Buying our first car in Pune

Engineers of analytical minds do their research on everything...so did we and shortlisted three cars, one of them soon to be my Dhanno to take me thru' the busy and narrow streets of Pune. The criteria for selection was: stylistic looks, ease of driving and fuel efficiency. Based on this we had three cars picked, i.e Maruti Swift, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagon Polo.

The next logical thing was to visit the showrooms, so we stared with Maruti dealer, being close to home. It seems like every third car owner drives a Maruti and one would imagine they must have the best service! We entered the showroom and felt what P. L Deshpande said about Puner's shopowners...."The least important thing in a shop is the customer". The salesman gave us price quotes and said he didn't have time to take us for a test drive but he would bring the car home the next day and let us drive it....Haven't heard from him yet.!

The Hyundai guys were typical car salesman..they are still calling me even though I have told them thrice that I have decided against it. The i10 is a good car and I wanted to get it mainly because of the Automatic model...dealing with a manual car in Pune traffic is surely overwhelming...but I told myself if so many others can drive, so can I :-)

Last but not least we visited the B.U.Bhandari showroom for checking out the VW Polo...we were so impressed by the overall customer service (the CCD coffee served was not the best :-) though). The team was professional and knowledgeable about the features and functions. Chris took the car for a spin and loved the pickup and felt he could "race" in the car....obviously decision was made and we walked out handing over the payment check! The red color is stunning and we decided to go with the diesel version - Polo TDI. The petrol prices are at all time high, costing more than Beer. People say "Just Drink", don't Drive!

Another brownie point for the VW dealer, they have a registrar on staff and he certified all my docs, making it easy to purchase despite the NRI status...Maruti and Hyundai didn't offer this service and it was another hassle I would have had to deal with. I have managed to get the car out a few times and having a lil too much fun with the 1st gear :-))) especially when I stall at the signal...the honking in all directions is becoming music to my ears now!!!!

...Happy driving!!

Young Adult Speaks - The Art of Living way!

Over the past month School has been great! It's not like US school's, it is really very much different. First of all it is a little longer than my old school, but I don't really mind it. The bus ride is a long one - almost one hour from our temporary house. The drive is rather scenic so time flies by and now we have a group of us back benchers who can get naughty!!!

Our Young Adult now has Glasses!

  Once we arrive at the school at 8.00 am, we go to our class for prayers. After prayers all the kids go for Kriya. In Kriya there are three parts: 1. Bastrika, 2. Sudarshan Kriya and 3. Ending Mantra.
In Bastrika you have to sit in Vajrasan and perform breathing through your nose and stick you hand up in the air with open palms. This is one count, we do 15 counts per round and three rounds total. In Sudarshan Kriya, we take two breaths thru' our nose and then say very softly, " Ha Ha". Then we say Ho Ho, so we alternate breathing between the " Ha's and Ho's". We end this by a mantra and head out for assembly.

In assembly each class takes turn to say daily news, thought of the day and upcoming events. After assembly we go down to our class for a delicious hot breakfast...of course I enjoy that thoroughly :-)

The classes start at 9.00 and we follow the time table set in the beginning of school year. Every day we have different classes. In US we follow the same schedule everyday, here it varies. We are also doing special classes. Every week we have three Taekwondo lessons and for my elective, I am learning Harmonium. It is sorta similar to Piano and since I have learnt piano for 3 years, I am finding it easy to grasp.

Sanskrit! Yes I am learning it and its pretty easy actually. Infact I told Aai that I would rather do Sanskrit than German when I go to 9th grade :-)

Shastravahini - This is a special program our school is running and it focuses on different engineering disciplines and modeling. Never thought I could do hands on engineering and find it so interesting!

Overall, I am really learning many different things at school, music, academics and martial arts. I look forward to it each day and I really LIKE ALL THE KIDS. They are so warm and friendly and even if there are fights, I feel there is more understanding amongst kids. I like the value education class they teach us to make right choices, even though they are not always easy :-)) Ask your parents about moving back and join SSRVM, you'll will love it just as I do.

I don't much like the amount of Homework and School on 1st and 3rd Saturdays, but I can live!

Do keep reading and let me know what you want to hear more about..

-Sid!

Koffee with Kanish - (Being Class Monitor)

1. Kanish, it has been 6 weeks since you moved to Pune, How does it feel?
I feel much more relaxed and I am enjoying my routine now. The bus ride felt long in the beginning but now that I have made friends on the bus, I enjoy our time. I also feel good to teach them how to solve the Rubiks Cube. They all think I am smart because I can solve the cube in less than 2 minutes...:-)))

2. I hear you didn't like the first few days of school, why is that?
Because it was too loud for me and I was not able to study properly. My teacher said, "you can get cotton balls", now she says I am one of them :-)

3. Have you made any new friends?
I have made 5 friends their names are Ishan, Karan, Aniketh, Aditya and Mohinesh. They all are very nice to me. 

Mr. Goofy Answers...

4. So anything exciting happening in school?
YES!!!I Became The Class Monitor For The First Semester. I got 15 out of 24 votes...so am feeling pretty excited! It felt so nice to be chosen by my classmates even though I am new in the class. 

5. What is your plan for your classroom?
My plan is to make my classroom cleaner.

6. That is nice, but what have you done about it?
I made an announcement in my classroom and told kids separately that we should not litter because we are not cleaning it up, the Maushi's are. 

7. Is there anything you miss terribly from US?
YES my best of friend Atharva and also Dad since he has not moved here yet. I hope he can sell our house and come here soon. It is not the same without him, even though he is strict, I miss him so much as I learn so much from him everyday, especially when I do my projects. I also miss Neilu, he is so cute..and Dipti Maushi and Gautam and Gayatri. 

8. Is there anything you like to say to your friends in US?
Yes I miss you more then anything else and am looking forward to coming there next summer to see you all. I also want them to come here and stay with us. 

9. Do you think you are doing better in Pune or was it better in US?
I still haven't decided, but I have a feeling I will do better in Pune. I also enjoy spending time with the kids in our society and playing with them downstairs. We play cricket and hide and seek and we also play small pranks :-) :-) I can't say everything we have done so far :-)

10. Oh and have you missed your Steak yet?
Yeah...that I miss for sure. But when Dad comes here he can make it for me, he makes the best Steak.