First Day in College

Whew what a day.....first day of grad school....i feel as if I worked for an entire week....aadat nahi hain na kaam karne ki...especially after an year's sabbatical from college...sala aish ki zindagi thi yaar Tata Motors main...no padhai, no tension, no deadlines, no assignments and now all of a sudden all this has come back and its overwhelming.......TA classes in the morning, meetings, courses in the evening.......thats a lot of things to do......well I did mange to have a bite for lunch and caught up with some sleep before the lecture started.....never in my life I knew what my schedule would be for the next day and now I have my schedule fixed for the next three months....chalo according to my schedule it says sleep now....thats what I am gonna do and be ready to face tomorrow : )

Blogging Blackhole

Do you sometimes feel that you are not able to say what you what to say? Do you feel sometimes that you have a lot of things to say but you end up saying nothing? Do you sometimes feel that nothing is coming out of the mind how much ever you try? well I guess I am in that situation.....for a long time I have not been able to write much on my blog.....it seems as if my brain has switched off the writing part......my blog posts have turned into a story telling chore......the thoughts are not coming out of the black hole....all my words are being sucked in by a black hole called brain...I guess its because of my workload and now I have lots stuff to worry about and keep me occupied...now I have to clear all the clutter in my mind and start afresh...till then please bear with my boring posts as this one : )

begging!!---an art

After coming to USA one thing I noticed is that there are hardly any beggars unlike India......which is a very good thing...not that there are no beggars....I had an experience with an american beggar while going home one evening.I was crossing a bridge over Schukyll river and came to the other side...I saw an old decently dressed man coming towards me....i was a bit apprehensive and I didnt want anything to happen to me.....he came toward me, he stopped and asked "Dou have any spare change?"..I was surprised by the question and I said no and started walking away from there as fast as I could...I really didnt have any change on me then...I reached home and told my room-mates about my experience and they said he was a beggar and he was askin for some chutta.....I just looked at them in dismay and realised that it was a sophisticated beggar...unlike in India torn clothes, lame or blind and screaming "Allah ke naam se dede..baba!"......and now instead of sayig chutta nahin hain aage badho I have to "say sorry mate no change".....lol

Orientation

24th September is the date, Drexel University, Philadelphia is the place and the event is International Graduate students Students orientation...all are excited for the event to begin...breakfst at 9:00 consists of coffee, juice, cake and cookies...its 9;30 break fast over and people r anxious for the event to begin...we expected it to begin on time...but as in india it began way behind schedule and started at 10:30...what began as a gr8 expectation was slowly turning into a boring excercise...the best part was the quizes held after every presentation because i won a big drexel coffee mug.....after that people were really hungry and were longing for lunch, but that was not to be as lunch consisted of pasta, sauce, salad and desert(cookies).....public pak chuka tha....and most of them left after lunch.....the crowd consisted majorly of indians, chinese some italians and some hispanic americans.......we all sighed a collective sigh of relief once it got over...no more orientations for me...aur saaha nahi jata : ).......

Indian stores

One of the good things in Philadelphia for Indians is the Indian Stores...though the name is "Indian and Pakistani spices"...its like a proper sahakar bhandar in mumbai and smells the same..once u enter the store u feel like u r in india....u get parle G biscuits and frozen chapatis all in one place....its a real convenience for students especially boys....u can even rent DVDs of all new bollywood movies even before people back in india can see it...cool isnt it?...and u can have samosas, ragada pattice and butter chicken.....its a boon for indian students : )and Indians in general

Hoagie

What is an hoagie?.....the person who gets it right will get an hoagie from me as treat

TA!!

TA..yeh TA TA kya hain....oh no no i am not speaking about Tata....TA is teaching assistantship..
whew finally I got an on campus job which'll pay me around $1000 per month and also help me in getting some experience....how i was dreading the prospect of working in a cafeteria and book store!!.....well there is nothing bad in working there..only thing is u actually need to work hard there and the pay is just about enough to cover the living expenses......well I start with my new american job on 20th sep...so long then....more later

changes!! changes!! changes!!

the only thing permanent in life is change!!....whoever has said this must be surely one wise guy
but y am i saying this?...well the biggest change in my life happened on 5th Sep 2004..thats when I stepped in the US of A....
the very first thing I noticed was the clealiness all over.....change no 1

the airport is so huge and there were hardly any people over there...change no 2

the people are so friendly...some times its too much though...change no 3

everything is ulta as compared to india...left hand drive...change no 4

but the most significant change is that there are hardly any people to be seen roaming about..change no 5

well there are many more things which are much different than India...but all said and done India is the best

"Mera Bharat Mahan"

one week in USA!!

12th Sep 2004!!...whew...one week in the USA already....so far so good, its been a smooth transition to life in USA.....

I have spent $60 in one week...sob sob Rs.3000/- in a week...maybe not much for ppl earning in dollars : )....

well I passed one trial by the fire...cooking!!!....my first shot at cooking was a sweet success....alu flower and daal chawaal....none of us roomies had to go hungry that day : ).....

I already must have lost a few kilos by walking almost for 30-45 mins daily : )...though its a good excercise

spoke to my friends who have been here from last year...and made lotsa new friends....

ragged by my senior roomates : )...though its been only leg pulling : )

got my bank account...my university ID card....went to an Indian restaurant for dinner...travelled in cabs and had a very philadelphian food called haogie : )....

all this in one week...dekhte hain aage hota hain kya....more later

signing off

9 and a half hours behind!!

I am getting up 9 and a half hours later
I am having breakfast 9 and a half hours later
I am bathing 9 and a half hours later
I am going to college 9 and a half hours later
I am having lunch 9 and a half hours later
I am having snacks 9 and a half hours later
I am having dinner 9 and a hald hours later
I am sleeping 9 and a half hours later
well u may wonder y am i late for everything....and why 9 and a half hours....let me tell u...thats because I have just arrived in USA from India which is 9 and a half hours ahead : )...and it will take time getting used to doin things 9 and a half hours later ; )

In USA

I finally reached Philadelphia, USA. After a long wait I achieved my dreeam....whew...let me catch my breath. As soon as I settle down i'll be back to active blogging....till then enjoy take care
ciao...adios