Fall Day - 24 October

Fall is a season of colours. In the tropics, we see only a few shades of yellow and brown when fall comes in. However, as you move towards the tundra regions, the effects of fall become much more prominent.

It is a time which poets describe with exotic expressions. I'm no poet and hence, i cannot describe it with such eloquence. Neither am i a great photographer that i can capture the moments on film, or rather pixels as they are today. However, i can try to depict the season and some of its glories with a combination of both. I'll give it a shot. Please don't curse me if i don't do a bad job at it.

Saturday 24th of October 2009, some of my lab mates decided to celebrate as the FALL DAY. Well i was game. I'd not be free the entire day as i had some prior plans, but i would join into the fun as far as i could.

My policy is to mingle with the new culture as much as i can. And i try to do that as far as i can go. Its a total learning experience. Small rituals, customs you can only learn when you are with the people. You just can't find everything in the books. And reading them would never be the same.

So come Saturday morning, i picked up my cycle and rode down to Jake's house, where the whole thing was to be celebrated. First thing planned out for the day was Apple Picking. I have been having apples since a very young age. Initially, i knew that it was something that mom brought home. As i got to know more and got around to understanding the process of shopping, i realised that they were grown somewhere and then brought to the stores where we got them from. Till date, that is all i know. Poets have a brilliant habit of describing apple orchards to be beautiful.

In going through their words, i came to picture them as fairly large trees some 12 to 15 feet in height and sturdy enough to take our weight if we climbed them. Well not exactly as large and sturdy as a mango tree, but somewhere nearby.

Firstly, i overshot the ride on my bike and had to picked up by a very helpful Jackie, who had put the whole thing together. After reaching the base, we took a while before heading out for the farm where we would pick the apples. We got there after a drive of about 20 minutes. A lovely drive no doubt. My camera refused to rest.

Once we were there, i was in for a shock. The apple trees were just a whisk taller than i was. The apples were beautiful. There were so many varieties. The taste of the apples fresh off the trees, one can never match with anything off the shelves which are at best a day or two old. So this was just a minute or two at max off the tree before you took the first bite. Oh what a feel.

We then, went to buy Pumpkins and then headed back.

The colours that i could warm my eyes to were just out of the world. I have never imagined trees to be lined with leaves which are flaming red, burning orange, firey yellow, mauve, purple, maroon, brown (with all the shades that you can imagine) and a whole lot more. I tried to take some pics. I hope you like them. They have been uploaded to facebook. Here is the public link. Please feel free to click on it and enjoy the pics.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=163981&id=588355629&l=a6b99aa247

Every dog has its day - it may be good or bad!!!

I believe that some days are made in way to help you feel blessed and gifted and ofcourse happy. You do feel in exactly that way. On those days you are extremely jovial. Everything seems to fall in place. You think that the day couldn't be any better. And these feelings are all true.

Then God decides, that your life needs some balance. And you get one of the days when you are taken nailed to the post, stripped and everyone around you seems to be laughing at your plight. One such day just took place. During the day, one could never think of what was happening. Once it was all over, and i could get my mind back on the lines of thought, i realised what had just happened.

It was early morning, I had just woken up, my comp had barely powered on. I was yet to get my mind to wake up. Suddenly, i got saw my Dad online and he pinged. All he said was that i should keep extra care of myself, things might be dangerous and i should be extra careful. Well, i'm sure he had a reason for saying it, but some evil thoughts crept into my mind. The devil was playing its game.

I tried talking to my sister. I think i said something wrong to her, and she just freaked out and got angry on me. She often does that, but on that particular day, it was just one more flavour of the day. Not long after, i got to my work and got a mail from my girlfriend, that she no longer wanted to talk to me. Yes she does that sometimes to grab attention. But not that day. I now had to try to figure out how i had pissed her off. I had to find a way to get her to pacify.

THese all were the toppings. I'm yet to reveal the base. This was also the day that i was supposed to give my first presentation at work. I was pretty worked up on that. All my mind was focussed there. The brain felt overworked and if it had been a windows xp based machine, it would surely have 'hanged'. I'm lucky it wasn't.

The day passed. All is back to normal. All sorted. I feel grateful.

Trash cans... find me some..

Dustbins have always left me perplexed. Yes my mind is confused with the lack of dustbins when you want an area clean.

One of the instances that comes to mind very clearly is when i carried a can of cola into the metro station in delhi. Well i know it is an area of no food or beverages. But then you need to have bins where people can spit their chewing gums if they want to, or dispose of a choclate wrapper that they may have been having. Bottled water is availble within the complex, but do we just dump it on the floor after taking a swig.

Generally, indians by nature are not compulsive cleanliness freaks, but i took one extra step, went out of the station again to find a trash can. I was in a very good mood, and wanted to dispose of it in the proper manner. Nothing nearby. I came back inside and asked one of the security personnel where they threw any wrappers or stuff like that. He had never looked for a trash can since he had been posted at that station three months ago. Gosh. After some more searching, i gave up. I seriously gave up. Not something i do regularly. But i was fed up. Not just with the situation, with the entire system, with the people, with the attitude. I hated myself for giving up and giving in at the same time, but i found a lonely corner, dumped my empty cola can and proceeded to go into the station area. no hue and cry was raised.

Now coming back to present, i found cigerette butt disposers in my university campus here at Rochester Institute of technology. All the incidents with lack of trash cans in india came rushing back to me. I decided to click some photos to add to my blog with the post. The place is lined with trash cans and recycling bins and in addition to those, you also find the separate boxes for disposing off cigerette butts.

I love this place. Authorities in India need to wake up. Please.

Tennis @ 0 degrees

It was the middle of last week. Having been in the university for quite a few weeks now, i was hoping for an opportunity to play some sport. Some relaxation was urgently required. So when the option of playing tennis arose, i jumped at it without loosing any time.

I hardly knew at that time that we'd be playing outside on the open courts. It was around 9 in the evening when we went down to the courts. It was already freezing. We didn't know the temperature of the courts, but decided to take out our racquets and hit the courts.

The lights were put on and i started playing after a break of over 6 years. As rusty as i was, i could barely get the ball over the net for the first few minutes. Soon the body warmed up to the game and we could atleast play as amateurs. The game picked up and after a lot of exersion, i was able to take my sweatshirt off and play in my tees. The chill of the air could be felt clearly, but the body was being kept warm by the effort that the game was making us do.

After a grueling two hours, we decided to call it a day and head back to the shelter where each of us would get on with our respective works. When we finally got back to the warmth of our labs, we were shocked to see the temperature had dropped to a degree below the freezing point. It was amazing. We had just played tennis at zero degrees centigrade. It would be a unique experience for some time to come.

Well the winter is ahead of us, lets see if we end up playing at lower temperatures and survive too.

A copy of this letter is with a lot of people. Just thought more people might enjoy it.

Hi,

Hope you are in the best of health and your family is fine. I'm sorry that it took me so long to get to writing to you. But you have to believe me that starting off in a totally new places has you going through all formalities and settling down. And as soon as the classes began, our work load has increased exponentially. I have tried to cover the entire journey and the first few days in as much detail as possible. But do ask me if i have missed out on anything. Though i'm not expecting a mail of this length back from either of you. But do take some time out to write a few lines whenever you can.

Anyway, i'll update you on my end of the story. You should go and read my posts on my blog sometime. It has the details of my flight from Delhi till Rochester.

I reached here alright on the 26th of last month. That is just a week ago. My plane didn't fall out of the sky, neither did it get hijacked and flown into any towers. Because then you would have heard of it on the television and not got a mail from me saying that i am fine.



As i got to Washington, i realised that life here would be very different. Looking out, i could see the change in climate and looking inside, i could see the change in the atire of the people. The clothing style changed and so did a lot of things. The first shock came at the check in for my flight to Rochester from Washington. All i had to do was put my luggage on the counter, it showed the weight and the light went green. Then i had to enter my ticket number into an automated machine, and it printed out my boarding pass for me. I always knew that Checking In was an important part of the flight, but here it was all automated. There was no one at the counter. There was a lady standing around, who was there to help the shocked passengers, and had to come over to help me get the entire thing done. I'm sure i'd be able to get it done the next time i'm flying.



The next shock came when i was waiting for the boarding time for my flight. A girl came to a kiosk to get some food and passed right in front of me. All she was wearing was a transparent bit of creamy white cloth draped around her till a bit over her knees. What i failed to understand were two things. Firstly, was she not feeling any cold, while i had still had to keep my jacket on, as the inside of the airport was still pretty chilly. The other thing was why did she even put that bit of cloth on, it was not helping her in any way. Still i couldn't muster up the courage enough to go up to her and ask this question of her.



Though the flights from Delhi to Doha and then from Doha to Washington were huge airliners, the one from Washington to Rochester was by a small aircraft, barely larger than a private jet. There were just three rows of seats and no hostess. The pilots just asked us if we were all set and then shut the cabin door and took off. I slept off for most part of this flight and so wouldn't be able to tell you much more.


After reaching i have been going through a lot of formalities, but i'd have to agree that the people in the offices here are a lot friendly and actually help you in getting the work done. In India, i would never have been able to complete so much work in just a few days. From immigration formalities to enrolling for my courses and then to find off campus housing, opening of bank accounts, getting a phone number and so much more. I really don't know how i have managed to finish this stuff. Do keep in touch whenever you get time. Orkut is definitely a very slow option. Mailing is my most preferred one, but only if it suits you as well. The reason for this being, that a lot of my labs don't encourage chatting on gtalk and also that the time difference could make it difficult to find a good time to meet online. However, any time you feel that you'd like to chat with me, you can just let me know 24 hours in advance which time would be good for you, i'd surely make sure that i'm online att hat given moment. If you mail me, its the best way. Maximum info can be exchanged over mails. And i enjoy writing.


Well i'll start with my college. For the first time in four years, i'm happy about my college and even more glad about my department. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is located in the suburban area, just outside the main downtown area of Rochester. Most of the areas are empty spaces with a lot of tree cover and alot of open grassland area. Even the institute is layed out on a huge land space. The campus takes up more than 1300 acres and you can understand that it is not possible to get from one end to the other on foot. There are shuttle services from the different parts of the campus. This area also includes the on campus housing areas and the campus book store along with the field area and the health centre. The academic areas are a very small area of the campus but still they'd be as much as all of the Panjab University's main campus including the hostels there. So that is a huge area.


My department is housed in the College of Engineering, which consists of some three huge buildings. Our department along with Industrial Engineering and Microsystems Engineering is given a separate building, while the computer sciene related branches have a room to themselves. I do not know what is in the third building. But i know that it is part of the college of engineering. Then the building in front of us is the college of science building.


In my building, there are three floors. Here there is no ground floor. As in they call the ground floor as the first floor and there on the higher you go, the higher numbers are there to designate the floors. Very much like Bangla, where there is no ground floor. So i'm getting used to calling the lowest floor as the first floor. The first floor in our building houses some class rooms and a computer lab. Also, there is the lounge area and some study areas. The lounge area is open 24 hours 7 days a week. It is supposed to be a group study area. But is often used for relaxing or meeting people. Then there is another enclosed group study area which often Profs utilise to take informal sessions. There are also some cabins available which can be used if you are in need of some self study and need isolation for sometime.


Moving up the building, we come to the second floor, which houses the mechanical engineering office, along with the office of the head of Department, Dr. Edward Hensel. It feels so good to have so many profs here when UIET had none in its Mechanical section. Then we had only one Dr. Manu Sharma, and here everyone has a Dr in front of them. One feels more inspired on seeing the labs as well. They are well equipped and crowded even though the rooms are pretty big. Students have built their own experimental setups as well. This floor also houses plenty of offices of the Professors. There is also an auditorium and some classrooms.

Well i have been going on for a long while now. Need to get back to some assignments that i have. Will tell you more in another mail sometime soon.

Stay in touch.

Have a nice and enjoyable day ahead.
May God bless you.

Hi Everybody

I moved to Rochester about 7 weeks back. Very eventful 7 weeks to be sure. Initially i started with the orientation and then moved to the starting of classes. Opportunity brought to me the chance to be a teaching assistant and then the even greater desired opportunity of becoming a research assistant. New experiences.

The work schedule is surely very tight. And with the quarter system followed at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), its a very competitive place to be in. The work life does take a toll on your life with social life being reduced to people who you see within your house, i.e. your roommates.

I now feel lucky to have developed a taste in music during my undergrad years which keep the atmosphere lively for me throughout the day. I can keep my mind focussed using that as a buffer between the outside world and the work world.

But the only thing that i miss is my second love. It has been a second love since the very beginning of my college years. It is the practice of writing. I can sit down and start writing. Whether i'm tensed, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, feeling down in the dumps, feeling lonely, or am way too happy to express my feelings in any other form, i can sit down and jot away on a piece of paper or on the blog, which at times ends up on my blog, while at other times, in the trash can at the edge of my room.

Being in a new environment brings out so much to write about. I have written long mails to my friends after reaching here. I think i'll publish one of them which i sent copies to all. But the work load here has finally took me away from the practice of writing. I hardly have time to sit down and jot down some words. Actually, the mind is kept to task all day long, and so the creative bent of it, slowly takes a back seat. I really hope that i can settle in quickly and get back to writing regularly. It is something i miss dearly, after one person, who probably knows who they are, without my mentioning the name. That person turns out to be my first love, sharing the podium with my work.

I surely will find that email i sent to my friends and publish it as a post after editing out the formal intorductions and the ending lines, or replies to somethings personal they may have asked. I hope you don't mind that.

Analysis - Failed!!!!

Let me try and study the person in front of me.

First. I'm sitting in the library. was working till now, but finally decided that my mind had had enough for the day. its a friday, i should be out partying like hell. But no, i'm sitting back watching the clock tick. I have no particular reason to be here, but still i am here. Can't change it now.

THe girl sitting in front of me is a neighbour. I have spoken to her a few times by now, but still there is the element of surprise and i plan to analyse the image that i can get of her without pondering on the things she has already said about herself.

I'll start with the shoes. Though not in the face, they are colourful. The sole has patches of bright yellow and forest green. A pair of blue jeans is matched with a shirt which has stripes on it. Colourful stripes. Gosh, i'm not good at this sort of thing. My eyes are not exactly meant to pick out the naunces in people. I give up. Will surely try it some other day on some stranger. Probably while travelling on the train. That is the perfect setting for such an analysis.

Where to Define the line?

The thoughts started coming to me as i moved to my final year of undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering. That was an entire year ago. What started as a speck in the mind has grown into a well defined problem, but still the solution eludes me.

Ok. The problem is about defining the line between acquaintances, friends, colleagues. How do you differentiate. Some are easy to do. A person whom you only meet in office and wish him a good day and go back home, is surely just a colleague. Then there is the friend from school who is still there and keeps calling you. You like it when they call. This person has to be a friend. But what about all the others. Are all the others destined to be in the category of acquaintances?

Niagara Falls

The first time i had heard of Niagara falls was when i had the opportunity to go to Victoria Falls ( Zimbabwe / Zambia ) in the year 1995. My dad had mentioned this other great falls, THE Niagara. Wow, it was thousands of miles away, how would i ever make it there. My Geography teacher, in Dunraven School, London, was also a source of info. We were to study the erosion of the Niagara bed and she had just come back from a holiday just there. She showed us the pics from there, and till date i can vividly remember it, she was standing there on the left corner of the pic, with the entire American Falls pouring down the side.

It was one of the destinations on my bucket list. I can check it off. Some of the others include, Ayers' Rock (Australia), The Pyramids (Egypt). Most of these date back to my school days, when i was being taught about these exotic places and i would see myself roaming the same in my dreams.

When i got to Rochester, we were offered to be taken to the Niagara Falls from RIT. Why would i even think of saying no. I just signed up for it. I was up for it. The date was to be 20th September. Time passes quickly, and the day came before even we had to think about it much. No dreams. No imagination. I miss those now.

The morning dawned, i was up at 6. After exchanging a few words on the chat with my brother, i was ready to make my move. The bus would be here to pick us up at 0815. All on schedule i was on the bus. I won't waste time on the bus, or on other trivialities. i will now move to the moment of truth. We had arrived.

Moving in, i had expected to pay some ticket to enter the complex. This is so common in India, but here i was not charged a single penny. I was happy. Yes i'm a miser. Can't help it. I enjoy spending on gadgets or my cycle. But when it comes to other things, my mind just fails to accept it.

The first glimpse of it that i got was captured on the camera. But even before that, you hear the roar of the water going over the edge. The scene is a beauty. What else do you expect when you see 285000 litres of water going over the sides per second. Gosh. Thats some figure.

There are basically three falls, The American Falls, The Bridal Viel Falls and then the magnanimous Horseshoe falls. The ameerican falls is on the american side, i guess you guessed that. Then there is the Bridal Viel falls. Reason for naming it that way, do not ask me, i did not name it. I tried, but no board specified it.

Then there is the horseshoe falls. The entire falls, when viewed aerially, gives the shape of a horseshoe. I didn't manage any aerial views, but most of my pics are now on facebook and you're free to browse them. I'll put the link at the end. Else you'll get engrossed there and not read at all.

In between the American Fals and the Bridal View Falls lies the small Luna Island. You just cross a sturdy bridge and reach there. Lovely place, see for yourself. No need to trust me

Move further west and you reach the horseshoe falls. It is something that i should not attempt to describe. I would never match up with nature in creating the beauty. Just a hint, the mist around the area rarely allows pics to portray the entire thing. And its too big to capture in a single frame.

I kept following the path. An empty one at that. Past the river, it wound like a snake. I followed it as best as i could. The scenaries were lush green. The gargling sound reverberating in me. I felt part of it all.

The more i headed upstream, the sound became more a part of me and less of a roar from outside. Travelling alone means you can move at your own set pace. No hurries. No one getting bored while you stare at the wonder in awe. Each has its own tastes. Some enjoy in groups. I enjoy alone. Vivek (Bihari) Sinha was surely an exception.

By now, i had already got the help of two gentlemen who had agreed to take pics of me with the falls in the background. You can never manage this alone. Another gentleman, then guided me to the THREE SISTERS ISLANDS. It was named after the three sisters ( daughters of a local eminent citizen). I followed. The first one didn't seem to be a wonder. Neither did the second. I moved to the third. I was beginning to feel that i had to be disappointed here. And then there at the end of the third island, there stood the 'Little Brother's rock'. I moved there. It had warnings of not entering the water. I had not seen this warning in the entire of my wanderings till now. What was i to see. I emerged at the point from where the water rushed to the Horseshoe falls. All that water. It had to be atleast thrice the quantity that was rushing down the American Falls. I was left astounded. More photography ensued.

Half an hour and some 200 MB later, i felt it time to go back. I headed back. According to me, all was over, including space in my memory card. I had already run out of two sets of batteries. I was on my last. I didn't expect much to be remaining. The map showed nothing more. There was the museum. I was not going to take any pics there. My personal policy.

As i trudged along, i kept asking a few more people if there was more to see. Most had not even seen all that i had. Finally on my last stretch of walk, i started the crossing bridge which was over the part of the river that would eventually be the American Falls some 200 metres downstream. Here were something called the American Spectacular Rapids. I looked down. And i knew where the nomenclature came from. No genius was requried. It was what came to your mind. SPECTACULAR.

I got a to the bank as soon as i could and let my camera do the rest of the work, while i gazed on in awe. The water jumped, roared, rolled and froth ensued. The rocks beneath, withstood. How i don't know. The power of the river, the wrath, before going over the edge. The final resort before it goes over the falls. Did it want to. I was amazed. Did it know that it was going to fall a sheer drop of 200 ft. Did it feel scared. If it did, who were we to feign braveness.

I remembered all those veterans of courage, who had braved themselves into barrels and jumped over the edge, feeling what the water was feeling around them. Some survived, others weren't as fortunate. But that was more than a century ago.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155243&id=588355629&l=f53fe9614f

- x -

Coming back, only one thought keeps coming back to me. Is it better to bind the river and artificially beautify it with the lush green gardens. Or would it be better if we saw what the travellors saw centuries ago.

As i mentioned, I have been witness to the Victoria Falls as well. It is beauty, stark naked. No artificial modifications have been made. And it looks gorgeous. There are viewing areas. But it has not been converted into a resort. It is still in the middle of no where.

Even after todays extraordinary sights, i'd be forced to say that i preferred the former.

What an evening!!

There are some days in life that you would never forget. I'm not experienced enough to say so, would be at the end probably. But it so seems that i can still remember the first day i went to Dunraven School to talk about my admission. The incidents just seem to ring in the head.

I will try to get through some of the days that i remember very clearly. I also remember meeting some people in my life. Especially, when i was in UIET, i have distinct recollections of meeting some people for the first times. I treasure these memories.

One such evening was last Sundays'. I will try to recreate the atmosphere as best as i can.

It was a couple of days back, when i met an elderly gentleman at the office of the apartment complex where i have taken refuge in Rochester. A very friendly person by nature, i took to his words almost instantly. From what i gathered in our first meeting, he has a vast knowledge and is eager to learn more. Armed with more than five languages in which he has sufficient fluency, he has studied and seen a lot more than what we can even hope.

When a few days later, i ran into him again, i bagged myself a coveted offer. He was kind enough to invite me to dinner with him on the Sunday. He asked me to be there around 4, when the afternoon is just passing the baton to evening.

I made a mental note of it and came home very glad. As i had got to know during the brief conversations with him, that he treated us, as his surrogate grand children, and we were welcome to call him 'Grand Pa'. I was thrilled, to find a relation so early in my stay in this new land.

Sunday arrived all too quickly. A lot has been going on in my life, so i didn't realise how time slipped by. The morning went by quickly and it came to around 2. After having my lunch, i got down to getting ready. I had always seen Grandpa to be dressed in a suit. I was slightly worried as to what to wear to the dinner. I finally decided on going in a shirt with adequate trousers. In any case, i didn't want to look under dressed. I knew there would be another person there. From what i knew he had been at RIT till last year.

The time came and i felt worried on the fact that, what if the plan had been cancelled. It wouldn't feel good coming back upstairs. But everything was set in order. I reached down and the door was opened by 'Grandpa'. He was wearing his usual glowing smile. I was relieved. The situation was not a formal one. The other person was Kartik, i was introduced to him. After chatting for a while, i got to know that he was still in RIT, though an year senior to me, in the computer science department.

Grandpa asked me to choose from a range of drinks, all of them non alcoholic. I went for ice tea, devoid of any sugar. He brought it out. The blend was perfect. We continued in our gossip. Grandpa was going to show a musical from 1953, though it had been a ballad at 'The Broadway' in the early 30s. It was called THE BANDWAGON. Starring, Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse and Oscar Levant, the experience would be a total new one for me. I had never seen an adaptation of a theater performance into a movie and that too from the 1930s.

Grandpa proceeded in telling us some background information and told us about the director, some stuff about the actors and their behaviours. He went into all the intricate details. I wondered on, how he came to know all this.

Soon the movie started. Parallel to this, he brought out the chicken which was to be the subject of our dinner and placed it in the oven. The rest of the food was ready i presume. The movie started. I had to stay focussed to catch the humour between the lines, though most of it was pretty explicit. The movie didn't feel like one from 75 years ago. The music was fun and the story raced forward. Often, we were punctuated by some detail being explained by Grandpa. It made the watching more meaningful. We would understand a lot more now.

Finally, the movie came to an end, and all too soon. The food too was ready. We moved to the dining table. Grandpa had made the effort to light some candles and set the setting for a nice long discussion. We got on with the food and discussed all different sorts of topics. We got on with details of our family ancestry and the American history followed by the slave trade. The topics changed so quickly.

It was a three course meal, starting with poached pears. I can still feel aroma filling in my mouth. Next course comprised of chicken with some vegetables and a beautiful sauce. Sauces are generally not described as beautiful, but this was beautiful. What else could i describe it as.

Then finally, we came to the salad with a fine layer of vinegar and some oil, which i have planned to ask Grandpa about the next time i visit him. We moved back to the living area. He had played us some classical music which was sweet to the ears. Now, we got to know that Grandpa himself was from the performing arts and he had majored in Chemistry and Dance during his college. This was news. It explained his keep interest and knowledge of the world of music. But still, he knew more than four languages and could talk about almost anything under the sky. He had the urge to learn and kept doing so.

Soon we were greeted with coffee. I took my black coffee without any sugar. oh the brew. he was a master cook. I had decided not to let go of any options of coming down here anytime i got the opportunity.

We ended the day with chocolate cake, which still seems to stick to my tongue. How can i forget the taste. At 9, Grandpa decided it was time that he went to drop Kartik who had a good few miles to go before he got to his home. I was just to climb a single flight of stairs. We thanked Grandpa for the fun time we had had, i was sure of coming back and got the offer of joining him again in a fortnight. The next sunday, he would be busy.

As they headed to their car, i headed up the stairs. I had plenty of work to get through. And i was well fed now. Even if i died, i would be in peace.

A Mechanical Engineers Dream Country

A few days ago, walking down a car park i noticed something peculiar. No two adjacent cars were the same. In fact if it was a modest sized parking lot, you wouldn't find the same car repeated twice.

My mind set to work. I was sure there was an explanation behind this. I realised in a jiffy, that this was after all the country with the largest variety of automobiles in terms of production and imports. While in India, we still have the number of manufacturers so limited that they could be counted on the fingers. But this by far not the case here. Even counting on the toes after the fingers are over, would not help much. You'll see the makes from Japanese manufacturers the likes of Honda, Toyota alongside Korean giants such as Hyundai and Kia. Then there would be the European bullies, such as VW and Porche not leaving apart all the companies swallowed by VW. Then there is the home grown FORD, GM, Infinity, GMC and the list goes on. I'd be a fool to even attempt to recal all of these.

There are several large shops selling auto parts right off the counter, like we get the chemists, so all you'd have to do was to jack up the car and get under its belly. You could change what you wanted with DIY sites and even modify your own car to some extent. Though going to the expert is also an option.

And there's more. You can do so much more.