Visiting Uncle Sam - 8 - Yose'mighty'

Yosemite [Yoe-sim-it-ee] This was a place which was recommended by my friends and it was in my To-Do list but wasnt sure how to go about it alone. The reason being that by public transportation it would take 5-6 hrs and I would end up being there only by afternoon and would not be able to see much and have to come back again and will be back late. Even for the tours (1 day) I need to be in SFO by 6.30 or so and be back late. Driving alone is a little risky with my amateur driving skills as its a long journey and I wasnt sure how it would be.

But remember, that when you really want something, the whole world conspires.... ? Yes.. it did. The group of people who accompanied with me for Napa valley recommended me to some of their other friends (eppadi namma theramai...) and since a couple of them were planning and now with one more car they can accomodate people enough to get going. So they counted me in. But I told them that since this is a 4 hr journey and that too uphill I would want another person who can drive just in case, I am unable to do so in between the journey. So there were two cars with three drivers ;) and we started on 16th Oct 2010 morning around 4.45 am. I wasnt even fully awake. But I opted to drive in the morning hours (better than driving @ nights.. it scares the hell out of me driving in the highway/freeway @ night in that speed..seriously). So we all started with the other girl who always opted to sit in the front giving me company :)....

We set the GPS of both the cars to a single address and made sure that it showed the same route and the other car was to go ahead of us just in case so that they we can just follow them. And then the journey started... Thaayi magamaayi nee dhaan thunai nu kelambinoam... It was pitch dark and there was the automatic light that the cars are always enabled and with that I started driving. When we hit the freeway, I was worried a little coz I couldnt see beyond a few steps ahead of me. I wasnt sure what the problem was. As long as it was a long road I didnt mind, but when there was a bend or it was climb (to / from the bridge) it made me very uneasy. I was driving like this in 80 mph following the other car but at times because of the darkness I was left behind and they went away some where. Later I found out that I didnt switch on the bright light that I was supposed to use during the travel (ada kadavule!!!yaaravadhu solla venaamaa appadi oru light use pannanumnu :( rombha mosam.. kanna uruti uruti paathu oatina kashtam ennaku dhaan theriyum!!) sari its ok, I went ahead like that only and was extremely grateful to God when the sun broke out a little and I could see the road a little. And then we missed them. We werent sure where they were and after some time I saw them pass us from behind.. I had no idea that I was driving so fast (road was almost empty and I didnt feel a thing about me driving @ 80 mph.. summa sarrnnuu vandi poachu..) Then again I started following them and after some time again missed them because of too  many cars coming in between us. Then we said that since we have the GPS with us let us proceed and meet them. Anga aarambichadhu comedy.

We kept going on and on and since the GPS didnt prompt us for any change we kept our pace and went ahead in full speed...Suddenly the girl next to me said that she was wondering if there is a problem with the GPS coz it isnt progressing and its showing the same data since half an hour (the distance should keep decreasing as and when you proceed your travel).. WHAT!!! GPS work aagalaiyaa !!! Very nice.. One of the other guy (who could drive) asked me not to panic and keep going in the same route straight ahead and that he will check it out. So he took the GPS and tried a lot and then realized that its dead and it isnt working. Now they all panicked I guess (ennaku enna kavalai.. appadiye thirumbi vandha vazhiye poaga vendiyadhudhaan..) He was asking us to pull over to some store like Walmart or some place where he can buy a new one. Since we were on a free way and we didnt have any idea which place it was, we tried contacting the other car. The signal wasnt good and it kept failing. In between when we reached them, they asked us to get onto Hw 120.. and we had no idea where it really was. Whether we crossed it or we are yet to reach it. I was driving in 80 mph and we have driven almost 30-40 mins (imagine how far we would have gone) and then I decided that it is the best time to get to an exit wherever it was and find out some way out of this mess !! So took the next exit and went into a small town and sought out a place where we can park the car and check out the GPS or atleast find out where we were so that we can ask the other guys to come and then we can proceed. I stopped the car and the other guy got down to check the mobile connection to call the other guys in the other car and I was fiddling around with the GPS. Even before I could do anything to the GPS, there were 4-5 black guys who came from nowhere (it wasn't too bright yet so we didnt see them coming) and asked if we had cigarettes. When we said that we didnt have one, they started talking rudely and used profane words which really scared the other guys , coz they were the ones getting it :) and as soon as he got into the car he rushed me to get out of that place asap. I started off and then found another residential place , made sure that there is no one near by and asked everyone else to be inside the car just in case and then tried to reset the GPS and Voila!!! it worked. It sprang to life again and asked us to "fasten our seat belts".. Girl !!! you gave us such a scare for a small time!! ..

Now following the route it was taking, we just followed it and since we were already far off the original route, it rerouted us to Hw 140 ( We were supposed to go via Hw 120). So we went through Merced, Mariposa county and then into Yosemite national park. On the way in the junction where the other guy (who can drive and who had already been to the park the previous week) asked us to stop and have breakfast, it was around 8 am now. We stopped @ Carrows and had our breakfast and filled our Petrol tank and started again. I drove and drove and drove.... Initially it was a very plain meadows, pista gardens and all that. We stopped in a place and took some snaps as they were too beautiful to ignore.

As and when it progressed, I realized that it will be a steep uphill.. Oh My God!! What have I got myself into. At times the uphill was very steep and very curvy. If only you could hear my heart thumping loud and fast and the amount of sweat my body generated.. oh God.. But the view was awesome.. It was almost empty and was a single lane road and I had just one truck before me which kept going ahead most of the time coz I slowed down during uphill a little and downhill a little and in the curves a little , ok ok,.. I was driving very slowly and had a couple of cars following me (they had no choice , did they ?). But the route is oh so beautiful. Just like what you see in the calendars and thought if such places really existed. Trust me , they do!!! They were part of the forest area and it was as if I was climbing up and down , up and down and after 2-3 hrs we entered the Park and to really go to the Valley it would take another hr. Now if I thought what I had driven till now was scarier, I didnt see this yet, that is why. This was much more deeper.. There was a time when I had to turn left and on the right there was nothing but adhala paadhaalam.. I was about to stop the car, get down and run, if I had the chance....But since I was the one driving and I cannot act like a coward before these people and above all, I was responsible for them, I was like "Come on, you can do this baby!!" I just have to keep my eyes on the road and not look left or right.. Thankfully the girl next to me was, atleast, as scared as I was. Is that a good thing or a bad thing, I dont know, but I felt comfortable comforting her.. eppadi.. But once I started going up, the view was so great and so nice, that you cannot help but look @ it.. Just dont peep down.. look straight ahead....:) it was like a bedsheet of mountains..It wasnt sunny or cloudy ..just plain weather .. infact in between we had little showers while driving uphill. Nothing like it. It was like 5 times bigger (in length , width and height) than Ooty and beautiful than Ooty... then image how it would be..and I drove there.. We stopped near the Bridalveil falls after crossing a tunnel, coz the view was so nice and took some snaps. It was almost the entrance of the valley where we were supposed to park and ride. And at around 11 am or so we reached our destination and parked the vehicle.

Where were the other set of people who were separated from us during the initial phase of our journey !! They were already there in the destination by 9 am and waited for us and then took a initial shuttle ride to a falls nearby. We checked with them and found out that they will be back by 12. So we decided to make a quickie to the Mirror Lake near by and be back by 1pm  to join them. You park in the parking lots (almost 14 of them are there) and you take the free shuttles which take you around the park to drop you in the important locations and you can hike to the places of your interest. They will give you a map as soon as you enter the park initially (the entrance fees was 20$ for cars). We hiked for almost 30 mins to the Mirror Lake.. It was such a peaceful area even though enough people were there, it was calm. Big pine trees... (and there was bear somewhere nearby I guess.. they were hibernating) clean fresh air... beautiful tall mighty mountains.. clear sky...what else you want...and what else my camera wants.. it started clicking and clicking and the other guy (who can drive) wanted to try my SLR and so it was shuttling between him and me and we were just taking as much snaps as we could.

When we reached the mirror lake, we found that it didnt have enough water :( , its ok..It was beautiful anyways. How Mighty these mountains look from the ground..God...and they get frozen during the winters..

We spent some time there and started our way back , trying to take snaps of each and every road we see and tree with a different color. We reached by 1.10 pm or so and waited for them to join us. When they finally joined us, we had a good laugh on what happened in the morning. We had our lunch there and then decided to take the car back and go to the Glacier point. It was almost 3 by then. Since we had to return back the same day we decided to go to the Glacier point and get back coz it will be 6 pm by that time. Thankfully I wouldn't have to drive now, the other guy took over coz I was already tired by driving for 7 hrs (4.45 am to 11 am) under very strenuous conditions. On the way we stopped @ El Capitan view point. God.. why is this place so beautiful :) We took a group snap of ours and almost spend 1/2 an hour there.. You can just not get away from that place and without saying, I was the last person to get to the car!! I hate to come from that place !! :(

When we reached the entrance of Glacier point, it said that we have to go uphills for another 16 miles or so. We stopped for a second to confirm with the other party and then decided to go ahead. Thank God we went ahead with the plan...It was too good to miss. Ultimate paa.. It had the very very very majestic view you can imagine... It literally takes your breadth away. It was almost 4.30 by the time we reached there. We were there till 6 pm. Too much.. evlo azhagaa irundhadhu theriyuma.. It was worth the drive there (I didnt drive naa!! ;) )

This is just one of the photos from there. Imagine being there just close to the peaks and close to the clouds. You could see two falls there. Oh .. you should see it. A very very nice place. No wonder people come flocking to this place. And they maintain it so well. You dont see trash but enough trash bins everywhere placed strategically and restrooms in all accessible areas. A well maintained park. Then around 6.30 pm we started back and this time the other guy was driving and he was driving so well and keeping in pace with the other car and we were going through the Hw 120. Good Lord, I wasnt driving. a) It was becoming pitch dark very soon b) It was going in rounds for so long that after we hit the plain ground we had to stop the car as we were all feeling so dizzy, especially the drivers...Imagine what would have happened to me, if I had been driving.... I would have come back the next day only... avlo slowaa oati irupean. By the time we came to a city nearby it was 10 pm and we decided to have some snacks on the way  (no one was hungry anyways). I was relaxing in the back seat. I was so so sleepy that I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. I didnt want to sleep when everyone was awake and we were having good fun. We reached home by 11 pm and we were so dead tired that everyone scrambled to their places to get their good night sleep.

Even though the trip started on a highly adventurous note, it ended up very peacefully. I was very happy and felt blessed that I could visit such places. Everything happens for the good. Never loose hope :)

Visiting Uncle Sam - 7 - Half Moon Bay and Napa Valley - Accidental Adventures

On Thursday, I drove all the way to Walmart, Mountain View with the lunch mate friend of mine (who is from Hyderabad division of our Company) and we spent almost 3 hrs there. But I ended up buying only a luggage set, which I needed. I am not a great shopper. I might give company, but unless and otherwise I am in dire need of it, I generally dont buy it. I cannot say the same for the electronics though. But here , I am restricting myself, coz I wont be carry everything if I buy them :)

Next on TGI Friday, 8th October, I almost decided that I will be seeing the Half Moon Bay beach (any one of them) and then may be try to ride to Pigeon Point Lighthouse down south on the Cabrillo Highway 1, along the ocean. Got the details, maps printed out and then slept well, without any idea of what was on store for me that Saturday.



I went for breakfast around 9 am and there was a colleague of mine, from the same building as I am in Bangalore, and her set of friends. There were almost 10 of them and she asked me if I wanted to join them for Santa Cruz. Since I have already been to the boardwalk and the weather was also very hot, I declined the offer and told her that I have got a car myself and am planning to drive to a Half Moon Bay beach and I wouldnt mind if anyone is willing to join me. Since it was on the way to Santa Cruz, people joined me and suddenly I had 4 people who were willing to try out the beach with me [they werent that enthu about Santa Cruz]. Ok!!! Now I have got company :).I warned them that I wasnt a great driver and that I had been driving here in U.S only for three weeks (and almost three of them are good drivers in Bangalore) and they were like 'Dont worry we are there just in case of any problems'. Ok! as long as I have someone who has the technical know how of the cars and can help in times of crisis I dont mind driving far far away, would I ;) ?



So we started of around 10.30am and went on the highway / freeway and reached a beach called Miramar Beach near Half Moon Bay. It was a bright sunny afternoon, but the Pacific Ocean was sooooo cooooold. We walked almost more than an hour and a half on the beach. It was so so nice. I love beaches. They say that the Pacific Ocean in West Coast area is always very very cold...Because of if proximity towards the north pole. Every time a huge wave hit us, my legs were frozen. And there was this one big splash at an unexpected time which got me almost fully wet. I remembered my sister very much there. She loves playing in such waters. She is a water fanatic, I would say :) And there was one more thing that she would have loved.. Jasper !! the big Water Retriever that we saw playing in the ocean. He was so happy going and getting his toy from the ocean. And we started playing with him. And guess what, he started showing off.. His boss (a very cute lady) would throw the toy (in shape of a bone) into the water as far as possible and he would go and retrieve it and then instead of going to her, he would come near us, keep down the toy and splash water all over us .. He was such a cutie....We played with him for sometime and then around 12.30 or after that, we decided to start to Napa valley, just like that. No one had any address or any idea of where it was, except for one person who knew that it was near Vallejo.. Ok.. Great... As long as we have gas (adhavadhu namma oorla petrol ...acho acho!!!) and we know the return address, we can go anywhere, cant we ?

So we started on the CA Hwy 1 towards SFO... We rode almost along the ocean.. the view was amazing.. I couldnt fully enjoy it a lot as I had to concentrate on my driving too..But trust me inspite of that, you will definitely appreciate the view.... that too near the Pacifica Beaches...it was so god damn nice.. And suddenly the road was winding and we were going uphill and I could see the ocean on the left and then right.. Oh My God!!! My first every climb !!! I was sweating from inside (dont ask me if that is possible...) The deep curves, the roaring cars from the opposite direction, the single lane, the speed of 50 mph..and then from the winding curves, it was the plain valley...wow...as if it was a big carpet of golden yellow laid for you to drive.. Man.. it was so so good... I didnt know where we were going, what place it was, which area it belonged to..it was just awesome.. I drove there...I am so so proud of myself. and not alone...I was taking the responsibility of 4 more people and that was when they were saying that I was driving well.. They wondered how I got accustomed to the left hand driving so soon ??? and then asked me the penultimate question .. "What car did you drive in India ???"... I replied, "None, I know driving - the theory and a little practicals. I have never driven in India as such"... I couldnt see their faces, remember I am the driver here ;). But you know, I can guess from their tone, their expressions of Exclamation..:D I really scared them now.. They were like "Man, how is that possible.. we are ashamed of ourselves... we are driving in India for past 5-6 yrs..and we are so scared to rent a car here".. I said, "I didnt have to do the unlearning part for my consciousness to not drive in the left lane.... It was a start anyways.. Now if I got back to India and I wanted to drive a car, I will find it difficult.. so relax".. I am not sure how much they felt good..But I felt better... We wound up all the way to SFO (not inside the city) and then towards the Bay bridge to Oakland ;) eppudi.... Kadaloaram neendhinean, malaiyoadu parandhean, gugaikullum olindhean... vayalveliyoaram thavazhdean... ellam seidhean en car in thunaiyoadu... We crossed Berkeley and then came Vallejo almost around 1.30 or 2 pm I guess.... The rough address that my GPS gave me took us to the town. Then we decided that we will have our lunch there and then decide what to do for Napa.. We knew it was somewhere nearby..but enga.. no one knew..



We had a good lunch in a Thai restaurant.. It was so nice and fulfilling. From there, I got the idea of checking the yellow pages for any Ads on Napa.. And luckily I found the Napa Town Center address and fed that to my GPS, which wouldnt help me without an exact address. Atleast let us go to Napa town and then we can find a winery there. Thank God, it took us to the Napa Town Center, which was in the Downtown area (We could see the Wine Train, which takes the route to all the wineries in Napa Valley) and then checked out in the Visitor Information Center and got to know that most of the wineries close by 4 pm.. Oh Crap!!! it was already 3.15 or so. I wouldnt be able to make it to the Francis Ford Coppola's Wineyard (Its like a big Castle :(.. seri vidu paravaa illai..But there was other wineries which would be open till 5 and some till 6 pm. Since I am driving, I didnt want to take the risk of the 5 pm ones...So we chose the one Peju Winery which closes by around 6 pm.. Without wasting time, we took the map and then left off to the Peju Winery.... It was a single road in one of the Highway/Freeway ( I dont remember the number now..its 29 or something)...vagudu edhutha maadiri poyikitte irukum..Here we hit a very long traffic line.. May be because of the too many vineyards that were there and people going and coming out.. whatever.. It wasnt the zzzzoooooming traffic here... Near Napa Valley College, there was this traffic signal and the traffic line was there for almost 1 mile... We were going inch by inch and in one point, we literally stopped...when we were talking.. dhooom....our car went ahead of itself...some one hit us from behind.. ada kanraaviye..dai nikkara carla yeandaa idikara...it was with such an impact that my car went and hit the guy in the front, but luckily for him the traffic moved a bit so he moved..so there was a very very less impact..we were in a shock and didnt know what to do.. The guy who hit us asked us to stop and get down.. I was like , "nee ennathuku enna nikka solrea..I tell you man , you get down first.. stupid fellow....nikkara car la idichadhum illaama.. action verayaa..vaadi vaa" Pinnala poyi paathaa..bumper la oatai.. ada paavi.. and the bonnet got hit too so now it wasnt closing properly.. enna nalla neram.. first time US la oru vandi oaatarean..adhula idhuverayaa... naan dhaan poyi yaarayaavadu idichuduveannu bayandhaa.. ivan mundhikitaane...hmmm.... then we argued with him and called up the road assistance.. nalla velai..ambulance, vellai sattai poata uncle with the siren ellam varalai.. story la rombha periya twist aayirikum... edho kettadhulaiyum oru nalladhu dhaan poa.. We got all the details , (insurance number, car number, his contact details, policy number blah blah blah...) and after almost 40 mins of calls and checks we started again to the winery...



Aana onnu.. ivlo nadandhuche.. ennaku konjamaaavadhu bayam vandhirukunumla.. I was not scared.. I was so amazed.. I was wondering why !! Is it because I didnt do anything wrong ? or was it because inspite of the initial jerk I had to be responsible coz I was the only person who could drive there... whatever it was...it made me go ahead.. I thank God for that.. I needed that strength at that time.. That wasnt the time to feel scared.. I didnt even needed water .. they were like pushing me to have some and be relaxed.. I was like "Guys,...come on I am relaxed"... I just wanted to go ahead.... From there we headed to the winery and reached it by 4.45 pm...It was not a huge one, but a nice one...They generally dont take you in the vineyard..they are all organic.. They take you through their artistic showroom where they display the different wines, the cellars, and gift shops. If you wanted to, you can do the tasting too... In my group, no one was willing to do the wine tasting.. I was like, "Will you give me in a small spoon, I want only one wine to taste in a spoon to see how it is"... The lady was , should I say, bewildered. Actually, I wasnt kidding her.. I really wanted to taste, but only in a spoon limit....they didnt have that facility so I left it off.. time for my photo session.... inga anganu ella edathuleyum photo eduthean..and they started closing by 6 pm...that was when we left that place..

The ride back was slow again till we left that long route, because of all the cars getting out of the valley... In that whole road..you dont see anything but vineyards.. Adhukunu oru ooraiye oathuki irukaanunga.. paavi paya... We werent in much of an hurry.. so again rode in the specified speed limit (50/60/65 based on the signs) and then came via Bay Brige... its so heavenly @ night.... All lit up and the fog over it.. God.. ennatha solla....my fuel tank was showing almost empty by the time we reached SFO Airport.. we decided to go to the Hotel and get the gas in the nearby gas station (adhavadhu petrol pump) there... We made it finally @ 8 pm to our hotel, dropped a guy who was not feeling well and then went ahead for dinner in the nearby restaurant and filled up the gas and came back to rooms by 9 pm.



I have driven in all sorts of places (towns, downtowns, bay area, city etc etc) in one day....and what a day it was.. Every one felt that it was quite adventurous..for them it was additionally because they were travelling with a person who knew the basics of the driving and drove the car to such an extent for the first time in her whole life... howzzat.. :)



The only mistakes we mostly did was , we did miss out on the exits given by the GPS and we made it recalculate hell lot of times (vaayi irundha adhu azhum) and then at times I was going a little less than the speed so people had to over take me and they gave me a nasty look .. big deal..all that was kutty kutty stuff..compared to my experience in driving....



What to say.. I loved the trip..I will cherish it because it gave me so much of confidence that I could do something like driving , here in US.... I am definitely going to drive in India too (I know that there is gear there..but hey, I know the theory paa.. and I have driven max of 25-30 kms totally in India till now.. big deal..Should I be scared or the people !! ;) )



Come back for more adventures (I wish)

Visiting Uncle Sam - 6 - Stanford University

Since I have been using my car back and forth from Hotel & Office for a week now, I was getting confident that I could drive a little further than that :). So what would be the first place I would want to try, so that its neither too near nor too far. I zeroed in on Stanford University in Palo Alto because it would take me about 35-40 mins of drive (based on my driving ability) and its a very straight road (El Camino Real). Since there were quite a lot of issues to be fixed @ work, I was working late on Friday and Sat I got up only @ 9am. After doing some more official work, by around 11.30 am on this hot sunny afternoon on 2nd October, I decided that I should now get out of my hotel and make a visit to this Saraswathi Kalaikoodam ;)




My GPS wanted me to give a exact address to fetch so after a while of messing with it, I chose the Stanford Shopping Center which it offered. It is on the way to the University Avenue. Started my car and since there was much of traffic as it used to be in the weekdays, I just cruised to Stanford Shopping Center. Now, I didnt have a 0.1% interest in getting down there so I was searching if I had written the address of the University Visitors office somewhere in my bag and thank Lord Saraswati, I had it and my GPS was able to fetch me the route too :). Its hardly 5 mins from the shopping center. And when I parked my car in the Stanford University Campus near Visitors Center, you should have seen my face. I think I was glowing ;) , due to the satisfaction of doing something that I never ever imagined in my life. Coming to U.S, driving a car, and now I can drive anywhere in U.S..wow...

Went to the Visitors Center, and got a map of the University and since it was only 1 pm, they said that if I got back by 3.15, they would have a guided tour of the campus. I told them that I would be there and my first visit inside the campus was the Hoover Observatory Tower.. Its the main attraction actually :).. So by 1pm, my visit of the campus started, first to the Hoover tower, from where you could see the bay , the bay bridge, (not the Golden Gate one, the other one..) you could see whole of SFO from there :) (it was about 285 ft, and the tower we are allowed to visit is in the 14th floor) and after spending some time over there, came down to the Museum in the ground floor about First Lady Hoover and President Hoover (yes, he was the President of US from 1929-1933 and you must have heard of Hoover Dam in Las Vegas, which he had commissioned to prevent the area from being flooded..) and then ventured out in the maze of buildings in Stanford University.

You know, I walked for about 2 hrs and 30 mins covering almost (I said almost, because as per the map, I left only a few streets ;) ) all of the places and buildings in the University campus. Grabbed a bite in the Book store cum coffee shop and carried on. There is a chapel which is not there for any religious reason, but as a memorial to Stanford Senior (that is what the guide @ the Hoover tower told me). And there was a wedding going on. It hadnt begun then, so the chapel was closed. But I could see the bride, the bridesmaids, the groom everyone :) Wow, they all looked so lovely. By this time you would have known that my camera would have been working non-stop. I walked, and walked and walked.. Came to the William Gates building of Computer Science (there was a Career fair going on there) and on the opposite side you see the David Packard EE building and William R Hewlett Teaching Center (yes the same Hewlett & Packard guys who had graduated from Stanford in 1935). Go back from there and you go round the building passing small malls (with coffee shops and eateries) come to the Music Center and then all the way to the sports area where you can see so many buildings and stadiums for each sport (gymastics had a building, Ford center for sports, I saw Table tennis building, a big stadium for base ball, etc etc). It was one huge circle. Some how while walking I didnt feel any tiredness. I was walking leisurely and observing the buildings, the architectures...It was nice..

You need a cycle or a car to go around. Its a really huge campus. The facilities are very very good. Seems like the red tiled roof is a symbol of Stanford. According to the guide in Hoover tower, seems like they tried having a dome for a building without the red tiles and the Alumni wasnt so happy about it. So every building is tiled with the red tiles. It gives a great look from above :) Sort of marks the area as Stanford's. And guess what, I did the whole campus tour by myself that I missed the 3.15 deadline for the guided tour. I reached the Visitor Center by around 3.45 pm and after a few mins, started from there on my way back to the hotel..



Now if there isnt any incident on my first long drive in US, it wouldnt look nice, would it :) ? When I was about to cross and take a left turn to El Camino Real from the Stanford University, my camera which was there in the seat fell down and I turned around to see what happened and in that mean time, there was a guy who was jogging and was about to cross the road and I missed him, I mean I didnt hit him (that way I missed him) , but I also missed seeing him on the left. For that one sec, I doubled on my accelerator and passed this guy who was in for a shock and he must have cursed because I heard him bang on my car from behind.. It was pure accident. But that woke up my senses. Now I really know what to do when I am crossing.. Double check for pedestrians!!! After that it was again smooth and instead of coming straight on El Camino Real, thought of a small detour so took the 101 Freeway :). It wasnt as bad as I thought it would be and finally via Redwood Shores arrived at my destination in Belmont by 4.30 pm.



Well, what else can I say now that I have done what I wanted to..... I am happy :)



I feel very philosophical right now, but I dont want to write anything about it in this blog.. When I am done with my trip, I will let you know ;)

Endhiran - Digital Rajni Masala Flick

You should probably stop reading this now, if
a. You havent seen the movie yet and you dont want any spoilers
b. You havent seen the movie yet and you dont mind the spoilers but if you dont want to get prejudiced ;)


My first movie in BIG Cinemas theatre in Fremont in CA and what a movie to start with ;).... Rajni with a bang ! bang ! (one for each Rajni)
Let me be very honest here, I did *not* like Sivaji. Seriously, I just couldnt accept Rajni with Shreya and he definitely looked old. But does that prevent me from watching his movies. Nah!!!
It was very stereotypical movie..But then why did I watch it... just for Rajnikanth... He was good in a few scenes and his style was as usual cool ;)

So is this movie Endhiran better than that or !!???

I would definitely rate it much much much better than Sivaji.. Why ? Definitely not because it has a great story (believe me, it is still the stereotypical one), but because
a. Rajni in a very cool Avatar of a Robot and the Scientist Rajni looks much better with the beard and specs.
b. Ash looks old, which helps her in a way actually, coz I felt that they looked good together (except for a very few scenes) when compared to Rajni+Shreya and Rajni+Nayanthara
c. Rajni is brilliant when he is in the villain mode.. Oh, I miss him as the baddie. He has done some movies as baddie and he has done them really well. (Netrikkan, Johnny, Moondru mudichu, 16 Vayadhinile etc..)
d. Dialogues are cheeky and crisp, if you know what I mean. Sujatha's touch was there in lot of places ( even though he did only a part of it , I miss him now after hearing the dialogues )
e. Graphics & CGI gets better with Shankar's each movie and this movie is a whole new level. What can he possibly do next, I wonder !
f. Camera and Art direction is way beyond the imagination in many places.
g. Action sequences are stunning (even though the one in the climax is too lengthy)
h. Songs & Lyrics - what to say , you already would have heard it many times..
My pick of the lot, for its picturization would be "Irumbile oru irudhayam"  because of its awesome choreography.. Ash was deadly man!! 

Perfect mix of Stereotype and Modernization :)

Of course, it has its own share of "OMG not again" moments, but come on, its not marketed as a "The Intelligent Movie of all times" right ? Its a Rajni movie and that too with Shankar.. What else can you expect?.. A pure masala all-class entertainer.
Do you get it ? 100% Dot


Go watch it.. I especially loved the first half.. Very funny. I am not going to say any more here about the movie.

Now coming to the theatre.. and the viewing experience in USA. The theatre was very small and hardly 150 people were there. But you know what, namma aatkal enga poanaalum namma thalaivar varum poadhu paper thooku poadaradha vidave maataanga :) Yeah, it happened full fledged here too. Did I get involved ? Nope, I always stick to clapping and yelling, thats it.

Theatres are crappy when compared to the ones in India and they dont even start on time and worst of all, these people didnt have the seat numbers alloted. You have to rush in to get your best seat...What nonsense!!! Print quality was good anyways...

I am happy that I watched it without any delay.