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Have been thinking to blog from long time, but as lazy I am, it took me this long. Thought to write about movies, tours, food and nothing went to paper... I mean keyboard.

3:04 the morning - We were coming back from IHOP (which was our choice for the day's coffee place after the New Moon movie), and we just went past Residence Inn... my first home in Atlanta. With less than a week to leave Atlanta, it was a flash of images on my mind. It was a bad editing of sequence as they were too random, but it was exiting. My first stay out of India, or I should say in a new world where I knew none. It was a wonderful feeling before I started here, and it is as wonderful now also. 7 months, 7 new friends, 7 outings, 70 movies... as beautiful as a rainbow.

Even the 'we', friendship with Vivek (or Viveck as my phone book entry says) and Lakshmi, started with just a smile. Probably that day, at breakfast, he felt as alien as I was feeling in Residence Inn (lets say we hail from same Planet 52) and we exchanged a 'familiar' smile - you know, the smile people have when two gulte exchange in Gujarat or two balle balle exchange in Tamil Nadu (not the 'Amway familiar'). Now I am a friend who they think they can spend time with and hang out on weekends. Did I say, Lakshmi makes tea as good as a Saravana Bhavan tea. They have a added advantage with me, they can have their personal talk with no hesitation and I will not get a thing out of their Malayali discussion. Of course the same applies with the Marati discussion Amol and Prajakta can have.

Before talking about Mr&Mrs Amol... meeting Rajesh was a sweet surprise. Out of the alien space, on my second day at work, I saw some one whom I knew (of course, I knew nothing more than the face and name of the face from college). He is here from Infosys, on the same project. Very same day I have friends at work, obviously his friends. He helped me a lot not to feel handicapped without a car, and soon Bharat joined to help me. 3 yr.s of onsite made Rajesh a very good cook, mark in bold that he is veg.

Bharat is also a Infoscion. I should say he has lot of patience, I mean wow... I hit a BMW with Jeep, I drive bad and missed a wreck by an inch on a highway and he still maintains his cool. Yes, he does warn me and teaches me how not to mess with traffic, but with cool head. Not to forget mentioning, he is a very good cook. His chicken item is something to watch out for in the potlucks. Too regular not to miss movies, find him if you need company for a bollywood pic.

Amol is another Infoscion, whom I barely took note of on the first day introductions. The next day when Rajesh introduced us again, it meant like 'now both of you have a new friend'. Later I understood that it is how it sounds when we are at an alien place (remember... we hail from Planet 52). An enthu guy who is in his early thirties but looks as young as me (or do I look as old as him, whatever) and is game for masti anytime. Prajakta, babhi of our team (of-course, except for Amol) in Atlanta (Bharat is a forced bachelor here, so no babhi). A very good cook and fun loving person. When ever she agrees with you, 'I knoowww...' is her word.

Yes, the count is 6 here. Nandan is not in this batch. He was a 'hi-hello' in IIIT, 'Oh hii' in Deloitte. Here we started with 'hi mama... hi macha'. I played tennis for the first time at his place, played cricket for the only time here with his friends. I was lazy not to visit him regularly, but sure that it is a friendship that I can count on.

No, I was not just roaming all the time. I go to work as well, may be I should say I go to fun. Andrew, Evan and Mark made sure that we had fun working there. The workplace was never tense or busy, all that was carried by Andrew. We were having only the fun and cool part. Anthony and Gilson were busy with their work, and they kept suggesting me places to visit. The best part of talking and fun was the Wednesday dinners. Randy, Ravi and Badri + some topic to debate, discuss + Randy coaching me on flirting and dating (live tutorials as well).

Few more names to mention, Sireesha and Prakash, and Mohan. Sireesha was my jr at college, colleague at Deloitte, and Prakash is her husband. We did not meet so often, we had good time together every time we met. Mohan is again another Infoscion in our project. His daughter Minisha is so cute, you would love to have her around.

I know, it makes others feel jealous about my onsite. And I too feel that I am going to miss all this fun. I mean... how often do you get a chance to drive various cars without worrying about insurance, tickets and bad traffic. Probably my next task should be नज़र उतारना or దిష్టి తీయటం for my trip. I will be on it...

PS: I don't know if I should call this blog Atlanta or Life in Atlanta (sounds like the movie title Life in a Metro). Feel free to suggest me one.

PS to PS: I don't know what PS stands for, but I understood from various PS's I came across that such things are written in PS.

PS to 'PS to PS': I know I can 'google' for PS, but no thanks, not interested now.

Prayanam

Just wondered today that its been long that I blogged and now I got a good subject to blog.

Getting bored on a Friday, I watched the movie Prayanam. The movie might be a bit sluggish at moments but I believe that was a good execution with just 5 or 6 characters. Though there is not much comedy from Bramhanandam episodes, the movie runs on a light vein comedy and is fun to watch with friends.

Now what is that I want to say on blog is not the movie review. The movie has pointed the success formula of episodes in love. Hero's friend explaining the love episodes splitting them into 15 minute intervals is very good. Because the movie deals with expressing love and convincing a girl, I think everyone will have a takeaway from the movie. The incidents and workflow (am not getting a better word here) are very realistic and match to many stories we see in real life. The movie finally has a predictable ending, and I am sure that no one would like to see a different one there. One will definitely enjoy the movie with friends relating to the real life situations.

Communication

A nice article I found on the homepage of in.com. Though the communication mentioned here is about love, the content holds good for every other relationship, even for professional life. You may find many more interesting links on the original page ;)

Communication is one of the main ingredients to a beautiful and healthy relationship. To communicate is to exchange your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, critiques and other comments with another person. Without having such an exchange, a relationship will live in silence and soon drown in that silence, until there is no longer any kind of connection between the two of you. This is one of the biggest reasons a relationship ends and also a reason why some are lead to making bad decisions.

Good communication is not just about being able to talk, but being able to listen. Being a good listener does not just mean waiting for your turn to talk, but really taking in the words your partner is sharing with you. As you receive those words, you should also understand the emotions in those words and the body language that goes along with them. If you do not pay close attention, you might miss the meaning in the words that are being said and the body language that is being presented with them.

Constant defensiveness is another way to lack good communication. If you or your lover constantly get offended by what the other says, then either one of you are not choosing your words too wisely, not listening very well, or not respecting each other�s opinion. All three of those are communication no-nos. If you tend to get defensive as an instant first response, make an effort to stop and really listen to what your partner has said to you. Hearing and listening are different. If you only hear, you can turn those words into anything your mind tells you to, but if you listen, you will really understand the meaning your partner had behind those words. If you have a defensive partner, help him or her by asking them what offended them so much. Repeat your words and explain what you meant so they can get a better visual.

With good communication skills on both of your parts, your relationship can be stronger than you ever hope for!

Andaman... a lovely place to visit

Been to Goa? Been to Vizag, Chennai, Mumbai? Still Andaman is a place to visit. It is a scenic beauty and more natural place. Just imagine clear waters where you can see 7 to 8 ft into it. Imagine that at a magnitude of Ocean.

Be prepared to travel a lot, in water and on road. When we started for 6 days, people said that it was too much and we should cut it to 3 or 4 days. Believe me, 6 days is nothing. We could have stayed for 6 more days. We had advantage on both lodging and roaming prices, so we could have stayed for 16 more days ;)

Few things to know. Flights are available from Chennai, Vizag and Kolkatta. These places are connected by water too. But in any case, book tickets early enough not to see surprises. The roads are good and wide. People speak Hindi majorly, Telugu, Tamil and Bengali are also very common. Airtel, Vodafone and BSNL the mobile masters there. Sun rises by 5am and sets by 4 30 or 5 pm. There will be rains in every season. You should be as lucky as us to have no rains in your trip. The rule says that you can't take any natural property without proper channel. There are lots of beautiful stones with designs formed due to corals. You can bring smaller ones back home with no problem. And finally about food. Tiffins in road side centers are good and local people suggest them than restraunts. You find all from regular menu in restraunts, Biryani, meal and rotis. As a caution, don't try tomato soup. They make it from sauce and tastes very bad.

Before I say about good things, Chatam mill, Corbyn's cove and Mount Harriet can be avoided.

Lets talk about must see places.

The first thing, Andaman Cellular Jail. Do visit it and you will understand the pain fighters had. Sound and light show was not so interesting, it was more boring. But at that time of day, it will already be dark and it is good choice to see the show than staying at lodge.

Wandoor beach, you have a snorkeling point near Wandoor. Go there and it is not so famous and crowded place as Jolly Buoy, and it is more effective. It took Rs.750 /4 persons for the trip there. Takes just 4 hours.

North Bay, another snorkeling point. There are boats from Port Blair, just few km away. But be careful, this beach is not so neat. Two of us got our feet cut in water due to some glass pieces. If you know how to swim you can take the glasses and respiration pipe for rent and enjoy.

Ross Island is the East India Comp. head quarters at that time. So the tourist places are ruined offices and township. It is good enough, but there is lot to walk if you have to cover the entire island. There is no beach and swimming place there. Its a half day trip.

Chidiya Tapu is also called sun set point. You can spend lot of time here roaming and playing in water.

Havelock island, Radhanagar beach is the must. Silver sand, clean sea water and lots of scope to play in water. The water is not so deep even at 100mts into water. This is a place to visit for the honeymoon couples. Book tickets in advance if you want to travel in speed boat(Rs 250). Tickets are available in normal boat unlimited. This takes a whole day. Select normal class(Rs 90) if travelling by regular boat. If you can stay there at night, there is another island nearby.

Baratang is the best for travel. It costs around Rs 750 per head. Starting with jeep, to a ferry and then a boat. Limestone cave and mud volcano are the visiting spots. I should not miss mentioning a point here, we came across a lady who's an exact copy of Divyabharathi. This takes an entire day.

Incidentally, the tourism festival started in the same time when we were there. It is a good chance to shop from varieties from all over the country.

There are marine museum where you can buy some corals and some archaeological museum etc.

There might be many place we didn't visit, but these are the most recommended at that time. But am sure this place will excite you.

We had great time, thanks to Rajesh's relatives. They made us feel at home and helped us thru the trip. The hospitality is wonderful. B4 closing, pics from our trip are here.