lot of questions.

Next day we were off to Camden aquarium and Battleship New jersey. Camden aquarium is situated on the other side of Delaware River (bay whatever you call it), you can see the beautiful Philadelphia skyline from there. Battleship New Jersey is anchored right next to the aquarium. Aquarium was good with lots of colorful fishes. We had an opportunity to touch the jelly fish( harmless one though), star fish and a baby shark. Viewing area for watching the fishes were good, it is a good sight to see the fishes swim through and as if posing for us J. Underwater shark tunnel is the best one in the aquarium, it was a surreal feeling with sharks swimming right over your head, very close encounter with the sharks indeed. 4D Theatre my mom enjoyed the show like a kid with her my hands when water was sprayed, It was role reversed, I use to hold my moms hand when I am excited or when I am afraid.











Battleship New Jersey, a majestic war ship anchored right outside the aquarium. I have never boarded a battleship before and so are my parents. We took the Arms and ammunition tour (there are lots of tours in the ship) and an electrician (85 years old) who worked in the ship was our guide. Very valuable insights to the ships history and the battles it fought. It is considered to be the lucky charm of the American navy and it had only one fatality in its entire career. Our guide was insisting on what difference a college education can make to kids( there obviously little kids on the tour with us) with an analogy on how the life on the ship was. Only Navymen with officer cadre will get food served to them, separate bunkers and a better bed for sleeping on the other hand for a normal navymen they have to share the bunker with another Navymen , shared restrooms and rationed food. He did make a good point to the kids there.

Prepping Parents for their Visit

I had a fun time with my parents when they visited me here in US. Lots of my friends are also planning to bring their parents here, so thought will pen a blog which will share my memories and will help my friends to plan their trip. This is going to be a series of blogs and here comes the first one.

In my case my mom didn’t want to get out of India and take a flight and come to US. It involved lot of cajoling, sentimental talks and threatening (saying that I would get married to my imaginary American g.f if they don’t come here) to make her to come here. I started the process a year back with Passport and others. Visa interview was booked in the starting of the May and they came to US on May 21st. I was so excited to and couldn’t contain my excitement when I was waiting for them in the airport. Then there she came out with 1000 Watt smile in her face and off course my dad was ensuring that all the baggage’s came out proper and things like that. When planning for their flight journey I followed these tips or thumb rules whatever you want to call it



1) I didn’t want to book a direct flight from Chennai to JFK, It will be difficult for them to sit continuously and travel. So I booked tickets in Lufthansa from Chennai to Frankfurt (7 ½ hours) with a 3 hour layover in between and Frankfurt to Philadelphia (7 ½ hours). With a 3 hour layover in between they can stretch their legs in between the flights and can get refreshed. I am not a big fan of long haul flights.
2) I made sure that they carry some dry fruits and biscuits incase they don’t like the food in the flight, it helped since mom didn’t like the food in flight and she ended up surviving in biscuits. Even though they are non-vegetarians (like most Indians they don’t eat red meat), we made the food choice as Asian Vegetarian since they may get some dosa or idli in the initial flight.
3) They had enough foreign exchange (my dad got it from Thomas cook in Spencer Plaza Chennai) with a seal on his passport for getting foreign exchange.
4) I took a printout of customs declaration form and Immigration form from Path2usa.com and filled the details out and sent a scanned copy. This would ease their fears and questions on what to fill for what.
5) My dad can speak decent English so I didn’t give any other letter to immigration but for parents who cannot speak English then you can give a letter stating that they have problem with the language and you can give your contact number and details Immigration generally calls you for details. My friend did that for his parents.
6) For Philadelphia airport there will be porters for taking your baggage and putting it in big cart and take through customs and bring you out. They charge 10$ for that cart and I asked my parents to use that rather than them going through to find 1$ bills and put it in the vending machine for carts.

What happend to me?

What happened to me? I didn't write a blog for more than a year now. Lots of things happened in between. I had to shift to Philadelphia from Scranton. New location, new people, new project etc etc. Philadelphia is a nice place and lot more things to do but miss Scranton. Obviously one bound to get an attachment to place if you stay there for long, i stayed in Scranton for 3 years and it was like home away from home. Made lots of friends, fell out with a few but still i can come back once in a while to say a hi to them and keep in touch with them. It is a place where i started playing volleyball after a gap.

After almost breaking my hand in volleyball last year April, I had to change my game. I couldn't set anymore due to injury and I am too attached to miss volleyball. I ended up changing my game, became an outside hitter. It is not that i am good at it but i am putting all the effort to be good in it and I have improved a lot from last year. Shifting bases did help in becoming an outside hitter, playing with some good setters and better skill level does help in that.

Parents visited me from India for 3 months. It was awesome to have them here and take them around to lots of places and meet my friends etc etc. They did enjoy US to the most part except that my dad kept complaining that he didn't get a kind of spinach what he use to get in India( ponnagani keerai), I was like yaa yaa yaa. I cannot forget the way my parents and my friend priya's parents enjoyed like little kids in Niagara, the happiness in there face was a definitely a kodak moment. I am gonna blog about the whole trip and tips for do's and dont's when bringing parents to US( East coast in particular).

And with My mom's visit my 2 years hardwork of decreasing and maintaining weight is gone. Too much of good food and i packed on pounds like anything. I am getting into weight loss mode again. I hope i reduce my weight like last time with good workout, i have to get good motivation for working out though.

I hope you can spin it more

This was ROFL, i was thinking about it and laughing all the time. I dont think Siddarth Trivedi can be insulted any more. I wish i saw the video of his facial expression when he heard this from Shilpa Shetty. If you are puzzled about what I am talking about, check the link out.

New Hampshire Trip

New Hampshire Fall Trip

This is my first trip to see fall foliage in New Hampshire. We went to the White Mountains in New Hampshire to see fall colors, guess we made a good decision to go there to look at fall colors. Trip was planned within two days, with the logistics of car, accommodation and food were taken care in 2 days. We hit the road @5 in the evening on Friday, the customary round trip after driving to the first stop sign to get something what we missed to take was done this time too. We consider doing that as a good luck at the start of the trip, this time the culprit forgot to bring the music cds. Drive up to New Hampshire was good, with some discussions and good music. We stopped for our dinner in a rest area in Connecticut. It was decided earlier that we would cook(that we doesn’t include any bachelors) some food and take it up there for our dinner, which turned out to be a good decision except the fact that we ended up eating our food in the freezing temperature outside.

There were quite a lot of cops on the road and lot of people were pulled over for over speeding or other violations, we were extra careful on not to get caught. We reached the place where we stayed at around 1.30 in the night. I wanted to go and take some photos early in the morning of fall colors, early morning and the evening are the best time to take photos, I set my phone alarm to 6 A.M and retired to bed. All my buddies were up playing cards, looks like they had decided to play a prank on me. Switched off all the lights and adjusted the time of my phone to 5.30 A.M after 10 mins I dozed off to sleep. They were smart to the change the alarms of most of the phones in the room. Alarm started going off, I didn’t feel like I slept for a long time, I woke up and saw how it looked outside, it was dark, I still decided to go ahead with my plans. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, came out to put my shoes and leave, the room was bright and everyone was up, it took sometime for the reality to sink in that they have played a prank on me. It was a good way to start the trip, rest of the trip was also lot of fun.


I went to take some early morning photos on Saturday, it was cloudy and it spoiled the start. We went to Franconia Notch and Flumes Gorge during the day. We had to trek in freezing temperatures up in mountains in Franconia Notch. I got some good colorful photos at the flumes gorge, there was lot of deliberation and discussion on whether we have to walk to the flumes gorge which is a 0.75 mile trek or go in a bus, I was up for walking and finally convinced everyone to do that. I don’t think any one regretted walking to the flumes gorge. Dinner for the night was suppose to be prepared by the bachelors but a better cook took over the mantle from us and cooked a tasty chicken curry for us. I was very tired after seeing for the whole day through the view finder of my camera, I retired to bed very early on that night.

Sunday we decided to go to Mount Washington, there was lot of hype on how difficult it is to drive in that road. I have been to quite a lot of hill stations in India, compared to that this Mount Washington drive is nothing. They are marketing the place very good, which attracts so many people towards this spot. They had restrictions on how many persons can go in a car in a van etc etc. Two of my buddies dropped out and waited in the lower base of Mount Washington while we guys drove up. I don’t regret driving up there, the colors were really good and I got some really nice fall color photos.

We drove via Boston when returning back to Scranton, we went to a restaurant called Fire and Ice. They had a very good concept, it’s a buffet, they had all the raw materials like vegetables, meat, egg, sauce etc as a Buffet. You have to go and pick things in a bowl and give it to the cook who will cook it in front of your eyes. Cook won’t add anything extra apart from what you have got there so the taste is based on what you take to the cook for eating. I enjoyed it up there. It was a good trip. You can see the photos of the trip here