I have finally done it! I purchased my first vehicle last Saturday. All the vehicles I have driven so far have all been gifts from my parents. This is the first vehicle I have bought with my own money! Feels great! It is beautifully crafted, has two wheels, is very light and zippy and is probably the best bet to beat Bangalore Traffic. It comes in two or three colours but I picked up a twin tone one. Black and Silver! And since I was looking for a basic version with no gears, I had very few brands and models to choose from. Everybody wants a vehicle with gear these days. I am tired of changing gears in this traffic.

Once the selection was made, it was time for the payment. A payment via credit card was costing me an additional 2.5%. I was in no mood to fight for the additional amount he was charging for the credit card as I had already set my sights on my beauty and had to buy it at any cost. I withdrew money from the nearby ATM and made a full payment by cash instead. They promised to deliver it by 5.00 pm that day but to my surprise, the delivery was made one hour earlier than scheduled time. I tore all the packing off as soon as it was delivered at my door step and parked it in its assigned space. I hate to ride vehicles with their packing covers still on. And why did I park it instead of taking it on a spin!? I had to rush somewhere and didn't get time to test ride it immediately.

I had to attend an Arangetram or Ranga Pravesha that evening and it was about to start in thirty min time. Arangetram is the debut on-stage performance of a Bharatanatyam student, after undertaking years of training. The student who was performing her Arangetram was a fourteen year old kid. My distant relative! Since our families are in touch with each other even today, distance doesn't seem to be evident. The show put up by the little girl was spectacular to say the least and so was the dinner that followed it :). I enjoyed the show even when I am not an ardent fan of that form of dance.

Coming back to my vehicle, I finished my dinner ASAP and rushed home. I had taken my car out as I didn't know how the new vehicle would perform. I didn't want to take any chances with it. As soon as I parked my car, I took the new vehicle out of its parking area and took it out for a spin.
Even though it was not as fast as the car or the bike, it surely was as smooth as both of them.

To add to that, my new vehicle is eco friendly (No Pollution) and brings with it lots of amazing health benefits;
- It gives one's heart, blood vessels and lungs a workout, thereby reducing the risk of heart problems.
- It'll give one a trimmer and toned muscles.
- It helps one a great deal in building one's stamina. Fitness levels are improved.

Riding it is quite easy but it requires some pedalling to be done to move it forward.
Did I just say pedal! Yeah! It is a bicycle I bought! A 'Hercules MTB Thriller'. I tried my best to keep up the suspense but I am sure most of you would have surely guessed it by the end of first or second paragraph. I wanted to buy a bicycle for a long time now and I finally had enough time last Saturday and found the right bicycle.

It brings with it lots of benefits all right but the main reason I bought it is because I love to cycle. I have loved it ever since I first learnt to ride but quit due to laziness. The last time I rode one was probably in the year 2000. I have put all the laziness back now and have gone back to my first love. I have so far successfully pedalled for 4 km everyday and plan to increase it gradually.

What do you think about my first ever investment on a vehicle and when was the last time was you rode a bicycle!?

- One Day International Cricket and Test Champs (Australia) are still getting grips of Twenty-20 cricket. It is all over for them this year. They can try again in 2011. They are out of the T-20 world cup 2009. What did I feel about it!? Wooohooo... Felt awesome! It was as awesome as watching Pakistan lose to England two days back :)

- One guy is managing to annoy me every single day when I am watching cricket. He is the one who has got a free phone with unlimited calls from his company. He is misusing the phone to the fullest. He has even gone to an extent of calling friends and acquaintance who have forgotten about his existence. Wonder how he found all those phone numbers in the first place. He has his kaka's phone number too. The same old Kaka, who lit up his sets when he was still learning to act. I am talking about Hrithik Roshan and his new Reliance Ad if you didn't get it by now. :) One of those Ads is here for you.

- Formula 1 is no longer exciting with Brawn stamping their authority on all races. As far as I am concerned, if there is no competition between Ferrari and McLaren, it is not Formula-1. The anti-clock circuit didn't produce any surprises either. If FIA had to cut costs, they could have simply asked drivers to sit inside a simulation and race. They could have shown us the video.

- Star Trek is an amazing movie. I simply loved the way it has been shot. Wow! Wonder when Indian Cinema will grow up from Koi Mil Gaya and its Jadoo.

- I happened to watch a Hindi movie too. It's called 99. Yeah! That's it. It is '99' only. There are no Idiots or Fools on either side of 99. Kunal Khemu, Cryus Broacha and Soha Ali Khan star in it. It’s a light hearted comedy. It is worth watching on a weekend and on a rented DVD.

- Roger Federer finally won the French Open which had eluded him for the last three years. As a kid, I had heard a story about a spider that never lost hope and climbed a wall after 'n' number of attempts. Since that spider had no name, it can be named Roger Federer now. With this victory, he also equalled Pete Sampras' record of 14 grand slam victories. Does that make him the world's greatest then? Only time will tell. By the way, did anyone of you cry along with him when he won the last point?

- * Bing * Bing * Bing *, what's that thing!!? It is Microsoft's latest search engine. http://www.bing.com/. I will not go into the details and features of it because there are lots and lots of tech blogs who have already written about it. Grapevine has it that it is as good as Google but will take time to gain popularity. Microsoft is making sure that it reaches people by spending millions on advertising. I have always been a fan of Microsoft and am supporting their latest venture too. Are you?

- Cooking is easy as long as we have the right ingredients to mix only criterion being that the ingredients have to be mixed in right quantities. :D. Didn't get it? Don't worry! I have been cooking at home since last week and this is the effect of it. The best dish I have cooked so far is the Kadhi. It came out really well. Recipe shared on request ;). If you are good at preparing something, please do share your recipes too (Vegetarian only). I am trying out new recipes every day.

- Keeping a house presentable without help from anyone is a herculean task! I realised it only after I started dusting each and every part of the house. My hat goes off to anyone who does it all days without complaining (My mom, dad and sister included in this list). Oh no! This reminds me that I have yet to clean that carpet :)

- Any idea about what is happening with the Indian Government after the elections? Elections remind me of the mark they put on my finger when I voted. It still remains on my finger only to irritate me whenever I see it. They have to find a new ink that disappears in a week or two or they'll lose my vote :). Girls can cover it up with nail polish but what can guys do about it?

- Sitting inside a car, Bangalore's traffic looks double the usual. It takes me fifteen to twenty minutes in a car to reach office when a bike takes only ten minutes. I am not complaing as I am loving every minute of the drive. I tried switching off the Air Conditioner of my car today to save some fuel and help the environment but I have become so used to driving in an air conditioned car, I couldn't survive the noise and smoke for even two minutes. Not sure how I will ever go back to using my bike :)

- Wolfram Alpha. Have you heard about it? It is a computational knowledge engine (not a search engine) which will solve the woes of lot of college going people and lot of people who are interested to learn new things. It has been developed by the same team who developed Mathematica. It is as good as a Wikipedia or an Encarta. It is easier than most of the encyclopaedia sites because it gives all details available about the word you searched for on a single page. It displays even images and graphs supporting the documentation. Try searching your date of Birth for some fun. Format: ,

- Multiplex and Producers calling-off their strike came as a relief to me as that is the whole and sole source of my Friday night entertainment. Since there are lots and lots of movies lined up, it is going to be one hell of a party time.

- I'll end the post as arbitrarily as I started it! :) Until next post...

Pic: Archith Planning his next move

But now when he's gone back to USA with his mommy and grandparents (my parents),Pooja room is intact, nobody switches off Television when I am watching, nobody bangs doors, nobody screams aloud. The house is at its peaceful best but is no longer charming and lively. There's no laughter that can be heard of, there is no one to run towards me to give me a hug when I go back home from office, there's no one to shower unconditional love, there's no one to laugh uncontrollably at the silliest of faces I make or silliest of games I play, there's no one to dismantle my cell phone. Ahhh! I am missing everything badly.

It is hard, very hard not to miss kids once we get used to staying with them. With them around, the atmosphere of home is always so energetic and rattling with excitement. It is like this edge of the seat action movie. One is definitely going to miss something if one blinks at the wrong time. Kids have so much energy in them that they pass some of it on to people around. It is contagious.
Time used to fly playing with him. Blogging to chodo, I had no time even for office :). I made sure that I stayed just the stipulated time everyday and got home as soon as possible.

Now that I am all alone and have lots of time in hand I am planning to get back to cyberspace and blogging. A dear blogger friend of mine reminded me yesterday that blogging is one my jobs too and I have to get back to it ASAP :)

I would like to keep the post short and end it here. It is for you to decide whether it was sweet :)

Missing you terribly little rascal! Love you!

PS: I was talking about my nephew all along. He will turn two this month and my blog turns 50 posts old :). Quite an achievement for an irregular blogger.

Before anyone starts showing concern, let me make it clear that I still have my job and this is just a one-off case where I got to spend some time on the footpaths of Chennai. I got this opportunity when I accompanied my sister to the American Embassy in Chennai. Visitors are not allowed inside the premises and are not supposed to even wait outside the gate. Since the embassy is in one of the most busiest roads of Chennai, the only place a person can wait for their dear ones is the footpath right next it. One gets to see all kinds of people there. Luckily for my sister, she had a cute and handsome American citizen to accompany her. The little fellow made sure my sister came out in thirty minutes. The cute lil fellow is my nephew.

These thirty minutes gave me a chance to sit there on the footpath and observe. Observe people who were all vying for that all important American stamp on their passports. This also prompted to me to put my guessing cap on and to start forming opinions and frame conclusions.

I usually come to conclusions soon (most of them luckily turn out to be right) and that is what I did sitting there. I enjoyed guessing the reason behind people's visit to the embassy.

Here are few of those for you to enjoy;

1. A young girl being dropped off by concerned parents - She is probably trying to get a Visa to pursue higher studies. I came to this conclusion when I saw the worried look on her dad's face. A look that said, "Two million rupees for studies!, My daughter's gone mad"

2. An elderly couple being dropped off by their relatives - Couple's daughter or daughter-in-law is pregnant or has just given birth. They are going to USA to help their kids take care of their new born kids. This was easy. The couple looked happy and a little worried because they didn't want any problems during Visa stamping. They were checking their documents time and again.

3. A confident guy getting out of an autorickshaw and walking straight to the gate - Third attempt to get his Visa stamped. He knew which queue he had to join and where to get down from the autorickshaw.

4. A mid aged guy getting out of a chauffeur driven Toyota Corolla - A high-profile IT or a management guy. His company would have done all the paper work for him. He was there to give his biometric identifications and collect his visa.

5. Girl being dropped by parents and a whole bunch of relatives - Newly married and is probably trying to join her husband who's already in USA. Number of relatives, number of bangles and amount of jewellery she wore and no sign of her husband allowed me come to this conclusion.

6. Female looking like a beggar being dropped off by a decent looking guy - She is definintely going to be the next maid in Manhattan. I know I should not go by the looks but it was the shabby dress that made me think this way.

Would you have arrived at the same conclusions?