Woow..wat a fortnight

Hey guys..

Dessy is back after a fortnight...And what a fortnight it has been ..

First, my train gets stuck in a tunnel and i was in there for about 2hours..in pitch black surroundings only to be "rescued" by Chicago fire department.
Then only day before yesterday, there was a bomb threat and we were again "evacuated" from the office.And if you guys think these were big disasters or bad things, i did not even inform you about the biggest disaster that has occured.
My project went live on MONDAY and without any problems and the funniest part is customers started using it. GOD BLESS!!!

Now that i have finished more than 45 days in USA., i would like to share something which i noticed about the "indians" here..Seriouslysomething gets into most of the ppl (you do have some exceptions like me) and ppl start behaving strangely.
The following observations are puuuuuuuuuurely personal, and these are some of the things that happened WITH ME..

Terms used :- "Colleague" here is an indian colleague.(More abt american colleagues..LATER)

At restaurants..I went to a restaurant with one of my colleague who has already been in USA for few days...First problem i faced was reading the menu card...Leave alone the composition, taste, ingredients, cost etc..I was not even able to pronounce 80% of the food available...And when i ask this guy what i should take, he would reply mentioning one of the remaining 20% and say only these are good and the rest are not good...CLEVER HAAN??And while we are having food, he would say..."Naa...this is not good...you see, there's a restaurant 30 miles from here, and they serve some xxxx(again something which i (and of course even he) have no clue about) which is fantaaaaaastic...you should go there some weekend(and he knows that wil never happen..AGAIN CLEVER)"..These guys are as lost as i am but they pretend..they punch shadows...

We come from cities where the minimum temperature in an year, is more than the maximum temperature here IN CHICAGO....Its tooooooooo cold...And of course we would feel it..Even the slightest rise in temperature would result in clients saying "its a great day, good weather isnt it"
And my colleague here, wears a thermal inner (top and bottom), a "thick" winter coat, gloves, ear grips and a winter scarf around the neck and says to another colleague "Hey its a great day, great weather isnt it" and only to find the other guy saying.."oh ya it is". I would be shivering and my teeth would be clattering when they ask me the same question. And I would reply "N..Nnnn...No, it , its still..c..c..ccold"...And LADIES AND GENTLEMAN here goes THE MOST COMMON REPLY AMONG ALL THE INDIANS here IN A TYPICAL MOTHER TONGUE ACCENT(TELUGU IN THIS CASE)..."HAHAHA...FOR THIS ONLY YOU ARE FEEELING THAT MUCH AAA.,WE HAVE SEEN -30 AND for this only, you are complaining means, haha.. what man...very bad "...I would only reply to them saying..."ya guys, you have seen -30, but i havent seen zero till now"..Gosh, they feel sooooooooo proud in saying,as if they have survived the world's toughest man competition.

Now about the ladies and gentlemen that get settled here, the bragadiccio never ends, except few people who are down to earth.I could find many ladies in my apartments complex, when asked a question "what did you do this weekend" would reply "We went to "xyz" movie on our "abc" car before which we did some shopping in "123" mall buying an x dollar article and y dollar watever.......". We dont need that all info mam..and im sorry i asked that question..They fail to understand that it is all part of a casual banter.Believe me that was the last time, i asked any lady what she did over the weekend.

And one striking difference that you find in desis here is that, out of nowhere a serious sense of patriotism gets into them...,not to miss, a serious desire to celebrate the indian festivals..Beleive me, i was never wished on UGADI (telugu new year) when i was back in india, even if i was wished it was just casual or even sarcastic..but here..gosh, we even had ppl roaming around with the ugadi pachadi( a dish prepared only on ugadi ).Ramnavami.., only thing i remember abt this festival is gettign a holiday for school..nothing else..But here..we have ppl getting together "again" and doing something...SOOOOOOO ARTIFICIAL...
I wil end here(its getting a bit serious isnt it)...My next blog would be abt my first days in USA...and here's a small snippet from that ;-)

It was March 10th , 2008 , my first day @ work here in chicago...I was to report to office at 9am, and my office had revolving doors. I walked upto the entrance.The doors revolve from right to left. I did not notice that and I pushed the door in the wrong direction with all my strength fromleft to right and forced my way in, making a screeching sound, only to find 4 security personnel staring at me and the crowd in the lobby coming to a standstill, just looking at me...THAT WAS MY MEGA - ENTRANCE :-)

More...in my next blog....:-)

dESSy

CHENNAI Autowalah!!!!

Hi Guysss!!!!

Dessy is back...

Guess what..today I took a taxi to my home, and the taxi driver was lost..he just took a wrong turn, and had to go more than a mile, to turn back and get me back home. ..Ok you guys beginning to wonder what the hell is he talkin about...Well..its not over yet...he dropped me and the taxi-meter read 20.89 dollars. And now came one of the most shocking incidents of my life..He said.."Sir...I made a mistake, and had to go a mile extra etc..you dont have to pay me 20.89, your fare would be 18 dollars sir..."

I was shocked.... flabbergasted..As i paid him, memories of my chennai life (Ok...i left chennai only one month back..but they ARE memories after all..) came flooding back to my mind.

There were these wondeful series of encounters that i had with the infamous Chennai autodrivers..that i would like to share...Seriously i never thought there could be these many ways of cheating...and the list is not exhaustive..

March 25th, 2006
I remember the date because it was my first day in chennai..I was to report at 10:30 am.., and i was looking for an auto..I was dressed like a clown..a new white shirt, a Red necktie, and my best trouser with a huge file in my hand..and an ID card around my neck...I asked an autowalah for a ride..and he asked 200/-. I thought, he cant fool me...and said, i will give only 150/-.He obiliged. And i was proud of this..only to know that, it should cost me only 50/- max...:-(..Well...this is quite normal in any city...isnt it??

June 6, 2006
It was my birthday, and i was in a very good mood...with a spring in my stride. i decided to take an auto to my office..The autodriver asked me 120/- bucks to my office, while it normally was 80/-..I said "PO" in telugu which meant go but in tamil it was synonymous to get lost..I did not know the meaning then...then the autodriver got down ,and seriously said something to me..I memorised it, and asked my tamil collegues..He actually said.."I am telling YOU..you get lost..". thanks for the respect sir....

I dont remember the dates from now..
But the encounters keep getting serious and bitter..

I had to take an auto the railway station...I got in..there was huuuge traffic....and the driver said...waste sir..too much traffic..and suddenly stopped the vehicle..and asked me to get down asking me to pay half the price...and when i asked why, he said...the engine is giving some trouble and the silencer is making too much sound..i paid him and he went away...only then i realised what an @#$@#% I was...

Few days from then..i had to come home from a bus terminal station out of the city at 10pm..again i took an auto(i never learn from my mistakes)..The price was fixed at 150/-...I reached half the distance...and that guy stopped and said.."Sir, i have to go home..give me 100, take another auto from here...." ..choo chweet...I said..no I am not goin to do that..you have to drop me at my place..Then he quietly went to petrol bunk and very politely said.."sir Give me 100/- for petrol"...i gave him...and thats it..he went 50 meters from there..and stoped the vehicle and said...you have to go..im not taking you from here...I guess this happens no where apart from CHENNAI.

And then...learning from all these mistakes...i decided firmly not to take an auto..only to find myself in an auto to office the next dAY.....the auto driver asked me for 80/- and i got into the auto immediatley without even bargaining..I was so happy to hear a two digit number for an auto fare..And now..the auto driver started talking abt petrol prices etc..etc..and suddently said..sir give me 120/-. He said..i forgot the route...blah..blah..and guess wat I ended up paying 100/-...LESSON LEARNT...the price you bargain in chennai is not the final price..you can have a continuous negotiation till u reach ur destination...Now thats a wonderful provision only in CHENNAI...

Then..at the chennai central station...you take an auto..and if you are alone..they say..let us get one more person sir...why to go alone..and guess what..the fare is not shared..i pay 140 to my place..and the other person also pays the full fare..A perfect example two idiots sharing a ride...with autodriver the sole benefactor.And here comes another twist..u bargain the rate..and after all this...they say..parking price 50/- extra..now where the hell that came from...

Another case...i was sitting beside the auto driver..and was sending to message on my NOKIA 6600...he saw my phone, and he saw my id card..and said..no sir..nokia 6600 is outdated..i have nokia N70..and he showed me his phone..and he asked me what were my specificatins..I said...1.3 VGA cam...60MB memory...he replied.."mine is 2 MP camera,..with 1GB memory extendible upto 2GB and i have a preloaded music player..do you want any songs..i can transfer thru bluetooth" ..i thanked himm..and thought..obviously if you do all the above things..not only will you buy N70..but you would also show attitude..

well, the bottom line is..

By reading all the above scenarios..you would have learnt two things..

1) How to deal with chennai auto drivers..
2) How to become an asshole again and again and again and again...

Choice is yours :-)

Cheers
DessY

Introo

Well Well...This is my first "blog" .I always wondered what a "blog" was. What is it??? A means of voicing out your opinion?? A means venting out your anger?? A means of just bragging about yourself ?? something like.... "Hey did you check out my new blog that i have written on how to make a potato curry?? ...."Dude....you wont believe this, someone posted a comment on my blog last week.."...

I still dont know(honestly) what a blog is., and what exactly is its purpose. Now cmon, dont say "you @#$@#, blog is a weblog....a blog is something similar to a joural.."...blah....blah...blah...
In my opinion, its something on which you scribble something upon, and immediately send the link to all your friends and say.."hey check this out.."
Being an INDIAN i am, I strictly follow the herd (which i have been doing successfully for quite some time now). So considering the fact that every @#$@#% has a blog, its high time even i start writing a "blog"

Enough of starters, its time for the main course...I am D.SRINIVAS, and nobody calls me SRINIVAS. Everyone calls me "DESSY". That has been by nickname for what...18 years now?? and i thank that guy,wherever he is, for giving me this wonderful name(honestly, i like it..)..I am a SOFTWARE ENGINEER by profession and i have been in this field for 2 years now(honestly, i dont know how i survived this long a period...GOSH!!!I have been toooo honest in this blog).

I am a good person(again, honestly :-) ) , and .....and.....what do i say about myself...well..this was how i answered in my interview 2 years back ....I am a hardworking, diligent and self-conscious person who clearly pursues his aspirations. I am a very confident guy, and get along with people very well.I feel my technical qualifications and skills will be a great asset to this company(a blatant lie). Haha...i am laughing as i type this...I WAS NOT HONEST then.;-)

So, coming back to the honest dessy....I am laaaaaazy..I luvvv sleeping..and i dont know(again honestly) what i meant when i said "self-conscious person who clearly pursues his aspirations". And frankly, i dont like "techie" things..I don't get fascinated by the new version of JAVA....Web 2.0 doesn't impress me....software architects and engineers live a boring life.....On the flip side, i like reading books...listening to music and surfing the net...(Now you know, why i dont have a blog till now..do you???)
And my future goals...hmm...post a new entry on my blog in the coming weeks.
I prefer taking it step by step rather than saying....25 years from now, i would want to become the prime minister of INDIA...
Right now, i am in chicago, working as A SOFTWARE ENGINEER. I HOPE TO CHANGE THIS IN COMING YEARS..

MY PRINCIPLE TOWARDS LIFE IS SIMPLE...

YOU HAVE GOT ONLY ONE SHOT AT LIFE...
DO ANYTHING!!! DO EVERYTHING!!!!

BLOOPER!!!!!!

As i told you,,,im new to blogging...

and i wonder how this was posted ;-)
Just ignore this....

More to come...STAY TUNED!!! :-)