Thoughts

United States of America - A guide for a newcomer from India

2008-01-14T10:48:00.008-05:00

Update Aug 03, 2010 - This is among those kind of blogs which very soon becomes obsolete with time and needs readers discretion. Much of the information written in this post are my opinion at that time. Though I have updated some information, take it with a pinch of salt.

Disclaimer:- The information in this blog are my personal experiences. If you have any suggestions, corrections or objections, please leave a comment for me and I will update this blog accordingly.

When the first time I came to America, I was baffled by the entire system and the complexities of the system. For almost everything you do here, there are set of do’s and don’ts. But that is not the subject of this blog. This is just a beginner’s guide for anyone who comes to America from India. This will be helpful only for few weeks, few days perhaps. After that the person automatically knows more and better things. Some of things I mentioned here may be true for a specific state or city but may not hold good enough for other places or surrounding. So take everything here with a pinch of salt.

I have lived in New Jersey and Minneapolis. So everything is based on that experience.

Food

The first problem a person face here is about food. Especially for the vegetarians finding right kind of food is difficult, if not challenging. I think only we Indians have coined a new term called “Pure Vegeterian”. Which means No egg, No chicken, No Ham, etc etc. Here it is just Veggie that means No meat, but it can have egg. I am a pure vegetarian. I had a bad experience with burger king. I will tell you below. One thing I want to say that, every time you go to any restaurant it’s better to mention – No meat, no egg.

Subway

Veggie patty in subways are good. They are made of carrots, lettuce probably and fried in oil. Get it roasted, go for any bread and cheese you like and any fillings. I like spicy, so I go for green pepper, jalapeno (pronounced aa-laa-peeno), lettuce, tomato, onions, with Italian bread and American cheese

Burger King

BK’s veg burger are prepared very hygienically. They even don’t fry the veggie patty in the same oil in which they fry chicken etc. They fry them very separately. The only catch is that they consider egg as veggie. So they have egg in the veggie burger. If you are veggie but don’t mind having eggs. It is a good choice.

Taco Bell

This is the first restaurant I went in US. It is a Mexican restaurant. Mainly they have two options. Chalupa and Burritos. Burrito is Indian roti filled with stuff and chalupa is sort of Indian kachori filled with stuff. If you are veggie say that you want with only beans. No chicken no beef. They will just put lettuce and beans etc. I prefer Chalupas because when you order it they just have to heat it in the microwave. On the other hand they use to heat the Roti of Burrito on Tawa with other meat stuff etc.

Other options are pizzas. You can ask for veggie pizza or cheese pizza. These you can go at any pizza store. Only exception is probably Mc Donald. I went there in New Jersey and they said they have nothing in veggie stuff. But you can try at your locality once more.

Telephone

Pinless World http://www.pinlessworld.com/
Reliance India call
www.stanacard.com/ - You can get it via referral from existing members. Do let me know if you need it(I will get some bonus points ;) )
Vonage (If you need unlimited calling to India)

Cell Phone

For the first timers, credit history used to be a big problem. Therefore they don’t usually get a very good deal in cell phones. They have to either go for a costly postpaid plan or they have to manage with prepaid phone. I chose ATT&T's Cingular prepaid goPhone. I have always found Cingular’s customer service very good. I now own Cingular’s postpaid, family plan. For me, reasons to choose and stick to Cingular were

i) Good customer service.

ii) Network is too good. It was good in Virginia and New Jersey and it is good in Minneapolis. Some of the famous cellular service providers offer so called cheap and attractive phone plans but they have poor or no network in most of the places. There is no point in owning a mobile if you are not reachable in office and home.

iii) Most of my friends are having Cingular and Cingular-to-Cingular is free.

iv) Rollover minutes. Only cingular provides rollover minutes. This is important because every month you will have some leftover in your available minutes. Why to waste those minutes, if those minutes are rolled over and available for the next month you can utilize those minutes. Eg, you can keep accumulating your minutes over the year for the months when you talk to your friends the most like the month of Diwali, Christmas, New Year etc.

You may find local cellular companies also in your region. I have heard of one such in California. They operate only in California. That is the only drawback, but they offer very good service at a very low cost. I don’t know the name of the carrier(todo: update the name of the carrier)

Finance

Mint(www.mint.com)
Quicken(www.quicken.com)
Microsoft money
Automatic money manager

Banking options

If you have some extra cash to save consider opening some direct banking accounts/money market accounts. Direct banking accounts are somewhat different from normal checking accounts. They don't have regular branches around the corner of the street and withdrawal of money is not very straightforward. They save money in these frills but in turn provide a very good interest rate.Few direct banking accounts you can consder

http://www.ingdirect.com
Capital One High yielding Money Market account http://www.capitalone.com
https://www.emigrantdirect.com/

Credit Cards

Good read

www.techcrunch.com - technology updates

www.pickthebrain.com

http://www.iwillchangeyourlife.com

http://www.43things.com

www.stevepavlina.com/

Classifieds

www.housingmaps.com (All over US)

www.sulekha.com (Only some states and cities)

http://craigslist.org/ (All over US)

http://localfiles.com/ (Only some states and cities)

Deals

www.buy.com

www.deals2buy.com

www.dealsofamerica.com

www.woot.com

http://salescircular।com/

http://slickdeals.net/

Added after comments from readers

DealTaker.com

Daddyodeals.com

And last but not the least, your last resort ;)

www.google.com

Baba Ramdev: A scapegoat for politicians

2008-01-14T10:47:00.001-05:00

As a part of blogs consolidation I am importing this blogs from my other existing blogs

Post Title - Baba Ramdev: A scapegoat for politicians

Original Post Date – Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Post –

Yet another attempt is being made to defame the much honoured and respected Baba Ramdev. Baba Ramdev is like Patanjali muni for the current times. He has made Yoga, the ancient excersise, very famous. Yog is not only physical excercise it is a way of life. it is a mental exercise also. Baba Ramdev spectacularly brought back this ancient indian expertise into limelight. Millions of people have attended the yog camp arranged by him. And millions have benefitted by his cure. When we watch television we can see how his yog camps heals, how he alleviate the pains and brings joys and laughter to the lives for people. Instances like loosing 10 KG in 10 days, chronic diseases cured in 10 days are very commonly heard in his camps. People started believing in the magical powers of Yoga.
When I used to read Nirogadham in early 90s at that time there were handful of people who use to appreciate its power. Nowadays one out of ten people will tell you that Yoga is miraculaous. Lakhs of people now go out daily in the morning to pratise yoga preached by Baba Ramdev. With this picture in the background it is really heartening that such allegations are made agains him. The person who deserved to be awarded is facing such charges. And charges are also made by none other than Brinda Karat, a communist.
A communist never uses his head before he talks. They will make weird, baseless and logic less comments about anything haphazardly. They have laughable views on Stock markets, private companies and now yoga. I don't understand why nothing goes to their minds. Please spare non political people like Baba Ramdev. Probably she is doing because elections are round the corner in WB and communists want to bring back their strongholds in the state. But I dont understand the logic of achieving that by raking the nonsense issues.
But thatz what the politics is. Raising the unfounded, unwarranted and nonsense issues always

Era of Judeos Laxmans and Kulastes

2008-01-14T10:46:00.001-05:00

As a part of blogs consolidation I am importing this blogs from my other existing blogs

Post Title – Era of Judeos Laxmans and Kulastes

Original Post Date – Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Post –

Not so long back we have seen Judeo and Bangaru laxman taking bribes on television. What started as a big melodrama, sensational story and front page news items ended up with enquiry commisions, courts and courts' dates. And we all know how it will finally end.

What's wrong here - In one of my previous article I said politicians are not bad. In fact, they are one of the most pro-active and hard working part of the society. It is in fact the value system in the society which is to blame for. It is typical "Indian" attitude which has to change. We collectively as Indian encourage corruption, carelessness and unethical behaviour.
But I am not saying that this politians are pure and good. They should be equally blamed. In fact they should not be spared and stringent, strict and immediate action should be taken against them. They are misusing public funds for the long long time. It is only now that they are caught.

Role of media - No one can deny the role of the media in todays world. You cannot stop people to become corrupt. But these are the clearer detterrent for them to become so. Sad part is that it all ends up here only. There are many stories which becomes headlines and then soon vanishes. Very rarely channels take the social responsibility and take the story to its logical conclusion. To quote the example. Madhumita murder shouldn't be quoted in the media if the culprits are roaming freely in the society. They are taking the shelter of law but media can rake these issues and get the culprit punished. Same is the case with Abu Salem.
Lately I was watching interview of Sachin Tendulkar in Aaj Tak. Anchor Prabhu Chawla was bomarding him with his question. He was not interested in what Sachin is answering. The only thing he was interested was creating controversies. He was looking for that "Single Statement" which can become a classic controversy. He was paraphrasing Sachin's statement to give it controversial taste. He was raising unrelated issues and questions to him. This was just an example. Similar things happens in other channels and programs. Media just wants to create stories to fill up its prime time. It does not shows any responsibility beyond that

Communists - Which age you are living?

2008-01-14T10:45:00.003-05:00

As a part of blogs consolidation I am importing this blogs from my other existing blogs

Post Title – Communists - Which age you are living?

Original Post Date – Thursday, December 01, 2005

Post –

Recently, Montek Singh Ahluwalia commented(read lamented) that india has the potential to grow @ of 10% but looking at the coalition politics it simply could not. What a subtle admittance to the helplessness government has in the presence of Left parties. It is loud and clear "AS LONG AS LEFT PARTIES ARE PART OF GOVERNMENT WE CAN'T GROW FREELY"
Left parties are only responsible for keeping the growth of the country at low rate. Had congress goverment had clear majority at the centre BHEL would have disinvested by now. And the Sensex would have been soaring at much more than 9000 as it is now.
What is wrong with the left parties? Left parties are ruling West Bengal for almost half a decade. Mind you, this is the same bengal whose prosperity has lured the British to come and establish business here. And now WB is nowhere in the FDI map. Why?? It is very discouraging.
Left is living in the Karl Marx' regime. It still believes that communism is a valid philosophy. But the history has shown that communism has failed badly all over the world. Communist USSR is broken into many part. Even, China is now inviting FDI to spur its growth. But why communists in India are so ignorant. Communism is a utopian concept. Any society where Human beings are inhabited cannot accept ideal communism. Human instincts like competition, having more than other, and have social disparity cannot be suppressed. There would be no motivation to work hard if everyone is going to get the same irrespective of the quality or amount of work. As simple as that. Human nature is like that.
In short, Communist should come out of their shells and see the world has changed too much since Karl Marx. Foreign investment, free trade, globalization are the buzz of the era and the only mantra for survival and econonmical prosperity

Much ado about nothing

2008-01-14T10:43:00.000-05:00

As a part of my blogs consolidation process, I am importing the following blog from one of my old blog(http://political-viewpoint.blogspot.com/). This blog was originally written on Tuesday, March 07, 2006.

It has got one comment from Praveen(http://www.blogger.com/profile/15505567619444159599) and the comment says
----------------------------
Well n good!
For a moment forget about the unprecendented sympathy. Someone killed her, that's the fact. Media sometimes do a good thing. So, the case has been reopened and we do hope for justice. I tell you, there is absolutely no sympathy... who has that time? But if the culprits are brought to justice, we will be happy. If the culprits are from "leaders" category, we will be happier, definitely:)
---------------------

Thanks Praveen for the comments. Here goes the blog

Much ado about nothing

There is so much fuss over the Jessica Lal case in the media. It is only because the case got too much of media coverage therefore this case is gaining unprecedented sympathy from the people. But it should not be forgotten that daily a number of such cases occur in the country. And most of these crimes are committed by affluent people in the society. Political leaders, business tycoons and their relative never ever care about the law. It might sound strange but the truth is that the influential people carry very low and negative attitude towards the law. They think that as long as they have power and money they can do anything. From the moment they wake up to the time they to got sleep they are ridden with the same impudence and arrogance. It is obvious from the way they behave in the society that given the loopholes in the legal system and the power of he money they don't have to care a little to abide by the law.

Excerpts from - The Greatness Guide by Robin Sharma

2007-05-07T23:23:00.001-04:00

The Greatness Guide

1) I’m no guru

2) Harvey Keitel and windows of opportunity

3) Nothing fails like success

4) Be a rock star at work. Being wildly passionate about your To-Do’s. You don’t need to have the biggest title to do the best job.

5) Your days define your life.

6) Drink coffee with Gandhi

7) Get some skin in the game. Fail faster succeed sooner. The real risk lies in risk-less living. You can’t win the game that you don’t even play

8) Be into breezes

9) Make time to thing. There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

10) Leadership beings with extra mile.

11) Mick Jagger and reference points.

12) Business is relationships.

13) Life lessons from

i) Be the eternal optimist.

ii) Value people.

iii) Be an original.

iv) Laugh and have fun.

14) How to be a happier human. The things that get scheduled are the things that get done. List 10 things that fill your heart with joy.

15) Work hard get lucky.

16) Know your genius.

Focus + daily improvement + time = genius

17) Listen twice as much you speak. Never talk when you can nod.

18) Your customer buy with their heart

19) Learn to say NO.

20) Burn your boats.

21) Grow leaders fast.

22) Your four minute pride.

23) Push the envelope.

24) On obituaries and meaning of life.

You can’t hit the target you can’t even see.

25) Leadership isn’t a popularity contest.

26) What do you evangelize?

27) Under the kimono. My best practices. What are my best practices?

28) Culture is the king.

29) Your schedule doesn’t lie.

What are you doing speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying.

Walk the talk.

30) Shine as a parent.

Kids grow up unbelievably fast. Blink and they are gone, living lives of their own.

i) Lead by example.

ii) Develop your children.

iii) Inspire your kinds.

iv) Tell them you can do whatever you want when you grow up.

v) Tell them to never give up.

vi) Tell them that whatever you do, do it well.

vii) And tell them that Your Dad Loves you.

31) Be a merchant of WOW.

32) Getting what you want while loving what you have.

33) Think like a CEO.

34) Act like an Athlete.

The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret.

35) Be wildly enthusiastic.

36) Success isn’t sexy.

37) On cuddle parties and the sad state of the world.

38) The value of good.

39) Grace under pressure.

40) To be more productive, relax and have more fun.

41) The two magic words – Thank You

42) The value of dying daily. When the sun shone and the shops were invitingly open, alas, I forgot my shopping. Now the night is fallen- and I remember my shopping.

43) Client focussed v/s out for lunch.

44) Lead without title.

45) Do your part. If you think your’re small to have an impcatct, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room. Make a list of tings you don’t like about your country, organisation, life. Then do your part to improve them one by one.

46) Do your play.

47) Avoid the “Four F’s syndrome”

i) Fear

ii) Failure

iii) Forgetting

Better awareness, better choices.

Better choices, better results.

iv) Faith

48) Problem reveals the genius.

49) Love your irritations.

50) Speak like a superstar. Write inventories of words you most frequently speak.

51) Learning or decaying. Never leave home without a book in your hand.

52) Simple tactics for superb relationships.

Ideas for building human connection.

i) Be the most positive person you know.

ii) Be candid and speak truthfully.

iii) Be on time.

iv) Say please and thank you.

v) Under promise and over deliver.

vi) Leave people better than you found them.

vii) Be friendly and caring.

viii) Be a world class Listener.

ix) Become passionately interested in other people.

x) Smail a lot.

53) Roack stars as poets.

54) The innovators mantra. The enemy of best is good.

55) Pleasures is happiness.

56) The $600 sandwich.

OAD – Obsessive attention to detail.

Take the personal responsibility.

Pay attention.

57) Good business is good for business.

58) Build success structures.

59) The person who experiences most wins.

60) Brand like Diddy. I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.

61) Get into blessings.

62) Be wise, early rise

The space shuttle uses more fuel during the first few minutes after liftoff than it consumes during its entire trip around the globe. Building good new habits consume more efforts in the beginning.

There will be plenty of time to sleep when you are dead.

63) Whoe made success a dirty word?

64) Get great at life

i) Pay attention to life

Try to write a journal each morning. Think about the goals you need to accomplish for your to feel this day has been a success and write them down. Think of your closely held values. Learnings of the previous day.

ii) Engage in life.

iii) Enjoy life.

65) The Steve Jobs question – “What could I do if this was the last night of my life?”

66) What’s missing from your coolness.

67) No risk, no get.

68) Sell your desk.

69) Get fit to lead.

Exercise is the insurance policy I’ve taken out on my health. And each day I go into the gym, I ‘m paying the premium.

70) Extreme leadership is a kids’ clothing.

Improve

Observe

Connect.

Adapt.

71) The seven forms of wealth

i) Inner wealth.

ii) Physical wealth.

iii) Family and social wealth.

iv) Career wealth.

v) Economic wealth.

vi) Adventure wealth.

vii) Impact wealth.

72) Aplly the U2 standard.

73) LEarn more to earn more. Become indispensable.

74) See through the eyes of understanding.

75) The heart of your house. If you don’t know where are you going, then how will you know when you get there? Can you hit a target you don’t see?

76) Become an inspirational human being.

77) Make a dent in the universe.

78) Not all leaders are the same.

79) Six reasons to set goals

i) Focus.

ii) Growth.

iii) Intentionality.

iv) Measurement.

v) Alignment.

vi) Inspiration.

80) Remember the boomerang effect.

81) Make people feel good.

82) Commit to first class. Quality is remembered long time after price is forgotten.

83) Do a clean sweep.

84) Follow the million dollar baby rule.

85) The earth is small.

86) Guests are good.

87) The beauty of time.

88) On mountains and mastering change.

i) Define what the mountaintop looks like.

ii) Start climbing.

iii) Take small steps.

89) What happened to “Please”?

Commons is anything but common.

90) Bon Jovi and the power of focus.

The person who chases two rabbits chases neither.

91) Do a “101 things to do before I die” list.

92) Spend time with your kids.

93) Get goofy at work. The company that plays together stays together.

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

94) Revere great design.

95) On Evian water and you as a big-time dreamer.

96) Be like Garth.

97) Don’t give up.

I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.

98) Get big on self care.

99) Guess who inspires me?

100) How to life forever?

Every one of us will die. But so few of us really live.

101) Lay claim to greatness.

Excerpts from Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy

2007-03-17T23:01:00.001-04:00

I liked following ideas in the book. There are many other ideas and techniques. But these are the ones I found most important.

The ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to finish it completely, is the key to great success, achievement, respect, status and happiness in life.
You need three key qualities to develop the habits of focus and concentration. They are all learnable. They are decision, discipline
and determination.
One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.
Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.
Your weakest key result area sets the height at which you can use all your other skills and abilities.
Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.
By the yard it's hard; but inch by inch, anything is a cinch!
Difficulties come not to obstruct, but to instruct.
You can only get your time and your life under control to the degree to which you discontinue lower value activities.

The summary of the book is as below

Here is a summary of the 21 Great Ways to stop procrastinating and get more things done faster. Review these rules and principles regularly until they become firmly ingrained in your thinking and actions and your future will be guaranteed.

Set the table: Decide exactly what you want. Clarity is essential. Write out your goals and objectives before you begin;
Plan every day in advance: Think on paper. Every minute you spend in planning can save you five or ten minutes in execution;
Apply the 80/20 Rule to everything: Twenty percent of your activities will account for eighty percent of your results. Always concentrate your efforts on that top twenty percent;
Consider the consequences: Your most important tasks and priorities are those that can have the most serious consequences, positive or negative, on your life or work. Focus on these above all else;
Practice the ABCDE Method continually: Before you begin work on a list of tasks, take a few moments to organize them by value and priority so you can be sure of working on your most important activities:
Focus on key result areas: Identify and determine those results that you absolutely, positively have to get to do your job well, and work on them all day long;
The Law of Forced Efficiency: There is never enough time to do everything but there is always enough time to do the most important things. What are they?
Prepare thoroughly before you begin: Proper prior preparation prevents poor performance;
Do your homework: The more knowledgeable and skilled you become at your key tasks, the faster you start them and the sooner you get them done;
Leverage your special talents: Determine exactly what it is that you are very good at doing, or could be very good at, and throw your whole heart into doing those specific things very, very well:
Identify your key constraints: Determine the bottlenecks or chokepoints, internally or externally, that set the speed at which you achieve your most important goals and focus on alleviating them;
Take it one oil barrel at a time: You can accomplish the biggest and most complicated job if you just complete it one step at a time;
Put the pressure on yourself: Imagine that you have to leave town for a month and work as if you had to get all your major tasks completed before you left;
Maximize your personal powers: Identify your periods of highest mental and physical energy each day and structure your most important and demanding tasks around these times. Get lots of rest so you can perform at your best;
Motivate yourself into action: Be your own cheerleader. Look for the good in every situation. Focus on the solution rather than the problem. Always be optimistic and constructive;
Practice creative procrastination: Since you can’t do everything, you must learn to deliberately put off those tasks that are of low value so that you have enough time to do the few things that really count;
Do the most difficult task first: Begin each day with your most difficult task, the one task that can make the greatest contribution to yourself and your work, and resolve to stay at it until it is complete:
Slice and dice the task: Break large, complex tasks down into bite sized pieces and then just do one small part of the task to get started;
Create large chunks of time: Organize your days around large blocks of time where you can concentrate for extended periods on your most important tasks;
Develop a sense of urgency: Make a habit of moving fast on your key tasks. Become known as a person who does things quickly and well;
Single handle every task: Set clear priorities, start immediately on your most important task and then work without stopping until the job is 100% complete. This is the real key to high performance and maximum personal productivity.

One-liner wisdoms by Robin Sharma

2007-03-10T23:04:00.000-05:00

The harder you are on yourself, the easier life will be on you.
Your schedule doesn't lie.
Nothing fails like success.
When you give your best to life, life gives it's best to you.
The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret.
The purpose of life is life of purpose.
Awareness preceds choice, choice preceds results.
We don't laugh because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh.
Leaders don't do easy things, they do right things.
The real risk lies in the riskless living.
The only failure is failure to try.
How hard do you play when no one is watching.
Life is just too short to play Little.
You dont need to have the biggest title to do the best job
Every time you say YES to some thing that is unimportant,you say NO to some thing that is important.

Investment wisdom by Warren Buffet

2007-03-10T23:00:00.000-05:00

Warren Buffet

You can't make a good deal with a bad person.
Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.
A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
What we learn from history is that people don't learn from history.
It's easier to stay out of trouble than it is to get out of trouble.
You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because someday a fool will.
With enough inside information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year.
No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.
Our method is very simple. We just try to buy businesses with good-to-superb underlying economics run by honest and able people and buy them at sensible prices. That's all I'm trying to do.