Two weeks

Two weeks since I started going back to work! Time is indeed flying!! Seems only yesterday when I was anxious about stepping out for the first time. My mom has managed the baby handsomely well and this is something that would not have been possible if she wasn't around.

One thing that people keep saying when they see me for the first time after the break at work is that I look same as before, I must say it gives me the kicks! I'm almost back to pre baby weight spare a couple of kilos. What took me almost two years last time is done in 5 months. All the more so reason to be happy since I am not a natural weight loser and to top it, hog like a pig;) So its literally taken a lot of sweat to get here. Proud:) My team seems genuinely happy to see me back, another reason to feel nice:) 

Today is a holiday and friends from Madison had come over. The couple moved to India recently and it was fun to catch up with them - was seeing them after nearly ten years! They have two boys as well and the house was a party:) Fun!

Spent the morning reading 'altrtnate' history, feeling sad about how much the 'dynasty' buried forever in the blind quest for power and money. Also realised how crores of children are fed brainwashing history in the guise of text book material:(

Also still trying to make out the strategy behind the crown prince's outburst last week - it was either utterly stupid or masterly crafty. I believe it's the latter devised under the able eye of the mother but end of the day, it's the Indian populace that is being made out to be stupid!

Recovered

Yesterday when the son and I came back from dropping Subhash off at the bus-stop I was very pleasantly surprised and happy to see this lady from further down the street taking a walk with her older daughter in law helping her. Last year at the time my mother in law was in the ICU, I used to also see her daughters-in-law there and used to wonder what brought them there. Later, I learnt from my house-hold help that the mother in law was in a very bad shape and was admitted there. Some operation lead to complications which caused her to be bed-ridden - not very sure about the detail. She was in the ICU for many months before they could bring her home and P used to tell me that she was hardly able to do anything for herself and so on. Often I have wondered how this aunty was doing, when I walked past their house. So I was very happy to see her on her feet. I stopped the car, got off, and spoke to them and told her that it was so nice to see her this way. And how I came to know since my mother-in-law and she were in the same ICU etc. They then asked how my mother in law was - I told them she did not survive. Wished them well and they went on their way.

It was really so good to see her - don't know why, maybe it reinforced a lost hope.

The other day Subhash and I were looking at something my mother in law had stitched for Rohan and exclaimed how nice it would have been if she were still around, albeit healthy. She was waiting for her retirement many years in the hope that she could pursue her many passions - knitting, tailoring, and above all, her homeopathy practice. But destiny had other plans. I really feel sad sometimes thinking of how nice it would have been to have her around, healthy and active as I remember her from the first year of my meeting her. In vain though :(

A day of indulgence!

The salon at Leela has moved to UB City because the facility here is undergoing some much-needed maintenance. I was debating if I should go back to my old hair-dresser who is now in Koramangala or to just go to UB City. Finally figured, since we never visited UB City, might as well go there.

The mall is great. We loved the atrium area. Need to go back once again to check it out at leisure. Yesterday we were too much in a hurry to do anything peacefully. My monthly routine plus son's haircut plus mom's routine etc. Subhash was the ultimate in chivalry and indulged us all very patiently. My mom's pedicure was very well done and totally worth the time spent there. I loved the way her feet looked. I have always seen them with cracks and this was very neat, very nice.

The son's haircut sessions become more and more haircute! He looks so sweet perched on top of that salon chair with pillows etc with the cape around him and patiently getting his hair cut. It overwhelms me like little else. Yesterday his session took 45 minutes since his hair-dresser had to hop between appointments as he started late with him. Yet, the son sat in his chair and waited and got it done all very nicely. Proud!

And in all that crowd at the M&W UB City, I was happy, I mean genuinely happy and delighted when I saw my usual faces - the Leela staff. Now, I've been going there for three years and it is a far cry from where I started with this post. Now they are more friends, recognize when I call for an appointment and in general make you feel welcome. Maybe I have turned Page3 now? ;)
 

Comings and goings

After a delightful 10 days, my aunt left this Friday. It was fun to have her over. She is one of my favourites and we spend many a childhood day with her in our maternal grandmother's place. She had asked my uncle and cousin who came over last week to bring her wedding CD along. I was her thoda pellikoothuru  for her wedding and was 8 then. It was fun to watch it. We are a BIG gang of cousins on my mom's side and it is always fun when all of us get together - although it's become very very rare now, with each of us having our own married lives, kids etc. But when we do meet up - like for a cousin's wedding - we manage to re-create that magic  :) Anyways, so she left on Friday, so did my uncle and cousin, I wish they could have stayed a little longer. But my aunt was getting worried about her pet Rocky - apparently he had become very dull since she left.

Subhash is in Goa for an off-site. He left Saturday morning and will be back tomorrow afternoon. Luckily my parents are around this time and the son and me are not alone! The son whined for dad a good one hour or so after he left. This is an experience that is very new and very rare to him. He is used to always having both mom and dad around and the last time Subhash was away was when he was visiting the UK on work a good 1.5+ years ago. This is more than half his lifetime for the son and so he seemed pretty upset about the whole thing. That last trip he was sick as well. Hopefully we will get through the remaining one day without much ado [-o<

It was my mom's birthday yesterday and we went for a quiet dinner @Leela. I love Zen and its food. And somehow the dinner experience there is always very pleasing and soothing. The son ate his curd rice (courtesy Jamawar) and finished his dinner over there as well and so that was the icing on the cake. They arranged for a small complimentary cake and it was awesome. All in all a great evening.

It is great to see son bonding with tatha and ammamma. He enjoys their company and incessantly talks about all and sundry! It feels good and happy.

Now also looking forward to my father-in-law coming back. Another week and a half to go!

Ethnic!

So, that unthinkable thing that I finally did a few days ago was this - to go shopping for cloth on Commercial Street! I went with a very trusted cousin and she took me and got me back in 2 hours flat! And we fixed a tailor there itself. I am usually a very ready-made clothes type person, and dread going to any tailor. The whole process somehow intimidates me!

Now today was a great suspenseful day. The guy was supposed to give me the stuff on Sunday, then Monday and then finally this afternoon. We had an independence day celebration at work and wanted the stuff ready in time. Only for it to end with a nail-biting finish! I waited and waited and waited with friends, till 2 (event started at 1.30 PM) and then asked everyone to go back to what they were doing, losing hope of the guy ever showing up and somehow finally half an hour later he did show up ;) Dressed up hurriedly and went to the place where the event was happening. Only to be accidentally caught in the fashion parade and win it. I have no clue how. I think my whole win was rigged. In some vague way ;) But not complaining!!!!

All in all, for a person who never goes to tailors and almost dreads it, this experience was novel. In fact it was a lot of fun waiting for the guy to show up till the last minute. Thanks to friends S, S and R who made the waiting so much fun!!!

Impressed!

I posted the following message on the Bangalore Traffic Police Facebook page:

>>>
Hi BTP - Just a small suggestion - last week Airport Road traffic near HAL market junction was surprisingly thin in the 9 - 9.30 AM time-slot - I think there was either major traffic diversion or signals were properly synced. What I have noticed is - some days the traffic gets really bad and on other days it is OK. Can we try and implement 20-second signals on all major Airport road junctions - Manipal, Pizza Hut and HAL? I believe this will keep the traffic moving and not lead to huge logjams like it does today - can some one try this for a week and check results. No signal in red for more than 20seconds at a time 
>>>


I am not really a traffic engineer so let me put in my disclaimer first. I just posted what I felt - no data to back up - I wanted the traffic police to experiment with varying signal lengths since the logjams on Airport road certainly seem to be very random at best - when the signals are broken - they work best ;)

I was actually impressed that I got back a response to this comment on their page saying they will check this. I am not sure if they will actually do it or not but someone is definitely taking the trouble to respond to posts - that was impressive. And if you check their page - they are doing quite a lot of good work through this page. I am happy I decided to post - now I can wait and see if and when they will implement it ;)

Advice is free!

Unfortunately one of the only things in life that you get absolutely free.

Me: Jogging..
Fellow jogger (now walking): KFK#KWK#K@
Me: (Stop, remove headphones and ask): Sorry, what?
Fellow jogger: You should breathe through your nose. Not your mouth. I know that you should breathe through your nose.
Me: (Smile politely) : Ohh, ok.
(Turn and roll eyes)

If I was younger, I wouldn't have rolled my eyes. But you see. I am 30. And I am being attacked by the intolerance that comes with age (?!?! Really?!).

Why is it that this guy, whom I have started seeing in the colony just for the past couple days (and I have been working out on the colony streets for the past one year, ever since I gave the gym a pass in the 6th month of pregnancy), thinks he can give me advice? This guy was actually walking on the first day, in sandals, probably saw me running and started running yesterday (still in sandals). He wore shoes today finally and that suddenly made him feel like doling out advice on working out to perfect strangers.

Gosh! I think I have a face that attracts advice.

Hormones in overdrive

It is funny how when you are infested with hormones, the whole world looks ugly! Almost funny that is..

Normally what you would be very proud of, suddenly you pity yourself for. And if you know how much I hate self-pity in people, you can imagine what a messy whirlwind I have been in. Pitying myself and then hating myself for it. And then feeling weird about it all. And then suddenly wondering what the hell is wrong with me because this is a complete new me that I have never been even acquainted with, sigh!

Me is hoping it is just the hormones and the effect won't be long lasting :) And that I will not become a permanently damaged character ;) And my sleeplessness is not at all helping :((

Well, hopefully it will all be over soon. 20 more days to go for the baby to come :) As always I am the eternal optimist ;)

Now let's see if planning a vacation will help. Long term vacation but heck, I can plan from now, can I not? :)

Sigh!

We had to go to the friendly neighborhood USCIS office this afternoon for "having our biometrics taken". Which in other words means, we had to give our fingerprints (now we can't escape from a crime without being given away by our fingerprints;) )

We arrived, Subhash's appointment was @ 1PM and mine was @ 2. The guard tried to be a little nasty in asking me to wait one hour and saying he won't let me in @ 1 PM. Which was a little funny considering that the place was empty.

Well anyway, Subhash got done and it was my turn. After all the finger prints, it was the turn of the web camera. I had to get my picture taken. And the most unthinkable of things happened to me. The lady actually asked me to remove my "bottu" (which is another word for vermillion/tilak/bindi). I was infuriated. I asked her if I had to and she was like "yeah, you have to" with a type of I-cannot-help-it-I-am-so-sorry expression.

For a moment there, I had a good mind to walk right out of that place. But I didn't want to over-react. But maybe I wasn't? I have been here ~6.5 years and I have been stared at and asked funny questions (a lady at a Border's Store actually asked me if I was sick and why I was wearing the Tilak, I thought, what a stupid female, and I let it go at that) but I have never been asked to remove it. For me, (you can call me old-fashioned for this), it is an essential part of my attire. I will not lie and say I am the quintessential "Bharat Nari" or anything like that, but I have never gone out without wearing my bindi. If for nothing else, just the fact that I don't like the way I look without it. I have been wearing it for more than 2 decades now and I don't think I can get "un"-used to it at all.

That I had to do this today, infuriated me. Maybe I am over-reacting, but then maybe I am not. Whatever happened to freedom!

And the funniest part was, Subhash had one on his forehead too (a real tiny one) and she never asked him to remove that! Well, there seems to be no end to the weirdness in USCIS and its practices!

Delightful and precious

Subhash's Dad wanted to eat "garelu" for Diwali and asked me to make some:) "Garelu" are Vadas or "Lentil Donuts".

So I made some this morning and he paid me two very nice compliments which I shall always cherish. Now I know the items under question themselves were not so amazing, but that is what makes it all the more special. You feel the force of goodwill way more when you very well know that the praise has been exaggerated:)

He was talking to Subhash and telling him to eat the vadas while they were hot. Saying that he "will not get vadas like these ever in the US" and that "they were just melting in the mouth".

Happy happy me!

Earthquake!!

Yes. I experienced it. Finally. The dreaded Bay Area earthquake. Always looms like a monster threat over everyone's minds here. We were sitting @ home, I was working and parents were watching TV. Suddenly it all shook. Usually when someone goes down/up the stairs we experience a slight shake so I assumed someone must have took a fall down the stairs because this was much much heavier shaking. But when it didn't stop I realized it might be a quake. Then started the scrambling. We ran down the stairs and only after going down I realized that I needed to pick up my documents bag in an emergency. Duh! What a waste! I should be better prepared.

I also realized we don't have earthquake insurance on the house, I guess I need to buy one. But I am pretty sure the insurance guys are equally scared and I will get the worst possible deal on this if I go ask them now;) What troubles. The price we pay for living in the revered Silicon Valley! Sigh!

That was a sure shot scare for Halloween 2007. What an amazing prelude!

MBAs ;)

Sudhir had a baby girl last week and we were delighted for him:) They named her Annapurna and I was positively surprised. No one uses such good old fashioned names anymore!

I remember sometime back when he first knew about his to-come baby, we were chatting and he was telling me about the MBA programme. What does it mean you ask? "Make Babies American". True. So very true. Sudhir and I were joking about it. And he was wondering if he should do an MBA program;)

Well, looks like you did manage to get an MBA after all Sudhir ;)

Of good grace..

I got my phone back!! Now I don't have to worry about all those numbers. Thanks to my brilliant guy, he not only reminded me that I might have left it in the laundry room but also suggested we put a note there, asking anyone who found it to call him. A couple days after we left the note, on Friday, a lady called from our opposite building and said she had found it. We went over and picked it up and boy was I happy :) I didn't realize how much depended on my having a mobile up until I lost it. So hopefully I will be a little more careful with it now on;)

Rahman ARARARARAR AAAAA..

I realized while scrubbing my posts (yeah I have to do that;) ) that I never wrote about the Rahman concert in Oakland at the top of the month (I like to say it like CNN yeah;) )

Needless to say it was crazy, frenzied and we all loved it very much. I will not describe the concert in full, you can read it here. But the highlights were

1) Oakland named June 2 (the day of the concert) as "AR Rahman Day". If you see Oakland, you will understand what an extra-ordinary thing this is. If it was Sunnyvale, maybe not, but Oakland yes. (I am actually surprised Sunnyvale doesn't have Indian street names already, but that is too forthcoming;) )

2) I was thoroughly disappointed in his concert for one thing. His claim-to-fame songs were not part of it at all, except Bombay's Humma Humma. I would have loved to see (hear, duh!) him starting with "Chinna Chinna Aasai" going to Donga Donga, & to Bombay & to Gentleman & to Rangeela's tunes to so many more. It was a huge disappointment for me! Sigh!

3) The display of torches (cell phone back lights, ingeniously converted) to his "Vande Mataram", by the audience, was impressive and the Arena folk had enough sense to turn off stadium lights so we could watch how well we were doing;) Thank God for common sense!

4) We met with Sivamani and took pictures with him and he actually said "Whaaat is this?" when I offered him my cheque-book to give me an autograph (Really now, I didn't have anything else handy, what was I to do?)

5) We saw Chitra and Sadhana Sargam while they were walking out. Chitra was feeling the Oakland chills @ 12 am ;)

6) We met Naresh Iyer and spoke with him briefly. He is really just a kid, I was so surprised to see him and just haven't been able to match his voice to his face ever since;)

Last but definitely not the least we saw the GOD! Rahman was out last and we were able to catch a brief glimpse up-close. What was sad was that everyone else was shuttled away in Mercs and Cadillacs and Hummer Limos (can you believe it? Desis are minting money here;) ) , the GOD was shuttled out in some stupid GMC truck (I have to start with my cars thingy even here??!?)

But anyway it was all worth it. Even listening to Hariharan badly damage some songs with his own personal touches to it, so typical of singers when they think they have done it all and get on stage. I personally never liked this man. Or enduring Sukhwinder Singh's badly timed show of excessive knowledge in Hindi lyrics and their background-slash-meanings. (Yuck! Yuck!)

When I was looking for the link above, I stumbled on the fact that Rahman is 41. He is 41?! Man!! He practically grew up in front of our eyes;)

My Halloween Costumes

I need to go home and take pictures in my camera, these are the ones I took at work:);)

Swimming!!..for a cause

This past Saturday (Sept 9) I was swimming for the Cisco team in the C.A.R Aquathon. It was my first time doing anything for a cause so I was excited:) Also it was a team of my colleagues from work which was another exciting aspect, we rarely meet on a Saturday:D

The Aquathon was at the San Jose State University Aquatic Stadium. I was told that it was going to be a relay across the width of the pool. Immediately I drew a "thinker" around my head (yeah the one that looks like a cloud, can be seen in most TINKLE books) and imagined our apartment complex swimming pool and was like, ha! that is child's play.

Only when I went there did I realize that this width was 2.5 times the length of our swimming pool in the complex;) We got ready warmed up etc. One of my colleagues, Enrique (he is the kid of the team, gets his legs pulled regularly;) ) warmed up by incrementally putting 5 inches of his body into the water;) So much so, it took him a half an hour to get completely down:)) We started the relay and my first lap wasn't so bad. The second one wasn' t b a d either. T h e th i r d o n e almos t d r e w o u t the breath from my lungs;)

The next few ones I tried to alternate between back and front strokes:) But over all even if it was tiring we were getting gaps in between our laps as it was a relay so it was ok. And at the end of the day we had fun:) Here are some pictures:)

India's 7/11 - Admirable bounce-back

I wanted to write this blog about the Mumbai tragedy. But I don't want to elaborate on what the media has already covered so much, the unnecessary death and destruction. I totally feel that war and terrorism are such a waste of human life, but I won't go into my sentiments on that issue, that is not what this blog is about.

We were following the coverage in CNN-IBN all through. Last night I was very happy and totally impressed when they flashed pictures of Mumbai post the tragedy. Mumbai is so cool! I am saying this even though I didn't particularly go crazy after the city when I went there, as so many people seem to do. But today I have to say, Mumbai is really cool. Not for the Bollywood glitz, not for the commercial hubbub, not for anything but the sheer resilience of its populous. Less than 24 hours, in some cases even 12 hrs, after the serial bomb blasts on Western Railway, the trains were all back up and running and the only thing that beats that is the fact that people were traveling on them!! I saw some of those trains; they were jampacked!! I was really impressed. We saw footage about how people were getting to work using the very trains that had exploded the previous evening. Some HAD to do it without another option to fall back on, and some because they simply refused to be terrorized. Either way, I felt really happy that life seemed very much normal, and what better blow to anyone trying to disrupt peace and cause terror among the city!!!

I should add that I feel really sad for all those people who are still searching for their missing relatives.

But this incident has been a cause for inspiration for me more than anything. To get up and go no matter how much you are trodden on:) And to do it in style!

I usually don't like cliches, but for this one:

Hats off to Mumbai!

July 4, 2006 - What a "gourmet" weekend!

June 30- July 4, 2006.

In what was the most event-filled long weekend I have had in the US, we ate and ate and just seemed like we were eating all the time;)

Subhash's friend from IIM-C,Yso, was in the US on a project. He is based out of Bangalore. He was coming over for the 4 of July weekend so we decided to chill it out in CA and the Bay Area. Another friend of theirs, Shroff (Sharat) also lives around here in San Mateo and he is an SFO veteran, so we left it to him to plan the trip.

We had July 3 off as a bridging holiday as per Cisco's traditions so I was really happy though Subhash, Shroff and his wife Prashee had to work on that day. Yeah, right, work!

Yso (of course that is a nick name) landed late on Friday night (June 30). We picked him up from the San Jose airport and he had dinner and we talked for sometime and called it a day.

On July 1, our culinary experience started. I made Pongal at home which we had for a late breakfast/early lunch, finished watching a "not very entertaining" England vs Portugal match and packed our bags and left for Shroff's place in San Mateo where we were going to spend the night. We reached pretty late but just in time for the Brazil vs France match. We thought the one in the morning was boring! We sat through with the match then had some amazing Pulao that Prashee made. It was too good. Of course according to Shroff the Pulao was so good because of his tomato filled exquisite raitha in which he contributed his master culinary skills by expertly mixing the ingredients that Prashee had cut and given him;)

After that amazing lunch we had some really nice saunf and gulkand, yes they are worth mentioning here as well;) Then around 4.30 we headed out for San Franciso with the expert guide Shroff at the wheel. I have to mention here that Yso was totally bowled over by the talking GPS in the Acura. We headed straight for Golden Gate as we usually do when I am tour guide, albeit through some happening places in San Francisco (of which I have no clue so I just drive along 101;) ). We had some tough time with the Vista point parking eventually found parking, walked half way through the bridge till the wind overwhelmed us and we walked back. Then we headed out for downtown San Francisco.



We HAD to go have Tiramisu and buy Sacripantina from the only two places that could make them so excellently in SFO. First headed to the "Steps of Rome" and loaded ourselves with that "ohh! so melting" Tiramisu. Prashee went and bought a box of Sacripantina cake from Stella Pastry Cafe.



This is another amazing cake they discovered and introduced us to last year. So light and heavenly! We decided to save some place for what was coming and so stashed the Sacripantina for later. We then headed for the shopper's paradise in SFO, Union Square. Subhash loves this place just for the "retail" paradise it is. We headed up to Cheesecake Factory on top of Macy's as usual crowded and overflowing. We bought THE Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, chocolate lovers dream;) We went down to the square sat down at a bench and finished both those sinful slices. At this point I had it for the day. Any more mention of sweet or even food my body was revolting and I was feeling nauseous;) All I could think of was Tabasco and Fiery Habanero by Doritos! I thought I might even just dream of those if I didn't have some spice before I slept;) Then we went driving to try to get down Lombard street, the crookedest street in the world. We tried to get around all those one-ways they had made just to streamline the rush on that day. We had a good time looking at all the flowers along Lombard and turning back and having our final glance.

Then we decided to drive back along the ocean. We took the oceanside drive and on our way stopped at the Monet museum. Shroff also enlightened us that Sharon Stone and Robin Williams had their homes among some of those lovely ones we had seen.

We were back home after the all-out eating at around 8. Then we started playing Taboo, one addictive game it turned out;) We were at it till almost 12 or 1.


In the meanwhile the rest of the team had Maggi, I was still dreaming of Tabasco and was so full of the Godiva that I could not think of food anymore. So I skipped that, what a loss, I shall feel it for a long time;)

We decided to open the Sacripantina the next day, I will be ready for anything after a 5-6 hr sleep!

The next morning we woke late had again some amazing Vermicelli and Poha, kudos to Prashee's cooking!!!!!! Of course, Shroff too:P Also we had some real nice Strawberry smoothie which Prashee made, boy! she is a good cook:) So much good food, my system was elated and happy!

The plan for the day was Napa. We set out 12.30ish and took Taboo with us in the car. Played Taboo on the way and reached Napa around 2. We went to the visitors center as this was probably one of those rare places Shroff didn't have geographical expertise in. I want to describe the wine land and the beautiful countryside etc etc but I need to really rush to the lunch part which was 4 hrs away yet;) So I will just give a brief on where we went etc. We decided to go to Rutherford Hill winery and take a tasting and tour there. I had port first that was ok. With chocolate I did think it was ok;) The rest of the wines I had a sip each they were all so strong and so not sweet and pungent! Yuck to me;) So I just had one sip and kept throwing away the rest. How do you guys drink wine really!

So we took the tour next and got a brief on how much goes into making wine, so much effort for a non-sweet drink is not even worth it is my humble opinion;) But yes, it was worth appreciating the art in winemaking. So I have to say.

Now comes the most interesting part, maybe I can go as far as call it the peak of our culinary experience. Tra Vigne! I was intent on having Tabasco (still!) and wanted to go to some Mexican restaurant but everyone else was ok with Italian, they were willing to go to Mexican for my sake (so sweet) but I decided, for one person to change is better than for four people to change, and boy, my adjusting nature truly paid off;) I had some of the best Italian food I have had ever, not even in that restaurant in downtown Rome did I have such good food! Of course we had a lot of trouble looking for their pizzeria, they had boards in all the possible inconspicuous places, so we went into their restaurant and inquired, and even after that took nearly 5 minutes to find the building that was "next door";) We had the standard Bruschetta (the topping salad was AMAZING) and garlic bread for starters. Then tried the Pizza, Piadine and Linguini. Once again, amazing food!

Then we headed back to San Mateo, of course, playing Taboo on the way back. Very tired from all the eating and the wine tasting/tour. All except me and Yso had to work on Monday so we decided to head back home "early". We played "Shanghai" aka "Me" which is a card game basically and headed back by 11 in the night. Too much accomplished today;)

The next day, July 3, we woke as late as we could and I made some soggy upma, which the three of is had and then took our time to get ready. We were headed to Great America Park, a theme park in the midst of all the hitech companies;) We were intent on going to the water park and get wet:) Before leaving we booked all the five of us for the SUPERMAN showing in the IMAX Dome theater in San Jose's tech Museum. We arrived at the park around 2 pm and were there till around 6 I think. In one of the rides, Castaway Creek, Subhash could not get on hid tube so he toppled over. And at the end of the ride almost 5 minutes later he realized he didn't have his glasses on. So we had to go another round in the water looking for it, but didn't find it. Then when we were just giving up, one of the lifeguards came over and gave it to us, completely scratchy with floating on that rough surface. In terms of gourmet, we had typical fair food: Funnel Cake, Cotton Candy and Churros. All yumm!! After the park, we went to IHOP and had our standard vegetarian spread with Garden Omelette and Chili and Cheese Omelette with pancakes. We were running late for the movie (more importantly for the good seats) but Subhash HAD to go back home to get a spare pair of glasses.

We went to the IMAX around 8.45, too late to get good seats. Shroff, Prashee and Yso left after a while but Subhash and I stayed on throughout the movie:) Meanwhile the three musketeers had gone bowling, good fun. Then headed back home and all of us took turns racing on the XBox360. We played the NFS-Most Wanted. (Shroff really enjoyed it so much that the next day he woke an hour earlier than the rest of us just so he could race;) He got pretty good at it for a beginner, so much so that Subhash was wondering if indeed it was his first time:P ) We then played Taboo for some more time (actually more like till 4.30:P) and called it a day. Yso was leaving the next day so we HAD to sleep;)

The next morning on July 4, we woke up only at 10:( Yso's flight was at 12.30 so we had to hurriedly go out for lunch, and guess what! All Indian places here were closed except for Lucky Dhaba, so we ordered a take out for him to eat on the flight and dropped him off at the airport. Then we came back and went to have lunch at Chaat Paradise (we took sometime to find it, finally asked Venu for directions) and the food was YUMM! The chat was amazing as well. I give it five stars. We had cruise tickets for the evening to watch fireworks from the Bay waters. So we got back after lunch and I went straight to bed and slept like a log till maybe 4 when Subhash woke me up. We had to get ready and get to Millbrae BART by 6 to catch the Caltrain to downtown SFO. It would be maddening to drive in downtown so we planned on taking the train. We made it well in time but the train did not! Finally we went to SFO and transferred to a shuttle bus and got to the Cruise office (on the way we saw the elite financial district of SFO, it was something!). We went on the cruise started around 7.30 and he took us to all the uninteresting places. We went under the Bay Bridge and to AT&T park when the sunset eluded us, thanks to the cruise driver's planning. We got back towards Alcatraz and then the cruise boat stopped on the waters in front of the Ghirardelli Square and we had a good look at the fireworks. The whole thing was such a feast.

Then we finished the cruise and got back to Millbrae by Caltrain and then drove back to Sunnyvale, reached around 12.20 am;) Then called it a day! Boy, do I have to go to work tomorrow or what:))

Fun-filled and very gourmet;)

What a drive!!

One of my colleagues forwarded this email on one of our mailing lists. This guy has to have SOME DRIVE to drive all the way;)

Cisco engineer gets prize for longest commute
http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/060412/1271956.html?.v=1

Mariposa resident Dave Given makes a 186-mile drive -- each way -- five days a week to his job in San Jose.

The electrical engineer has been doing that commute since 1989, spending seven hours every day getting to and from work at Cisco Systems Inc.

>>>>>>>>>

Original Article on Yahoo

Cisco engineer gets prize for longest commute
Wednesday April 12, 1:36 pm ET Mariposa resident Dave Given makes a 186-mile drive -- each way -- five days a week to his job in San Jose.The electrical engineer has been doing that commute since 1989, spending seven hours every day getting to and from work at Cisco Systems Inc.

Given is the "ultimate road warrior," according to Midas Inc. (NYSE:MDS - News) and drove home with its first-place prize in the nationwide search for "America's Longest Commute." Givens out-drove thousands of other entrants to take home $10,000 in gas money and a range of maintenance services and products.

"I have a great job and my family loves the ranch where we live," Givens said. "So this is the only solution."

On his long trek he said he listens to the radio, keeps his eyes on the road and drinks "a lot of coffee."

Published April 12, 2006 by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal

When I interviewed..

This one goes to the micro suburbs of holy Silicon Valley...

When I interviewed with Cisco, I was put up at Westin, Santa Clara (Its now Hyatt, I just drove past it last evening and noticed that it is now a Hyatt hotel). I was a little apprehensive because Cisco was in San Jose (yes, to an outsider that is all it is) and the hotel was in Santa Clara so I was wondering why they didn't give me a hotel in San Jose itself, so it would have been closer for me to drive. So anyway, I flew down from Milwaukee into San Jose International Airport (Don't think its one of those huge airports, its even smaller than the Madison airport I think, and international obviously means they fly into Mexico and Canada, that is good enough for this to be international d'oh!). That was the first shock I got on my first ever trip to the much-awed state of California. What an airport, so much for calling it international.

So I went, I took my car from Avis in the airport and headed out to the hotel. Now we are in Santa Clara. Next morning was my interviews, I had three sets the whole day long 8 am to 6 pm with a one-hour lunch break thrown in. Boy, that was hectic! At the end of the day I was tired of anything networking and even the very word;)

So I was under this impression, Cisco--San Jose, and hotel--Santa Clara. Then I asked my friend for directions to this particular building that I was interviewing with and I set out. I saw Cisco's campus, and was awed, spread out over 41 buildings and a mammoth campus area. Still in my mind, Cisco--San Jose, and hotel--Santa Clara. Then I went and I interviewed and during some casual conversations of the interview I was told that this building of Cisco's was not in San Jose, this was Milpitas!!! I was like, yet another town?! God! I was tired of remembering so many names, Cisco--part San Jose, part Milpitas, and hotel--Santa Clara. What astounded me (and continues to astound me) is that they are hardly two streets away. Each of these suburbs is over maybe at the most 5-6 streets and that is it!

Next I had to go to my friend's place in the evening. I set out, it was pretty close to the hotel, I reached in maybe 5-10 minutes. After describing to them how the day went, I asked the question that was most lingering on my mind...Is this place Santa Clara, Milpitas or San Jose and they said....yeah you guessed it right, this is neither of them!!!! This is Sunnyvale!! Huh?!?! I said, yet another suburb?! On the whole in the 10 mile radius that was driving in during my interview trip I covered four suburbs of the Bay Area!! Whoa! I was amazed how small these were, you cross one street and you don't know when San Jose ends and when Milpitas begins and when you go into Fremont from Milpitas. I was fazed...and so I remain to date...