Unaccustomed Driving

This ain't about the smooth drives at 90mph on the freeways of the US. It's not about the Buick Le Sabre that I drove. Neither about the so easy to follow driving-rules/directions. Also not about the religiously followed lane driving (which apparently if followed in India, might cause an accident).

This actually, is about something which was quite strange for the natives and a pretty normal thing for me to do when I am driving back in India. Infact some people might have been amused or prolly could have enjoyed the moment.

I stop at a red light confused whether to go straight, take a left/right. Pretty obvious for me to just pull down the glass and glance across inside the car halted next to mine. The person gives me this strange look but then in a flash gets back to what he/she was doing i.e. listening to the music or simply wait for the light to turn green. Next second, that person sees from the corner of his eye "me waving desperately..", becomes pretty obvious by now that I need help.

Next thing I do is quite casually enquire about the exit (or the way) to take for some xyz road.

I used to find it quite amusing when my team lead in the US (an Indian) would go out of his way to even sometimes draw the maps on a bloody tissue paper or on the white board in the conference room, but would make sure to always give us the correct directions in writing.

It did not take me long to realize that any person, new to the place and driving, would just need a detailed map of the city to reach to the destination. Of course why shouldn't they, when there no paan walas, auto drivers or x y z to be seen hanging around at every corner of the street.
There are just roads and zooming cars.

Yes, the MAPS are something absolutely invaluable for anyone driving in the US.

I still remember the looks I used to get at those red lights. I guess after a while I actually started enjoying irritating those firangs :).

Wanted to write about my experience of driving the car I rented in the US for month.

Nahhh... It ain't what you see. This is the HUMMER. Man, couldn't keep my eyes off it. Jaw dropped and next word which came outta ma mouth was... aaaaaawesome.

I hope this guy doesn't sue me on putting this snap which was taken without his permission.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Don't you dare think that I wanted Australia to retain Ashes.

It's bloody irritating not to watch even a single ball bowled because of the fucking tiff between the cable operator and ESPN Star Sports.

I checked out the news, in which a guy held this poster proudly which said "I missed my wedding for this". And here I am, absofucknlutely helpless with no fault of mine and missed one of the finest series played.

Please join me in giving a BIG EXTENDED MIDDLE FINGER to whosoever, resposible for this shit.

First Presentation in the corporate world

It is quite an expected statement which people make, after doing something successfully for which, they might have been a little nervouse to begin with.

They say... "It wasn't a big deal" or "It was actually a piece of cake".

Do I need to say more?

To be honest I was relieved more than anything. Something which was off my shoulders and the relief was also to suggest that it did not go bad at all. The IT Business school from where I did my masters had helped me a lot in letting me face the audience with the confidence that I do now. After giving some n no. of presentations at the school (which carried a significant weightage in our assignments) this wasn't something which would give me a jittery voice or a not so confident look on my face.

Ok, coming back to where I work @ "International Business Machines Global Services India", I thought giving a presentation would be a heavyweight task, but it turned out to be a storm in the tea cup.

My boss was the last one to leave the room, and said something which would not make me feel on top of the world, but just to let me know that I did well. I had few of my team mates come up to my desk and congratulate me on quite an informative/useful presentation, they thanked me for the time and effort I had put in.

Three possibilities : -
1) The audience has been void of some basic, clear and informative presentations for some time now!
2) The audience underestimated me.
3) I am actually quite good at presenting.

I go with the first one.

One thing that hit me after all of this was over : - For us (Indians) personal praise or appreciation means much more than the material benefits which follow after the success. It could apply to everybody in general, but to us, it surely does.