divine intervention

Staying on the topic of my last post.......

Till last year, though I used to wear seat belt always while seated in the in the front seat of a vehicle; I hardly used to do the same while traveling in the back seat. It all changed thanks to a trip in a van in San Diego last July.

While seated in the back seat of that vehicle, I noticed a notice sticker on the side window. It said it was a state law to wear the seatbelt irrespective of wherever one is seated. I ignored the message since I was seeing it for the first time in a vehicle and I thought it was just unique to California. However, the very next day, I had to travel in another van in Cincinnati and was seated in the back seat again and I happened to notice the same law sticker in there too. This surprised me, since, having lived in Cincinnati for almost 3 years till then and having traveled in van on many occasions, I hadn't noticed such a notice before. Call it intuition or fate or judgement, I just felt like wearing the seat belt on that occasion. In about 10 mins, as my van was crossing a traffic signal; a car came cross us breaking the traffic signal and collided with the van in spite of the effort of the my driver to apply brakes. The impact of the collision was such that the book and my cell phone in my pocket were thrown to the wind shield.

Had I not worn it, I am certain that I would have accompanied that book to the windshield. The collision was so severe that the car had to be towed away. From that day on, in spite of being made fun of for being too scary and being called a paranoid by my friends, I make sure I wear the seat belt anytime I am seated in a vehicle. I am sure had I not done that, my friends would not have had me to make fun of!

On a philosophical perspective, is this what is known as divine intervention? I am not sure; but, being a strong believer of God, I can’t think else wise.

AVS

save your talk, save your life

I am posting this link at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite for I am also guilty of committing the same; but I had to utilize my blog at least once for useful purposes.

save your talk, safe your life

Driving is the only time I put my Blue tooth headset to any use. I am really trying to get rid of this vice of mine; one which is much more injurious to health that the other vices which I don’t indulge in.

AVS

sleepy head

My work starts as early as 7 am. Being an incorrigible nocturnal I am, I find it hard to sleep ‘early’ (10 pm is too early by nocturnal standards) and also to wake up before sunrise (an utter sacrilege in the nocturnal law book!). In spite of doing it for the last 6 months, I still haven’t adapted to the early-to-bed-early-to-rise-routine. So, to maximize my sleep time; I wake up just early enough to get ready. Within the 45 mins, I manage to finish my daily ablutions, eat my breakfast and even find time to press my dress for the day.

I manage to do these thanks to the 4 alarms I set in my cell phone; all with different tones, the first two set at 15 min. apart and the last two being 5 min. apart. (idea being not getting used to the tone or the periodicity of the alarms). Also the cell phone is kept at distance which cannot be accessed without getting up.

I hope you all would be thinking that in spite of all these struggles, if I still manage to oversleep then there has to be something terribly wrong with me. And yes I did manage to oversleep last day....good one hour.....Reason: I forgot to activate the last of my 4 alarms... Sigh!

AVS

triolet

Taking a lead from this which led me here

State of Mind

I wish I wasn't in this state
Makes me yearn everyday
Its all my fault to make it late
I wish I wasn't in this state
I would have a better fate
Just a wait till next Monday
I wish I wasn't in this state
Makes me yearn everyday

AVS

Update:......and it made it to the list

napster at work

Catching a nap at work is not just the trait of college students. It doesn’t matter if you are a professional or a student; irrespective of age, the temptation for sleep is irresistible. This is one valuable lesson I learned after getting out from college.

People who know me well also know well how good a class sleeper I am. It is more comfortable and easy for me to sleep sitting in a chair, with someone shouting at the top of their voice, than say, in a bed in a quiet room. I can proudly claim to have dreamt during some of my drooping sessions. Ok hope you all get the picture.

When I landed a job few months back, the only thing I carried over from my college life to my professional life has been this small naps (Of course frequenting the restrooms in the pretense of loo breaks is also there, but hey, most of the time it is for real!) On most of the mornings, during my part time employment on campus at UC, I have had this thought of taking a nap in the restroom. But I did not resort to such ‘gross-some’ activity. Hence, I have had many mornings at work where I have struggled to keep my eyes open with dose after dose of strong coffee. I believed I had got a grip over my addiction to sleep till I started working full time. Not only my tendency to sleep in front of the comp. reappeared with more vigor and venom, but, being at work more time than ever before, it happened more frequently too. Big and clean restrooms became too much of a tempting for me. I had all planned that if I cannot get over this sleepiness in a weeks time, I am sure heading to the restroom.

I was all set to perform the test act, till my colleague returned from restroom the other day. He was all giggling “Someone is sleeping in the restroom”, he said. I was pleasantly taken by surprise to know someone was already putting my idea to use. I was in complete taken aback when I heard his next sentence “….and he is snoring”. Wow now this is called taking it to next level! The person in the restroom was not napping, it was a solid ‘sound’ sleep! This also means my idea is discarded. Being notorious for my snoring, I am pretty certain that there would be snoring, irrespective of where I sleep. This means more coffees and back to the drawing board for fresh ideas (isn’t it an irony that I am looking for fresh ideas to be lethargic)

(If anyone is wondering how come a person who’s blog - which was on the verge of extinction; where the longest posts, off late have been at max. 2 lines- has two quick updates, it is due to those work-less mid-week days. Most of the sites are blocked here and all I can do to act busy is ‘draft emails’! Or maybe I am out from the drawing room with a new test run :)

AVS

stupid is as stupid does

My relation with the HRs of this company is jinxed. Whenever I have been in need of help they have let me down. The first person who handled my hire has already quit when I wanted to process my OPT; followed by another who took up from him, who too quit at a time when I had to get my full time employment details and I have had hold ups in getting things done including the denial of my relocation amount which was promised initially. For the last 3 months till date I have been after my current HR person to get some tax refunds and every time she has carelessness or excuses. So it was just a matter of time before the present one quit or go on indefinite leave and she chose the day to be today.

I have not been doing well with a sore throat and congestion for the few days and being a total anti-hospital guy, I was managing myself with some home remedies and self suffering. Since my situation wasn’t getting much better even after a week, I decided may be it was time I utilized my insurance. After all, I am now a professional and paying more to my health care than when in college! As a first step, I decided to figure out the list of physicians and hospitals which work be ‘within the network’ for my insurance (My vision has gone from bad to worse and my wait to go to India to new eye check and glasses isn’t seeing any light).

When I called up the health care providers, I was told that they could not locate my records and I contact my HR. I was not surprised and was sure that my HR person would definitely have messed up again To add to my misery, she had gone on maternity leave (she would have anyway gone on maternity leave even if it was just her 4th month of labor… thats how jinxed stuffs work)

I conveyed my issue to the lady who was in the next cubicle and hearing me 2 more ladies joined her. They searched all around the place to find my record without finding anything. They asked if I submitted it to my HR person or not and I went in detail how I had opted for ‘Plan A’ and not ’Plan B’, how I filled up the 20th rather than wait till the 23rd etc etc. The ladies started worrying if my benefits were submitted of was misplaced from their record and a series of phone calls and email searches ensued. To substantiate the claim for irresponsible attitude I have had to bear from my HR-on-leave, I poured out my chapter of 3 month old struggle to get my ‘un-refunded’ tax. When the ladies were not able to lead anywhere and I was sure that they were convinced of my HR's incompetence, I decided to make their life easier and offered to go up and get the copy of my enrollment form I had submitted for that they can redeem their department in general.

To my utter dismay, what I found in my folder was not the copy but the original health insurance enrollment forms. I never made any copies of them and what I had filed were THE originals and the truth was I never ever submitted it to the HR. Its true I filled it on 20th and I opted for Plan A; but all these matters only had I submitted them.

I ran down with the documents and backed it up with lots of apologies to all 3 of them and was told by them that they were almost starting to censure my HR for her ignorance. Thank god that she had gone on leave, or else she would have killed me for my allegations. I had made a complete fool of myself today and felt like a stupid for wasting good half an hour or more of 3 others. For all my complaints about carelessness and irresponsible behavior, I ended up on the receiving end today.

Mistakes are bound to happen with anyone, after all we are all humans (verbatim: one of the HR ladies); but what is more scarier is that all these months, I have been driving around without insurance in a country where having a health insurance is the first thing a person has to do after arriving in this world. Fortunately, by god’s grace, I have been safe and driving defensively so far; but the very thought of what did not happen freaks me out. This would also mean that till I get my paper works into the system (which might take from a week to two), it would be all walk in the park. Not having an insurance will always weigh in my mind and I don’t want to risk anything now. I would not have given a damn about such things if I were in India, but not in US!

Well, I think this is what insurances are meant to be, isn’t it? Not something which you should expect to be utilized, but something which is there on your back as an assurance that nothing would go wrong with you.

AVS

'pet'ty thoughts

From my childhood days on, we have had a pet; be it a cat or a dog. May be my love for the pets have generally extended to a love for animals. I love seeing animals or interacting with them. May be that’s the reason, when people used to ask me about what is so great about Cincinnati, I used to say very high about the Cincinnati zoo and been the recipient of many a weird looks from the listeners.

In fact, one thing that I am so glad and proud about my upbringing has been our love for animals especially dogs. And it just baffles me when I people say they hate pets….how can someone just hate pets? It is one thing not liking pets and hating them! I have many close friends and relatives who freak out or panic as if on seeing a monster or a ghost while visiting our home. Imagine someone scaring looking at a door behind which we have locked our dog and worrying what if it comes out…and that too for a dog who is scared of news paper!!

There are few who refuse to come to our house for the same reason and I am more that glad they don’t. I treat my dogs like my family member itself. In fact Veeru and I used to eat together. He would eat anything if I act as if I am giving it from my plate!
Why such a senseless post? Having not gone home in 2 years, I miss seeing Veeru the most (it not the ‘mostest’!) To add to my misery my lab dog, Jean, gave birth to 5 puppies last week :(...had to take my helplessness out on someone!

AVS

happy new year!!!

Wish you all a WONDERFUL AND MIND BLOWING NEW YEAR!!!!

Yet another year as passed by. Was a theek-thak year for me. Not the greatest one, if I could script it again, I would have done a much better job. But, hey...how can a year be tat bad in which you got a job and brought a car for the first time in your life. It was indeed a milestone year on a personal note.

For me New year comes with some roll-over unfulfilled challenges from 2007. Few resolutions which I have to address in the beginning on the year itself.
As I have been wishing all...may this year be the bestest all have had in our lives so far!!!!

WELCOME 2008!!!!!!

AVS

india accused of mass murder!!!!!!

well, not really :P

AVS

cultural surprise

Its been exactly a month since I moved to Houston from Cincinnati. Ironically, Cincinnati for all its Indian population studying at the University, has a very small Indian community outside campus and hence just a handful of Indian stores and restaurants.
Its not that I wasn't aware of the large indian hub in Texas, especially Houston. But from one fine day morning on you start seeing Indians....people from my part of the world everywhere from grocery stores to malls, from buses to streets......it was indeed a pleasant sight. As I was telling my cousin, even after a month, I still tend to stare whenever i see one on the road. And not to mention the number of Indian groceries and eateries.......the street named hillcroft near to my place is nothing short of a street just cut out from Mumbai or Chennai or Delhi and directly pasted in US.
I always wanted to be in a place with los of people and desired to be with a good indian population (call it my inability to adapt to US culture or homesickness or whatever!)......even though I know that I am gonna see indians all around the place, i still find it amusing to see my own race around me in plenty.....its a new kind of cultural shock for me....... reverse cultural shock.....the one you get on seeing your own culture in a foreign land!

AVS

battle at kruger

Now, this is what I call a real retaliation !!

AVS

jai kaptan!

If you thought this was a joke......see again!

AVS

my list

1) Charlize Theron
2) Katrina Kaif
3) Yana Gupta
4) Demi Moore
5) Salma Hayek

.............soon to be laminated ;)

AVS

ultimate truth

AVS

bittersweet

Should I be feeling happy or sad???

Either way, I cannot agree more with the last paragraph.

"Whatever be the reasons, one thing is for sure, the call of the homeland is getting difficult to resist. Be it the unhygienic street food or the dusty sidewalks or your mother’s home cooked biryani or the madness during festivals, India is where the heart lies! "

AVS

just amazing!!!

Thanks dada for sending this to me!!

A must listen....You will need Headphone

Close your eyes and just listen....

AVS

cute

(with my friend suspecting the death of my blog, here is one!)

How cute is this ?

AVS

have you ever?

Found this in K's profile

Have you Ever?
1. Thought your cousin was hot?		No
2. Been in love?		No
3. Gone over the speed limit?		Yes
4. Painted your room?		No
5. Drove a car?		Yes
6. Danced in front of your mirror?		Yes
7. Been dumped?		No
8. Stole money from a friend?		No
9. Gotten in a car with people you just met?		Yes
10. Been in a fist fight?		Yes
11. Snuck out of your house?		No
12. Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back?		Yes
13. Been arrested?		No
14. Left your house with out telling your parents		Yes
15. Had a crush on your neighbor?		No
16. Ditched school to do something more fun?		No
17. Slept in a bed with a member of the same or opposite sex ?		Yes
18. Seen someone die?		No
19. Been on a plane?		Yes
20. Kissed a picture?		Yes
21. Slept in until 3?		Yes
22. Love someone or miss someone right now?		Yes
23. Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by?		Yes
24. Made a snow angel?		No
25. Played dress up?		Yes
26. Cheated while playing a game?		Yes
27. Been lonely?		Yes
28. Fallen asleep at work/school		Yes, ALWAYS!!
29. Been to a club?		No
30. Felt an earthquake?		No
31. Touched a snake?		No
32. Ran a red light?		Yes
33. Been suspended from school?		No
34. Had detention..		No
35. Been in a car?		Yes
36. Hated the way you look?		Yes
37. Witnessed a crime?		No
38. Been lost?		Yes
39. Been to the opposite side of the country?		Yes
40. Felt like dying from embarrassment?		Yes
41. Cried yourself to sleep?		Yes
42. Sang karaoke?		Yes
43. Done something you told yourself you wouldn't do?		Yes
44. Laughed till some kind of beverage came out of your nose?		Yes
45. Caught a snowflake on your tongue?		Yes
46. Kissed in the rain?		No
47. Sung in the shower?		Yes, everyday
48. Had a dream that you married someone?		Yes
49. Played getting married?		Yes
50. Got your tongue stuck to a flag pole?		No
51. Ever gone to school partially nude?		No
52. Sat on a roof top?		No
53. Didn't take a shower for a week?		Yes
54. Ever been too scared to watch scary movies alone?		No
55. Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on?		No
56. Been told you're hot by a complete stranger?		No
57. Broken a bone?		No
58. Been easily amused?		Yes
59. Laugh so hard you cry?		Yes
60. Cheated on a test?		Yes, many times and I don't even regret
61. Forgotten someone's name?		Yes, many people
62. Blacked out from drinking?		Never
63. Played a prank on someone?		Yes
64. Gone to a late night movie?		Yes, every time
65. Failed a class?		No
66. Choked on something you're not supposed to eat?		No
67. Played an instrument for more than 10 hours?		Yes, if u mean continuously,then No
68. Cheated on a girlfriend/boyfriend?		No
69. Did you celebrate the 4th of July?		No
70. Thrown strange objects?		No
71. Felt like someone?		Yes
72. Thought about running away?		Yes
73. Cried over someone?		No
74. Have a dog?		Yes, more than one
75. Own an instrument?		Yes
76. Been in a band?		No
77. Drank 25 sodas in a day?		No
78. Broken a cd?		Yes
79. Shot a gun?		No
80. Been on facebook for more than 5 hours?		No
81. Have a major crush on someone right now?		Yes
82. Have a religion?		Yes
83. Thought about what people would say at your funeral?		Yes, coincidently yesterday!

AVS

amazing chair

Check this out......amazing, isnt it?

AVS

it happens only in India

Just when I thought I had seen the worst case of atrocity, here comes one.

AVS