F-1 Vroom...

Distance = 211 miles ; Average time to travel = 3.5 hours ; Direction = South-South-East

This time the maps were to lead me to the F1/Indy 500 track in Indianapolis, IN.

Had a long weekend in hand. Took the rental and after finishing some pending activities on Saturday, started towards my destination on a bright Sunny though chilly X'Mas eve morning...

The drive was fast, the distance covered in 3 hours with no stoppages. The city looked deserted, not much traffic on the roads or near the track... though the surroundings were aesthetically designed to cater to the same look and feel as the track for the F1 enthusiasts.

The track was majestic; had a museum with paraphernalia from previous years displayed. They even had a shuttle to take you round on the track. Saw the timing boards, the VIP lounges, the start / finish line (made of bricks - the track is also known as the Brickyard' since it was originally made totally of bricks).

Overall a nice experience. Had fun and collected some memorablia from the gift shop before departing back the same day for my current abode. VROOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM......

Trip to St Louis, MO

Had been quite sometime since I travelled. The road-runner inside me was craving for some actions. The desire to just drive on into the night was intensifying...

So just decided this Friday to buckle up and go for a ride. Called up my friend JV in St. Louis to know about his weekend plans and also a colleague AU to tag along and also catch up on things (been a long time since we chatted)...

Woke up @ 7am Saturday... Took the car, drove up to AU's residence in downtown Chicago. Picked him up and then headed straight for our destination... a 300-mile journey on I-55S with breaks for gas and breakfast took us there in 4 hours flat.



Had directions to the downtown of the city but even before we could reach there, saw the Arch from a distance... A magnificient structure... 600-odd feet high standing with no supporting structure... 17ft wide at the top... truly a human marvel.

Built in 1968 to mark the path taken by early settlers who docked at this point along the Missouri river and settled in St Louis...

Stayed at the monument for about 4 hours, learnt the rules of the American football by interacting with some college students there, out visiting from Indiana. Went walking to the businees district of St. Louis for a late lunch but to our dissapointment and amazement the whole area was closed as they were having a baseball game that evening with the town's favorite team 'The Cardinals' playing in it...

Returned to the car and drove to meet the friend a little further south from the Arch. Grabbed a bite @ McD on the way there...

Time flew by sitting at his place and left from his apartment @ 630 in the evening for the ride back to Chicago. Got a call on the way to make plans for the night. Decided to hit the floor and bogey for a while. The drive in the night took 4.5 hours as we had to stop for gas and dinner...

By the time we reached the days 9 hours of driving took toll on me and I reclined the idea of staying up much longer, so I dropped AU back at his place and returned to my bed @ 1am...

The end of another day but a day well spent :) Hope this keeps me pepped up for the next month...

More later.

Life ho to aisi...

Time: 0800 hrs : Sitting @ my residence talking to my offshore team. Explaining them the tasks for the day.

Time: 0930 hrs : Sitting in my client's desk ; trying to resolve a system testing issue. Getting 'gyan' about the logic used in HR... Man, it is complex :)

Time: 1230 hrs : Still @ my client's desk ; using his computer to resolve the issue. He mentions that I could take a break and grab a bite. I walk back to my desk.

Time: 1300 hrs : Get a call from one of my colleagues to check my Inbox and see if there's anything in it... Viola, there's a mail from the C&B department stating that I have been promoted... Communicated the same to my parents back home... Brother called. Felt nice to know they too felt happy for me...

Time 1330 hrs : Having lunch sitting all alone in the cafeteria... Thinking about the status change, the current work, the client issues @ hand...

Time 1400 hrs : Back to the grind.

Time 1700 hrs : Still at the grind.

Time 1830 hrs : Resolved the issue. Leaving for the flat. Asked one of my roomies to pick me up on his return trip.

Time 2100 hrs : Buying dinner for everyone to celebrate my promotion...

I wonder could it be different in someways? Wonder what could make it different?

Still wondering...

Paradise vaporized... parents left town !!

Been a long time since I updated the space here. Was busy and was enjoying it too. Well, just came back after leaving my parents at the O'Hare airport...

They were holidaying here in US with me since Jul 11th. Been a utopian experience to have my parents visiting me here. It was the first 'US' experience for my Mom... and I hope it's an exhilirating one for her too... Well, she's still in US, returning back to India on the 9th of August flying back via Pheonix and Los Angeles.

More later...

Parents in town ... 11 days to go...

Been long since I updated the happenings in my life... Well, nothing much has changed... although I wish it does soon.

Am moving to a new residence starting July 01, 2006. Am also visiting LA, LV and San Diego during the long weekend of American Independence. But in the lime-light is my parents trip to USA...

They are arriving in LA on 28-Jun-2006. Would be in the US of A till 09-Aug-2006. Am planning the above trip with them. Then they would arrive in Chicago by 11-Jul-2006 and stay with me for 3 weeks. Yipee !!!!!!!

It's short, it's packed but that's the way it is. I'll be missing my brother not being here, but a man doesn't always get all that he wants, maybe a woman does ;)

Am busy planning their travel plans, co-ordinating their meetings with relatives and sight-seeing etc. and counting down the days to their arrival...

Just me...

Seems like yesterday that I celebrated New Years and welcomed 2006 in my life. Today, I wonder where the last 6 months of my life went?

Sitting here in the same flat, nothing much has changed... though a lot of things have changed. Life seems to be in doldrums these days. Decisions are plenty to take, but the moments for taking those decisions are not around...

Playing with time teaches you to be cautious, makes you to be watchful of unforseen events, but still life throws at you such unimaginable scenarios that the human mind remains baffled by them...

As the cliche goes "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me right back in..."

Trip to Michigan

Cosy bed in Adrian, MI... Me in it with my favorite partner till now... don't get any ideas, am just referring to my laptop :)

Came visiting a not-so-distant uncle of mine. Took the Friday off from work. Was getting bugged up with the mundane activities at work. Been a long time since I took to the roads. I guess the drives and I have a bonding due to which I always find myself driving down to someplace whenever I need a break. Anyway, called him up. Asked about his program and whether it would be any problem if I drove up to meet him, his family and granny. He called back and said it would be great to meet me...

Packed my stuff. Called the rental car agency to come and me pick me up from my residence. Spoke to a lady by the initials of KP. She's an American staying in downtown Chicago but commutes out of downtown to work. A nice concept. It keeps you close to the action and also always in the opposite side of the traffic ;) Anyway, got talking to her. Let's see whether a friendship blossoms or not...

Finally, the journey began @ approx 4 in the evening. Had to pack my stuff, wash clothes, fill up the gas tank before I could take off... The drive in itself wasn't bad. A pretty scenic one too. Took the I-94 and traveled west for around 200 miles. Had taken a map form Google. Per the map, had to leave the expressway somewhere after entering Ohio and join the US-20 to lead me to the city. I followed the directions to the point ; evening came around fast and the darkness came in at around 1830 hrs.

Being out on the roads in an unexplored territory, in an unknown country where you're still a newcomer in terms of learning the ropes of the game, it became a bit uneasy for me to drive around in the night in the wilderness... No human habitation for miles to go, not even a gas station around, just white/yellow lines illuminated by the lights of your vehicle itself. Signboards were also scarce... For a freshman you never can tell whether you are traveling in the right direction or just driving along. Stopped at the gas station @ 108 / US20 crossing and asked the lady behind the counter about my whereabouts. She gave me a relief by telling me that I was on track and just needed to carry on till I hit the x-ing for 109 and then head north to enter Adrian...

Reached @ 2130 CST... Was informed by my aunt that granny had slept, after waiting for me... I thought that maybe being here she's got the habit of sleeping early. Anyway, had a home-cooked, Indian-style, finger-licking dinner..... Tasted good. Sat down to chat with my uncle and aunt for a while... Time whizzed by. Hit the bunk @ 0030 CST... Woke up in the morning @ 0930 CST. Am saying CST cos when I saw the time as per the clocks in their house it was showing 1030 hrs.. And then it struck me that Adrian is in EST.... No wonder granny slept. It was actually way past her normal bedtime ;)

Freshened up and then went down. Granny was elated to meet me. Feels nice to make people happy. Gives you peace of mind.

Had pakoras for breaker. The lunch was another gourmet's delight for me. Kidney beans, cucumber mixed salted yoghurt, home-cooked rotis, capsicum-paneer curry dish. Awesome. What more can a man ask for?

Met their 2 sweet, adorable kids... ArT and AnT. Spent some quality time with them... Enjoyed some fun games @ Chuck E Cheese (a kids arcade, entertainment outlet). Also, visited the Hands-On museum. Reminded me of the Nehru Science Centre back in Delhi, India. Was one of my favorite hang-outs back as a kid. Both these places are in Ann Arbor, the U-of-M city. Took some snaps of the University campus too..

Came back just a while back. We made the trip to Ann Arbor in my uncle's BMW Z5 SUV. A pretty neat piece of machinery. Would definitely like to own a similar one someday...

Tomorrow I return to reality... to continue life, to continue dreaming :)

Just did it...

Was feeling a bit under-utilized for the last month. The body too indicated that it needed some strenous activity for a routine...

All roads lead to the nearby gym... Joined today. The gym has a neat assortmet of instruments, but sadly, no pool... Had a choice between a private / public gym, took membership in the public one... The sole reason for that decision is to have company there in the form of colleagues who too are regular vistiors there :)

The mind too wants to play games... Planning to take the library membership and spend some quality time reading for a change...

Some positive changes in this monotonous existence... life would be bettter...

Btw, today I complete 4 months of my stay in Uncle Sam.

Bawarchi in USA

Never imagined myself becoming a culinary expert... but life has always something different planned for you. Who imagined a guy who never liked to set foot in the kitchen at home, would one day be trying out new dishes in a kitchen in US??

But this doesn't mean that I like to do that... it's just the matter of supply meeting demand. If my stomach generates a request, I need to fulfil it. And instead of getting some junk in, why not try out cooking something for it??

Have started making finger-licking (as per my roomies) Chole, Rajma, veggies... Still am far, far away from my Mom's cooking (both literally and physically)... Been ages since I had a proper meal :(

Another reason for me missing you Ma...

My 1st rental

Returned the rental car today... after keeping it for the last 3 days. Travelled 297 miles on it. Used up 15 gallons of fuel on it.

Friday night was the project party. Missed giving a detail there. Met a friend of AB, SG. She was introduced to me when she was there in the same office as me in India. On reaching the project party, I got busy with bowling... She must've noticed me, so came over to say 'Hi'. I think I did not acknowledge her properly at that time because was busy in the game. NOT GOOD on my part. Anyway, told her that I might visit her next day as I was visiting her area while shifting two of my colleagues stuff to their new apartment...

Saturday was spent driving around Wheeling, IL while shifting the stuff for the female colleagues. Went to SG's place too. Rang her door-bell, but got no response.

On Sunday, drove to Aurora, IL for a visit to the temple there. Enroute, one of my colleagues SG received a call from the client stating that there was a priority ticket not handled for the last 2 hours by the off-shore team, so he better look into it ASAP. Therefore, we drove back to drop him back at his place. Felt bad for him and wondered why the offshore team was not doing their job... Saw how a person's life gets screwed on 24x7 support. Promise myself that I would never do that. Anyhow, experienced the feeling of 'lost' on the American maze of highways while returning from Aurora. Actually, the second car of my colleague went ahead and we had to find our way through. The route map we had, had a single turn marked incorrectly and therefore the mishap. Nothing major as we caught the error in the initial stages itself...

Had a nice walk today. Returned the car on time but did not get a bus for the return journey, so started walking. Must've walked approximately 6 miles before I found a pay-phone to call up my colleagues to come and pick me up from the road...

Life goes on... more later...