Death of a President

George Bush is shot in Chicago. Dick Cheney is the new President. Bashar-al-Assad, the Syrian president says he has no hand in the killing.

The charecters are real. "Death of a President" kept me baffled for entire 1 hour 39 Minutes on how they shot this fictional documentary.

A shrewd use of news footage and technology makes this documentary look so real that I had to pinch myself twice to belive it.

No major publicity for the movie as theatres in US refused to carry it and TV channels said no to airing trailers and posting reviews.

GRPs are OK with airing a President being hanged. But showing an incumbent president dead. Not fair. Doesn't matter even it were a work of art and fiction.

The Vegas Trip

What Happens In Vegas

Stays in Vegas ;)

Twenty 20

Like Dhoni many other Indians will cherish the world cup win for the rest of their lives. Many like us who were devoid of the direct telecast would remember it how we managed to keep a track of the game. All those live streaming sites, cricinfo site running slow and rediff trailing by an over!!
'Where were you during the final overs of the match?' would be most commonly used ice breakers in the meetings at least till the Autralian tour.

I will also remember the series for few other incidents . Flintoff's sledging and Shoaib Mallick's post match comments.

Its killing me to know what did Flintoff say to ruin Broad's career? Was it something in line with Zidane's headbutting incident or Sidhu's car parking row? I blame it on Flintoff generalizing Singh's attitude based on our prime minister Mr. Manmohan Singh's soft talking gentleman demeanour. Wrong sample my boy!! Navjot Singh Sidhu would have been a better sample.

Secondly Shoaib Mallick's statement "First of all I want to say something over here. I want to thank you back home Pakistan and where the Muslim lives all over the world.” Did he get too excited with his limited English or he lives in a fool paradise where all muslims are expected to be Paksitan's messanger. Just after the ruthless bashing from Pathan brothers and seeing Sharukh Khan waving the Indian flag as if there is no tomorrow, it really requires a brainless head to make such a statement. He has not only proved himself to be the best English speaking idiot in the pakistani cricket team but also managed to earn the ire of millions of muslims all over the world.

And last but not the least Bhaji's bhangra steps!!!! Love them.

Road Warriors

Chandru christened our group Road Warriors. Certainly we were not warriors in any sense. Pallavi has some traits of a warrior but too little to be declared a warrior. I think the naming was more of a fascination from the road network of US.

During the 3 days holiday on ocassion of Labour Day, we spent most of our time on the road driving around. New Jersey - Delaware-West Virginia-Washington-West Virginia-Baltimore-Delaware- New Jersey. One cannot help but admire the vast road network laid across US. Road development has been an art . At least for the Americans.

I wonder where all the money for development came from? Or a better question would be, where did the foresight come from? As I know all the network plans were prepared long before US became the US of today. Hats off to the leadership and vision.

Last but not the least, credit also goes to the cheap influx of labour from Mexico and other South American countries. Saying goes that the only reason US has a great road network is because its next to Mexico.

I wonder what would happen to India the day we have a similar road network in the country? Amen!!!

Bihar Bashing

Dear Sir,
I read your blog with great expectations.

http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/06/01/bihar-part-2/

I am from Bihar and am always on lookout for ideas through which we can impact the growth of Bihar in a positive manner.

Its nice to write "everything" is wrong with Bihar but sir most humbly "do you have a way out?"

To my dismay you also chose to continue Bihar bashing and highlighting the poor governance from the local leaders.
However, what one expects from analysts today is to make an impact on the ground and not on text books.

Bihar still being an agrarian society needs a strong infrastructure of roads to move from food crops to cash crops. We are forced to grow food crops as transporting cash crops to mandis is not feasible. The sugar mills are not working.

Talking of the abundance of water in North Bihar, I would suggest you take a trip to Bihar in the monsoon season and would realise why abundance is not necessarily advantageous. There are no dams to harness the water and we lose huge crops in flood every year.
Now coming to the columnists favorite Laloo bashing. Although, not a Laloo fan myself, I would like to draw your attention towards the per capita investment of center in Bihar. It has historically been the lowest. So isn't the central leadership equally responsible for the plight. And not to mention the political compulsion of the central government, they have always chosen to take Laloo's help. If the central leaders have their compulsion cannot Laloo have one.

I also choose to differ from your analysis of the education system in Bihar. Having seen so many states and their rural education system, I can confidently say Bihar is no worse. On papers one can calculate the ratios of population/teacher and population/school, but let not forget the quality of education. Bihar still produces the finest of Human Resources and here I would like to mention the often quoted presence of a Bihari administrative officers in the various districts of India. Similar are figures for engineers and doctors.And the best factor in the favor of Bihar education system is the willingness of people to educate their children and the importance they give to education. There are numerous examples of people selling their lands, doubling their shifts of work, just to afford sending children to schools and colleges.
If you have visited Bihar in last few months you could not have missed the road construction taken up on war scale. The very districts you have visited are on the forefront of a revolution.
Crime rate has come down drastically. The leadership is trying to project a positive image of Bihar to woo investors.
Its the time when I request economists like you to highlight the positive aspects of Bihar, help us grow and help get what we deserve.
Biharis had enough of Bihar bashing. Hasn't helped us ever.

Tell me the name

This is one of my favorite games at 'Old Boys Get Togethers'. The game is simple, involves everyone and is fun & challenging. The game is suitable for boys who think they have become men, or men who still aspire to be boys and also to those who have given up on trying to be anything.

The game can be played individually or in groups.

Requirement: Group Photograph/s. Online pictures can also be used. Even if you don't have anything of them one can play this.

Rules: Point to a picture and try to recall the name. If not successful try drop hints and guess again. If no picture just drop hints like "He is the one who impersonated courier boy to get into the girls hostel"

Sounds simple and may be boring. I tried playing it and and was shocked (yes! thats the word I want to use) to see how many of us were actually able to get the names correct. I loved the lines on foreheads that got formed trying to recall the names. The frustration on face saying "How can I forget this? He was my lab mate for 4 years".

Equally frustrating was/is trying making hints. "What was unique about this guy? " Pictures getting blurred. Confused!!!!

So much for the 'Best Days of My Life'.

Advantages of the game:

1. Winners are the guys whose grey cells haven't started decaying.
2. Losers are the guys who have moved ahead in life.
3. You get to know names that never existed.

How to plan a bad trip

I always hated travelling and still do. Travelling plans would send me crawling under the bed with cramps and stimulate me to design genuine looking excuses for not travelling. That was childhood and I have not changed much since. Anyway scientists say that most of a man's development is in his first 10 years of life. I have a feeling I am their subject. And every aspect of my life has conformed to my belief that I haven't grown mentally since my childhood. My Masters mentor commented at my farewell "Your intellectual growth stopped long back and so do not waste time planning to take up any further studies". That did not hurt but made me happy. No more studies.

But life since childhood has been rough and demanding. Forcing me to do many things I dreaded about. Without letting imaginations fly, I take out studies from the list and travelling bags the topmost position. Travelling to boarding school every half yearly vacation, travelling during summer trainings, travelling for my sales job and travelling in all the free time i have (I have lot of it). It seems life and travelling have connived to push me to a point where I become immune to the pain of travels.
But I am still that 10 year old stubborn kid and relentlessly working either to avoid travelling or if I have to, how to ruin the fun of it. With all the experiments done over some 20 years of travelling (in all forms) I have finally managed to prepare a manual on "How to plan a bad trip?".

This blog is for all those who hate travel and also hate and avoid people who think 'travelling is fun' and ' a thing to be done'. Also inputs are welcomed from all the readers and will be updated in the manual after moderator's evaluation. Lets work together to make this world ' a travel free world'.

The term 'traveller' in this blog has been used in general for people travelling for the purpose of fun, sightseeing and outing only.

So here we go.

Start with spending as much time on trivial and irrelevant matters as you can.
A smart travelling plan involves deciding on trip details in advance. This helps to get the best of hotel and travel rates and also to gather information
With spending lot of time on irrelevant matters we can delay a decision or if luck is on your side cancel the trip totally.

Trivial matters can exist or can be the brain child of the victim. Few example of these are:

1. Creating confusion on deciding on mode of travel. If driving a car is becoming everyones' choice start giving numerous advantages of train or flight travel. Any way car travelling is not so environment friendly. Public transport should be the choice of every pollution conscious head on earth.
2. If location has almost been decided tell them how difficult it is to check email there.
3. If your views have been shot down do not feel bad. (You are a crusader)Talk of how an earlier group was cheated of their money and belongings in a similar trip. (one can let his/her imagination fly here). Half the battle is won if you manage to involve the group in active discussion and make them share their experiences.

Other than delaying a decision the idea of initiating such a discussion is also to dampen or kill the high spirit of those juvenile immature travel fans. (such a pleasure to use these words)

Well begun is half done!

Doesn't matter whether you have failed or succeeded in your initial pursuit. I am going to give you the formula that produces desired results irrespective of success or failure.

The second strategy is not to prior research on the place to be visited and let anyone else do it too.

To get the best of a trip in available time and money it is compulsory to have a thorough knowledge of the options and attractions. Enough time should be spent before leaving in understanding where all to visit and what all to do. Idea of eateries and drinking places help save money and time in addition to getting you the best of your taste.
The second strategy has evolved from understanding the criticality of information gathering and tactics have been developed on how to thwart any action directed towards this.
This can be achieved through highlighting your nonchalant attitude towards the trip. Let not anyone dare to offend you by asking you to collect information. If smartly done you can make your negative energy infectious.

Creating technological impediment goes a long way in serving such purpose. Especially with all internet addicted geek travellers(thank god!) the task has simplified so much. Sadly (and worryingly) internet is full of literature and travelogues on any place on earth to visit. Damn those sadist travellers!! But the silver lining is, once the access to internet has been impaired, very few will actually take the pain of gathering information through conventional sources like talking to friends and using phoneline helps.

If the tactics fail, propose a game of pool or cards or a drink session whenever the group decides to sit for information gathering. Simple it may sound but believe me it works almost 3 out of 4 times. The other advantage of this trick is that you manage to stay in the group unsuspected. At times travellers mistake such members for "enthusiatic junta".

Third strategy is to create confusion among all the available options.

With so many options available it is advisable to decide on a priority list and accordingly direct the resources.
This strategy will help confuse unsuspecting travellers with all the options and split the group in deciding on what they want to do.

Most of the tourist places these days offer a basket of recreation and entertainment activities. So a hill station may offer a combination of sight seeing, scenic drives, skiing, dining, night camps, mountaineering and many others. Similarly a beach can be drinking, water sports, yatching, sun bathing, sigth seeing and keep adding. Its very easy to get lost in all the excitements and end up not doing anything or worse doing everything badly. We will take advantage of this phenomenon and prevent the group from deciding on priorities. The tactics here is to stratify the group using differences in choice. If the group majority seems to be keen on doing water sports first and then a late night drink & dance session, immediately seed the idea of yatching and enumerate all the fun of it. Be assured you will have members seconding your idea. Successfully creating confusion is the key to success. Standing for members whose ideas either were shot down, not heard or debated logically to be scrapped helps a long way in creating dissatified group members. Remember from the second strategy, these are suitable victims to be infected with your negative energy.

Fourth and the last strategy is to spend maximum time sleeping in the hotel rooms.

If one had to spent time sleeping why come all the way to this place!!!
This tactics for this strategy is to focus on one or two members in the group famous for their slumber. Once identified try sharing room with them or putting them together in the same room. Their delay is everyone's time wasted. This helps brew irritation in the group and you are there to capitalize on it. Once those slumberous fellas put an effort to leave the bed give them incentives to go back. Take the charge of waking them up after 5 minutes and never do that. Later feel free to blame it on their sleep amnesia. Already on the receiving end rarely they can have the courage to debate that. Once delayed, all the timings are thrown out of gear and will surely take its toll on the success of the trip.


And how can I forget this " Do not ever let anyone keep time buffers".

If the drive is of 2 hours and even if you do not know the way, leave just in time to make it in 2 hours. In a new place one can always count on lost ways, unkown traffic conditions and average speeds.

After all, life should be harsh not only to subjugated travellers but to others too.

New York- San Francisco East Coast-West Coast Train Travelogue Completed

To begin, why such a long title? Deserves a little explanation. Including enough key words to get captured in google search for 'train travel East Coast West Coast'. ( I have assumed there are and will be travellers like me )

Readers interested only in the travelogue can skip to the 'Preparation' paragraph. Others who have all the time in world can continue reading.

Why this assumption? Is it because it is too adventrous or creative for lesser mortals to undertake? No, but there are few prerequisites for one to undertake such a journey. And all of them have to be fulfilled.

1. You have too much time and do not know what to do with it. (I am waiting for my work permit to come from USCIS. This will take 3 months during which i am supposed to behave like a parasite. Just Suck from your Host)

2. You should have friends/relatives on the other side, which was West Coast in my case, to host you for the break. (I am thankful to Kirti and Suman in advance for the hospitality they will show. Lest, they change their mind after reading the blog)

3. You should have an earning benevolent partner to sponsor your trip. (I thank my wife Pallavi for picking up the tab)


Preparation

Preparation begins with looking for cheapest train travel route. Amtrak, the USA rail, covers the entire length and breadth of US. However, there are no direct trains from New York to San Francisco. As my host site is at San Mateo I have to travel an extra leg of journey.
The route I chose was New York-Chicago-Emeryville-San Mateo. Also one can choose for type of seating from chair, coupe and others. Fairly detailed with pictures at the Amtrak site http://www.amtrak.com/. My obvious choice was Chair seating. No donuts for guessing why. Cheapest option. $154 for the complete journey. This fare was promotional as i booked about a month in advance. There are promotional fares always available on Amtrak. The trick is also to travel on weekdays rather than weekends. Avoid holiday breaks and long weekends. (Fulfilling the above mentioned traveller criteria i am sure one can do that). Interesting to know that i would have paid lesser if i had flown.
Once the ticket is booked on the internet you get a reservation number. Before the travel use this number to get printed tickets. The tickets can be printed at any Amtrak station on the vending machines. I got it printed at Penn Station, New York. One has to mention the reservation number on the machine and swipe any credit card. This card need not be the one used to book tickets.
Preparation also includes packing grubs for the journey as it will be almost 4 days of journey. Dining services are available on the board but i preferred packing some for me primarily to save money and secondarily to hedge myself against generally available non vegetarian and boiled food.

And the final part of preparation is to keep a photo identity card ready for the travel. Foreigners should preferably carry passport.

DAY 1: 16th April 2007


4:00 pm: I have reached Penn Station (the Amtrak station of New York) an hour in advance. However, the platforms to trains are assigned only 15 minutes in advance and so i have some time to roam around.
I have made myself comfortable standing in the common waiting area. The place is very crowded as it is shared both by NJ Transit and Amtrak.
The train is 15 minutes late due to the heavy rain yesterday night. 5 other trains have been cancelled but 49 Lakeshore Ltd. (my train) will run with the delay.

4:45 pm: I am into the train now. The conductor has assigned boggies to the passengers depending on their final destination. I will go till Chicago in this train which is also the last stop. The interior is plush. There are very few passengers in the compartment and like everyone else i have occupied 2 seats.

Few observations of the car interior

• The train seats are arranged in a 2 by 2 fashion with decent leg spaces. Also the overhead bins are suitably designed to accommodate any knapsack.
• There are plug points at few seats and travelers carrying laptop etc. and in need of frequent charging should take one of them. They are mostly towrds the center of the car.
• There are pillows available in the car.
• There are drinking water taps near the washrooms.
• There is a luggage storage area in the car at the entrance.
• There is an unreserved lounge car that has chairs facing the windows. The windows in this car are not tainted. There is also a small dining place here. (This is different from the Dining Car for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner)

5:00 pm: The train has pulled out of the station. We are moving along the Hudson river. The outside looks shabby with badly maintained factory walls obstructing the river view. I hope this ends soon and i get to write something better later.

5:20 pm: The train has picked up speed now and the factory walls have also been left behind. I get a better view of the city and the river now.

'Possession of an Umbrella on or about the track is prohibited' (At Croton-Harmon, NY, I wonder why?)

5:45 pm : The dining car attached to the train serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. For dinner the attendant has come to book the tables. As I am carrying enough stuff for today I shall try out the train dinner tomorrow.

I haven’t encountered a single Rail-Road crossing yet.

6:00 pm : Train has reached Albany and will have a 20 minute stoppage. This is for the crew change and for the Boston cars to join us. This is also the first ‘smoking station’. As the train is ‘no smoking zone’ the stations with long stoppage times have been designated as smoking stations and conductor announces in advance about such stations.
My car is now full house with the passengers joining us at Albany and an ex navy guy has taken the seat next to me.

8:00 pm: I am having my dinner- Cauliflower and Parathas. The guy next seat seems to be startled with the smell and is moving his head restlessly.

8:45 pm: I have finished my dinner and the man next seat has surprised me telling that the smell of the dinner was great. I have apologized to him for not offering him. His name is Tom and this ex navy personnel has traveled all across Mumbai and Karachi. But he hasn’t heard of Mumbai.


10:00 pm: Contrary to my expectation of a silent car with periodic gossips, the car is full of life and is noisy.

It’s snowing outside! Unusual for this time of the year


10:30 pm: Zzzzzzz………




Day II: 17th April 2007

7 am: I get up to a strong sun. Outside view suggest we have descended to plain from a hill.

I see the first goods train. Conrail!!

7:30 am: The toilet is not very user friendly. The occupant before me had locked himself in for almost half an hour. When he came out all sweating and swearing warned me to be careful about the latch. In his 30 minutes stay inside 25 minutes were spent trying to unlock.

8:05 am: I am back to my seat. The last 10 calls of the dining car lady have been saying ‘last call for breakfast’. I am munching on my home made stuff and contemplating sharing it with Tom.

8:45 am: I have shared ‘Haldiram Bhujia’ with Tom and the packet invariably has gone to the guy next to him and the lady next. But, with only a spoon each, all of them are scouring their mouth with water and juice. They will continue doing this for next 15 minutes with intermittent admiration for my endurance.

9:00 am: Now my partners are feeling better and having a guess at the ingredients of the ‘Real Hot Stuff’. With no one coming close to the ingredients used, I have decided to offer them again but no one seems to be interested. All of them are busy sucking juice.

9:30 am: I can see green fields till the horizon. I am seeing such a stretch after a long time.
One of the victims has recovered and is able to talk now. He has credited his faster recovery to his father’s 4 years stint in India as a missionary. He knows mango Shake, Pakoda, Sheek Kabab and King Fisher beer. His father can speak Telgu.
We have reached Indiana and the time zone changes to central time now.

I see a Rail Road Crossing.

9:45 am: The conductor has announced that train is running late by 50 minutes. We will reach Chicago at 10:17 am. The train is not moving for now. Good I have 5 hours between the 2 trains.

10:20 am: We have entered Union City, Chicago. The station is huge. The local subway Metra is also in the same vicinity.
The huge Union City station has enough indulgence to keep one occupied for 3-4 hours. There is a food court having Pizza Hut, Mcdonalds, a Mexican eatery and few others. How can I miss the ubiquitous Chinese chains! The shopping mall inside is sufficient to satisfy buying greed.

10:45 am: I have come out of the station and am having a sandwich at an Italian restaurant. The coffee has come gratis.

11:30 am: I am back to the Union City premise and discovered a bar and a restaurant here. From the book store here I will buy a novel and a newspaper.

12:52 pm: Waiting at terminal C South gate I have got into a discussion with an old lady sitting next to me. The topic is “Youthful Essence” advertisement on the lobby television. The product claims to hide ageing. She has warned me against using it because ‘it peels off the layers of skin. Most of the Americans are too eager to use anything like this product (especially New Yorkers) but too lazy to return the products for refund in case of dissatisfaction. This is the economic model of such fly by night companies.’

1:50 pm: The train has left the station on time. The overhead light at my seat has refused to change its status from on to off. Looks like I am to be the guy in the 'focus'

Train announcement: Please walk with your legs apart as train may have lateral movement

2:45 pm: After finishing all my home cooked sandwiches (for a fear they will go stale) I have decided to have a look at the Lounge car. The only thing I am missing right now is a team to start playing cards. Nothing can be more ideal place for card playing than this Lounge car.

A brief profile of the co-passengers. Almost 60% of the crowd is comprised of senior citizens. In remaining 40% are short distance travellers and a family or two of vacation travellers.

4:32 pm: As the novel is getting boring I have decided to catch up with some sleep. But, my mobile phone is not there. I am frantically looking for it everywhere and even in this temperature controlled car there are streaks of sweat on my forehead. I am searching my where I am sure its not there. I am trying to keep myself cool by saying that you talked on it few minutes back and it has to be in train somewhere.

4:40pm: I have asked a guy in the car to call up on my number. He calls up and says the ring is going to voice. But, the mobile was not configured for voice messages and then i realise that I have given him my landline number. He has generously called up on my mobile now and someone by name Bob has picked it up saying its in the lounge. The car conductor has already come to my seat figuring something is wrong at my seat. I got my mobile back.

5:20pm: We have crossed Mississippi river. Its nice to see these rivers, which till now had only been a quiz question in Geography classes. The train has come to halt at Burlington. A very old city and quite evident from bricked houses. Modern US is using plywood for house construction.

7:10pm: I have met a Brazilian who wants to visit India . He is quite interested in the castle made for a girl and costed 1 billion dollar. Tajmahal.


Day III: 18th April 2007

7:15am: Its a bright sunny day. Many passengers left during night and now all of us have 2 seats each. The toilet here is better and also has a dressing room.

7:35am: I have just realised after checking my mobile that we have entered a different time zone now. Mountain time!! On the left side of the train is a terrain and right side has a city.

There are 4 time zones in US

7:45am: We have reached Denver. We are into Colorado state now. I expect to come across the famous Colorado river soon.



8:45am: The train has left Denver. Denver is a junction for many important destinations. For nature lovers, change your train here for Colorado Springs. Even from the train i can see snow capped mountains, waterfronts and fishing & boating.

I am amazed and shocked by the amount of car junk spread all across USA.

9:35am: The current track is through valleys, passed and tunnels. The lounge is full of people clicking on their cameras.

1:30pm: We are cruising along the river Colorado. So far, this leg of the journey has nothing been short of mesmerizing. Place is full of springs and lakes. We are nearing Glenwood Spring.
There are houses even in mountains. The houses have huge campuses, few broken cars, few good cars, horses and dogs.

4:10pm: We have reached Grand Junction, Colorado. This station is unique as this has a fruit and juice stall on the platform.
The station also marks the end of state of Colorado. We will be entering Utah very soon.

6:00pm: From trees we moved to shurbs and now grasses. The surrounding has a very desert type look. The place can be of interest for travellers interested in rock erosion and rock cut out formations. On my right at the Green Station there is a hill eroded and gives the look of a warship carrier.

11:00pm: We have reached Salt lake City, Utah after crossing lot of mountain passes. The train moved really slow in this leg and i presume Salt Lake City is on high altitude. The city is bright and looks good.

Day IV: 19th April 2007

7:20am: The outside is full of snow. We are into the state of Nevada (of Las Vegas fame) and currently crossing the famous white Nevada desert. The timings have changed to Pacific time.


8:45am: We have been standing at Winnemucca, NV for almost an hour now. The conductor has informed that we will have to wait for crossing of 3 trains.

1:20pm: We have crossed Truckee, CA. The place is of Lake Tahoe fame. (I will soon be back to Lake Tahoe). It has been raining in the stretch beyond Reno, NV.

1:25pm: The train has stopped and is moving back to Truckee. Apparently, someone has suffered a stroke and required immediate medical attention. By the time we have reached the station (10 minutes), there is already an ambulance on the platform!

The tracks in this area were laid as back as 1868

2:05pm: We are crossing the vast Sierra-Nevada mountain range.


2:15pm: There is slight snowfall outside and amazing view in the lounge car. On my right I see the famous Lake Donner. We will soon witness the famous Donner pass and the Donner tunnel.

5:25pm: We are running late by 4 hours. I should have been home by now.

7:10pm: I see a harbor on my left with ships and steamers. The train is crossing the bridge amid announcement of reaching the final station Emeryville.


Epilogue

I reached San Mateo that rainy day. Next ten days were spent eating, playing, car drives and visit to Lake Tahoe and casinos of Reno.

ऐसा क्यो होता है?

आज फिर से साल का वो दिन आ गया जब पूरे दिन आप ही आप होते हैं। बात इलेक्ट्रोनिक मेल की हो या फ़ोन की। जब और सब दिन आप लड़ते है फ़ोन उठाने के लिए की मेरा फ़ोन होगा आज के दिन आप को पूरी छूट होती है आराम से चल के जाये और फ़ोन उठाये। और पहले से तयारी कर ले की कैसे धन्यवाद् करना है। कुछ अगर अलग दिखना है तो बोलना शुरू करो "क्या यार हैप्पी रहूंगा बुड्ढा हो रहा हुँ। अब ये सब बच्चो को शोभा देता है। लेकिन अब तुमने फ़ोन किया तो धन्यवाद् रहेगा"। या फिर आप बोल सकते हैं " आज क्या खास है में जन्मदिन मनाने में बिश्वाश नही रखता"। तरह तरह के लोग़ और तरह तरह के जवाब। लेकिन कुछ भी हो लोग़ याद रखते है या मेरी तरह वाले जो याद रखने की कोशिश करते हैं।

ईस साल भी मेरा जन्मदिन आया और हर साल की तरह फ़ोन आया और मेल आया। केक आया और साथ में चाक़ू आया। सभी ने ताली मारा और केक पर टूट पडे। लेकिन मेरे दिमाग में कुछ और ही चल रहा था। और ये हर साल जन्मदिन को मेरे जहेन में एक बार जरूर आता है। कौन सा जन्मदिन मुझे हमेशा याद रहेगा। वो वाला जब मैंने पहली बार bumps के बारे में सुना और खाया। या वो जब मैंने पहली बार स्कूल में चोकलेट बाटें। या वो जब मैं पहली बार अपनी संगिनी के साथ भोजन पर गया। (संगिनी से मेरा मतलब मेरे जीवन साथी से है। बाद में कोई तकलीफ ना हो जाये।) नही इनमे से कोई भी नही है. इंन सभी के बीच में जो एक जनमदिन सबसे अलग मेरे मस्तिष्क में चित्रीत है वो मेरे इंजीनियरिंग के प्रथम वर्ष का है। कुछ खास नही था उसमे। कुछ दोस्त। एक केक। एक प्यारा सा उपहार। सब कुछ एक आम जनमदिन की तरह।

बहुत बार सोचा ये ही क्यो? माँ बाप के साथ बिताया हुआ समय क्यो नही? शादी के बाद का जनमदिन क्यो नही ? कही मुझे माँ बाप से ज़ायादा दोस्तो का लगाव तो नही ? नही ऐसा नही है। कभी कभी आत्मग्लानि होती थी। बहूत सोचा। लोगो से भी पूछा लेकिन कभी कोई जवाब नही मिला। फिर मैं पंहुचा गूगल देवता के पास। पूरे ३ घंटे लगाया जानने मैं की लोगो को कौन सा जनम्दीन याद रहता है। और ये अवधारणा निकाला की लोगो को वही जनम्दीन सबसे ज़यादा याद रहता है जिसमें अधिकतम लोग उपस्थित होते है। अब ये अवधारणा सही है या गलत एक विवाद और वींवेचना का विषय है। आप लोग जो लोग भी एस चिटठा (ब्लोग) को पढे, दो मिनट का समय लें, सौचे अपने सबसे यादगार जनम्दीन के बारे मैं और टिपण्णी के ज़रिये मुझे बताये। शायद आपका दो मिनट मेरे आत्मग्लानि और दुविधा को खत्म करने मैं मदद करे।

New York-Washington Travelogue

The Chinese Musclepower!!! That would be the takeaway for me from the New York - Washington, DC trip... The famous American consumerism of "King Customers" can be seen replaced by the low cost Chinese economic model. "King Customers" as they spend like King and expect being treated like a King has a challenge now.
A chinese owned travel group 'eastern travels' was our obvious choice of travel as the fare $35 for return was almost 50% less than that of the nearest option. Greyhound was $80 and Amtrak was $67 one way. We booked the tickets on net much in advance as these cheap tickets exhaust really fast especially on weekends. (however, the tickets are available at bus stop also.) so the customers had a choice now not to be 'the king' in spending.
we had been appropriately briefed by earlier travellers to be at the bus stop at least an hour in advance. i was surprised because we had a reservation. however, in the chinese parlance reservation is no guarantee for a seat. it only means you have paid and now the onus is on you to grab the seat as most of these buses are overbooked. (going back to my textbook days, i figured that's the model to make money in low cost carrier. any cancellation or partial refund can get them in red).
so like an obedient customer (no more king customer) i reached FootAction, 34th Street, 7th Avenue, NY much in advance. for my 6:30 bus i was there at 5:30. i planned to report the Eastern Travel personnel (there were 2) standing there and then check out the place around. Macy's digital screen across the street telecasting fashion show was tempting enough to draw me inside the store. But Hey U King!!! reporting doesn't mean a seat. Please stand in the queue, the bus is overbooked (long weekend mister!), and then take a seat physically. So no 'checking out' for you 'King'. Stand in the queue for an hour (or half an hour depending on the rush), stare at the digital screen. One can change directions and window shop the shoes at FootAction. In case you manage to be get in queue early enough you can board the 5:30 or 6pm bus also. the timing on the printed ticket is the last time when you can board the bus. no refunds after that. so be in queue and enjoy taxi drivers being fined by NYPD till you board the bus.
Finally we left NY at around 6:15pm. The bus left early as all the seats got occupied before 6:30.

a 10 minute stopover after 2 hours of drive at a service area for gas refuelling that also had a Burger King and a restroom was a reprieve for many. the restroom at the back of the bus was strictly for no use. one could however take a risk at his/her own peril.
After a drop at Baltimore , (for which the bus take a slight detour) we left for Washington and reached Chinatown, Washington DC at 10:50pm. the Metro Station is right opposite the drop location and runs till late hours. however, its advisable to check the metro schedule and download a metro map for the first timers. there are 5 metro routes servicing the different areas of Virginia and DC.
As our trip happened to be in early April we managed to catch a glimpse of Cherry Blossom Festival. This festival is celebrated between March 31st- April 15th . The festival is an annual celebration of the blooming of the 3000 Cherry trees gifted by people of Tokyo to USA in the year 1912.
other monuments worth having a look are Jefferson monument, Korean War Veteran Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and others. details can be found out at http://www.thedistrict.com/placestogo/monumentsandmemorials.html . other places of interest can be the federal buildings (i didn't find anything great about them) and few famous museums.
Waterfront can also interest a few. other than steamers and boats, the waterfront also has a lot of old fashioned restaurants and bakeries. what impressed me most was a bakery that sold cookies only for pet dogs. i was and am still amused!!!
the eatery in washington,i will remember for sometime to come is IHOP. (International House of Pancakes). not a great Pancake fan, i loved the Omelette with spinach stuffings. Pancakes come complimentary with most of the orders and are worth trying.
End of sightseeing and time to head back to New York। Report and stand in queue an hour in advance at Chinatown।

The King is Dead. Long Live the King.