Its been hard getting used to life in USA again. Granted its only been two days, but still.

Jet lag hurts. Slept all day yesterday. Have been waking up @ 2, 4, and 6 am.

Missing Neeraj greatly. Just want to be able to see him and be with him.

Missing my parents and my cousins too. It had been too much fun with everyone that I am realizing how difficult it is to be close to people and soon see that they are not with you.

Missing life in Mumbai. The local trains. The kabootars flying in the windows @ my nani’s home. The hustle and bustle. People just showing up @ the home all of a sudden. The loud voices of my relatives.

I am definitely feeling the peace @ home with my brother. I think he realizes that he missed an opportunity of a lifetime to go with us this time.

Let’s hope my next trip is in 2-0-0-5 itself.

Make it happen Devi Ma, just make it happen.

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

Received as a forward from my dear bhai, Suraj. I think its funny.

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

So tomorrow is the big day for the USA with the presidential elections. Are they going to be as unpredictable as four years ago? You can count on it! I am going to go and do my duty by voting with the rest of my family. This is my first time voting ever for the president as previously I was not of age. Let’s hope for the best for the outcome!

Go Bush!

Osama a threat?

My family doesn’t think he is much of a threat because Bush has broken down most of his network. I think personally I would feel better if he was in custody. Is he a threat? Yes most definitely. Will it matter to him who is the president? I don’t think so — he could hurt the USA with either candidate sitting on the throne, or whatever its called.

We need to find him. I don’t care if he’s dead or alive, but my preference is to see that we have his body, like we saw of Saddam’s two sons. Will it be a safer world with Osama dead? Conditions might be better but as we are seeing in Iraq, this world will never be safe like it was maybe a decade ago.

Osama heading for India? — let’s hope not!! :censored: :censored:

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

Warning: This post was written on 14th October (day after the Bush-Kerry debates). Other things came up so never posted it…..until now.

“Your record is such that Ted Kennedy, your colleague, is
the conservative senator from Massachusetts”
— George W. Bush

Ha, now that’s funny. I definitely think that Bush has the better humor than his stiff Democrat counterpart. Kerry has always came off to be the “snob on the block” whenever I see him on TV.

The debate last night was good. I tend to disagree with the structure of how the debates are performed because at times it seems that they are not counter-acting each other’s point but just trying to make themselves look better.

What I think was MOST unapproriate last night during the debates was the discussion on gay marriages. I thought it was distasteful and rude of John Kerry to mention Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter being a lesbian during this discussion. Why do you have to bring that in as leverage? It was a turnoff for me when Kerry’s running mate, John Edwards, did it during the VP debates with VP Dick Cheney watching on, and I think it was even worse when this “President Wannabe” (Kerry) brings it up again.

Kerry and Edwards need to find better points than trying to use their opponent’s family life as a key aspect of their argument on gay marriages. As a US citizen who will be voting in the November elections for the first time, I really don’t care if Cheney’s daughter is gay or not, because its not going to change my view on the topic.

Bush says that he is against it that means he will stick to it, no matter how many people are gay in his cabinet’s respected families.

I was never going to vote for Kerry just because I can’t see him doing any better for the country and since last night he has made an even worse impression on me.

My brother, Suraj said it best:

Vote for Bush now. Four years later we will have two new candidates with new fresh ideas.

Good thought bro! If Kerry wins this time, then Senator Hilary Clinton won’t have a chance for another eight years to be president! Think of it that way all of the feminists out there!

Bush All The Way! Vote Bush!

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

So I was looking for India tickets today, and the lowest I found was for $1475 (that too from NY-Mumbai-NY). No good. From Chicago its $1520 per person. The airline is Air India.

With these Indian travel agents, all you have to do is keep calling and calling. I must have called @least 8 desi travel agents today. Two agents told me that they don’t have seats, two of them said that I won’t find anything below $1700, another two said that they would have to waitlist me, and the last two gave me quotes.

Anybody have any suggested travel agents in the USA that are reliable, then please let me know.

They say that ticket prices are up this year, I am not sure why because I know what usually the rates are: the highest I have traveled during this Christmas time is $1200.

Traveling dates: 22nd December (flexible to either the day before or after)
Return date : 14th January (flexible for 13-16th January).

[UPDATE - 10.45 pm]

After speaking with Neeraj, we might go the route of buying a one way ticket from the US (Chicago-Mumbai) which @ most should cost $800. Then buy a one way ticket from Mumbai (Mumbai-Chicago) for return that should cost hopefully no more than Rs. 30,000 ($600). If this is successful, we will be saving $300 ($100 each ticket for 3 tickets). Good na? **fingers crossed**

[UPDATE - 21st October - 11.27 am]

Talked to a few agents this morning and they say
one way ticket: $900 + taxes.

Neeraj talked to his travel agent in Mumbai and she says :
one way ticket back to Chicago = Rs. 30,000 ($600)
round trip ticket (Chicago-Mumbai-Chicago) = Rs. 49,000 ($1088).

I think we should buy our tickets from India, what do you say?? What a difference between $1088 and $1520!

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

Got to Richmond International Airport by 12 pm. Flight departs at 1.47 pm. Monitor shows flight is on time.

Get my boarding pass, went through security checkpoint, and at the gate by 12.30.

Monitor shows: 12.38 pm flight to Chicago is delayed. 1.47 pm flight still on time.

Called Neeraj. He says, “teri flight delay ho jaane wali hai.” (Your flight is also going to be delayed.)

Announcement: 12.38 pm flight will leave at 2 pm. 1.47 pm flight will leave at 3.20 pm. Delay due to bad weather in Chicago. On a regular day 125 airplanes land per hour in O’Hare Int’l Airport in Chicago; on Friday, 95 airplanes were landing per hour.

12.38 pm flight leaves at 2 pm as said.

2.35 pm they start boarding for the 1.47 pm flight (my flight). 3 pm we move to the area to enter the runway. Pilot announces: “We do not have a release yet from Chicago so we will sit here for 50 minutes!” Oh this sucks.

3.50 pm we depart Richmond and reach Chicago at 4.35 pm. I take the long walk to Terminal 1 to get my bags on baggage claim #12 (as shown on the monitor). After 15 mins, no sign of our bags. Lady says: “Richmond bags coming into claim #6.” Take the long walk to #6. Guy says: “The monitor shows 12, its going to come to 12.”

I am getting enough of this by now. Go back to #12 and wait. Finally after 45 mins, they show up on claim #11. My bag is the first one out (that NEVER happens).

Go out the door and on the AVIS bus, which will take me to my rental car. Being a preferred member, everything was ready (even the key was in the ignition :grin:). All I had to do was find the car, put my luggage, and off I go.

Got lost getting out of the airport. All I knew was that I needed to take I-294 towards Indiana, and I didn’t see the sign for it. Its now 5.45 pm.

Reach home @ 8.35 pm. Two and a half hours late (I should have been home by 6 pm if reached on time). Yes, I was driving atleast 80 mph.

I had a deadline to send a file @ 7 pm, which if my plane was on schedule, I would have met, but unfortunately I didn’t meet it. I hope I don’t get in trouble.

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.

I have been watching the Oprah Winfrey Show on/off for the past couple of years. Yesterday, she just topped herself. It was the start of the 19th season for her show, and she gave each and every member of her audience a brand new 2005 Pontaic G6 car! Note, that the 274 odd-some people in the audience were chosen because they had written a letter or sent a videotape to Oprah showing that they needed a new car. Some of the tapes that they showed were pitiful — these people were driving some dangerous cars!

As I think more and more about it, I begin to look up to Oprah. Some might snicker on that thought — but its true. She really is an unique human being. $7 million worth of cars were delivered to the studios so that these 274 odd-some people (whom she doesn’t know) could have a new car to drive. Yes, you have to be financially stable to do something like that — but you also have to have a heart. A drive to do something for someone else in need. Cars were donated by Pontiac, but Oprah must have spent some $$ on this extravaganza.

That wasn’t the only surprise on her show yesterday as she also helped a girl whose parents had abandoned her and had been living on the streets for a while. This girl picked herself up and moved in with some relatives, finished high school, and started taking classes at a junior college. Her student loans increasing, she didn’t have enough money and had to drop out. She wrote a letter to Oprah saying that if she could ask for one thing its to have a beauty makeover. Not only did she get the makeover by the top-notch people in Hollywood (courtesy of Tyra Banks) but also to meet Oprah Winfrey (the girl thought of Oprah as her mother) and got a full tuition, room/board paid, books paid scholarship to the college of her choice! Wow! She just boosted the esteem of one girl — who might have taken the turn for the worse. Now she has a chance to finish college at any one of the finest institutions in all of the USA.

I am telling you that American companies don’t know the meaning of customer service. I hardly doubt if they can even say it. So this is my customer service problem number 2. Problem one can be seen here regarding my mobile company, Verizon Wireless.

So who are we dealing with today?? Sears‘ Electronics Department, Peoria, Illinois. If you ever need to buy electronics (DVDs, TV, video games, etc) DO NOT buy it from Sears.

So we have Pooja Didi’s wedding VCDs that we wanted to watch since we got them, and we couldn’t because our Sansui DVD player did not read VCDs (read about it here). Found out that Apex DVD players reads VCDs and Sears had it for sale @ $36. Great deal. Saturday, 14th August, I went to Sears - got my Apex DVD player. So then we started watching them — didn’t get to watch all of them. That following Tuesday (17th August), we had a horrible storm (read about it here). Since that day, the Apex DVD player wouldn’t power on and one of the VCD’s was now stuck in it. Last Thursday (19th August), I took it into Sears and told him my problem. Ted, this old guy that was helping me, said that,

“Oh ya, we have a service technician in the back, he will get the DVD out for you and we will call you as soon as its done.”

He had me write down my contact information and wrote that the VCD is stuck in the player and that we want that back. Until then, he gave me a new Apex DVD player. Ted also said that the DVD player was going to stay in the store - it won’t be sent anywhere. So far no problem because he was going to get me my VCD plus I have a new player.