Save money on Car insurance as an international in the US

Hi Everyone,

If anyone of you are new to the US and bought a car insurance you know how expensive it is as a first time car driver in the US. 


I wanted to pass on some information for the incoming internationals on how to save on car insurance premium in the US. 
In the US, insurance premium is calculated based on the driving experience and driving record of the driver. As intentional students or internationals one does not have Driving history in the US and hence we all start at zero experience and not surprisingly the car insurance premium is very high. 
However if you get a driving history record  from your home country and provide that to the insurance companies, it is counted as driving experience and your premium can go down substantially because you would not be starting at zero driving experience.
For example my insurance premium dropped from $136 to $60 (per month) after providing the driving history from India. Not only this but if you also provide proof that you had valid car insurance in India and provide it to the insurance companies, the premium will be lowered further. 
So what is Driving history record - its a record that specifies how long you have had the licence and whether you have had fines/challans on your name. In India every state has its own rules and RTO ( Regional transport office) and hence one will have to go there to find out the procedure to get this certificate. Please note that the record has to be English. This kind of certificate is mandatory to provide in Canada ( from what I have heard) and hence authorities know about it. However be prepared to go to the RTO a few times to get this from them. If one does a google search, some states such as Andhra pradesh even have this online. 
I hope this helps you and saves you some money. 

How Lucky we are ???
Today when I went to swim after coming back from office I realized something after a real long time ; I felt that we don't realize how lucky and blessed we are to be in this world.
I saw a young man in the changing room just as I was about to get myself in the pool and after seeing him I had this realization.
The difference between me and that young man was that he only had one arm to himself as compared to normal human beings having 2 arms.
He was having a little problem getting himself dressed up using only his one arm and for a long time after I saw him in the changing room , I could not stop thinking about how small things affect our state of mind when we have so many other things in this world we ought to be thinking of.
Sometimes we all have a feeling that why is it that we are at the other end of the green grass and why is it that something happens only to me and not to others around me ; I have said this a million times myself “ Yeh mere saath hi kyun hota hai “.
So why is it that we crib and cry so much for the lack of things in our lives like our package , on-site trips , promotions , girlfriend , trendy and expensive clothes and others things.
Maybe the reason is that we don't realize how lucky we are to be born pretty much perfect with almost every human necessity provided to us by nature through our parents and family.
Why is it that we think in order to be successful we need to have a much fatter pay package , a much bigger house , a couple of big BMW cars and unless we have everything of these we have been living a losers life.
Maybe we are looking at the wrong place for answers in life , maybe we need to come out of this mental frame of mind that one can only be successful when he gets each one of these things.
I have been reading the book “Sophie's World” for some days now and it talks about the different philosophical theories that have been given by philosophers over the years and there is one particular part of the book which talks about the Socrates theory that I liked where he said that true happiness comes from within and when it does come nobody can take it away from you.
Maybe its time for us to find that true happiness again ..................

The Bhopal Gas Massacre

It’s been over 26 years since the worst industrial tragedy of the world occurred in Bhopal but justice is still being denied to the people who suffered the most from that tragedy.

The incident took place over 26 years ago and its been here and there in the news but the incident has taken a new found momentum lately after the verdict was announced on the guilty a couple of days back.

The Verdict: 2 years of Jail and that too a bailable one.

I am particularly angry after hearing the stories of people who suffered the most - the residents of Bhopal who are still facing the repercussions of the tragedy which happened over 26 years ago.

I am angry not because the government didn’t do anything at that time or because of the fact that Anderson was allowed to go free, by our very own political system but I am angry because even today when we talk about our nation as the biggest democracy in the world, when we say we are a growing superpower, when our growth rate is among the best in the world just after the Chinese, we are still second grade citizens or if not made to feel so.

$500 for the deceased and $1000 for the dead --- that was the compensation paid to the victims.

What have our politicians been doing all these days? The BJP slams the Congress, the Congress takes its hand off the controversy blaming it on some other event and the cycle just goes on and on but nobody is ready to take responsibility or at least rectify the mistakes done in the past.

I understand the mistake has been done but there is still time to do something now and at least try to bring justice now.

But NO , all our leaders can do right now is to play the shift the blame game and do everything in their right to take their hands off this responsibility.

We live in a country where a decision on who is guilty and what is the term of the guilty for the biggest industrial disaster in the world has taken 26 years.

I sincerely hope our politicians find some divine knowledge and take the side of these victims who have been waiting for years to get justice and that they are given due righteousness in times to come. I don’t know when that time will come but I hope it is not too far away.

There is GOD and then there is Sachin

These words are not framed by me , but I heard some commentator say this in one of the matches while Sachin was batting.

Another commentator mentioned that if there was a person sachin could be compared to , it was sachin himself ; there is no comparison against any other mortal.
I cannot but agree more with these statements.
I am not a great cricket follower but never the less I do keep a track of games and statistic's and one of the reasons that my interest is still alive in the game is because of the man I am mentioning here.
I see him and gain much strength from him , he is someone I see as a role model , a great human being and a great ambassador of the sport.

One of the biggest reasons that he is adored and looked up to is because he has not changed in attitude over the years.

You can still see him as a simple and a humble human being ; he does not seem to have the arrogance that comes with fame and achievements.

He has achieved everything possible one could imagine being in this sport but he still seems hungry for more and sometimes I wonder whether he is getting older with age or has he stopped ageing over the years.

I cannot think of another person with as much weight over his shoulders as he had over the years and still keep performing the way he does.
There was a time when he carried every Indians expectations on his shoulders and seldom failed to deliver and now that the times have changed , his persona and class still remain.
I find it hard to find adjectives to define him , all I can say about him is that if someone ever had faith on GOD his faith would have been restored seeing Sachin bat.

His Name is Khan

This is not about the film MNIK but the brave Khan who stars in it.

I am not a great follower of Shahrukh Khan , in fact i admit here that i neither like him nor like the kind of movies that he stars in but for the very first time in my life i have felt that he has done something for which i salute him --- he has taken a stance against the terrorists of Mumbai --- the Shivsena.

I am talking about the recent confrontations between the superstar and the self proclaimed moral police/hooligans of Mumbai here.

Did Shahrukh do a grave sin in commenting that the Pakistani players should have been a part of IPL , did that statement made him a traitor and an unpatriotic Indian in the eyes of the Nation.

If it did then i have great sympathy with him or her or whoever it is who felt that what he did was against the Nation and he or she should probably update me with the rules of patriotism that they are following.

If they go by this logic then they should also be calling our honorable PM and other ministers of the government as traitors and unpatriotic for initiating the peace dialog talks with Pakistan.

Can they make a statement like this ; i don't think they have the guts or courage to say so because all they can do is target innocent and helpless people.

They don't have any other aim rather than disrupting normal life of the Mumbaikars and create a state of Mayhem. All they are looking out is cheap and stale ways to gain political edge over others.

SRK has shown courage and immense integrity on his part of defending his statement and has stood by it , not getting bowed down by the goons of the state.

What he has done should have been done long ago by other political parties and the other authorities but never the less the winds of changes seem imminent now.

Is this the beginning of the end of the communal forces like Shivsena and MNS.

I sincerely hope and wish that it is and in times of come we only read about their authoritarian and parochial regime and how it was washed out , in our history books.

Well actually i would not like to see that also and would never want to hear their name in times to come.

I think what SRK has done is just the start and we need to carry forward the movement that he has started and remove forces like these from the roots of our nation.

There was a time when Mumbai was considered to develop as the next Shanghai of Asia but its only due to people like Raj and Udhav Thakrey that we have fallen way beyond that dream and are now actually looking to save Mumbai's image of a decent and safe place to live in.

Now its up to us to take it where we want it to be.

Let us all get together and put up a pledge that we will not bow down to these hooligans and wash them out from our society once and for all as we remove pests from our home.

They are no more than pests to the nation and should be wiped out as soon as possible.

We keep our homes clean all the time , its time we keep the nation clean as well.

Mercy Killing --- A debate

I was moved while reading a piece of news in the newspaper today which described an incident of a mother who killed his child who was suffering from brain damage with an overdose of heroin (refer to the news article here).
The reason that the mother gave in for killing his child was that she could not see him suffer more in the condition that he was in.
Although the women is convicted on charges of murder and has been sentenced to jail but I support the action that the mother took here.
When the condition of a person becomes unbearable , what option does a mother have ; should she see his child die every day in pain and suffering or should she do something that will giev back peace to her child.
I would have done the same thing if I were in her place and I am sure many others would think alike.
There is no greater pain and agony than to see your near ones suffer everyday and feel helpless about it.
What is the purpose of living when you cannot control your actions and are dependent on other people for almost every living function?
This incident brings into debate the rational behind mercy killing; I don’t think it is permissible in the Indian law but it should be thought of as a remedy for the suffering of the patients in genuine cases.
Debate is welcome here.

This is one of the best piece of advice one can get in life............

The Secret Of Success

A young man asked Socrates the secret of Success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river.

When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until he started turning blue.

The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get out and the first thing he did was to gasp and take deep breath. Socrates asked 'What you wanted the most when you were there?' The man replied 'Air'.

Socrates said 'that's the secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted air, you will get it. There is no other secret'.

My Favourite Movie

My Favourite movie

Its quite difficult to answer a question like "what is my favourite movie" and the reasons are a plenty as i am a complete movie geek and hence left wondering when somebody asks something as tough as this.
I have a deep inclination of movies which glorify the never say die spirit and inspire me to achieve things beyond my capacity.
My favourite among them would be undoubtedly be "Lakshya" , the farhaan akhtar directed movie on the Kargill war.
One of the main reasons that I call this my favourite film is the fact that when I come to think of the life of the main protagonist of the movie - Hritik roshan i can identify with him and move on with him as the story moves along.
The movie is the story of Hritik Roshan - the son of a rich industrialist who has no real ambition in life and his journey to find his "Lakshya" or as we say his GOAL in life.
The story goes on like this: Karan played by Hrithik Roshan is an ordinary college going student who has no idea of what lies ahead in life and does not know what to do in the coming future. He is a very confused character who keeps changing his future ambitions going by his friends who are themselves in a similar state of mind. He also has a beautiful girl-friend played by Prienty Zinta in the movie who is a ambitious women and knows her way ahead and wants Karan to think about himself the same way.
One fine day Karan decides to join the army on advice of his friends, and as luck would have it he makes it to the army.
After going through some days of the rigorous army training he can no more take it and runs away from the camp and comes back to his family.
Priety on knowing this leaves karan as she does not like the fact that Karan cannot even do something on his own and find his own way in life.
Karan is heart-broken and decides to move ahead in life and comes back to the army camp, goes through the training , completes it and then joins the army.
A war breaks out between Pakistan and India and he is sent to the border to capture the lost territory that has been taken over by the pakistani army.
He battles the odds and comes out victorious in the end and we have a happy end to the movie.
Now this looks a pretty simple story and indeed it is , but what keeps me captured to the screen at all times is the way the story has been narrated.
I have watched this movie over 50 times now and every time I watch it my adreline level pumps up again.
I especially like the sequence of events when Karan has been looked down upon by his family and Prienty on being a coward in life and how he battles all the odds and achieves his target.
The story moves in a brisk but at the same time in an enchanting way with Karan going on from becoming a good for nothing man to joining the army and then coming out victorious against the Pakistani forces in the Kargil war.
There are very few movies who make you think like this movie does and in a way we all can relate it as all have in certain times of our lives felt that we have had a goal which has not been achieved.

I was pretty much like Karan was at the beginning of the movie and though I have not yet achieved my goals and dreams in life they are pretty much defined now.
Also what I like in the movie is that it shows how brave and selfless are the soldiers who guard our borders so that we sleep calmly.
They are the real heroes in my eyes and this movie is a tribute to our Indian Soldiers. It shows the struggle and the difficulty they go through while protecting our borders and every Indian should feel proud of having such heroic soldiers in our homeland.
Go ahead and watch the movie if you have not watched it till date , I bet you are going to enjoy it and feel good about it afterwards.

I am an Indian

The recent debate over sachins comment over being an indian first and then a maharashtrian is proabably one topic which should never have been made so big as it has been made . Instead some leeching elements in politics thought that they could make this a big point and earn some score from the seemingly foolish junta that they refer to as votebank.

I call these elements terrorists ; terrorists because just like the terrorists we all are familier with (Al-qaida etc )have only one objective of destryoing the rule of the land , in the same manner these elements are also trying to divide the country with their hate politics.

So does saying that i am an Indian first and then something else is a sin or is it something we should all be proud of and make it a daily ritual.

If someone has seen the movie “Chak-De” , he might have noticed that the coach in the movie while trying to form the team gives the states and the individuals the least priority and teaches them to be Indians rather than being Maharashtrians or South-indians or North-indians.

The message was loud and clear , if we want to suceed as a nation we will have to leave out individualism and think as a nation.

Sadly our belligerent and obscured visioned politicians have never really thought of success of a nation as such and have only thought of themselves.

I am personally of the view that these terrorist elements should be thrown out of the parliment and be feeded to the hungry and troubled people out on the streets to be taught a lesson just like the way it was done in “Chak-de” (Remember the McDonalds scene in the movie where the girls teach the boys a lesson when they were trying to play around with the girls)

They should be hanged in public and be given a public execution so as to pass on the message to other people who want to divide the country on hate agendas.

Sadly this is one of the drawbacks of democratic laws that every person here is heard and tolerated , but this should not discourage us from making us teach these people a lesson.

Let us all take a pledge today that we will not support people like these , we are one and we will be one no matter what happens and we will not support terrorists like you.

Let us show them the power of ONE and let them not succeed in their malicious goals.

Let us all get together and say “I am a proud INDIAN”.

Thanks Sachin for reminding us all this today , you have again showed us the right path today.

JAI-HO

26 years of my life

My bday is just 2 days away now and I still feel no excitement, no big feelings no expectation from the day.
This is nothing different for me , as for the last 25 years I have never felt like it would be a special day for me or something like that , maybe that’s just the way I am , I take things as they come without any expectation.

I don’t say this is the ideal way to go around but its just the way I am and what I think.
This coming 9/11 I will be completing 26 years of my existence on this earth , and when I look back all these years I do not think I have fulfilled my potential and done things which I can be proud of in all these 26 years.
I do not know how long I am going to live or in other words how many years of existence I still have on this earth but certainly I have made a promise to myself that the next 26 years will be much more fruitful that the years gone by.
I believe everybody should have goals and dreams set for their lives and am a firm believer in the alchemist quote “when you really want something in life, the whole universe conspires you to get that thing”; I am determined to achieve that goal.
I am getting a little philosophical here but I certainly believe in the fact that the Mind and the thoughts of a person make him the person he wants to; if one has control over his mind and over his thoughts he can achieve the impossible.
Another great quote which inspires me is the adidas advertisements which come on the Television sometimes
No matter how good you are, getting better never stops - Impossible is nothing
To think in a certain way when there is so much of negativity and when things are going bad around you is tough task but then when somebody really wants to do it he does it, and all the motivational novels and books around are a tool which can help you here.
I am no motivational guru but these are things which I have felt by reading and practising those philosophies written in all these books over the years ; I have much to learn in this long life and I hope and wish I reach a stage where someday I am able to guide people like the way I seek guidance.

Question of the day

An evening to remember

Last Wednesday i had gone to sirifort to see Pt Shiv kumar sharma and Pt Birju maharaj perform and what an evening it turned out to be.
Pt Shiv kumar sharma started the show , and he mesmerized us for over 2 hours for which he was performing with his tunes and ragas. It was after quite some time i have gone to see a classical music show and as it turned out i will be going to a lot more in the near future.
For the 2 or so hours that he was playing his santoor , i had no sense of what was going around around me ; i was completely lost in his music and was hoping this would continue forever.
Unfortunately all good things have to end some time as one but another masterpiece followed it.
I witnessed classical dance for the first time in my life and had a really good time watching Pt Birju maharaj perform.
He seemed pretty old to me , but still had the enthusiasm of a child performing with charm and panache.
Hoping to see more shows like this in the near future.

Saving Mother Earth

Saving Mother earth

I had written this piece of article some 3 years back when i was working with Induslogic ; just got it back from there hence decided to post it here.
Hope people see this and it has some positive effect.

We all need to think about the environment now otherwise tomorrow may be too late to think about it

Yesterday was the earth day and some of the issues that scientists' worldwide have found in their respective studies is that if we don't take care of our environment today it may be too late tomorrow to care for it.

See the level of water rising in our oceans everyday, due to global warming.

See the temperature growing each day again to due to global warming, the highest temperature each year is always greater than the previous year giving a clear sign we need to do something about it in the days to come.

I was watching things that each and every one of us can do in our daily lives to do something for mother earth, on the television yesterday which I am listing below.

Even if a couple of people understand the importance of this I would think my effort has not been lost hence please go through the list at least ( J and hopefully follow some of the things mentioned).

1. Save paper ---only take out printouts when and when it's absolutely necessary, after all saving paper is like saving trees.

Even if you have taken out a printout by mistake do not throw it away, instead use if for rough work like writing notes making calculations etc

Remember saving a ton of paper saves 17 trees.

2. Join a car pool --- car pooling saves the extra fuel that's been used for the other car and also saves the road from the vehicles load.

If even 2 people start coming by a single car then a lot of fuel could be saved each day.

3. Walk and don't use the vehicle while going short distances --- while going out to take out daily use items we all are in a habit of using the car or our bike but while it may be much more convenient for but just going that extra 300 or 400 meters by walk would save the precious fuel again.

Being in the IT line we do not walk enough and we all need to walk (studies show that a person should walk at least 45min a day to keep fit ) so lets start doing it today.

4. Use CFL's instead of Bulbs --- using CFL's and tube lights instead of using the bulbs also saves a lot of electricity (a lot of electricity is still produced by burning coal) so using the CFL's could go a long way in saving coal as well as the tones of smoke it emits each day.

Already in the US and other European countries bulbs are being discouraged and CFL's are being promoted.

5. Educating others --- this is probably the most important of all the above points as if all of us start educating others and make others realize how important it is to save Mother Earth it could help in a campaign of sorts which would gather momentum in the long run.

I hope every body who has a concern for the environment would take measures in supporting me in this battle for the survival of Mother Earth.

Please forward this message to all you dear and loved ones as it's for benefit of all.

Today is the 15th of August

Today is the 15th of August , India's independence day , in fact its the 62nd time that we are celebrating this day today.
The first thing that comes to my mind today is that for the majority of the junta i in the country today it is a declared holiday and they seem to be really disappointed that today happened to be a Saturday and not a weekday.
Anyway moving forward , i heard Dr Manmohan singh give his speech today in the morning and was wondering the challenges that he has got in his hand this time around.
2009 has been a difficult year for the country ; we have had a global economic crisis to look after , then the country is facing a year with low rainfall and drought like situations in majority of the states , swine flu scare is spreading like fire in the country and of course our usual battle with terrorism and Pakistan is something we have been facing for years.
I feel something different today , something which makes me think i also need to do something in the building of this nation.
I have always wanted to do some kind of service for my nation and this feeling gets a pump every time an independence day or a republic day or some other patriotic event takes place in the nation.
I always wanted to join the armed forces but my health did not allow me to do so and candidly speaking i never did try enough , but now i really think of doing something which would help nation grow and prosper.
Although i have not seen the phase when we had the partition but after seeing on the TV the kind of sacrifices that people gave to earn independence i feel a sense of duty in myself to repay back.
In the coming few days i would give it a thought of what i can do and should do in future.
JAI HIND

Rain after soooooooooooo long

Rain after so long

Its raining in delhi after a long time and it it feels great watching the rain come down heavily from my window seat in the office.

Rain in delhi has been a rare sight in Delhi this year , and hence whenever it has come down i do feel exited and rejoiced.

I love seeing the rain fall down , and it is the one thing that always makes me smile whenever i see it.

The last time the rain came falling down as when i was admitted in Max and i was watching it from the hospitals confined windows , it did not give me the pleasure i am having today.

My seat is just adjacent to the window , the kind of seat i always wanted to have and i am experiencing a certain high at this point of time.

The only thing missing here is a bottle of whiskey and some chilled beer , i am having to make up that with a glass of machine coffee here :)

Kabul Express

Finally after a few years of my friends persuading me into watching Kabul express , I watched it yesterday and all it took was bottle of Kingfisher , Chicken momos , Hot and spicy mutton kebabs and my 5.1 channel speaker system connected to my laptop to that I finally did watch this film.
Candidly speaking I enjoyed the movie thoroughly , it gave me an insight into Afghanistan for the first time in my life ; I have always wanted to know about Afghanistan , its culture , its people , life after the Taliban took over but probably never made any effort in that direction , but this film certainly gave me a direction.
It is a nice movie moving at a brisk pace about two journalists looking out for a story on the Taliban and how they land up in the hands of a Talib who forces them to drive all the way to the Pakistan border. The story moves around their experience through this journey, he telling about his life, his family and how he had been part of the Taliban without approving of their mindset.
There is a particular scene in the movie which is really moving in which the Talib called Imran here, when he goes out to see his daughter and does not meet him but just puts up some 300$ for her at a distance and leaves; that is because she hates him for being a Talib and he does not want to embarrass her.
I especially liked the accent of the Afghans through the movie; it made me smile every time I listened to some afghan speaking in his peculiar accent.
The movie travels through the serene places in the country now torn apart from war and shows glimpses of the natural beauty of the landscapes there.
The story moves around the Talibs life, who is an army commander serving as a Talib as part of his duty and how he is dumped at the end by his own people at the end when he approaches his country for shelter.

The movie made me think about the kind of lives that the people in Afghanistan have been living, under the dreaded regime , and how they themselves hate the Talibs and their rule.
Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie , with beautiful backgrounds and landscapes and a nice story.

Why i was happy to see Pakistan win this time ..............

I have never been happy seeing Pakistan win something , be it any sport or any other kind of achievement , but probably for the first time in my life I was rejoicing seeing Pakistan win the world T20 tournament 2009.

The win is significant as it comes at a stage when the state of Pakistan is in shambles and in dire need of some kind of support from outside.

What ever is happening in Pakistan is terribly sad and my heart goes to every individual who is fighting everyday to get his life back on track in that state.

Human loss anywhere in the world is a cause of concern, and the victory of the Pakistan team certainly gave a few smiles to a nation in dire need of some good news. It felt great to see the people cheering in the streets, dancing like they have gulped few bottles of wine down their throats, coming out openly in the streets without having to think about any bombscare , it was indeed something to smile for them after a very very long time.

I am hoping that a time is not far away when the people will have more reasons to cheer and not just rely on a world cup win to come out and celebrate like this.

Bangalore calling

I delayed my joining at the Bangalore centre by 1 week to attend Siddharths marriage and what a blessing it turned out to be (why this was a blessing would be narrated in a later story).
It was really exiting getting in the airplane after such a long time; my last journey on this machine was nearly 3 years back when I went to Singapore with Rahul.
A strange kind of adrelenine was rushing through my body when the plane took off and as I saw the objects from the window getting smaller and smaller; smaller cars smaller buildings, it felt terrific in the air at that point of time.
I don’t quite remember which movie I saw in the flight but I really did enjoy the flight with the sexy airhostess serving me in there, I was feeling like a king out there in the sky.
When I finally landed up at the Bangalore airport and put my first steps out of the flight a gush of fresh air hit me on the face, like somebody giving me a light hug saying "welcome to Bangalore".
WOW finally I was in Bangalore, they city of gardens, the city I visited 10 years back with my family.
I called up home and told everybody I had reached safely here , then called up Ankur to get directions to his house. It was almost 3 years since we last met apart from a meeting at CP 2 months back where we had Carlsberg with Roasted Chicken at the Minar.
WOW, the feeling was still so fresh and it was so good to breathe the air; the airport looked beautiful; it felt like a dream being here.

After getting directions from Ankur I boarded a Volvo route no 8 , my first Volvo trip here and headed to his home nearly 50 km and an hour and half’s journey from here.
The road was magnificent; the A/C was really cool and the scenery terrific

It felt good coming in here and watching the coconut trees, I still could not imaging being in this place. When the city finally did start after an hour or so after we started the IT parks took over and one after the another I saw these huge buildings in the background; Nokia , AOL , Accenture , CISCO , JP Morgan , ARM , Oracle ..........the list just continued , this is why they call Bangalore the IT hub of India.
Unfortunately, I got down at the wrong stop thanks to my conductor and I called up Ankur for help, he came to pick me up in his car 10 minutes later and it felt good seeing him after years.

This was my first house in Bangalore , His room was quite neat and clean considering he was staying alone up there.
I was damm exited to be in here that I said lets get moving as soon as I put my stuff up there, it was nearly 4 at that time but I wanted to just get out and explore the city.
We called up Adi ( Aditya) as we call him and planned to meet at Forum ( that was my favourite hangout in Bangalore for the next 2 months) , caught a bus , changed another bus then another and finally did land up there at 6.
The first time I saw Forum , I was a little disappointed considering what Ankur told me that this as the biggest mall in here ; frankly speaking it was smaller than the centerstage mall at Noida and in that respect it did seem pretty small.
After roaming in for a while Adi arrived in his conventional looks, wearing his loose T-shirt and slippers as usual, he has not changed 1 bit since college days.
We planned to have beer and entered some pub , don’t remember the name though. The music was brilliant there, it was slow rock and I was so damm drunk that i couldn’t understand 1 word of the songs but still it felt good listing to the guitars playing in the background.
We ordered 2 pitchers for 500 bucks and after the booze had dinner at some Northindian joint , it was 11 in the night and somehow we did make it home that day.
My first day in Bangalore ended here.

This was my first day there and my next two months here would be as rocking as my final day…………………….

Mr and Mrs Iyer ---- a soulful story.

Mr and Mrs Iyer

This is probably the finest film i have seen in quite some time and a film that has left a deep impression on me , an impression which is not going to tear away for a long time to come.

For people who have not seen this amazing and thought provoking film , this is the story of Meenakshi a married lady , carrying her one year old child through a journey

The journey is marred by a communal riot in between and she is stuck in the middle of the journey , helpless and all alone.

A stranger to her in the bus , Jehanjir khan , a Muslim nickamed Raja in the film comes to her rescue and decides to help her through her way.

A quiet and silent relationship builds between Raja and Meenakshi through the journey which is what is main plot of the story

Meenakshi saves Raja from the hands of the Hindu fanatics looking out for the blood of Muslims as her husband and saves him from them.

She develops a sense of security with Raja and trusts him to the extent that she is ready to stay with him with his little child of hers in the middle of a forest in the lodge( to avoid the communal tension)

In the serene surroundings of the jungel are shown some of the most memorable moments of the movie.

The moments that they talk to each other are lyrical and i am sure if it could have easily been woven into romantic melody.

The simplicity with which the story is told and the charm that both the protagonists are able to produce makes you realize how beautiful and charming cinema can be how , never mind the tens of crap movies being made everyday which have no sense and direction.

The biggest message that this movie wants to give is that the human bond is above every other bond on this earth , above the bond of religion and caste.

While the story portraits around Raja and Meenakshi and their journey it does give out a very noble and human message in a simple and elegant manner.

This is a live reaction of a conglomerate of people after watching India being thrashed by England and the frantic celebrations that followed.

There was clapping and jubilation all around and the bay was filled with meaningless banter and repartee all around.

For a while I could not believe the situation and thought I was dreaming , India were thrashed mercilessly by this young England side and were given a virtual impossible target of 317 to chase and here are all the members of the team rejoicing as if we had won the match out of the skin.

I then realized a hard fact of life : when the situation comes out of control you do not ponder over in depression that this happened , rather you are left hopeless and smile at yourself accepting as if it were in your destiny and no matter how hard you could have tried this had to happen.

It was a belief on the part of the people here that now that India had virtually been outclassed in the series we could at least appreciate the brilliant and the ruthless batting on part of the England players especially “Mascarenhas” who just blew the Indian bowlers away.

By the end of the 45^th over there was a belief all over the place that England could make around 270-280 runs and it was still a chaseable target , but all that was blown to pieces on the arrival of “Mascarenhas”.

We were hooked on the Internet and pushing F5 each few seconds to view the latest score but we did not quite expect the 5 sixes in the last over of the innings.

On every click of the F5 we could see the sixes column under Yuvraj singh incrementing one by one and could not help but smile at the situation.

What was even more surprising was the fact that after all this jubilation and people saying that they had lost all hope they stuck to the Internet once again after a break of 30 minutes or so again pressing the F5 key in perfect symphony.

They were again hoping for another miracle that has not happened for a few years now.

I too like the other optimistic Indian fans am hoping for an Indian revival and hope that at least we have a good start and wish that once I reach home we are on our way to do the impossible.