US Impressions

Montara State Beach, Off Highway 1, California

The work atmosphere in the US HQ is so very different from the one which we are used to in Hyderabad...Everybody is so 'professional'..Come in by 0900..keep working...have a quick lunch...keep working...leave workplace by max 1700 hrs...no cozy tea breaks, no big team lunches...of course there are always exceptions. Hyderabad is much more laid back and there is that warmth at the workplace.

Went for another drive along Highway 1, the road along the west coast of the US with breath taking vistas. This road has the pacific ocean on one side and fairly steep hills on the other side (beyond which lies 'silicon' valley). The coolest thing being the road just 15 min away from workplace.

When I said 15 min, all us hyderabadis would have imagined a 15 drive by bike@40 Kmph. No Sir, not at all, it is a 15 min drive by car@70 mph. Being in the US without a car is really pathetic. The public transport system is almost non-existant (may be because bay area is one of the regions where the richest people live) and the distances are mostly measured in car drive times.

Its 10 PM in the night and I have got to go and sleep. Good Night!

Pardes se...

SanFrancisco Skyline

All Ye invisible fans of my blog!(visible fans also),

This is a post from the USo'A...(Oh! All my posts from Hyderabad also used to be from the US because my proxy server is in the US...hehehe). Came to the US on the eleventh of this month. Not much of any kind of shock...just some jet lag.

The roads a wider, cars are bigger and faster. The people seem friendly enough...Everybody says a 'Hi there!' and smiles...Poor Anup (My colleague who had come with me)...was on cloud 9 after a good looking girl Hi'ed him on the first day!. Ashish (Another colleague who works in US) had to make things clear and Anup came back to Earth.

My ability to cook is really great! TopRamen instant cup noodles is just right when I cook it and the JustBoil pasta was delicious. Need not mention my speciality coffee...without milk and sugar. Tried a lot of difference cusines...Malaysian, Japanese, Mexican. Teriyaki, Tempura, Burrito, Quesadilla (Pronounced 'Kesadiya'), Fajita, Arroz con Pollo('Arro kon poyo') and of course Pizza.

Bought a Canon A95 camera...The skyline you see on top was shot with it.. I would have ideally liked a Nikon D70...but since my wallet was just deep enough to buy an A95. The picture looks really small...Peple inside Oracle, you check out the album at www-apps /~sthiagar/album.

Will post the rest in next.. of course with pictures...