Finally I get the Cell...

Man its hard to get a cell phone in US.It used to be so easy in India....just go to a Cell dealer and sign a couple of papers...show him an ID and there you get a SIM card.Ofcourse you have to buy a handset all by yourself.But in US its hell a long procedure.You need to have what is called and SSN(Social Security Number) to take a cell.For that matter you need to have an SSN for each and everything here.......You wont get and SSN unless and untill you are employed.......
Now even if you are employed,the chances of you getting a cell phone depends on what is called your credit history(you bank accounts,statements,how good and on time you pay your bills n stuff).They run through your credit on the kind of connection(available connecion services are T-Mobile(the sponser of the greats of Alaxander Vinekourov,Eban Mayo who are one wf the few great cyclists),Cingular,Verizon,Sprint)you wish to take and tell you if you have to pay any deposit or you get the connection for free.
Now as we have arriced here recently we dont have an SSN and hence uneligible to get a cell phone.But after getting used to the cell phone its like a necessity rather than an accessory.So we were dieing to take a cell phone.
The story begings now..."We got to know from one of our friends that there is a certain place in Wall Street(the Financial Capital of the World-the place where NYSE is situated) where a DESI guy is giving out cell phone connection without SSN.Me along with three of my friends went there and registered to take our cell phones.He called us the next day to come and collect our handsets(here we get handsets free or for very low prices).We went there.....all happy got our handsets.They got activated in a couple of hours and then we thought everything is done.But on the very next morning.We were not getting signals.We thought that this is a temporary problem.But that continued till evening and later that nite we got to know that that was the problem with all the guys who took the connection from that guy without an SSN.So we called him.He asked us to get our handsets back to him and he will rectify the problem and give them back.We did return them and he called us back next day to come and collect the handsets.We went adn took the handsets.He said that they will be activatd in an hr or so.But they dint till the next couple of days.All frustrated we went back to him and cancelled our conract.
But my friends who took handsets along with me were so much addicted to cell that they were like..."muje cel chahiye hi chahiye"...so one of my friend's(Poonam) friend(Rishi) said that he can take cells for us under his SSN.So we went to a place where good handsets were being offered for free.But tough luck,the shop was closed on that day.We checked out some other shops near by and all were offering very bad handsets for free.So we cam back to school and just cheked out if the store near by the school is giving any good handsets.They were offering an new Motorola handset for just 50 bucks(Dollars ofcourse).But Rishi had to leave as he was getting late for a meeting.Then we called up another friedn of ours Koushik and aksed him if he can come and sign for us.He came there and tld us that why are you in such a hurry....you will get good handsets in the shop which was closed today...just wait karke......later that nite we had to go to Suniti's brother's place in NJ(New Jersey) for dinner...we went there...the place which is caled New Port was amazing...i liked it so much....we had a great diner and great time....Thanks to Suniti's Mom,Brother and Babhi for the invitation.....
Then while returning we came till 34th street and a small mistake of mine led us to be a bit late and one of my friends Gauravi was really pissed off with that......."I am really very very sorry Gauravi".....she was all crying and stuff bcos she was never out that late in nite.....the time was around 12:30 at nite.Then we took an A-train from 34th street which was supposed to go till our place.But there was some problem and the train was stopped at Jay Street(the station near our school) and we were told that there will be no rains further.then the real trouble started.We had to take a bus from Jay Street to Broadway and then from Broadway to home.Finally we reached home at 2:30 that nite.
A couple of days later I and Rishi went to the Shop which was closed on that day and found it open.So happy as we were ...went took.....rishi signed the contract for us and we got the phones.BUt when rishi was trying to use his credit card to pay the amount.It was not working.He called up the customer care and stuff.But it dint workout.then i had to run to the near by CITI Bank ATM and withdram money.Thank to citibak as it has so many ATMS in the city just like SBI in India.So Finally we got our cell phones all working
I took a Samsung slide open handset...its so cool.My No. is 646-963-5167.
I will be expecting a call from you some time or the other.
Bubye and guys..and once again sorry for such a long blog.Eveytime i think of writing a blog it becomes so long...dunno why
Thanq and Take Care
Saran
Aspiring Astronaut

My First Birthday

Ooops....did i forget to mention something....yeah....i did.....i forgot to mention that i it is My first Birthday In US.....
Anyways the day started like any other day...me getting up brushing,taking bath,having beakfast going to School(lemme remind you again...here univ is also called school...Grad. School),met my friends there...everyone wished me....went to computer centre to check mails.....Thanq for all those who wished me........
Then me and a couple other friends went to a place called Lefferts where there are alot of Indian stores for shopping.We returned home my 5 in the eve and started cooking.While cooking i cut my finger...:((.......dont worry i am okie now......then people started to pour in.Then we had some Songs and Dance,photo session,played DumbC.It was real fun.Before dinner we had some songs n dance(Thanks to Mr Ali our landlord for allowing all these)........Then my friends got me a b'day cake.I cut the cake and sabko apne haath se khilaya.The menu for the dinner was......Pav Bhaji(joint effort of Suniti,Devika and Gouravi)....then comes Chicken curry(done alone by my roomie Kiran).....Rice,Alu n Gobi Parantha(relax...these were already prepared frozen paranthas...we just had to heat them)........there was also tandoor chicken.....juice,cool drinks n dhahi........
After dinner we we had some fun talk and then Shyam n Rajput gifted me a Book on Sunsigns by Linda Goodman(Thanq so much Shyam).People started to go through the book.Everyone wanted to know about their own sunsigns n stuff.So we requested shyam to give a small lecture about the sunsigns.(Believeme...this guy shyam is a real sunsign freak he has something like 5-6 books in his room about sunsigns,if ever he meet a new person,within the first 5-10 mins he will surely ask what his/her sunsign is).Shyam as good as he is always accepted the requested and gave the lecture.It was fun too......not the lecture but the way people reeacted in between.
all in all the day ended really great.Thanks to all those who made it so.........I will be soon uploading the pics of yesterday n let u know about the site and stuff.

Saran

P.S.- Oooof the classes r gonna start from Tomm.Wish me luck guys n gals........