Ethically Poor India..

During my stay in US, I came across various Indians who would crib about India. Some would call India poor, some call it corrupt to the core, some would call it's traditions and culture filthy, all in all I didnt really find a true Indian there.. Or was it that the Indian I saw there was the true Indian. One does not require rocket science to realise My love for India. Every time I was incident to critisism about India.. more strongly I would say we the present and future of India should make a difference.. should work towards better future of India.. But I couldnt find enough courageous there. This post is not about cribbing Indians..

During one of the debates with my colleagues, one of them made a point.. "You get down in India.. The first step you take there, you will be incident to corruption." This came soo very true.. I had taken extra care so that I dont have to face corruption. I had done shopping within the shopping limits. I took one personal laptop and one Infy laptop with me. A Big blunder. I had confirmed this with my friends.. But this was wrong.. Legally we are allowed to take only one laptop. My having papers proving that the other laptop was not personal didnt make a difference.. I could see that the custom's official wanting bribe. I was with the mindset of giving no bribe.. I told him that India cannot improve with such things.. no clarity ... usko ekdam zaaaad diya... no there was no moving back.. I had punched myself.. now I would surely have to pay more money.. legally.. But I wasnt wrong.. I was not ready to pay for when I wasnt wrong.. from the time plane landed.. 2.20 am to 4.15 am.. I argued with the custom official.. I had a point.. and he gave his.. finally lot other officials came in.. In time, this matter got escalated to an official I had already met. I explained the case to him. He asked whether I had the papers. I said yes. The official whom I had refused to give bribe to; interfered saying go and bring the papers.. The senior stopped him and said No need. I felt soo great that moment. And then came the golden words... "As your case is geniune, I will treat you as an exception and waive off entire customs. You are free to go." He gave me his mobile number as said in case you find any problem ahead, feel free to call him. So kind of him.

With this story, I learnt one thing. Normal tasks in India will require lot of effort and time. Forget my time at these early hours. My dad who had come to see me this early hours had to wait for me. This long wait to see his son at this odd hours.. was never the worth of money I saved in customs.. but this time was worth the triumph of truth... or was it really??

.. in a blink .. Part 3 -- Driving Licence

After the Smokey trip, I spent around 3 weeks in US when I did lot of shopping, got my driving licence, partied with friends and rushed back to India.

Driving Licence is one of the freakiest happening incident. Getting Driving Licence involves two steps -- Written exam and Driving test. I wished to get a driving licence before going back to India. I had already completed my written exam 10 on 10. Now, this was the easy part.

Driving test required driving as a defensive driver. And that I have never been one in my life. :-P I was pretty confident that I can take just one 2 hour driving practice class and I would be ready to take the test. I told Sumant and Aky of my thoughts during my Smokey trip and they scoffed, they wrote me off on clearing the test after just 2 hours of practice. Well, their confidence said that I was just over confident in trying the test this early.

I had arranged for a driving class on Thursday evening. That evening it rained and rained bad. My driving instructor called before coming and asked me if I was confident. In reply, I asked him if he was confident. On getting a positive reply, I said "If your are confident, I am as well." We went through our driving practice in rains. With time he gained confidence in my confidence in driving and on my first day of driving he allowed me drive on Inter State highways. WOW !!
At the end of the driving lesson, he did mention that I drove okay but might be dicy for me to clear exam, for my confidence might work against me. It was required for me to be a defensive driver and I was not even close to that!

I prepared myself to be that extra careful in driving next morning. Instructor came sharp at 7.00 am. I drove to the testing center and was ready to start my test. To be frank, that was the first time I was nervous. Sumant words rung in my ears. Watta time to get nervous. Luckily that nervousness and me holdinig my nerves really helped.
The test was smooth and I scored 81 on 100. With 70 out of 100 to pass, I had cleared the driving test in flying colours. Yippppppeeeeee !

.. in a blink .. Part 2 -- Camping at Smok Mont in Smokey

Camping was the most exciting part of our trip.. We reached the camping site at dusk and the best part was we didn't know whether we would find a place there as we had not reserved a place ! Well, the camp owner said find any empty site and that's yours.

We did find one without much effort. That time of the day, daylight had gone in the past. We had a tent with a instruction page but no light, no torch, no wood for fire.

The engineers in us came to our rescue. We decided on the place to host the tent. arranged our car so that the headlights will give us enough light. Now we tried deciphering the instructions to host the tent..

We searched for a rock to use it as a hammer to secure the base of the tent. In a matter of 30 minutes.. viola.. we had the tent up .. Now dinner time... we had managed some subway sandwiches that time.. guys rushed out to get beer.. we travelled almost 30 miles.. but didnt get beer.. haha..

The camp area had stories of bears, so we dumped a remaining food in the car; far away from the tent.. and slept telling one another all the ghost stories.. watta fun.. hehe..

Come morning, all was safe and sound.. we went trekking, where we saw a deer on the peak. Some achievement as there was no scenic spot at the top.. just the deer and us..

Back to Nashville and back to home.. Cheers.