Last Sunday, along with my friends I went to an Indian Restaurant in DC. We were the last customers in the Hotel. The Hotel Owner was eating next to us. Since we explored most of the Indian Restaurants in and around DC, we were chatting about the food that they serve in the Indian Restaurants. The Hotel owner was very much interested in our discussion and joined us in the discussion. He shared some interesting facts with us
* He is in this Business for the last 15+ years.
* He is Operating 7 restaurants in DC, Vienna, Alexandria
* He came here as physiotherapy student. Did a part time job in a restaurant during his college days. He got interested in this business and changed his line.
* Average life of a regular Hotel is 5 years. For every 5 years you need to make some major change in the hotel
* To Attract American customer, just great food is not enough. Need to have the best plates and cutlery.
The waiter who served us is doing his PhD in Information system. In India I have never seen a PhD scholar taking a part time job in a Hotel.
One last thing, the food was really good.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Onsite trip - for dummies
An unofficial guide for Onsite travel:
Like most of the Indian IT coolies, I too dreamed about coming to onsite and get salary in usd. After 5 years, this dream has become true. Its been 2 months in US. Some of the myths which I had before coming here was totally broken. Many new surprises awaited for me.
I'm sharing some tips, which may be use full for the first time travellers
1. Pressure Cooker : Before packing the pressure cooker, check with people with whom you will stay. Avoiding a pressure cooker can save 2-3 kg.
2. Blankets : If you are traveling during a summer time, you don't have to carry a blanket. This can save you upto 2 kg. (I traveled during peak summer time and I still carried a 2.5 kg raymonds woolen blanket :( )
3.Most of the Us cities have Indian store. Avoid bringing rice, dhal and masala powders. Most of the Indian brands are available in US (MDH, Sakthi, Aachi, MTR etc). If you are bringing spices from India then pls avoid "Kasakasa"
4.Have at least 20 pairs of inner wear. This is very important.
5.Get a decent sun glass. In Us, you have to spent a minimum of 100$ to get a decent sunglass.
6. Don't carry more than 2 pairs of shoes.
7.When Collecting the forex, make sure that you get some bills with lower denomination (5 and 10$)
8. Don't apply for SSN Immediately. Apply for SSN after a week or 10 days.
9. Open a bank account as soon as possible.
10. Veekam, Maanam,Soodu, Sornai ellathaium Indiala vachitu vanthuranum..
11.Open a NRE/NRO account before leaving India.
12. Make sure that you file your IT returns for the previous financial year.
13. Get used to toilet papers.
14. 90% of the american food have vitamin G - Grease.. You have to be very careful with your food. You get mostly greasy food. Either you have to work out heavily or make sure that you control the intake of fat.
15. When traveling, try to avoid the rest rooms in plane. Even the best airlines rest room would be dirty.
16. Apply for a state id and driving license
Like most of the Indian IT coolies, I too dreamed about coming to onsite and get salary in usd. After 5 years, this dream has become true. Its been 2 months in US. Some of the myths which I had before coming here was totally broken. Many new surprises awaited for me.
I'm sharing some tips, which may be use full for the first time travellers
1. Pressure Cooker : Before packing the pressure cooker, check with people with whom you will stay. Avoiding a pressure cooker can save 2-3 kg.
2. Blankets : If you are traveling during a summer time, you don't have to carry a blanket. This can save you upto 2 kg. (I traveled during peak summer time and I still carried a 2.5 kg raymonds woolen blanket :( )
3.Most of the Us cities have Indian store. Avoid bringing rice, dhal and masala powders. Most of the Indian brands are available in US (MDH, Sakthi, Aachi, MTR etc). If you are bringing spices from India then pls avoid "Kasakasa"
4.Have at least 20 pairs of inner wear. This is very important.
5.Get a decent sun glass. In Us, you have to spent a minimum of 100$ to get a decent sunglass.
6. Don't carry more than 2 pairs of shoes.
7.When Collecting the forex, make sure that you get some bills with lower denomination (5 and 10$)
8. Don't apply for SSN Immediately. Apply for SSN after a week or 10 days.
9. Open a bank account as soon as possible.
10. Veekam, Maanam,Soodu, Sornai ellathaium Indiala vachitu vanthuranum..
11.Open a NRE/NRO account before leaving India.
12. Make sure that you file your IT returns for the previous financial year.
13. Get used to toilet papers.
14. 90% of the american food have vitamin G - Grease.. You have to be very careful with your food. You get mostly greasy food. Either you have to work out heavily or make sure that you control the intake of fat.
15. When traveling, try to avoid the rest rooms in plane. Even the best airlines rest room would be dirty.
16. Apply for a state id and driving license
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Life in America : Week #3
Life is becoming too tough. Several unexpected things happened in a very short time. Over the weekend, I stayed back in the house. Sunday thought of exploring DC. But due to rain the entire plan got scrapped. Almost after 7 years once again I started to cook.
Last wednesday, I attended Blackberry DC Developer day. Both the technology what they discussed and the food what they serverd were "Greek" and "Latin" to me. For the first time, I had a American lunch :) . Got a blackberry bold 9700. My first Non-Nokia cell phone in my life.
Work is getting pretty hectic. Expecting tough days ahead..
Last wednesday, I attended Blackberry DC Developer day. Both the technology what they discussed and the food what they serverd were "Greek" and "Latin" to me. For the first time, I had a American lunch :) . Got a blackberry bold 9700. My first Non-Nokia cell phone in my life.
Work is getting pretty hectic. Expecting tough days ahead..
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Life in America - Week #2
2nd week in USA.
Work load is pretty high.. Expect the same to continue for the next few months. In the last 2 weeks the main problem that I face/faced/facing is using rest room :(. Using tissue paper is very horrible.
Telephone charges are too high here. We are even charged for incoming calls too.. May be tata docomo should come here.. I got a prepaid phone connection without any documents.
Work load is pretty high.. Expect the same to continue for the next few months. In the last 2 weeks the main problem that I face/faced/facing is using rest room :(. Using tissue paper is very horrible.
Telephone charges are too high here. We are even charged for incoming calls too.. May be tata docomo should come here.. I got a prepaid phone connection without any documents.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Life in America - week #1
7 days ago I landed in Dulles International Airport. My first overseas trip. With lot of excitement and anxiety I came down to DC. This trip can change my life. I know the ground reality before starting this journey. Things are not going to easy. Trying hard to make things work fine.
When I was in India, I had feeling that I'm obese. Now, I don't have that feeling. I can see too many xxl sized people around me. DC is a very costly place to live. Every day I have to spend around 20$ for my transportation and for my lunch. When I convert this into Indian Rupees, it comes to 900Rs. 4$ to use the washing machine and dryer (Enna kodumai saravanan ithu :( ). Hope after another 51 weeks I will return to India.
When I was in India, I had feeling that I'm obese. Now, I don't have that feeling. I can see too many xxl sized people around me. DC is a very costly place to live. Every day I have to spend around 20$ for my transportation and for my lunch. When I convert this into Indian Rupees, it comes to 900Rs. 4$ to use the washing machine and dryer (Enna kodumai saravanan ithu :( ). Hope after another 51 weeks I will return to India.
Monday, March 22, 2010
மங்குஸ் பேட்டும் கருப்பையா ஆசாரியும்
It was early 90's. I still remember those days. We were very crazy about cricket. On a weekday we play for minimum three hours and during the weekend more than 8 hours. We prefer to play with tennis ball/rubber ball rather than a cricket ball. The reason is quite simple. The cost of a cricket ball is much higher (we buy used tennis ball form a local tennis club) and we didn't have oil bat. All we had was some local made sub standard bats. A decent cricket bat costs around 100 Rs, which was a very big amount for us. It was a dream for every one of us to own a cricket bat. Only one or 2 in our gang could manage to buy a proper bat. Rest of us depended on Karupaiyya Aasary(கருப்பையா ஆசாரி).
Karupaiyaa is a well know carpenter in our locality. For Rs 25 he will give us a custom made bat. The bats are mostly made of neem/guva wood. After a long struggle I managed to save Rs 25. Now, It was my turn. I went to his workshop and asked for bat. As he was busy with some other work he asked me come latter. When I went to his work shop for the second time, he was crafting my bat. Once my bat was fully ready I was totally disappointed. The bat didn't look like a regular bat. The handle was longer and the blade was relatively smaller and narrower. I was not happy with the bat and I was not ready to pay Rs 25. He said "அடிச்சு ஆடுறதுக்கு இந்த பேட்டு நல்லா இருக்கும்" (For playing powerfull shots this bat will be very good). I was not ready to hear his words. After a small panchyat I paid him Rs 25 and got the bat. Initially I was not ready to take this bat to the ground. Since all the other bat in our team was broken, I took this bat to the ground. For the first couple of overs we struggled with the new bat. Once we got hold of the bat, hitting the ball was very easy. What Karupaiyya said was true. Our average score in a 12 over match raised to 100 from 60. The bat was a huge hit among us. I think Karupaiyya Aasary should have copy righted the design. The mongoose bat which Mathew Hayden used/using was much similar to the one which Karupaiyya has designed. 16 years before I got this bat for just Rs 25. Today mongoose bats are sold for Rs 23,000. Enna Kodumai saravan ithu..
Karupaiyaa is a well know carpenter in our locality. For Rs 25 he will give us a custom made bat. The bats are mostly made of neem/guva wood. After a long struggle I managed to save Rs 25. Now, It was my turn. I went to his workshop and asked for bat. As he was busy with some other work he asked me come latter. When I went to his work shop for the second time, he was crafting my bat. Once my bat was fully ready I was totally disappointed. The bat didn't look like a regular bat. The handle was longer and the blade was relatively smaller and narrower. I was not happy with the bat and I was not ready to pay Rs 25. He said "அடிச்சு ஆடுறதுக்கு இந்த பேட்டு நல்லா இருக்கும்" (For playing powerfull shots this bat will be very good). I was not ready to hear his words. After a small panchyat I paid him Rs 25 and got the bat. Initially I was not ready to take this bat to the ground. Since all the other bat in our team was broken, I took this bat to the ground. For the first couple of overs we struggled with the new bat. Once we got hold of the bat, hitting the ball was very easy. What Karupaiyya said was true. Our average score in a 12 over match raised to 100 from 60. The bat was a huge hit among us. I think Karupaiyya Aasary should have copy righted the design. The mongoose bat which Mathew Hayden used/using was much similar to the one which Karupaiyya has designed. 16 years before I got this bat for just Rs 25. Today mongoose bats are sold for Rs 23,000. Enna Kodumai saravan ithu..
Saturday, March 20, 2010
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