My struggle for a drivers license...

They say when you don’t give up hope and keep trying you ultimately win and the success means more to you or the success is sweeter, something on the similar lines. I think that’s bullshit. Let me tell you why I think so..

After driving car for around 7 months in US I finally got my US drivers license a few weeks back. There’s a long story to it by the way. I first gave my written exam in February in Gainesville and I failed it. Well I didn’t read because I thought it wouldn’t be so hard. Then I gave my written again in March and I passed. After practicing I gave my first driving test in April, I failed. The examiner said I didn’t park the way it should be. I went to Seattle in May and completely forgot about the license. Then in June I decided that if we are staying in Seattle I need to have a license now. I plan to give my learners and start reading for it when it was decided that we are moving to LA.

I gave my written exam for the California driver’s license in July. This time I was careful I passed. Since getting a license in California is difficult than elsewhere, Aakash suggested I should take driving lessons. Fair enough. After a few practice sessions my tutor thought I am ready to give my driver’s test. I appeared for the test the first time and I failed. I can actually list down the whole incident but really, who cares. My teacher thought I was just tad unlucky and so she suggests I take another chance. I reappear after a week, I failed again. By this time you must have concluded that I am a bad driver. I don’t blame you. Who fails drivers test thrice? (Well my brother Siddharth, in order to make me feel better, told me that a certain lady actually failed at driving test 92 times before getting one… I am sure she did that to get into some stupid world record book.)

So 3 written tests, 3 driving tests and $500 later (that lady who taught me charged a lot) I was pretty much depressed of course and I had just given up on this whole driving license thing. I could rent a car and drive using my Indian license. In my almost a year of driving in US I have never got into trouble, touchwood. I almost didn’t care anymore. Few days back a friend got a new car for herself and was pretty excited about it. It was that moment I just booked a zipcar for the following day and decided to give another drivers test for a Florida license. I went there, I took the test and after the test I looked at the examiner with a blank face. And there was no similar feeling in my gut anymore. It wasn’t wrenched, my heart wasn’t beating faster nor were my hands sweaty, I realized I was Ok even if he said I failed. And he said congratulations! You have your license. There was no warm feeling in my chest, I just shrugged. He handed over the license to me in another half an hour and on my way back home, I wasn’t happy, I was just a bit relieved. I realized this is exactly what’s going to happen if I get a job or even an interview call someday.

As sad as it sounds, this is what failure does to you. But maybe it is better this way.

Frustrated with Indian Movies

After waiting for “Ajab Prem ki…” to release for over a month, I am so terribly disappointed after watching it yesterday. It’s not just about that particular movie. It’s been such a long time that I have watched a nice hindi movie. It’s been a year of disasters, Kambakkht ishq, Love aaj kal, Kaminey, Dil bole hadippa, Wake up Sid. I would still give a fair grade to Kaminey and New York but do not try to explain me that wake up Sid was decent, there was nothing nice in that movie. I refuse to believe that a guy who is giving his CA exams knows or cares nothing about earning just because his father is rich. All the Amir- baap-ke-bête I know are more motivated to work harder and inherit their father’s legacy. Hell, I know this big rich Gujju family in a sweets and restaurant business. Their son dropped out of school in tenth because he wanted to sit at their restaurant counter. He said he prefers working and so long as he knew basic maths and was able to read and write, he has everything he needs for the job. I forgot what originally my point was but whatever..

When I started writing this post I wanted to say that we lack good films because film makers really don’t put enough effort into the script of the movie. The other day we went in LA to be a part of the live audience of a Sitcom and there the show makers had a group of 5-6 dialogue writers and if the studio audience did not laugh at a certain joke or a line they would change that line or come with a different joke in that place till the audience laughs. And I think this is the way a script should be written. I know I am not an expert to suggest something but few days back I came across an interview of A R Rahman and he was sharing his experience of working on the tunes of his English movie “Couples Retreat”. He said every time he made a tune, a group of 100 people was made to hear it and their opinion was asked. He said that was a very good way of doing it because it gave him an idea how people react to his song at a much earlier level which gave him a lot of scope for improvisation.

The hindi movie industry is becoming so stale and morbid and rejoice all you want at the BO collections but you guys suck. If you ask me which was the last hindi movie I absolutely loved it would be still “Jab we Met” and “Cheeni Kum”. The other day I was watching 30Rock, a TV show I really enjoy. I realized I am going to miss watching American TV shows. Earlier I thought people who endorse American TV shows or Hollywood movies are pretentious but no, Indian shows and Indian movies are crappy. And our entertainment industry has to suck it up. It’s going to be a really long time before we see shows like Saturday Night Live, Lost, Friends, 24 or House on an Indian TV channel. Same goes for the movies.

About Vampires and girls…

So against all my better judgment I read the twilight series (it is a series of 4 books namely, twilight, New moon, eclipse and breaking dawn). I am not even going to explain myself here though I can already hear the question, “What are you? Like 13?” But it is in my nature to do something whole world does. Read Harry Potter, watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S, love Shah Rukh Khan… anyways, so I had to catch upto the Vampire mania and I watched twilight and it started from there. So now after reading the whole series and waiting for the second movie to come out I was wondering what is it exactly in this series (specifically Edward) that caught a fancy of all the girls. I mean the Novels are crappy, honestly. I think I can write better than that, except that I lack imagination. But if you give me a plot I can write a better novel than the Twilight series. It’s no lord of the rings or Harry Potter.

And I think I know some of the reasons why girls like the whole love-with-a-vampire thing. Firstly and more importantly the Vampire is hot. Secondly he is rich. Then he has all the time in the world only for Bella (the heroine of the plot). He has no job to go to. He has no other friends because of his whole blood-drinking situation. I think this is a dream of all the women in the world that she should be the only thing her partner cares about. He should have no better job in the world than watching her when she is asleep. And he is drop dead gorgeous and he doesn’t give a damn how other girls look, he has eyes only for her (she is very ordinary by the way). Now you know what Stephanie Meyer has done (that’s the writer of the book). She has put together all the fancies of a teenage girl, please note that I have mentioned a teenage girl because I assume we all have better sense than that when we grow up. Then there’s that bad boy angle. I mean he is a vampire so he ‘has’ to drink blood. Even if he is killing an animal for that it doesn’t really make him completely ‘saint’ does it. To top it all we have werewolves for love triangles, girls love ‘love-triangles’ aren’t all bollywood movies still milking the love triangle plot?

Well at least after reading this blog you would know what to expect from twilight and err…girls. ;) Jokes apart, it’s entertaining and kind of innocently nice to indulge in such fantasies sometime. So the new moon is coming this 20th November. I think you guys will like it; you should see twilight before that though. Please find the trailer of the new movie. Have fun girls.. :)

New Moon Trailer

Updates

Hey People,

I know I haven't been writing for long. I know I don't have that a great fan following but I wish at least someone missed me. No, I wasn't absent to make anyone miss me, that would be lame.
I was just waiting to come across something to write about. So now you know that I am one of those people who don't come across anything interesting for 24 days in a row. Not that I have anything interesting to write about now. But at least I am trying. Should give me some credit for that don't you think? :)

OK moving on, nothing special happened. I went to LA for a week during Diwali and I got Peanut back with me as Aakash was too busy to take care of him. I thought having Peanut here would help me, I will have a company. Kind of someone to come home too. Its far away from that. Since my house is not big enough for him, he kind of hates it here. And so I am more worried these days about me coming home asap. I try that he should not be alone too long. I take him for walks four times a day, something which he never got to do in LA or Seattle. I hope he is grateful for at least that.

I am going a bit low on applying for jobs front. I don't feel that 'hopefulness' even a tiny bit. I think the worst part in this whole thing is, I don't have anything in my control. Its like sending out messages in outer space, hoping that some alien from another planet would respond. Now we all know its like one in zillion chance. But that's what it feels like, trying to communicate with nothing. I feel as stupid while applying as I feel while talking to Peanut (he doesn't even look at me if I am talking to him). I know its wrong to crib about something which everyone wants, but hey, my blog, my woes.

You want to hear something preposterous, I haven't got my social security yet. Yup i applied for it in August. And its almost October end. I have reapplied for it again, I hope I get it by next weekend. Seriously.

So I start watching 'LOST' last week. I saw it obsessively over the weekend till yesterday. I saw two seasons and I realized they are not going to solve the mystery anytime soon. Every episode just raises your curiosity. And that really sucks. I cant get over what going to happen. And so I finally decided that I cannot spend anymore time watching this stupid TV show and I googled for spoilers and synopsis. I learnt that the 6th Season is going to be aired in 2010, and the finale is in May 2010. Now I am glad I read that, I have decided not to keep watching this damned show. I have better things than that. I reverted to watching 30 Rock. And mostly I am not going to start any new TV show after that.

I have talked to so less people in last few days. You know last weekend, I didn't get a single e-mail for 2 days straight. I think I am becoming a loner. I wish this semester ends soon and I go back to LA. Not that it would change things much in the 'making-life-happening' perspective. But at least there would be a better house and better food. And of course Aakash, I needn't mention that..

Well that was all from me right now. Most probably you wont hear anything from me for another 30 days, I just want you to know I am not scrapping my blog so keep checking in.. :) And yeah wish me luck... for everything..

Loads of Love
Ketaki..

On the Late Show..

Its often a regular chain of sequence, I happen to watch a movie or a TV show and then I “wiki” it, then I run through the stars and their “wikis” and finally catch some interviews on Letterman. I have to tell you this; I love David Letterman and his way of “interviewing”. It’s so much different than the traditional interviews. It’s weird I used the word traditional because the late show has been running for more than 10 years now. And when I say I love Letterman I am completely ignoring his recent candid confessions of having slept around with his staff.

Anyways, what really fascinates me about “The Late Show” is how Letterman manages to make every person he interviews funny. And every artist that appears on the show turns out classy. And you learn small things about people and not stuff like how they came up with that character or story or some rumors or mudslinging some other actors (which often happen in our Indian TV interview shows). And I often wish we had similar “cool” shows in India too.

I think “Movers and Shakers” was one of those kinds though it was such a long time back that I don’t really remember that show anymore. And since my only memory of Shekhar Suman is from that laughter challenge sh**, I don’t think the show must be that good. And then I was wondering who would be a good choice for a similar show in India (since we are so used to having our own rip off of American shows). I think Boman Irani can be a good choice. He has a respectable status and God! he is funny. What do you guys think?

Durga Pooja and Navratri

With the Navratris going on, I surely do miss all the celebrations back in India. The dandiya nights, the durgapoojas, the everyday poojas at home. Yeah, being a Hindu is a celebration in itself. Though I am not a big fan of Dandiyas, in fact I hate them. I have had a very unfortunate incident with Dandiyas that involved me being hit on my fingers so hard with the sticks that I had swollen fingers for a week. The memory of the pain still remains fresh in my mind. Since I do not want to offend any Gujjus (my best friend is one) let me add quickly that I looove Garba and Dhoklas and Undhius.. And if that’s enough “Jai Shri Krishna” (that should work). ;)

I remember in our 3rd year or was it 4th of our engineering? Prachi would remember. Prachi and I really wanted to see a Durga Pooja because we had never been to one. We learnt there was a huge one that was held near the PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation). Kalyani wanted to attend her “Gate” class but Pra and I dragged her out lying to her professor that our roommate has met with an accident. That was a terrible lie but it served the purpose. I can still remember Kalyani’s ghastly expression when she had to skip her class to attend a Durga Pooja. That was fun.. :)

Anyways, so we went to this place and Oh my God I never saw so many beautiful eyes in the same place before. They don’t exaggerate when they say praise Bengali eyes. We have Kajol, Rani, Sushmita to prove that. :)

The air was filled with delicious smell of fried fish and chicken (let me tell you, it was really cheap). And people were conversing in Bengali which was music to the ears. The girls were dressed up in their traditional costumes and all the jewelry. It was a treat to eyes, ears, nose and well the tongue too.. We had a time of our life. But the one thing that stood out more than anything else was the huge Durga statue in its complete glory. It was mesmerizing, and the pujas that the people sang, I haven’t heard any kind of music with that fervor. Maybe it’s also because Maharashtrian ‘aartis’ like Maharasthrians themselves, are pretty subdued. When we pray we don’t awaken the masses.. : )

But everything was great. So much that as I am writing this blog I can still remember every small detail of that ambience.

Sigh! I feel blessed to come from a culture which has so many celebrations. As I write this I cannot help but once again feel that longing for going back to India. But I will soon go back, yes I will..

Trip to London

One of my best friends went to London last week.. She sent us a mail describing how it was.. I am posting it here, hope you enjoy reading it,

I came back last to last night from London.. What a trip it was! very nice.. though i did miss you all.. wish we all could have taken this trip together.. Aamhi almost purna london twice payi chapun kadhla :D.. madhe don diwas aamhi Shakespeare chya gavala pan gelo hoto.. its called stratford upon avon, tikde aamhi Royal Shakespeare theatre madhe ek play pan pahila.. shakespeare cha navta, pan awesome it was.. equivalent to what we call experimental theatre in India. Then we also saw SHakespear's house, his mother's house, his wife's house vagaire vagaire.. its a small town but beautiful..
Coming back to London, here is a list of what we saw and where we went. Picadilly Circus.. Its actually just a circle.. so there is no circus.. Then we went to Trafalgar Square.. now this one is a huge actual square.. and looks reallly beautiful at night. Then we went to Buckingham palace, saw the change of guards which is a ceremony performed every 48 hours and the Queen's guards change and handover control to two other guards. cudnt see much though as it all takes place inside the gates and it was too crowded at the gates. so did try to take a video where i cudnt see what was being recorded.. aso.. Then we went to London Eye which is like this giant wheel which never stops and one can see the whole london from the top.. It was nice.. We also went to Madame Tussauds.. it was fun though some of the statues are yuck (eg; Aishwarya Rai , Shahrukh Khan).. There is this thing called London Dungeon which you could give a miss.. it takes you through the dark history of London and is supposed to be scary, but was not not.. they've got real actors who perform thier parts inside the dungeon as we go from room to room..
Then we went to scores of museums, The British Museum (A general one, its got lots of things from different parts of the world), Imperial war museum (its got exhibits, actual tanks, missiles etc. from the world wars.. it was interesting especially the part on holocaust.. Makes you wonder that for such a strong leader like Hitler whose every other action was based on logic, the basic reason behind it all, Jews and other races, was so illogical!).., Natural History Museum (its got dinosaur skeletons etc. basically all natural history.. ), National Art Gallery (this one has got vey beautiful paintings by really famous ppl.. (Picasso, da Vinci, Monet, Van Gogh vagaire.. gives you a perspective ani kind of makes you realize that all these ppl really existed.. he he).. We saw the Westmister Abbey but did not go inside, houses of Parliament, Big Ben (These have got really beautiful architecture..) Then we saw 10 Downing Street which is the official residence of Britain's prime minister. (its like this street sumdit ekdum which you wont even realize is there unless you search for it specifically.. The whole street is closed to public and has barricades at the entrance..
Then went on London bridge and the Tower Bridge.. The tower bridge looks awesome at night.. The areas near these two bridges are full of swanky office areas. really posh.. Then while roaming from London Bridge to tower bridge, we stumbled upon this out of the world harbour.. The water of River Thames has entered inside and they have built harbours around the area.. The rich and famous (which was obvious) own yatches here.. it was beautiful! you have to be there to experience it.. On the other side too there are swanky office buildingd and there is a path which goes all the way from Tower Birdge to the London eye right by the river side.. it was spectacular in the evening with restaurants on one side, the river on the other side and the London Bridge and tower bridge visible at a distance.. We also roamed around various famous streets, Oxford street, Regent street, Saville Row (It has Suit designers and all Royalty all over the world get their suits tailored from here.. This street also home to the world famous Sotheby's auction house), Bond street (famous for all the brands), Regent street (the main road in Central London.. We saw the Ferrari showroom here..), Baker Street (The residential address of Sherlock Holmes.. :).. Though the character is not real, they have built a statue at the exact place given as his address in the books), Park street vagaire vagaire.. Then we went to Harrods which is like THE place to shop from for the rich and famous.. Though we did go inside to have a look, pretty soon we started feeling out of place :D.. The only thing that we could buy from there was a box of chocolates which came in a very nice Harrods tin box, so we have a souvenir from Harrods.. :P.. So that covers pretty much where all we went to.. The best part was that every day we had a different cuisine for lunch and dinner.. so it was like a true holiday without a care in the world, we did what we felt like doing, ate what we felt like eating and went where we felt like going.. and ya we did take the London tube for a couple of days.. what a well connected network!
So all in all, London is one place you HAVE to visit atleast once during your lifetime..


Thanks a lot Mrin.. :)