Oh what bliss !!, no potholes, no traffic jams, no blaring horns. I enjoy driving in the US.
Of course, there are both differences and similarities to the way we drive back home in India. For example, they drive on the right side of the road here. But that is where the similarity ends.
Now for the differences, firstly apart from the right side, we also drive on the left and every which way in between. Secondly, most cars here have auto transmission which in English means “we forgot to put that stick thingy inside”. So all you have to do is press the gas pedal (that’s the accelerator for the folks in India). If, like me, you are used to driving a stick shift, then you will feel completely clueless as to what to do with your left leg, it is simply there, not doing anything. I am so used to using both my feet that the first day I got into the car here; I had my right foot on the gas pedal and the left on the brakes. The first 60 seconds were terrifying. Well, not to me but to everybody else on the road.
At least, I have never had problems with driving on the right side of the road. Americans with their penchant for doing everything just the opposite of what the British did, thankfully left the gas and brake pedals in the same order. It is scary to imagine what would have happened if they had decided to swap the two.
Vroom...screech...screech...vrrooom......vrooooooo screeeee...BANG..
That was an Aussie, a Brit and an Indian at an American intersection.
Secondly, unlike Bangalore traffic where if you want to be someplace on time, your best shot would be to start walking (sometimes I start on Saturday to get to work on Monday), here the traffic actually moves and very often I get to go beyond 30kmph.
The only problem is I cannot look around and enjoy the sights and sounds of the surroundings. I have to keep my eye on the road all the time where as back home, that is everybody else’s problem.
So as lovely as driving here may be, I cannot wait to get back to my little stick shift and be amid the incorrigible mess of Bangalore traffic.
In the meantime, you better watch out because I think I have my foot on the wrong pedal again.
vrrrrooooommmmm.....
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The agony of air travel
Jet lag is a wonderful thing. It gives you the perfect excuse to sleep at work.
“You slept through the meeting today”
“Sorry, jet lag”
“You said the same thing yesterday and the day before. When will you get over it ?”
“When will you stop having these meetings ?”
But to be honest, eighteen hours of flight travel is indeed taxing. Especially, when you travel on an airline that does not have a personal entertainment system instead they just have one monitor hung up in the aisle and play two crappy movies when everyone’s asleep. I am telling you, this airline is a glorified video coach bus. Not to mention the air hostesses, who I believe are retired hostel wardens, they have a perpetual scowl on their faces as if to say “You people in the economy class should be happy that you even have a seat”. Because, the economy class is the ghetto of the flying world where we are cooped up into tiny spaces and occasionally, an airhostess comes by to feed us with things that look like rejects from a construction site.
If you are wondering which airline this is, well, all I can say is “Ich kann nicht offen legen den Namen”
Having experienced this airline before, I was hoping that at least I will have interesting company which would make the travel seem less burdensome. And guess what !!, I was seated right in the middle row with two men to my right and one to my left. Who says God does not have a sense of humour ?
The second leg of my flight was marginally better, this plane did have individual monitors but the movie choices were just as bad as before. Not to mention, the row of seats across mine were occupied by grandparents with their twin grandchildren. The kids seemed to have gotten the idea that the louder they scream, the faster the plane would go. It was a marathon screaming affair, each one starting off when the other shut up. Try enduring that for eight hours and you will start wishing that you could listen to Himesh Reshammiya’s music instead....well almost.
Finally made it to Boston and have been battling bad food (and work) ever since. A couple more weeks and I will be back home. Hopefully, my return journey will be a lot more fun, hopefully the food will be a lot better and as long as I am hoping, may the seat next to mine be occupied by Sameera Reddy.
“You slept through the meeting today”
“Sorry, jet lag”
“You said the same thing yesterday and the day before. When will you get over it ?”
“When will you stop having these meetings ?”
But to be honest, eighteen hours of flight travel is indeed taxing. Especially, when you travel on an airline that does not have a personal entertainment system instead they just have one monitor hung up in the aisle and play two crappy movies when everyone’s asleep. I am telling you, this airline is a glorified video coach bus. Not to mention the air hostesses, who I believe are retired hostel wardens, they have a perpetual scowl on their faces as if to say “You people in the economy class should be happy that you even have a seat”. Because, the economy class is the ghetto of the flying world where we are cooped up into tiny spaces and occasionally, an airhostess comes by to feed us with things that look like rejects from a construction site.
If you are wondering which airline this is, well, all I can say is “Ich kann nicht offen legen den Namen”
Having experienced this airline before, I was hoping that at least I will have interesting company which would make the travel seem less burdensome. And guess what !!, I was seated right in the middle row with two men to my right and one to my left. Who says God does not have a sense of humour ?
The second leg of my flight was marginally better, this plane did have individual monitors but the movie choices were just as bad as before. Not to mention, the row of seats across mine were occupied by grandparents with their twin grandchildren. The kids seemed to have gotten the idea that the louder they scream, the faster the plane would go. It was a marathon screaming affair, each one starting off when the other shut up. Try enduring that for eight hours and you will start wishing that you could listen to Himesh Reshammiya’s music instead....well almost.
Finally made it to Boston and have been battling bad food (and work) ever since. A couple more weeks and I will be back home. Hopefully, my return journey will be a lot more fun, hopefully the food will be a lot better and as long as I am hoping, may the seat next to mine be occupied by Sameera Reddy.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
A brief history of cricket
A long time ago, an English man came up with a bright idea to scratch himself in public. He called it ‘Cricket’. And since it also involved a lot of spitting on the ball, it was natural that cricket became very popular in India where spitting is a national sport. We practice it everywhere, through bus windows, while walking, when talking about politicians and so on.
Over time cricket evolved into a fiercely competitive team sport. The players from the batting side would guard themselves behind heavy armory. Meanwhile, all the team members of the bowling side would get involved in the public display of affection towards the cricket ball. I dread to think of what may have happened if this habit had spread to other sports like say shot-put or worse....javelin throw.
Initially, cricket was restricted to what are called ‘test matches’ where a game could last many days and end without a result. Sometimes the players having played for what seemed like years would die of sheer exhaustion and had to be cremated even as the game went on. This is how the famed ‘Ashes’ series came into existence.
However, as it became more difficult to find replacement players during the game and also due to the rising cost of urns, a modified version of the game was needed. That was when somebody named Kerry Packer had a brilliant brainwave and invented colored clothing because he was finding it difficult to explain to his kids why the bowlers always had red marks around their crotch area. Incidentally, he also introduced one day cricket where the game got over in just a day.
This was an instant hit with the public since they could now buy smaller popcorn bags and could leave their bedding at home. But since these matches were played during the day, the heat during summer months became a major problem.
So yet another format change resulted in day-night matches. This helped popularize the sport among insomniacs as well. But there were frequent complaints by the teams regarding the inability to sight the ball during nights. After considerable discussions and brainstorming, the organizers realized that things worked better if they switched on the flood lights.
But cricket was still limited to very few countries. Even the one day version was considered too long to get other countries interested in it. There was something missing, something that could capture the imagination of millions worldwide and that something was...yeah, you guessed it right, skimpily clad cheerleaders !!!. Since it was quite tiring for the cheerleaders to be dancing the whole eight hours, cricket was reduced to three hours. The new version is called twenty-twenty where each side gets to play twenty overs each.
And we just finished a T20 tournament involving a whole lot of advertisements and product placements. Not to mention, the insane amounts of money each cricketer made.
And do you know who won ?. Well, neither do I. But I do know which soap to use, which toothpaste to buy, which bike to ride, which car to drive and which soda to drink...
Over time cricket evolved into a fiercely competitive team sport. The players from the batting side would guard themselves behind heavy armory. Meanwhile, all the team members of the bowling side would get involved in the public display of affection towards the cricket ball. I dread to think of what may have happened if this habit had spread to other sports like say shot-put or worse....javelin throw.
Initially, cricket was restricted to what are called ‘test matches’ where a game could last many days and end without a result. Sometimes the players having played for what seemed like years would die of sheer exhaustion and had to be cremated even as the game went on. This is how the famed ‘Ashes’ series came into existence.
However, as it became more difficult to find replacement players during the game and also due to the rising cost of urns, a modified version of the game was needed. That was when somebody named Kerry Packer had a brilliant brainwave and invented colored clothing because he was finding it difficult to explain to his kids why the bowlers always had red marks around their crotch area. Incidentally, he also introduced one day cricket where the game got over in just a day.
This was an instant hit with the public since they could now buy smaller popcorn bags and could leave their bedding at home. But since these matches were played during the day, the heat during summer months became a major problem.
So yet another format change resulted in day-night matches. This helped popularize the sport among insomniacs as well. But there were frequent complaints by the teams regarding the inability to sight the ball during nights. After considerable discussions and brainstorming, the organizers realized that things worked better if they switched on the flood lights.
But cricket was still limited to very few countries. Even the one day version was considered too long to get other countries interested in it. There was something missing, something that could capture the imagination of millions worldwide and that something was...yeah, you guessed it right, skimpily clad cheerleaders !!!. Since it was quite tiring for the cheerleaders to be dancing the whole eight hours, cricket was reduced to three hours. The new version is called twenty-twenty where each side gets to play twenty overs each.
And we just finished a T20 tournament involving a whole lot of advertisements and product placements. Not to mention, the insane amounts of money each cricketer made.
And do you know who won ?. Well, neither do I. But I do know which soap to use, which toothpaste to buy, which bike to ride, which car to drive and which soda to drink...
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