May the Force be with you

You know, sometimes thing stare you into the face and you dont e ven see them - until some event triggers it. I recently bought the box set of the StarWars DVD selection. ..

And while rewatching the series, I discovered that the Force is with me. And I am a Jedi. Jedi Vibhu.

For the uninitiated , the website http://www.jedism.com , gives an overview of Jedism. Now, the information is quite accurate except for the fact that they mistakenly identify Jedism as a religion. It is not. Jedism is a way of life .

Just driving through !

Yesterday we went on a drive. The destination was a town called 'Big Sur' - which was nothing in itself - the drive was through some very scenic locations.




We stopped by the shoreside and there was this old chapel just off the road.




The seashore was nothing great. Small beaches set admist rocks.




View from the car. Mostly you just can't stop the car where you would want to. That luxury is not there . Only places where the roads have a big enough shoulder can you stop the car. So, you miss out on most of the picture opportunities that are there as they just whizz past going at 50mph (80kmph). The car which we have has automatic transmission. Now, this is great for most people - but for me and my friend Nikhil (who did most of the driving), it has serious disadvantages - especially on twisting roads. If you really want to know how to drive , get a non-automatic car - or a 'stick shift' car as it is called here.







The route we followed was highway 1. Quite scenic. Blue seas ... ooops ! That is the Pacific ocean :D .





The route goes over quite a few bridges. This is the Bixby bridge ... The wind was quite a lot here, and felt quite nice ruffling through my hair.








We went as far as the Big Sur Tourist information center. There are quite a few trails from here if you are interested in hiking around. The fall colours ( or autumn as we know it) are quite nice.

Leonardo Da Vinci - robotocist ?

Ever since reading the 'Da Vinci Code', I have become facinated by this genius. Here is another link I got today about the person.

Napa Valley and SFO

This Saturday we had gone to Napa Valley (famous for vineyards - hic ! ) and San Francisco (SFO).

It being a holiday, there were a lot bikers on the roads. These 2 harley chaps were chugging along merrily making a huge rukuss on their bikes...


We took the longer route to Napa - which went through SFO and the Golden Gate bridge. We lost some time in SFO due to traffic and because we took a wrong turn. The city map of SFO came in handy there - and we reached the Golden Gate bridge - which was shrouded by fog ! The interesting part was that the fog was only around the bridge - while elsewhere the sky was clear and sunny !


We reached Napa Downtown around 2 and had lunch there.



Then we went to the different vineyards ... for wine tasting. What a missed opportunity for me - since i was the designated driver , and being a non drinker ! For $5 you get to sip 4 differnt types of vines ! The following pics are of Napa...



We only got to visit 2 wineries - Rutherford and Beringer.

Return was also via SFO - though this time we took another route (880 south, 80) into SFO. We reached well after dark and went to union square , before going to Stinking Rose ( its a place where all the food has tons of garlic in it - to keep the vampires away ;) ).



The following pics are of the ceiling of Stinking Rose !


Returned back around 12:30 am. But that was fun !

Bikes !

We have a new car on rent now. Its a Ford, which my friend calls "laal raani" !



Went to check out some motorcycling gear. The place stocks mostly Firtgear stuff , and I was drooling allover the Leather jackets. Unfortunately they cost around $500, so quite out of range for me. So after Drooling over the jackets, I decided to drool over the bikes there.


Trying out the jacket.




From left to right, The Honda Goldwing. The ST1300. The Ducati 999s. The Vulcans.

Halloween at the office.

Friday we had a halloween party at the office. While everyone was expected to wear costumes and come, only a few were brave enough.

Here is Ed - the shark got him



and here is the Sumo Wrestler .. "John San"!



The complete lineup of the contestants :


And this pumpkin won the pumpkin prize !!

Spotted Kawasaki Z 750 K

Saw this beauty of a bike yesterday evening while returning from work.



*Note : above picture was not taken by me. It is flicked from the kawasaki website. It was too dark to take the picture - and I did not have my camera when I saw this guy.

The guy was waiting at the traffic signal, and nicely leaned over the bike taking a left turn, switched gears and did a wheelie, before leaving us receding in his rearview mirrors !!

Dead faces

What is with people here in the US?

Every where I look, people look glum. I guess they want to look serious, but they all end up looking glum . There is no sound of even kids shouting to each other. No sound of laughter .

Yesterday i observed it again. We had gone for dinner ( allo, gobi, muli and methi if you want to know), at Lucky Dhaba in Sunnyvale here in CA. I was driving and happened to glance at my right at a traffic stop. The guy in the SUV next to our car was looking glum. The same thing happened at the dhaba - most of the people (a totally indian crowd), were glum. No smile on anyone's face. The kids who were there were also quite quiet. Strange - never seen kids so still. Some people would say they were "well disciplined". But to me it felt unnatural to see kids so quit.

In the office, the guy whom I am working with , always has such a glum and tense face. His home is aound 75 miles from here. He sometimes works from home. Other times, he comes over and stays at the hotel during the week. Wonder if this chap enjoys a good family life ? And I used to think people in US had everything. I think I was way wrong.

Sure, people are polite. They smile as soon as you have eye contact, but the smile never reaches their eyes. Its frozen . Like those of the Beauty Queens. Good looking, but if you ever care to notice beyond the shine of glam, there is hollowness.

Yes, thats what it is. People are living hollow lives. But why ? This is the USA ! Every Indian dreams about coming here. It that just a dream ? Or is it because the dreams have been shattered here ? Is it because even though you earn in dollars - you are really just a nobody here ? What is it ?

I miss the shor-gull, the halla-gulla of India . I Love living in India , inspite of its many drawbacks and the corruption.

Was talking to my friend in Bufallo, about how I used to go out at 1am on my bike - onto the highway - to a tea stall to have tea with friends. That is something you just can't do here. There are no small tea stalls . Everything is the same. Its this sameness, the emptyness, the quietness that drove him to ask his parents to get him married off. Thankfully, he found a great girl. I dont know if everyone else has been so fortunate. Seeing the countless glum faces, I don't think so.

No. I definitely don't subscribe to the view that the US is the best. Mera India Mahan ! I just can't wait to be back.

Santa Cruz.

I have been in the USA for 3 weeks now, and the work is just about coming under our control. I and my friend have started to explore the surrounding areas of San Jose, and today we went to Santa Cruz beach. As beaches go it is nothing great. So I contented myself with taking a few pics of these sea gulls which were in plenty there .



This is me with Sanjay.


We had gone there with a friend of sanjay's - Alok. While going to Cruz he drove the car, but on the way back , i took the wheels .. otherwise it was getting quite boring in the car. It feels nice to go through the twisty roads at around 60mph. top speed was around 90mph.

Yesterday we had gone to the Great Mall in Milpitas, where i came across this quaint collection of 'Pocket bikes' which are 50cc bikes - complete with monoshocks !





They cost around $300 !! Cute !

Took this pic of the moon in the evening today

The kariZMA

on 17th August 2004, I went and bought my second bike. It is mareketed by hero honda and is called the Karizma.


The bike is yellow in colour.

Why yellow ? is the most common question that I have heard till now. I figure that there are 2 typres of people in the world - those who like yellow , and those who don't.

Well, my preference was to go and get the black one - but ...

• I already have my trusty CBZ which is already black in colour
• Black is too common a colour - and when you spend such a lot of money , you sure want your bike to be recognized from far.

The karizma is quite similar to my other bike , the cbz, in terms of handling. I think it is just a bigger version of the cbz with addons. For example, the odometer, tripmeter, fuel gague are digital - though no idea why the speedometer is not digital.

These are the initial thoughts for now.

I am leaving for bangalore tomorrow. Conference on RFID at Hotel Leela Palace. Nice time to sleep ;)