3 Countries, 3 Days, on Interstate 5

It started as an Argument. My roommates and me are from India, I was telling them the US is not so huge. But they compare US to India and says US is too big a country. According to me no country is Big, as a matter of fact the world its self too small.
As the argument heated, I challenged them by saying, I shall cross US with in 3 days by my CAR. It was on a Friday evening after work, so I immediately too off.
Went to Tijuana, Mexico around 6pm and and spend some time there and took off from there on 5 North, which I continued for my rest of the drive. I reached midnight LA, crossed Huntington beach and continued and reached SFO early morning. Spend some quality time with my friends and next day, I started my road trip again and reached Portland, Oregon and then visited some interesting places on my way, later reached Seattle, WA. Met couple of friends there.
And continued my trip towards north and reached Vancouver, Canada.
After all, US is not so BIG.
3 Countries, 3 Days on Interstate 5. Thanks to US road system. They Rock!!!
Trust me, this is not possible in India.


Mexico --> USA --> Canada
in 3 days.

AR Rahman – Bollywood Night at Hollywood Bowl, LA – 2006

I am a guy from a country where film music is the most popular form of music; AR Rahman is truly the emperor. Only thing was missing is my fiancée, or else it would have been my best day for my rest of life. I can't ask more for a perfect evening with my friends at Hollywood bowl, I had lot of fun, and you can ask my friends.
Thanks to Saritha for taking initiative a month back. We 8, all were prepared and waiting to get drenched in the music shower, I was drenched eventually for a different reason. We were all excited and started our trip, in the morning in two cars. Wonder why we started in the morning for the late evening show? First reason: LUNCH! Yes, from Sandiego to LA we pass Orange County, where you can find best Indian food in California. Second reason: LA Traffic, people been there knows what I am talking about.
We reached Orange County around 2pm and waited around 30 min to get in to the restaurant and had great food. I liked a lot, it's a Pakistani restaurant, it's a banquet for any non-vegetarians. After that we strolled to our car and dropped all out beach plans, and started driving towards to Hollywood Bowl, LA downtown, where the king is ready to let his fingers unfastened.
One car reached pretty early and had a pit stop in the Starbucks, and the other car was still looping in 101  Then we arrived at our seat 2 hrs before the concert thinking we are too early for the show, because its an Indian show …common its IST then. But we saw the auditorium is half full already with in another hour it was full.

The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheatre at 2301 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, California, USA, that is used primarily for music performances. It officially opened in 1922 on the site of a natural amphitheatre with the capacity of 26,410 and keep in mind this show is SOLD OUT. It was located in beautiful location between mountains, rather inside mountains.
The show started with Musafir. Musafir is composed of groups of musicians who in Rajasthan would not play together, but here they create an exciting fusion. They can hardly speak in English but man they can make the crowd animated. I am seeing them first time live, it was a good start for the big show.



Then came the Genius himself, Goosebumps all over! He came like an obedient kid first time on the stage with full of fear. He was struggling to face the audience over 26K, he was facing down and in no time he sat on his assigned chair in front of the piano. Slowly he started to free his fingers and let it run on the keys on the keyboard, slow murmuring and whispering all we could hear and he started unleashing his fingers and shouted….
Dil Se Re!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Speakers blared N Crowd roared. His fingers were like Ferrari wheels and crowd on there heels! He concluded his song and gave a naive smile to the audience.
The audience was up to him, always cheering and dancing to his rhythms. If you wonder from where he attracted so many desis, I would say there were close to 50% of Non-Indian crowd there. The show titled 'Bollywood Night with AR Rahman' had doses of Bollywood movie clips, with guest artistes and of course dances. Then slowly marched in the artists one by one, most of them introduced by AR Rahman to this music field.
Then there the came the number which rocked the evening, 'Chaiyya Chaiyya' performed by Sukhwinder Singh. He rose to fame with a blazing rendition of an all-time favorite. I saw very people sitting on their seats; trust me, its not easy to resist this temptation. I wish each of us had more space to dance, but its ok. We ended dancing in the leg room we had, which ended up in swollen legs. Now you know I got drenched in the end, non-stop dancing. Sukhwinder not only have lot of energy, he also knows to extract out of you. He was in black leather jacket with shaded hair, totally funky. At the end of the concert, a White lady walked down to me and asked "Who is that guys in the black jacket?, I told her the name, she started writing..S..u..K..W?..no no..H..I wrote it down for her.
Then came the melody number, guess who. Hariharan, the Padhmashree. He is ascribed with the most soulfully sung title song from the film Roja, "Roja, janeman" Man it not only helped us to catch our breath back but also to charge our self.
Thanks to Sadhana Sargam, who sang few numbers in tamil, now I heard few Tamil friends showed appreciation, including me  also Madhushree, both were brilliant. AR Rahena, Rahmans sister sang a number first time live with her small bro. Sadhana Sargam, stood up to her fame and gave same standards while Madhushree took up the challenge and did lot of improvisation and kept the crown alive. I also can see AR Rahena did cover the absence of Malgudi subha.
Then came my favorite, Anisha Nagarajan, the Bombay dreams girl. She is as striking as her voice; her blue saree suited the occasion very well! (Ahhemmm, Sorry Sandhya) She originated the lead role of Priya in the Broadway production of AR Rahman's Bombay Dreams in Broadway Theatre. She is very good Opera singer too, her high pitch ricocheted all over the auditorium, she was flawless, if she can do it in Broadway this stage is cinch for her.




For all the dance numbers, the crowd was as superior as the Bollywood Step Dance group, the group provides professional dance training and troupe performances for stage shows.
Other groups were Raagapella- Stanford University's all-male singer group, Sher Foundation- spans a decade of Southern California's most talented Bhangra dancers, and Global Rhythms- A group conceived in 1996 by Miami University alumnus Srinivas Krishnan.
Allegedly, people from Warner Bros., Fox, and Universal Studios were also present at the concert and were highly impressed. It is even said that they are thinking of adding a Bollywood touch to Oscars next year. Won't that be great?
It was a vast event, but if the trends are any indicator, Rahman has greater events slotted into the future.


Now I know what you feel, ok I found some video clips for you here!



Some Morsels:
You know what? A R Rahman is WorldSpace's new Brand ambassador
WorldSpace, India's only digital satellite radio service has roped in A R Rahman as their brand ambassador. Rahman will now produce a WorldSpace promotional song and also endorse its products.

Says Shishir Lall, Managing Director of WorldSpace India that they are delighted to team up with a musical genius like Rahman who is world renowned for his works. On the other hand, Rahman is also very pleased to be associated with a service like WorldSpace which believes in providing extensive music of various genres to its audiences.

This will be the second time that A R Rahman is going to endorse a brand nationally. Prior to this, he had done a similar endorsement for Airtel. He had also produced a theme music for the brand. Let's hope that the man does that magic again but this time for WorldSpace. Here is the sample,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLKqr1oPt7w

The Rahman extravaganza with its arsenal of instruments, synthesizers, guitars, dholaks, keyboards and the variety of voices such as Hariharan’s, Sukhvinder’s, Sadhana Sargam’s, Musafir’s and Anish Nagarajan’s simply made them transcend boundaries of music. All the numbers were too good and trust me, listening to AR Rahman live is like drinking the water in the purest form. I am blessed :)

Woman Parking!

If you ask any woman, the top 10 things they HATE between reaching home driving their car and stepping in to the house, you can surely spot "Parking in the Garage" in the list.
When BMW the leading German car makers want to add a unique feature to their upcoming new model, they thought about the women. What they need the most apart from built in dressing table, yeah the self parking facility. So here they came with the new idea, Future BMWs will self-park in your garage
You should have seen the test they mocked before inventing this model with random 100 sample of working woman, happy I got a picture of the result that Woman Parking Lot.
I wonder where the rest of the cars are. Hmmmm…



But this is not enough yet, they want some thing easier, how about this?
Easy way to park their car!

Roaming in India on CDMA by Reliance

This is working in India and have been commercial for a few months now! Currently they are offering $.69/ minute + carrier tolls, taxes and surcharges. I believe this ends up being about $.99/ minute. Please visit: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/internationalsvcs/cdmaroaming.jsp for further explanation on services offered and customer support. Please visit: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/internationalsvcs/cdmadialinginst.jsp for coverage maps and dialing instructions.

ByPass:
But without using this roaming facility you can still receive international call in India. Do you have call-forwarding (to another US number) feature on the cell phone? If so there is another way to achieve this roaming functionality but you will need high speed internet in your home in India. You can subscribe to sunrocket.com (or any other VoIP provider who does not need a contract), take the VoIP adapter they give to India and have it setup there. You will get a real US number as part of this service and you can fwd any incoming calls to your cell phone to this number and answer calls in India from your home or from anywhere you have internet connection (you can carry this adapter around if you wish). But this will not be a cell phone service in India – that is the only disadvantage. You can cancel this service once you return to US.

Arey oo Sambha- Meihn Hoon Gabbar

Saturday night Movie- Sholay
Last night watched Sholay after 18 yrs. It was a good kick back on my nostalgia. It’s a 3hrs 24 min movie, but it wasn’t long. I can feel Veeru, Jay, Thakur, Basanti around me…but where is Gabbar Sing, now he is inside me. Mhuuu haah ah ahaaaa.

“Arey oo Sambha” Jay was already married to Jaya at the time of the release then Veeru married Basanti and why did not I marry Helen…Mehabooooo ba...Mujhe Sawal dedho.

I realized later I did a mistake in the beginning, instead of asking “Yeh Haath Mujhe Dede Thakur” I should have asked “Yeh Sir Mujhe Dede Thakur”

I am sure, I preformed good, and also made justice to replace Danny. tera Kya hoga Kaaliya…and danny says sarkar main ne aap ka namak khaya..
Muhahaahaaaaa “ab goli khan” Muhahaahaaaaa “ Suvar Ke bachon”

Will amithabh can make my role better? Wait and see.
Signing off, Gabbar Sing... Muhahaahaaaaa..he h ehe eheeeeee.

The Software War

Empire of Microsoft

Toll Free - Here are some Helplines India

Airways
Indian Airlines - 1600 180 1407
Jet Airways - 1600 22 5522
SpiceJet - 1600 180 3333

Automobiles
Mahindra Scorpio - 1600 22 6006
Maruti - 1600 111 515
Tata Motors - 1600 22 5552
Windshield Experts - 1600 11 3636

Banks
ABN AMRO - 1600 11 2224
Canara Bank - 1600 44 6000
Citibank - 1600 44 2265
Corporatin Bank - 1600 443 555
Development Credit Bank - 1600 22 5769
HDFC Bank - 1600 227 227
ICICI Bank - 1600 333 499
ICICI Bank NRI - 1600 22 4848
IDBI Bank - 1600 11 6999
Indian Bank - 1600 425 1400
ING Vysya - 1600 44 9900
Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1600 22 6022
Lord Krishna Bank - 1600 11 2300
Punjab National Bank - 1600 122 222
State Bank of India - 1600 44 1955
Syndicate Bank - 1600 44 6655

Cell Phones
BenQ - 1600 22 08 08
Bird CellPhones - 1600 11 7700
Motorola MotoAssist - 1600 11 1211
Nokia - 3030 3838
Sony Ericsson - 3901 1111

Computers/IT
Adrenalin - 1600 444 445
AMD - 1600 425 6664
Apple Computers - 1600 444 683
Canon - 1600 333 366
Cisco Systems - 1600 221 777
Compaq - HP - 1600 444 999
Data One Broadband - 1600 424 1600
Dell - 1600 444 026
Epson - 1600 44 0011
eSys - 3970 0011
Genesis Tally Academy - 1600 444 888
HCL - 1600 180 8080
IBM - 1600 443 333
Lexmark - 1600 22 4477
Marshal's Point - 1600 33 4488
Microsoft - 1600 111 100
Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334
Seagate - 1600 180 1104
Symantec - 1600 44 5533
TVS Electronics - 1600 444 566
WeP Peripherals - 1600 44 6446
Wipro - 1600 333 312
xerox - 1600 180 1225
Zenith - 1600 222 004

Couriers/Packers & Movers
ABT Courier - 1600 44 8585
AFL Wizz - 1600 22 9696
Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1600 11 4321
Associated Packers P Ltd - 1600 21 4560
DHL - 1600 111 345
FedEx - 1600 22 6161
Goel Packers & Movers - 1600 11 3456
UPS - 1600 22 7171

Education
Edu Plus - 1600 444 000
Hindustan College - 1600 33 4438
NCERT - 1600 11 1265
Vellore Institute of Technology - 1600 441 555

Healthcare
Best on Health - 1600 11 8899
Dr Batras - 1600 11 6767
GlaxoSmithKline - 1600 22 8797
Johnson & Johnson - 1600 22 8111
Kaya Skin Clinic - 1600 22 5292
LifeCell - 1600 44 5323
Manmar Technologies - 1600 33 4420
Pfizer - 1600 442 442
Roche Accu-Chek - 1600 11 45 46
Rudraksha - 1600 21 4708
Varilux Lenses - 1600 44 8383
VLCC - 1600 33 1262

Home Appliances
Aiwa/Sony - 1600 11 1188
Anchor Switches - 1600 22 7979
Blue Star - 1600 22 2200
Bose Audio - 1600 11 2673
Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1600 44 7171
Daikin Air Conditioners - 1600 444 222
DishTV - 1600 12 3474
Faber Chimneys - 1600 21 4595
Godrej - 1600 22 5511
Grundfos Pumps - 1600 33 4555
LG - 1901 180 9999
Philips - 1600 22 4422
Samsung - 1600 113 444
Sanyo - 1600 11 0101
Voltas - 1600 33 4546
WorldSpace Satellite Radio - 1600 44 5432

Hotel Reservations
GRT Grand - 1600 44 5500
InterContinental Hotels Group - 1600 111 000
Marriott - 1600 22 0044
Sarovar Park Plaza - 1600 111 222
Taj Holidays - 1600 111 825

Insurance
AMP Sanmar - 1600 44 2200
Aviva - 1600 33 2244
Bajaj Allianz - 1600 22 5858
Chola MS General Insurance - 1600 44 5544
HDFC Standard Life - 1600 227 227
LIC - 1600 33 4433
Max New York Life - 1600 33 5577
Royal Sundaram - 1600 33 8899
SBI Life Insurance - 1600 22 9090

Mattresses
Kurl-on - 1600 44 0404
Sleepwell - 1600 11 2266

Investments/Finance
CAMS - 1600 44 2267
Chola Mutual Fund - 1600 22 2300
Easy IPO's - 3030 5757
Fidelity Investments - 1600 180 8000
Franklin Templeton Fund - 1600 425 4255
J M Morgan Stanley - 1600 22 0004
Kotak Mutual Fund - 1600 222 626
LIC Housing Finance - 1600 44 0005
SBI Mutual Fund - 1600 22 3040
Sharekhan - 1600 22 7500
Tata Mutual Fund - 1600 22 0101

Paints
Asian Paints Home Solutions - 1600 22 5678
Berger Paints Home Decor - 1600 33 8800

Teleshopping
Asian Sky Shop - 1600 22 1600
Jaipan Teleshoppe - 1600 11 5225
Tele Brands - 1600 11 8000
VMI Teleshopping - 1600 447 777
WWS Teleshopping - 1600 220 777

Travel
Club Mahindra Holidays - 1600 33 4539
Cox & Kings - 1600 22 1235
God TV Tours - 1600 442 777
Kerala Tourism - 1600 444 747
Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1600 44 5030
Raj Travels & Tours - 1600 22 9900
Sita Tours - 1600 111 911
SOTC Tours - 1600 22 3344

UPS
APC - 1600 44 4272
Numeric - 1600 44 3266

Others
Consumer Helpline - 1600 11 4000
L'Oréal, GARNIeR - 1600 223 000
KONE Elevator - 1600 444 666
Indane - 1600 44 51 15
Aavin - 1600 44 3300
Pedigree - 1600 11 2121
Kodak India - 1600 22 8877
Domino's Pizza - 1600 111 123
World Vision India - 1600 444 550
Telecom Monitoring Cell - 1600 110 420

Ind Vs WI Test Cricket Live

AUDIO
Perfect for work atmosphere, a headphones will do.
http://msnspecials.in/cricketlive/cricketlive.asp

ALTERNATE AUDIO

http://www.cricbuzz.com/staticconten...al-player.html

VIDEO
mms://thund3r.inssain.info/wiorlk232op3k23jlrkwwewe

Google NoteBook!

Google Notebook, it's live now.

Punch Dialogues from Sivaji-The Boss

"Phone Adicha Ringu, Indha Sivaji Adicha Sangu"

"Singathe Konja Mudiyathu, Intha Sivajiya Yaaralum Minja Mudiyathu"

"Thanneera Killa Mudiyathu, Sivajiya vella Mudiyathu"

"Paambai Paathu Padaye Nadungum, Indha Sivajiya paathu Paambe Nadungum"

"Aalu Rounda Iruntha Podhathu, Aatathula All Roundera Irukkanum"

"Amaidhikku Babaji, Adidhadikku Sivaji"

Dekhoji, naan thaan Shivaji

Kanna, naan pakka dhan software, erangunan mavane hardware....

Sachin adicha sixer indha Shivaji adicha stretcher

Naan nenacha athu nadantha mathiri, naan nadantha athu jeycha mathiri

Naan 1 centimetre dhooratthukk nallavannaa 20 kilometre distancekku kettavan

Kanna andha sivajikku nadikka mattum dhan theriyum, indha sivajiku nadikkavum theriyum adikkavum theriyum

unaku Aandavan vekkaraan da date annaiku unaku Shivaji vekkaraan paar vettu

Kannaa, sirikaama PM aga iruntharu antha Narasimha Rao, aana sirichutte pattaiyai kilappurathu intha Shivaji Rao

Naan nallavanukku sami, Nayavanjaganukku tsunami

Kanna, vitukoduthavan ennaikum kettathillai, kettavan ennaikum vittukoduthathillai

Solli adikiravan veeran, sollama adikiravan kozhai, naan sollavum maaten, adikkavum maatan... aana konnuduvan

Nallavanukku naan DHARMAN Kettvanukku naan YEMa dharman da

Pentagon Strike- A Phantom

Interesting Flash Script made to open a closed file on Pentagon Strike.
Watch it, its interesting. Just like J.F.K, many movies can be made from this Script.

http://www.pentagonstrike.co.uk/flash.htm#Main

Happy Vishu to All

Pi

Kaif's numbers are dismal. 8, 5*, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 5, in his last eight knocks, an average of 22/7, 3.142857 ... If he remembers his high-school maths, Kaif will recognise that as the value of pi, the magic number that makes so many complex things so much simpler. If he remembers his cricketing basics, Kaif will recognise this 4-0 lead over England as a chance to turn things around, and get his groove back.

Source: Anand Vasu (assistant editor of Cricinfo)

Message!

The Indian School of Business (ISB) has scripted a new success story with placements

ISB has achieved the average international salary at $120,700 (Rs 53.5 lakhs) is a 21% jump over 2005.
The highlight of the placements was that the highest salary offer of $233,800 (Rs 1.04 crore) was made by an Indian company.
Check this out!
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickies/msid-1479112.cms

After reading this, we will be wondering how to get in there. If you are so much interested, apply now

Robo WWF

The video of O.2 taking on and taking out some other robots in the battle competition
http://www.robot-fan.net/spot/spot073.html

S.U.P.E.R . S.T.A.R - R.A.J.I.N.I in S.I.V.A.J.I

Compare the pictures, 1986 and 2006. Not much change huh?

How much ground you covered?

I have visited 7 Countries so far, now I figured its only 3% of the earth..Grrrrr..
Should cover atleast 50% before I die. Lets see, and how much ground you covered?
create your own visited countries map
Source: Das

Print out the print version of your favorite newspaper

World's leading newspapers to you before they appear on newsstands in their home countries. --> PressDisplay
Via: Pradeep

Google @ ASU - Go Devils!!!

Google to Locate Phoenix-Area Facility on Arizona State University's Tempe Campus
Via: Pradeep

Cricket Score Card - Realism

Most Comprehensive Scorecard, I have ever seen.
Almost like watching it LIVE.
http://www.cricketworld.com/realisim/

Jackie Chan in India- Myth

This is a small clip of behind the screens of MYTH in india.

Jackie Chan in India

Emotions

Viewer discretion is advised: People with weak sentimental heart, tear flowing eyes, running nose and similar love stories are recommended to stay away from this story.

Emotions are true and flowing when you are in love, I believe. This is my love story, filled with lot of emotions and feelings. This story might be true or fake but the objective is to bring out the emotions from the readers. Here we go

http://www.pbase.com/emotions

The emotions may vary from person to person, various emotions pulled out from previous readers are Adoration, affection, love, fondness, liking, attraction, caring, tenderness, compassion, sentimentality, Arousal, desire, lust, passion, infatuation, Longing, Amusement, bliss, cheerfulness, gaiety, glee, jolliness, joviality, joy, delight, enjoyment, gladness, happiness, jubilation, elation, satisfaction, ecstasy, euphoria, Enthusiasm, zeal, zest, excitement, thrill, exhilaration, Contentment, pleasure, pride, triumph, Eagerness, hope, optimism, Enthrallment, rapture, Relief, Amazement, surprise, astonishment, Aggravation, irritation, agitation, annoyance, grouchiness, grumpiness, Exasperation, frustration, Anger, rage, outrage, fury, wrath, hostility, ferocity, bitterness, hate, loathing, scorn, spite, vengefulness, dislike, resentment, Disgust, revulsion, contempt, Envy, jealousy, Torment, Agony, suffering, hurt, anguish, Depression, despair, hopelessness, gloom, glumness, sadness, unhappiness, grief, sorrow, woe, misery, melancholy, Dismay, disappointment, displeasure, Guilt, shame, regret, remorse, Alienation, isolation, neglect, loneliness, rejection, homesickness, defeat, dejection, insecurity, embarrassment, humiliation, insult, Pity, sympathy, Alarm, shock, fear, fright, horror, terror, panic, hysteria, mortification, Anxiety, nervousness, tenseness, uneasiness, apprehension, worry, distress, dread.


What Emotions burst out from you?

With LOVE,
Pradeep

Google Fight!

Type in two Keywords and let them fight against each other on google.
Figth Now