United States of America is for sure, a great place for people who visit it first.  It continues to remain a great place to live if one gets accustomed to the culture.

 

I went to Washington Seattle where our Company's Head Quarters is based.  Quite a good place. 

 

I was amazed to see the Traffic Regulations and how people follow the same.  I was surprised to see that people work hard as well as enjoy their lives very well.  People stood and said hello to me, knowing that I am foreigner. 

There is an enormous crowd of Indian people out there.  Lots of Indian shops, restaurants.  You wont feel missed out of the chores.

 

I visited a nearby waterfalls, a skiing place and quite a few hills out there, a chilling prospect ?

 

Looking forward to my next trip and holding back my comments till then.

 

Earlier I put a post on Top 7 I.T. Industry professionals whom I admire.  I thought of following it up with a similar list of people whom I admire for their sheer brilliance.  I am sure I would miss many of them which I want to put, but anyway wanted to share it

 

Ms.Jayalalitha, Ex-CM, Tamil Nadu

Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam, Hon' President, India

Srinivasa Ramanujam, Mathematical Genius

Kamal Hassan, Actor, South Indian Cinemas

Mani Ratnam, Director, Indian Cinemas

A.R.Rahman, Music Director, Indian Cinemas

Sujatha Rangarajan, Writer, Journalist and Screen Play writer

Kastoori Rangan, ISRO

Late Dr.MGR

 

They have been phenomenol in what they do.  And one common thing you can find in all of them is Courage.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Its a dream for many Indians, many in the South especially feel proud to say that my son is in U.S.  I have been in the industry for close to 8 years now.  Its a miracle that I didnt visit U.S. all these years.  Somehow, I either skipped it, or moved out of companies when I just got my Visa process started.

 

This time, I didnt miss it.  I had to visit U.S. for an internal conference, which I dont want to dwelve much into.  But the fact that visiting United States first time can make you a little paranoid, with people saying 10-15 different things about the procedures there.  It all starts with the Visa Interview. 

 

One must admit that Visa Interview and getting a Visa is still an uncertain process and if you are lucky, you would get through.  Having said that, in United States, most of the Indians living, (I am talking about the recent immigrants due to the software industry) are from small tinsel towns and 2nd - 3rd tier cities with, their parents visiting them frequently.  So, language or culture is not a criteria for getting Visa and if you have the proper answer to the questions, you get the Visa, depending on the mood of the officer.

 

Ok, thats about Visa Interview.  Well, all the above hold good only if you are travelling personally or on a Business Visit.  If you are backed by a Corporate Company, the chances of getting Visa is very high.

 

I will talk about the trip and my experiences in U.S. in my next post.

 

Cheers

 

During the last week of December, I took the decision to keep away from Computers and concentrate on family.  This was one of the longest period I have been away from Computer, ever since my marriage when I was 10 days away.

 

Ok, where did I go?  what did I do?

 

We went to a place called Horsley Hills.  Horsley Hills is a nice little hill station south of Andhra Pradesh, quite close to Bangalore and Chennai.  In fact the place is just 1.5 hours drive from Tirupati, the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.   The nearest town is Madanapalle and you get Government buses and reasonable cabs to Horsley Hills.

 

Horsley Hills is a cool hill station, with close to 12 hair pin bends, but the journey is quite casual up the hill and the village on the top of hill is a very less populated area.

 

AP Tourism has the biggest resort with good parks, view points and sit outs.  The rooms range from as low as Rs.800 to Rs.3500 based on the type of accomodation.

 

This place is just getting prominence and it isnt too cold as one would expect.  In fact, the place has just started attracting people and gets filled up during summer (according to localites).

 

The language spoken is Telugu and a little bit of Hindi.

 

Not a great place to stay for more than a week's time considering the taste and quality of food that is given in the AP Tourism Hotel over there.

 

If you plan a sudden trip and are running out of ideas, Horseley would be a good place to stay away from the hustles of life.

 

It is nearer from Bangalore, Chennai and quite far away from Hyderabad.

 

Cheers !!!