Cars, Freeways and Pseudo-Tamilians

Day 2 and i’m doing pretty good in US of A. Petaluma is where i stay and it’s more or less a residential area. Very quite, beautiful and a killer of a climate that begs to be loved. 30mn of drive to where i’ll be working, 15mn to Wal-Mart and 10mn to the nearest Costco outlet. Period! that’s all you all need to know. Now let me tell you the best things that has happened after coming here.

Since i have a strong attraction to anything with an engine and 4-wheels as opposed to anything with a tight rear and 2-legs, i couldn’t help, but notice all the cars on the road. Most of them are Chevys, Toyotas and Hondas. But it’s not that i’m talking about. I’m talking about the modified Ford Mustang that is parked in front of my apartment, the Chevrolet Corvette C6 across the road, the BMW M3-s, M5-s and Z4 and the Audi R8. Yes, there are a few Pontiacs, Subarus and Buicks but who cares!.

The drive from the airport was even interesting. I happened to meet this cab driver Ronald. He’s Mexican and he knew Tamil! Yes i did get the shock of my life. He knew India pretty well. When i said i was from Alappey. He was like, ‘Oh! it’s the place with the houseboats etc. right!’. It seems like his next door neighbors are Tamilians and he has a big liking for Masala Dosas.

Being in the tropics, you tend to have fairly normal days – 6A.M. the Sun is out & 6P.M. the Sun is gone. So with the summer season just starting here i’m still getting used to the fact that days are going to be longer. Twilight sets in by 8P.M. and i think it’s 6P.M. It’s fairly cold with morning temperatures hovering around 12 degrees  and afternoon it hardly crossed 20 degrees. (Read all temperatures in Celsius).

Finally even after my 21hr flight, i didn’t get the in-famous jet-lag. Bad thing i’d never know how it feels like!

(pssst… i’ve located the nearest strip club in my area. don’t tell my wifey about it!)

My First Bike Trip – Nandi Hills

What will you do if …
you have severely upset stomach and you are 1500mts above sea level and the nearest hotel is 5 kms down hill and you have to negotiate 36 curves which includes 8 hair-pins

.. wait there is a good news there is a rest room on to of the hill. Park your bike, throw your keys, helmet and jacket to your friend, ask him to take care of it, run past the guy asking money for using the pay-and-use restroom, run in through the open door and .. phew .. heaven. Think thats the end of the story…

Oops .. No water, no toilet paper.. oh no the worst case .. you got into a ladies toilet icon sad My First Bike Trip   Nandi Hills

Geared%20up My First Bike Trip   Nandi HillsWe started off on a cold Sunday morning at 0600hrs, on the 1st of October… 88 kms straight … no traffic … great road …
Speed... My First Bike Trip   Nandi Hills
My speedometer was dead, i had no clue how fast we were going until i saw this of kannan’s bike…. its 100kmph.. actually we went above that … icon sad My First Bike Trip   Nandi Hills .. sorry folks but the road was really tempting.

We drove almost non stop till we saw … finally saw this … nandi%20hills%20007 My First Bike Trip   Nandi HillsYes 22 kms to Nandi Hills. The road is a driver’s dream come true … and the hill top … is an exhilarating bliss. On way we stopped to have Karikku a.k.a Nariyal ka Pani a.k.a Tender Coconut Drink, that was my second worst mistake. The tea and the drink reacted and the result was the cataclysmic event which involved the frantic search for a restroom.

The hair-pins, the turns, the temple, the hill top every thing was simply beath taking. We didnt leave any point there un explored… including a small cave near the statue of Nandi.

For the whole hike up hill, we never took the straight road. It was the small kachcha pathways that lead into the foliage that interested us. That never ended in a loss. At the end there was something that really interested us. Even the Tipu Drop… icon smile My First Bike Trip   Nandi Hills DSC01215 My First Bike Trip   Nandi Hills
DSC01245 My First Bike Trip   Nandi Hills
At the end of the day … it was one trip that will stay fresh in memory for a long time …

DSC01243 My First Bike Trip   Nandi Hills

Another Loss

DSC00970 Another Loss
icon sad Another Loss .. ohh God what is happening??? .. after my bike suffering a snapped speedometer cable and a broken idicator light.. here i’m with another loss…

Last day, while we were happily enjoying a movie .. a sudden power surge occured which topped 420Volts and burned out 2 of my mobile chargers and my ThinkPad’s power adapter ….

icon sad Another Loss .. what should i say … it cost me Rs 2300/- just like that … i set off yesterday itself … Confident as usual to return back with these items and i did come back after 2 hrs of roaming and getting into 2-3 shops. It was really hard to find an open computer shop on a sunday … left alone the fact, that i was searching for a Coputer shop dealing with laptops … that too on a sunday evening …

i headed off to the place i was sure to find atleast a few shopd open … Brigade Road … Yes that was a really good move… There i was able to purchace the adapter and i got the windows drivers for my thinkpad…