Howdy Mate?

South Africa has threatened Australia that it will not play cricket in Australia in the future if the racist taunts continue. I am a sports fan. Just imagine me sitting around in the continental airline arena down the road and watching a nets game. Imagine I am bullied by a bunch of Caucasian young men calling me the worst of names just because I am brown. I would be petrified. As I have said earlier, New Jersey is my home. I would be immensely hurt if I were taunted openly in my own country. The good news is that it has never ever happened. I have been treated well in New Jersey and I am happy to call it my home.
If I lived in Sydney and if I was at a cricket match I don’t think I would be as comfortable. I have been reading a lot over the past few weeks. It is just not stray incidents but the Aussies first targeted some Indian fans, then the Lankan players and now the Suid Afrikan players. Remember that the players are first human beings and then they are athletes.
My point is that the United States might not be perfect to the world. But for me, it is the closest place to perfect where a so-called outsider can come into the system and feel a part of the system.

The Turnpike

I would like to do a write up on New Jersey acknowledging the fact that it is my home. It is the longest time I have ever been in one place and hence this is home. I am from New Jersey and I like it here. This is the state where people drive like maniacs and where it is ok not to be politically correct. I get away making racial jokes all the time here as people are ok with it. I call white people white boys on their face and African American people black boys on their face too and get away with it. I get called a brownie by a few of my Caucasian friends I am ok with it too.
Jersey has become like home to me and I am very comfortable zig zagging through towns. You can leave me anywhere in New Jersey and I will find my way back. I know most of the back roads in central and northern jersey and I drive like a maniac too. I have never felt uncomfortable about my skin color here ever (maybe once, on 9/11 when I went to a bar and I felt that people were looking at me funny). New Jersey is very accepting and people don’t care what color you are. I love my town. I know the people at my bar, I see the people in the grocery stores on a regular basis and some cops know me.
I can drive on the parkway with my eyes closed. I am from New Jersey. I know most of the Italian derogatory terms and I kiss people on their cheeks be it male or female when I greet them. I have a bad temper and equally bad road rage. I don’t follow rules sometimes and will cut you off if you cut me. My friends are from basically every corner of the world and I don’t care what color they are. I hate going into New York and would rather hang out in my Guido bar and I watch the Sopranos and the New Jersey nets are my team.
New Jersey is home but Pondicherry, Kano, Lusaka, Tumkur and Bangalore made me.

Its nice and cold here

Want to travel into the bush. Hang out where there is no electricity, where it is blistering and a humid 100 degrees.
Want to travel into the heart of Zambia where you are one with nature. Want to get lost in the forest, have a cold beer and feel the sun beating down on me. Have another cold beer and then another. I want that feeling where I take a gulp and feel the cold beer rushing down my throat. The bitter taste of beer is mind blowing. I want to be sloshed out of my mind and I want to be sweating like a pig and I want the sun to beat down on me like a bitch.
I hate winter.

You've got mail

Everyday, I check my mails in anticipation. I check both my gmail and hotmail accounts to see if anyone has written to me. It just dawned upon me today. Who the hell is going to write to me? I never keep in touch with anyone. I don’t write to anyone. I have been consumed with god knows what. Why would anyone write to me? I have not made the habit of staying in touch on a regular basis. I want my mailbox to be filled with news from all the people I care about. I am going to start writing to people on a regular basis. After all, I don’t have to go to the post office and go through all that. I just have to sit by a computer and type my letter.
In the past, meaning 10 years ago people used to stay in touch by snail mail. When I was a kid, I was sent back to India to study. This was in 1989. My father used to write to me every week without fail. Every freaking week. He would send the letter through someone from Zambia and that someone would post it in whichever part of India he or she was. My father used to have booklets of Indian stamps. It would be common practice to send your letters back to India with someone travelling as it would reach your loved ones much faster. Instead of the customary 2 weeks or so from Africa, it took 3 days. One day for the person travelling to India and then 2 days after it got posted in India. We had a large Indian community in Lusaka and there was always someone travelling to India and hence there was always a human postman available. My father was a voracious writer when we were in Lusaka. He would write to me, his friends and his family.
My point is, we have to do none of that. But, we are lazy. At least I am. Hopefully, I will make it a point to write to people more often. I have the net, a laptop and I can type.

Achtung

We didn’t start the fire, hawa hawa, ali haider, Jagjit Singh, edouard shevardnadze, USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, George Michael, Hassan Jahangir, Naiza and Zoheb Hassan, careless whispers, make love like a man, def leppard, everything I do I do it for you, chumma chumma de de, hum, q funky, L sub, L Shankar, Sankar Mahadevan, Hariharan, Colonial Cousins, Krishna nee begane baro, Vande mataram, Ar rehman, Bombay, uyire, Roja, mani rathnam, thevar magan, east germany, west germany, we are the world, bico, Peter Gabriel, Floyd, Wilbur Smith, Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Desomond Tutu, The world this week, Pranoy Roy, Rajiv Gandhi, Bofors, karunanidhi, Jayalalitha, Kamal Hassan, Deve Gowda, Bangarappa, Bangalore turf club, pool, billiards, fosters beer, xxx rum, itc king, lacasa, pub world, spicmacay, ghulam ali, shaan, instant karma, kano, kenneth kaunda, lusaka, arap moi, Margaret Thatcher, jayanagar complex, cable TV, MTV,Milind Soman, Nikhil Chinappa, Danny Denzongpa.”

Were you 13 when the Berlin wall fell?

Black Video IPOD

My sister and BIL got me a video IPOD for my birthday. I got it yesterday. It looks like a hot babe made of wax. I don’t know what the hell to do with that thing. Apple has made the thing look so cool that you are scared to expose it to the world and make it lose its coolness just like other things in life eventually do upon exposure. So, I got it yesterday and I opened it from its pack and then put it back. It is so delicate. Like a freaking credit card. It is a credit card that plays music and will break if not taken care off and they wont send you one for free again unless you throw in another 300 bucks.
I have never been good with gadgets. I end up having them and don’t do jack with it. It has happened with the camera, pocket computer and then with a camera again. I will not let it happen this time with the IPOD. It is going to be a challenge and I will rise to it. I wish it wasn’t so delicate looking though. I went to target yesterday looking for the cover but they haven’t come out yet with a cover for this one. I got a black IPOD and as per the reviews I have been reading, they get scratched very easily.

Passat

Are you a wuss? I am one. I never ever take a risk.
I am going to take one. This is my second time doing it though. It might turn out good or it might turn it out to be a costly mistake.
I am buying a car from an auction. Every Thursday, there is state-sponsored auction. You get to buy cars three or four grand cheaper than the market. I once bought a VW Passat, which had 30,000 miles for at least 6 grand cheaper than the market price. It was stolen 3 months later though.
Anyways, I am going to buy a Passat again and hopefully have better luck this time keeping the damn car. Passats are beauties and they drive very well. People have warned me to stay away from German cars all the way but I just cannot. I have a soft corner for them and will not feel complete till I own a German car. For now, a Passat will do and in time either an Audi or a BMW. That should happen by next year after we take care of other important stuff. As I was saying, I am going to take a risk. Walk into an auction, look at a car and buy it on the spot. Let’s see how that pans out. My first car was a Chevy Corsica and that piece of shit almost drove me into bankruptcy. I was 6 years younger, I had just finished my masters and I was earning a pittance. I ended buying a Chevy. The damn thing died on me and I spent muchos money to get it back in running condition and then it died again. Lesson for kids coming to the US for their masters and buying their first car. If the car is worth 4 grand the engine is all screwed up-DONOT REPAIR THE DAMN THING. Donate it to a charity and get a tax break on it instead and if you actually buying a second hand car always-buy a Japanese car. At least you have a clue as to what you are exactly dealing with.
In my 6 years, I have gone through 4 cars. I still feel that quality wise and repair wise Japanese cars are much better than any other car but Japanese manufacturers don’t make the Passat.
I have had a long affiliation with VWs. While we were growing up In Nigeria, we had a VW beetle. A white one. After that, we had a blue one.
My pal CuriousGawker has a VW-Jetta. He bought it during the summer of 2000-I think. I was doing my masters. I took a greyhound bus to see him up in New England and then we drove around like maniacs. I was the first to fart in his car. I remember the blue florescent dial on his dashboard and Dave Matthews playing in the background as we drove around Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine. I drank too much on that trip and slept on a bed with 2 million CDs on it. We had many a trip in his new Jetta, which made me feel stronger towards the VW and hence I am going to buy a Volkswagen Passat again in an auction and hopefully no SOB steals it for a joy ride like the last time and leaves it in tatters for me.

back for the nth time

I was gone for a few days. I guess the only person missing me was liveforcars. I haven’t written in a while because I have been pretty busy. My wife is finally here and we have had shit loads of stuff to do from making the house habitable to stacking up the fridge. It is an ongoing process and takes time. There is some semblance to my apartment finally looking like a home.
I have yet to get my new furniture, which should be in by next Friday. In this country, there is nothing in stock and everything has to be ordered. So basically I am waiting for my leather couch, love seat, side tables and some lamps. Once that comes in, everything will be set. On the other hand, the kitchen is fully operational with all the needed gadgets. I am a domesticated animal now and will start living like one. I also have to buy that wide screen TV to complete the living room
Important message to all 25 somethings on the verge of marriage. Marry right. Be smart enough to marry the right man/woman. I haven’t done a lot of intelligent things in life but I married right. I always knew she was the right person for me. Life is a complex web and love alone is not enough. Your needs should be in equilibrium with what the other person is offering. I am pretty excited about things right now.
The nets are playing some fabulous basketball. They have won 12 of their last 15 games and are on a roll. We should meet Miami in the play-offs. Shaq is a spent force and this time around we should be able to beat them. We will eventually lose to the pistons in the finals.
Other than that, my wife and me are going through a marathon session of the Sopranos. I had not watched the first 3 seasons and hence am catching up. I have been sleeping late for the past 3 days and we watch at least 2 shows a day. I am waiting for this season to start off.
Your wife is not a new roommate. Your wife actually is your best friend. You can tell her off and you can still be normal the next minute. Communication is key. Sounds easy and I am sure all of you have heard it. Practicing is tough though. Ego plays a big role. Dump the ego, communicate.
On this post, I have gone on so many tangents. State of mind.