Warning: Larry's Auto Works

I have a 99 mercedes benz SLK-230. I had been taking it for service to the Mercedes dealers in the area till the extended warranty expired this year. So, I decided to search around to find something cheaper than a dealer but reputable and found Larry's Auto Works. They seemed to have a very high rating online, and this is my effort to rate them as they should be. They are 50% to 100% more expensive than even the Mercedes Benz dealers (San Francisco). Please avoid them.

I wanted a service B done. They called me to tell that I should replace 2 tires, replace battery, change all the belts and do a brake fluid flush. I agreed to the last two while noting the high charge for them. Then I researched around and found that even the Merc dealors charged much less for exactly the same service. I had no option but to pay when getting my car back, but noted my complaint.

Brake fluid flush (parts+labor)
Larrys - 42.84+158.20 = $201.04
Multiple Merc Dealers in the same area - $99

Renew drive belts (parts+labor)
Larrys - 97+195.60 = $292.60
Multiple Merc Dealers in the same area - $225.60

Hiking Mount Silliman

Mount Silliman is a 11188 ft peak in the Sierra mountains within Sequoia NP. A group of 8 from the Loma Prieta chapter of Sierra Club hiked it in 2 days on a beautiful July weekend. It was the first Sierra Peak climbing for me, but most of the team were avid and experienced mountaineers.


We left San Jose Bay Area at around 6 pm, reaching our roadside camping spot in the Sierra Forest near waypoint ROWL01 (about 8 miles south from The Wye) around 11 pm. Slept under the starry nights in a sleeping bag only - another first for me. We got up at 6 am, drove to Wuksachi Lodge down the road, where we had a sumptuous buffet breakfast. We met up at the Twin Lakes trailhead (altitude of 6700 ft) near Lodgepole, and started the hike at 9 am. The initial hike for about 1 hour (2-mile) was along a well-designated easy twin-lakes trail. We reached Silliman creek at about 10:15 am and left the main trail to walk along the right of the Silliman creek on a little trail. It was a quite easy trail to follow for the next hour or so, albeit we had to keep a lookout not to loose the trail. At 11 am after a steadily rising hike, we reached the slabs. The slabs is an imposing granite slope for over a mile. The left side of the slabs were steeper will no cracks or vegetation, but the right side had an easier hike up shielded by trees, shrubs and cracks. We choose to go up the right side half-way, and then switched to climbing straight along the slabs. It was a bit tiring, specially with the heavy backpacks on us. We noticed that one group choose to set camp before the slab climbing, so as to not carry up the fully loaded backpacks. At the top of the slabs, we veered right to reach the Silliman Lake - our camping spot for the night - around 1:30 pm. It was at an altitude of 10000 ft, so we had gained about 3300 ft in a 5 mile hike. The lake has a lovely grassy meadow for camping, where we promptly set up camp. The alpine lake looked inviting after the hot hike, and many of us jumped in for a refreshing swim. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazying around and chatting till dinner time at 6. I had got a Mountain House noodles from REI, and one had to pour hot water and the dish was done in 10 minutes. The sunset was spectacular, lighting up the sierra rock with a golden hue.

Next day, we woke up at 6, and started climbing the peak promptly at 7. It was a 1200 ft climb in a steep 1 mile hike, but there was class II trails to climb up. We reached the peak at about 8:15, and was greeted with a spectacular 360 degree view of the ranges all around. The central valley plains was visible at a distance too, though covered with smog. The peak had a USGS marker designating it as one of the 240 or so Sierra peaks. It also had a register for all the peak climbers to sign and mark their presence. We started back at 9 and was back at the campsite in an hour. Thereafter we broke camp, and started the hike back to the trailhead about 10:30 am, reaching it in 3 hours flat. The climb down the slabs was a bit tricky, but the vibram soles on my boots were very effective in sticking onto the granite. There are quite a few hike down along the left-side through the trees, which seemed easier to climb down.


It was a lovely short hike and a terrific introduction to backpacking for me, finally graduating from car-camping and day hiking.

Behind Enemy Lines

Had been meaning to write this blog for a long long time --- more than a couple of months. And lack of time counts as one of the reasons. But, more importantly I wanted to wait this long in order to be completely sure. And now the time has come to pen down the reasons that drove me to take the most important career decisions I have taken till date.
In short, I switched from one wireless startup to another - M to A. Both are the leading startups in the enterprise wireless LAN, and it by no means an easy decision. But, I am so glad I could take it. I am going to replace the companies by M and A, as I don't want to land up on google's first page.

It all started late last summer at M. After one of the most thrilling learning experiences over the past one year, I started feeling a bit stifled. I got to do core engineering projects, live customer supporting, and some very innovative unique stuff. But, somehow I felt I was not utilizing my capacity to my full potential. I worked on a few wireless projects, but primarily i was closeted in algorithms, "coordinating" stuff. Very interesting needless to say and in the core IP of M. I wanted to get into wireless/driver stuff which would nicely complement my skillset in routing/protocols/algorithms. Now, I would have gotten the chance to work in that area had I asked, as I did get when I resigned, but ......
Some things are best left unsaid, and it would suffice to say that I could not see my career going in the direction I wanted it to take in M.

I have a strong desire to shift base to bangalore from bay area in the next 3 years. And obviously, working in a startup there funded from here, which has already started booming. So, I needed to round off my wireless experitise by getting a chance to work in the actual driver/madwifi level. And also get to know more people, which will definitely be useful in the grander scheme of things.

A while still being a startup offered some of the things which I deemed as necessary, namely, the process that is needed in growing a big company, and some of the discipline. Also, as it was growing very fast, they would be looking to expand into a variety of related fields, like mesh and sensor, which are close my heart. So, while still getting the startup thrill, I would get the biggie experience.

Plus of course, A was going IPO soon, and it meant big bucks, along with a really nice raise. While I was (and still am) confident of M's future, it seemed too far off, and I needed to get one of opportunity before leaving for bangi.

So, when I was courted by A, I finally responded and interviewed, and liked the people. They liked me too. But, I had committed to take part in a challenging project for M, and I wanted to complete that. It was going to be in Bangalore working with M's team there, providing me also with an oppourtunity to get to know first hand my soon to be home. But, primarily it was the project - a very challenging and innovative one, one that would provide me with intellectual stimuation. So, we finished the project in the next 2/3 months, and gave a demo at a sales conference. That being done on wednesday, I left for Portland for a day to solve an issue we were having with Intel. These were the 2 things on my plate, and having completed them, took that as a swan song and resigned.

At M, I had the opportunity with some fantastic collegues and awesome bosses. That definitely is something I would treasure; the amount of mentoring I got from my boss who hand-held me into industry will always be an inspiration. That definitely made is harder to leave M, as I was indebted to him. And I felt completely emotionally drained when I was trying to explain my reasons on that fateful day I resigned and walked out. But, when my boss blessed my decision, I felt elated. I had nothing I cared about M more.

One minor aspect was, some of the M thriftiness in terms of equipment, etc was rubbing onto me. This is of course very natural at a startup M's size, but I was clearly not used to it, and it was hampering my productivity. At A, a big flatscreen, a sniffer laptop, a IBM thinkpad all awaited me, along with a whole of of different APs and switches. And I got all the equiments I wanted immediately within the hour or day. When I mentioned it to a M friend, he mentioned that's that norm actually; M had lowered my expections so much that i felt happy with anything. I guess, this was also brought about in part by my spending 5 years at one of the richest private universities in this country, under a super-famous and hence super-rich advisor.

One more interesting difference in the otherwise strikingly similar companies was the people. At M, other than the core founders, there was only a bunch of people who had been there more that 2 years. Most had resigned, some sacked. This was in stark contrast to A, where almost everyone who had joined since day 1 had stayed on. And I am not drawing any conclusions here, but a moot point. One nice thing was the very open and transparency here; the ceo/founder/execs come over every friday at 4 and talk about whats happening, sharing with us all the ups and downs.

And the IPO when it happened on 27 March was a treat to watch. The shear joy and pride on that fateful day on all the founders and early engineers faces was so evident. It brings a aweful lot of money. But, it's much much bigger than that. It's the pride of having identified a gap, conceptualized an idea to fill it, working asses off to realize that dream, and then giving birth to a public enterprise. The whole morning was awash in celebrations, champagne, and folling the stock on a big screen. We were all made co-founders of A - the public company; a very nice gesture from the founder.

IPO !!!

Times Square, New York





























At the end of first day at NASDAQ, after opening at $11. Recording a 29% gain on the first day.

Amar naam, tomar naam. Nandigram, Nandigram

Don't know where to begin. Felt bottomless anguish at the shocking incidents happening in Nandigram for a long time; since december, when I was in India reading first-hand about the terrible incidents. And frankly, was too shocked to express an opinion; more so as I am in general an ardent fan of communist theory. But one fine Sunday, I received from two friends emails expressing their opinion to me about these incidents, as they well knew of my leftist leanings.

Firstly, I can't fanthom these shocking episodes. How on earth can a people's party kill so many people mercilessly. And these killers are obviously CPIM hoodlums with blessings from the highest command; that's the only way to explain this from a strict cadre-based disciplined party. And how can "Buddha be smiling"? A state can dispossess people from their land, if there is an urgent and necessary reason; that too, there are checks and balances put forth through the judicial system. But, not for taking the land only to give it to a big industrialist house; that too land that is so fertile, that it can bear three crops a year (tin fosla). The farmers were promised jobs in the industry created, but it will definitely be hard to retool these poor people onto some industrial jobs. But, whatever right or wrong the reason is, one just cannot kill people for any cause. That is so inhuman, so ancient, so brutal. Capital punishment for murderers or rapists I can fanthom, but for protesting against their livelihood being taken away? no way.

Harekrishna Kongar, the architect of the land reforms movement in Bengal, when the communists came to power in 1977, and the reason for Bengal being a red bastion for so long, must be turning in his grave. And the main minister implementing these are none other than the own brother of Kongar. I do hope the government if not the state, then the central government, will take immediate steps to rectify this terror unleashed by the ruling party.

Secondly, this is NOT communism. This can ever be, and is not the communism that I adore. CPI(M) is a democratically elected party which is doing these. So, it cannot be said the usual saying that power corrupts, and communism's weakness if the lack of a formal method to change the government. That is a weakness, definitely; but not in this case. Honestly, this is the hallmark of the capitalism, the very reasons I have a distinct allergy to an uncontrolled version of it. Rich industrialist houses massacaring the poor peasants for creating further riches, at the expense of the livelehood of the masses. This is the very reason I adore communism, because
this is what it exactly tried to prevent. The "sorbohara"-der party protects the weak, the unable, the under-privilaged. It is the Robin Hood of the world. This is why I worship Che Guevara, the reason I look forward to making a pilgrimage to Cuba soon.

I voted for BJP when I had the privilage of living in my country. And the only party I could think of voting otherwise was CPIM. Because other than the ideologies we shared, I had deep respect for many of the communist MPs; definitely communist parties in India have the highest proportion of erudite, knowledgable and corruption-free politicians in the country. There are definitely aspects of communist parties which need to change, to evolve, to keep up with the times. But, I always strongly felt the need for a strong left-wing in a country as developing and diverse as India. And was happy that they control 20% of parliament to represent the common man. But, I can never imagine myself voting for this party now. They have crossed the red line. I do fervently hope that sense prevails. Because without a leftist party in the country which is true to itself, incidents like these will be the order of the day in the country; with nary a protest.

The Bluest Eye

This is one of the most poignant proses I have read yet. It proceeded to open up a multitude of different aspects hidden, unheard or forgotten by me.

Firstly, is the author (Toni Morrison)'s challenge of the conventional wisdom of beauty. This book talks about the yearnings of a little black girl to have blue eyes like those pretty white girls in midland USA. The full lips, flared nostrils are still despised in our culture, with such pre-conceived notion of beauty. And the racism and the hatred that this book talks about still prevails in so many parts of the world. I can now have a deeper insight into the rowdy black men everyones scared of over here, the old fat black ladies so polite and courteous. I remember an incident on a greyhound coach, when I was sitting beside an old black lady: she was returning from visiting her daughter and grandchildren and was full of stories about them, made me eat some food she was having as I was looked famished apparently. Incidents like these touch us, books like these make a deep etch. And one yearns to be a better person rising above such petty fastidiousness that seems to engulf so many of us.

A second aspect this nobel prize winning literature opened up for me was the style of writing. The multi-pronged layered approach, interjected by narrations from various sources. The writer gives away the end in the preface, thereby piquing our interest to know more of the painful details.

A third aspect is my getting to read this nobel itself. Made me completely sure that I had made the right choice for my companion. Getting an opportunity to know about and discuss books like these, was what I was missing recently. A whole aspect of me was withering away.

Sweet Home

An unique opportunity got presented to me by my company recently, eagerly egged on by me. Am going to spend a couple of months from Oct-end in Bangalore working on a project from there. Staying in my country after 3 long years, working from there --- a dream come true. Will present me with a first-hand opportunity for seeing the work and life in the silicon valley of India, make contacts, and in general as a preparation for the permanent home-coming soon. Lots of friends over there, plus lots in the making. Will have a solid work+play over there it looks like.
Living on in my dreamy never-land...no, ever-land.

Pulling out of a time capsule

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~santa/terror/
Pulled out the above link from a time capsule of more than 3 years back. A person suggested to me once on reading my vitriolic comments against current day western colonialism and capitalism: put all yours ideas into a time capsule and open it after your enter the real world and see if you feel the same way.

Yes, I still do. I am so glad that I feel every bit of the same resentment and a lot more. My heart still bleeds every night at the merciless killing of innocent humanity, at war, at false democracy, at greedy capitalism and at the increasingly forced divide between the rich and poor. Tears still come streaming down when shown pictures of barbarism. Blood stills boils at hearing the duplicity and double standards. Still shake in frustration at my helplessness.

But am glad that I am still a human. Just living in an horridly inhuman part of a much nicer world which is beaconing with increasing fervour.

Children of lesser God

Israel & US, rejoice for the tiny terrorists that you killed today. I am sure all of you now feel much safer now sitting in your fat asses in your air-conditioned mansions, now that 36 of these tiny terrorists lie dead. Do you think you can win a war like this? The tears never seem to dry.

Terrorism

A friend sent a first-hand account of someone in Beirut watching the misery the people with his own eyes. And frustating to think we can't do anything except fret and fawn at this horrible situation.

I don't know what is Israel achieving by this death and destruction. If they think they can stop terrorism by this outrageous barbarism, they are dreaming. Each bomb that kills, maims, orphans, widows, creates a hundred new angry people bent on revenge. And this spirals in nowhere but hopelessness, despair and the dark ages. And it can do this only with the support and encouragement of the sole "super-power" in this world. No wonder these countries fear the technological advancement of countries such as Iran; as they will be subjected to the same torture as they are subjecting others to.

People subjected to such treatment for so long cannot ever be friends; so, we can forget about living side-by-side as friendly nations. What can be done is establishing a wider Palestinian state with all of the occupied territories from '67, and creating complete barrier cutting off the two nations. And they will live happily (and separately) ever after.

Someone, I feel one aspect of this arise from the narrow-minded religions of that regions each proclaiming the one-ness of its god, and not recognizing god of other people. This is one aspect of eastern religions that makes me so proud - the joto-moth-toto-poth aspect of it.

Btw, I guess its already clear what I mean by terrorism: the state sponsored ones, as perpetrated by USA and Israel.