Quality of life

Quality of life this is something a lot of people tell me that its better in the US. I beg to differ at the least. The quality of life sucks big time here. What is quality of life ?? That is the most important question. Is it just that the air you breathe is clean of Hydrocarbons or Is it that the roads are clean ? Well I don't think so. Because according to me, these are things which fascinate you when you have just arrived in the US of A. Or to that matter to any developed country. I hope my fellow student NRI's agree (also people doesnt it get on your nerves when they refer to India as third world country every time? We have almost everything these guys can afford to buy) What according to me quality of life is, living it to the fullest, enjoying every moment. You can ask me what is stopping me from doing it here. A couple of things.The conversion factor, its frigging irritating I tell you.

I don't know what gets into the people who come and settle here they tend to be overly conscious about their health, maybe its due to the health system, I wonder. They tell you not to use plastics for vessels no teflon for cooking no to ready to eat stuff (tell me how will a bachelor with no cooking skills survive ?) So you have to listen to all that. And talking of cooking, should i explain ? All of us have been spoilt with good food. So every meal is a huge depressing ordeal. Did I hear someone say food outside ? I have no idea why, all Indian restaurants I have been, I have been to a couple btw, they all have the same menu. Naan Aloo subji Palak paneer samosas gulab jamuns and chicken tikka. Other cuisines are nowhere near stomach filling, atleast for a Vegetarian it isnt. That isnt a great quality of life here.

And If you need to go out like so many people would have pointed out you need to visit weather.com get the forecast for the day and dress accordingly. How pathetic !!! The weather tends to be a bleedingly boring thing. It would be all bright and warm in the morning, urging you to get in your shorts after sometime it might even start snowing. How is that ? There is also saying around here, "If you dont like the weather just stick around for sometime its going to change" Bah! With all that layering you dont feel like going out at all. Nor here.

The worst part is you will be in a room looking at your computer screen. You feel so detached from the entire world. The entire world you see is through a broken video of a webcam. If it is some festival you spend it by people calling from India on video conference and telling you that they are missing you. And you would typically go to the Indian association's celebration on a 'convenient' weekend.

People are always working. They get bored if they dont work because there is nothing to do. They dont even have time for each other. Yes it is the same case in India too. Office drop kids at school pick them up drop them at some practice then come home cook pick them up eat sleep. No cooking in the morning mind you.

Overall the quality of life in India looks a lot better. Yes this is a mega scale rant. But I just had to get it off my chest.

An addition

I heard from one of my friend that Mahindra is also planning to build a Small car a la Tata. If you had also read the day after the Nano's news of the Auto expo you would have found that Bajaj is also ready with a Small car and about to put it into production. So Ladies and Gentlemen there you have it Two wheelers as a frugal means of transport is on the verge of extinction that is good in a way, there will be medium and large capacity bikes, Oh oh I forgot they are already there. Yamaha. Hoo hoo.

I guess what is remaining is the Cities to be planned at Godspeed to accommodate these cars !!

India Shining Indeed

No this is not a part of an Old BJP campaign (Just curious do they still use it somewhere?). India is making huge moves and i mean HUGE. And the area of course is a you might have guessed/heard is in F1. As if Vijay Mallya buying a team is not enough there might just be one more Indian team on the field. Team Super Aguri is having talks with an Indian consortium comprising of telecomm guys Spice and Tata (Sorry for these deviations I just cant control it, Do you know Tata and Mahindra are battling for the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover ? Thats definitely somethingah)

So there you have it by this time next year we will be hoping to have Two F1 race teams and a race track. India shining indeed!!! And did you know that Bernie Eccelstone, The Big B himself, was the person pushing everybody to make the Indian GP a reality. It seems he had said that India where the economy is. Agreed. India and China. But i wonder does China have its own car manufacturer who has international presence let alone fielding a F1 team ?(If you are wondering about Indian car companies, Yes Tata and Mahindra have a worldwide presence, that is mainly in the African continent and not to mention the introduction of the Tata Indica in the UK as the City Rover. I mention it at the last because i want to keep this on a positive note as much as possible ;) Hope you get the drift. Or else just google 'City Rover + reviews'.)

I was in a seminar conducted by a Claude Rouelle, a great race engineer. He also mentioned that he believes India is where the economy is and he would put his money on India rather than on China! See so people are definitely noticing India. So its high time we can say that India has arrived in the International scenario and also high time to lift her Self-esteem not that it is low or anything. Somehow I feel people should stop complaining and take a look around and if they want difference its they who should do it.

Sheesh! And I said I wanted to keep it on a positive note bah!! It has ended up like some cheesy award film. But I'm going ahead and putting this on.

Tata Nano is here

Wow! Thats the word. Wow! Nothing else can capture the essence of this engineering feat. The Tata One lakh car had been subjected to a lot of ridicule and speculation about its birth and design. And here it is ladies and gentle man the ONE LAKH CAR. Called the Nano (they might have some problems from apple but dont think apple has it blocked even for cars) this does look good. Yes it does a resemble the Smart for two car a bit. But the price of the Smart for Two would be definitely more than 5 times its price and the best part is as the name says would seat only two. Think about in that terms you make something better(that is taking Tata's quality versus Mercedes's lets make no bones about who the winner is here) and cheaper. As far as the engine and power transmission is concerned I have only a few words "Its a One lakh car" please do remember the price of the car before commenting on anything. Given an option i would definitely buy one forget about the engine handling and everything. Drive it off from the showrooms have a spin and return home and park it on a pedestal where it should stand for ages to come. Yes it is definitely that monumental.
Well to give it a bit more perspective and appreciation, there is a company called Dacia. They also planned to build a very cheap car and as usual subjected to much ridicule, finally they did come out with a car which was appreciated worldwide for its cheap cost and the usability. We know this car in India as the Mahindra Renault Logan. Just think about the price difference before you comment on anything.
So there you have it people the one lakh car. And yes i'm serious about the pedestal thing, I would.


P.S : For the more techy ones yes i wish Tata had put on bigger wheels. This might be detrimental to the handling.

A tribute to Colin McRae

One of the world's best drivers passed away on 15 th September 2007. The helicopter he was flying crashed near his house in Scotland. The world was shocked and rightly so. For those who have followed the WRC for even a short time would kno that Colin Mcrae was right at the top. For those who have played his games, Wow ! What a game. The perfect game to carry his name.
When he was on any rally circuit he would definitely show that he had balls. If people want to see some examples of Colin Mcraeism , go to Youtube and type in Colin Mcrae + X games 2006. Watch. I just dont want to give out any spoilers on the video if you have not seen it. Its jus awesome example of Colin Mcrae on the track.
I had the chance to watch a show by Jeremy Clarkson called the "Thrill of Speed" in that one of the episodes features Colin McRae. In that a psychiatrist explains to Jeremy that while Jeremy's brain is processing probably one or two information at a time Colin McRae's mind is so trained that he is processing so much of information at time. Jeremy then tries taking McRae's car out only to bang it into a hedge in about a couple of minutes. After this Jeremy just walks away with a great respect for McRae. I always had a great respect for Jeremy. So when his respect grew mine had to naturally grow for the great rally driver.
One could not keep him off any car. When he retired from the world of rally racing in 2004 when he didnt have a drive. He went into the world of Paris Dakar racing for sometime then after some talks with Bentley he was part of their team in Le Mann's 24 Hours race. He also attended the race of champions with very great enthusiasm. Not to mention the X-games. We could say that he almost tried driving the wheels of in almost all the classes of motor racing.
Its also said that he was working to find himself a drive in the rally world. That would have definitely been something. But things have changed and the world wil definitely not forget Colin McRae.
So this is sort of a late tribute to Colin McRae, a great driver, a great motoring name. A Minute's silence then..

HOO HOO!!

I finally after much searching I have finally laid my hands on a very great book. The Book actually. This is the autobiography of Alex Zanardi. Hoo Hoo !! I'm not able to put it down. So i hope to put a post up on de book.
To the Road runner then.

Well here is something to start with

If you are one of the few who kno me and read this blog you would kno tat i'm in the US doin some crap. And for those who dont, Yes I'm in de US tryin to do a MS in Motorsprt Engg (After comin here i figured that this is just a fancy name for an Automobile Engg, but thats another story).
There are a few things I would like to get out of my system, firstly I'm not a great fan of this place. Its mainly because I had had almost infinite freedom back home and that I had my own mode of transportation. It may not be a great matter for those of you who are reading it but for a guy who jus loves to drive and would be glad to run an errand jus beacause he is getting a chance to drive its a matter of great importance, couple it to the fact that the person isnt always early. Boy ! It can make a difference!
For those who still think the america is the place to be, I would like to point a few things,

The public transportation system is pathetic! There are jus not enough number and you have to be very disciplined to get on them. For a guy straight out of a college in India I believe thats a tall order.
A friend of mine recommended a great movie by Micheal Moore called "Sicko". No it wouldnt nauseate u visually but there is quite a chance that you will be disgusted with the American System. If u are in the mood I would recommend "Faranheit9/11" by the same director. Time for some enlightenment I guess.
If u think this place is clean and not nauseating. I suggest u to go to some big city like Chicago, New York or Detroit. There is quite a chance that u will start to believe India is a cleaner place!
There are so many trivial things lik most of the restaurants close by 10! There are almost no great choices if u are in the mood for a midnight snack.
The worst thing abt this place is that i had to eat the stuff i cooked. For a guy who is very choosy about food its probably the worst punishment.
If u have seen "Run" I was like Vivek thinkin "Appan vitta sabam weaponattam vanthu thakkoothe da" (For those who dont understand Tamil, it means my father's curse is attacking me lik a weapon)
These guys have subsidized the wrong stuff they have booze which is subsidized. I agree some booze is good once in a while. But thinkin that u can get drunk on some great booze cheaper than wat it costs u too fill ur stomach wid some food is not very heart warmin or should i say "Stomach" warming.

Yes there are definitely some great things about this place,
People are very polite, friendly, genial and what not in the smaller cities like the one i'm currently in.
There is absolutely no dignity of labor. There are only two stories, one u are employed and that u are unemployed. Thats it. They dont mind doing any job and i mean "Any".
You have infinite freedom to do anything. Look at me I'm doing some whacky course. Also u can start afresh very easily. I could have easily transfered from Motorsport Engg to somethin very far frm me, in terms of understanding, like Bio Technology. That is very good if u feel right now that u are doin the wrong thing. Here u can do anythin thats definitely a great boon.

So thats about it for now. I'm hoping to do something in the next post about the roads and cars here. (Arent u surprised ?? I bet u are :D) So see you till then.