Posts filed under 'USA'
One of the most asked question I get to hear is, “Can I drive in USA with my Indian Driving License?”
Well, the answer is, “It depends on the state that you would drive in”. All most all states in US allow you to drive with your Indian License for a period of one year. After that, you need to get a US drivers license. However, if you become a resident of the state, then you need to get a US license within a months time.
One more thing that I get asked is about “International Drivers Permit”. Well, to be frank, its quite useless if your Indian Driving License is written in English. The permit basically tells that you have the license to drive back in India in English. So, its the License thats important and not the Permit. In fact, in some states, International Drivers Permit is not even recognized. So, don’t bother getting it. In any case, your Indian Driving License must be valid and active.
A very good way to confirm what the specific state laws are is to search the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) website for the state in question. This site has the links to DMV sites of various states. Or, you can search google for pharse like “Texas DMV” and see if you can get to the official site of DMV. Once you are on the site, you would normally find a “Drivers Handbook” (or equivalent), which has all the official rules and regulations for that specific state.
Even if you don’t plan to buy a car in the US, I would suggest getting a US drivers license for the reasons given below:
- Your Driving license works as your Identity card too in most of the US states. This helps because, you don’t need to carry your passport and other important documents around all the time. If you dont want to drive or dont know to drive, then most states issue a State ID card - so make sure you get it. Trust me, its very helpful!
- If you plan to drive in the US (say car rental etc), a valid US driving license helps. It will save you a lot of money on car insurance too.
- If you do buy a car, then almost all states in the US make it mandatory to have Auto/Car insurance. If you don’t have a valid US drivers license and drive on an Indian license, then your insurance premium will shoot up! (by at-least $400 to $500 or more for 6 months!)
In some states & cities (like in Texas) there is one thing that might force you to drive with an Indian Driving License… and that is the validity of your Work Permit (H1B or equivalent). In Texas, if your work permit expires within in the next six months, the DMV won’t allow you to apply for a US Driving License. So, keep this in mind, and apply six months before your Work Permit expires if possible! However, this is true for Texas (confirmed in Houston), but may not be true at other states.
Oh - Last but not the least, if you are driving in the USA, make sure that you have auto insurance. Its a must and will save you lot of money and headaches in case of any eventualities!
If you are already in the US, I request you to comment below on your states policy on Indian Driving License!
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October 24th, 2007 at 03:56pm
If you are an Indian and have come to the US recently, you will be ’shocked’ to see how closed and primitive the US cell phone market is! Well, except for the iPhone which is by no means primitive — but its ‘locked’ to the not-so-popular AT&T network.
Imagine getting charged for receiving SMS messages! Its really a sad story out here. There is no easy way for an average person to buy a phone of his or her choice without signing up for a contract. And the contact is normally 2 years! Which means, you must be a subscriber of that cell phone provider for the period of the contract at an agreed upon price. The average cost of plan such plans - around 40$ to 45$ a month (data plans would cost extra!), which is way to expensive compared to India!!! And if you want to switch to an other network, you need to cancel you current contract by paying an “early termination fee”.
If you want to buy a phone without a contract, you need to spend a fortune and its equally painful to get a service from a good provider (without buying a new handset). In other words, its in no way a free market. And, clearly, the down side to this entire thing is … the entire US cell phone market is lagging years behind the ‘world’!
Do check out this very interesting article on the US Cell phone industry which compares the US cellphone industry model with the “The Soviet Ministry Model”….: Free My Phone
I feel privatization is a good thing for India, but competition is very important too. And the most important thing is there must be a very effective regulatory authority like TRAI, which kind of enforces the rules to which the companies in India comply. Kudos to the Indian telephone industry!!
I wish India never gets into a situation like the US when it comes to telecommunications.
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October 23rd, 2007 at 12:30am
Here are some snaps from the Labor day long weekend trip (Sep 1st - Sep 3rd). We had been to a place called Zwolle. Well, it sounds like a African name, but its a very small place in Louisiana. To be more precise, we went to the Toledo Bend lake area and stayed at one of the resorts (Wildwood Resorts) on the banks of the lake.
This place is on the border of Texas and Louisiana. Actually, the Toledo Bend lake is formed due to a Dam which is built across the Sabine River. This river kind of forms the border between Texas and Louisiana! The lake itself is pretty big, and I read on one of the websites that its the largest man made lake in the South (of USA).
Here are some snaps……..
Fishing Pier at Wildwood Resort - Toledo Bend
Fishing Pier at Wildwood Resort - Toledo Bend
Wildwood Fishing Area
Wooden Fishing Pier
Ramp at North Toledo bend State park
North Toledo Bend State Park
Speed Boating at the Lake
We also visited a few near by towns. Spent almost half a day at the Historic town of Natchitoches.
Natchitoches - Visitor Info Center
There is a nice little “Cane River Lake” at Natchitoches. We took a 45 minute boat ride on the same. Got to see some really beautiful houses and landscaping !. Check out the pictures below…
Cane River Lake at Natchitoches
Cane River Lake at Natchitoches
Home on Cane River Lake at Natchitoches
Home on Cane River Lake at Natchitoches
Home on Cane River Lake at Natchitoches
Home on Cane River Lake at Natchitoches
Some more snaps from the Toledo Bend Lake…
Fishing Pier at Wildwood Resort - Toledo Bend
Fishing Pier at Wildwood - Toledo Bend
Canoeing at Toledo Bend
Our Electric Boat
Nature @ Toledo Bend
Ducks at Toledo Bend
Toledo Bend Lake
Wildwood Resort - Toledo Bend
Wildwood Resort - Toledo Bend
Woods at Wildwood Resort - Toledo Bend
All in all, a good 3-day fun filled trip! :)
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September 11th, 2007 at 05:58pm
My 1998 Toyota Camry was doing great, but I always wanted to get a newer car, and finally got one this week. Ever since I have driven Camry, I have kind of become a big fan of it. So…got this 2005 Toyota Camry LE from an Craigslist Ad. (btw, craigslist rocks! its just amazing!).
Features of the new(er) car…
- 4 Door - Grey color as you see from the pic below.. :)
- Automatic Transmission.
- only 39, 500 miles on it when I bought it.
- clean title and carfax history.
- Power window, power locks (with remote!!!! - which i missed in my old camry), power seats!
- CD player + Radio ..but no mp3 player :(
- Relatively new!
- And got it at a pretty good rate!
2005 Toyota Camry LE - Front View
2005 Toyota Camry LE - Side View
2005 Toyota Camry LE - Front View
2005 Toyota Camry LE - Rear View
2005 Toyota Camry LE - Rear Side View
And exactly one week later, i sold my old 1998 Toyota Camry LE on craigslist!!
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August 13th, 2007 at 04:09pm
Its long weekend here in the US (Memorial Weekend) and… we are off to NYC tomorrow (24-May) on a 5 day trip. We plan to also visit the great Niagara Falls. Two days for the Niagara Falls trip and 3 days in NYC, NY!.
Will post pics once I am back.
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May 24th, 2007 at 12:10am
This is Part 2 of a three part series of our trip to Las Vegas. Links to Part 1 and 3 can be found here :
As planned on Day 2 of our trip, we headed to the Grand Canyon. For the uninitiated, Grand Canyon is a natural wonder located in Arizona.
Grand Canyon is around 5 hrs drive from Las Vegas, NV. So, we started early in the morning at around 5.30 AM. We decided to go to the south rim of the grand canyon since the north rim was closed and we could not find much information on the west rim (nor we had time to be adventurous)
Lake Mead from a Distance - Click to Zoom
The drive was pretty cool. Its flat land. Desert. The roads are straight and you can see miles of straight road ahead of you! … it was a great experience to drive ! :). We reached Grand Canyon at around 10.30 AM.
Here are some snaps ….
Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Cliff at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
At the Grand Canyon South rim, there are buses which take you to different View points along the Rim of the canyon. And they are free (i.e, the cost is included in your entrance fee to the National Park)
Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Pathway to one of the view points at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
You can see the Colorado River (which carved the Grand Canyon!!) in the snaps below…
Colorado River at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Colorado River at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Colorado River at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Grand Canyon and Colorado River - Click to Zoom
More snaps…
Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Desert View - you can see the desert at the distance…
Desert View at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
River Again - Zoomed in …
Colorado River at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Cliff at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
A Guy sitting on the Rim at Grand Canyon….
A Guy sitting on the Rim at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
A couple enjoying the (cold) sunset at Grand Canyon…
A Couple enjoying the Sunset at Grand Canyon - Click to Zoom
Well, by 5 PM, it was pretty dark, and all of a sudden, it became very cold!
We started to head back to Vegas at around 6 PM. We reached back our Hotel at Las Vegas by around 10 PM.
More on Vegas trip in the next post….
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May 6th, 2007 at 11:45am
This post was long due! Memories from our Las Vegas Trip! When I look back at it, its almost 6 months now since we had been to Las Vegas!!! Wow. Time runs so fast!
Anyways, Since I had lots of photos to post, I have split this one big post into three posts.
Well, it was a 5 day trip and it was fun. Here is the photo essay!
Las Vegas is the land of casinos. Don’t be surprised to find slot machines when you come right out of the Terminal Gates at the airport! You can find slot machines every - from Gas Stations (aka Petrol Pumps!!) to Superstores! More about Las Vegas in part 3 of this post.
Welcome to Las Vegas…
Welcome to Las Vega - Click to Zoom
We landed in Vegas in the afternoon, and immediately we were on our way to Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam is around 30 mins drive from Las Vegas. Hoover Dam is considered to be one of the greatest engineering works in history and is a must see!.
Here are some snaps…
Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
We could go under ground !! (i.e, base of the dam where the generators are located) - Check out the massive generators!
Power Generators at Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
This is one of the massive water intake pipes. It can house an entire school bus within it! Everything about this dam is BIG!
Water Intake Pipes at Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
The power stations as seen from the top of the dam…
Power Station at Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
Power Station at Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
This is the Visitor center which was built recently…
Visitor Center at Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
View from the dam…
View from the Dam - Click to Zoom
These are the water intake towers ….
Water Intake Towers at Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
Water Intake Towers at Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
And the dam…
Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
There are two spillways at the Hoover Dam. This one is on the Arizona side of the Dam. The spillways at the Hoover dam are Massive, and they have been used only once when there was major flood.
Spillway at Hoover Dam - Click to Zoom
Since this was in late November, it was pretty dark by 5 PM… and we could not spend much time. We started back to Las Vegas and headed back to our Hotel (Monte Carlo).
Check out the Wikipedia entry on Hoover Dam.
More on Vegas trip in the next post….
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May 3rd, 2007 at 10:28pm
Will be traveling to Las Vegas later today on a 4 day vacation. Its been quite some time since me and Chitra had a nice break from work, … and thanksgiving is the best time to have one ! (ideally.. not! - but given our work/situation!)
So, we start on the 21-Nov, and return back to Houston on the 25-Nov. Also plan to drive to Grand Canyon on one of the day.
Photos and updates once I get back!
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November 21st, 2006 at 12:37am
Well, PS3 is all set to launch here in USA on the 17th November, and there are queues in front of stores to get one!
Yesterday, me and my friend had been to the local Walmart, and we found that there were around 6 to 7 people camping outside to get their hands on the PS3 console. Inside, we could see the PS3 console at display, with a notice above it directing people to the queue outside for it! There were only 10 Units for sale.
BTW, its getting very cold these days, and yesterday it was really windy! I have never experienced such winds before !!… Cold+Wind is terrible. Can’t imagine the enthusiasm of the people waiting in queue for the console!
BTW… check this site dedicated for Console Camping : http://www.consolecamp.com/index.php
I also read reports that people were placing Ads on Craigslist to stand in line for the Console/Black Friday sale!
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November 16th, 2006 at 11:29am
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