Hindu Mandir - Maple Grove

It was a sudden decision on Saturday to go a temple. I started off with my apartment mates to the Hindu mandir in Maple Grove, which is a 40 mile drive from my place. The drive seemed to take more time than it should have, but I am not complaining as it was pretty smooth and the natural splendour around kept me engrossed. The last 100 meter stretch though reminded of Indian roads with potholes ensuring a bumping ride. I guess that too added to the experience.

The temple looked good both from outside and inside. Though some of the sannidhis are still under construction, the general ambience inside reminded of the temples back home. The main sannidhi is that of lord Vishnu with the sannidhis of Thayar and AandaL on either side. To the left were sannidhis of Vinayagar and a Lingam. The entry to the sannidhis to the right was closed, probably due to construction. I could see one sannidhi to house a deity similar to Puri Jagannath. I could also deduce another sannidhi to be of Ram, as Shree Ram was written around it. The AandaL sannidhi has urchava moorthies of Ramar, Lakshmanar, Seetha, Anjaneya, and Chakrathaazhvar. I am not sure if the other sannidhis have urchavars.

There was Rama bhajan going on in one of the halls. I went for having lunch in another of the temple halls and found that they were celebrating Sri Rama Navami on Saturday itself though the festival is actually on Tuesday. Nice timing for my visit! The food was provided free on the occasion, but that just made me add few more dollars to the donation. The organizers are doing a very good job of running this place, and I feel that it is only fair that the devotees contribute to their capability.

All in all, it was a nice ride, good darshan, and happiness and tranquility to the mind.

Mall of America

On Friday, I visited an interesting place - The Mall of America. The place is HUGE. I guess it would take 3 days just to look around the whole place. Unfortunately I had just couple of hours owing to my unscheduled visit. A friend had come to town for some official stuff and I had to show him around the city in the evening. Having been in this city for few months now, I am assumed to be the expert of the place. but my earlier posting would have sure conveyed the message to my reader that I haven't actually been roaming around the city to know much of it. So, I did few last minute enquiries on the places to visit in St Paul and found this mall of America to be the one that had most people interested. Understanding the mammoth dimensions of the place I also enquired for the things-to-see in there. Well, background work does help, and in this case lead us directly to the under water adventures aquarium

The aquarium is enormous with about 4,500 sea creatures in it. It was a different experience looking at the sharks and sting rays swim around us showing their fiery teeth. But still, at the end of it, I felt a vaccuum. Guess I was expecting some kind of surprise element to it.With the time limit dawning upon us, we decided to skip the fun rides and just roamed around the shopping centers in the mall. Nothing much to my interest there, but this place would sure be a shoppers delight. So all you guys with girl friends, come to this place if you want to see your GF really happy. Or skip the place if you are more concerned about your credit card bill.

Peer pressure?

Location: Bala's home

Bala is in the middle of chatting with Sam over gtalk ...

Bala: hey dude heard that you moved to US recently. howz it goin?

Sam: well, nothing to complain so far
Bala: :)) where r u?

Sam: im in nb

Bala: <how am I supposed to what NB is?>

Bala: What is NB?

Sam: nebraska. surprised that don't know that
Bala: <man, this guy thinks that I'm an idiot. got to save some dignity>

Bala googles for the next few seconds on US state codes and then types.

Bala: just a bit confused on whether NB is Nebraska or Nevada

Sam: Nevada is NE man

Bala: <wow, this dude sure knows the US upside down. why am I so less informed? Sigh>

Location: Sam's home

Bala: hey dude heard that you moved to US recently. howz it goin?
Sam: well, nothing to complain so far

Bala: :)) where r u?

Sam: <Oh shit, i'm used to writing this place as NB. what does it stand for. hmmm, Bala has always been the nerdy guy. He will figure out if I give him just the code>

Sam: im in nb

Bala: What is NB?

Sam: <man, surprising.... even Bala doesn't know certain things. Oh, now I remember, this place is nebraska>
Sam: nebraska. surprised that don't know that

Bala: just a bit confused on whether NB is Nebraska or Nevada

Sam: <man, this dude is sure intelligent. Let me save some grace by finding out the code for Nevada>

Sam googles for the next few seconds on US state codes and then types..

Sam: Nevada is NE man

Sam: <I am such a pretender. I should be more informed from now on. Sigh!>

World Cup Fever

With the cricket world cup approaching I am beginning to miss all the brouhaha that used to surround cricket back home. Reading about the event over the internet is no substitute to hearing people discuss about it whichever way that you turn, and watching so many TV channels dedicating most of their time to some thing distantly related to cricket. The Indians in US seem to be more interested in football (please note: not soccer), basketball, and sometimes even ice hockey as compared to cricket. I wonder how few months in a new place can change the passions of people so much.

Since the world cup is going to happen in the West Indies, the problem of time zone arises. Yes, the problem is that I am more closer to the time zone of the Caribbean. Matches will happen during office hours, which would prevent me from having the vicarious pleasure of checking the live scores in the internet. One positive aspect though is that I don't need to think about trying to get the channel that telecasts the matches

Movie day

It should be a record of sorts. With nothing else to do, I have indulged myself in 4 movies today. The movies are Swordfish, The chronicles of Narnia, The departed, and Thiruvilayaadal aarambam (Tamil).

My opinion on the movies -

Swordfish - Stylish. Typical action movie.

TCoN - Nothing great

The departed - Wonder what the Oscar judges found in the movie

T.Aarambam - Nice time-pass

Chutti!

There was an announcement in office yesterday evening that the weather was getting worse and employees should make their judgement on when to leave. A colleague translated that "make a judgement" means "Stay in office". Anyways our floor was more or less empty by 3:30 pm. while driving back "P" and I were commenting that people were over reacting and that the place didn't look that bad. But then, there are times when you state, and there are times when you eat... your own word that is. Everything was fine till we arrived in front of the garage door. The car slipped sideways and stopped just short of hitting the garage card-sensor. The car was caught in snow and was not budging regardless of the amount of push on the accelerator. I got down to check if there was anyone around from whom we could borrow a shovel. The wind was strong, blowing snow and blindfolding me. P started shoveling with his window scrubber. After some effort we were able to get inside the garage with the car, but it took me few minutes to stop shivering.

Outside my apartment (Last weekend - before the snow storm)

The morning today started with the usual early rise and preparations to get to office. P was planning to work from home which meant that I was left to catch a bus to office. I called up the snow alert number at office to find that they would update the status only at 7:30 am. I usually leave home at 7:30 to catch the bus. But with the weather being bad outside, I would need atleast 5 minutes more. The main issue is that partners (offshore service providers) are not allowed to work, or even enter, office during holidays. So if I reach office and it turns out to be a holiday, then I might not be allowed in. The worst part of the scenario is that the first bus to get back from office is at 3:40 pm. What will I do in the roads, in this condition, for so many hours? I decided to check with the alert number once again, and, to my comfort, the announcement was already on for the office being closed. So here I am doing velagiri during day time while being paid a dollar salary.

Talking about salaries, the placement report from my alma mater is out and seems impressive.

Snowy Times 2

It has been some time, but I will still go ahead writing about last Sunday's events.

Some of my friends and I had planned to go bowling on Sunday. By the time all of us got ready it was snowing heavily and we had to put our plans on hold. The snow abated by afternoon and we started off. This time around I was ready to face the stuck door and the path snowy outside the apartment. One of my friends had parked his car outside the apartment and I entered it with the hopes of having a no-adventure journey. But then, the same old villain - snow - had other plans. The heap of snow around the car was so high that the car's wheels were getting stuck in them and we were not able to get the car out. We abandoned the car and walked to the apartment of another friend who was to join us. His car was safely parked in the garage and he was able to get it out with less of problems. Thus began the day's journey that was good for the initial part. We went to the bowling alley and spent the next couple of hours trying to incorporate some style into our otherwise simple throw-it-in-the-center technique of bowling. Nothing much improved and I soon reverted to the simple way of doing it. The others kept trying new styles and maybe that's why I scored more than everyone else in 2 of the 3 games that we played.

We left the bowling alley with the intention of having lunch at an Indian restaurant. The next quarter of an hour was spent trying to find the restaurant that one of us had suggested. Then the cars turned towards a known Indian restaurant about 10 miles away. I guess I would not have thought of travelling so far just to have food, but then when you get a free ride why even think? On the way I suddenly heard the shriek of the friend who was driving. He was desperately pushing the brakes which seemed to be following the disobedience movement. Within seconds, our dear old friend ice (or sleet?) made sure that our car slid and banged into the rear of the jeep upfront. Suddenly all the bizarre American insurance stories came to my mind. Good time to think about work! Everyone except one person was in a state of shock. But the only person, the driver of the jeep in front, just drove continuously as if nothing had happened and drove into the gas station at the corner. Our car also followed to the gas station as we were running out of gas. I couldn't believe it, we were running into this person again whose car we just bumped and caused I-don't-know-how-much damage. But then my friends were polite enough to go to the other car and check for damages. The driver of that car, a lady, confirmed that there were luckily no damages. Both cars had minor scratches, but neither of them cared much. I guess I was the only hyper reactive guy in the scene. Anyways, my friend who was driving was also shaken and he was more than careful during the rest of the drive.

The lunch at Nalpak (Earlier called Udipi) was awesome. This is the second time I was having food at this place and it has impressed me both times. It is a typical Indian place with Bollywood film music playing in the background and cricket on all TVs, but the star attraction, atleast for me, was the food. The day ended with a return journey wherein we got lost on the road, went around a bit, and more importantly reached home in one piece.

The news as of now is that a snow storm is expected anytime. Looking forward to more exciting days ahead