Cell phone driving - What's your IQ?!

This afternoon, I was driving back to work from lunch and I was talking on cell phone. No hands-free, no speaker phone. Regular hand held style. State-law here restricts usage of hand-held phones while driving. I saw a cop in distance and immediately switched to speaker phone.

A strange thought occured to Kabali. He has been driving cars for about 6 years now. He loves driving so much and believes strongly if one loves to do an activity, one performs well in that field. Also, because of cell phone driving, he has never committed any mistakes such as having the car shift lanes without control nor run over the curb nor miss a traffic light.

But not all people may be good at such multi-tasking. Some people do screw up. It was mentioned in the web somewhere that more than 30% of accidents in the UK last year were due to cell phone driving.

Kabali's argument is that the IQ level of such people must be quite low. Yes, IQ level!

Here is his recommendation: When a cop pulls over, he should conduct a quick IQ test on the driver. If the IQ level is good enough, the cop could conclude that the person is capable of multi-tasking without any problems and should let the driver go. If the IQ level is low, then he can issue a violation ticket for cell phone driving.

I'm basing the argument on the logic that every single human being is different and that their capability on doing different things vary too. Having said that, I don't understand how the law and order can be so generalised. Atleast in areas where it could be customized for people, it should be.

Kabali honestly thinks so.

How Blogging is like sex?

Beware: PG13.

Blogging can be directly compared to only one aspect of real life - Sex after marriage. I‘m 98.9986978% sure.

When one starts to blog, the inexplicable happiness of expressing and sharing would make one want to write more. Writing good blogposts would make one a delightful person, because of the ‘happiness partaking’ that happens. Like the sex after marriage.

In the early days of blogging, one would want to write a minimum of one blogpost a day or at times even multiple posts a day. Most times, all one would think of is to do nothing but write a blogpost. Like the sex after marriage.

But things don’t seem to remain the same. The priorities change, interests shift and thoughts drift. The frequency of blogpost falls with time. The number reduces from one post a day to one post a week, then to once a month and eventually to 'maybe I should visit my blog and see how it looks'. Like the sex after marriage.

The author is not smart enough to experience the above phenomena yet. But he is smart enough to think!

Update: After the last post, I got a new camera and did a super cool trip this weekend. I'm feeling happy!

What I didn't want to happen...

Last saturday, for the first time in this country, I felt deprived. There are certain incidents in life that we hear about, but it never bothers us because we'll be certain that it'll never happen to us. But apparently, at times, it does.

As a welcome break from the winter, the recent weeks have been bright and sunny. Past saturday was no exception. I set off to Longwood gardens with Kavitha, had a great time clicking pictures of tulips and lillies in the 1200 acres of garden land. Some of the photos turned out quite well, made me one real glad dude.

I had planned to end the day watching the movie 'Soloist'. There I was at King of Prussia mall movie theatre for the 7.30pm show. Movie was very good. I came out of the theatre at around 9.40pm laughing away and cracking jokes, only to see glass pieces strewn around the sides of my car. A chill ran down my spine.

I rushed to the car and found that my rear window was broken open. My backpack with the camera was not seen. My heart almost stopped. My camera being taken away is the last thing I wished in my life. And there it had happened - I could do nothing. I felt a strange fear. And my friend's laptop bag was missing too (not with laptop, but with books et al).

I immediately called 911. Ten minutes later, a cop arrived, enquired about the theft, asked some basic questions, prepared a police report and gave it to me.

I asked her about the odds of getting my stuff back. She calmly replied that the closest surveilence camera was quite far from the place I parked my car and that it rotates, creating abundant blind spots. Also, such thefts happen in less than 30 seconds, making it impossible to capture clear evidence in the surveilence camera. In my mind, the answer translated to a 'You wont get the camera back'. That, from a cop in the second largest mall in US.

Of all my gadgets, there are two things I love the most - my camera and my phone. I would have given most of what I have to get my camera back. But at times, life appears to hit hard. Very hard. Along with the camera, I also lost my bluetooth headset (a gift), my iphone earphones, work ID card and such day-today stuffs. Hearty good bye to all of them.

I have applied for claim through my renter's insurance and hope I get some money back - keeping my fingers crossed.

And in parallel, I'm researching for my next camera, hopefully a better one! And I promise to myself that I'll never keep bags visible in my car.

All said and done, I just cant forget this day that easily. Life seems bitterly unfair.

Update: Couple of weeks later, I got a new camera and did a super cool trip this weekend. I'm feeling happy!

State of Play

...a movie which keeps one up through-out, even during a back to back movie session (after watching this) and the show timing being 12 am. Ben Affleck was naturally good, Russel Crowe seemed being at his coolest best, and Rachel McAdams as cute as ever! A good movie.

17 Again...

Yawn.

An episode at the hospital!

Falling sick is the last thing one wants. And visiting a Doctor is the thing after the last thing one wants. And if the doctor carries a injection, thats the thing after the thing after the last thing one wants. Ok, you get the idea.

Last week I was down with cold and fever for a good 5 days. What started as a mild cold graduated itself into a matured cough-attack which then blossomed into a solid flue-stint and then stagnated itself showing no signs of growth nor exit. 

"I'm a survivor" I said to myself and fought the germs. Evenings they would seem to subside and as I feel better and sleep, they attack with full blow. Those germ bastards.

Attempting to work from (not for) home did not offer the solution. Sleeping in the bed for hours together (alone!) did not help either. For a guy who normally says "Aeemm, I'll rough it out", this fever seemed one of its kind.

I realized I was fighting a losing battle and decided to go see a Doctor (inspite of a well-wishing friend who warned that the doctor most likely say 'It's nothing. Go home and take rest. You'll be fine').

Being somebody who hates appointments (and the gargantuan wait time associated with it), I walked into the Emergency care center at a hospital right next to my apartment. After registering my name, I waited in the reception area for about 20 minutes. I was then ushered into one of the emergency rooms and made to sit in a stretcher. 

A nurse stopped by and asked me 'what do we have here, sir?'. I said 'I have fever and cold that wouldn't subside'. She asked 'Anything else?'. I said 'No'. She asked  'Are you sure? do you have breathing problems or any such emergency?'. I said 'No'. She looked at me a for a moment, as if she was going to ask 'why the hell did you come to ER then?!'. Instead, she said 'A doctor will come and see you shortly sir', and disappeared.

Two hours passed by. Before I fainted with a mixed feeling of hunger, tiredness and angst, an old doctor entered the room saying 'Hi'. I returned the pleasantry. "So, what brings you here today?!", asked the doctor. I offered the same reply for the third time. 'Just fever?', 'Yes'. 'Okay' said the doctor and got into action.

He took a torch with a pointed lens and he inserted that into my ears to see what's happening inside. He jerked out immediately saying he can't see much, but as far as he can see, I was all clear. He moved to the next ear. This time, he did not even enter - he slowly said 'Interesting!'

'What?', I asked. "On the outside rim of your ear, you have a pimple. We need to get rid of that first" said the doctor and walked out. Before I could realise, he came back with a small injection. I freaked out. He understood and said 'No, dont worry - it'll be a small prick'. Knowing that's the universal doctor's language of saying 'you are gonna be punctured dude!', I said 'I hate injections doctor, should we do this now?!'.

'Oh definitely' he replied as readied himself with the torch light and the injection weapon. I closed my fist and my eyes as tight as I could and expected a prick. One hell of a prick it was. I screamed mildly and thought it was done. The doctor attempted again and 'bang!', another prick. I almost called him names, when the doctor mildly said 'whatever is in there doesn't want to let go that easily'. So are you, I thought. 

He then threw the injection into the trash and I saw blood on his hands. F*ck! "Is that my blood?' I asked the doctor. He replied 'yes, but don't worry. I'll go get some bandage' and gave me some cotton to try and hold the blood. My fever was long gone.

Doctor came back with a bandage and put it across my ears as he said 'a slightly awkward place for a band-aid, ain't it?!' He laughed. Damn your humour, I thought. He then said 'your fever is a minor viral infection. It's nothing. Go home and take rest. You'll be fine'.

I thought of my clairvoyant friend, as I walked out of the hospital with a bandage on my ears and my wallet emptied by about 80 bucks.

Unknown...!

After a fulfilling 10 day road trip, I was royally subjected to the super fun of catching up with work, which took me another 10 days incurring more excitement than the trip itself. A total control freak I am, I find it a little difficult to agree something can happen right without my involvement, even partially. One thing leading to another, last night I ended up sitting on my couch wondering why is there just 24 hours a day. Just not enough, I said to myself like a scientist.

That spark of thought triggered more thoughts than my naive brain could answer. With limited span of human life, one gets a feeling that there is a lot that goes unachieved or even unrealized. There are so many places in this world (or universe?) that I may never get to visit. There are so many books that I may never get to read. There are so many good music that I may never get to hear.

There are so many cuisines that I may never get to taste. There are so many different climates that I may never get to feel. There are so many people I may never get to meet. There are so many technologies I may never get to lay my hands on.

The list, I guess, never ends.

Average human life span of around 65 years is simply not enough.

I watch 'Universe' TV series and marvel at our humungous universe. To make a one way trip to Pluto (in the fastest means known to humans), they say it takes around 10 years. And for further analysis and conclusions, it might take a few more years. One has to positively dedicate a good chunk of his lifetime for such research. Yet, there would be much more to still figure out.

Comparing the magnificence of things around us, humans seem pitiably small and endowed with minuscule time interval for what we call Life. Maybe, one needs more than just one birth to understand things a little better.

Only if I have the power to pace ahead of time (and space) to find out the unknown - But if I do, I promise I’ll write a blogpost.

Fast and Furious...

...is extremely fast most of the time and soporifically slow at others.

You would like this movie, if you are one who likes drooling at nice looking cars, not knowing that they would be destroyed to pieces in the very next scene; and also, if you are not aware that there are winding tunnels under the mountains on the US-Mexico border.

Adventureland...

...one of those 'light' movies which is not as funny. (Just that it inspired me and a couple of friends to play dart game at the beach and win a monkey!)

Knowing...

...certainly does not fall under the genre they say it belongs to. I hate sci-fi and the likes, but I loved this one.

That too, since the whole concept was close to what I once pondered, this movie made a whole lot sense to me!

I love you, man!

The hero has never had boy friends in his life. As his wedding approaches, he realizes he needs a 'best man'. All his attempted 'man-dates' flop.

He then stumbles upon this cool guy who seems as careless & irresponsible a person God has ever created in this planet. He drives a vespa, looks for single divorcees, sleeps around and deliberately refuses to clean up after his dog. 

The hero and the cool guy become friends, have fun, then fight and part and then finally rejoin. 

Hilarious movie, definitely for men. Cranks out the 'men laughter' in them, as I call it!

Duplicity...

...is a story of how two seemingly smart people (spies turned corporate agents) end up as utter fools.

Needless to say, Julia Roberts was elegant. Other than that, the movie is a total thu! 

Anxiety!

"Good morning, sir" the 60-year old security guard wished me as I entered my workplace this morning. "It is, isn't it?!" I replied, with all enthusiasm.

Today is certainly one of my happiest days - this evening, I'm leaving for a 10 day road trip across America. Anywhere anytime , I crave for driving, photography and travel. If I do this trip right, it would be sort of like three birds in one stone!

I have always been an enthusiastic planner - at times I even wonder if just the planning would give me enough satisfaction, even without doing whatever I was planning for in the first place.

This cross country trip is no exception - I sort of completed all my planning activities diligently. In the last few days, I have spent evenings sitting on my couch, staring at my laptop, persistently trying out multiple route options in Google maps, optimising the driving distance, choosing the best hotels to stay, selecting the right places to visit and jotting down the entire itinerary in a google spreadsheet. Ofcourse with the able help of her.

As much as I'm excited, my friends and colleagues at my workplace have been too. They have been suggesting places to visit, restaurants to eat and knowing me, a list of 'dont even think of doing that' stuffs!

After having heard all that and trying to curb the ever growing anxiety, I'm all set for the trip now. I'm hoping to write my daily experiences here. Do follow the action!

Cant figure out why, but I feel like a Pirate now!! Aye!

Seasons greetings...

It is that season where people make spending seem dispensable, by throwing unnecessary money on greeting cards and roses. They drop every single fruitful activity they could otherwise do in the time they think of a present or the type of the flower.

I have never understood the fascination that women crowd possess for flowers/bouquets. Maybe one has to be in 'love high' to even slightly understand the logic behind. Or perhaps, somebody like me, who buys plastic bonsai from IKEA to decorate the center table in the living room, can never understand.

If a guy, let's say is in love head over heels with a girl, he would certainly buy her a present for Valentine's Day. My sources also say that it would be considered a federal offense in the girlfriend court, if the guy doesn't! That's not the point anyways. The point is wouldn't the girl know that a gift is coming her way? And if the girl has set the expectation right, the guy probably is dreaming about the present too.

I wonder what's the fun in knowing they would receive something for sure on a particular day and still associate a 'surprise' element to it. Once again, 'love high' I guess.

Next lamest idea (probably the most ancient technique as old as 6000 years) is buying Greeting cards. And these days there are those "record your voice/music and send your 'love' through paper" cards. How creepy is that?! Wouldn't it just be easier to make a phone call and say I love you?! Atleast we can save the planet by cutting lesser trees.

I believe this is still so true.

Valentine's Day, like most other occassions, is definitely passé.

My other eye...

I give ample importance in life to friendship, travel & photography (necessarily in that order). Friendship has always been integral to me. The passion for photography in the recent times has increased proportionately with my penchant for traveling. As a measure of expressing all the three to a greater extent (than done otherwise), I take a step forward and start another blog. But wait, it’s not just me.

Looking back, I remember the excitement during the first few days of my acquaintance with one of my favorite bloggers. The excitement slowly turned into unadulterated joy, when I found we have myriad of common interests. And of all the interests, the biggest one is our love for traveling. From then on till date, we have spent a lot of time together to call ourselves very good friends.

She writes extremely well and the other day, in one casual moment, she asked ‘We travel a lot. We both write. We might as well start a travel blog together. What say?’ Bang! we started “Footloose on the Freeway”, almost instinctively the same evening.

Going forward, I’m planning to blog my travel experiences there. Encourage you to visit the blog.

[P.S: Arunsundarthinks would still be an active blog, throwing the same-nothings for lets say, a few more decades till the author gets either amnesia or euthanasia]