Being Bostonian

I moved to Boston nearly couple years ago. I have lived the Midwest culture, experienced the west coast life now trying to be a Nor' easter. And I must say.. there is no greater joy like living in Boston and being a true Bostonian. But.. you have to prepare for that!

As soon as I moved to Boston, I felt closer to my home country when I was driving. People honk, that is a means of communication telling the other person to yield, just like in India. You have to be aggressive on roads.. this is how you clear the prelims of being Bostonian. Other things are add-ons. You can honk on turns just to be safe if anyone is coming from the opposite direction. You do not have to show respect to pedestrians as they are not supposed to stop you from driving. (“rastyat sarvat durlakshit goshta mhanje padachaari”). There is no lane system on the roads. Two lanes can change into one or three without any indication. But there is an unwritten code of conduct between every driver. You have to master that to be a Bostonian. If two cars can be accommodated alongside each other (on an internal road, or a freeway ramp/exit), no one cares about how many lanes are there. Organically traffic keeps on flowing making optimum use of the space. And esp in peak hours, people calmly keep flowing as and where they find space. Until there is a “road romeo” who tries to cut through and merge in between a lane to save time/ go faster. That’s when Bostonians unite to make sure he cannot cut through their lane. It’s a matter of Bostonian pride now. That time you’ll hear honks and see fingers flipped at our road romeo. Most of the times, this road romeo is someone from outside Boston or new to Boston ..or from New York. Being Bostonian on the roads is not about following traffic rules, it’s about utilizing space and time optimally so that everyone can reach their respective offices on time (and then bitch about how bad the traffic is getting these days …:aaj kal chi pora na.. “).

A true Bostonian will hate New York, or a New Yorker. A true Bostonian cop will ticket almost every NY license plate seen on Boston roads (and from a personal experience, vice versa is also true :/). It’s much like how a true Punekar feels about a Mumbaikar or living in Mumbai and vice versa. You need pride in being a Bostonian. Bostonian honyasathi abhimanachi garaj aste. (jajwalya abhimaan nai.. to punyakadech ahe ajun). And unlike Pune, where pride can to be of anything and everything, here the pride has to be about the Patriots, and Red Socks (Tom Brady and beards). And when it comes to Red Socks v/s Yankees, nothing can get better than that.

(image from google)

Unlike in Bay Area, where most of the people are migrated from outside, in Boston, you can see people living here for generations. People are family oriented, live with families, together. People are very friendly at work and outside. Not to say there is huge population of students here (due to world class universities like MIT and Harvard), but there is also a huge populace of people living in this area for decades. These people know every gali nukkad of the area. They would not use google maps to “show” you how to get to a certain place, but will tell landmarks, names of streets, restaurants that you would come across as you navigate. It’s similar when you ask you grandmother how to go from shanipar to nagnathpar (google gets confused here but not your grandma). You as a newbie, you would require a personal guidance initially. Google need not rescue you every time. (And yes, its a feeling of achievement and self pride when you are able to navigate in Boston without using a GPS. You are tuning into a Bostonian)

And when it comes to snow…!

Boston gets a lot of snow. A lot! So much that there is no place to pile it up or dump it. This time, being Bostonian is about writing at least one article in a local newspaper (every other weeks) expressing how the govt sucks and does not take any measures to remove snow.

Boston does not have a luxury to have garage spaces for everyone and hence people park on streets. This is where it becomes interesting when it snows. Streets reduce to half there widths and the “spot fight” starts. Being Bostonian in winter is to get creative in your “space savers” A “space saver” is something that you keep on street to “reserve” your so called parking spot. It can be anything, a chair, a ladder, a tire, a discarded computer, a hand glove.. anything. Well, by law, parking on streets is not allocated. Anyone can park anywhere on the street where parking is permitted. But, now you dare to move this “space saver” and park your car in someone else’s “spot” and you cannot guarantee the well-being of your vehicle anymore. Windshield could be trashed, tires may be flat, windows could be broken with snow on all the seats. People can get much more creative. Oh.. and cops.. they have given up in tracking people who put space savers and ticketing them. They have better things to do.

(images taken from google)

 But, being Bostonian means respecting a space saver and not parking your car there. It’s an unwritten rule. A true Bostonian knows the effort one has put up in digging his car out, and he would never go and park in his spot if there is a space saver there. (True reason is he loves his vehicle and is aware of the consequences: P). Still some people clarify the consequences like below

People are very patient in winter. If a car is stuck in snow, some do get out of their own and help push the stuck car. The honking percent goes down. On single lane roads people wait patiently for the oncoming traffic to pass or effectively navigate around them if space permits. Bostonians face winter in a united fashion. The most agitated people in winter are the plough guys though. The people who plough the roads. I guess their boredom in ploughing in this cold winter when everyone “works from home” is reflected from the aggressive driving they do when ploughing. If you are on an internal single lane street and a plough truck comes in front of you, don’t even try to navigate from around it, just back up all the way and let him go!!

To all those Punekar’s… just be like those oaks and leles from sadashiv peth, and it’s not very difficult to be a true Bostonian thereafter.

(This article is not written to insult anyone and is a work of fiction… Boston chya snow madhle sanskar ahet amche!)

The GM Diet Plan

(*all images taken from google)

So one evening over dinner we were talking about healthy foods and the crap we eat. Rohan mentioned about General Motors having a special diet plan for its employees which has now apparently become world famous. It’s called the GM Diet Plan and is aimed at shedding anywhere in between 10-15 pounds in 7 days. Yeah.. you heard it right. I did not believe it either and obviously googled. So apparently it is a legit plan (I don’t know how many of my friends working in GM know about this). And just for kicks.. Keeping aside all the well known, advertised diet plans from famous nutritionists, I decided to follow this.

I am not obese, neither do I need to shed 10-15 pounds in a week. I did not believe in what they quoted about weight loss. What made me decide to do this is the nature of the plan and the self-control I would have to keep during all these seven days. That was something challenging. The plan says you can eat how much ever you want, but have to eat only what is mentioned for that particular day. Being and Indian (and a Punekar) self-control on food is something very difficult to do. When you smell butter chicken, paneer butter masala or have shrikhanda and ras malai in your plate, there is no way that you are not eating until you are stuffed. So, this was going to be a good test for my self-restraint and I embarked on the seven day adventure.

The plan is basically designed to give all the necessary nutrients spread over seven days. The first day was all fruits (except bananas ..these will haunt you on day 4) and the second day was all veggies. I was continuously eating loupes, melons, apples all day one and lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers etc all day two. I was excessively craving for some savory taste to my mouth. Whatever I was eating was either juicy or had no taste whatsoever (picture yourself constantly chewing on  lettuce all day!). I had a mild headache, my legs felt weak.. my body would be thinking “Saala aaj kal “khana” milta hi nahi hai!! Jo ata hai andar, sab fibre me chala jata hai”. I could see Diwali sweets, pastry’s in my room and could smell delicious Indian recipes cooked by my room mates. It felt like hell. I kept reminding myself that it was for a greater good.. and kept my control.

After the 'power play', day three was a bit easy. I had to consume both fruits and veggies that day and I kind of expected what I would be feeling all day. This day, I kept on thinking about day four, which sounded worst. Day four was all about bananas and milk. Yeah.. only bananas and milk!!! This is apparently to make up for all the sodium and potassium you have missed in last three days. The idea of having bananas all day itself gave me vomiting sensations. I didn’t know how I was going to survive day four. The plan said that this day will pass easier than I would expect. I started with one banana and a glass of milk for breakfast and made my way up to seven bananas till dinner. Surprisingly the day did do easier than I expected, except that it was Friday and I had to keep myself away from the delicious barbeque we have at work and all the Halloween festivities. Office was full of candies, but today, to my surprise, I had very little cravings. I guess my body was getting adjusted to not having sugar and oil intake. My cravings for sweets went down drastically after day four.

The next day I had to go to a party where I was offered a pastry. Usually I would gulp it in no time (and ask for more!). Today as I took every bite, I was thinking to myself how that is going to deposit everywhere inside me giving me a sugar coma. I was like.. “aah.. what junk am I eating.. this is no good.. just throw it away.. it’ll kill you!!!” Yeah.. I myself do not believe I would have such emotions with pastries. The worst part of that day was that I had to eat eight raw tomatoes. Yuck!. I could barely eat five full tomatoes and made up for the other three by having tomato soup. (Hmm.. I cheated a bit.. I eat the bread crumbs too!) I was able to consume chicken (baked, not butter chicken) that day which was my source of protein. The last two days were milder. I was allowed to eat a burger, sprouts, soups and veggies along with juices. Well this would have sounded like a torture if I had to do it without going through previous five days. But now, it was a feast for me. I could eat variety. I could enjoy a full meal, but now in a healthier fashion.

Looking back, It was tougher than it sounded. But I was able to do it. I am glad I did it. I feel lighter from inside and feel motivated to eat good, balanced food. Not that I will keep continuing this diet continously, but I will definitely try to have salads, soups and boiled veggies for atleast one meal every other day or go on a liquid/ all fruit diet for once every week. (But first.. tomorrow I'll have Kitkats and Bear Naked nutri bars! :P)

(Well, and I also lost ~4 pounds (2kgs). Not bad!)

The Family Bonding!

It may be some nine years since I would have spent more than almost two whole months with my parents. Busy growing up, getting 'life lessons' (and degrees on the way) I had almost forgotten how awesome it is to be with parents. Everything got revived when a home away from home was painted by Mom and Dad right here in Boston, MA.

Mom arrived first followed by Dad a few weeks later. I was too excited to host both of them and wanted to give all my time to live those moments that I am missing all these years. I wanted them to experience various flavors of my lifestyle here in US, and having a car helped.

Every weekend was already tightly scheduled in visiting various places. We started off with attending Boston food festival the very next day my Mom arrived. The following weekend I drove her to Philly to visit one of our family friends she hadn't seen in years. That trip was followed by visits to local scenic places around Boston.. like Rockport, Walden pond, Mystic lake and Castle Island. Ben-n-Jerry's icecream factory and Smuggler's Notch state park in Vermont was a must see if you are so close to it. Driving all the way up there and stopping hundred times to click pictures of fall colors was an unforgettable experience. The Head Of the Charles regatta was right in that period and seeing so many physically fit sportsman was not only exciting but also motivating :P.

Sunrise @ Cadillac

Dad arrive just at the right time when New Hampshire and coastal Maine was peaking in fall colors and I had the Columbus day off. A trip to Acadia and White mountains was a no-brainer! We took a coastal route to Acadia National Park. The scenic beauty of the fall colors was just mesmerizing. Dad and Mom wanted to stop near every single tree and capture it in camera. After a few thousand stops, they decided to capture all the Reds, Oranges, Yellows, Greens, Maroons in their memory instead! Getting up early and seeing the sunrise on the Cadillac mountain (the very first place which gets sunlight in the US) was the high point in the trip. 

That followed by driving up Mt Washington (which includes coming down from half way to fill gas and again going up.. damn incorrect fuel level indicator!!). Mt. Washington, a hell of a mountain. Here the weather changes from full visibility to zero visibility any second. Wind speed has set a world record here. Well.. there is still a souvenir shop on the top though!! (American tourism!). We stayed in the middle of nowhere, we had seafood in small shacks along the coast, had burgers in a sports bar and pancakes at an local American breakfast place. Experiencing such varied cuisines and way of living was something new to my parents which they wouldn't have experienced in tourist locations and hotels or business trips.

Even though the Diwali smell was not in the Boston air, we had the same festive atmosphere at home. I did not miss physically being present in India during Diwali. Home cooked sweets (faral, chiwda, laddu etc), home made diyas, lanterns and decorations, Laxmipoojan (with $$ this time), inviting friends over for Diwali dinner.. I enjoyed my Diwali to the fullest.

Diwali Dinner

The selfless love that parents shower upon you is priceless. Now I am again spoilt in 'asking' for the morning coffee, coming home for lunch everyday to eat readymade food and home cooked rotis (and then resisting the temptation to take a nap!!), having my clothes washed and ironed twice a week, going on long drives every evening with someone with you in the car to talk with, sharing India stories (means Pune stories!), teasing mom when she starts watching Zee TV Marathi on laptop and dad when he keeps repeatedly listening to Barkha Dutt or Arnab Goswami in full volume on his tab... it's going to be a few tough days until I get back on track after they leave.

It was a quality time well spent. I am sure they enjoyed all the moments we shared together after so long. I did. Next time they visit me, who knows, I might have a significant other sharing these moments with me, doubling the joys of life.

Ek Selfie to banta hai!!

Visiting hometown at 27!

It was after two years that I planned a trip to Pune for a month. I visited home for almost a month beginning from the New Year’s. I was super excited to see family after such a long time. The feeling was mutual. Mom, dad, grandparents, cousins everyone had planned variety of things for welcoming me.

One thing that slipped out of my mind which family never forgets, that I was returning at an age of 27!! Well for an Indian guy.. this is THE age. You know what I am getting into. You just have to look at your facebook wall and every other day one of your pals leaves the bachelor cult and puts a ring into someone’s finger! You can pretend to overlook this but your family won’t. Esp now, when even your parents are on facebook, you do not have any excuse.

So from the very first day people started indirectly asking me about my plans, about the girl. I tried to dodge the questions but couldn’t hold the fort for too long. It was the moment when my maternal uncle/ aunt asked me point blank.. “Dude.. it’s the age.. when are you getting married”. I had no answer! Grandparents added to the fire.. “We are ok with anyone, need not be Marathi, or Indian for that matter (haaw… ajobanche vichar pudharlele ahet). Just tell me if you have anyone in mind, or should we start searching for a match”. Then mom gave a bummer that her friends had already given patrikas of a couple girls for a potential match. Oh my God.. this means even the people from my housing society know that I am of THAT age. (Yeah.. In india.. if you don’t take any steps at the right age.. your family and even the society will put all their efforts in the ‘right’ direction. Jab saari kayanat use milane mein jud jaati hai.. that’s what we call as “arranged marriage”).

I don’t know how to answer these questions? You talk about not dating anyone, they will pull their contacts to find a match. You talk about career, they will tell you how your dad managed it after marriage when he was of your age. You talk about “not being mentally ready for this next step”, they will tell how everything falls in place after marriage. So basically.. they have all the strength to put the ball back into your court until you concede.

It was a fun experience. I am still not engaged or married and I am back to the US. So.. I can now postpone all such talk until next year. But probably I should do my homework before facing my family again! :) 

(image from google)

Happy Thanksgiving

I live by myself and I didn't have any special plans for Thanksgiving. One of my colleagues said “It’s a crime to be alone in USA during Thanksgiving” and this made me think about this Turkey day. If you Google about thanksgiving you will get tons of pages stating its history, importance and how the turkey came into picture. I would like to tell what it means to me.

Coming from half the world around, I never celebrated thanksgiving until four years back. So after coming to the US, thanksgiving was just another long weekend for me. Apparently all US holidays precede or succeed the weekend and hence giving a long weekend. Thanksgiving coupled with Black Friday gives four days off and hence a good time to travel and shop. First couple years I was in Michigan doing my masters. The university had to schedule final exams just after thanksgiving and hence we spent time studying. The next year two years I was in California. This means 24x7 sunny weather and hence four days of total enjoyment. I went biking, hiking, camping and all sorts of other outdoor activities coupled with lots of shopping. This year I am in Boston. Temperatures are negative, my Arduino is not working and hence I have no other option but to sit home and write this blog post!!

So when I think about thanksgiving and Christmas I realize this period is the time when people spend time with their families. I have observed people visiting there wife/ girlfriend side families during thanksgiving and husband/ boyfriend side families during Christmas. We never felt a need of special occasions to visit families as back home we stay with our families pretty much all year. And hence, today when all my colleagues are taking an entire week off to meet their families, I miss mine a lot.

But this is a special time frame for every Indian. Its November.. Meaning one month away from taking a long vacation to visit home. (Generally people like me try to take time off once every year to visit India and this time frame is generally December). Christmas, to me, is nothing but dreaming about what I will be doing at home after couple days and this dreaming begins at Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving shopping is dedicated to all the siblings, grand/ parents and cousins back homeJ. The month of December here is generally slow paced, festive month. But for me, it’s fast paced, a month of making plans to spend time with my loved ones and live all those moments that I missed within last year. It’s the time to dream about asking Mom to make the food I like, giving her hard time as she did not look after my Activa, stealing Dad’s car and roaming on the streets of the city, meeting old school friends and reviving the golden moments, having “appachi khichadi”, “nana kadcha chaha”, “durga chi coffee” and “vaishali cha dosa”. It’s dreaming about “Sinhagad”, “Khadakwasla”, “MIT chi Tekdi”, sitting on two-wheelers and chit chatting late night in the parking lots of my apartment and all those Pune specific exciting things that I will be living in a short while.  And..oh yeah.. and its also about teasing friends who recently had their trips to India and will be staying back during Christmas! J

                                                         

                                                                                             (taken from Google Image search)

So.. Happy thanksgiving everyone… “houde kharcha” J

The land of MIT and Harvard

It’s been close to three months that I relocated to Boston to explore a different job opportunity and this city is already doing great in giving me all sorts of life experiences. I have spent couple years in Midwest (Michigan), couple on the west coast (Silicon Valley) and now it’s the time for east coast adventures in the city of MIT and Harvard.

I moved to Boston in summer so the transition to the coming horrible winter after a sunny honeymoon in California will be smooth. So I am good on that front. But I was then used to Californian style of driving! Now I have become an aggressive driver to adapt to the Bostonians! Here the state road infrastructure is radial (Boston being the center) and not a simple grid as in the west. This means more curvy roads, more randomness and hence more excitement in driving without a GPS. For the person who loves driving, Boston is the place. Further there are many potholes, thanks to snow. I sometimes feel that development of the west is like “learning from mistakes” of the east. Here you honk to express your anger (and you get angry quite often), you do not wait for pedestrians if they are about to cross. Lane width is smaller, many places there are no lanes and you have to use your Indian judgment to drive through. Some places, four lanes merge into two without any prior indication and hence you need to be alert and ready for traffic congestion. And most importantly.. too many women drivers here!!!

Am getting used to this now. My colleague from Tesla (who was in Boston for last few years) had told me to be prepared for at least one dent in the beginning couple months in Boston! .. well he was right! J

Now that I am living here (and not a tourist as I was a couple years back), I get to see many aspects of Bostonian lifestyle. People are more welcoming here. They are social and more family oriented that the west coast counterparts. They are more attached to the American history. I see people from various backgrounds like engineering, medical, advocacy, economics, social service etc etc (and not only Indian software engineers). I like this variety. I can see many more people who are staying in this area for multiple generations so they have their own quirks. (Unlike in California, where you rarely see any core Californian). To give an appealing example is how a core Puneri will behave in Pune! (dukanat sarvat durlakshya karnyasarkhi goshta mhanje girahik) ;)

I live in a big 7 bedroom house with seven random people. We share the kitchen. New people come and go and bring a different lifestyle with them. Currently there is on guy from Saudi Arabia, one from Iran, US, India, Czech Republic etc. These are engineers, economists, founders of startups, serial entrepreneurs, media journalists, academicians. I feel really fortunate to experience the interaction with them. There is so much to learn beyond if, for and while loops which I code daily. My friend from Iran has travelled a lot. He shares tons of stories from various nations like in EU, Aus, Middle East etc. The journalist is up to date with all the current affairs throughout the world. I can discuss my current Indian economic situation with the economist in the house.

The area is surrounded with schools like MIT, Harvard, Tufts (Fletcher), North Eastern universities. Great talent of students in the areas of technology, science, business, medical etc is around. (well pan punyat rahun shanivar wada ajun pahila nahi.. ase hi loka astat! ). Boston has too many things to offer. I participated in a midnight bike (cycle) ride around Boston. This was a 30ish mile ride from 12am- 7am finishing on an island with the sun rising in front of us. It was just amazing to ride at night, visit places that you will never go on a bike, see some bike tricks, give high fives to drunk girls on the road at the time when bars start to close, see the people who honk in a rhythm to cheer a crazy group of 50 riding at 3am in midnight. People are enough crazy to do weird things. There was one guy who rode most of the miles just on his rear wheel. There was one person who had speakers, music and disco lights on this bike. Riding besides his was fun!! 

Samuel Adams come from Boston. The brewery here offers a free tour and totally free bear tasting.. how about that!! There is something called as a "freedom trail". It is a bricked path from the heart of the city which pretty much goes through all the important historical landmarks that the city has to offer. The more interesting part is that there is a series of couple minute audio files about each location on the web that you can download on your cell phone and do the entire trail by yourself. This is a best way to get closer to the city, get to know what the city has to offer you. I am very impressed by this idea to promote tourism and American history and culture. Walking, biking and using the "T" has brought be closer to the city.

I am not sure how lively the city will be during the white months. But, there is still some time for that. Before that, after almost two long years, I will be experiencing something that no one in California can ever experience!! :)

A weather change from summer to fall!  Looking forward for fall!

Office Office!!

It was the day when I got my first ticket.. a parking violation.. and I realized that even this leading economy, a so called perfect country to live, is not that perfect at all. The difference being.. here corruption is coded into rules.. so it is “by the book!”

A few days back when my car was parked off street, I saw an envelope on the windshield. I guess it right.. it was a ticket. It mentioned I had to pay $53 for not displaying right registration sticker on my license plate. Here it is called a 5402 violation. The envelop mentioned that that under correctable violation section (4000a) if I provided a proof of correction within 21 days then my fine will be reduced to $10. Well..I was happy.. Thought it’s not that bad! :) So the next day I corrected it by sticking an updated tag on the plate.

After correcting my violation, proudly, I went to the Sunnyvale police station to get a sign of an officer as a proof of my correction. (The ticket was issued by City of Sunnyvale). I was surprised to learn that in a police station here, I have to speak over a phone to the officer who is standing few meters away from me with a bullet proof glass in between!! Well, police station should be supposedly the safest place in the city right! :P. Anyways, so I told him the story and asked him if he can sign off my ticket. He smiled, said "yes" and then pointed me to a notice which said I will have to pay $41 for an officer to walk to my car, check the plate and then sign off. So, for a $53 ticket, which would then (probably) reduce to $10, I will have to pay $41 to get it signed!! Wow!.. and it’s not wrong huh.. it’s written in the rules! :-/

Then he himself suggested me that I can ask around at other places (he did not know where) where I can get it signed for free. So I called up Mountain view police station.. $25 for people not living in Mountain view (free for residents). Thinking on the same lines that I am a resident of Santa Clara, I went to Santa Clara police station.. $11 no matter where you stay! :D .. God.. yahan bhi log lootne ko baithe hai. I can catch a cop on a road and ask him for his sign (probably when he is at Starbucks).. but interrupting a cop on duty.. could be another ticket. So these guys tell you alternatives and then tell you how that alternative is not possible :P. Then I visited San Jose police station.. where finally I got it signed for free. !! The adventure does not end here…

I asked the same officer to confirm that now I had to pay only $10. He had no clue why in first place the ticket issued was of $53. According to him it should have been much less. So again.. now I had to go to Sunnyvale police station to clarify what I had to pay. The same officer at Sunnyvale saw the ticket and said that the fine will not be reduced as it is a 5402 violation and the ticket mentions correctable violation (section 4000a). Well..  4000a means not registering the car at all. So I asked him that not registering the car should be a more serious violation than not displaying the correct sticker right? Then how come that is correctable and mine is not!! His answer was.. “it’s not what we think, it’s what written in the rules”!! :D :D

So then, I did some internet browsing and found that my violation was correctable. I went there again and told him that the website mentions 5204 is correctable. His response “well, the website may mention it is correctable, but that does not mean your fine will be reduced, it only means you can correct it!” …now I had started losing my calm!! I asked him where I can confirm this.. and he said “We  do not handle payments here.. we do not know”.!  I called up the citation processing center (place where I had to submit my payment) and they told me I had to pay only $10 after getting the proof of correction. So I had both answers.. and no way to confirm what I  should be actually doing.

Sunnyvale court is next door. I had read on the internet that I can pay off the tickets at the court,  so I stopped by. I asked the officer there about the ticket, and he directed me to the police station for parking violation inquiries….. Now I am stuck in an infinite loop!! (and I can’t inquire anywhere else as the ticket is issued by Sunnyvale.. so other places won’t have any clue). Bhai SAB TV par Office Office  lagta that bachpan  me.. uske jaise halat hui hai!!

Speaking with my friends I heard few more such instances. A moving violation (like speeding etc.. which is safety related and more  serious, which accumulates points on your license) can be “converted” to a parking violation by paying the lawyer double the amount of the ticket. Any ticket can be “settled out of the court” by paying the officer some amount that you negotiate. All the officer does is tells the judge he does not want to press charges. Well.. all this “lobbying”, “off court settlement”, “converting moving violation into parking” is perfectly fine as it might have been written somewhere!!!

Seriously!! What is the point in blaming our police officers, blaming our system? Bus hum illegally karte hai isliye?? Ya khule aam dikh jaata hai isliye? Log itne jyada hai.. to obviously such instances will be more evident right? Point is.. it’s everywhere and it is wrong.. We should be proud that at least our government does not legally permit these kinds of things (probably?)!!

Don’t know how much I am going to pay for this ticket! :)

The Cultural Difference

After grad life, now working in a company most of time with Americans, staying with an American family, using public transport daily has brought me more close to the American culture, the western way of thinking. There are still many things to imbibe, but some cultural differences between us and these western people are prominent.

Independence, thanks to technology, is what is seen in every American. And now I realize it has many shades. Every person, be a man or a woman, a kid or an old one, a fit or a disabled, can live his entire life on his own. Buses have ramps for disabled to get in, traffic light ped crossings have radio records for blind to help cross, every house has a garage and tools to fix their own vehicle, and internet is everywhere; these people hardly feel a need to interact. Every person has an i-gadget in his ear, a kindle in his hands and a smart phone with data plan activated. They hardly care to come out of their world.

Good thing is you are independent. You don't need anyone to help you do your daily chores. You are free. No one would care if you do stupid dancing on roads or if you kiss your girlfriend at the train station. You don't need to ask around if you are lost, you will have a GPS or an i-phone to see directions. But.. it disconnects people. This disconnects families. A father thinks his son has to leave his house when he is 16 as he thinks "his mother still feeds his a** and after he leaves my house I would spend that money to buy a Porsche" And a kid thinks "I don't have to stay with them, I earn, I have money, and a girlfriend, I can afford to rent a place. So why should I rely on them!" As a result, kids stay with their girlfriend(s), and old people are transferred to old age homes. But there is no regret as nothing changes in their lives, they have all the tools to live their life independently and happily (?).

In contrast, we have grown in a culture where we stay together. We are emotionally attached and kids feel a sense of responsibility towards their parents. The culture in which we are brought up, we tend to take care of our parents when they grow old. When I communicated these thoughts with a fellow American, he was surprised, and felt great about the culture in which people are brought up a few thousand miles far.

I am surprised when I see that every American can fix his car in his house, and does not have to go to a garage. Come to think of it, it’s due to high labor charges here. If they quote me $50 to fix brakes on my $80 bike, I would refer to google and fix it myself. On the other hand, I will easily give Rs5 to a Puncturewala in Pune and get my punctured tire fixed. These guys are surprised when I tell them we have a doodhwala that brings us milk every morning, we have a maid that daily comes and cleans the house and even when I tell that we get the newspaper in hardcopy. They are used to read e-versions.

Within a family everything is "ours" in India whereas here, its "mine" or "yours". The other day I was talking to a collogue during lunch and said "in my house back in India.....". He was surprised and asked me if I owned a house! People here always distinguish between "my house" and "my dad's house". Similarly, within a house, its "my car" and "my dad's car" where as in India its "our car". These people respect privacy to such an extent that my landlady asks her mom for permission to use her car, or to put a couple of her clothes in a washing machine with her mom's.

There are so many more things. But the bottom line is, is it solely the technology and infrastructure that has facilitated this upbringing? With technological advances in India, will we see an Americanized India in a few decades? I hope we consciously imbibe all the positive aspects of technological advances, keeping our emotional attachment, and our strong cultural values intact.

My first bike accident and the amazing Walmart

This was a pretty eventful day. Right from my Puneri maaj to American customer service, today I went through everything. The beginning was not that great. Generally I bike up to my shuttle stop where I board the shuttle to Tesla. I was at an intersection traffic light in my left lane. The light went green and I raced my bike to turn left. A car, directly in front, facing me, was in her left lane supposed to turn to her left. I don’t know what the driver was thinking he started taking a wrong right turn.

Seeing me he stopped in between. But… I kept looking at him, my eyes fixed on him, and giving all Puneri khunnas I had in me! :D My expressions were clear enough that I didn’t have to utter any word. The next thing I saw when I turned my head was the curb that I was going to hit! I slammed my brakes hard, my rear wheel skid through a 90 deg rotation and it had a rough interaction with the curb. The brakes were awesome and I came to a dead stop within seconds. Realizing I was completely in an awesome condition, I forced my bike pedal to cruise ahead, but it refused to go. Curious, I looked at my rear wheel and it was totally warped and distorted, like a circular rim of metal heated in a furnace!!!!

I couldn’t go home as I would then miss my last shuttle, and the stop was still far enough to drag the bike there and reach in time. I had no option but to opt for the second choice. Lifting my rear wheel dragging the bike all way along and cursing myself for the unnecessary khunnas I gave to him, I finally made to the stop just in time! All the way to Tesla I was thinking what should be done next! At Tesla, I was a star attraction and I had to narrate the story at least 4 to 5 times before I reached the lab

During the day I called some bike shops to check if there was any possibility to straighten the wheel. They suggested me to bring the bike to the shop to inspect. In case it was not possible to straighten (which I think was the case!) it was going to cost me about $70 to fix it. Instead I would as well get a new bike!!

So, without having any hope, I thought of calling Walmart to see if they can help me out (I had got my bike from Walmart). I had heard about Walmart’s return policy, but it was all fantasy to me until I experienced it. My bike was just 3 weeks old and hence I called Walmart for replacement. My shuttle driver was kind enough to give me a ride to Walmart in the evening. There I asked them if I can get a new wheel. Looking at the bikes condition (everything being in awesome condition except a really screwed rear wheel) the manager asked the sports section to see if it can be fixed. The answer was no.

Supposedly, you cannot replace items that you order online from Walmart, so the manager herself suggested me to return the bike for a full refund. I was awestruck! “What.. that means I would get a full refund??” I asked her three times to double check if what I was hearing was correct. “Yes, absolutely”, she said, “one can return anything for a full refund until it’s within the return policy guideline period”.

Apparently, there were many customers in the “return items” line at Walmart. Come to think of it, has this policy made Walmart grow? No wonder Walmart is leading everyone with its annual turnover of $421.849 billion! Being in retailing sector, customer service and customer satisfaction are kept on highest priority. This may be the reason why despite of giving full refunds on so many products still they make huge profits.

I was amazed. It kept me thinking. The very night I ordered the same bike, obviously from Walmart.

The Midwest and the Valley

It was a leap from Midwest to West. After two fun filled years at Michigan, it’s now time to experience what they call as the valley of startups aka Silicon Valley.

I joined Tesla Motors which is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, very next to Stanford University. California is a huge state, but Silicon Valley spans from I guess San Jose to San Francisco and it is altogether different than The Auto State: Michigan!

They have their own standings. Where the Big 3 rule (GM, Ford, Chrysler) in Michigan, they are nonexistent here in the valley. Here it’s all about Google, Apple and Facebook. In Michigan every person has to have a Ford (F150 is favorite amongst teens! :P..mereko abhi tak nahi samjha kyu?!) whereas here.. every person has to have a i-gadget. Here you will see all Hondas and

Toyotas unlike GMs and Fords in Michigan. Some people say that here there are more young and educated people that don’t blindly go for American models.. but cmon.. Sikkim la bakarwadi milnara dukan kasa milel! :P. Big 3 has a dominance on their home ground. They have created living for millions of people for over more than half a century! (and also ‘politically’ made sure that no public transport will ever bud in Michigan).

I saw apartments in California! Seriously! This is worth mentioning. Two long years after I saw apartments having parking below, tube lights in the parking, small children playing with their tri-cycles, grandparents sitting on benches and couples going for a post dinner walk. You know what I am saying. Nothing else in US can get more close to India. There is this road called El Camino Real, can be portrayed analogous to Karve road in Pune or ‘main road’ in any other city. This El Camino has shops on both sides. Right from groceries, restaurants, salons…. To Gadgil Jewelers!!! Awraaa! Chitale bandhu ch yayche rahilet.. rather te pan astil kuthetari!

Bike! Valley is very green, eco friendly. People use public transport, people bike to work. There are bike lanes on majority of the roads. Companies have monetary incentives for people who will not drive their car to work. This is not the story in Michigan. Firstly, the distances up there are huge.. you just cannot bike from your home to your work place. People drive for nearly half hour daily to reach their office in Michigan.. One cannot imagine anyone “wasting” so much time here! Secondly, you cannot bike when its below 0F!!

Michigan is more laid back. No startup culture. Whereas here its all about a budding idea and fast paced efforts for its implementation. I am amazed seeing the enthusiasm people here have. Everyone is bubbling with ideas, willing to help, willing to sponsor, willing to guide. People are young and so are the companies. The enthusiasm for innovation is spectacular which I doubt could be experienced in the Midwest. And hence there is not a person who will, after listening to your idea, say.. “40 saal se kaam kar raha hu.. nahi ho sakta ye! Time waste mat kar!”

California is a different ball game, and I am all excited to play this neatly! :)

Mechie Cabbie

This happened in a cab I hired to go to the airport for my trip to India. Within first few minutes of interaction with the cab driver I understood that he is a mechanical engineer having 9 years of experience in Ford. (Every person in US has some experience in Ford!!). He asked me about myself and realized I am from his area of interest.. powertrains!

Now my amazing cab journey started with he saying whether he can ask me some questions to judge my knowledge! Yes those were his words! J I was surprised.. replied assertively. What is a HEGO (oxygen) sensor.. his first question. Well, now by questions I felt he would ask some generic questions and not directly the technical details of the operation of an oxygen sensor. My ME 569 days flashed in front of me and I started “storytelling”. Now he interrupted me asking me to answer in exact words.. short and to the point. Aw! Before I completed my explanation, he himself started describing how exactly the switching takes place in the sensor and its other technical details.

How does a crankshaft sensor work, what does it measure? What is engine coolant temperature sensor? How does it control the engine idling operation? Then a couple of solid works and proE questions were followed…… and today this Ann Arbor to Airport journey looked endless! Then he spoke about himself, how he used to interview students like me and what are the current trends in the industry. He spoke about the importance of experience and gave me couple of words of wisdom as he realized that I will be soon making a transition from academic life to industry. He made me appreciate that the real learning starts when one gets into the industry, when one has to learn by himself to keep up with the pace, when there is no set syllabi or pre determined annual examinations to judge you, still there is a need to perform for continuous assessment from peers and bosses and a need to absorb knowledge at twice or thrice the rate of academia to keep up with the competition.

The airport arrived. He did not ask for a tip, neither took any. He urged to remain in touch and waved me saying .. “My friend.. once you step in the industry world, in whichever department you go, make sure to show your extremely accurate engineering knowledge. Your success will depend on how good an (technical) engineer you are!”

The People of America!

It was a great experience to travel more than 8000 miles in 15 days covering the entire east coast and southern America. Starting from Chicago the adventure included NYC, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Rhodes Island, Niagara, 1000 Island (1840 to be precise!), Virginia, Tennessee and then Florida! During these days I got a chance to interact with all kinds of people, from different backgrounds, different ethnicities and different cultures.

Although America looks the same everywhere with freeways going either N-S or E-W, fast food restaurants wherever you see, smiling people greeting “hello, how are you doing!” just to acknowledge your presence, STOP signs everywhere, Jogging people at odd times of the day or dancing on the rhythm of the music plugged into their ears…. There are different shades to them if one looks closer!

Unlike people in and around 42^nd Street 7^th Avenue NYC (Times Square) who are “upscale” neatly dressed with suit and tie and polished shoes, rushing to their office places in the morning time or sitting on some 83^rd floor in a glass cabin with a mac in front of them and a personal secretary (lady) on their right… the countryside men and completely laid back… Chillaxed!! :P Its simple.. nothing as Grandeur or glittering as you will see on the east coast or silicon valley.

By countryside I mean the people I observed in Virginia, Tennessee provinces. These are the people who tame horses, pigs and cattle, wear hats and 6 pocket jeans, have acres and acres of farm lands and probably a gun. I will call them close to cowboys! These people seem to be more attached to the family. Wherever I went I observed entire family.. a married couple, the in laws and the children.. together (living happily).

Great people with great hospitality! I happened to visit one of their shows (The Dixie Stampede Dining Show) where they portrayed their “cattle skills”, narrated the development

of the race around Tennessee State and enacted the war that took place between the North and South Tennessee. The show was jaw dropping and to add to the flavor the dinner was mind-blowing. We were served one FULL roasted hen!! Along with vegetable soup, boiled corn, slice of pork, a potato and then desert… with NO silverware!! Great experience to eat a full roasted chicken with hands! J The show concluded with countryside music and people dancing happily.

Chinatown is one more shade. Not only people, but everything is in Chinese.. shop names, billboards, prices everything. Its a totally different world when one enters the Chinatown. The buildings have stairs on the outside..The lodges are disgusting with common toilets, there is garbage on the streets.. and also the following sign can be seen in Chinatown NYC.

Florida was all together a different story. Orlando is full of children, tourists.. Thanks Walt! I hardly saw any “Americans” as I descended to south. The Orlando-Miami journey gave a flavor of our good old ST bus (rest is now self explanatory! which includes the driver, passengers, bus, lay over restaurants etc…!). Miami is full of people either from Cuba or Mexico.. I don’t know how to differentiate.. but my point is.. Here I met natives who can’t speak English. Inner parts of Miami had more old people busy in their diurnal activities.. Similar kind of people like you can see when you travel from Panjim to Vasco in the morning. Miami reminded me of Goa except the tourists.. tourists are more “bold” here!! :P

That was my journey.. Next is the west coast… which is one more different flavor of the America… the “Desi America”!!

India v/s Pakistan

(Clarification based on a response: The "cheering against the two teams" was in good spirit as all the people knew each other. It was not due to the animosity but for teasing the opponents! It was not taken srsly by any team)

No doubt it had to be the most nail biting match of World cup 2011, it was also a lifetime experience for me. India v/s Pakistan: it is always thrilling, full of tension, fervor, and enthusiasm.. “Get used to it!” But you just cannot describe the feeling when you are watching the match with a bunch of Pakistanis in the same room.

The match was going to be screened live at central campus. We first headed the library and printed out some “4”s and “6”s placards to show the Pakistanis who would be present in the hall. Everyone was ready to head to central campus and we shared a cab to go there. The venue was already packed. With lots and lots of Indians, the Pakistanis were still seen prominently seen with their green jersey’s and painted flags on their faces. We sneaked inside the room and squeezed onto a table to rest our seats.

The room (which had a capacity of 70) was packed with around 300 people. Noises, cheers, slogans everything was heard except the commentary. Every ball had to be cheered.. either by the blue guys or by the green. We clearly outnumbered the opponents. “Sachiiiiiin sachin..” “jitega bhai jitega.. india jitega.. harega bhai harega Pakistan harega” was shouted on the faces of the Pakistanis but at the same time pin drop silence was seen when Wahab struck Yuvraj and Dhoni bored the audience with his front foot defenses. There was some exchange of uncensored words which ignited the pak ego, but it was nothing more than a blip on the radar!

A blasting inning by Sehwag reminded me the 2003 India-Pak match and watching Shoaib sitting in the pavilion really made me say.. “soch raha hoga.. chalo bach gaya!” The Indian inning was full of enthusiasm and slowly the night outers went for a short nap during the second half. The room was again full during the last few overs and the catch of Misbah sent everyone yelling and cheering loudly. On the other hand the opponents were quietly sneaking out from the room lowering there heads with all sorts of emotions. The celebration followed by “Chakh de”, group photographs and then the presentation ceremony.

It was an awesome experience!!

Amreeki Rail

Departure was scheduled at 7:30am from Lafayette and it was supposed to arrive at Chicago at 10am. My intuition was right! Lafayette-Chicago ho ya Gorakhpur-Dadar... trains have to be late! Good that I booked a connecting bus at 2 and not 10:30 believing on the western efficiency!

We reached the station at 7 and saw no one! Not even an attendant. The entire station looked deserted. Then we realized where the waiting area was and to our surprise it was completely filled with people and supposedly we were the last to enter! The TC greeted us warmly and then told us that due to flood warnings (where we failed to see even a drop of rain anywhere!) the train had to reduce its speed by 10mph. With the American GPS technology, we instantly realized that the train was half an hour late. Finally it came at around 8:15 and I boarded!

Unlike what I had imagined (as shown in classics of 60s!) this train turned out to be a chair car. But it was spacious and comfortable. It started from Lafayette; I waved to Neeraj and fell asleep instantly. I woke up in around an hour and found the train was not moving. I heard an announcement that there is some switch failure and two people are working on it. Listening to this I dozed off. Another hour and I opened my eyes to realize that it’s still at halt. What was new to me that the train had a running commentary, where all they told us was that they didn't know anything, but these two people repairing a failed switch. What was this **** switch!!!! Nobody knew. Everyone was clueless. One more announcement told that there was a goods train over that switch, which is now moved and those two guys can now reach the switch! This made me realize that this so called switch.. is something which is outside, probably on the tracks... and not in our train!!! :P. A couple of more announcements acknowledged their efforts of fixing that switch on a Sunday morning!

What was different was this American manner of alleviating the restlessness by telling "Don't worry... everything gonna be fine... we are together gonna fix this honey!!" (Only the kissing part that usually follows was not seen)

Aisa hote hote finally it got fixed and the train moved. It was some 15 miles from Chicago and we heard one more announcement! "A second switch has failed! But don't worry, this time the people working on it exactly know what the failure is and they will fix it in couple of minutes!" WTH!!! That means previously they were clueless!!! But they did fix it in couple of minutes and we reached Chicago at 1:30.

In the meantime my mom was restless back in India and couldn’t sleep until that switch got fixed and I reached Chicago!

A Fundamental Question

I have a fundamental question:

Q: Why, in first place, human race came and settled at a place where for half a dozen of months its -25 degC?

...and then gradually they have developed technology to counter it!!!

They use tons and tons of salt, infinite fuel to clean the roads, remove the snow, infinite energy to keep the heaters on so that the ducts are not blocked, backup generators if electricity fails, backup stored fuel barrels if the backup generator fuel is finished. :P

Not only this, cars cost more as they should be equipped with heaters, cold start technologies, intruments to clean/scrub the windshields. This white snow also raises the insurance cost! Houses have to have an additional floor..below the ground.. the basement.. where people will feel warm and hibernate in winters... house cost increases!....... and much more!

.....and when it comes, the snowtime, these same set of people fly to warmer places like florida!!!! WTH!

The Equivalent MPG conundrum

Here's some Auto stuff..

This is the age of electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Every company is coming up with its HE (hybrid electric) versions of the cars claiming that they improve the fuel economy. Some numbers tell that the Prius has a fuel economy of 48 miles per gallon (mpg) on city cycle, Honda Civic hybrid was rated 40mpg whereas the latest hype is about Chevy Volt, claiming 60 mpg (combined mode) and 93 mpg (electric only mode).

The basic assumption lies in the fact that this equivalent fuel economy is higher because unlike normal vehicles, in HEVs or EVs less amount of gasoline is burnt. They had to find some way for comparing the fuel "burnt" as "electricity" (which produces no emissions) to the fuel that is burnt in conventional vehicles to come up with a number: miles per "gallons" (where there are really no "gallons" of fuel "burnt" in electric vehicles).

"To reach this number EPA created a conversion factor between quantity of electric energy (KWHr) and volume of gasoline (gallons). They did this by dividing the heating value of a gallon of gasoline by the energy in a KWHr of electricity to get a conversion factor of 33.7 gallons/KWhr." ..states the article below

But is this the right way to do it? Should they account for the energy losses in "preparing" that electricity? after all we should be concerned more towards reducing the fossil fuel usage rather than "increasing" the power train efficiency per se

..and if they do what are the new numbers? are they more realistic?

http://blogs.forbes.com/warrenmeyer/2010/11/24/the-epas-electric-vehicle-mileage-fraud/

This is a very nice article which sheds light on this issue. One of our profs shared it with us. You guys will find it interesting