Fun while driving

We all have our share of close shaves with the law enforcers when we are on the road. A few days ago, at a potluck party, we were sharing some very interesting stories of desis being stopped for "reckless" driving. I thought i will share some of these stories that had us in splits.

A friend of another friend was fresh off the boat and was driving around some college town. He found stopping at stop signs annoying and used to stop only if he deemed life threatening. One fine deserted afternoon he zipped through eight or nine stop signs and caught the attention of a cop. The cop happened to be in civilian clothing and was off-duty and he still followed him. According to the cop, he HAD to see the guy who could just discard stop signs with such remarkable disdain :).

Another friend of a friend was driving around on a Texas highway and was pushing close to 100. He saw an emergency vehicle pull up behind him with its lights flashing. He pushed the speed higher to allow the emergency vehicle to go faster and eventually go to Austin. At this point, he was at an intersection and was suddenly surrounded by half a dozen cop cars. He decided to take matters into his own hand, so he got down to explain his situation to the cops. You can imagine how those guys responded but you have to give this guy points for being proactive :D

I have a few others which we will talk about later.

Inspiring

The story of William Kamkwamba. I watched his interview with Jon stewart and it was very moving. Loved the folksy way, africans talk about some of these things. "man..where was this google all this time?"!!

Anger

Incredible as it is, amusing it is that we are outraged a great deal of our current lives. From the tiniest point that is out of line (on the line for Serena) to deeply sinister points that get us outraged. Ofcourse, "being outraged" gets a lot of attention because it is entertaining to those who are not. I do not think it is just a liberty or the pastime of the jobless, with so much news circling around us, we get to see and hear that almost everyone is outraged about something or the other. For those who do not have voice such as the polar bears, someone else does the job. Darwin might be wrong in that if we did evolve from apes, how come those guys do not argue so much? :p..it is a stupid point, but how else will you get your daily dose of saying Preposterous! And, that is like a three or four syllable word

Books to read

Now. I am done with my PhD (thank you, you can sit down now), i have a little bit more time to follow-up on my other interests. I am moderately avid reader and, often when i drop my wife at the mall for shopping, i sneak into Borders to scan some new books. While driving home this afternoon, i tuned my radio to NPR (i think it was NPR), i came across a segment called Dialogue. By chance, they had the Pulitzer prize winner Frank McCourt on. Frankly, i did not know him so i would like to admit that right away (unlike that hypocritic dog point5). It was a really good segment and i am intrigued now. His book Angela's ashes is up next on my to-read list. He also recommends two other books: No great mischief and By the lake. These two books are probably fiction but it has been a while since i have read good fiction. I have been sick for a while reading sidney sheldon, john grisham and all those desi writers.

Twitter

Look who's following me :)

Snow Chains

Most of my writing is supposed to be on my thesis, and between job, a wife and two unborn kids where is the time to work on the blog? Couple of months ago, i (we) moved to Boise after a semi-eventful road-trip from state college to Idaho. We started right around christmas time and the weather was a bitch and that is to say the least. Only driving across Iowa, on the second day of the trip, was the most scary part. We had started late in the afternoon, after lunching with Sindhu's friend, and by the time we are getting across Iowa it was around 5 in the evening. With day light receding faster than my cricketing shots at PCG, a very thick fog surrounded us. I could not see two feet in front of me and my eyes started to hurt so much. I soon developed a headache and could barely see infront of me and i didn't know if we were on the road or off it. Thanks to the Iphone, we somehow found a hotel nearby. Frankly, the signs posted on the interstate did say there were hotels nearby but still we did look it up on the iphone. That night, several drivers were driven off the road through a combination of fog and sleet. I-80 was shut-off and we survived to tell the tale (to whoever would listen). I think i am now an expert in winter driving and next time, i will tell you about driving with snow chains.

One day

This December, I wouldn’t be able to go to India due to a variety of reasons. But, I miss my home in the ever popular Adilabad. Despite being December, the relatively warm weather invites me to lounge lazily in the veranda. With a nice cup of tea. Tea in the U.S isn’t the same as in India. Watching stray dogs bark at fictional threats and chasing each other. I could sit and do nothing, absolutely nothing. Eat, sleep, and watch Indian movies in vibrant theatres without having to drive for 4 hours, cricket matches on TV with all the idiotic commentary. I wish life would return to its glorious simplicity one day.