One of the coolest roadtrip stories I've ever heard!
Friday, March 16, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Wild Hogs -- The movie review
Last night we watched the movie 'Wild Hogs'. We were supposed to watch it last week but didn't do so because it got an F grade from the critics and most user reviews weren't gr8 either. But to our surprise, the movie made $40 million in one weekend and hence we decided to watch it. It turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.
The movie is about 4 40-something friends Doug (Tim Allen) who's a married dentist, Woody (John Travolta) who's a high profile broker kinda guy just divorced, Bobby (Martin Lawrence) a henpecked plumber and Dudley (William H. Macy) a geeky software programmer who is perpetually scared of women. The situations of their lives where one has high cholesterol and can't eat junk while the other cannot pursue a book writing dream while another is bankrupt et.al. lead them on the quest of freedom. Being good old college buddies, they decide to do what they've always doing together -- BIKING! They decide to head out in quest of the pacific on a road trip from Cincinnati.
The movie is about how their roadtrip shapes up, including their troubles getting along with each other and then getting accepted among real bikers. Somewhere along the skirmishes with real bikers, there's a nice little love story that gets created in a tiny little New Mexican town.
The movie is an out-and-out comedy which has a very good mix of mid-life crisis, the quest for freedom and the attempt to be 'cool'. Dudley's character is hilarious right from the beginning, given his attempts to fit in among friends and women though he loves his geeky beginning. The scene in the trailers of him banging into a realtor board is only the tip of the iceberg. His character has been very well crafted to keep you rolling in laughter. William Macy, traditionally the serious 'character role' artist, carries out Dudley really well.
Martin Lawrence's Bobby is well-crafted. Age has definitely taken out any of the goofiness from him. The sways and stylish way of talking that only he can do with that husky "am in pain" accent is good to hear as usual.
John Travolta's character of Woody starts off very boisterous and full of enthusiasm. Somewhere along the way, his situation in life shows up as guilt and it is really funny to see him cringing, though it borders on irritation at times. Towards the end of the movie, his back to where he started the movie and that's really entertaining.
Tim Allen's Doug has the most gentlemany character of role. Doesn't do much but generate a few good guffaws. It is the kind of typical Tim Allen role that we get to see on "Home Improvement" :-) He has one of the best scenes of the movie when he slaps a bull's butt, only to realize that a bull should never be slapped twice on the butt! I leave the rest for your imagination.
There's a wide variety of supporting cast that provides good laughs here and there.
The story itself is one of those "feel good" stories, where the underdogs win. Add a romantic angle to it and there's your nice enjoyable movie. Added to that, given that these gentlemen are mostly 45+, it is mostly clean humor with little or no profanity or "adult" material, making it a clean family entertainer.
I'd definitely recommend that you watch it.
The movie is about 4 40-something friends Doug (Tim Allen) who's a married dentist, Woody (John Travolta) who's a high profile broker kinda guy just divorced, Bobby (Martin Lawrence) a henpecked plumber and Dudley (William H. Macy) a geeky software programmer who is perpetually scared of women. The situations of their lives where one has high cholesterol and can't eat junk while the other cannot pursue a book writing dream while another is bankrupt et.al. lead them on the quest of freedom. Being good old college buddies, they decide to do what they've always doing together -- BIKING! They decide to head out in quest of the pacific on a road trip from Cincinnati.
The movie is about how their roadtrip shapes up, including their troubles getting along with each other and then getting accepted among real bikers. Somewhere along the skirmishes with real bikers, there's a nice little love story that gets created in a tiny little New Mexican town.
The movie is an out-and-out comedy which has a very good mix of mid-life crisis, the quest for freedom and the attempt to be 'cool'. Dudley's character is hilarious right from the beginning, given his attempts to fit in among friends and women though he loves his geeky beginning. The scene in the trailers of him banging into a realtor board is only the tip of the iceberg. His character has been very well crafted to keep you rolling in laughter. William Macy, traditionally the serious 'character role' artist, carries out Dudley really well.
Martin Lawrence's Bobby is well-crafted. Age has definitely taken out any of the goofiness from him. The sways and stylish way of talking that only he can do with that husky "am in pain" accent is good to hear as usual.
John Travolta's character of Woody starts off very boisterous and full of enthusiasm. Somewhere along the way, his situation in life shows up as guilt and it is really funny to see him cringing, though it borders on irritation at times. Towards the end of the movie, his back to where he started the movie and that's really entertaining.
Tim Allen's Doug has the most gentlemany character of role. Doesn't do much but generate a few good guffaws. It is the kind of typical Tim Allen role that we get to see on "Home Improvement" :-) He has one of the best scenes of the movie when he slaps a bull's butt, only to realize that a bull should never be slapped twice on the butt! I leave the rest for your imagination.
There's a wide variety of supporting cast that provides good laughs here and there.
The story itself is one of those "feel good" stories, where the underdogs win. Add a romantic angle to it and there's your nice enjoyable movie. Added to that, given that these gentlemen are mostly 45+, it is mostly clean humor with little or no profanity or "adult" material, making it a clean family entertainer.
I'd definitely recommend that you watch it.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Of microfinancing schemes, morals and social responsibilities ...
A friend of mine forwarded information regarding a non-profit organization that is into microfinancing. This e-mail was doing rounds on a mailing list that we are part of. Soon, a war of mails started about how organizations doing microfinancing aren't actually hitting the real target i.e., end of poverty. Especially at the heart of the argument, were 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winners Dr. Mohammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank.
Grameen has done phenomenal work in alleviating poverty over the last 30+ years in Bangladesh and rest of the world. Atleast, that is the claim made. However, a series of articles, such as the ones below, exposed how the microfinancing system, though theoretically extraordinary, fail to make drastic social impact and in fact, on the flipside, end up doing far more damage to societal structures.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061030/bello
The articles above would give the reader a better idea about microfinancing, which is not the purpose of discussion in this blog, which I delve into now ...
Reading these articles really made me wonder, why on earth should one care about ending poverty or making lives of people better. Of course, people have provided me with endless arguments about how poverty can never end because it defies the laws of economics or how peace can never be achieved in the world because it defies the laws of societies and economics and politics et.al. I always ignored these comments in the enthusiasm of 'making a difference' in the world. However, I now concede, yes ... it is a perfectly valid argument that poverty is never going to end and world peace will never be achieved.
This rolls me over to my favorite 'moral' conversation ... what about social responsibility? How responsible is one for the society around them? I think people living in a society can be structured into the following ....
a. People who are happy to pay their taxes and wait for the government to work wonders.
b. People who pay their taxes, are unhappy about the governments work and on top of that pay extra money to NGOs to get some good work done that is 'helpful' to the society.
c. People who contribute taxes to the government and also contribute to NGO efforts but are still left unhappy about how the world is and are seeking solutions (I probably belong to this group)
d. People who've had enough of what's being done by the government and NGOs and instead decide to give it all up and go and do something of their own.
At the end of all this long blah ... blah ... I am left in this reflective state of mind where I really would want to think that instead of pursuing seemingly impossible, utopian goals, it'd make much more sense to scale down to a much more manageable level of life than go for the moon. I am reminded of what a very good friend of mine once said ... "I want to end my own poverty. I think that's the best contribution I can make to the end of world poverty". This is very selfish, I guess, but a lot more sensible :-)
P.S.: A full 12 or so hours after writing this blog, I am at much greater ease on this topic ... my newest and favoritest advisor i.e., my wife told me to follow what Lord Krishna told Arjuna in the Bhagavadgita about doing one's duty without caring for the fruits of the effort! :-)
Grameen has done phenomenal work in alleviating poverty over the last 30+ years in Bangladesh and rest of the world. Atleast, that is the claim made. However, a series of articles, such as the ones below, exposed how the microfinancing system, though theoretically extraordinary, fail to make drastic social impact and in fact, on the flipside, end up doing far more damage to societal structures.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061030/bello
http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Micro.html
The articles above would give the reader a better idea about microfinancing, which is not the purpose of discussion in this blog, which I delve into now ...
Reading these articles really made me wonder, why on earth should one care about ending poverty or making lives of people better. Of course, people have provided me with endless arguments about how poverty can never end because it defies the laws of economics or how peace can never be achieved in the world because it defies the laws of societies and economics and politics et.al. I always ignored these comments in the enthusiasm of 'making a difference' in the world. However, I now concede, yes ... it is a perfectly valid argument that poverty is never going to end and world peace will never be achieved.
This rolls me over to my favorite 'moral' conversation ... what about social responsibility? How responsible is one for the society around them? I think people living in a society can be structured into the following ....
a. People who are happy to pay their taxes and wait for the government to work wonders.
b. People who pay their taxes, are unhappy about the governments work and on top of that pay extra money to NGOs to get some good work done that is 'helpful' to the society.
c. People who contribute taxes to the government and also contribute to NGO efforts but are still left unhappy about how the world is and are seeking solutions (I probably belong to this group)
d. People who've had enough of what's being done by the government and NGOs and instead decide to give it all up and go and do something of their own.
At the end of all this long blah ... blah ... I am left in this reflective state of mind where I really would want to think that instead of pursuing seemingly impossible, utopian goals, it'd make much more sense to scale down to a much more manageable level of life than go for the moon. I am reminded of what a very good friend of mine once said ... "I want to end my own poverty. I think that's the best contribution I can make to the end of world poverty". This is very selfish, I guess, but a lot more sensible :-)
P.S.: A full 12 or so hours after writing this blog, I am at much greater ease on this topic ... my newest and favoritest advisor i.e., my wife told me to follow what Lord Krishna told Arjuna in the Bhagavadgita about doing one's duty without caring for the fruits of the effort! :-)
Friday, February 23, 2007
Closing off a hectic week
What better way to close a week that's been hectic for my wife and me, than a poem? ;-)
"wake up! we need to wake up" you say
*yawn* "yeah i will ... oh man!" i say
"quick ... quick ... its 7.30 already" i say
"yes ... yes ... am almost done" you say
*yawn* "i am on the train now" you say
*yawn* "good! have a gr8 day ... go 2 sleep now" i say
"where were you all morning?" i ask
"meetings all morning ..." you say
"had lunch yet?" you ask
"not yet ... too busy fixing bugs" i say
"have you left yet?" i ask
"not yet ... will leave soon" you say
*yawn* "have you left yet? i'll be there soon" you ask
*yawn* "am on my way" i say
"man! i am so tired ... i can sleep now" i say
"hahaha ... lets see" you say
"i can't sleep ... i am yawning so much" you say
"... me neither" i say
zzzzzz ... snore ....
"wake up! we need to wake up" you say
*yawn* "yeah i will ... oh man!" i say
"quick ... quick ... its 7.30 already" i say
"yes ... yes ... am almost done" you say
*yawn* "i am on the train now" you say
*yawn* "good! have a gr8 day ... go 2 sleep now" i say
"where were you all morning?" i ask
"meetings all morning ..." you say
"had lunch yet?" you ask
"not yet ... too busy fixing bugs" i say
"have you left yet?" i ask
"not yet ... will leave soon" you say
*yawn* "have you left yet? i'll be there soon" you ask
*yawn* "am on my way" i say
"man! i am so tired ... i can sleep now" i say
"hahaha ... lets see" you say
"i can't sleep ... i am yawning so much" you say
"... me neither" i say
zzzzzz ... snore ....
Monday, February 12, 2007
A new realm of work in Jalamangala
History
Jalamangala village is a small village about 45 miles from Bangalore. My family has a history
of about 300 years in this village. Our ancestors came from Andhra Pradesh long ago and settled here. My grandfather was a priest and post master. He was very active in the Village during his lifetime, active in politics and was a philanthropist. During his lifetime and the years following his death, his 8 sons moved to Bangalore city for livelihood.
My relationship to the village
I had made a few trips to the village during my childhood days. I have fond memories of those
trips. The simple nature of the villagers always touched me. At the same time, the caste structure was something that disappointed me because it put the people of the village at a lower pedestal than my own. For me, we are all humans after all and need to be treated alike. But, being the scared little sissy that I was, I kept quiet!
I came to the US in Dec ’99. Many Indians that I spoke to were disappointed with how
rural/poor India showed on the global map. Some were sad and others were outright critical about the country. This made me angry, but then again I just kept quiet bottling up that anger.
Life smiled on my predicament in the form of a couple of seminars (The Landmark Forum and The Landmark Advanced Course) that I participated in through a seminar company called Landmark Education. These seminars revealed to me in no-nonsense terms that I need not stay angry forever about my country’s state but could actually do something about it. Trivial as this may sound, it was an amazing breakthrough that infused a fresh breath of freedom for me.
In a community project seminar (The Self-Expression and Leadership Program) that I did immediately, I did a small project of inviting my family members to go on a day trip to Jalamangala. Though this sounds small, the context in which it was created was huge. I created the context of the accountability for my family – we got so much out of the village and prospered but we didn’t give much back to the village. Now it was payback time!
The day long trip had its impact on the members of my family, many of who were visiting the village after 10+ years. They were left inspired by what’s possible for them.
My dad’s return from the US
Somewhere in the middle of my seminar, my dad arrived in the US in late 2003. I had just
been laid off from my job. He thought it wasn't a good idea to do some project for my village instead of stabilizing in my career. I threatened a mutiny and told him that I am willing to head back to my village and become a doodhwala aka milkman ;-) My dad got scared like crazy and he proposed that we reach an agreement. Soon enough I found a job and he chilled out. In the following days, he shared with me his own vision for our village and impressed on me the importance of me staying in the US and earning money to help our village. That proved to be a turning point in my life, as money was no longer a tool of the greedy but a vehicle for alleviating the quality of life for mankind. Of course, it also meant that becoming a doodhwala remained a fantasy of mine :-( My dad returned to India much earlier than he planned.
The Project is born
An Uncle of mine had been active in the village and the area surrounding it for many years. Given the momentum that he had built up already, my dad got together the rest of his brothers and sister and convinced them about the importance of our family’s role in our village. The family decided on starting off by renovating our 300 year old ancestral home. My dad, given his experience as a highly successful executive in the area of project execution, got the home renovation project done in record time. The newly renovated home was grandly reopened to the entire family and relatives. A lot of them reminisced the life of my grandfather. A beautiful flower and fruit bearing garden was also created. The funds for the entire project was raised within the family.
Following the home renovation, projects were taken up that would help the village. The first
area that was identified was healthcare. A few health camps were organized to help people with
physical disability, eye care issues, heart issues et.al. Also, given the value contributed by religious and spiritual activities, visits from RK Mutt were organized.
Project with a life of its own
Around this time, the villagers actually grew skeptical about the efforts of our family and
wondered if this was a short lived “cool” idea. Fortunately, for us and them, that was not to be the case. The medical camps continued. Also, the religious activities expanded with the renovation of important temples in the village that were ignored for a long, long time. Recently, a Ganesha temple was newly constructed and has had a huge impact on the villagers.
The local high school was impacted in a useful way when teachers/experts from Bangalore
city gave useful guidance to the students of 10th class. The school also organized numerous student events that was presided by members of our family and the messages delivered our deemed inspiring.
One of my aunts, who teaches high school students in Bangalore, organized a roadtrip for her
students and the mix of students from the two areas was something very amazing. The children from the city realized how much they lacked in terms of extra curricular activities.
Current/Future projects/status
Our family plans to continue its projects in the areas of medicine, healthcare and
religious/spiritual activities. We are able to manage the financial needs within our family. However, personnel who can participate frequently is what is needed. Currently, only my parents, a couple of uncles, aunts and cousins have the bandwidth to be active.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the context that would make a difference is what’s said in the movie “Gandhi” by
Gandhi’s character, that India is a country made up of 700,000 villages. If each one of us takes on our respective village, then 700,000 people can make a difference with the entire country’s progress!
Jalamangala village is a small village about 45 miles from Bangalore. My family has a history
of about 300 years in this village. Our ancestors came from Andhra Pradesh long ago and settled here. My grandfather was a priest and post master. He was very active in the Village during his lifetime, active in politics and was a philanthropist. During his lifetime and the years following his death, his 8 sons moved to Bangalore city for livelihood.
My relationship to the village
I had made a few trips to the village during my childhood days. I have fond memories of those
trips. The simple nature of the villagers always touched me. At the same time, the caste structure was something that disappointed me because it put the people of the village at a lower pedestal than my own. For me, we are all humans after all and need to be treated alike. But, being the scared little sissy that I was, I kept quiet!
I came to the US in Dec ’99. Many Indians that I spoke to were disappointed with how
rural/poor India showed on the global map. Some were sad and others were outright critical about the country. This made me angry, but then again I just kept quiet bottling up that anger.
Life smiled on my predicament in the form of a couple of seminars (The Landmark Forum and The Landmark Advanced Course) that I participated in through a seminar company called Landmark Education. These seminars revealed to me in no-nonsense terms that I need not stay angry forever about my country’s state but could actually do something about it. Trivial as this may sound, it was an amazing breakthrough that infused a fresh breath of freedom for me.
In a community project seminar (The Self-Expression and Leadership Program) that I did immediately, I did a small project of inviting my family members to go on a day trip to Jalamangala. Though this sounds small, the context in which it was created was huge. I created the context of the accountability for my family – we got so much out of the village and prospered but we didn’t give much back to the village. Now it was payback time!
The day long trip had its impact on the members of my family, many of who were visiting the village after 10+ years. They were left inspired by what’s possible for them.
My dad’s return from the US
Somewhere in the middle of my seminar, my dad arrived in the US in late 2003. I had just
been laid off from my job. He thought it wasn't a good idea to do some project for my village instead of stabilizing in my career. I threatened a mutiny and told him that I am willing to head back to my village and become a doodhwala aka milkman ;-) My dad got scared like crazy and he proposed that we reach an agreement. Soon enough I found a job and he chilled out. In the following days, he shared with me his own vision for our village and impressed on me the importance of me staying in the US and earning money to help our village. That proved to be a turning point in my life, as money was no longer a tool of the greedy but a vehicle for alleviating the quality of life for mankind. Of course, it also meant that becoming a doodhwala remained a fantasy of mine :-( My dad returned to India much earlier than he planned.
The Project is born
An Uncle of mine had been active in the village and the area surrounding it for many years. Given the momentum that he had built up already, my dad got together the rest of his brothers and sister and convinced them about the importance of our family’s role in our village. The family decided on starting off by renovating our 300 year old ancestral home. My dad, given his experience as a highly successful executive in the area of project execution, got the home renovation project done in record time. The newly renovated home was grandly reopened to the entire family and relatives. A lot of them reminisced the life of my grandfather. A beautiful flower and fruit bearing garden was also created. The funds for the entire project was raised within the family.
Following the home renovation, projects were taken up that would help the village. The first
area that was identified was healthcare. A few health camps were organized to help people with
physical disability, eye care issues, heart issues et.al. Also, given the value contributed by religious and spiritual activities, visits from RK Mutt were organized.
Project with a life of its own
Around this time, the villagers actually grew skeptical about the efforts of our family and
wondered if this was a short lived “cool” idea. Fortunately, for us and them, that was not to be the case. The medical camps continued. Also, the religious activities expanded with the renovation of important temples in the village that were ignored for a long, long time. Recently, a Ganesha temple was newly constructed and has had a huge impact on the villagers.
The local high school was impacted in a useful way when teachers/experts from Bangalore
city gave useful guidance to the students of 10th class. The school also organized numerous student events that was presided by members of our family and the messages delivered our deemed inspiring.
One of my aunts, who teaches high school students in Bangalore, organized a roadtrip for her
students and the mix of students from the two areas was something very amazing. The children from the city realized how much they lacked in terms of extra curricular activities.
Current/Future projects/status
Our family plans to continue its projects in the areas of medicine, healthcare and
religious/spiritual activities. We are able to manage the financial needs within our family. However, personnel who can participate frequently is what is needed. Currently, only my parents, a couple of uncles, aunts and cousins have the bandwidth to be active.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the context that would make a difference is what’s said in the movie “Gandhi” by
Gandhi’s character, that India is a country made up of 700,000 villages. If each one of us takes on our respective village, then 700,000 people can make a difference with the entire country’s progress!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
car ... car ... car ...
People's love for automobiles is variegated. The so called purists, love a car for its design. The miserly love a car for its mileage. The lazy love a car for its ease of maintenance. The lazy and miserly have all the more to celebrate, now! Then there are the hopeless romantics, who love a car for no apparent reason ... sometimes not even knowing what's cool about the car they love.
I am a hopeless romantic, when it comes to cars. Since childhood, I've been amazed by the gorgeous curves of those two Italian ladies ... nope, I ain't talking about Sophia Loren and Monica Vitti ... I am talkin' about the Ferrari and the Lamborghini. The vrroom...vroom sound, the claims about top speed, the raw power ... just the plain layman attractions of these cars made me drool over them.
When I was old enough to have my own motor vehicle, my parents chose the Maruti 800 that was lying around, than a motorbike, hoping that I'll be safer in that one ;-) Well, when your friends ride bikes at top speeds, you can't really be a sitting duck, can you? ;-) So, I was soon famous in college for how "well" I sped my car. Some infamous anecdotes include a midnight race of mine in the car with a friend on a bike in Bangalore's narrow residential roads and the famous one of my aunt chanting Vishnu Sahasranama in the back seat of the car, even as I beat the clock to drop her off where she wanted to get and get to my tuitions in time. Needless to say, there were numerous funny incidents such as running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere and flat tires at critical junctures et.al. But the end result of all these experiences in the car was that, by the time I left for the US, the car was sounding like a truck and the mechanic asked my dad how could I have driven the car when the engine was barely mounted ... yeehaw!!
When I started my job in the US, it was time to buy a car. I had various choices. I could save money and buy a used car. Something that I didn't want to do, obviously. I somehow felt that my first car must be a nice, brand new car. OK! The next piece of advise that was floated around for me, from well meaning long-time resident desis, was to buy a Honda or a Toyota for its nice mileage and ease of maintenance. I wasn't sure about this, but at the same time, the deluge of advise was overwhelming. Respite came in the form of a good friend of mine, who owned a BMW and told me that I should get something "hatke" like a BMW. Now, that was something beyond my affordability. So, the next available options were Volkswagen Jetta, one of the Mazda cars and the Nissan Altima. The first place I went shopping was to the Nissan store, to do a testdrive. I just loved the rev of the engine and I walked out with my Nissan Altima in tow (remember, I am a hopeless romantic when it comes to cars) ... some quick shopping, eh? That was on 20th August 2001.
The Altima has been like a close pal since then. I've driven the car on some of the coolest rides in and around the area. When my friends were still in school and since I was one of the few who owned a car, it was a very welcome luxury among them. Everytime I went to LA to meet them, it was always a very wonderful time that we had. It was our 'ratha' to go to late night pizza dinners in the 'dark den' and then drive over to Santa Monica beach at 2 am to have a duel with the raging waves to see if we could keep the waves away from us! Even the drive to LA was memorable many a times because of the exhilirating thrill I got out of taking my car to the peak speed possible of 120 MPH and then spend the next chilling 5-10 seconds as the speed came down to 70-odd MPH. Of course, I ensured there were no cops around, enjoying my crazy stunts! On a trip to Yosemite, with the LA gang, the moon roof came very useful, as people took turns to put their head out into the chilling night as we zipped past the valley. The most recent fabulous trip on the car was a 3000 mile roatrip with my sweetheart wife. It was a wondeful trip for many reasons including the moments spent with my wife ... not to forget the memorable but scary drives through snow country in Colorado and Utah.
That reminds me how, my car has saved me despite my rashness in driving. I have had the misfortune of rear-ending my car two times. Though the car did suffer some damage, I was never injured! After this, I had to really re-evaluate my driving habits. I realized that though I had the cocky attitude that I was a safe driver, there was this sense of negligence towards the other drivers on the road and a lack of respect for their safety. Needless to say, my driving is safer now :-)
So my dear friend, teacher and trusted servant ... Nissan Altima ... here's saluting you on seeing me through 100,000 miles of service. Here's hoping a longer time together.
I am a hopeless romantic, when it comes to cars. Since childhood, I've been amazed by the gorgeous curves of those two Italian ladies ... nope, I ain't talking about Sophia Loren and Monica Vitti ... I am talkin' about the Ferrari and the Lamborghini. The vrroom...vroom sound, the claims about top speed, the raw power ... just the plain layman attractions of these cars made me drool over them.
When I was old enough to have my own motor vehicle, my parents chose the Maruti 800 that was lying around, than a motorbike, hoping that I'll be safer in that one ;-) Well, when your friends ride bikes at top speeds, you can't really be a sitting duck, can you? ;-) So, I was soon famous in college for how "well" I sped my car. Some infamous anecdotes include a midnight race of mine in the car with a friend on a bike in Bangalore's narrow residential roads and the famous one of my aunt chanting Vishnu Sahasranama in the back seat of the car, even as I beat the clock to drop her off where she wanted to get and get to my tuitions in time. Needless to say, there were numerous funny incidents such as running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere and flat tires at critical junctures et.al. But the end result of all these experiences in the car was that, by the time I left for the US, the car was sounding like a truck and the mechanic asked my dad how could I have driven the car when the engine was barely mounted ... yeehaw!!
When I started my job in the US, it was time to buy a car. I had various choices. I could save money and buy a used car. Something that I didn't want to do, obviously. I somehow felt that my first car must be a nice, brand new car. OK! The next piece of advise that was floated around for me, from well meaning long-time resident desis, was to buy a Honda or a Toyota for its nice mileage and ease of maintenance. I wasn't sure about this, but at the same time, the deluge of advise was overwhelming. Respite came in the form of a good friend of mine, who owned a BMW and told me that I should get something "hatke" like a BMW. Now, that was something beyond my affordability. So, the next available options were Volkswagen Jetta, one of the Mazda cars and the Nissan Altima. The first place I went shopping was to the Nissan store, to do a testdrive. I just loved the rev of the engine and I walked out with my Nissan Altima in tow (remember, I am a hopeless romantic when it comes to cars) ... some quick shopping, eh? That was on 20th August 2001.
The Altima has been like a close pal since then. I've driven the car on some of the coolest rides in and around the area. When my friends were still in school and since I was one of the few who owned a car, it was a very welcome luxury among them. Everytime I went to LA to meet them, it was always a very wonderful time that we had. It was our 'ratha' to go to late night pizza dinners in the 'dark den' and then drive over to Santa Monica beach at 2 am to have a duel with the raging waves to see if we could keep the waves away from us! Even the drive to LA was memorable many a times because of the exhilirating thrill I got out of taking my car to the peak speed possible of 120 MPH and then spend the next chilling 5-10 seconds as the speed came down to 70-odd MPH. Of course, I ensured there were no cops around, enjoying my crazy stunts! On a trip to Yosemite, with the LA gang, the moon roof came very useful, as people took turns to put their head out into the chilling night as we zipped past the valley. The most recent fabulous trip on the car was a 3000 mile roatrip with my sweetheart wife. It was a wondeful trip for many reasons including the moments spent with my wife ... not to forget the memorable but scary drives through snow country in Colorado and Utah.
That reminds me how, my car has saved me despite my rashness in driving. I have had the misfortune of rear-ending my car two times. Though the car did suffer some damage, I was never injured! After this, I had to really re-evaluate my driving habits. I realized that though I had the cocky attitude that I was a safe driver, there was this sense of negligence towards the other drivers on the road and a lack of respect for their safety. Needless to say, my driving is safer now :-)
So my dear friend, teacher and trusted servant ... Nissan Altima ... here's saluting you on seeing me through 100,000 miles of service. Here's hoping a longer time together.
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