watch what I can do!

I am planning to get a car.. so that I don't have to depend on others to drive me to office and back. But there is just one problem.. and that is the license. I am yet to get my SSN. After which I can apply for my DL. But thats not the problem. I doubt if I'll get through the driving test. :-P
I have been to 2 driving schools already.. but that was in india. I'll be joining another driving school soon.. here!
I have had some very sour experiences with driving. First thing that I drove was a bicycle. I managed to crash it atleast 10 times. After that I was never given a chance to crash :(
After I finished taking classes in driving school, I drove my sis's car. Or rather I was just taking it out to drive :))
I managed to rip off the bumper of the car while I was taking it out of the garage :(
Too bad it had to happen in front of my brother. He formed an opinion about me that I am a hopeless driver.
After I went to driving school the second time, I was more confident to drive. So I decided to drive our car. It was a pretty good drive as per my standards, but my bro was all tensed up while I was driving ( God knows for what reason!). He kept yelling at me to change gears.. so much for having such sophisticated equipments!!!
I was driving at 3rd gear only and I hated changing gears. But of course I did change gears when it was very much required. My bro was so scared that he didn't have the control for the brakes that his adrenalin got the better of him when someone crossed the road right in front of our car!!
Well driving in US is much more easier I guess as we have gearless cars :)
But follwing the traffic rules is tough.. have to get used to it I guess.
Am praying that I get my license.
Getting the license apart, I have to learn to read the maps... god know what route 202/35 is!!!
And also got to improve my memory ... otherwise am sure to get lost in the woods!!

I was supposed to land in NY on saturday afternoon 1.30 p.m.. but came at11.30p.m on sunday..!!my flight was from chennai... although i had asked for booking fromblore..started from blore on friday night ..flight was at 10.45.. landed inchennai at 11.30 chennai - New york flight was scheduled at 2.50.. so ichecked in baggage without problem...and then was waiting for boarding..they said the flight will be delayed by half an hour due to technicalsnag.. .. so they made it 3.20..3.20 everybody boarded the flight and we were sitting in the flight for2 hrs after boarding waiting for it to take off....and then they askedus to get off the plane.. !they canceled the flight and rescheduled tosaturday 3.30!They accomodated all non-chennaites in sheraton hotel.. some in park andsome in chola..they provided transportation to us to go to airport atmidnight..we reached airport at 12.. and found a long queue..there were only 2counters to issue boarding passes.. for 200+ ppl!! and they had to issue the boarding pass for connecting flights too.. so it took them really long time to figure out which flight each one can catch to reach theirdestination...!we were in queue for abt 4 hrs!!..it was 4.30 when theyfinished issuing passess...so obviously..the flight was delayed..and as though that was not enuf.. there was thick fog on that day.. sothe flight was delayed by another 2 hrs!! we finally started at 6.30..ppl were so frustrated with delta airlines.. that they kept cursing them all along the flight.. so everybody became frnds...when we finally landed in paris to catch our connecting flights..they found that all of them had left.. it had to happen.. becos we were delayed by 4 hrs..!!so they started booking again.. we were again in queue.. this time for 5 hrs!!...and not just that.. there were tickets only to new york.. ..so they gave the boarding passes to ppl flying to newyork.. and the others were made to stay in paris for the night.. donno if they got a transit visa or not!! becos i was lucky enuf to get aticket to new york..and the flight to new york was a local air france flight...so the mealswere non-veg... and i cudnt eat anything :(( anyway i landed in new yorkat 9.. by the time i cleared my immigration and came home it was11.30!!..i had dinner and slept at 1.15 monday morning!!

Ever wondered were people get the inspiration to write stories? Even though I have read many novels, I never felt the urge to write a story myself. But, when I started reading the stories put on our CHN-INK, I was inspired to write one myself. May be, its the realization that, people like me can be creative too. Anyway, I managed to pen down a story which I haven't published in CHN-INK. It's called "Enigma".

Enigma

I looked out of the window, to check if the rains have receded. It was a week since I went to work. It has been raining incessantly for a week now.
About myself, I am Vishnu, a system analyst. I live in Texas, USA. I came to US 10 years ago to do my MS, like many others. I got a job in Texas soon after I finished my MS. I worked hard all through my life to settle down with a good job. I hate being even second to the best. I love my job. I love my work environment. I spend 15 hrs in office, just to be closer to the thing I love the most.
I am married to a loving wife and a wonderful 6 year old daughter. Our wedding was nothing different from the typical South Indian wedding. I was never interested in getting wedded. But, my parents wouldn’t leave me. So, I gave them the green signal to look out for a girl. They chose Vasuki for me. I didn’t get to meet her or speak to her until the day before the wedding.
My wife Vasuki is a very understanding person. I never expected Indian women to be understanding, which is why I was against getting married. But, Vasuki knew how much I loved my work.
Things didn’t change much after my wedding. I still work for 15 hrs a day.But now, with the heavy down pour, I had to lock myself at home. As the communication lines were down, I couldn’t work from home too.
I spent most part of the week, thinking about my work , sleeping, watching my favorite science channels with my daughter ( Although she would insist on watching her favorite cartoon channels, I felt it was high time she embraced science), watching the trends in the industry and the bull run of the markets.
Vasuki would to be busy with her daily chores. She would also play with Kripa whenever time permits. Kripa would play with all the electronic gadgets I got her. All in all, everyone minded their own business.
It was Saturday morning and the rains had receded, but the city looked out of sorts, so all schools and business establishments remained closed.
Kripa got bored playing with her gadgets, so she went out to play in the rain. I hurried out behind her, to get her back in. As I grabbed her arm and tried to pull her inside, she bit my knuckles and let herself loose. She ran towards her mom, who was also standing in the rain at that moment. I was glad to see her. I came in, hoping Vasuki will bring Kripa in and dry her up.
Neither of them turned up for a long time. I looked out of the window, to my surprise, both mom and daughter were busy playing in the rain. I felt a sense of rage, as I was wondering how careless Vasuki was about Kripa’s health. Suddenly, I felt someone drag me out of my house.
Kripa and Vasuki managed to pull me out of the house and throw me on the ground. Kripa sat on me and Vasuki rubbed the wet mud on my face. Kripa and Vasuki were laughing heartily at my mud filled face.
The last time someone had done that was, my granny. She and I would play in the rain and rub the wet mud on our faces. My dad would come screaming and drag me into the house only to give me some lashes. He had big dreams for me, and I made them come true. I had forgotten what fun was.
I suddenly realized that I was following my father’s footsteps. Was I wrong? Didn’t I enjoy playing in the wet mud with my granny? Didn’t I curse my dad for not letting me play in the rain? Was my daughter cursing me for this? But, I am what I am, because of my father. Shouldn’t I be like that if I want my daughter to be like me? Should I give her a “chance” to change or “choice” to be what she wants to be? But I am doing this for her own good. Should I just take a risk of letting her loose?
Risk - The one thing I learnt from my job was to take risks. I remembered the words that my manager always says, “The thing you’ll regret the most is not what you have done but the risks you haven’t taken in life”. I took a handful of mud and rubbed it on my daughter’s face. And soon, I was cherishing my childhood days. I had never seen Vasuki smile from one end of the ear to the other. I didn’t know that a smile can make you feel so good. I now spend more time with my family. I work for only 9 hrs a day. I enjoy playing with my daughter and teaching her what she needs to learn.

It was almost time for me to start to catch the 10.50 p.m. train to Bangalore. I had packed my things, finished my dinner and was waiting for the clock to strike 9.30. I looked in the mirror and thought “Good, I look as terrible as possible”. I love getting dressed beautifully when I want to really enjoy my day. But traveling all alone in train at night is something that I don’t enjoy much. It rather, scares the hell out of me.
It was 9.30 p.m. I carried my big bag on my shoulders and walked out of my room. I stepped foot on the road, and lo, the rain starts, as if it was waiting for me all the while to pour.
I pulled out my umbrella, another burden (as if my big bag was not enough), and walked up to the auto stand. I was not surprised to find that there weren’t any autos (it always happens to me!). I waited in the rain for an auto, to go to the nearest bus stand. The nearest bus-stand is about 15 minutes walk from my room. Although I love walking, I hate walking with burden on my back. So there I was, waiting for an auto who would take me to the nearest bus-stand for Rs.15. Haggling with the auto drivers in chennai is more like haggling with the vegetable vendors anywhere in the country.

Finally, some auto driver agreed for Rs.15.I got into the auto along with my big bag and made place for both. We reached the bus-stand and I alighted from the auto. I looked in my purse for Rs.15, but I had only hundred rupee notes with me. I pulled out a hundred and gave it to the auto driver. He said he didn’t have change for Rs.100 and said he would get it from someone. I was looking around to spot some shop nearby, where he could get change, in the meantime, the auto driver got into his auto with the money and sped away! I was so taken aback by all this that I stood staring at the auto which sped away, cursing him, and didn’t notice the number plate of the auto! There goes my money…

Bus route number 1 came to a screeching halt near me. Now it was time to shower curses on the bus driver. I gave him a cold look and showered curses in my mind. I got into the crowded bus and stood near the door cursing the bus for being so crowded. I passed on a hundred rupee note to the passenger standing next to me to get me a ticket to central. And then again, my dear luck showed its grace! My fellow passenger replied “This bus doesn’t go to central after 9”. I looked up and thought, “God, why me?”. I decided to travel till Mylapore, and then board another bus from there to central. I was standing in the bus waiting impatiently, for someone seated to get down so that I can sit. I was standing there thinking about my rotten luck, when somebody seated, got down. Finally, I heaved a sigh of relief for my painful shoulders, and sat down. I looked up again and thought, “Ok, my luck is not that rotten after all”.

The bus was nearing Mylapore, and once again my luck shone! There was big traffic jam, because of some construction work going on in the nearby lane. I sat there thinking,” No use cursing anyone for my luck, to hell with the jam!”. I didn’t want to alight the bus and walk the remaining distance to the bus-stand with my big bag and an umbrella. So I decided to wait for the traffic to clear. After about 10 minutes the bus reached the Mylapore bus-stand. I got down from the bus, and was waiting for another bus to come by, to get to central. After about a minute, I ran out of patience. I decided to take an auto to central. I heralded an auto to central, haggled with him and then finally settled for Rs.60.

We reached central at 10.30p.m. I gave the auto driver a hundred rupee note without alighting from the auto and waited till he gave me the change. I took the change and got down from the auto, and walked towards the main display in the central railway station. I checked the platform number where I had to board my train, it was platform number 3.

The train had already arrived and I walked the length of the train to get to my compartment, S1. I got in and searched for my cuboid-cle. I wasn’t surprised that the passengers in my cuboid-cle were all men. (It always happens!) I had got middle berth, so I was waiting for the passenger with the lower berth ticket to “decide” to sleep.Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you that I hate middle berth. It gives a good view for people in lower, middle and upper berth on the opposite side. Finally, the guy who had got lower berth decided to sleep. I raised my berth and climbed up to sleep. I shut my eyes and prayed that no eyes were peering at me. I couldn’t sleep all night and was waiting for day break.

It was 6.30 in the morning and the train would reach my station in another 15 minutes. I hurriedly got out of my berth, washed my face and packed my bed sheet. The train reached my station and I was more than glad to get off the train.