Renting A Car

A lot of new experiences to share with those who have faith !

After living for a week in San Carlos city of Sanfransisco, its been pretty un-exciting except for 2 trips to down town SFO for -
1.The Giants game (Barry Bonds last game) &
2.Flex Camp.

Today we picked up a beautiful Silver Toyota from the rental.

We could not have picked a better day, since the weather was beautiful. What was not glorious though was that the place was all closed for the Sanfransisco Gran Prix within San Jose.

With Parag as the navigator we managed to drive from SanJose to Sunnyvale near the Indian resturant area. We lunched at Lucky da Dhabba and shopped at the Indian shopping joint Cash and Carry (sounds too cliche).

The Car would not start when we tried after lunch. The battery was totally dead. The reason for the drained battery can only be due to the headlights or something which was accidentally turned on.

Finally we met Giri who saved the day and jumped the battery by plugging the jumper cables to his car. This was after asking a couple of people for help outside the shopping mall.

For me it was Gods grace to finally make it back to the hotel with the vehicle instead of calling the mechanic shop. 

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My Treak at Lohagad

A bunch of us drove to Malouli railway station which is close to Lonavla. On the way we made a memorable stop at Sher-e-punjab for breakfast. The stop appears a few kms after Hinjewadi Bridge (a highway resturant & bar ).

The travel time to the village at the foothills (Bajra) of Lohagad was approximately 1:45 mins (including our pitstop). As soon as we parked our vehicles at Bajra, we attacked the first waterfall with full enthusiasm. Reminds me of the trip to the waterfalls at Chennai border. We made the trip after our first Intranet launch.


Scaling the waterfall was fun, considering my shoes kept slipping on the rocks (Note:Wear shoes with strong grip). Arif,Kiran, Ravi and Rohan all managed their first rush of adrenalin. By Gods grace, We managed to climb up and down 2 floors like pros i.e. s/w pros.

Pics are coming soon ...  (Courtesy Ravi,Vinod,Kiran)
The trek begins ... We are 11 nuts about to embark on a lifechanging experience.

< What happened during the trek ?  Watch for the next episode ... >

At last the trek is over , our lives are changed.

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Howto apply for International Drivers Permit in Pune

Dear Drivers,

Having experienced the process of applying for an International Drivers Permit or IDP as its called at Pune RTO, thought of giving all of you a first hand account of the same.

Some rules to follow for attaining your IDP :

1. Do not go through a driving school (They charge you Rs1200 when it costs only Rs.500)
2. Do not be lazy and try the easy way out at all cost.
3. Please help the RTO by getting the required documents (explained below)
4. Plan ahead and dont reveal your date of travel to anyone at the RTO.

Documents Required :

1. 4 Photographs
2. Photocopy (Xerox) of Passport(Address page,Photo ID & Visa pages)
3. Photocopy of License (Photo Id and Address)
4. Medical Certificate (got mine from a bloke at Pune RTO for Rs.50)
5. Cash Rs.500 as Payment for IDP (All Forms are free).
6. Also carry the originals - Passport and License.
7. Ticket is not necessary. In case they ask you can tell them its on Waiting List.

Some Issues you may face :

1. The address on the Passport and License are not the same (dont fret)
2. The Passport may have Mumbai address and License may have Pune address (still dont fret)

Steps to get the License :

1. Drive to the RTO with the documents and the form filled if you got it earlier.
2. Be sure to go early to get the Officials when they are active.
3. Submit it in the main office of RTO (ask around for the IDP section).
4. Get the Form verified by the Bada Sahab (They actually check your face and the faces on the passport and license you carry with you).
5. Dont give your documents to anyone unless they are sitting at a desk and look bored.
6. Make the payment (Rs. 500 circa 2007 BC.) at the Counter (No. 24 when I went 10 days back).
7. Collect your IDP after a day and Voila you are done.

Form Downloads (Updated Dec 2012) :

1. 4A -- http://rto.kar.nic.in/idpform4A.pdf
2. 1A -- http://www.indiandrivingschools.com/rto-forms.html

Disclaimer : In case you have any issues at the RTO please, dont hold me accountable for headaches,brain damage or other mental injuries.

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Ally you are not alone

The Lethargy syndrome begins when work is aplenty and the thoughts move faster than the fingers that fly across the computer- then how i wish i could just sit back and be the gadget freak to record my thots that get converted into text into a ready made format that I wish for.

Musings

Bar Camp 3

Finally committed to attend Bar Camp which has been on
my wish list for some time.

Please excuse the fact that there is not much of blogging on
this site, since I'm more of a reader than a writer.

Would be posting some live blog entries during the program.
Hurray to open source journalism.

Tune in same time same place for some Tazza Khabar (Hot News)
http://campingthoughts.blogspot.com