tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82519036946456995642024-03-05T06:43:24.991-08:00This and That ...Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-86435461826503695212010-08-15T17:10:00.000-07:002010-08-16T09:50:01.171-07:00To India and back...<div style="text-align: justify;">This post comes on the day the greatest democracy in the world celebrates its Independence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you ask me what is one thing about India I'm proud of, may be its the Indian culture, traditions and family values. That's the only one that comes to my mind. Its the Indian history that's impressive, not present-day India. In 63 years of Independent India, I really don't think we have achieved that much compared to how a country like Japan rose from the ashes after WW-II. After fighting for 90 years, we finally became independent only to be governed later by a group of selfish politicians. The whole scam about the Commonwealth Games makes me feel so ashamed while all those people using tax-payers money to make statues of their own, sanction budget for maintaining some non-existent bridges and dams, don't even feel a pinch. IMO, corruption, uncontrolled population growth, and brain-drain are some reasons we haven't been able to do much and continue to be a developing nation. Anyways, will stop here for now and get to my story about a recent trip we made to India.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, after postponing our India travel for a long time we finally landed in India during peak summer, that's May. Though its the wrong time of the year to visit, I've been missing Indian mangoes for three years and was prepared to bear the scorching heat for the love of mangoes. Desi mangoes are something. After feasting on sweets and mangoes, I came back with 4 extra lbs :( Anyways, "jo hua so hua". Like most international arrivals, we arrived at midnight in India. After tears of joy at the airport on meeting my family, it was time to check-out the city of Hyderabad. Though its not that glitzy at night, I did notice a lot of new construction. Amazing to see how silent the city gets at night, particularly the colony where we live. Here in the US, it really doesn't matter.. Day or night, the residential streets always carry a deserted look. Sometimes they look like picture postcards to me, no motion whatsoever. Anyways, I had the best time and definitely the tastiest food in about 1.5 years. I always have this jetlag problem when I travel from India to US, but not vice-versa because I just don't feel like sleeping while others are all awake, talking, eating, doing the typical Indian family activities, you know.. Attending functions in your best dress, meeting the newest additions to the family, man! I miss all that here. Dear S, those two hrs I spent with you, that's one of my trip highlights.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most NRIs start cribbing, the moment they land in India. My only complaint is the traffic situation. After zoom-zooming on US freeways, I really wonder if I can ever drive in India. Who cares, I'll have a chauffeur-driven car :) I was a little surprised to see quite a lot of working families there have a maid, a cook, and a driver. I so envy them 'coz I play all those three roles while being a 10-to-6 "alien" worker at the same time. My mom, if she wants some groceries real quick, all she does is make a phone call to the neighbourhood department store and there he arrives at your door-step bringing all you wanted. There are times when I get dressed up, wear my winter clothing and all just for a trip to the mailbox. My husband was a little cranky about the heat and the filth on Indian roads, but I felt so much at home :) Talking about uncleanliness, during my trip to New York, I was surprised to see soda cans and fries along the sidewalks in downtown. Cleanliness is directly proportional to population. When New York can get dirty, why not India? My hometown of Vizag is relatively prettier with more greenery and all, mainly because its not a major "city". You can't argue with me about the shadiness in India, I can always come up with a counter :) Trust me, only when you don't compare India to US, will you have a good vacation there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The only one thing that always bothered me even when I was living in India is the lack of civic sense, or its the lack of respect to your fellow-human. I always used to feel bad about it and now after 3 years in the US, I feel more disgusted. Agreed, people here are more in-their-own-world kinds, but atleast they are not indifferent. Even though conversations begin and end with "How you doing? You have a good day", atleast there's a conversation. In India, everybody is in a hurry Nobody cares for pedestrians crossing the road, getting work done in public offices is a Herculean task, people pushing each other in buses, stampedes at temples, there's no concept of "queue" - its always multiple lines converging into one with a mad-rush at the vertex. Those are some of the things that will never change, its in our mindset may be 'coz even here, I find a few desis who put up this rude expression as I walk past them. May be they're thinking "so you're also here to make money huh?". Whatever..</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After shuttling between Hyd and Vizag, I began to wonder how different both these cities are. More than anything, its Vizag that surprised me. Bigger malls, newer multiplexes, wider roads, newer chain-stores from the Reliance group. Even though Vizag doesn't have any techie companies, the real estate there is like crazy. A 3BR apt in suburbs for 30Lakhs, no kidding! Talking about afford-ability, India sure has become much more expensive to live, particularly in the last decade. Yes, Nike shoes may cost the same in India as well as US, but I had to spend my two-days salary on the Reebok I bought several years ago while its only a fraction of my daily-wage here. And yet, people in India don't think twice before swiping the card at all those fancy shopping malls. The biggest shock I got was in one super market, all those groceries, soaps and shampoos cost about the same, may be a little cheaper when compared to what is sold in the desi stores here. I was more concerned thinking about the quality of goods I have in my kitchen out there, how could they be so cheap? Is export duty really nothing? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Family is the one big reason anybody plans a trip to India. But for me, there's more to India, besides my loving family. Memories.. The house where I grew up, that bus-stop where I waited for my school-bus for 8 something years, the friendly gesture from a bookseller who saw me graduate from a school-girl to an Engineer, my neighbors, my driver, the beach road, so on and so forth.. Yeah, I may sound silly but they all matter to me. That's why I so yearn to return. Home is where my memories are..</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This time, for some reason, I just didn't want to return back. May be its my parents who've grown older by an year since I last met them, may be its the fear of ending up as a non-returning-Indian, may be its the "I'm so done" feeling after experiencing everything I wanted to in the US (trust me, working here is no different from working for a multi-national product based company in India).. The first few days after I landed here, this place felt more foreign to me than ever before. The empty residential streets even at mid-day made me miss India so much. Despite living in the bay area, despite my frequent trips to El Camino Sunnyvale which can be re-named MG Road for the number of Indian businesses that set up shop here, I still feel this is not where I belong even after two months of returning from the vacation. I wish and pray this feeling grows on me with each passing year. Got some unfinished business to wrap up here, a week each in Hawaii and Alaska, quick darshan of Fall colors and that's it,, I'll be all set to hand over my I-94 in style! Looking forward to the day we purchase one-way tickets....<i> to India!</i></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-18114921631916729002010-06-13T15:16:00.000-07:002010-10-02T23:01:38.867-07:00Unique Utah!<div style="text-align: justify;">Here I am, back with yet another post on travel. Utah it is, this time. After reading the Utah travel guide back-to-back, making endless phone calls to the travel offices there inquiring about the weather, what-to-see and what-to-skip, we got ready to travel back in time. Yes, it did feel like a peek into the past.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The road-trip <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Salt+Lake+City,+UT&daddr=Bryce+Canyon+National+Park,+Tropic,+UT+to:UT-24+W+to:Arches+National+Park,+Moab,+UT+to:College+of+Eastern+Utah+Prehistoric+Museum+to:Thanksgiving+Way,+Lehi,+UT+to:Salt+Lake+City,+UT&hl=en&geocode=Fcv1bQIdma1U-SntMdGIlD1ShzHKMU1IoLdTWw%3BFa4dPgIdKMNR-SkB_vqYXW41hzEpFTYyOxJBpA%3BFYA2TAIdvBlo-Q%3BFV7xTgIdnI14-SFgo7iH2-_Qww%3BFd89XAIdCDRl-Sk9tD564rtOhzHlx6Xl0DRNzg%3BFZwOaQIdc4hU-SmR7cf_NIBShzHQBxhzAGitjQ%3BFcv1bQIdma1U-SntMdGIlD1ShzHKMU1IoLdTWw&mra=ls&sll=38.652271,-110.703735&sspn=0.874056,1.783905&ie=UTF8&z=8">Google map</a> - four days, about 1000miles pickup-to-return. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rough itinerary:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >day 0:</span></span> fly to salt lake city</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >day 1:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span>visit salt lake and drive to Bryce, spend the rest of the evening at the canyon</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >day 2:</span></span> hike@Bryce, drive to Moab via Goblin Valley State Park</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >day 3:</span></span> Arches park, dinosaur track sites</div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >day 4:</span></span> visit dinosaur museum, tulip gardens at thanksgiving point, and head back home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There's something unique about Utah. It gets the highest snow on Earth (atleast thats what I was told), houses the most amazing rock formations, once walked across by dinosaurs. Its visitors definitely outnumber the state population. Utah got me interested in reading about Earth's history. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As always, I started off with an ambitiously prepared todo list. In four days, we were able to cover everything but the little sahara recreation area. Really wanted to see sand dunes, may be in Rajasthan (India) some time. Utah has got 5 national parks, and plenty of state parks. Bryce and Arches were the main reasons to travel Utah. Problem is, there's just one main airport, Salt Lake City, and the sight-seeing places are spread all over the state. We decided to just be happy with south-central Utah. See the map for details. Finding a motel was never hard for us. You can either camp at these parks or stay at one of the hotels at driving distance from them. And food, well, there's subway almost everywhere. If you stock up on enough water, about 1 gallon per person per day, you're good to go. If you want to see both Bryce and Arches, I'd suggest you visit in the shoulder months. We were there in April, Bryce was still a little white in the canyon, and totally covered in snow on the mountains. Arches, on the other hand, had temperatures above 80F and left us tanned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As the map indicates, our trip started from SLC. The drive to Bryce wasn't much exciting, long roads to nowhere with very small towns enroute. Got to see the countryside of America. The first view of Bryce was mindblowing. Sharp needle like structures rising high above the ground beautifully painted in reds highlighted by Sunset effects. Awesome! Looked like a forest of stone to me. Bryce canyon, is actually quite a small section of the total nat park. Its the only interesting portion of the park though. So, when in Bryce, plan to spend most of your time at the first four view points - Sunset, Sunrise, Bryce and Inspiration points. You can just drive through the remainder of the park with a stopover at the natural bridge view point. Also, no matter how long you spend at each of these four view points, unless you hike into the canyon, you would not see Bryce at all. There's this simple trail called Navajo loop that can be done in about 2-3hrs at a moderate walking speed. Its best to do it before noon. Though I cribbed a little bit about the steep hike, I was totally totally satisfied after doing the whole loop. There are some really amazing structures that cannot be seen from the rim. Some sections of the trail could be a little wet from the snow melt if you visit in non-summer months. So, carry plenty of socks and its better you have waterproof boots. Don't need snow boots and all, but something a little waterproof would really help your feet. Also, sunscreen and hats are a must, and not to forget the spare camera batteries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh21F7njQFL0GpWx-RvZoiBjDyyr3TL-0mguMetTT6uqIHoZJXbSmTokPNBzEuTy0RomRXiyhUdJ-46urLFSAWOZbrFkLTBj6MdfuHjrBIQKPfZgVIaHbIbm6GuM7j0ykZP1iS7omWIExC/s1600/063.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh21F7njQFL0GpWx-RvZoiBjDyyr3TL-0mguMetTT6uqIHoZJXbSmTokPNBzEuTy0RomRXiyhUdJ-46urLFSAWOZbrFkLTBj6MdfuHjrBIQKPfZgVIaHbIbm6GuM7j0ykZP1iS7omWIExC/s320/063.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484760516155636818" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8WWEHExGkvXFCIxn2SuNZ07CNwoBdS1kAkPlANSc-gcHYUNb2egvHPcNGazsxdIT76K_e8XSDtS_jpkUcDMWms__KHL5YZbDDE7saqXiEK-I-w3Gorqse9DLaftG1ir-YhtZrmhe6qEIP/s1600/140.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8WWEHExGkvXFCIxn2SuNZ07CNwoBdS1kAkPlANSc-gcHYUNb2egvHPcNGazsxdIT76K_e8XSDtS_jpkUcDMWms__KHL5YZbDDE7saqXiEK-I-w3Gorqse9DLaftG1ir-YhtZrmhe6qEIP/s320/140.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484762212775407586" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKGU1s-kH3BHU99Y6OZyInRv3aUz7F9MHyKchle8WORJRg4Vvv999UbfMdsgap3cDGdrOZFAdQRooCbXrdY6bJQIaScJUwn9duD9JzKWz-CEzKn-4QqHHfef3Kr3myLOsBn589SQfdueE/s1600/142.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBKGU1s-kH3BHU99Y6OZyInRv3aUz7F9MHyKchle8WORJRg4Vvv999UbfMdsgap3cDGdrOZFAdQRooCbXrdY6bJQIaScJUwn9duD9JzKWz-CEzKn-4QqHHfef3Kr3myLOsBn589SQfdueE/s320/142.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484763759447044402" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq8GsAYn3CC1eyxychUm9Mz2oLqrRqvXDN08SBXkgJOElnxvWQpEBB-gqH4UftkiVGqtkR-8HI6IhN2CYPvjqiza5MWbHqFcnl4jlMf7lOt8vOEDDKtVKx-fQXVzx6CfuQN78c0kkcePKi/s1600/217.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq8GsAYn3CC1eyxychUm9Mz2oLqrRqvXDN08SBXkgJOElnxvWQpEBB-gqH4UftkiVGqtkR-8HI6IhN2CYPvjqiza5MWbHqFcnl4jlMf7lOt8vOEDDKtVKx-fQXVzx6CfuQN78c0kkcePKi/s320/217.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484766616748099730" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKmskmb-FNjAtLVjfRZxKyPCPv-rkP7pD5W-VPsRIkZBipfZ1FQJllbjJAiDtJBzKExfEqrT9KjLh7FgzL4PX50V-mznaMC82xNdO44kFoB9XC8qmpv6Eths-PkUmt_95P0n55jpgiPvf/s1600/057.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKmskmb-FNjAtLVjfRZxKyPCPv-rkP7pD5W-VPsRIkZBipfZ1FQJllbjJAiDtJBzKExfEqrT9KjLh7FgzL4PX50V-mznaMC82xNdO44kFoB9XC8qmpv6Eths-PkUmt_95P0n55jpgiPvf/s320/057.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484768699462692578" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From Bryce canyon national park, we left for Goblin valley state park. Its this really small park on the way from Bryce to Arches. People say its what Mars looks like. I dont know about that, but it was a different experience walking around the park. You wont need more than an hour here.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRc30HnuSYZG3V208R67_tU-gjs5uPgjcNxM_Qyq5csZxkiWL60nMonp8TDrPdkWEXkQ8hF0PI9ZcogqSuVueWpPTZIUTNfp-DItqLy8eJuEn6F_e1CJ8hIKrpiJRpfaYNbAR2XF9zI33/s1600/291.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRc30HnuSYZG3V208R67_tU-gjs5uPgjcNxM_Qyq5csZxkiWL60nMonp8TDrPdkWEXkQ8hF0PI9ZcogqSuVueWpPTZIUTNfp-DItqLy8eJuEn6F_e1CJ8hIKrpiJRpfaYNbAR2XF9zI33/s320/291.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484767809849033154" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moab - the town next to Arches national park. Plenty of hotels/motels, lots of restaurants, famous for mountain-biking and rock-climbing. Arches national park is actually very very huge, and all but one or two arches can be seen from the road-side. So, be prepared to walk atleast 2-3 miles if you plan to see atleast 6 arches here. There are no eating places inside the park. Rather than going to moab for lunch, its a good idea to pack food so that you can spend the whole day inside the park. Also, fill up your gas tank as you'd be driving a lot. Before visiting I thought there'll be 100s of arches. But no, about 10-12 see-through arches in total, and plenty of them in the making, may be our great-grandchildren would be able to see some more. Its so amazing to see the different stages of arch formations in the park. You can see just the outlines for some, a little depth from erosion for few other arches, and some full-blown arches. My favorite ones are the landscape arch and the delicate arch. The delicate arch, Utah's state symbol stands majestically on the hilltop. Its so silent over there, everything around feels so insignificant next to the delicate arch. Looks as though someone just planted an arch on the hill, doesnt really look like a natural thing. The landscape arch is beautiful for its length. Unfortunately, its breakage started. A decade ago, part of it fell off. It could potentially become a broken arch in several years to come. I wish the delicate arch remains eternal. Actually, looking back, I think there's something else that interested me more than the arches. At the park entrance, there's this view point called "Moab fault" - thats where the land split ages ago from an earthquake. The roads lie down below, flanked by two complementary mountains on either side - terrific view! Besides the arches. there are these broken walls of stone everywhere in the park, called courthouse towers. Quite aptly named as they reminded me of fort walls I've seen back in India. Visit to Arches national park is like visit to an old civilization.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBCMBIXSglx8ju94tI2nLr9lMyaMFypxh0r4byh3rmUizi3zy7HF-QbC2CoGEzAIsJMCZcDLMh0989rJF-mvwrfDDD4ZTpMBiyqFqcYZXzwA9RifP-yILp8jDf2_ed3pSaxsa4OtC_wUP/s1600/115.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBCMBIXSglx8ju94tI2nLr9lMyaMFypxh0r4byh3rmUizi3zy7HF-QbC2CoGEzAIsJMCZcDLMh0989rJF-mvwrfDDD4ZTpMBiyqFqcYZXzwA9RifP-yILp8jDf2_ed3pSaxsa4OtC_wUP/s320/115.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484770204080066530" /></a> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEyps37xveAaAQQXtPhb3txrwwkl_bwJ7IAlpZY6mrD1EBB35QAAgaJ-deEssmWl1pTT28zLiWGP_dGu1WNWLzzOYIROpqxuQ8Ti_pSJFlvc_5ZjYZWnR8CSU82OPe0BqDznZKYiPvdqXR/s1600/121.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "></span></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEyps37xveAaAQQXtPhb3txrwwkl_bwJ7IAlpZY6mrD1EBB35QAAgaJ-deEssmWl1pTT28zLiWGP_dGu1WNWLzzOYIROpqxuQ8Ti_pSJFlvc_5ZjYZWnR8CSU82OPe0BqDznZKYiPvdqXR/s1600/121.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEyps37xveAaAQQXtPhb3txrwwkl_bwJ7IAlpZY6mrD1EBB35QAAgaJ-deEssmWl1pTT28zLiWGP_dGu1WNWLzzOYIROpqxuQ8Ti_pSJFlvc_5ZjYZWnR8CSU82OPe0BqDznZKYiPvdqXR/s320/121.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484769855415947058" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During this visit to Utah, I desperately wanted to see the dinosaur tracks. Heard there are plenty in the Moab area. We did visit two sites - one on the Potash road, and one somewhere in between Moab and Green river. Let me tell you, the Potash road site is just a waste of time. There are one or two tracks on a slab and this slab has been mounted on a hill, requires about 15min of rock climbing to get there. I expected to see something on the ground level, to get a feel of the land the dinosaurs once roamed. This slab looks like what we see in museums. My advice, ditch the idea of driving to Potash road if you're only going to see the tracks. However, there are these cave paintings kind of stone art along the road. Basically, there are these beautiful really really tall cliffs on which you can spot those figures used by the ancient people for communication or whatever.. Not to miss that while in the area. Coming to the other track site, I think its called "Sauropad track site", atleast that was what the Moab visitor center guy excitedly talked to me about. We got there by twilight. I think there are tracks, 'coz we could see some sign boards and all. But we weren't lucky to spot even one - a. it was getting dark, and b. there was no-one else but us, so I was a little adamant about going back to the car asap. You do have to walk about 1000feet uphill to get there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3bwvfrY3Lu7gN_VlyXJQ1PqLFnuVFkL9cDdzFQ8lv-ry21LQDbG_xlAZhKnyYA9AcPrwl-Jdu89hzqTfLq4gOeqSxSsFfiqSorGkC_AXNG8_OlmZFRpoCLTA9cqE148ezdTib94Sws70W/s1600/014.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3bwvfrY3Lu7gN_VlyXJQ1PqLFnuVFkL9cDdzFQ8lv-ry21LQDbG_xlAZhKnyYA9AcPrwl-Jdu89hzqTfLq4gOeqSxSsFfiqSorGkC_AXNG8_OlmZFRpoCLTA9cqE148ezdTib94Sws70W/s320/014.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484770985424195922" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Day 4 we started our drive back to Salt Lake City. First stop on the way was at the College of Eastern Utah prehistoric museum. A small museum, but well worth the 1 hour we spent there. Cleveland Lloyd dinosaur query was on my itinerary for a while, but since it was a little off the way, I decided to do the museum instead. Whats interesting about the quarry is, at the quarry site, millions of years ago, there was this marshland where dinosaurs would come to drink water and would get stuck in the mud, and eventually become fossilized. So plenty of dinosaur bones et all here. Nevertheless, the museum had some decent exhibits on prehistoric life. Dinosaur tracks, fossilized leaves, dino skeletons etc. Actually, if you're really into dinosaur stuff, you should be touring the "dinosaur diamond" area near the Utah-Colorado border.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From the museum we took off to the tulip garden at the Thanksgiving Point. I thought there would be tulip fields like those in Netherlands, Washington (state). Silly me, when the state (Utah) was so dry, how could I imagine flower fields here. Anyways, there's this nice park here. At this time of the year, they plant tulips across all the walkways in the park. Its good, but not great. If you have a little extra time, definitely stop by. Back in SLC, we just had 30 "extra" minutes left before we checked-in. Quickly drove to Temple Square. Caught a glance of the Mormon temples from the outside, few pictures and we left in a jiffy. I really wanted to take a tour there, 'coz you rarely find interesting architecture in the USA. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0m7_ggTwX6WUOq7xxihMixG5QknU4kA2ZMCam0SaDmFks5w1nNSRm220nPQCC7bKwFhjMOXrhroGudPP1tajrNJOLj4VZv7O2QaUuXt75VcihU7y_XwSdRpsczyjVpwKAk2Vxy3y0rXs/s1600/247.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0m7_ggTwX6WUOq7xxihMixG5QknU4kA2ZMCam0SaDmFks5w1nNSRm220nPQCC7bKwFhjMOXrhroGudPP1tajrNJOLj4VZv7O2QaUuXt75VcihU7y_XwSdRpsczyjVpwKAk2Vxy3y0rXs/s320/247.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484771365761204930" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With this, I check marked all I had on my Utah wishlist. Before I publish this post, one last thing. There's this tribal park called "<a href="http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&q=antelope+canyon&gbv=2&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=antelope&gs_rfai=C8LU4hNIdTLagOYXUM8vi_dAKAAAAqgQFT9DgsZE"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Antelope Canyon</span></span></a>" in Arizona, close to the UT-AZ border. For day2 of the itinerary, I spent a lot of time deciding which one to choose between - Bryce->Goblin valley->Moab "or" Bryce->Antelope canyon->Moab. Thinking that we might not be able to do full justice to Bryce if we decide to visit Antelope canyon, we dropped option 2. But, Antelope canyon is extremely beautiful, and it might not be a good idea to drive there from Bryce, especially when you are pressed for time. However, while visiting grand canyon, you should definitely drive up to Zion via Antelope canyon. There's a coral pink sand dunes park somewhere there. So, plan to include Antelope canyon, if not Utah in your grand canyon trip. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's all I have. Utah!- sounds like an expression of satisfaction, the State definitely leaves an "aha" impression on you, something that lasts for a really long time. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div> </div></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-61367001096953237002010-02-20T22:51:00.000-08:002010-02-21T08:51:04.177-08:00Yosemite National Park in Winter<div style="text-align: justify;">Yosemite National Park is the third most-visited nat park in the US, BUT the number of people visiting during the winter months account for only 10-15% of its annual visitor count. Having visited Yosemite in July as well as February, I can say I've visited two entirely different parks having the same name. Trust me, if you haven't seen the Yosemite in snow, you haven't seen Yosemite at all. That said, here follows my travelogue..<br /><br />First some history. After hearing almost every other Californian speak great about Yosemite, we decided to pay a visit during the July 4th weekend. After an exhausting day, the park just left a just-another-park kind of an impression on me. Why? maddening crowds and pathetic restrooms. A friend of mine who travelled to Yosemite during the long weekend in May often complains that he didn't get a chance to get out of his car to tour the park. Multiple rounds of looping around the valley was all he could do. That's so true because like I said, 85% of the people visit during the summer months. The only good, rather terrific thing about that trip was me purchasing a magnet that had a picture of Yosemite in snow. I'll forever be grateful to myself for buying that, since it was that small souvenir which gave me a taste of what heaven might feel like, 6 months later.<br /><br />From the day we moved to the bay area, I was looking forward to re-visit Yosemite in winter. If you've read my other posts, you'd know what kind of a travel planner I am. I try to do a virtual tour of what I plan to see by searching on YouTube and Google images. :) "yosemite in snow" were the search keywords this time, and <a href="http://travel.webshots.com/album/547924836rIjvlJ">this</a> was the reference album. Everything seemed so damn inviting until I Googled for "driving in snow". If you've been to Yosemite before, you'd know the road conditions that lead you to the park. So winding, so narrow, rimless, at an altitude of about 3500ft overlooking the valley.... even in July, I was scared. Once snow comes into the equation, the drive becomes more complex. Yes, there are chains, but that's a pain too. So, for about 15days before the planned travel date, I used to check the weather and road conditions every morning on the park website. Until three days before the President's day weekend, chain usage was enforced. I should really be thankful to God 'coz there was no snowfall, and tire chains rule the day before we were supposed to go, and the forecast for the next couple of days was "sunny". So, Yosemite it is!<br /><br />Can't go further without putting up some pics.. People say, Kashmir (a state in India) is like Paradise on Earth. Haven't been there myself, but this sure felt like Paradise to me.</div><div><table><tbody><tr><br /><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEp0DQ8Jug9EpH-1_9wjqJyMKDzQtIit9L_tyyw_EmuKg2cppXaDUMj9VLJFYlDC06NRLslEUIvpCaexxTuW-XWWTyp4F19K813IsvnnQwhb9yxR8CFphjMM-3bCw7NMXhMkArrMediCr/s1600-h/DSC04754.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEp0DQ8Jug9EpH-1_9wjqJyMKDzQtIit9L_tyyw_EmuKg2cppXaDUMj9VLJFYlDC06NRLslEUIvpCaexxTuW-XWWTyp4F19K813IsvnnQwhb9yxR8CFphjMM-3bCw7NMXhMkArrMediCr/s320/DSC04754.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440593687963857938" border="0" /></a><br /></td><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPzuJQwv5xU0sZx_PZhDe4rpcLrSTUmz1yrbc5-Ls9OB86Gq81nE5tBNGYUVxEIEt5FYKBFgCsY4ZDaPo8Kdc8SgYQ4rrx_H1Twhq8dWmOFb8UIMOCLWxCL3kJuC3GD8Rk1lvCzm3fSh6/s1600-h/DSC04568.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPzuJQwv5xU0sZx_PZhDe4rpcLrSTUmz1yrbc5-Ls9OB86Gq81nE5tBNGYUVxEIEt5FYKBFgCsY4ZDaPo8Kdc8SgYQ4rrx_H1Twhq8dWmOFb8UIMOCLWxCL3kJuC3GD8Rk1lvCzm3fSh6/s320/DSC04568.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440594246866353666" border="0" /></a></td><br /></tr><br /><tr><br /><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2MtvnYpONyrPRoHdTMlqbn2A00GKNVESgP02mRSSSQVXvaiY0xyjKw_NjN6J4x0MVF4fDRIVvmgPm4ABxvhiHt1YqxuytWi4Rm-9kXgSkPsVFZOK1b2EXBAkeQcPmfkJjrnemmO4U7in/s1600-h/DSC04635.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2MtvnYpONyrPRoHdTMlqbn2A00GKNVESgP02mRSSSQVXvaiY0xyjKw_NjN6J4x0MVF4fDRIVvmgPm4ABxvhiHt1YqxuytWi4Rm-9kXgSkPsVFZOK1b2EXBAkeQcPmfkJjrnemmO4U7in/s320/DSC04635.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440595258932422722" border="0" /></a></td><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjACCRx9wJijO9DikBLj_mrLQWF2QxgEsajEanwS_RGdymamgxVf8LKhoAOamAMvJ6dSDDTPF4_U0syBl4i3rVc3QQ-QxTjdQPjSrN6ipvi0N1TuK6QgSSpH-a6MDu9x2syjA0ipYjsyy3P/s1600-h/DSC04609.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjACCRx9wJijO9DikBLj_mrLQWF2QxgEsajEanwS_RGdymamgxVf8LKhoAOamAMvJ6dSDDTPF4_U0syBl4i3rVc3QQ-QxTjdQPjSrN6ipvi0N1TuK6QgSSpH-a6MDu9x2syjA0ipYjsyy3P/s320/DSC04609.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440594960959745122" border="0" /></a></td><br /></tr><br /><tr><br /><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRv2xy7iwsIHDUPMwZUTVJHKKnM8nR0kXsUbo1g0ohhUl4LreZUQGsNz7v-JaofyPVg1ydi-zmRoq5nfET4GKElah0Fo_wlBRnJ8rExFzuijb9CHyyERNn9bHzS7kqqi5kbry3_dODq3U/s1600-h/DSC04716.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRv2xy7iwsIHDUPMwZUTVJHKKnM8nR0kXsUbo1g0ohhUl4LreZUQGsNz7v-JaofyPVg1ydi-zmRoq5nfET4GKElah0Fo_wlBRnJ8rExFzuijb9CHyyERNn9bHzS7kqqi5kbry3_dODq3U/s320/DSC04716.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440598177093639026" border="0" /></a></td><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXL7FFt4CsBnf_A4susfT9TXNnLjGKMWjvlnwTXAhWw5yMrZxZA6OL86wbqoo1U6rspjU_OT2l6oV54SBm4l5VZlu3jGYWjz43BTAfGQtkXH-DwNES2rrDvZSH6wB9x1N5KA6JB3ZBzeF/s1600-h/DSC04667.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXL7FFt4CsBnf_A4susfT9TXNnLjGKMWjvlnwTXAhWw5yMrZxZA6OL86wbqoo1U6rspjU_OT2l6oV54SBm4l5VZlu3jGYWjz43BTAfGQtkXH-DwNES2rrDvZSH6wB9x1N5KA6JB3ZBzeF/s320/DSC04667.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440598946959359986" border="0" /></a></td><br /></tr><br /><tr><br /><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCXQSuoPc1Q0pFPaDCkIZXEG3i2OTx965-HBnW9VLHQS48JsGzIWj7b5WyD5zzuDSUzpgPFaVzBF4iBIqlKwv1Xy4CcYEUUlujEJMESNYRsMZSF5g__yYgtsuGsPsjxZ5NY3QkoBtggef0/s1600-h/DSC04778.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCXQSuoPc1Q0pFPaDCkIZXEG3i2OTx965-HBnW9VLHQS48JsGzIWj7b5WyD5zzuDSUzpgPFaVzBF4iBIqlKwv1Xy4CcYEUUlujEJMESNYRsMZSF5g__yYgtsuGsPsjxZ5NY3QkoBtggef0/s320/DSC04778.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440597014481987666" border="0" /></a></td><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSbIl8e0iTlv9mBSE3tLheon3ETc9_0AKYImGEyrnPfA_iKpfaVba5SmWTd5QN4d2Oi7LBVVKwEDk0DFpokCar0MO_jek_WfkcVR816MMhr1w-kN7votdOsRY6NIUhaHjpT3i9FTQa5wZx/s1600-h/DSC04665.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSbIl8e0iTlv9mBSE3tLheon3ETc9_0AKYImGEyrnPfA_iKpfaVba5SmWTd5QN4d2Oi7LBVVKwEDk0DFpokCar0MO_jek_WfkcVR816MMhr1w-kN7votdOsRY6NIUhaHjpT3i9FTQa5wZx/s320/DSC04665.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440595862051390946" border="0" /></a></td><br /></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For many of you, the above shots might seem like throwing in some white color to your mental images of Yosemite. True, but let me tell you snow brings a drastically different beauty to the park. Above all, if you were to visit in winter, you'd be sharing this beauty with just few other people. When we went during the Presidents day weekend in February, there were some view points where we were the only ones present. Imagine being surrounded by awesome beauty, no noise whatsoever, besides the downstream flow of the Merced river, just the two of you (if going as a couple) - can something get more romantic? Even though the Grand Canyon occupies the first place, its Yosemite (in winter) that qualifies as a Honeymoon destination amongst all the places I've been to in the US.<br /><br />Talking about what all places we've been to inside the park, well, for the most part, the park roads remain open in winter. You have the entire valley to yourself - the valley view, tunnel view, Yosemite and Bridalveil falls and the sentinel/swinging/El Capitan bridges. If I were to pick my favorite vista point, I'd say its the half-dome view from the sentinel bridge (2nd row, 2nd column above). El Capitan bridge is great too.. There's this bridge. El Capitan and the Cathedral rocks facing each other. Both over 7500ft mass of Granite. I might sound weird, but as I looked above standing at the bridge, felt as though two mighty warriors were standing face-to-face. Yes :) go see yourself. You're there, the El capitan (3rd row, 1st col above) stands with pride next to you, I don't know, to me it was as though the cliff had something to say to me :) FYI, I'm a perfectly sane human :P<br /><br />The Yosemite valley loop can be toured in 5 hours time, but you can spend several days in the park too. Most people only scratch the surface by touring just the valley. There's lot more to do. The Wawona grove of Sequoia trees, Badger pass ski area, and many many hiking trails. Accommodations inside the park fill out like two months in advance, but there are some decent hotels within 20miles of the entrance which are pretty much fully booked too. So plan ahead! We usually try to catch the Sunset views whenever we travel. The last rays of the Sun expose a different perspective of the scene, something more elegant and something unseen during the day. For Yosemite, Sentinel bridge is the place to be for Sunset.<br /><br />Been there about a week ago, but it feels like a land far far away. But it only took us a little more than 3 hours to be transported from the spaghetti junctions of the bay area to the place I call heaven. If you live in/around the state of California, and if its still winter as you read this, go plan your vacation. You don't want to miss what Yosemite has got to offer you. Those towering granite cliffs, the fresh smell of pines, the roaring Merced river, with a little snow all over the place - miss you all, promise, I will be back!<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-12511202436431235642010-01-29T22:40:00.000-08:002010-01-31T20:01:06.675-08:00(An)Droid it is!<div style="text-align: justify;">After a long time, I wanted to blog a gadget review here.. When I started this blog, I had this idea of posting first-hand experience with a variety of things. "ireview-here.blogspot.com" was what it was called back then. But for the last one year, nothing we bought has attracted me enough to sit down and type a story...... until the droids arrive! Yes, this post is dedicated to my newest addiction - Android phones. We got this Verizon deal wherein, you buy Motorola Droid, you get HTC Eris free. Motorola has 2.0 version of Android, while Eris has a slightly older version. That apart, they're both pretty much the same.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRvZgrgXuEWiQ9sC-9E68exzAoTvd59SSAIlQJv1DlL-7Hb4zGIapJ7FZW4ka-EAAPTGFIp3_EEo7vh_QpoU8D4MDtJjsNFcWj6Pi3Bl1ZH2RUGHczaZjDkuC8U8OAbHhv_B6VXBEIlqv/s1600-h/DSC04525.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRvZgrgXuEWiQ9sC-9E68exzAoTvd59SSAIlQJv1DlL-7Hb4zGIapJ7FZW4ka-EAAPTGFIp3_EEo7vh_QpoU8D4MDtJjsNFcWj6Pi3Bl1ZH2RUGHczaZjDkuC8U8OAbHhv_B6VXBEIlqv/s320/DSC04525.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433117007622613090" border="0" /></a><br /><br />First the goodies..<br /></div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li>5MP camera!</li><li>Voice search</li><li>Voice based navigation</li><li>Multi-tasking<br /></li><li>Physical QWERTY keyboard</li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;">FYI, none of the above are available on an IPhone. Actually, I was leaning towards getting myself an iphone. The only reason I ditched the idea was because of the 5 mega-pixel camera built-into the droids. A photo-enthusiast that I am, I make sure I carry my camera wherever I visit. But lately, there isn't much room in my bag for the camera we have and hence planned to purchase a smaller, lighter camera as a Christmas present for myself. :) Cellphone and high resolution camera in one device sounded like a good deal, and so, the desire to own an iphone became history.<br /><br />When we bought the droids, a month ago, I didn't know about points 2-4 above. Each of these features is brilliant in itself. Voice search is good fun. Your order is Google's command, interestingly it can even understand the names of Indian restaurants most of the time. :) Voice based navigation is really helpful. Once you're in the car, you don't have to take the trouble of typing out the destination address. Speak "Navigate to subway" and zap! The GPS gets locked and before you even realize, it starts spitting out the directions one-by-one. The other GPS we had would take like 5-10min to get contact with the satellite. The droid phone is superfast, you dont need to wait for satellite connectivity. And guess what, GPS comes free! Coming back to voice search, the other day when I got bored of flipping AM, FM and CD on the car stereo, I launched the Youtube app and said "take my breath away". That's all it took to take my breath away. :) Man! I enjoyed the ride so much listening to the song. I know, its hard to control yourself from looking at the video, particularly if you belong to Tom Cruise fan club.. :)<br /><br />And finally multi-tasking.. When I learnt from a friend that IPhone can't keep more than one app running, I was shocked. Its such a basic functionality you expect from any computing device. Android lets you open upto 6 apps at once. That's pretty cool. I can listen to a song on youtube while reading a news feed, and quickly respond to a gmail notification that says I've got mail!<br /><br />The UI isn't as outstanding as the IPhone's is. But its pretty decent. Zoom-in zoom-out with fingers, flipping thru pages using fingers, superfast scrolling, are all there. Motorola droid has flash camera but HTC Eris doesn't. Picture quality for both is pretty good. So is the sound quality. Also, the Android marketplace has plenty of free applications. I could even find an Indian news widget to keep myself updated with the latest news from my homeland.<br /><br />With this I stop the sweet-talk. The only major concern I have with this phone is, some of the applications drain away all the battery power. Particularly the browser.. If a page becomes non-responsive, the browser hangs up, you forget about it and launch other applications, then come back to the browser, and then you see the "white screen of death" as I like to call it. The phone becomes non-responsive and you have to reboot it. The usual problems with a computing device like system crash, hang up, blank screens occur once in a while on this phone. Its then that I realize my old phone was better. Because of the operating system issues, the availability of the phone is reduced. IMO, the most important function of any phone is to be up 99% of the time, to keep you connected, and the system down time should only be attributed to discharged battery or weak cellular signal. But now, with the operating system intruding into the cellphone, making them mini-computers, there's a good chance you're missing out on phone calls while you're phone is busy rebooting. This applies to any smartphone. So, talking about the droid, I'm yet to figure out a way to "ctrl-alt-del" the phone so as to bring it out of the non-responsive state without having to reboot.<br /><br />The second problem is, there's no close button for the apps. So, you'll have to download an app killing app to close the apps after you're done. Its kind of like a task manager. The one I installed can't be killed. To close an app, there's task manager, but to close that, there's nothing. Painful.<br /><br />On the whole, its a pretty good investment. Verizon's network is good too.. There's coverage in the hills of Livermore, CA as well as the beaches of Monterey. With the Nexus One scheduled for release, I'm sure Google is going to give Apple a run for their money.<br /><br /><br /></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-77626600129385320122009-12-08T21:27:00.001-08:002010-10-02T23:03:19.955-07:00My journey: H4 - (change of status) -> H1 - (extension of stay) -> H1<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Disclaimer: I don't hold a law degree. Everything posted here is purely empirical.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Two years on H4 and two months on H1, I guess I've gained enough experience on the H4->H1 transition that I can pen down a book on all that. When I told a friend that I finally got all I needed for work, she said: "Congrats dear! Finally your struggle for work has ended". She's so right. Mine has been a struggle at every stage and I'm so glad things worked my way in the end.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">There are some important points I wanted to share with other H4-ers, here's the story.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Assuming you're targetting the April 1st filing date, start your homework well in advance. By early Jan, may be. If you're not confident of getting a job, skip to step 2.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Step 1</span></span>: Spend the month of January working on your resume and get yourself ready for the interviews. There are a bunch of job boards out there, and few lesser known ones that post the startup jobs (startuphire, startuply, vetureloop .coms). Apply aggressively even if your skillset matches just half of what is required.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Step 2</span></span>: Find a good consulting company to file your H1B. Some useful websites:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><div style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.myvisajobs.com/Default.aspx">http://www.myvisajobs.com/Default.aspx</a></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.desicrunch.com/">http://www.desicrunch.com/</a></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.goolti.com/">http://www.goolti.com/</a></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The first one gives you the statistics of #visas a company got, rejections, etc.</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The other two are the consultant review sites. Like all other reviews, there's no guarantee they're true. Read, if you care.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Like I always say, *always* try to get a "real" job. If and only if you fail to get one, should you approach a consulting comp.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Your H1B app is sent, receipt number issued, the endless wait begins. I got my approval in July. Felt as though I conquered the world. Actually, there was nothing so great about it. My husband "bought" me the visa by paying money to Company A, like the way parents buy Engineering seats in those private colleges for their desperate kids.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">With the visa in hand, I set my foot with super-confidence in the job market hit by the greatest depression of all times. Like last year, I've been pretty lucky at landing a job. Two weeks of preparation, first interview call, first offer letter. It was such a smooth ride. All this was in the month of Sept. The company B applied my visa under premium processing. I then began counting days for the 1st of October. And then, this terrible thing happens. USCIS sends me a notice on Oct 3rd that my petition is rejected. One more time the USCIS, my biggest enemy for the last 1.5 years, curbed my enthusiasm.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">To note: If you apply for change of status along with your H1B petition, and if it gets approved, you will be in H1 status from Oct 1st. Yes. Keep this in mind. And while on H1, its not advisable to stay at home without being on a payroll.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Here's the trouble: my status has changed to H1 because of company A, company B's app fails, I don't have a job with company A, it is already October, and the clock is ticking. I could travel outside the country and re-enter on my H4 stamp, but that would take me out of the H1 status. I was ready to do that, but without pay stubs it isn't as easy to re-enter on H4. I can't apply a brand new H1 from company B bcoz I'm already in H1 status, which leaves me with just one option - H1 transfer. For this, I'd need 1. my original I-797 and 2. paystubs from company A. Since company A is a pretty decent one, they were more than willing to release my 797. I'm pretty sure 95% of the consulting companies don't do that. Coming to paystubs, if you apply for H1 transfer within one month of H1B start date (usually Oct 1st), its highly likely that your transfer would be approved. In some cases, you might be issued a 797 with a clause stating that your H1 transfer would come into effect once you leave the country, and come back with a H1 stamp using the transfer I-797. We took the risk and applied without paystubs.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Okay, those are the facts. After much persuasion, I finally got company B to apply for the transfer before the end of the 30-day grace period. Oct 30th the new H1 petition got fedex-ed out and Nov 2nd became my first day at work. H1 portability rules allow you to work while your H1 transfer application is pending with the USCIS. You don't even need to wait for the receipt number. You can report to work as soon as the app is mailed out, like I did. I was happily going to office until I came to know that company A has filed for H1B withdrawal, since I'm not working for them. Hell scared I was, thinking the H1B transfer would get rejected, and I'll fall back to H4. But my lawyer said withdrawal would not have any effect.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The story isn't complete yet. There's yet another twist. I went to the SSN office with my I-94 from company A on Oct 28th. The SSA officer couldn't verify my H1 status, because the crappy USCIS server still hasn't updated my status (H4 to H1) on their system even after 28days of my H1 coming into effect. Damn! Had the verification been done, I would have got my SSN card in 2 weeks. I was told, it could take anywhere from 4-6 weeks before an SSN is issued. Good thing is, SSN is not mandatory in order to work. Bad thing is, your HR most likely would not run your payroll without the number. After a two week wait, I kept calling the SSN office week after week to find out if there are any updates. The reason for my anxiety was, since the SSN was applied with company A's documents, while I'm actually working for company B, I had this big fear that my SSN could be rejected. Their 1-800 number is totally useless. A wastage of cellphone minutes, and in the end you dont get any useful info. Contact the local field office where you applied for SSN and they should be able to help you. </div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">That's it. November began. I did all I could, just had to wait till the issues are resolved. October was a real torture on my mind. November, I was in this anxious state as to what would happen to my H1B transfer, SSN application, etc. Given that ten things could go wrong, its hard to stay at peace. But December has been the time of my life! Barely a week into Dec, and I feel as though this is the happiest month ever! December 2nd I get the H1B approval notice, two days later, I get a letter in the mail that my SSN has been generated. The SSN card takes like 2 weeks to reach your mailbox. So, I went to the SSA office with the letter that I got, and the officer was kind enough to give me the number. After going through all this, I have a very important piece of advice - work for your consulting company for atleast 3 months before you plan on a H1 transfer. That way you'll have your pay stubs, and even the SSN in hand and the transfer process would be hassle-free.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">End of story. I finally do this brain dump on the day I get something I haven't got in two point something years - <i>a paycheck</i>. Thank you, God!!! See, I endured all the tests you put me through :) I really want to celebrate the end of the ordeal. A Hawaiian holiday is what I really want, but since I'm just a month old in the office, vacation should be the last thing to ask for. Sigh! Good old "freak-out-at-home" aka h4 days. ;)</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br /></div></div></span></div></span>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-84581420642691831022009-10-20T14:47:00.000-07:002009-11-06T20:25:39.808-08:00How not to get bored on H4<div style="text-align: justify;">H4, the dependant visa for spouses of H1B workers, is thought to be the most dreadful visa. True, but only if you're the career-oriented types. I've been in H4 status for 2 years and I do agree that I would have been standing with pride on a higher rung of my career ladder, had I not confined myself to home-making. But then, those have been the best years of my life, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enjoyed that much with 40-hour work weeks coming in the way of family life. Career apart, the next common complaint I keep hearing from H4 spouses is "boredom". For me, the total number of days I really must have got bored can be counted on fingers, and may be toes taken together. :) That's because I saw the H4 period as a long vacation and kept myself busy with so many activities I never had time for all those years as a student and employee. And finally, people say they get depressed being on H4. When I came to the USA post marriage, I told myself I'm going there on an extended honeymoon. :) Yes, a typical honeymoon lasts anywhere from few days to may be few months. Mine took two years.. :) So have a positive attitude, you're not going to stay forever on H4 and then they'll be days when you so wish you stay back at home instead of slogging at work. Enjoy your vacation, you might never get so long a break again!<br /><br />Now, this post summarizes what all things you can do while on H4. Following are all what I figured out over time, if you know more, leave me a comment..<br />If you want to make a "productive" use of your time, then:</div><div><ol><li>Regardless of what your plan A is, try to get yourself an admission into some Master's degree program in any which school. That should be your plan B. Looking back, my only regret is not joining the MS program, with an admission in hand. Pursuing higher studies is always a good fall-back option for three things: 1. if you don't already have a Master's degree, this is your chance to arm yourself with one. 2. after the course completion, you are entitled to a 19-month work-permit in the name of OPT. So, you can for sure, get back to work after 19 months. and 3. a good explanation for the gap in your career. </li><li>If the H1B quota for the year didn't run out yet, find yourself a full-time job. Again don't spend too much time looking for full-time jobs, because the H1B numbers might become unavailable anytime. May be, try hard for about a month or two and then, only then, find a decent consulting company to apply your H1B. Finding a full-time job should be your first preference, since 1. that's the legal path to employment, and 2. you would anyways have to search jobs after the consultant's H1B gets approved. So why not do that initially itself? That'll save you money, and unnecessary tensions as to whether or not the consultant's H1B gets approved.</li><li>If the H1B cap is filled, or for some other reason you can't get an approval, explore the option of working for non-profit organizations. By this, I don't mean volunteering. There are these NPOs like Universities and Hospitals that are H1B cap exempt. That is, they are not counted under the annual H-1B quota. You have separate job boards for jobs in universities, and NPOs. If you find an appropriate position, go ahead and apply to the job. If all goes well, the NPO would file a H1B petition for you and you can start working for them.</li><li>Again, if you aren't lucky with H1, you could explore this other option of work-study programs called "co-op" programs. A few colleges in US offer Masters degree program with full-time CPT right from the first day of joining the program. With the full-time CPT you can work full-time and attend school during evenings/weekends. <a href="http://www.htir.com/">HTIR</a> website contains the details. These schools are not-so-popular, but then you have the advantage of full-time CPT.</li><li>If you're willing to invest some money, and don't want to spend two years earning a degree, Management in Information Systems (MIS) is the way to go. Do your research, and you'll find a bunch of schools offering this degree program. Not much of a value addition to your resume, but in one year, you'll get the OPT. Another caveat here. If you're interested in pursuing this option, try to find a school that is registered in the STEM category. Why? STEM guarantees 29month OPT. Happy life! you don't even need to pay Medicare and Social Security taxes while on OPT, that's a lot of $$$.<br /></li><li>and finally if nothing works out, make a "citizen" baby :) so that he/she would not have to face the same hassles as you do should you choose to send him/her here. I'm not joking, if you really like the idea of having babies, this is an option worth pursuing unless you have other reasons not to. The best prenatal care you can give yourself is leading a stress-free life, pampering yourself at home. Any expecting mom has to agree with me on this.</li></ol>If, on the other hand, you want to enjoy your long holiday, here's just a small subset of what all you can do:<div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Learn car driving. The best days of my H4 have been after me learning to drive. You will begin to feel independent again as you zoom. Plus, if you're into window shopping like I am, US is the place to be. Plenty of one-of-a-kind shops where you can spend hours casually browsing the aisles and unlike India, nobody here puts up awkward expressions if you leave without purchasing a thing or even bother you as you casually walk around the store.</li><li>Now is the time to pick up all those hobbies you left to make time for your studies. </li><li>If there's a community college near you, check out their course schedule. I don't mean the educational ones. Most of these colleges offer sports lessons, swimming and music classes, etc for as little as 20-30$ for the entire semester. </li><li>Blogging. The best outlet for your several thoughts. Start writing a blog to post your random musings or some cooking or crafts blog or anything. Blogging is fun and you will slowly learn to become more expressive.</li><li>Reading. If you enjoy reading books, you will never once get bored here. For the public libraries here are pretty amazing! Become a member and read as much as you can.</li><li>If arts and crafts interest you, visit the store "Michaels" to get some ideas.</li><li>Make vacation plans. There are plenty of places to visit in the US, while there are hardly 4,5 long weekends an year. Unless your spouse is into travel planning, you take up the task of planning your vacation. Most of the State Tourism Boards publish travel guides and mail them out for free. This info can be obtained on the Internet too. But, if you prefer lying back and reading all that a State has got to offer, order these travel guides and start planning.</li><li>Every now and then, keep revising what you already studied and learn what's new in your field of expertise. </li><li>Keep in touch with friends, professional contacts and with world, in general. </li></ol>See, we came here on our choice. Nobody forced us into marrying an H1-B dude. So why crib? If not this year, you can apply for work permit the next year or the next. As long as you are hands-on with whatever your resume highlights, getting a job is not at all difficult. All it needs is confidence to crack an interview, assuming you already have the required skill-set. If you start getting depressed, it will only affect your relationship. Always remember, there's a contingency plan for everything. So relax at home and have fun!<br /><br /><br /><div> </div></div></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-8360877319325051382009-10-16T16:46:00.001-07:002010-10-02T23:04:19.291-07:00DisneylandSo Disneyland - what's in for adults huh? Do adults have anything to do at all at DL? What if I'm not that much into cartoons? With these and several other questions bothering me at the very thought of visiting Disneyland, I kept postponing the trip telling myself I'll go once my kids grow up, yes "grow up" which would be several several years later. Anaheim is just 1.5 hours from where we stay, so one fine day I decided to visit Disneyland at Anaheim, CA come what may. Quickly browsed through the park website and saw the list of attractions and thought again, should we really go? Instantly closed the browser and told myself - no research this time, if I read any further, I might never visit so let me just go and explore Disneyland.<br /><br />A little background about me:<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >- I don't once tune in to a cartoon show on Television</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br />- I never watch any animation movies</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br />- the only disney characters I know of are Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Winnie, the Pooh</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >and yet, I had fun at DL!</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9s0I6gfM8QI65y8k27G95NrLrHDIJd4Lrv6eETz9TkDcLL900yBmqa5O7yjsEeisUmCWV796dEF4eVs9XXod85CV0jN2V8yF7jAmQJr5gO0fGfYPxerX8I6AIeUP86aPpfmM3XkPZnOUW/s1600-h/collage.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9s0I6gfM8QI65y8k27G95NrLrHDIJd4Lrv6eETz9TkDcLL900yBmqa5O7yjsEeisUmCWV796dEF4eVs9XXod85CV0jN2V8yF7jAmQJr5gO0fGfYPxerX8I6AIeUP86aPpfmM3XkPZnOUW/s400/collage.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393356453075029858" border="0" /></a><br />So having spent a whole day at disneyland, I can assure you that disneyland is not just for kids, and adults can have fun too. Its not only a home of the cartoon characters we grew up watching, but there are some thrill rides, slow rides, fireworks and in general, the park carries a colorful, happy, festive look that you just want to sit back on the side-walk and enjoy. I have a huge list of traveller's tips for you when you plan a visit to DL. The park is huuuuuge, and the density of population is quite high (much more than Universal Studios and Sea World) even on a regular weekend. If you just have a day to spend at Disneyland Resort, Anaheim,<br /></div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li>do your homework right. Look at the list of attractions on the park website and make a short-list of what you find interesting. Inside the park, all you have is a park map and never ending lines of queue at most attractions. So, there's no point wasting time on something not worth seeing. This is the most important step of your DL trip preparation. There are too many places to visit inside Disney, so if you fail to do this step, you would end up wondering what to see, and what to skip at each and every attraction. </li><li>make the best use of the FastPass service. On your trip list, add a star next to the FastPass attractions. When you decide to do a thrill ride or something else with a FastPass, go grab a pass for that asap. That way you can avoid the long queues and cover other smaller attractions during the FastPass wait-time.Make the optimal use of your time inside the park.<br /></li><li>for adults without kids, I suggest you visit Tomorrowland first. Its got a bunch of rides, and a futuristic place called Innoventions that's worth a visit. Once you're done with Tomorrowland, you can walk across to Adventureland, Frontierland and the New Orleans Square. Those are all the not so kiddish zones of Disneyland. Leave Fantasyland and Mickey's Toontown to the end.</li><li>atleast do a quick walkthrough the toontown. Everything there is so damn cute and pretty. Exactly like what we see on cartoon shows.</li><li>make sure you find yourself a good vantage point for watching the night show, Fantasmic. Its one of a kind laser-fountain-fireworks show that you don't want to miss. Now there are two night shows - Fantasmic at 9 and the regular fireworks show at 9:30. You can't catch the best view of both unless you stay till 10:30 for the repeat show. If fireworks behind the castle are what you're interested in, find a spot on the main street. People literally sit there like 2-2.5 hours in advance for the fireworks.<br /></li><li>Celebrate, the Street Party. Another fancy event, but ask the park staff for the exact show time and if they anticipate any delays. When we went, the show was delayed by half-an-hour, waste of time :(</li><li>there is a whole strip of hotels right across the road from Disneyland. Next time, when we plan to visit, we'll make sure we stay there for the night. That way, you can comfortably tour the entire park in a day as the park is open from 9am-12am.<br /></li><li>not all events are scheduled on weekdays. So take a look at the park calendar before scheduling a trip to DL.<br /></li><li>finally, unless you are visiting So. Cal during holidays, DO NOT VISIT DISNEYLAND DURING HOLIDAYS/LONG WEEKENDS. We went on a regular weekend and the queues were crazy, about 80min wait time at some attractions. Isn't that insane? 80min is the time it takes to drive from Disney to my house. :) I'm sure I wouldn't even be able to do 20% of the park had I gone during holidays.<br /></li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;">So, go visit Disney and feel like a kid again as you walk through Mickey's Toontown :) Disney is definitely worth checking out.<br /><br />Oh yeah, another thing not quite related to DL. I have the habit of bringing back fridge magnets as souvenirs of interesting places I travel to. This time, instead of buying one, I made one at home. So much fun! Here's all you need:<br /><ol><li>Photo printer</li><li>Photo paper</li><li>Adhesive magnet sheets (can be purchased at Office Depot)</li><li>Scissors</li></ol>Photos are the best souvenirs, so the nice thing about making a souvenir magnet at home is that, you get to be a part of the picture on the magnet :D Don't you agree ?<br /><br />Choose a picture of you with appropriate background of the place you've been to, print it in a desired size using Windows photo printing wizard (if you don't have a photo printer at home, you can order a wallet-size print at walmart et al), paste it on the magnet and cut the magnet into whichever shape you want. Next time, I'll take a pic of the magnet I made and put it up here..<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-76193648365537080452009-10-06T14:21:00.000-07:002010-10-02T23:08:48.057-07:00The great American Shopping List<div style="text-align: justify;">The onset of the marriage season in India reminds me of my own wedding and all the shopping before and after that I did. When you decide to make the United States your new home, there's this long shopping list that makes its place in your handbag. You are allowed to carry 'n' pieces of baggage with 'm' kilos in each, so you begin jotting down the optimal list of things that can be carried in 'n*m' kilos. Whether you're going to the US for the first time, or for the tenth, you are bound to make this calculation. There's always something to bring back from India. Before coming up with my list, I asked some of my friends who were already living in the USA at that time to suggest me what all things should be brought from India. They were kind enough to share their thoughts, and right now I'm going to blog the list of "essentials", "not-so-essentials" and the "just-not-worth-the-load" items below. Basically, I categorize the immigrants into three categories:<span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><ol style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; "><li><span class="Apple-style-span" >Joining their spouse in the USA following marriage</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" >Coming with family for the first time, and </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" >Students</span></li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;">I'll start with category#1.<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 130%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >The essentials:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span><ol><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Electric mixer: </span></span>You do get mixers here, but they aren't designed to grind our dals and pulses. This is a must have in any Indian kitchen and I'm pretty sure you are going to miss this if you forget to get one.<br /></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Pressure cooker</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">:</span> If rice and dal constitute your staple food, do carry a pressure cooker from India. US has some good rice cookers though. So, you don't have to carry the electric ones. When you purchase a pressure cooker, remember to also buy enough number of gaskets, safety valves and a spare whistle too.<br /></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Stainless-steel ware:</span></span> Steel is ridiculously expensive here. So bring whatever you can think of. All those cooking utensils, ladles, other speciality steelware.<br /></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Kadai/frying pan/wok:</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span>Get the aluminium ones from India, non-stick can be bought here. Also, make sure you buy the flat-bottomed kadais like<span class="Apple-style-span" > </span><a href="http://www.vishalmetalindustries.com/images/products/domestic-cookware/flat-base-kadai.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" >this</span></a><span><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></span>and not the rounded ones like <a href="http://www.foodutensils.com.au/images/325N20600_Kadai_Bowl.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" >this</span></a>. Since most of the stoves in the American kitchens are electric, if you use a round-bottomed kadai, it'll end up dancing on your stove-top :)</li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Other miscellaneous kitchen essentials</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" >: </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UyjyFbqzm5JNEqm3yuC3zE7c0of0VGd-1c6SHvm0oGhdPjhsuuqRGJ48yE9aY7k90JNztaLaDKAX7fgCWzmoValo1JXr83pr7Mt0ZppuyQklFjbpyxjQdp8KW6d_d7KV5HLq4PoVMQ/s320/d890.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Coconut-breaker</span></a>, coconut scraper, idli plates, chopping board with knife attached (you can't find one here)...</li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Groceries:</span></span> Tamarind (what you get here is mostly black) and all those special "branded" stuff like masalas, pickles, etc.</li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Devotional stuff:</span></span> If you are religious and do your prayer everyday, bring all those idols, religious texts and other puja material.</li><li>and most importantly, bring with you lots of<span class="Apple-style-span" > </span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >confidence</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span>to achieve your American dream :)<br /></li></ol><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 130%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Not-so-essentials:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span><ol><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Medicines:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span>They would not add much of weight, so if you have the time, shop some antibiotics and other drugs you just can't do without. First-aid and regular cold-cough-fever medications can be purchased over the counter here. but antibiotics and other speciality medicines are sold only on prescription. But yeah, if you prefer gulping down the same things you grew up with, its better to get them rather than miss them in times of need.<br /></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Home decor:</span></span> My major complaint about the USA is that the only fancy decorative stuff sold here are candle stands and photo frames. How bland! If you like to add a vibrant, desi feel to your home, get them from Desh! Again, when you're coming for the first time, you won't really have an idea of what to pick. My suggestion is, get some light-weight wall decor and may be a bunch of figurines for your TV stand and side tables. We generally don't have India like showcases in the houses here. So don't bring too much stuff either.</li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Plastic-ware:</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span>Plastic is dirt cheap here. But, most of the plastic food storage containers you find here are<span class="Apple-style-span" > </span><a href="http://containerlid.com/images/containers/containers_250x251.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" >short and wide</span></a>, unlike those<span class="Apple-style-span" > </span><a href="http://www.rez-tech.com/images/PlasticContainers-GripItSQ02.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" >tall tins</span></a> in our mom's kitchen. If you have some room in your baggage, get those tall plastic containers for storing pulses and other groceries.<br /></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Other Cookware:</span></span> Like chapathi rolling pins and base, a tool to sift flour, (<span style="font-style: italic;">jalleda</span> in Telugu) etc etc.<br /></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Media: </span></span>All your favourite music CDs, movie DVDs that you keep watching over and over again, unless you want to do some piracy and download from the Internet :)</li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Woolens:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span>Just bring one jacket for your flight, nothing more. You'll be amazed surfing the woolenwear aisles in the shops here.<br /></li></ol><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 130%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Just-not-worth-the-weight</span></span><span style="font-size: 130%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span><ol><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Non-stick cookware:</span></span> You can get really good ones here.</li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Tableware:</span></span> By this I mean, plates, spoons and forks. Can be bought here.</li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Other steelware:</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span>Knives, peelers, graters, etc etc.<br /></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Linen:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span>Bedsheets, bath towels, etc. A big waste of baggage space if brought from India. They are not at all that expensive here.</li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Groceries:</span></span> Most of us carry all those pulses and loads of groceries that are readily available here just for the sake of saving some dollars. If you have the space in your baggage, go ahead and purchase. IMO, this should be the last thing on your mind when you shop for US. I usually fill in my baggage with lots of decorative and all other goods and finally hit the departmental store just before sealing my baggage. What you save may be 50 or 60$ which is equivalent to what you pay for eating out may be 3times. So, do you see, groceries are just not worth the weight.<br /></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Books:</span></span> Unless you are a student or a serious reader, you can safely leave all your books back home in India. Public libraries in the US are huge and rent books for free. You can find virtually every book here. For books that you refer to very frequently, better get them from India for they cost a lot to purchase.<br /></li></ol>If you are going to land in a desi hub like Los Angeles or New Jersey, you can do without carrying even the ones on my "essentials" list. These cities have huge Indian bazaars that sell everything from a diwali lamp to Gold ornaments. Another thing, if you plan to bring any electric gadgets from India, remember that America runs on 110V supply, so your 230V devices are not going to work directly here. Also, if you are coming from the state of Andhra Pradesh, there's this shop in Hyderabad called "Sanath Nagar Steel factory" that's worth checking out.. Its a huge warehouse like store that sells 110V items. That ain't my uncle's store :), mentioning because I find it really good.<br /><br />For category #2, #3:<br /><br />The biiig advantage that people falling in cat #1 have is, one: a car ready at their disposal and two: a US guide aka husband :) So even if they come empty handed, they can purchase most of the above within no time. But for the rest of you, I say, get a month's supply of toiletries, linen, some groceries, stationery/college supplies, medicines. Fill up your suitcase with whatever you use as part of your day-to-day life.<br /><br />This list is by no means a comprehensive one. I'll keep updating this as more entries come to my mind. Feel free to leave me a comment if you think of something else, so that I can add it to my list.<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-32978095200668980262009-09-26T15:14:00.000-07:002010-10-02T23:09:27.300-07:00Zion National Park<div style="text-align: justify;">If you were to drive from Grand Canyon National Park to Zion, here are a few sights en route that you can't take your eyes off..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfcoYKQxY3iatATVf1GXk3u_obq-CC-IrEr3h5RkWzm2hYN3oMY5g3kH07FDt14RA5JK46Cmu84cneE4QOnGONWnjyoUluHgLBPYuOcMZ0Ch4X861EmTKjBrRRe51ffuM_4h6hKTi0TWSo/s1600-h/DSC04056.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfcoYKQxY3iatATVf1GXk3u_obq-CC-IrEr3h5RkWzm2hYN3oMY5g3kH07FDt14RA5JK46Cmu84cneE4QOnGONWnjyoUluHgLBPYuOcMZ0Ch4X861EmTKjBrRRe51ffuM_4h6hKTi0TWSo/s320/DSC04056.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385904476982202626" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUeGK2bZI9q1JBI5c7m9N4RiPW2IrbpfvnQzBudAb127Kyxycliq06cIvLJAZ6KzUS2v4wmoqWRn52NxVfA2C0U1ng5YVvgadpyVucrkJOU3lDDLsz500HzN_7gdE2QhqV7xnBkAXM2QM/s1600-h/DSC04050.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUeGK2bZI9q1JBI5c7m9N4RiPW2IrbpfvnQzBudAb127Kyxycliq06cIvLJAZ6KzUS2v4wmoqWRn52NxVfA2C0U1ng5YVvgadpyVucrkJOU3lDDLsz500HzN_7gdE2QhqV7xnBkAXM2QM/s320/DSC04050.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385904211561597586" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0yrtWPZKuXipKfzYFLYAyT4rS_k5GEh19ASOjcUp8ZYSfBPMWR85G8G5xjLFN_qgyCtiGkqYbtuntPac7bljwCGTLW21pAS_5exwlhnvYX6dV9qoS0Ed_rVSuD5xKs5X36HRQZWXswfx/s1600-h/DSC03999.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0yrtWPZKuXipKfzYFLYAyT4rS_k5GEh19ASOjcUp8ZYSfBPMWR85G8G5xjLFN_qgyCtiGkqYbtuntPac7bljwCGTLW21pAS_5exwlhnvYX6dV9qoS0Ed_rVSuD5xKs5X36HRQZWXswfx/s320/DSC03999.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385903809949329474" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwARehrCbJzZM1oKioUcL8izN8vupJA6kgk2OHame6jcvyaF0frj4Zen0EZzMeh5DNyrAEbOGXfNpP1xSaIqZ69ElBEFdWeLe6AZhRPrN_3z0w2xuwH4AszQPFiD2AThFGffDtUkgZPNW/s1600-h/DSC03981.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwARehrCbJzZM1oKioUcL8izN8vupJA6kgk2OHame6jcvyaF0frj4Zen0EZzMeh5DNyrAEbOGXfNpP1xSaIqZ69ElBEFdWeLe6AZhRPrN_3z0w2xuwH4AszQPFiD2AThFGffDtUkgZPNW/s320/DSC03981.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385903574595035666" border="0" /></a><br />Those are a few of my favourite pics from the album. We just had one day left in our trip and had to choose between Valley of Fire, GC Skywalk and Zion to fill the day. The decision to visit Zion was made on the last minute, and we're so glad we made it. Since Zion wasn't part of my trip homework, I should say, I literally wow-ed at each and every cliff. Its not always good to plan everything in advance, and one should always leave some room for surprise. GC was in my mind's eye since childhood, so I pretty much knew what to expect. But neither Zion nor Utah entered my google searching history till date. So, it was all <span style="font-style: italic;">surprise-surprise</span>!!!<br /><br />Not too far from Flagstaff, it takes about 2-2.5 hours to get to Springdale, UT. That's where Zion nat. park is. We did Zion in less than a day, including travel, food, etc. But for my next Utah vacation, I'll make sure I make enough time for each and every park I plan to see. Some of the rocks enroute are so stunning that you really want to pull over and click a pic. All the snaps above were captured from a moving car, else they would have been much better, with some human invasion into the foreground ;)<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jgEOPzhTJzidCOxaMB7AmuCpKRJu0n4QcEvfrDTOJ1zq8QhImkcKoS0IujnDSq6K5fOxAJgZDZtOVAJHuL37yZJyi-3pZ_hkcTB6HKJCD6MBiszfrqJneU9vxEGTkGbw4wUSJiK44qcx/s1600-h/DSC04055.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jgEOPzhTJzidCOxaMB7AmuCpKRJu0n4QcEvfrDTOJ1zq8QhImkcKoS0IujnDSq6K5fOxAJgZDZtOVAJHuL37yZJyi-3pZ_hkcTB6HKJCD6MBiszfrqJneU9vxEGTkGbw4wUSJiK44qcx/s320/DSC04055.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385907394200910546" border="0" /></a>Look at the intricate artwork, by God, by a river, by whatever. Isn't it amazing? Such fine detailing can only be achieved by man, but to attribute this formation to nature is something I find hard to comprehend. Each time I catch a glimpse of such sculpture during this trip, my first expression would be "Woowww" and the second one would be "How?" My fellow-travellers said its all due to erosion, dinosaurs (more about this later), ice age, blah-blah. I preferred to look at it with wonder without pondering much about what caused all this.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkT1jZwUVKsGwANimOK_D-EyFoVsruafewhc8exk2MSlFe83nWX8btPculPJD6AIpz2inpf7oZGToc3lJ86P0f93GcNI8t4z0BNtiGWG4avCeRV6nVxfw5livNV9_5CSSmQbz2EtwVGA92/s1600-h/DSC04063.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkT1jZwUVKsGwANimOK_D-EyFoVsruafewhc8exk2MSlFe83nWX8btPculPJD6AIpz2inpf7oZGToc3lJ86P0f93GcNI8t4z0BNtiGWG4avCeRV6nVxfw5livNV9_5CSSmQbz2EtwVGA92/s320/DSC04063.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385909146045950306" border="0" /></a>See this one. Doesn't it look as though its the result of brushwork? I mean, somebody with really thick brushes and with a good supply of brown paint brushed a stroke across the rock. If you look at the pic below, you might agree with me.<br /><br /><br />And the brown paint, spilled over.... I find this a little mysterious though.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh63lj3wM8uHys8uPmNJssnCdqRiJfTqlwZ7Vu7t8zffAjEznu63EDaoDXJ2MuH1fmSxPD8qCAU_LMtM1V5P56UWni-0kMryxB7-ULvZ0fcLIYcl5cCVgSEUzQDkWi9p9VPwkPZtcVnwKme/s1600-h/DSC04089.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh63lj3wM8uHys8uPmNJssnCdqRiJfTqlwZ7Vu7t8zffAjEznu63EDaoDXJ2MuH1fmSxPD8qCAU_LMtM1V5P56UWni-0kMryxB7-ULvZ0fcLIYcl5cCVgSEUzQDkWi9p9VPwkPZtcVnwKme/s320/DSC04089.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385910497253617970" border="0" /></a><br />We're not there yet.. May be half way between Flagstaff and Zion. But I've already typed a lot. Some where close to the state border is this Glen Canyon Dam. Worth a stopover to get a closer look at the dam.<br /><br />The Colorado river, chief architect of the Grand Canyon..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNUATg1oM0Yw4vHl6ieUR0D7D27BlH8yYKF6DpCuxWu6N6PVI15ZWmHLu2lkQ_vw2_P4yX5tnGnYKLpAbHEyduNoBxhyHuKzNkjo45t3EGliqXVRmvuvnmgenLs1jA2TohNFXs5KQ0mpN/s1600-h/DSC04025.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNUATg1oM0Yw4vHl6ieUR0D7D27BlH8yYKF6DpCuxWu6N6PVI15ZWmHLu2lkQ_vw2_P4yX5tnGnYKLpAbHEyduNoBxhyHuKzNkjo45t3EGliqXVRmvuvnmgenLs1jA2TohNFXs5KQ0mpN/s320/DSC04025.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385911906502759810" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The Dam and lake Powell..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd25BEtW4dg49mbzdLSTUXwP8efBCP2IGnU4qNIvfNmlrUDew_d8XyvCIdYx9f2k7jAneJqEGkDkjQwJDQxnHPVaEByk_-2aNENyoz5kSRfX92jpRzkuaR6Tgq_CSph4IdKNJpjPZ-gtFr/s1600-h/DSC04018.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd25BEtW4dg49mbzdLSTUXwP8efBCP2IGnU4qNIvfNmlrUDew_d8XyvCIdYx9f2k7jAneJqEGkDkjQwJDQxnHPVaEByk_-2aNENyoz5kSRfX92jpRzkuaR6Tgq_CSph4IdKNJpjPZ-gtFr/s320/DSC04018.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385912134124400738" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Entering Zion..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfDRQHPC1fOe3ITh5qJ9bnDlKiM5dy5shOUkZPR-Xsg56ecz2H7eJhywmyfeR04inoA1MyD0MyS_0-41w98Ra53IL6Qj9w9h1ZQEoOKhIWci5usevEcNHfToFvjFl65N0AAvKnBm_f4HK/s1600-h/DSC04130.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfDRQHPC1fOe3ITh5qJ9bnDlKiM5dy5shOUkZPR-Xsg56ecz2H7eJhywmyfeR04inoA1MyD0MyS_0-41w98Ra53IL6Qj9w9h1ZQEoOKhIWci5usevEcNHfToFvjFl65N0AAvKnBm_f4HK/s320/DSC04130.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385913914406833138" border="0" /></a><br />Now, a visit to Zion complements the GCNP trip. Reason, Grand canyon is seen from the top, so you get a top-down view. But at Zion, you get the bottom-up view. You stand at the base, almost at the river level and look up at the tall cliffs. Stunning! Also, Grand Canyon is seen from a really long distance. Unless you have some binoculars, you can't really appreciate the detailing of each and every rock. At Zion, you stand up-close to the rock and can hence, get a more closeup view. Virgin river, which is a tributary of the river Colorado, is the sculptor of the Zion canyon. Also, the top-most layers of the Grand Canyon were formed at about the same time as the bedrocks of Zion which makes Zion a relatively younger canyon. That might explain why GC is all red and only the bottom-layers of Zion are red, while the top layers mostly browns and yellows and cream. Know nothing about Geology, that's just my guess. Whoa! This paragraph reminds me of a typical answer to a "compare and contrast" question in College exams. :)<br /><br />Zion national park offers more picturesque rock formations. Red, brown and cream being the primary colors of the rocks. Navigating the park is easy, can be done in 2 hours, if you don't plan to take any trails. The park is closed to private transport. You basically park at the visitor center and catch a shuttle bus to travel across the park. Because there aren't any cars around, you can enjoy the park in utter serenity. lots and lots and lots of rocks. Each bus stop is a great photo op. At some of these places, you kind of get surrounded by really really tall cliffs on all sides. Stunning and scary at the same time. The park is really peaceful, the only noise that you hear is the sound of the rapids of the Virgin river. Another interesting thing to note is that some of the roads inside the park are red sort of blackish-red. As though some of the color from the adjacent cliffs seeped into the mortar. There is lodging inside the park, I guess that'll be a memorable stay.<br /><br />There are some simple trails, and some hard ones. If you do the harder ones, you'll see the top-down view of Zion canyon. There's this riverside trail which is about 1.5miles roundtrip, simple one. At the end of the trail, you'll go as close to the canyon walls as possible. You are there, two tall cliffs on either side at a hand's reach and the river in the middle. That was how the canyon was formed. We didn't have time for the trail, I so regret :(<br /><br />Some, quick Zion shots..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX8KK7wqxx926YB5R-7fcrFTqJ7bUNTDlTAFKzKAcxKhLjqYIsDJYDxeDAYccGtV67WDN25WUmnpkLLC9ZgPOSnNMFC4dY-5zBk41gBUlmKMA6jCSDcHljiZ1-4aOmcAhlvN7CxadxDP0p/s1600-h/DSC04123.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX8KK7wqxx926YB5R-7fcrFTqJ7bUNTDlTAFKzKAcxKhLjqYIsDJYDxeDAYccGtV67WDN25WUmnpkLLC9ZgPOSnNMFC4dY-5zBk41gBUlmKMA6jCSDcHljiZ1-4aOmcAhlvN7CxadxDP0p/s320/DSC04123.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385917761810971010" border="0" /></a><br />This point below is called 'Court of the Patriarchs'. The three cliffs have been given some names too.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1ZvLVqnIXWRv5jWXgDQe3nPz7ElS_HJlqGbj9Te_XVBY9TY3ds1a6QHw0lCw7OUAbkUO4LjdVoXHvvUCDSqogt_AQ4jMe-AqKiXY0LZ0wjLZeR0_vKxL-zt2WPkgFneeU6K5FcmSXbOQ/s1600-h/DSC04173.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1ZvLVqnIXWRv5jWXgDQe3nPz7ElS_HJlqGbj9Te_XVBY9TY3ds1a6QHw0lCw7OUAbkUO4LjdVoXHvvUCDSqogt_AQ4jMe-AqKiXY0LZ0wjLZeR0_vKxL-zt2WPkgFneeU6K5FcmSXbOQ/s320/DSC04173.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385917991871726226" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6J0i8i5hXTSt4aIEIDdRPgP0nDzRVTABwEQwU7xGUOT_4wXYGwbpnqP6TahtZfxYgx08Nf7n3bDS2uznbEXoSm8yO31CAeK75hD7UGVQ3xQBStC2H6aTSzNKFM-j8d9jsGpq6aBynQ3fk/s1600-h/DSC04146.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6J0i8i5hXTSt4aIEIDdRPgP0nDzRVTABwEQwU7xGUOT_4wXYGwbpnqP6TahtZfxYgx08Nf7n3bDS2uznbEXoSm8yO31CAeK75hD7UGVQ3xQBStC2H6aTSzNKFM-j8d9jsGpq6aBynQ3fk/s320/DSC04146.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385918261243472546" border="0" /></a><br />River that carved the Zion canyon..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizYJK9WOaPrV3YPPzqVSfIh7Mlp574q8bA7hob6hPKy9RzVqI7-IYp29JpSto6d5JTJAtUR9B2qfZzdc_dlDHcBSXIUlk2ndMY8C1KW0o4kC2_68AZkTSkS4zty-ZtUuRFIehnCltTP9F7/s1600-h/DSC04167.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizYJK9WOaPrV3YPPzqVSfIh7Mlp574q8bA7hob6hPKy9RzVqI7-IYp29JpSto6d5JTJAtUR9B2qfZzdc_dlDHcBSXIUlk2ndMY8C1KW0o4kC2_68AZkTSkS4zty-ZtUuRFIehnCltTP9F7/s320/DSC04167.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385918573956986690" border="0" /></a><br />When you plan a visit to Grand Canyon, make sure you have a complete day for Zion. The drive is amazing, and so is Zion. We didn't do full justice to our visit to Zion.<br /><br />For some unknown/absurd reasons, I never once Googled for "Utah tourist attractions". May be I didn't like the name - Utah. Or something else, but after coming back from the trip, I've been doing a lot of research and I'm really amazed reading how much Utah has got to offer. When in Utah, try to squeeze these into your itinerary, if the pics below interest you:<br /><ol><li><a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=arches+national+park&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g2g-m2"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Arches National Park</span></span></a></li><li><a href="http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=1&q=bryce+canyon&aq=0&oq=bryce+c&aqi=g10&start=0"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Bryce Canyon</span></span></a></li><li><a href="http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=1&q=Antelope+Canyon&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g4g-m2&start=0"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Antelope Canyon</span></span></a></li><li>Dinosaur tracks (UT/AZ have got plenty of them)</li></ol>Tom Cruise's MI-2 rock climbing scene was actually filmed in Utah. I'm so obsessed with all these rocks that I even started planning our next getaway to this State :)<br /><br /><span>Tom Cruise from MI-2</span>: The most charming actor in an awesome location - this is what I call a "treat" to the eye. :D<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ts3A8D6ytE&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ts3A8D6ytE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-87224093234721282032009-09-22T10:43:00.000-07:002010-10-02T23:10:18.893-07:00On the H1B mess...<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; ">Pls. note: This is a repost from another blog of mine. Was originally posted on the 1st of April, 2009 and hence the references to Fool's Day.</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">How many of you have been fooled today? Feeling sad that you could be fooled so easily? Don't you worry. There's somebody out there who was fooled consistently by a huuuuge number of people for the last two years. Not by 10, not by 100, but atleast by 8,500 people who fooled it into believing that they have a job, when they actually don't! Who else do you think I'm talking about besides the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services, the USCIS, in short. Here's why...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Each year the USCIS accepts petitions for the much coveted ***H1B*** visa. This is perhaps the World's most sought after visa, as it gives a ticket to making $$$. :) For those IT professionals with Dollar dreams, there's one additional season besides Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter - & that is the "Filing" season. This season begins on the 1st of April every year. And for the last two years, this has been the shortest season of the year. Started on April 1st, and ended on the same day. Huh-oh! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A citizen of India, with a very good job back in Pune, I never dreamt of landing in the US. So, I didn't care about all these work visas. But after coming here, I was like Sheaaa!!! Is this the way the country, the World looks up to, issues work permits? To get a job here, you need a work authorization; and to get the work authorization, you need a job. Do you see the cyclic dependency? Sadly, our friend, the USCIS doesn't. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For the US-graduated students, they have the previlige of getting a short-term work permit that allows them to work for atleast 1year. So, it becomes easier for them to get a job, start working using the Student work authorization, and eventually get the employer file the H1B. But for the people on dependent visas, and for all those in India, there's a slim chance of finding an employer who is willing to file your H1B and is ready to wait till October 1st for you to join work. As a result, most of these people approach the DCCs (Desi Consulting Companies). Most of them are shady guys with a one room office, and with 100's of employees on the payroll. All they do is, take money from the candidate, offer him a "dummy" job and go ahead with the H1 application. Once the candidate gets the visa, and lands up a job, he becomes the hen that lays the golden eggs. The owner of the DCC can happily vacation in Hawaii, while his employees fill up his bank account. In the eyes of the USCIS, he is a legitimate employer. But hey, there was no real job offer while filing the H1 petition. How could the USCIS miss that?<br /><br />Last year, I went the right way & got a "real" full-time job, and got my H1B filed without paying a penny. But since the USCIS is not smart enough to sift the "real" jobs from the total pool, I missed the lottery. This year, when I gave up (bad market-no one knows whether he'll be in business on Oct 1st) and started enquiring around for a DCC, there's this guy who offered to file my H1. Not too surprising, this is what he said: "I charge 4000$ for processing your app. I strongly recommend you to put atleast 5 other apps (What???). The more tickets you buy, the better the chances of winning the lottery. Right? Any amount you *invest* in H1B is priceless". My greatest regret is that his name somehow slipped off my mind. Had I remembered, I would have posted this in some legal forums.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because of these DCCs, the applications out number the quota, thereby resulting in a lottery. All the while, I've been believing that your education, personality, experience, anything that is either a natural trait or one thats acquired with lots of hardwork, earns you a career. Funny thing is, in the US, its a lottery that decides whether or not you can work. Hows that??</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Atleast 10% of the 85,000 visas are grabbed by the DCCs. If somebody fools you today, you realize it latest by the end of day. But it could take the USCIS anywhere up to an year to realize it was fooled by a DCC. It just rubs it off the shoulder, perhaps denies the visa at the Consullate, and gets ready to invite another set of applications. The System can't be more screwed up. Since its not possible to filter out the DCCs, some radical changes should be introduced in the way the work permits are issued. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That said, I'm asking again: Do you consider yourself the greatest fool? Think again!<br /></div><br />Beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.murthy.com/nflash/nf_040809.html"><span class="Apple-style-span">H1B Cap not reached in the first 5 days</span></a></li></ul>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-80984271133897103772009-09-17T14:58:00.000-07:002010-10-02T23:10:33.585-07:00Trip to Grand Canyon National ParkTruly spectacular, natural wonder, the best sight my eyes have ever seen. And that is the Grand Canyon!<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8jM7tEJ_MoO6ffWR1z2vAM_EtWvNA5jfmy4od4BWgQAaUhq4xBpd7atoNN6Fzzw0ROxPEmw3KqctCofYu46iF3JsB3G_APInG0Buw19jtQviyGrBQULYVs61ft5msLo4DlHUv5dVU483O/s1600-h/DSC03930.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8jM7tEJ_MoO6ffWR1z2vAM_EtWvNA5jfmy4od4BWgQAaUhq4xBpd7atoNN6Fzzw0ROxPEmw3KqctCofYu46iF3JsB3G_APInG0Buw19jtQviyGrBQULYVs61ft5msLo4DlHUv5dVU483O/s320/DSC03930.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382560897566914834" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I've been to several "must-see" places in the USA, but nothing comes anywhere close to the Grand Canyon. An endless area of colored rock formations, in some really amazing shapes and texture, all carved out by the forces of nature. As you stand at any of the several vista points, its hard to believe that the GC is a work of nature and not another man-made architectural marvel.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTvCKXNz1Sxy5YcXchyWo_CRRbzZNYofQctaLloBGRXINzOt7y1p26RJYxZhL3AckK33nQteEmfxQx2vgMhXS4HLybiRptqCmNp_VgGMW4lbcMIW8x1sGxL79EufmWpBcb9YwXDihqs_1d/s1600-h/DSC03894.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTvCKXNz1Sxy5YcXchyWo_CRRbzZNYofQctaLloBGRXINzOt7y1p26RJYxZhL3AckK33nQteEmfxQx2vgMhXS4HLybiRptqCmNp_VgGMW4lbcMIW8x1sGxL79EufmWpBcb9YwXDihqs_1d/s320/DSC03894.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382561418093772418" border="0" /></a><br />GC is mostly sandstone-limestone cliffs carved out by the Colorado river over 100s of millions of years. The oldest part of the canyon is its bedrock which is over 1.5billion years old. Quite surprisingly, the bottommost layer of the canyon is named after a Hindu God "Vishnu", and is called "Vishnu Schist". The erosion has taken place in layers and each layer exhibits a different color. Another noticeable thing is the texture of each rock. Looks as though each rock has been sculpted by man using some really sharp tools.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrerDM0APxT0FI2F-3yCogwY4t7YaCUpctfkIZbrWJalkONTn9PjbrcBQgddkZkNevUk8vWxNmMPSVzIOs0iYhU2d_ctnJwe-vWV1lapLx9weNkd4yx64cDZIYJOA-GT9keRqT1XPkFQhs/s1600-h/DSC03873.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrerDM0APxT0FI2F-3yCogwY4t7YaCUpctfkIZbrWJalkONTn9PjbrcBQgddkZkNevUk8vWxNmMPSVzIOs0iYhU2d_ctnJwe-vWV1lapLx9weNkd4yx64cDZIYJOA-GT9keRqT1XPkFQhs/s320/DSC03873.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382566618652774642" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A closer look..<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBy9pPLLWpVNT7LWBxv_OoaKnYl85a0zYxekK7LxPAkFZTVyxiIJVzq9Mu9ePoTOBp5yzIsXKtrebutLLtMFODxNmZnkSiNjGpOvSEXfQpImTaf2Atrb9DVGQvNyjdxDpK2VLT3lEC48B/s1600-h/DSC03829.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBy9pPLLWpVNT7LWBxv_OoaKnYl85a0zYxekK7LxPAkFZTVyxiIJVzq9Mu9ePoTOBp5yzIsXKtrebutLLtMFODxNmZnkSiNjGpOvSEXfQpImTaf2Atrb9DVGQvNyjdxDpK2VLT3lEC48B/s320/DSC03829.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382567313899582130" border="0" /></a><br /><br />When I told some of my friends that I was going to visit the GC, the most common comment I got was: "First sight is breathtaking, after that you'll get bored. All rocks and nothing else". But to me, each and every overlook from the designated view points was breath-taking. I sort of went into a trance looking at the canyon. Got a divine feeling, something I only get in proper stone-carved temples of South India, not the cemented ones. Reason being, some of these rocks reminded me of temple gopurams. After a quick read through the park brochure, I realized I'm not the only one to experience some kind of "holiness" looking at the rocks. The canyon ancestors also found them holy and called them shrines/temples by naming them after Hindu, Egyptian and Gods of few other religions. The most notable ones being, "Shiva" temple and one "Brahma" temple.<br /><br />Here's one:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4cs3vKOmlmMlr5rFbZbjidaqaHCStj-9xAR_l0F9sBw85qhjRuf567fILTVC5DW2Wnjq7xWERon35T6nthtRreRcOOF4TxqWDvbsriINDWZL6njSDSJES5nCjsQd953w481y3vynPAl9E/s1600-h/DSC03880.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4cs3vKOmlmMlr5rFbZbjidaqaHCStj-9xAR_l0F9sBw85qhjRuf567fILTVC5DW2Wnjq7xWERon35T6nthtRreRcOOF4TxqWDvbsriINDWZL6njSDSJES5nCjsQd953w481y3vynPAl9E/s320/DSC03880.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382569474403969362" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjHBwtqQvhyphenhyphenzvRHoykAXespRLVmmTTf192a5JQY8OgsI-beCEoZB4Vf7f0I7O_tnFjtkhpkcPtsQbnBb20uTk36IOO6bTlrLGzytRSIffHFAHd-2t3g4HYe2_ln72TE_vrHWXnqaYk29x/s1600-h/DSC03936.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjHBwtqQvhyphenhyphenzvRHoykAXespRLVmmTTf192a5JQY8OgsI-beCEoZB4Vf7f0I7O_tnFjtkhpkcPtsQbnBb20uTk36IOO6bTlrLGzytRSIffHFAHd-2t3g4HYe2_ln72TE_vrHWXnqaYk29x/s320/DSC03936.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382569769655660802" border="0" /></a><br />I can go on writing words of praise about the GC. But in order to make up some space for the traveller's tips, I'm stopping here. Now, the best time to visit the canyon is a small window of time in March/April or in September. Rest of the days, its either blazing hot or biting cold. Make sure you carry lots of water , a cap and some really powerful anti-tan lotion with you. Sunscreens are good, but they won't protect you from getting tanned. Also have a backup camera battery and an extra memory card. GC is a photographer's paradise!<br /><br />Unless you're hiking the canyon, the nat. park can be covered comfortably in one day. Basically, its this stretch of road with about 10-15 view points on the way. Starts with the desert view watch tower on the east all the way west until the hermit's rest with the visitor center in the middle. This road kind of borders the canyon's south rim. Only half the length of this road is open to private vehicles. A good "September" itinerary would be to do this half first, and then park your vehicle at the visitor center. For navigating the other half, you have these shuttle buses. There's one point called "Hopi Point" which offers the best Sunset views. So if you reach the visitor center by about 3pm, you can take the shuttle bus and visit all other view points and finally get down at the "Hopi" point at about Sunset. Large crowds gather there, so better be there atleast half hour before the scheduled sunset time.<br /><br />There are a couple of hotels in the GC area, but they get booked pretty early. For the last-minute planners, it becomes an expensive affair to reserve a room in one of these places in Tusayan, AZ. The next best places to put up are Williams and Flagstaff, both located at about 1-1.5hours driving distance of the GC National Park. We stayed at Flagstaff, amd drove to the east entrance of the Park. En route is the Little Colorado canyon which is as pretty as the GCNP. If you travel to the visitor center directly, you would not come across this.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznjuu2iFFwbRZLIeXiLFBUknNOgb5TX4sbVJhlEWxHyrdRwAtfOQzpyhhPIKZ7alvx5W3LzFEwV4fG51c3G7ZSdGObqD5GMaAf2MwQnHbSzS8aZ4-rGmttanl2-BO5aj1X-IPSWU-K_nV/s1600-h/DSC03774.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznjuu2iFFwbRZLIeXiLFBUknNOgb5TX4sbVJhlEWxHyrdRwAtfOQzpyhhPIKZ7alvx5W3LzFEwV4fG51c3G7ZSdGObqD5GMaAf2MwQnHbSzS8aZ4-rGmttanl2-BO5aj1X-IPSWU-K_nV/s320/DSC03774.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382571829692023474" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJ5ubmSWzjYJFQnIfc7m8I_y8YGyVwwdqzE5FzQAbd9VIlq9jKaGtqIyi2E8kx-Fy6cWdRof6OnsW7S9jFEjOqXkMjCh1EVmnJpCnSaA5o1WZS4jJs6buhBhSA0ozDOkZ9G8y_-pQYxvK/s1600-h/DSC03784.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJ5ubmSWzjYJFQnIfc7m8I_y8YGyVwwdqzE5FzQAbd9VIlq9jKaGtqIyi2E8kx-Fy6cWdRof6OnsW7S9jFEjOqXkMjCh1EVmnJpCnSaA5o1WZS4jJs6buhBhSA0ozDOkZ9G8y_-pQYxvK/s320/DSC03784.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382572149572142210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Another place worth a visit, if you have the time is Sedona. If you don't have the time to cover the length and breadth of Sedona, just plan a quick drive from Flagstaff to Slide Rock State Park in Sedona. Its a 20 mile scenic route that you can do in about 30min one way. Until I actually visited Arizona, I used to believe that its just an "Arid"-"zone"-ah! But after taking the drive, I realized that Arizona has it all - desert, lush green forests, and also a snow capped peak!<br /><br />We drove to Flagstaff from Las Vegas. Took us about 5hours. On the way, if you take a diversion by following a huge board that says "Grand Canyon Skywalk", you would drive to the west rim of the canyon which flaunts a horse-shoe shaped glass bridge into the canyon. South rim is what we visited, and is the most visited rim of the canyon. If you are the adventurous kinds, there are these awesome waterfalls in the Havasupai Indian reservation near the south rim of GC. From what I read, its about a 10mile hike, and the reward you get at the end are sights like <a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=havasu+falls&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g4"><span class="Apple-style-span" >these</span></a><br /><br />The first thing that the desis in US do when their parents visit them is to plan a trip to L.A./San Diego/New York/Las Vegas/D.C./blah-blah-blah. But IMO, its the National Parks here that our parents should visit and not those man-made cities and theme parks. Undoubtedly, National Parks are America's best idea. I sometimes wonder why many of the best natural formations in the world fall within the US mainland. Whatever the reason is, the Govt has done a remarkable job by coming up with the idea of National Parks and thereby preserving the best sights of nature for future generations.<br /><br />From the Grand Canyon, we travelled up to Utah to see the Zion Canyon. More about that in my <a href="http://manjushawrites.blogspot.com/2009/09/zion-national-park.html"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >next post</span></span></a>.<br /><br /><span>P.S:</span><br /><br />A movie clip showcasing the GC below..<br /><br />An Indian movie song from the Film <span>"Jeans"</span>. My first view of the canyon was thru this song. It was then that the desire to visit the Canyon entered my "Bucket List" :) This movie was filmed in several locations, across NYC, L.A., Las Vegas, etc etc. But only the canyon caught my eye.<br /><br />In the video below,<br /><span>1:55 - 2:45</span>: shot in the GC and "Valley of Fire" state park near Las Vegas. All the while, I thought everything was the Grand Canyon. Damn! Visited LV twice, but never knew there was something more to Vegas, besides the Strip.<br /><span>3:45 - 4:40</span>: picturized in the Grand Canyon national park.<br /><br /><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gM18_dOp2Oc&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gM18_dOp2Oc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="560"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-90801946191525586762009-08-30T18:56:00.000-07:002010-10-02T23:10:47.673-07:00Movie Review - Magadheera (Telugu/Indian)<div style="text-align: justify;">Oh what a film! The indefinite wait for this movie ends with a not-so-good experience. Having missed the first screening of this movie in San Diego, I was utterly depressed. Having learnt that its being screened again on public demand, I was utterly zealous. Having watched it, I'm utterly speechless wondering "Is this all?"<br /><br />IMO, here are ...<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; ">The good</span> - A pretty looking actress draped in amazing costumes<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; ">The bad</span> - The much talked about special effects<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; ">The ugly</span> - All the bloodshed<br /><br />First of all, "Magadheera" isn't much of an entertainer. Its about some unfulfilled wishes that cause re-birth of the lead characters after 400 years. I can't find anything good about the film excepting for the heroine that I already quoted. The other thing I liked is the horse-riding part. Never seen a Telugu actor ride a horse without a dupe. What else? Hmm. May be the setting of the Udayghad fort in 1609 is praise-worthy. As per Tollywood reports, the movie was made on a whopping 40 crore budget. The most expensive Telugu movie ever made is what they all say. Could somebody tell me where did all the money go? Excepting for the huge Fort entrance set, I didn't find anything else that looked pricey. SRK's Devdas was made with some 40 crores back in 2002 and the extravagance is reflected in every scene.<br /><br />Now the never-ending list of "not-good"s.<br /><br /></div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li> The opening scene where they show the mountains. It looked like the "Paramount" pictures logo. I asked my husband if this is an animation movie. It looked so damn unnatural. Talking about graphics work, we've seen several other Telugu movies that have shown us some spectacular visuals.<br /></li><li>"Bangaru kodi petta" remix. No match to the original. Charan, IMO, lacks the charisma that Chiranjeevi had. It was a great relief to see him at the end of the song. And Mumait Khan, what an item girl! "Disco" Shanti is far better looking that MK. And the sound of the Rooster (kakadoodledooo) inbetween the lyrics was stupid. A big fan of the original song, that I am, I couldn't simply digest the horribly made remix.</li><li>There isn't much of a comedy track in the movie. There are a few scenes that make you laugh in the 1st half. 2nd half is totally sans humour. Bramhanandam was misused. Such a talented comedian wasn't given a good comical script. </li><li>The fight in front of the Kalabhairava figure in 1609. Tooooo much of violence. Srihari supposedly came to conquer the kingdom, what's he doing there counting 1 through 100? He claims to be the ultimate conqueror. He then should do his job by following the simple rule: "he came, he saw, he conquered". Whatever, the horrific part was the fight. Almost 20% of the theatre was filled with kids aged 5+, and I really wonder what was going on in their minds when they saw the hero slaying the other warriors like some ..., I don't know what...<br /></li><li>Songs are okay-okay. None that hold on to you even after leaving the hall. The last mass song with Kim Sharma would have been better if a better item girl was chosen. Come on, Kim isn't that great/popular an actress after all .Look at what Rajamouli has done to the movie "Simhadri" by bringing Ramya Krishna to dance with Jr. NTR. Now, that is what I call a rememeber-able item number. May be he wanted to re-create the magic of "Musugu veyaddu" from Khadgam, but he failed big time.</li><li>In the final fight before Kalabhairava, Srihari travels all the way from Srikakulam to Rajasthan just to let go of his jeep to crash a helicopter in mid-air. Whoaa! Since he was a part of the scene 400 years ago, they had to somehow fit him in the present scene too.<br /></li><li>The end credits. Hasn't that been copied from Om Shanti Om? I give OSO better marks than this one with respect to the end credits.<br /></li><li> And finally, the Hero. He needs to improve on several fronts. First of all, he doesn't carry the "hero" look. I don't want to comment much about him, so as to be on the safe-side. :)<br /></li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;">The running time of "Magadheera" is 3 hours. After about 2 hours, I got bored and was thinking about "bangaru kodi petta" song and it appeared as though some 4-5 hours have passed since I watched it.<br /><br />I didn't want to blog movie reviews here. But since there's no other outlet for my thoughts about this movie, I'm scribbling them down here. On a hot Sunday afternoon, in a theatre far far away, I beg my husband (who isn't interested in watching Telugu movies) to accompany me to the movie, only to end up cursing myself why did I have to do all this. Some 5 years down the line, when I'm in some other part of the world, I'll relook at this post to re-live this moment.</div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-6269218670181925402009-03-19T13:53:00.000-07:002010-10-02T23:11:02.625-07:00Nokia N810<div style="text-align: justify;">Where do I start? My fingers are eagerly waiting to hit the keys. to write the nicest words for this device.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWG7slRlULBzf2U9zRsi-eOkhUKPMdjniZVE1_pu7bA4PnXoIX4vw39__TW7wEDGbTn7NSSMfjIzQ6Z3L81U-yRNuAHbVl4GMEYe5SICyro3mM7VjnLQDzDcfQ25UEFWyCs_i9l0_pMd53/s1600-h/00102_nokia-n810.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 200px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWG7slRlULBzf2U9zRsi-eOkhUKPMdjniZVE1_pu7bA4PnXoIX4vw39__TW7wEDGbTn7NSSMfjIzQ6Z3L81U-yRNuAHbVl4GMEYe5SICyro3mM7VjnLQDzDcfQ25UEFWyCs_i9l0_pMd53/s400/00102_nokia-n810.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315022948506506002" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">First things first.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">What do I use it for?</span> - To video-call my parents in India. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Why can't I do the same using my PC?</span> - Portability; I can talk/see my mom while walking from my patio to the kitchen. :)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N810"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >This</span></span></a> is what I'm writing about. Essentially, its a mini-computer with video-voip capability. Involves a one-time investment of 370$ (was 210$ two months ago), and then you can talk forever for FREE. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, let me start sharing my experience with N810. We bought two handsets before leaving for India last year so as to discontinue the Vonage service we were using back then. N810 has got some aud/vid apps. Skype runs on this phone, but only supports audio. There's Gizmo and a custom Internet call application for video. Skype is great for "audio only" calls. However, Gizmo's video is totally screwed up. That leaves us with Nokia's own Internet call app for video-chat which uses the SIP protocol for data transmission. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Our original plan was to give one handset to my parents, and one to my in-laws, while we chat with them through our lappy in US. Skype has no issues whatsoever. The desktop skype works perfectly with the Skype on Nokia. For video-call however, you need a SIP client on your PC to call Nokia. We tried a lot of them - Xlite, Kapanga, etc but they're all flaky. Video doesn't work all the time. There're issues with audio too. So, basically, there are compatibility issues for the Internet call app. We tried making calls between the two N810s we had. Worked like a charm! So finally bought another N810 for ourselves.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another selling point for N810 is that its got GPS capability. Hmm.. There are a couple of hacks you need to do inorder to use the free GPS software. Otherwise, its okay. Takes a while to get the satellite connectivity. About 5 minutes or so, which I think is quite common among GPS devices. There's basically a free 7-day trial version installed with the phone. Lets say you first used the map application on Jan 1st. This means you can use it till Jan 7th for free. Inorder to use it forever, you have to set the system date anywhere between Jan 1st-7th each time you start the map app. But once it starts, you have to reset the date to the current date, because once it starts communicating with the satellite, it uses the current timestamp. If you dont mind paying some 100$ for 3 years, you can get the licensed version of the map application. Another issue with the free map app is that the text-speech translation isn't fully functional. The device guides you properly, but simply says "Turn left", "Make a u-turn" etc, rather than saying, "Turn left on XYZ Street". The display, however, indicates that the next turn should be made on "XYZ Street". </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Besides video-calls and GPS, we also use it for browsing the Internet while at home. Imagine, you just want to browse through the TV listings online while relaxing on your couch, rather than using a heavy laptop for the purpose, you can use Nokia. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Technically, its an I-phone sans cellular/telephone module. Its got Bluetooth though, to connect to your bluetooth-enabled mobile phone. My next goal is to connect Nokia to the Internet thru my cellphone while visiting some scenic place/shopping mall and video-calling my parents back home. Sounds wooowwww!!!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, is it worth the investment? 370*3?? Absolutely yes!!! If you're the kind of person, who loves to see your parents every single day. Next time when you plan to visit India, and start shopping around for gifts, give N810 a shot. Take my word, your parents are going to love it more than anything else you take for them. Using the webcam on the computer is not that much of a big deal for most of us, since our lappies are always powered on. But for parents to switch on the computer, and sit before it, with all those microphones and stuff could be painful. Since N810 is more or less like a phone, they can use it with ease.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm loving it and so do my parents. Thanks Nokia!!!</div></div>Manjushahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01585932301667805643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-10468698293578702792009-02-05T14:23:00.000-08:002010-10-02T23:11:15.554-07:00Sony Vaio<div style="text-align: justify;">Here is one cool gizmo that 650$ can buy - Sony Vaio NS140E/W<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZpXR5IiD8RgNtBtUgUxbg1FUFTqikCqG27sqKlugws_atQHGYnujLU6T1Bdg5itnrwTbkFG8Y9-_99sm0TjXL5-xFEaYjgl0E6lIDTWo_msJOSPxKadCr3JiuZTOuT-Wew3DORzuWsO_/s1600-h/sony-vaio-n-laptop.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 204px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZpXR5IiD8RgNtBtUgUxbg1FUFTqikCqG27sqKlugws_atQHGYnujLU6T1Bdg5itnrwTbkFG8Y9-_99sm0TjXL5-xFEaYjgl0E6lIDTWo_msJOSPxKadCr3JiuZTOuT-Wew3DORzuWsO_/s320/sony-vaio-n-laptop.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299444589911910338" border="0" /></a><br /><br />What's great about it? - Look & Feel<br />What's not so great? - Some problems with the audio, no multimedia controls.<br /><br />Having used Compaq & HP laptops before and being unsatisfied with both, I wanted to try a Dell this time. The same configuration (NS140E) on Dell would have costed me about 100 bucks more. Plus, there's this inherent problem of lap-burning with most laptops that have their fans underneath. Dell's a victim too. That left me with no choice, but Sony, Toshiba or Lenovo. The other two were kind of boxy and not visually appealing, atleast to girls :). I was kind of skeptical about Sony as a laptop manufacturer. But then, having weighed all the pros and cons, I decided to try a Vaio this time. And now, after using it for a month, I couldn't have asked for more.<br /><br />Firstly, the laptop is sleek and weighs less. Even though its a 15.4" one, it can be carried around effortlessly. Its got a macbook-feel for half the price! Runs on battery for about 2hr 40min while in use. I haven't played any DVDs yet. But I should say it's got an amazing sound quality. But, when the volume is set to maximum, the sound kind of gets screechy and noisy. The microphone is great too. Voip calls made on this machine sound crystal clear at the other end. There are no multimedia controls on the keypad. I'm not a big fan of them, all I need is a mute button and that's there. I would be happier if there was a volume control too. For specifications, <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/sony-vaio-ns140e-w/4507-3121_7-33304125.html?tag=mncol;rnav"><span class="Apple-style-span" >click this</span></a>.<br /><br />Hardly takes 5 seconds to come up from standby mode, the wireless radio might take upto a minute though. My other HP laptop would take upto 2 minutes just to switch on the display from standby. Forgot to mention, the power cord is too short, hardly 1.5 meters long. No big deal, I can always get a longer one for few $$$.<br /><br />What I love most about this laptop is, it neither heats up my lap nor the keypad. That's because its got a fan on the side. So, there's no need for an external laptop fan which has sort of become an essential laptop accessory these days.<br /><br />We love this laptop so much that my husband wants to trade his 1100$ worth HP entertainment notebook for my 650$ Vaio. OMG!!! Vaio!!! You simply rock!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-11703999703513229602009-01-05T10:13:00.000-08:002010-10-02T23:11:27.891-07:00British Airways<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-0GQ7GPsFWc26tICtVGsnFgnmOq0MZTNMh7GTKUQbib9kJHpc7kocTBoETPmPrADAJIU1mzbrNmMrxlqzZ11b6INEN40Srbrs2lwg2F8HI8dmhQX5ZPQQTUqo_jtO0WNiDnyNQA9uYaM/s1600-h/bajpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-0GQ7GPsFWc26tICtVGsnFgnmOq0MZTNMh7GTKUQbib9kJHpc7kocTBoETPmPrADAJIU1mzbrNmMrxlqzZ11b6INEN40Srbrs2lwg2F8HI8dmhQX5ZPQQTUqo_jtO0WNiDnyNQA9uYaM/s320/bajpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287890898019642418" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">British Airways was by far, the best airline I've ever travelled by. I strongly recommend BA for flying to/from India. First of all, they honor your food requests. And second of all, BA has a decent collection of Indian movies for in-flight entertainment. Twenty hours on bread, butter and jam is the most grueling experience for Indian taste-buds. :) Request a vegetarian/Hindu meal on ba.com and thats all it takes for a yummy meal to reach you on board! One other advantage of requesting a special meal is that, you are served before all other passengers. Isn't that nice? This was my first flight journey without me waiting eagerly for the food-cart to arrive. :D<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The main reason I chose BA was because the fares were cheaper than other carriers at the time of booking. One other reason was that BA stops just once at Heathrow enroute Los Angeles-Hyderabad. But now when I tell someone about BA, the food factor and the desi movies on board take the first place. :) One more thing, BA has hindi-speaking attendants and announcements are made both in English and Hindi. This helps when you have non-English speaking people travelling.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Well, the only catch however when you have a stopover in UK (on most airlines) is that, you need to have a DATV (Direct Airside Transit Visa) if you are travelling with an expired US visa. If you are a US citizen, you are good to go. Visit <a href="http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/doineedvisa/"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >this</span></span></a> <span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/doineedvisa/"></a>for more information. The visa is required even if you don't leave the airport. I say it's a complete ripoff and an unnecessary cause of tension. To get this visa, you have to fill up a form online, get a biometric screen done at a USCIS application support center near you and send some original documents (passport, work authorizations, etc) along with a fee of 95$ + postage charges to the British Embassy. In most cases, it takes anywhere between 7-15days for you to get back your passport with the DATV stamp. The British consulate calls you once they check your documents and typically mail the passport the next business day. You get an email from them along with a UPS tracking number once they mail your passport. The biometrics thing at the USCIS center is by appointment. So getting the DATV is a time-consuming process. Make sure you apply for the visa as soon as you purchase your air-ticket. We didn't know about DATV until 3 weeks before our travel date, and God alone knows how much we panicked. What makes things worse is that, there's no way you can monitor your case status at the UK consulate. We felt greatly relieved on getting back our passport, and you know what, nobody even bothered to check the DATV, both in LAX as well as LHR. Shitttt!!!! But yeah, it's always better to be safe than sorry.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's all I have. Concluding here giving BA a 5/5 rating. Happy flying!!!<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251903694645699564.post-22497683406472150882008-12-01T14:36:00.000-08:002010-10-02T23:11:39.089-07:00"O" by Cirque Du Soleil<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lud1FacR28JOcdhYT-nThwQQuuTzChpOEEjWLs1AiD56YlS0KEN4qqdE1TjhWX2SZUpW-OB7I6zqZxD6LGan0CDezCxVcBO2pl80Kg1hgvkwvDB1JdVvTxIVbrjtdLHlD3cSX-bUsl6M/s1600-h/o+-+cirque+du+soleil.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 147px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lud1FacR28JOcdhYT-nThwQQuuTzChpOEEjWLs1AiD56YlS0KEN4qqdE1TjhWX2SZUpW-OB7I6zqZxD6LGan0CDezCxVcBO2pl80Kg1hgvkwvDB1JdVvTxIVbrjtdLHlD3cSX-bUsl6M/s200/o+-+cirque+du+soleil.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275826003909483442" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hello people, I just got back from a vacation in Las Vegas, and decided to pen down my review while the memories are still fresh in my mind. This is my first Cirque show and here's what I've got to say.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The O-theatre inside Bellagio is amazing! That's the kind of Opera House arrangement I always wanted to see. And the sets, awesome! I'm at a loss for words. Sets of this magnitude can only be seen in movies. The stage deserves a special mention. One moment it's a swimming pool, and within a blink of your eye, it turns to plain floor. You can't help wondering where has all the water gone.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The show runs for about an hour and 45min. The acts are all disconnected and there's no storyline, or maybe I couldn't comprehend one. There are about 3 breaks in between when the audience is left to the mercy of two clowns. I didn't find them any humorous and actually waited for them to leave.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">First half of the show was boring. I sat there with high expectations, and trust me, there was not a single act that wow-ed me. Felt that the trapeze artists in any Russian circus perform better than the Cirque crew. Infact during the first half-an-hour, I was actually wording my review for this blog. It was just dancing and diving and dancing and diving all the while. For those of you who wanted to be there at the watercube watching the Olympics, come watch O. You might love the synchronized diving acrobatics.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The latter part was stunning though. Amazing visual and sound effects, mind-blowing acrobatics and decent music blew me away. There's this fire act that I was most impressed with.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All in all, its a good show. But is it worth 110$? Certainly not. I would have given this a 5 star rating had the ticket been 55$, since I enjoyed just half the show. Will I watch another CDS? - No! Not worth the money. We all know that there are atleast 110 other ways to blow away 110 bucks in Las Vegas. Cirque Du Soleil is an experience, and I lived through it once. I guess I'll be happy with that. :)<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My friends have gone to see Ka and they loved it. And then there were these other people sitting around me in the O-theatre who actually enjoyed even the silly clown acts. I'm sure they would have given 'O' a 5-star rating. So yeah, the bottomline is, don't just go by the positive reviews that people write. When you decide to watch a CDS show, do enough research and pick the right show. Go watch them on YouTube or on DVDs and purchase the tickets only if you feel it's worth a watch. The video on the CDS site just runs for about a minute, and you can't really get a hang of the show.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><div style="text-align: justify;">Footnote:<br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">1. The instructions on the ticket prohibit the use of cameras or other recording devices, but there's nobody at the entrance to scan your bags. The theatre looks brilliant and it definitely deserves a place in your photobooks. No photography during the show though.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. The tickets sell out pretty fast. A week before the show date, we could get the last two remaining balcony seats - Section 303 row DD. Decent view.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0