Finally...another post and a License to Drive.

I am a real lazy person. I keep reminding myself to update my blog everyday warning that nobody will ever visit it again unless I keep on updating it.
Lot of things have happended since i did my last posting. I finally got my Driver's License on my first attempt(I am really proud to say that) which i thought i never would. I did that although it was not without some drama. This might make sense to somebody who has actually driven on the snow and how it feels. Sometimes it literally feels if your car is on skates. Anyway I had it planned on Nov.15 which turned out be a really bad day with snow showers and all and postponed it to the 30th of November. I don't know what i was thinking when i did that. Was i expecting the weather to all clear up and the sun to come up considering it is my third consecutive winter in Minnesota and what happens during that particular period. I have no idea why i did that. To say the least it did snow during that period and the whole ground was covered with snow. Thanks to my good friend Vinu Antony who was kind enough to tutor me and who drove me to the driving exam station. As soon as i was in there, i knew i was going to get it done no matter what. People had warned me that the driving examiners usually fail drivers in their first attempt. But i was determined not to allow that to undermine my confidence. The driving test was a breeze where i finished all my driving manoevures under the watchfull eye of the examiner. Nothing felt as sweet as when he asked me to do a lane parking and said "You have passed". That was the highest point in my brief driving experience.
Also congratulations to my friend Vinu and his wife Mini who were blessed with a beautiful baby boy Prince Vinu on Nov. 18.

--Muthu...

Day of Moving.

Today has been a long hard day of moving and unmoving stuff.
If its the end of the month and you see lot of furniture around, you know people are moving.
A couple of my friends were moving out and asked for my help in moving and cleaning in their apartment. I have gained a reputation for being the guy who can tell you how to get rid of stains from the carpets/walls or what to use to clean, etc. I think if you have to move in and out of 6 apartments in 18 months you kind of learn all this stuff(But I have settled down now). And to get your security deposit for the apartments after you vacate is no mean feat. Once you have cleaned up, the landlady/caretaker will have an inspection and inform you if you are going to get your money back or not. These inspections were more nerve wracking than the Viva's I have given in my college days(And Believe me those used to be really bad). But nothing is more satisfying than getting your whole deposit back. The thing that i have learned is if you are going to clean up you either clean up the whole thing 100% or don't clean up at all. Once the caretaker gets a small stain on the carpet or an unclean closet you can be pretty sure that they are going to charge you through the roof for it.
That's the advice that i give to all my friends when they move out.
And finally not to mention all the things that are moved out mainly the furniture and the mad rush to claim it.
I think I will wait for another day to write about the relationship between moving out and furniture in the garbage cans.
One of my good friend is going to India tomorrow and so i had planned to send a video recording of me driving a car. I am sure it doesn't sound like a big deal but I think it will be for my parents and my sister when they see me driving my Honda Accord 1998.
I have promised one of my neighbour that I will help him move.
Oh my back hurts!!!!

My first Attempt at Blogging.

This is my first attempt at blogging. I have been surfing and reading blogs in what seems like an eternity to me and wanted some place to add my views and thoughts about stuff.
So here is my first crude attempt at blogging.
The first thing that striked me when I started creating my blog was while selecting a title.
All the better names have been taken, so it kind of made me feel that I have joined this community later than i should have. So after going through all the permutations and combinations of the names that I had in my head( It wasn't a lot, I must confess), I settled on the name "Valkai" a Tamil word which means life. Must have given you a hint as to which part of India I am originally from(If you hadn't already judged by my name), although i consider myself a Mumbaiite having been born and brought up in Mumbai.
So here I am with my first blog and making a point to myself to update it with my thoughts as and when i can.