My new Dell Inspiron 1520 notebook

Today I got my new notebook. I think its a good config though would like to paste it and try to gauge world opinion on how good it is -

Inspiron 1520, Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, 2.0GHz, 800Mhz 2M L2 Cache
Ruby Red Color with MicrosatinFinish
2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
15.4 inch Wide Screen WXGA LCDTrueLife
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, English
Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy
Intel 3945 WLAN (802.11a/g) Mini Card
Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Prim
Dell Wirless 355 Bluetooth Mod
Dell Bluetooth Travel mouse

Orlando, Florida

I left for Winter Park last week Friday night - catching the same south-bound Amtrak (the 91 Silver Star) that Shveta had caught two weeks earlier, and under similar circumstances - the train is scheduled at 1.44AM, but never quite makes it - not even an hour long delay. In fact, I left home, some 20 miles away from the Pulaski Street, Downtown Columbia located station at 2.00AM!! All through that evening, I was calling up Anup Bhaisaab and Shveta to know the status of the train, and finally, called the cab to go to the station. The train finally made it at about 3.30AM and I got to get my first experience of traveling long distance on train in the US. It was a comfortable journey, and in anycase I was traveling light so the journey as such was quite pleasant. The train coursed through South Carolina, Georgia and finally into Florida - I had slept a few hours during this 8 hour long journey but couldn't sleep through the whole of it, partly because I was not aware that we could ask for a blanket and it was quite chilly in there. However, in retrospect, it was a good thing for me to do...as we entered Florida, I could distinctly make out the changing landscape, the flora - which now seemed quite mediterranean and reminded me of my trip up the French Riviera. I reached Winter Park at about 11.30AM. Anup Bhaisaab and Shveta were there to pick me on bhaisaab's Merc. And as we left the station, I could quite put in place the merc in that setting. Winter Park is a very plush, rich town - with the entire road from the station up to a considerable distance lined up with some of the top-notch fashion labels one finds in good malls here. I was enjoying the scenery as well as narrating my tales of the journey - the shopping district made way to residential complexes - very very mediterranean in look (and aptly named "Casa" in many places). And as we were driving towards the Jessica Court area, I could also see how indistinguishable the city limits are between Winter Park and Orlando - just a road divides the two cities..Anyhow, we reached home, where Bhabhi had made some snacks - poha and fruits, etc. For a minute, I thought I was not in America but at home - with the home glowing with warmth and affection. The next two days were an extension of that, with an introduction of many other people whom I knew earlier and whom I'd known through Shveta but needed to put faces to names. But the most important of the people I had known and just had to meet were, besides Bhaisaab and his immediate family, Beeji (bhaisaab's mom), Gopal bhaisaab and Saroj Bhabhi. I also got to meet some amazing people in those two day's stay (I simply don't understand how we could have so much of stuff packed into 2 days) - Rajeev bhaisaab and Minna mausi, Prakash bhaisaab and his family. Rahul came down from Tampa over on Saturday evening. A great kid born and living here, but with very strong values. The weekend was jam-packed with very enjoyable get-togethers - meeting Beeji and talking to her (got a few snaps of her too - wish I had bought a handycam - will surely do that before my next trip in November, though), and of course, the Universal Studios visit. Can't thank Anup Bhaisaab and Rekha bhabhi enough. I would dare say they are as affectionate to us as they are to their own children. They also got us a car, a Nissan Sentra (another loong and very very eventful story my return trip would make. My debut road hike - a 440 mile journey to Columbia!!)...Guess when my new Dell laptop comes next week, I would do some real-time blogging and capture some interesting titbits of my visit to Orlando...

Concord Mills

Got to know from Wikipedia that the Concord Mills at Concord, NC where we went last weekend is the largest tourist center of attraction in the whole of North Carolina, attracting close to 15 million people a year! Wow! And to think its just 75 miles away from here...

Funny morning show on the radio..

Today I woke up early morning and lazily switched on the radio in my alarm radio as I was going for my morning rituals. And there was this show kind of a thing running where people could phone in and someone had called in to ask if the "Dally Lama" is some kind of an act like the "Pussycat Dolls", coz they sound so similar..and this show host says "Oh no, Dally Lama is a peace guy and a great man and he gives buddhist blessings with the tigers"..whatever that meant! This guy then replies, "Oh yeah, he gave me one of the those" and this guy says" the Dally Lama gave you a buddhist blessing with the tigers? What did he bless you with?"..this guy says "Oh he blessed me to become a sex machine"..and then our show host says "Wait a minute, Jeez..the Dally Lama gave you a buddhist blessing with the tigers to become a sex machine..what were the tigers doing?" and this went on and on...insanely surreal..though it sounds racist (and is racist), it sounded very funny...and to think such a show started off so early in the morning, some people have a lot of time for all kinds of things out here!! And then, soon after, the channel played Nickelback's Rockstar..

Visit to Charlotte, NC

Yesterday we went to see a movie, "Bhool Bhulaiya" to Charlotte, some 75 miles from Columbia. We started from Windsors at around 10.30AM and first went to Kangaroos for gas. We were a group of 3 SUVs, with about 6 guys in each vehicle. It was a pleasant, sunny morning which had gotten quite warm very soon after a nippy early morning. I had infact not been able to sleep much in our large two-bedroom apartment for the second straight day - perhaps spending the weekend without Shveta, and with no TV, phone, laptop becomes such a dull time unless one spends time with friends, that getting to sleep becomes an ordeal. Anyhow, seems like I was among the earliest to wake up in the neighborhood and then went to Jithesh's at around 9AM. Found him and his roomies still snoring happily, as did all others across Windsors. Weekends are surprisingly lazy days in the US. And yet, could be the most hectic too, if you are planning to go to cities afar. The Americans take things easy - they go hunting, boating, fishing, hiking, dirt-biking and what not during the weekends...while we plan (and accomplish) some impossible jaunts - such as driving down to the Niagaras, Orlando, NY, New Orleans, etc on a weekend - the only show of collective determination by us lot. Actually, to think of it, we are all business tourists and it makes sense to travel a lot...anyways, this was a usual lazy type of a weekend, and the Sunday morning was ideal for people who love to get snugged up in cozy comforters or quilts and wake up at noon..we finally left Kangaroo for Charlotte at around 10.45AM-11AM. The road looked really great, with the lane divider spruced up with autumn flowers. One cannot see the effect of fall yet on the roadside trees, but the flowers were distinctly the ones you get this time of the year. After crossing Exit 24 (our office way), we continued further and then decided to stop by a Rest Area. I was sitting in Jithesh's car and we had Jithesh, Devesh, Pratul, Harish, Kanthi and one more guy in this vehicle, besides me. A few hindi CDs were available, and even then people sitting at the back were snoring away to glory!..We finally reached a Rest Area, an open enclosure with a few shed like constructions, along with Rest Rooms..and after stretching our legs a bit (and relieving ourselves, of course) we left for Charlotte.
We reached Charlotte city limits by about 12 (noon). Our itinerary was to spend about 2-3 hours at the Concord Mills mall, a hell of a mall and my first big mall experience in the US, then to go the Grand Cinemas at Ayreton Road on Exit 3, have dinner and return.
Charlotte for sure is a big city - we could only see the downtown skyline from I77 - the Wachovia and BankAm buildings are like any skyscraper in any large city in the US. Suddenly, unlike in Columbia, the roads seemed much more widened with a few more lanes added. And as we approached Concord Mills, we realized that it is one of the focal points of the city, where the city and its nearby towns seem to converge into a huge fair like thing. And more so, it was a Sunday. After racking our brains and scanning the parking lot, we finally got a space and then went in. We decided to meet at Gate 2 (Book A Million store) and then dispersed. I was with Hardik, Hemant and Sonali. We first went to Sketchers to buy the oh so famous shoes that everyone in our company raves about. I found a cool pair for myself (priced at $59.95, got it for $45 after discount). Slowly we found the entire gang there in sketchers, and the noise levels had gone up, matching the desi effect that one finds in any mall in India. We obviously became the cynosure, rather nasty glare of some of the people, but who cared less? We bought our stuff and quickly got out - this time Hemant and Sonali headed for Burlington Coats, while I and Hardik went to Aeropostale, Ecko, Nascar (with all the possible Nascar memorabilia available)...I didn't find anything interesting here, and I guess Hardik didn't either, since most of the clothes we say and liked were "Made in India" or "Made in Bangladesh" and we didn't want to buy a $9.99 tee which no one could have believed was bought from US...we didn't realize it was already about 2.30PM. We were quite famished and rushed to the massive food court. Hardik told me about California Pizza Kitchen, a good pizza joint that serves authentic American (and not Italian) pizzas. Really good BBQ Chicken Pizza with Coke. Then we rushed to the other side of the food court for the Fashion area. Name the brand and it is there. From GAP to Liza Claiborne, Oakley to Fendi, Saks 5th to Ralph Lauren...I went to GAP and grabbed a wool cap and a pair of large bermudas. We checked out some shades at a store displaying everything from Armani, Rayban, Tommy, etc and found them way beyond our reach, so finally decided to go to a Perfume shop. I wanted to buy a good perfume for Shveta but its so hard to know!! and the best known brands one cannot just shop like that..they cost a good amount. The Poisons and Chanel No.5s would always be $75+. I was looking for Malachite by Banana Republic - really liked that smell. But they didn't keep BR there and it was already 3.30. So we rushed back to Gate 2. After sometime, we left for the movie hall. We reached at 4.45, about 15 minutes late. But after watching the movie, which except for the fact that we watched a hindi movie in a theater in US, realized we didn't miss anything when we missed the 15 minutes. Priyadarshan has lost his touch and has been dishing out really lame movie. We then came out by 7.30 and then went to an Indian restaurant, Jaipur, for a meal. After a few rounds of pani-puri and Mango Lassi, and then oodles of Tandoori chicken, chicken tikka (Pallav, watch your weight, man!), we came out and came to know we had to wait a few minutes for some guy to pick something from one of us. And that guy came some 20-25 minutes late. There was a police patrol doing its rounds and perhaps checking on us - such a huge crowd of desis sitting on the sidewalk infront of Jaipur...the guy, a techie working on H1 in Charlotte, came in good time, took his stuff and left. Our motorcade then sped off homeward bound...

Driving in Columbia

Today was my first experience of driving on American roads. After some driving on Indian roads, one gets so daunted and shaken that to think of driving across to a nearby city, forget across a state, gets your nerves. But here, one is so tempted to just hit the gas and keep on drivin'. That temptation though one has to curb. I also saw a couple of car wrecks down on the Inter-state. Keeps happening on certain exit and entry junctions. I drove past a point called the Malfunction Junction. A unique point in Columbia - where 4 Inter-states meet. One would get bonkers if you just think of 18 wheelers whizzing past you at 70-75 mph across all sides. Today I also tested myself through a McDonald's Drive-Thru. Once I become a "primary" driver here in my car-pool, I would next plan to take long jaunts on the inter-state, going to Atlanta, Augusta, Charleston, Myrtle, Smokey..then to wee-bit farther places - Orlando, Tampa, Miami...perhaps Norfolk, VA and Washington...then it would be an ambitious NY, Niagara..who knows?..Once Vishal comes here, I guess it would be possible to take that long haul to even the north....Yeee Haw! Can't wait hittin' the road!

India Day at Columbia

This Saturday (29th Sep) was an eventful day - my and Shveta's first hand experience with the Indian diaspora here in South Carolina's capital. The India Day event - an event spanning some 3-4 hours starting 6PM Eastern Time - though seemingly overhyped (all the drumming about Indian culture) and overpriced (at $5 per head) for an Indian visiting the US - is an important event for all Indians here. Its an attempt by the local community - to our surprise quite a large one considering about 200 people were there at the Moore Auditorium , the venue of the event - to connect with the Indian culture. Largely, the Indian diaspora constitutes of people of South Indian and Gujarati origin. Therefore, what is largely understood as Indian culture is basically South Indian (and Gujarati) culture. Bhangra, though so ubiquitous there in India, is conspicuous by its absence in such events, atleast in states such as South Carolina.

The venue: Moore School Auditorium, located somewhere near the Airport.

We all left Windsor Shores at about 6PM after a whirlwind shopping spree at the Indian Stores on Two-Notch Road. We all meaning most of the "interested" onshore janta at Columbia - took off in 3 SUVs and 2 Yahoo! Maps on I-77, to the Airport Boulevard and then scouring the place for landmarks and asking people, to the Moore Auditorium. At first, we overlooked the teaming parkway for that of some local sports event and then finally realized that it was actually the desi people flocking in there...Ah well! We were there at last.

On entering, a gentleman in Dhoti started rubber-stamping our hands, as if we were entering a bar and were entitled to some free drinks (sadly, we were not entitled to any eatable and everything was up for sale - like a typical mela in India). The place was teeming with second and third generation Indian americans, some local american Indophiles and curious onlookers - besides us. What I really miss here is pictures of some of the second/third generation PIOs (people of Indian Origin) - wouldn't call them ABCDs since - though they seem confused - are certainly quite proud of their roots..the attire bowled me and Shveta completely. Woow...in the name of ethnicity, I guess people just wear anything. Hello! We are in the 21st century. We have access to the Internet. Why can't we check out how a traditional tamil/telugu/gujarati person should look over the net?

The good part was the enthusiasm. The scale. The knowledge that there are schools in Columbia teaching Bharatnatyam, Garba, Bhangra (rather "two-step" bhangra on the beats of reggae beats and Punjabi MC dhols). The sad part - everyone wanted to be on the stage. No one missed out. The list of programs ran to 32 items. We guys had one of us, Devesh Padmey, participate in the event (turned out it was the best item of all!!! - it was an enactment of Amir and Gracy's role in the Lagaan song - Radha kaise na jale)...the rest were ill-choreographed skits and dance recitals in rather too garish attires for classical dance programs. Some, especially the ones choreographed and staged by one Ms Payal(?) Puri, were very good, but the rest were very mediocre indeed.

Anyways, came to know that a bulk of the diaspora works in places such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, some on H1B, some doctors, etc...in short, true to our image, a very knowledge centric crowd. Great! Really, to think how well we are doing for ourselves across the globe...Just that we have to be serious about organizing very professional events. I heard that some organizations are doing good work in propagating the India image here. Guess smaller states such as South Carolina are largely untouched..

We returned by about 9 PM - some 13-15 miles away to Windsor Shores and then to Forest Drive...crashed on our beds...Viva L'Inde! Jai Hind!!