Goodbye India

It seems that this trip has quickly come to an end. Who knew that almost two months would go by so fast. I feel happy to be coming back home but at the same time sad. Its nice to see all my relatives especially ones whom Ive never seen before. It really makes you apprecite what you have. Even really basic things like running water and a/c. India has definitely westernized alot thanks to the IT industry but at the same time has kept a bit of old tradition. Now its time to come home. I should be back on Tuesday afternoon. Well see you all soon!

Vikram

Last minute rush rush rush!

July 9th: Spent the day doing some last minute shopping. Bought some dress shirts/pants for work etc. Went and got some PC games...I love going to the pirate shops it makes me feel like a little girl running through a meadow with birds chirping and..oh sorry about that I got carried away.

July 10th: Went and saw some relatives in the morning. Then spent the afternoon burning cds and packing, ok so my Parents are packing Im just watching. Almost home...

Feeling it

July 8th: Ok so I expected to sleep late today after last night. Insted I woke up at 4:30am and spent sometime in the bathroom. My stomach was urting like hell...Stupid food/water/bacteria/etc etc. So I didnt eat anything all day except for a bottle of sprite and slice of toast. Feeling better gonna sleep now hopefull more than last night.

Top Three List

So Ive made a list of the top three things I miss and the top three things I dont wanna see for a while. So here they are in no particular order:

Top Three Things I Miss
------------------------
1. My friends
2. My bed
3. My car

Top Three Things Im Sick of
----------------------------
1. Rice
2. Indian people (excluding relatives, they are fine!)
3. Rics

How long can I go....

36 hours or so....without sleep that is. So far Ive been up for 36 hours. Evcerything seems to be in slow mo and I thnk I gotta sleep. The reason? Went to a temple called Thirpati. This is the holiest temple in Hinduism. Its about 5 hours by bus so we went there on wednesday. Got there at night and had to go to the temple which 20 miles up a hill. Takes about an hour to get to the top. Got there and went up around 4am. Went around and came back home about 4pm Thursday. Now its 10 pm and Im gonna pass out soon.

Back in the heat

July 4th: Back in Madras aka "the oven" aka "the sweat box" aka "good transfer rate town"
Okay first of all...saw pictures from Josephs party...I hate you guys you are having too much fun without me..stop having fun!!!
Hope you guys celebrated independence safely but dangerously
Leaving on the 11th (thank god) so next week I will be back!!!
I put a bunch of pics on my Toastmasters website hahaha exploiting resources my favorite...
Enjoy and tell me what you think!
Screw the border on the side thats the only way to get a good res pic!!!


The Colonel is in Bangalore


Shopping mall..half the stores have fakes


Huge god statue


High Court Building


Congress building


This guy is 8 feet tall!!!


Over Bangalore


This is a place called Charminar in Hyderabad..its the gateway to the Muslim part of the city or something like that.


These are the steps that you have to climb to get up...damn narrow


View of the city from the top.


Fort that was built by a king a loooong time ago


Various pics of the fort

Road Trip # 2

June 30th: Took another road trip to a place 5 hours outside of Hyderabad. More of a pilgrimage than a road trip since there is a big temple there...stayed the night.

July 1st: Came back to Hyderabad. Today was my Dad's Birthday so we went out for dinner. Had Indian/Chinese food....yummers (has consequences below)

July 2nd: Went sightseeing in the afternoon...my Mom started to complain that her stomach hurt. When we came home she went straight to bed....She said she felt like throwing up but nothing then around midnight I hear someone throwing up in the bathroom. thinking its my mom i go to check if she needs anything. To my surprise I find my Dad in the bathroom...wtf??? Ya so now my Dad is also sick

July 3rd: Ok so now my Mom and Dad are sick and sleeping for most of the day. My cousin and I went to a relative birthday party in the afternoon. Tried to post some pics but the transfer rate was really slow..its broadband but it keeps slowing down...will try again soon.
I wanna come home....soon

Hyderabad

June 29th: Flew to Hyderabad today. Never been here before. Staying with my cousin..he has a computer and cable internet woot!!! I will try to post some pics but I doubt it. Got alot of awesome pictures outside the palace and Ive been told there is a fort and someother things here. Maybe Shey can tell me :)

Road Trip!!!!

Ok so I couldnt finish my last post b/c I had to leave the Internet Cafe....

June 24th: Got up at 6:30 to watch Game 7 live....nice way to start my b-day with coffee and a Game 7. After the game went out and then lunch/shopping.

June 27th: Went to a place called Mysore....its a city about 3 hours away. It used to be ruled by a King until the 40's or so. Went to the palace and some other places...OMG the palace is beautiful but they dont let you take pictures inside :( here is their site if you wanna see http://www.mysorepalace.org/
Palace at night:


Came back home about midnight and went straight to bed.

June 28th: Went out in the afternoon to eat (what else is new!) and shop (what else is new!)

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

June 24:
Ok so today was my birthday. Thanks to everyone who emailed me and posted on my wall! I really appreciate it. It really made me miss home knowing that a Friday night of partying would not be taking place in Houston this year.
Went to lunch with a bunch of family including parents uncles aunts cousins and the list goes on. Ate alot and then went out for some shopping with some my cousins. Bought some clothes and some books. (Dan Brown books). It was alot of fun.

June 25th: Stared reading Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code guy) ....read it!!!!! Its all about encryption and would have Dr. Liess creaming in his pants. Planning on going "pub hopping" tonight. There is no computer at home so I need to post from a Internet Cafe. Pics should be up soon!

Family Tree

June 23rd:
Went to see some family in Bangalore. Most of them were my Dad's Aunts and Unlces. Wow it was amazing to see all of them. Some havent seen me since I was a year old. It was nice to see some old realtives and talk about life in "the good ol'days". They even had soem old pictures of my grandparents taken in the 30's.

Greetings From Baganlore

Hey everyone!
Been ing Bagalore for four days now. The weather is a complete 180. Its really pleasant and you dont even need the fan half thetime. Went out last night (21st) to some stores. Everything has changed since the IT boom here. Everything is really western and the girls.....lol Thats all for now.

Flying tomorrow

June 18th: Leaving tomorrow to Bangalore. Theres no computer at my Aunts house...at least from what Ive been told. Im gonna be there for 10 days and then only coming back here On fourth of July.
Went out and bought things to take back as gifts for you guys...found some really nice things that I think you guys will like.

Ok so everyone is saying I look more Indian in this pic:


Than in this pic:

What gives??? Ok so maybe I see what ppl (Shey and James in particular see) mean. Oh well Im seeing that Im looking and talking more like and Indian the longer Im here...someone save me!!!!!

Well thats it for now....btw does anyone know how to put a mod chip for PS2? email me and let me know (vikram.dasarao@gmail.com) I can get the mod chips and games for dirt cheap (A dollar or less per game).

All beached out


Sunset on the beach

June 16th: Went to city south of Madras called Pondicherry. Ive never been there before so it was interesting to go. Theres alot of history there because it is a French Colony. They still speak and teach French there. Stayed with my cousin and her husband for the night. When we got there we went to the beach. See some of the pics here. The water was really cool and felt good in the 110+ heat. After dinner went with my cousin's husband to a bar. Yay beer! We were there till about 11:30pm Didnt drink much just a few beers and talked for most of the time.

June 17th: Got up and went to a temple near the beach. Walked around the city for a while. Alot of French architecture...reminded me of New Orleans. Came back to Madras...drive is about three hours. Going to Bangalore on Sunday. Bangalore is basically the Silicone Valley of India...ya thats where are jobs are! Gonna be there from the 19th to the 29th. Then going to a place called Hyderabad...never been there before so that should be fun. There are a bunch of old forts and things there so more pictures yay!!!! Then coming back to Madras on the fourth of July.

More beach

Got back from my uncle's house near the beach. It was fun. I like staying at their place because its like a house in Houston. Pretty much no difference in looks.
June 13: Got to their place and went to the beach in the evening.
June 14: Sat around the house most of the day then went out for a while at night.
June 15: Went out for lunch and then came back to the other house.
Going tomorrow to my cousins house in Pondicherry...its a French Colony south of Madras. Never been there before but its supposed to be really pretty...the best part is that she lives right on the beach. Awesome!

Snake Park Woot!!!

June 11th: Went to a snake park with my cousin and her family. It was pretty good but most of the snakes were sleeping. After that we went to a place called Mahabalipuram (dont ask me to pronounce it) check this out for more details. Its a really beautiful place with alot of history. Theres always touristis there from Europe and US. The battery in my camera drained right when we got there but I got a few pictures before that. We walked ALOT around the carvings, temples and the beach. I was sooo tired.

June 12th: Cousin left with her family (that baby is gone nooo!) Spent the day going to houses of relatives that I didnt even know. I just go sit there, smile and speak when spoken to. Oh well it works and everyones happy.

June 13th: Just got up. Going to my Uncles house to stay there for a few days. He lives near the beach so thats always fun. Yay beach house! Its my Dad's brother so its a relation I know. I dont know if they have a computer....Either way lots of pics soon.

Like the update to PGH547.com makes me miss home even more!

All play and no work makes me a lively boy

Been getting up early the past few days. There has been some functions going on in the house so had to get up. Too much to get into now but it involves my cousin. Pics show some. With all kinds of family in town its been alot of fun. Playing with my cousin's baby (so cute!!!) or eating there is nothing much more going on. Besides that not much...Ive taken over a thousand pictures on my camera now and over 100 today alon (mostly b/c of the function). Kinda sleepy but going out to buy some things in a bit.

The carnival is in town

Ok so its not the real carnival but this house has turned into a circus. Two uncles (Mom's brothers) came with their families. My cousin came with her two kids (7 and 6 months) That baby is soooo cute! So now there are 20 people in the house. There is talking all the time and there is always noise. Pics will be up soon of the circus.

First Day of School...Nooooo!

Ok so it wasnt my first day of school. But it was for my cousin (eight grade). Went to his school to pick him up in the afternoon. Lots of kids playing after school. Everyone was wearing uniforms (pics up soon). Thats about it. I got a lot of realtives coming in tonight.

Look at me im a fob!!!!

Picked up my dad from the airport today (June 6th). He looked sllepy as heck and he slept for most of the day. I didnt have much to do so played on the computer most of the time. In the afternoon went to the porch and found a bike that was there. Figured..."hmm maybe I should act liek a fob a ride it around" So thats what I did. My uncle took pictures of it why? Because he loves to take pictures of everything plus we were bored. Read up on dual core processors in the evening..why? Once again because I was bored.

Pictures

Is that a Subway is see? Some pictures from the mall are up. Still too hot.
Finished The Da Vinci Code yesterday. Awesome book, really makes you think and really poses some interesting facts.

Heat Heat Heat

Ok so as Im typing this its 2:15pm and the temperature is 116F...stupid temperature. All there is to help is a ceiling fan that is most likely older than me. Blogger has been giving me problems and it has eaten up my last few attempts to post...stupid technology.

June 1st: Went to a shopping mall call Spencer Plaza. Nice stores including a bunch of American ones like nike store, reebok etc. Pics will be up soon of the mall. What I found the most unusual was a Subway restaurant. It seems even Jared Fogel has made his way to India. It looks exactly the same but they only serve 6 inch subs. The prices are alot better than the law building though!

June 2nd: Took apart a P3 machine that was at home. My Uncle realized the cpu was fried so we took out all the other parts. We are gonna take all the parts from it and another computer and trade it in for some new things. Hopefully we make a computer in a few days. Went to a notorious part of town (as quoted from my Uncle) to buy some DVD movies. This place was right on the road and was a line about a mile long of stores (shacks more specifically) about the size of a phone booth that were crammed with DVDs. Everything of Star Wars all the way back to classics. Alot of them are put in sets like a 4 Robert DeNiro movies on 1 disc. Or all the LOTR on a single disc. Bought a few and brought them home to check the quality. Most of them were pretty good. Million Dollar Baby was horrible, just as good as dl from Kazza. The rest were really good. Any requests? Im more than happy to get movies/games. Post of games will be up soon.

June 3rd: Havent done much today so far but most likely going out in a few hours. Its too damn hot to go out now. My Dad is coming on Monday yay!!!!!!! Thats all for now.

Vikram

Royality and Computer Malfunctions

Didnt post anything yesterday because the power supply in the computer got fried. Went with my uncle to get it replaced. This meant a trip to the computer stores as well...aka heaven There were pirated software everywhere. I didnt buy much this time only a few games. It was funny to see two guys in a cramped space playing PS2. The PS2 games cost about 2 bucks a pop.
The day before that (30th May) I went to a department store. They had a theme of Indian Kings on each floor (five total) along with games a prizes. I took about 90 pictures of everything I saw. Here are some of the PICS Think of it as Medieval Times Indian Style! The women looked good in their costumes and games were fun. Anyhoo thats it for now...I think Im gonna be building a computer today..yay!!!

A Taste of Home

Finally for the first time since I came here I slept past 9 am. Im usually up by 7:30 but today I actually slept. Played on the computer (as usual) for some time. I started to read Da Vinci Code in the afternoon and I got about 25% of it done. The book is awesome and is a must read for everyone. I went on the roof of the house and took pictures also. James your camera got a work-outWent to Pizza Hut in the evening for dinner...here are the PICS The tomato sauce is a little sweet and the crust is a little thinner than there (they have pan crust but we got the hand tossed one instead) The size of the med and large is also different. The medium is a smaller than the ones we usually get and has less slices. They have basically the same type of pizzas here but less meat and more veggie options. You can get really spicy pizza...it tasted really good :) The inside looks pretty much the same as any other pizza hut but it seemed alot more spacious in this one. I didnt take many pictures inside because people were staring at me like I was a freak. I saw an S-class in parked in the neighbors house. Here it is S 350...sucks to have only a 3.5L engine in that.
Thats it from here.

Shop till you drop

Today I went out and shopped. My mom and I went to some stores in the afternoon and evening. We went to some jewelry stores (have to in India) and then to a department store. Right now its summer holidays for the kids so there were all kinds of things to see and do at that store. There was a theme of Ancient India with Kings and Queens throughout the store. I didn't take my camera but im gonna go back tomorrow and take a bunch of pictures (James I might finish a whole roll..lol). Thats about it...still hot and no signs of cooling down. More shopping tomorrow!

No Power, No Fan, No Sanity

So the power went off 4 times between 9:30pm and 11:00pm. Wasnt the most enjoyable part of the trip...oh well third world at its best i guess....I got an ant bite on my foot and since Im allergic to insect bites it didnt fare well...my left foot is swollen and ive been limpiing around... i took some allergy medacine thingy that made drowsy so i sat in the dark when the power was gone with no fan a swollen foot and i kept passing out......besides that things have been good

Family and Home

Here are pictures from the house im staying at. My mom's brothers live here with their families. Joint families are pretty common in India. There are 7 people living here. There is my unlce, aunt and their son...my other unlce and aunt and then two unlces who are single... here are some PICS from around the house...My cousin is 12 and hes exaclty my height...ya I know thats pathetic but oh well...ive been hearing about it since I got here.
Im gonna use James' camera soon and take some shots. Do you want scenery only? Its kinda dark in the afternnon since all the curtains are put and evryone is asleep...hopefully there will be light later on.
Im gonna go to Pizza Hut today for dinner lets see how it compares.

Shopping

Went for the first time for some actual shopping. My mom went to some clothes store and bought some things. I went to a shoe store and bought some sandals. Saw a car that had a sticker on the back window that said "Medical College of Wisconsin" Thought that was kinda funny. One thing Ive observed is that people love to hnk when they drive here. But that really does nothing at all. The people being honked at dont move and the people honking dont do anything. Thats about it....gonna sleep soon.

Around the house

My cousin (dads side) came over with her daughter. The last time I saw her daughter she was a 6 month baby, now shes 4...wow things have changed. Spent the afternoon playing NFS underground 2 and watching tv with my cousin. Wrote Marie a letter and mailed it...see the pics for proof.
Thats about it for now.
Going out to some stores to look for some cheap things in the evening.
Miss you guys.

Out in the morning to the temple

So Sunday morning I went out with my mom and uncle to a temple that my family has gone to for as long as they can remember. I dont mind going and seeing it. The only things is that people love to stare at me since I look alot different than most people since im wearing shorts and a AE t-shirt. At least it didnt say "american eagle". Oh well...Ive put up some pics from the temple and of things i took on the road while we were going there. PICS My unlce has a car but like many people who do he doesnt drive. Most people have drivers but its not a big thing like in the US. Blame it on the caste system i guess.
The afternoon was pretty much the same....struggle against the jet lag I have left and try to stay awake. Played NFS Underground 2 for most of the afternoon to combat this. My cousin finished the game a while back. Hes 12 and has mastered nfs, most of doom3 and hes working on half life 2 (take the Tom!). Pics of him kicking my ass will be up soon!

Planes, airports and lack of sleep

Here are pics from the plane rides and airports. Long and tiring plane rides.
Pics.....

Houston to London: Everyone was trying to switch seats with other people on the plane because no one was sitting with their peeps. I tried but some crazy British lady with a neckbrace wouldnt switch with me so my mom had to sit beside her the whole way. My mom said she wouldnt shut up the whole time. The guy beside me was from Houston and he kept buying scotch. It was 5 bucks for a small bottle but he didnt care! Oh well he didnt molest me so its all good.
Movies watched: Are We There Yet? ---actually not half bad.
In Good Company ---Kinda romantic comedy but pretty good.
Oh ya...that guy Luke in Comp Sci was on my flight with his dad and brother...that was cool!

London to Dubai:
We got to sit together this time! No one to bother us.
Movies watched: National Treausure ---ok movie. some of it was really stupid and I wanted to slap Nicholas Cage at times.
Coach Carter ---good movie...Samuel L. Jackson does a good job.

Dubai to India:
I wanted to throw up the whole time so I just closed my eyes and didnt look at a single person.

The airports are pretty pimp. Starbucks in London is expensive as hell...$6 for a grande frap and then you have to pay extra for whip cream. Lots of alcohol and chocolates for sale.

Out and about

So we went out in the evening to do some shopping. Nothing big, my mom wanted some things and I just wanted to go out. My cousin, unlcle, my mom and I all went out. Some of the interseting things we saw:

PS2 games: $2---look exaclty like real copies down to the case but I dont think it can be real

Nike Shox shoes: $40---the guy has a big sign that says "Nike Authorized Dealer" hahah I doubt it can be real but you cannot see a difference.

Some guy is selling 3-5 megapixel cameras on the road (Cannon, Olympus and more)

Jet Lag

Ok so I thought I can fight my jet lag and so I tried to watch tv in the afternoon. Next thing I know Im slumped in my chair and Im out cold. I wake up and its 5pm...Ive been asleep for 4 hours.

I'm in India!

Hey Guys!
I figured this is the easiest way to post what Im doing with pictures. As much as I dont like blogs I think I might start to like it after a while. Oh well. Im gonna try to update evryday with new pics. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Vikram

Morning

Hey everyone
It Saturday morning here around 9:15...so its Friday night for you guys. Ive been here for about 24hrs now. It is hot as hell.. You dont get to appreciate central a/c until you come to country that doesnt have it in houses. Its about 95F at night. Besides that everything is cool (no pun intended). Well im watching the Suns Mavs game and its going to OT now. Pictures coming soon!
Later!
Vikram