The Last Train

On 14th Dec 2005, two days after I landed in Mumbai, I was sucked into an adventure of the urban kind. One of my VJTI classmate, R, had come down to mumbai. Me, M, A and T (all vjti classmates) picked R up from the airport and decided to go to Bandra and spend rest of the evening. Sizzlers at Kobe was followed by a stroll on bandstand and then the tired band trooped into Cafe Coffee Day. Catching up on old times and new over endless cups of coffee made us all forget about time. A casual glance at R's wrist watch was enough to make us jump out of our skins. It was already 11:30pm. I had to reach Vashi, A had to go to Thane, R was to be dropped at Chakala and M had to come back to Bandra. Stirred into action we hopped into M's car and decided to drop R first. Finding R's friends place in middle of nowhere aided with directions like Near Hotel S, 3 blocks from a deserted milk booth, beside Angel Apartments, in Divine apartments, seemed like one of the tasks in Amazing Race. Finally at 12:00 we managed to located her place of stay and bid adieu. Three musketeers in Chakala with each one headed in different directions. M dropped me and A off at a rickshaw stand in SakiNaka. After a bus, cab and a car we took another mode of transport to Ghatkopar Station. A got off to get onto the train to Thane leaving myself to reach my destination, Vashi. Vashi never seemed so far as it did on this fateful night. I asked the rickshaw driver to drop me at Ghatkopar Bus Depot. Reached there and to my dismay I found the Bus depot completely deserted. I thought I made it in time to catch the last bus, but the bus was long gone and the depot was closed for operations. Now panicking I had only one more option and that was to catch the last harbour line local from Mankhurd to Vashi. I hopped into the auto yet again this time I was reassured by the auto driver that we would make it in time. Crossing my fingers and hoping against hope I reached Mankhurd Station. I was greeted by an empty platform, no indicators to display the time of arrival and one lone person behind a single lit ticket window. Now fear gripped my heart and praying to god, if ever he existed,I went to the window and thrust a Rs 10 note and asked for a ticket to Vashi. I was overjoyed when I heard him say that you just made it in time for the last train. I thanked my lucky stars and no sooner than I turned towards the platform, I heard the whistle of an approaching train. It sounded like music. I reached home at 1:30am. I was so relieved to be back home.Though I had to face music of the other kind from my half asleep dad. It happens only in Mumbai. Just the thought of the possibility of spending the night in some godforsaken place with no shelter on my head sends chills down my spine. God actually exists and helps only if you pray hard.

Flight To Mumbai (Philadelphia-London-Mumbai)

10 Dec 2005

2:30 pm load bags into airport shuttle (damn excited about going back)
3:30pm reach airport, unload bags (hoping bags dont exceed the weight)
4:00pm bags checked in, marathon three hour wait to board the flight (look wistfully through duty free shops and finally pick up chocolates, only affordable item)
5:00pm hope the flight departs on time (damn hungry and very excited)
6:00pm boarding begins (damn! these first class passengers always get to go first)
6:15pm in my designated seat and flight awaiting permission to take off (yipee! finally we are about to be airborne and on our way)
6:30pm bad news, flight has been delayed by half an hour due to inclement weather and we are 10th in line to take off (now I doze off)
7:15pm feeling damn impatient and cant wait any longer (still dozing, wait, did I hear the whirring of engines?)
7:30pm pushed back in the seat and wide awake (adrenalin pumping throught the veins, finally we are airborne and we'll be in mumbai 19 hours later)
8:30pm dinner served (yummy asian veg meal rounded off with gulab jamun)
9:00pm-11:00pm wedding crashers (watched it for the first time...awesome movie)
11:00pm-1:00am drift off to sleep (only time I slept)

11 Dec 2005

1:00am breakfast served (jesus christ! what in the merlin's name)
1:01am realise that we are gonna land at london heathrow in one hour (rush through breakfast and coffee)
1:31am cabin crew getting ready for landing (whoa its 6:30am in London)
6:45am land at london airport in heavy fog (brrrr...its -3 deg celcius)
7:00am realise that this is the time when you would be blissfully in bed under a comforter (for god sake, its 2:00am in Philadelphia)
7:15 am in a queue for security check (looks like a long winding queue and end up spending an hour in there half standing half dozing in a daze)
8:15am in a queue (not again) (this time its for freshening up....i hate queues)
9:00am finally manage to shrug off sleep with a cup of strong english coffee (damn i paid almost 2 pounds)
9:30am still an hour to board the flight to mumbai (call up mom and dad and tell them about your whereabouts)
10:15am at the boarding gate (its all mayhem...no announcements...people in a mad rush to get on board....remember scenes at the ST depot in Mumbai)
11:15am flight is already half an hour late (I can see people following the indian standard tie already)
11:30am all strapped up and we are on our way (hurray! just 8 hours more and I'll be in aamchi mumbai)
1:00pm lunch served (doesnt seem interesting anymore...still eat it)
1:30pm try to sleep (damn I left my sleep in philadelphia...the wine doesnt seem to work either)
2:00pm still trying to sleep (Assure myself that I'll get plenty of sleep in mumbai)
2:00pm-4:00pm catch up another movie (somethings got to give...awesome movie)
4:00pm again try to sleep (no use)
4:30pm idle talk with the passenger next seat (do I hear snoring...I was talkin to a sleeping passenger)
5:00pm seriously sleep deprived
6:00pm give up trying to sleep (snacks served)
6:30pm nth glass of apple juice (I hate appple juice)
7:00pm arouse one friend from deep sleep and walk like zombies up and down the aisle)
7:10pm booted out from the first class section (curse the airhostess under my breath)
7:30pm realize that its half an hour for destination (wide awake and all excited)
7:45pm Ladies and gentlemenn please tie your seat belts, we'll be shortly landing at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport (nothing sounds more pleasing)
8:00pm(london)-1:30am (Myumbai) This is your captain speaking..we'll begin our final landing descent...the weather out there is a warm 26 deg cel...it was a pleasure flying with you (stop talking and get the plane down)

12 Dec 2005

1:45 am look out of the window and gaze at the lights of mumbai (its amazing)
2:00am step out and stand on motherland after a year and half (no words can explain this feeling)
3:00am finally meet an eagerly awaiting family (its so good to be back...collapse in the back seat and crash)

Back Home

01:10 am 12th Dec 2005 Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai

Back to mumbai after a year and five months. Its so good to be back home

Lets see what adventures await me in aamchi Mumbai. Keep a lookout for this space

Two days to go

In exactly two days I board the flight to mumbai. I cant control my excitement any more and wish that these two days just fly off. On 10th Dec 2005 at this time I'll be at Philadelphia International Airport all set for my maiden voyage back to India. My motherland. I feel like singing "Mere des ki dharti..." or "Ye ho des hain tera...." I am dying to hear the air hostess announce; "Ladies and gentlemen pleases tie your seat belts. We'll be shortly landing at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The local time in Mumbai is 00:40 and the weather out there is clear and at a pleasant 20 C. Its been a pleasure flying with you......"

Tag: 20 random things about me

Nupur's Tag got me thinking and here are 20 random things about me

1. I am not Maharashtrian, contrary to the popular belief (because I speak marathi at home)
2. I love reading books
3. I hate heavy metal or anything to do with similar kind of music
4. I sometimes keep thinking what am I? why am I here? what is my role in this matrix of life
5. I dont get dreams. Even if I do, I dont remember any.
6. I hate karela (bitter gourd)
7. I am a diehard gadget freak
8. I love driving cars.
9. I write a blog. Incidentally it happens to be this very blog.
10. I love tandoori chicken
11. I am a grad student pursuing PhD
12. I am 23 soon to be 24.
13. I hate hypocrisy.
14. I love tea.
15. I want to learn to speak fluently in kannada.Why? Read point #1
16. I am vetti enough to write twenty random things about me
17. I love sitting at the window and staring into vast open spaces.
18. I love photography.
19. I have never been to my native place, 'Kalghatgi'
20. I took 2 days to write 20 random things about me.

I tag

Arun (probably the only one who would take time out to write 20 random things about himself)

My new iPod

In September 2005, when Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPod video, along with millions of other iPod enthusiasts I vowed to lay my hands on one as soon as possible. Now I am admiring the sleek black model in my hand, yes my new iPod. Its awesome. Its even smaller than the palm of my hand, but can hold much more than my closed fist. I am now one of millions of music freaks enjoying listening to music on an iPod. How did this all happen. Read on
A complete gadget freak, I couldn't imagine myself without the new iPod. After debating in my mind the feasibility of going in for the new iPod vis-a-vis my meager PhD stipend, finally I decided to order the new iPod with a custom engraving and Apple informed me that my iPod would be shipped within two weeks. In a few days I got an email telling me my iPod has been shipped and I could track its status via FedEx. What a wonderful world it is. I click a mouse somewhere,bits fly through fiber optics, go to some unknown destination, money electronically changes hands and then atoms in useful arrangements are flown in airplanes and hand carried to my doorstep. This is sort of miraculous.
Then I wonder where my new iPod is. Can I expect it tomorrow, or will I have to wait for the next week? I am surprised to discover from FedEx that my new iPod is in a pick up station in Shanghai, China and just missed the pick up deadline. Well seems like I am going to have to wait for a while.
Two days later there is new tracking information from FedEx. My iPod is on the move, but now it is in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I have to look this up to find where it is, and I discover it is marginally closer to Philadlephia than it was in Shanghai. I am resentful. What is my iPod doing in Uzbekistan?
A few days later my iPod reaches London. I know where this is, and I am encouraged. Still later I get good tidings that my iPod has reached Memphis,Tenn.-the center of FedEx's universe. In my mind I see the plane landing and unloading its contents and one of them being my iPod. It is practically home.

After two days of limbo, I am delighted to find that my iPod is in a truck 8 miles away. Within an hour my iPod is on my doorstep.

Now I am admiring my new iPod and realizing that in the new world economy the earth is truly flat. In Philadelphia I order an iPod from a California based company, but it is assembled in China. Some of the integrated circuits are probably fabricated there, too,while other chips might have come form Japan, Korea or Taiwan. A lot of design must have been done in California by brilliant American, European and South Asian engineers.

But where did the ideas come from which made this machine possible? Just consider some of the brilliant and complex concepts that are embedded in this little box. It can play music, screen videos, display pictures, organize contacts and calendars and store tons of gigabytes of data. It must have been made possible by the millions of lines of code, computer-aided design tools for the integrated circuits, and by sheer brilliance of some technically advanced minds from all over the world.

This iPod epitomizes the world of technology today-designed by brilliant minds, ordered electronically, assembled with worldwide parts, delivered via a sophisticated logistics system and replete with ingenious ideas. Yet in a world of commodity products, this brilliance is largely unappreciated. And if this iPod dies on me one day, I'll stop appreciating it too.

Masala Dosa

Living in Mumbai for my entire life, I knew my decision to study in USA would involve many sacrifices. First and most important, no mummy's food, no family to support and care for you, no close friends to share your joys and sorrow. But the sacrifice which I unknowingly made surfaced one year later when I had a frozen masala dosa(thin pancake stuffed with potatoes). That was I first time I had a masala dosa since coming to USA. I suddenly realized how I missed the dosas served with steaming sambar(curry) and chutney(spicy sauce) back home in Mumbai udipi restaurants. The frozen dosas are nothing as compared to dosas prepared in some parts of India, but something is better than nothing. Ever since I haven't missed any oppurtinity to hog on dosas. There are so many other things which I miss. Do you have such things which you miss?

What feelings come to your mind looking at this snap. Calm, peaceful, lonely, blissful. Aint it beautiful? 

55 word story

Tagged by nupur

I attempt to write a 55 words story. Read on

"On a dark freezing night, tethered on the brink of losing his sanity a lone heartbroken soldier staggered in a drunken stupor. The cold wind revived his senses stirring painful memories for which he had long suffered. A lost war, a doomed nation and a forgotten love, he only had the open skies for solace."

I tag

Sriraj,

Arun,

Sushanth,

Manish.

Stuck in my mouth

Do you sometimes feel that you utter some word or sentence unconciously even when the occasion doesnt call for the use. "Kya baat hain!" I dont know how and when I picked up this phrase. I just cant stop myself from using this phrase million times a day. Its become so common for me to use this phrase that I am surely gonna get killed one day. The other day my roommate was describing his day's schedule, he was like "I had a class at 8:00am, followed by another class at 10:00am, and a lab at 12:00pm, I didnt get time to have my lunch and then I had another class at 2:00pm. My day totally sucked" and instead of saying anything comforting, I go ahead and uttered the three words stuck in my mouth "kya baat hain!". The look on my roommate's face was enough for me to run from there and save myself from getting punched in my face. Do you have such phrases stuck in your mouth?

Family Tree

Sometimes Cyber space can throw up surprises as hitchhiking through the galaxy would. On a boring Sunday afternoon I lazily typed Kalghatgi in Google just to see how many people in this world share the same difficult to pronounce surname. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Kalghatgi's have made a lot of progress with many of them actually having their own webpages. This spurred me on to track my Family tree. I tried hundreds and thousands of sites, searched on google, asked my mom and dad, but I could only track as far back as my grandfather, dad's dad. Finally I gave up, given the time and motivation I would build my family tree on my own. One fine day somebody sent me an orkut invitation and I created my own profile and added all known people to the list of my friends. Out of curiosity I searched for people having surnames Kalghatgi. The search came up with 6 people. One of them being me, the second being my cousin Nikhil Kalghati here in USA. Items # 2 and #4 were interesting, Suparna Kalghatgi and Pallavi Kalghatgi. I thought they would be some light years far off cousins or something. I added suparna to my friends list and there began the saga of two kalghatgi's each of us as surprised as a monkey in front of a mirror. One coincidence after came to light. Her granpa stayed with my granpa when he first came to mumbai. Her father graduated from VJTI in 1970 and my father graduated in 1972. Finally the most important question, were we related, turns out we arent and there I was back to square one and I have start to start rebuilding the family tree. Well I think Kalghatgi's are a minuscule part of the gargantuan Indian population. Any kalghatgi's reading this post?

Ganapati Pujan

Far away from home, four roommates, one amatuer priest with lots of devotion, on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi decided to conduct aarti at home to invoke lord Ganesha's blessings. What follows is a narration of the sequence of events. Read it just for fun and it is not meant to hurt anybody's sensibilities.

Two of us, me and sriraj got busy in making prasad. Saurabh, the priest was busy learning the shlokas and the fourth guy, Shubham, started downloading Anuradha Paudwal's ganapati aarti. Just then we realised we did not have semolina to make the prasad, after frantically rummaging in a never opened cabinet, we found some idli making semolina, big difference and so we decided to test our skills at making prasad. Sometimes you just go by instincts. After struggling with the semolina and adding sugar countless times the prasad finally was made and looked yummy. It was time for the aarti and all of us were really hungry.

We lighted camphor and asked shubham to wrap it up fast. Anuradha Paudwal's melodious aarti soothed our senses and we were lost in the aarti until a loud alarm shrieked and made us jump out of our skins. We suddenly realized the holy smoke from the burning camphor was too much for the fire alarm to handle. All of us attacked one fire alarm each and managed to stop it from screaming. Whew! guess lord ganesh saved us and we did not have to evacuate the entire building.

Before we could partake the painstakingly prepared prasad, Saurabh stopped us and asked us to chant Lord Ganesha's names after him. He ttok out a tattered piece of paper with all the names scribbled on it in a hardly legible writing. Here he goes "om ganpatay namah", "om gauriputraya namah", "om vinayakaya namah", "om gajananaaya namah", till this point our amatuer priest managed to pronounce all names and we obediently chanted after him,"om skanda...om skaandaraj....yeh kya likha hain?"...om skandaraajay namaha,"om sarva...om sarvasidhh....yeh kya likha hain? "om sarvasiddhantaya namah"....after stuttering through another 5 names we all burst out laughing...we just couldnt take it anymore....Saurabh's stuttering recitation of Lord Ganesha's names was drowned in our laughter. Finally good sense prevailed and we asked him to recite the names in his mind and we would wait till he finished. Within five minutes he was done. I am sure he was stuttering even when he was saying the names silently and I bet he did not go through the entire list. Till today we tease him for his miserable take at reciting Lord Ganesha's names. He is never gonna ever ask anybody to chant after him.

The day ended on a sweet note with all them simply loving the prasad and then we enjoyed shudh shakahari bhojan prepared by shubham to the strains of Lata Mangeshkars' melodious aarti. I am sure Lord Ganesha's would never forget such a memorable aarti. I believe the Lord Ganesha just loved the aarti and helped me in clearing my qualifiers. Ganapati Bappa Morya!

Y2k5, one year down

Philadelphia International Airport, Sunday, September 5th, 2004, 2:30 PM EST, the moment I landed in Philadelphia. What a moment it was. I would never forget this day, most definitely a red letter day in the calender of my life. Sometimes I wonder time flies away so fast, It almost seems like yesterday, but to think of it, today, its exacly one year since I came here. What a year it has been with many memorable moments and equally disheartening events.' The travails of FOB indian student', would make a nice book, probably land me a Booker. To share the events of the past one year, would take me another year. With me taking my PhD candidacy exam within one year has left me very little time to pen down all my experiences. But immediately after my exams, I vow to write down all the bitter sweet events. Till then keep a lookout. Will be back soon

National Anthem

Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he,

Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.

Punjab-Sindh-Gujarat-Maratha,

Dravida-Utkala-Banga,

Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga.

Tava shubha name jage, Tava shubha asisa mage,

Gahe tava jaya gatha,

Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.

Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he, Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!

click here to listen

The song, Jana-gana-mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on January 24, 1950. It was first sung on December 27, 1911 at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress

The following is Tagore's English rendering of the anthem:

Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people, dispenser of India's destiny. Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujarat and Maratha, of the Dravida and Orissa and Bengal; It echoes in the hills of the Vindyas and Himalayas, mingles in the music of Jamuna and Ganges and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea. They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise. The saving of all people waits in thy hand, thou dispenser of India's destiny. Victory, victory, victory to thee.

Jai Hind!

Swatantrya Din Mubbarak Ho!

mere sabhi saathi bloggers aur vishwa mein fayle hue saare bharatiyon ko bharat ki aazaadi ki atthaavanvi saal girah mubbarak ho! Sitting here in Philadelphia, I feel proud to be an Indian. I salute our Independence.

Happy Independence Day!

Jai Hind!!

100

My Blog reached a milestone on 12th August 2005. The counter logged 100 visitors in 12 days. Applause. I wish to thank all the people who made this possible :-). Keep visiting.

Coffee!

My very first encounters with coffee, as far as I can stretch the precious few neurons in my overworked brain, remind me of the lazy Sunday mornings at home and the warm aroma of freshly brewed MR coffee spiced with nutmeg powder. This once a week affair was the only time I was allowed to drink coffee. Other requests to drink coffee were politely turned down with not so polite reasons, "you'll turn black if you drink too much coffee", can you believe that?, "coffee is not good for health", how could I be so naive, research has proved that 3-4 cups of coffee a day is good for health, and the mother of all reasons, "coffee is bad for small children",ok mom, now I am big enough, so "coffee is good for me now!", baah!, the ill thought of reasons which parents give to us children. I graduated from coffee once a week to coffee thrice a week and finally to coffee twice a day. At one time I was so addicted, that I used to have severe headaches with one missed cup of coffee. But being a coffee worshipper, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Don't believe me? Drink a cuppa and you'll know what I am talking about.

I think coffee is man's biggest discovery or should I say invention. I cant imagine studying for those engineering exams without cups of coffee drunk nine to the dozen. Or for that matter the numerous cups of coffee drunk with your buddies in the college canteen while bunking as many lectures. The best way to break ice between you and a new acquaintance(the cute girl in your class, or the hot babe in office) is "you wanna go for a cup of coffee?". Ok, I think I am old fashioned, but it still works.Nothing like a hot cup of coffee on a rainy day or a cold coffee on a hot and humid day.

Once I hit the road, post graduation, in the land of salaries, company coupons, credit cards, I started exploring the fascinating world of coffee. I, at this point, while working in TATA Motors happened to meet an ardent coffee lover, Arun Kamath. I must say he is a connoisseur, when it comes to coffee, and he is as eccentric as his coffee drinking habits are. We used to make fun of him for the sheer amount of coffee he used to drink and still manage to stay sober. A person who can drink 3 shots of neat coffee,without changing the expression on his face, in 15 minutes is one crazy coffee drinker.

I still reminisce the days we used to haunt Barista and Cafe Coffee Day in Pune. Each weekend jaunt used revolve around unwinding in these cafes. Drinking insane amounts of coffee and getting high on it was an altogether different experience. I knowledge of coffee is attributed to "Mr. I am so high on Coffee all day long" I was introduced to the aromatic, intoxicating and flavour filled world of coffee by Arun. I got to know the many different blends, flavours, colors, aromas and last but not the least the various temperatures at which coffee is served.Cappuccinos, mochas, lattes, espressos were all experimented with and I drank coffe in all different colors and textures, brown, creamy, frothy, milky while slowly graduating to flavors like irish cream, hazelnut and caramel and risked some international blends of coffee, the best being the 'ethiopian coffee'. Check out the range of coffee available at coffee bean

The temperatures at which coffee is served is a sure indication of how good the coffee maker is. We drank coffee scalding hot, hot, warm, luke warm(this is when we asked for a replacement, you cant possibly serve luke warm coffee when you charge Rs 35/- a peg) cool, cold, chilled, ice cold bone chilling coffe(this is when you cant possibly talk). This coffee drinking binge continued for a long time. The coffee drinkers club was formed when we managed to splurge Rs. 200/- on coffee in a single day and were rewarded with a personalized Cafe Coffee Day Discount coupon, valid all over India. No one apart from us would have had a more worn out card. I still have that card as a souvenier. The next time we met was only after 4 months and coffee was once again the uniter. This time it was Delhi's Connaught Place Barista. We haunted that place so frequently that we were on first name basis with the host there. I guess the next time I am in India, the rendezvous would be at some coffee place in aamchi Mumbai.

On coming to the USA I completely changed my outlook towards coffee. Back home in India, I neither liked nor relished the prospect of drinking black coffee. Who knew my outlook would take a 180 degree turn? Circumstances had a lot to do with my switching over. One freezing winter morning cut from the rest of the civilization due to a blizzard, it dawned upon me that we were out of milk. Faced with the prospects of getting no coffee, I was staring into the dire consequences of skipping coffee. I could feel a dull throbbing in my temples, foreboding of something bad to happen. This spurred me into action, whipping out my favorite coffee and coffee mug, I brewed myself a cup of strong black coffee. I had never ventured so far in my coffee drinking career, I was treading into forbidden territory. Its coffee's way of saying enter at your own risk. The aroma of fresh coffee in its basic form was overpowering. I simply couldn't resist to take a swig. The first sip of black coffee was enough to shock me pleasantly. I was instantly awakened, all my senses sharpened. I was feeling light and heady. Since then if its coffee, its black, else its not coffee "no cream,just sugar"

Having become sort of a coffee lover, I decided to experiment with coffee and its varieties here in USA. Two names pop up immediately, "Starbucks Coffee" and "Dunkin Donuts", the former wins hands down for the amazing range and taste of coffee, which doesnt vary in color, flavor, texture, aroma, body and temperature from one outlet to other. Startbucks has always been to the rescue when I have been on the move here. Go wherever there'll be atleast one starbucks in the vicinity. Dunkin Donuts is a place where you get decent coffee served by people straight out of gujurat. "Kem cho, coffee joie?"I still maintain coffee is the best ice breaker. There is only one another place which makes superb coffee, you would be surprised to know, its at a food cart in Drexel University, run by an Indonesian. No other coffee tatstes as great as this one, and when I say its just for a dollar, its coffee at it best. I dont know why his coffee tastes so great, maybe the coffee itself, maybe the way he makes it or maybe just the way he serves it. Each evening is complete only with his tall cup of coffee, "no cream, just sugar". Its almost time for my coffee break. Until I brew another post lets take a break.

Mumbai marooned 

Two years and we met!

How is it to meet your best friend after a long time? Do you feel excited and keep anticipating the day of your meeting? Do you feel nostalgic thinking about the time you spent with them? Does it give you a spring in your step? Well, I felt all this when I was going to meet my best buddy after two long years. Right from the time I booked the flight tickets, I felt wonderful, I was just counting down the days left, I kept thinking how would we react when we met? What would be the first words we did say to each other? On the day when we were gonna meet, the flight journey seemed so long, I just kept wishing that the air hostess would announce, "Please tie your seat belts, we'll be shortly landing at Hartsfield International Airport". I literally jumped from my seat when the plane landed and taxied towards the gate. I could hardly wait to get out of the plane. The journey from the terminal to the arrival lounge took forever. On reaching the lounge I came to know that my buddy would take some more time to reach the airport and we would meet only after 15 minutes. I waited for my dear buddy to come and pick me up, with the wait almost seeming endless. Finally I saw the car in which my buddy was coming to pick me up. The instant our eyes met was priceless. The feeling of meeting after such a long time is impossible to put into words. You have to feel it to know it. I guess we were the happiest people on earth then. The only words we exchanged at that moment were "Long time!, good to see you again" : ) These words literally swept away any awkwardness which was bound to creep in. It was like old times. I felt like we had met just the day before. I was lucky to meet my dearest buddy. I thank god for making this possible. Well I hope I get many more chances in the near future.

Monsoon Fury!

Mumbai battered! Torrential rains drown Mumbai! Highest rainfall in India! 660 mm of rainfall in Mumbai in a single day! Mumbai Airport closed! All local and long distance train service standstill! 150,000 people stranded at various stations and places in Mumbai! People spend an entire night on the top deck of a double decker BEST bus! Some people walked from VJTI to BARC, some walked from Chembur to Prabhadevi. Just one day of rainfall and Mumbai is shut down. Well sitting here in Philadelphia, I can only imagine the plight of scores of mumbaikars braving the incessant rains, wading through waist deep water, in some places neck deep. Reading some of the horror stories on rediff made my hair stand, giving me a shiver down the spine. You may think I am out of my mind, but how I wish I could be there at this very moment, experiencing all the nature's fury, wading through waist deep water and walking from college to home with millions of unknown mumbaikars and lend my hand at rescuing stranded people. You may think I am crazy, how I wish I could be stranded in VJTI with my buddies and spend the entire night in VJTI. I know its easier said than done, but it would have been one experience of my lifetime. Kudos to all the mumbaikars, the never say die attitude!. Whole of mumbai came to a standstill but the people were up and about, helping people, providing assistance and for once I can say "Mumbai cares!" Mumbai is the greatest city in the world. Here I come, "Mumbai meri jaan!"

Harry Potter mania

I used to wonder why people like Harry Potter so much when I was back in India. Every other person used to ask me have you read harry potter? I used to think Harry Potter is for kids. There after until I came to US in 2004 I hadnt read a single Harry Potter Book. In summer 2005, after nine gruelling months, I by chance came across an offer on Amazon.com where I was getting the set of 5 Harry Potter books for just 20 bucks. I went ahead and brought the set thinking these five books would take me through the entire 3 months of summer break. I was wrong. I started with the Harry Potter and Sorcerer's stone and was througoughly enchanted with Harry Potter and way JK Rowling wrote. I was amazed by the completely different way of her writing. At king's cross station on platform 9 and a half I hopped onto the Hogwarts express on a journey into the magical land, Sorcerer's Stone was followed by Chamber of Secrets at breakneck speed, and I zoomed into the Prisoner of Azkaban and by the time I was rescued from azkaban I was neck deep into the Goblet of Fire. Swimming through the goblet of fire like a submarine I came to the Order of Phoenix. In just under 2 months I was holding the last of the first five books in my hand. I was surprisingly feeling downright sad the day I put the last book down after reading about the death of Sirius Black. In the meantime Harry Potter 6 release was getting close and I was desperately awaiting my copy of the Half Blood Prince. 16th july 2005 was the day. Lot of questions in mind and full of anticipation I awaited with bated breath. Will Voldemort be killed by Harry Potter? Will Dumbledore help Harry to get to the end? Is Snape really bad as Harry thinks? Will Harry Potter fall in love with Cho Chang? How will the students at Hogwarts be protected against Voldemort? The suspense was killing. Finally on the morning of 16th I was rewarded with emerald green hardcover copy of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". I received the book on the day of its release. I plunged headlong into it, but surprisingly the going was slow. I managed only 40-50 pages a sitting. Maybe it was because, I was reading the last book and wanted to savor each and every word and not miss out a single thing. I was also against some dark sinister people ;) who were hell bent on letting out the end of the book. The very threat made me finish the book as early as possible. The sixth book was as fascinating and well written as the earlier five. Quiet a few unexplained things were clarified by rowling and again few mysterious people like slughorn were introduced. The basic theme of the book was obviously the mystery about who was the Half Blood Prince, but who had expected JK Rowling to throw the biggest surprise in this book. I was shocked beyond imagination on reading the apparent death of Dumbledore. After the first five boooks I had somewhat taken a liking to Dumbledore. Well as in muggles life people die, even in magical Hogwarts people die. Its now all upto harry to finish off voldemort. The end of the sixth book has spwaned a discussion about Dumbledore's death, Snape's true identity, will harry kill voldemort on his own?, will Dumbledore be revived? I am now eagerly anticipating the finale of this series. This has to be the greatest book of my life. Harry Potter 7 will surely be snapped up by eager harry potter fans as he 6th one was. Long live Harry Potter!!

awesome blog, must read!

Hey people

check this blog I came across. Its an insider's story about Iraq by a person living in and writing from Baghdad. It a truly touching and highly opinionated blog. Read on for enlightment

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com

Honesty is the Best Policy

"Honesty is the best policy". I learnt this proverb way back in my school days. Today I found out that honesty literally pays. I am a regular at a food cart here in Drexel, so much that we are on first name basis. I ordered something to eat, paid and accepted the change. I was walking back and suddenly realised that I had more money than I started with. I promptly went back and returned the extra money. The look on the face of the cart owner was priceless. This was some months ago. Yesterday, at 2:00 in the afternoon, feeling ravenous, I went to the same cart and ordered my regular meal. I couldnt wait to eat, so I rushed back without bothering to look at the returned change. After the meal it struck me that instead of giving me change for $20 the cart owner gave me change for $10 and I was $10 short. By that time the cart was closed for the day. Today in the morning I went back and told him that I was $10 short. I was surprised to see him returning the extra money promptly with the words "I trust you, only you!". Well I guess he hadnt forgotten my earlier honesty. Honesty is the best policy!

best buddies 

up up and away! 

Flying High

I just love air trips, one for the sheer experience of flying high up above and second for the short travel time. The most exhilarating feeling is when the huge man-made winged beast takes-off to the blue skies. It’s just amazing that such a huge machine can climb so gracefully. I just love the feeling when the plane is airborne. The powerful whirring of engines when it is taxing generates varied emotions and racing thoughts. At one moment the beast is just calmly prowling on the ground waiting for the pilot to take it high up above and the next moment the adrenalin pumping acceleration pushes you back into your seat. One realizes the power of the plane as it just leaves the pull of the earth defying gravity and keeps climbing. The majestic bird takes to the skies as effortlessly as the soaring eagle. There aren’t exact words or emotions to describe the feeling one gets. Fly and you know how it is.

Terrible Hairsperience

On a lazy Friday afternoon, coming back from a marathon shopping session, before leaving for my vacation, I decided to have a hair cut to look presentable to my buddies and my bro. Took an appointment for five in the evening. Here is where, I realized later was the biggest mistake I made, but who knew a simple haircutting would turn into a disaster. I sat in the barberÂ’s chair at 5:00pm and intuitively thought something was wrong. A new looking chinkoo female hairdresser was getting down to business. I asked her to trim my hair and there began the ordeal. She was fumbling with the scissors and after trying out four she finally selected one, then she tried on five combs before she chose one. After cutting four and a half hairs, she suddenly stopped and reached for an unwieldy electric shaver. I am not kidding, but after 15 minutes she had cut just nine and a half hairs using as many instruments. Then she got the hang of it and increased her speed to two hairs a minute. She was nowhere close to finishing after 30 mins. I was feeling increasingly frustrated sitting in the chair wrapped in a stuffy cover with my hair nowhere close to trim. After suffering another 15 minutes I just gave up and resigned to fate with the hope that she would finish in another hour. I actually dozed off midway and was awoken by the now hysterical hairdresser who was screaming after she accidently nipped my ear. That was the last straw, I was the one who was hurt and instead of being helped had to turn to helper and calm down the hairdresser. She collected her wits and managed to finish off the remaining ordeal. I was maybe her first customer, but definitely her last. Phew! Atleast I managed to come back with my entire ear intact and patched up with a band aid. This is what I would call a hairsplitting hair-sperience.

Book Tag

Total number of books I own: About 500. (counting all the engineering books used in all the 4 years. Some of them have been gifts, some I brought at the local papermart, some of them I have forgotten to return to the lender and some I forgot to return to the library). I have been fond of reading from a small age. If I have nothing to do I would be found curled up in my favorite spot with a book in hand and nothing apart from the end of the world would make me stop reading ;) Most books I have read come in the category "referred by others". If someone says that its an amazing book I just have to lay my hands on it and wont rest until I finish it :)

Last Book I brought: Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien

Last Book I read: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Five books that mean a lot to me: (why they mean a lot to me, well click on the links!)

Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling(currently on the 5th book and eagerly awaiting the sixth)

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Da' Vinci Code by Dan Brown

The Partner by John Grisham


I tag

Arun

Sushanth

Rohini

Book Tagged

Well this seems to be a new idea. I have been book tagged(blog book tagged) by Nupur. I was just reading about book tagging. You read a particular book. Register on a site which deals with taggging. After you finish reading, leave the book at some place, like library, cafeteria, bus station etc and mention online where you left the book. Somebody else would pick up the book and the book travels. If you get back the book you read, guess the book compyeted a full cycle. Nice aint it. But I for some reason wouldnt like to part with a book I liked. Ya Ya, i know knowledge increases by sharing...blah! blah!....I would hate to part with my collection of harry potter. Currently I am reading the 5th harry potter book.....rest of the details in a new post

Awesome! 

Glorious! Aint it? 

Weather and weekends

whether weather will work on weekends? A pressing question indeed. Another weekend where the weatherman predicts the opening of skies. Seems like the wather has taken a break yet again and it so happens that its a weekend. I wonder sometimes, does the sun work according to the american lifestyle? slog from monday to friday and relax on weekends! I am yet to see a bright, hot and sunny weekend here in Philadelphia. Plan someting for the weekend, and be sure to have rains or gloomy skies for company. The weather is a real spoilsport, sticking out like a sore thumb, and smirking to glory. All your getaway plans go kaput! Best bet is to go on a weekday and work on weekends.
Will the weather wither you away?wait for the weekend and you'll know

Sixth Sense!

9:00 in the night on a lazy sunday, chinese for food,bored roommates for company and nothing much to do, I popped in 'Sixth Sense' in the dvd player and let it rip. I hadnt seen the movie since it was released 3 years back and desperately wanted to catch M. Night Shymalan's chillin thriller. After watching 'Signs' and 'The Village' I am a big fan of Shyamalan's movies. At11:00 pm I found myself frozen in place clutching the arm rest, being aroused only after being told that the movie is over and you can stop being scared ;).

I must say its a brilliant movie with a great climax. The movie got me thinking, can there be life after death? is there after life? Are all these ghost stories just fiction or is there an iota of truth in them? Maybe the five senses and some blessed with the sixth are not sufficient for humans to perceive other worldly beings! Is it possbile that people do communicate after they leave this human form. Is it possible that humans dont die, its just that they take a different form which a normal human being cant visualize. As wind and heat cannot be seen but only felt is there some from which cannot be seen nor can be felt? Well I am writing all this in my complete senses, just thought that you must be calling me a freak by now! If there comes a time in my life, when I have done everything, experienced everything, have everything and nothing much to do I am going to start investigating and find answers to my questions.

Did I just write all that! oh my god! I guess its time for my brain to take a break and s**t its monday tomorrow....zzzzzz!

Brilliant aint it 

A day at Drexel

6:30 Wake up and lie awake in bed.
6:31 Realize you spent $18 on last night's dinner, means no eating out for the next 6 weeks.
7:00 Wake up suddenly with heart in mouth when you realize you didn't hit the snooze button--you turned it off.
7:01 Fall asleep again.
7:44 Wake up with heart in mouth again.
7:45 Ready to go to school, will shave tommorrow, bathe day after, will eat early brunch at (Taco's/John's/Daily Deli/Mike's whatever cafeteria).
8:03 Arrive at school. Realize your labmate arrived earlier today as usual and must have got more work done.
8:04 Pass by Advisor's office, chat with Secretary to find out if he is coming in today. He is, darn. Need to start work on the draft due this afternoon.
8:15 Read electronic mail.
8:20 Delete mail from prospective students regarding questions about the funding, courses, profs, univ. Darn these inquisitive freshers. Depression: too much work to do today.
9:00 For jumpstart: go to Pepsi machine.
9:05 Kick Pepsi machine; promise yourself to call up the company and ask for your money back. Wonder why they would believe you.
9:33 Start printing out loads of stuff that may be vaguely related to your work.
9:41 Early morning stupefaction. Mutter racist comments to yourself about your officemate. 9:43 Curse your officemate in a low tone he would not comprehend. Feel good about him not grasping English well.
9:58 Finger everyone in the department and most people half way around the world10:19 Feel sleepy, should not have stayed late writing this post last night.
10:31 Momentary panic attack!!!!!!!!!!!!
10:43 Make a daily schedule to be followed from tomorrow, which means never.
10:59 Drop in at advisor's office and borrow something you don't need & and kinda make him aware you are working hard on your project.
11:05 Perverted daydreams
11:11 Read electronic news. Mid-morning yawn time.
11:34 Start typing junk at a very high key-in rate to pretend you are working hard as your advisor passes by from outside.
11:35 Press the BackSpace key for one and a half minutes until all the garbage you typed in is erased. Realize that you can type more than 256 characters per half minute.
11:41 Flirt with the new girl in the department.
11:45 Print out some slides for afternoon's draft + presentation.
11:47 Print them again, you forgot to change the date from last presentation.
11:49 Print another copy in case this one gets lost.
11:51 Completely forget about sueing the coffee machine company.
12:15 Hunger pangs:
12:20 BigMac/Fries time. Drink a not-so-cold generic can of cola from your desk. Ch-Ching, you just saved 35 cents by buying bulk cola.
1:00 Group Meeting with advisor.
1:14 Sudden awareness of one's resentment towards foriegn officemate for sucking up to your advisor. Get reminded by your advisor that you need to do some more work for your literature survey.
1:51 Advisor hands you the reddened copy of your draft for corrections.
1:51:02 The 49 second urge to murder advisor begins!!
1:51:52 Realize that he controls your assistantship/grade/ graduation possiblity/graduation date/all job opportunities and the rest of your life.
1:52:53 Thank him
1:52:54 Thank yourself for not saying something stupid to your advisor
1:53:00 splitting headache
1:59 Check electronic mail, don't reply though, you are too busy to do that.
2:06 More generic cola.
2:17 Oh No, it is my turn to cook tonite :-(
2:30 Sit through the class you were told to sit through.
2:39 Look outside the window make unrealistic plans to quit this degree program and take up a job. Wonder why blonde girls are so pretty.
2:48 More perverted day-dreams. Close office door and open a few .gif files. Sharpen pencil.
3:06 Worry about never graduating. Time to write an email--NOT! No time for that. Rearrange desk. Call up bank, see if you have any money. Fear of losing aid next Fall ;)
3:43 Watch the clock. Make plans to do a all-nighter tonite. Vow to watch only 2 TV programs.
4:58 Notice advisor leave.
4:58:01 Sudden sense of freedom. Go home for quick, short dinner break and a power nap.
9:00 Come into the office
9:01 The hard working grad student you are, you have to come to the office late at night to "get the work done."
9:03 Check electronic mail. Decide it would be a good time to attack those ftp sites since network won't be loaded. Run into "since network won't be loaded" traffic and get the pictures into your machine. Compress all the unwanted research/class directories to make space. Back up all your pictures.
10:11 Admire pictures. Begin work; Realize you need references. Realize its too late today to go to the library. Sudden feeling of having wasted the day.
10:49 Sudden feeling of possibly having to waste the night, decide to turn in early and come back very early tommorrow morning. Decide to complete this blog to put yourself in a good mood.
11:15 Darn what should I write.
12:20 Tap away to glory and finish off the post. A sense of achievment!! Yes, today was not wasted!!
12:45 Return home to find your roommate watching the netflix movie u wanted to watch. Tell him about the "hard working grad student day you had." Discuss philosophy with roommate.
1:09am Think about becoming a philosopher. Argue with him about politics, why people prefer Japanese cars and whether it is good to have salad or chicken cheese steak for lunch
1:49 Realize neither of you have bought milk today. Get reminded of the "too much milk problem."
2:04 Forget about getting up early. Turn the alarm off and go to sleep.

Fading glory 

Spring is here 

Spring at Parktowne 

Swades!

Sameer with his desi friends in US 10 years down the line

Everything was new for us when we first came here. We all made new friends. We all clung to each other. We watched countless movies. We even learnt to cook and throw pot luck parties where we always played Antakshari. We confess that we even smiled at those beautiful girls across the street. We all took trips to India; some annually, some less frequently. We all tracked the "sale" events at Sears and Kmart. We all went to Indian groceries, and bought rice and rotis. Most of us got married. We, went back home, searching for the love of a good woman-some found it in the old acquaintances from across the bus-stands, some found it in their parent's choice. Some of us took a gamble and married the one looking closest to Aishwarya Rai. Now what do we do? We all work in software, we go to the local temple to socialize, we attended movie screenings, and argued countless time that Honda Accord is better than Toyota Camry or vice versa.

At times, late night before falling asleep we switched on the Ipod and listened to that old Hindi melody which makes us remember the land that was ours. We recall the green grass, the muddy roads, the wet monsoons, the pretty girls that we never talked to. We hear the words speaking to us from across the oceans.


A Mother who gave sour medicine to her son, because she wanted him to recover soon, who let her son move miles apart though the thought was tearing her apart, she let him go as she wanted him to be happy and successful, who hides her agony in telling others that her son is abroad.
A Father who understands his son's ambitions and the limitation and frustration he has to overcome of in India, who would not let his voice reveal that says I'll miss you son !, I love you but am unable to express the feeling.
A brother who would miss the brotherhood, though it had often been fights and not talking terms, who can deny the fact that a brother is still a brother, a friend, who expected you to understand him as his, and when you didn't it upset but moving miles in distances has overlooked all minute failures.
A sister who would not have her adoring one to escort her to help her out of troublesome situations, who knows she has to send 'Rakhi' by post, who wishes he would turn up for her wedding, if not at least to fondle her baby that longs for a MAMA's love & affection.
A friend, who is left with mundane tasks, unable to exchange the chirpy jokes & comments, discuss various thoughts from family, friends, politics, & economics, who visits your home because he still remembers you not only on a day but everyday. Who would jump with joy on receiving a mail, who tries to keep himself free for all the days when his friend is coming back on a holiday. The girl next door, who didn't know if she had to rejoice or not when she overheard that the boy next door is moving away, who silently takes it that he has a career and would wish for his best from afar, bids goodbye with a tear in her eye.
The girl at the bus-stop, who smiled at you and suddenly finds you no longer there, who changes her route only to avoid the void which seems to be there at the same bus-stop she had been once smiling.
The girl you are married to, unable to understand why she is being sent to a far off land, waiting for her man to send VISA papers, bearing the nagging question of neighbors and relatives asking when you are leaving India.
The girl you got engaged to is waiting for you to come back and tie the wedding knot, a social and emotional security, who anxiously waits for his telephone calls and greeting cards to reassure her that you will be back as her man.

People back home
Whatever our roles, it is only to say that we still love and care for you, wherever you are, you are still dear to us. We don't know what you have to go through, we only know we have love & wishes to give for you. You might have learnt or the circumstances might have taught you to handle emotions and that time and work are more important than feelings and their expressions but we are still in India and are still the same, waiting and wishing for those who moved away from India, INDIA - a land of love, emotion & sentiments....

Foods

Not so much of a food person I was just wondering the many different cuisines I have tried out since coming to USA. American, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Thai, Turkish and not to forget my own cooking which does not come in any of the earlier cuisines;)

American: Mainly all sorts of meat preparation. Bland and boring. Its very hard to survive as a vegetarian in USA. I sort of turned vegetarian after surviving on non-veg for three months. Maybe I just got bored. But there is a wide variety of foods available. Most preparations use cheese, lettuce, tomatoes,mayonnaise,mustard, meat and more meat

Chinese: Hunan, Yu Hisiang, Lo Mein, General Tso's, and many other difficult to pronounce names. Basically food available at the carts, cheap, consisting of either noodles, fried rice, steam rice, meat, seafood, tofu and vegetables, and at best only fills your stomach. I got fed up of having similar tasting food with different names at lunch for 6 months.

Mexican: The food closest in flavour and appearance to Indian food. They do have different names like Jalupas, Nachos, Burritos, Taco, but very simply put its mostly like the frankies back home in India. Maybe a lot of desis migrated to Mexico and introduced desi food there long back;)

Thai: Almost similar to chinese food preparation, but with even more funnier names. Pad thai noodles, noodles with different shapes and sizes, sticky rice and more rice, agian with meat, tofu or vegetables.

Indian: The influence of Indian food on the American palette is unmistakable. Of the numerous Indian joints I have been to, Americans make up the majority of the eaters. I was very surprised to see Americans enjoying spicy chicken tikka masala with biryani :)

Turkish: well I only had a sweet dish made of cashew brought by a turkish classmate.

My own food: No matter what food we have, we Indians still like the basic ghar ka khana, daal chawaal and sabji roti. Though no expert at cooking, I can boast that I can feed myself and a bunch of ravenous desi friends to the hearts content:). Oh I almost forgot today is my cooking turn. Must head home, nahi toh roommates mujhe kha jayenge :)

six months later 

on reaching USA 

Daylight Saving

April 2nd 2005, one second after 1:59:59 am the clock read 3:00:00am. I stared at the watch in disbelief. Rubbed my eyes to make it go away, but no it still showed 3am. Probably I was too tired after the show or maybe the effects of hectic preparation for the show and lack of sleep were beginning to show up. Could it be if someone had laced my pepsi with alcohol? I was at an afterparty at a club on the Philadelphia river side. But I was neither slurring nor was I seeing things blurred. Then I decided to leave that place asap and head for the comforts of home sweet home. On the way back I was still dazed about why it happened. The next day I awoke at noon and looked outside, the sun was struggling to make it to the highest point. I was still bewildered and then it struck me that these Americans want to control even the days and nights. They have a scheme called as DST, "daylight saving time", where in spring they push the clocks one hour ahead and in fall they pull the clocks one hour behind. DST was the reason for all my confusion of the previous night. The ways of life in a foreign country!!

A Capella'

"A' Capella”, does it sound familiar? Acapella means, "Without musical instruments". How can any song sound melodious without some background score? I got the opportunity to witness a performance by "PennMasala", the first south Asian acapella group in USA. I was absolutely amazed by their performance. They had people for making specific sounds, like a tabla, a drum, a guitar and various other instruments. It sounded as if the instruments were actually were being played. Check out their songs on their website http://www.pennmasala.com.
But you may be wondering why I am going on about A'Capella. Well I had a chance to be a part of "Drexel Shor", the first South Asian co-ed A'Capella group at Drexel and in Philadelphia. A group of fifteen enthusiastic people who had to face stiff opposition from various quarters within the Indian Student association and almost caused a vertical split in the organization. We started off like 15 donkeys braying together and slowly but surely we started sounding like music. After lot of deliberations we chose four songs from fifteen short listed songs. We were pretty confident until the mock rehearsal. We messed up the mock rehearsal and managed to drive the audience nuts, so much so that there were talks of "Drexel Shor" being taken off the list of performances in “NASHA”, a cultural show organized by Pragathi, Graduate Indian Student Association at Drexel University (http://www.pragathi.net). We resolved to improve our performance to the level that people say “once more”. Shrugging off the one bad day at office we came back strongly to wow the audience at the show.
Three cheers for “Drexel Shor”, sor nahi baba, Shor! Shor! Finally, alls well that ends well. I am waiting for our next performance at the Spring Festival in Drexel University.

another photo from my living room 

light and dark. random photos from my living room 

quarter se quarter tak

Hurray! I finished another quarter here at Drexel. Such a relief to be done with the finals. Well so now commences the spring break. At the beginning of every quarter I tell myself that I'll become regular with my habits, sleep right, eat right, work right, excercise daily and reduce that

excess fat. Its two quarters down the line. I sleep regularly at 1:00am, have lunch regularly at 4:00pm, have 3-4 cups of coffee regularly to keep myself from dozing off, come to lab regularly at 9:00am and leave regularly at 11:00pm. so far so good. where does excersise come into picture? oops did I plan to excercise too? Add another inch to my slim 32" waist : ). At this rate by the time I go to India I'll have to shop for my entire wardrobe. A new beginning to the new quarter, I'll sleep right, eat right, work right and yes excercise :)

20 Things common to all engineering colleges

Thanks to a forward from Arun. I felt so nostalgic about the four glorious years I spent in undergraduate. Read and relive those days

1)The lecturers dont teach.The students dont study.The only guy whobenefits is the one who owns the 'dhaba' next to the college.

2)Rules are made to be broken.

3)Promises are made to be broken.

4)Deadlines are made to be extended...ALWAYS!5).Guys always think the chics in the college next lane are more beautiful.

5)The geeks are the most pampered lot during the internal exams.

6)The lab assistants are the most respected people(during the lab exams i.e)

7)The watchmen are the people most bribed.

8)The HOD is the person most respected(heights of sycophancy here).

9)The principal is the person most abused and insulted(behind the back)

10)Dropping subjects is 'cool'.(arre yaar..drop the idea of dropping subjects plzz).

11)There is always a lecturer in the college who cant speak proper 'english'.

12)Night-out is the second most important tool to ace the exams.

13)The most important tool..the bhramastra..is the 'chit' in which the words can be understood only by the person who wrote them(in mostof the cases i.e)

14)The freshers are the most sought after..be it in the canteen,the'free' periods or for completing the records,assignments.

15)The second-years are the ones with the 'I am thedon-of-the-college' feeling.

16)The third years are the ones with the 'so-many-backlogs' feelingand the poorsouls get down to studying after bossing around in the college for so long. But the fun still continues.(I gave 22 exams last year!!).

17).The fourth years have no connection with the collegewhatsoever...with no interest in ragging,pulling each other`s legs,thebday parties,the bday bums et al which they enjoyed so much tillnow.All they want is a good placement and a '1st-class' tag attached to their memo.

19).The first three years are spent in cursing the college,the people there,the system et al.

18) College life is bliss.

20).But towards the end of the fourth year,people tend to feelnostalgic abt the pure unadulterated fun they have had for 4 years.Nowthe very system they disliked,the very canteen they cursed,the timethat they spent there,the bday bums they suffered..all these seem like heaven to them.

To me personally,engg has been great fun..its been a 4 year holiday tome.. studied,but had lots and lots of fun. The memories I`ll take back,the friends that I have made here and the degree that I`ve obtained will be cherished by me..always.

Life!!

Life is a second Life is a century
Life is joy Life is sorrow
Life is up Life is down
Life is gain Life is pain
Life is day Life is night
Life is fast Life is slow
Life is history Life is mystery
Life is knowledge Life is ignorance
Life is colorful Life is monotone
Life is bright Life is dull
Life is a path Life is an obstacle
Life is success Life is disappointment
Life is love Life is hatred
Life is activity Life is liesure
Life is young Life is old
Life is interesting Life is boring
Life is a change Life is constant
Life is a teacher Life is a student
Life is a journey Life is a destination
Life is positive Life is negative
Life is remembered Life is forgotten
Life is an essence, Life is a gift of God, Life is to be lived at its fullest. Life is a beginning with no end. Look at life with an unbiased outlook. Make the most of the life has to offer you. Learn from the experiences and have a meaningful life.
Life Is For Enrichment

Haircut

One look at the mirror early morning today gave me a rude shock. I looked like a mop upside down. I resembled "Mowgli" in "Jungle Book". Only I didn't have Bhaloo and Bagheera for company. Probably I should change my profession from student to rock star.

Ahh!! The travails of being a graduate student in USA. Neither do you have enough money to shell out for a regular haircut nor there is anybody to pester you for having a haircut.

These barbers here charge a fortune to get rid of useless hair and expect a hefty tip too. Back home in India it was just Rs. 20/- to get back to civilization. How I miss my regular barber.

Here you have to fix an appointment to get those scissors go snip snip snip!
Back home you just grab a magazine and wait for the barber's chair to get empty and its done in a jiffy.

One look again at the mirror all the thoughts vanished except that I needed to get haircut real soon before I fail to recognize myself. What's the phone number of the saloon...aaarghh!!

First Birthday away from home!!

Have you ever celebrated your b'day away from home, away from your parents and relatives?

I celebrated my 23rd birthday 8000 miles away from home in Philadelphia.

Infact I celebrated twcie. Once a small icecream party with just my roommates at the stroke of 12am on 31st Jan and recieving calls from family and friends in US and India. The second party was a blast with cake cutting, b'day bumps and pizza where I had invited 25 people, mostly people whom I had met in Mumbai, my roomates and some seniors. What a great party it was. though after the second round of b'day bumps I had a sore behind, a' la Saif ali khan in Dil Chahata hain :). got cake pasted all over my face and head

Though I missed my parents, my sis and other relatives, this party made up for all that. All the people of the house said "wish you a very very happy birthday"

I would always remember this birthday for years to come.

there used to be a swimming pool here 

Blanket of snow. View from my room  

Snow Time

January 19th 2005. The first time in my 23 years of existence I saw snow, I felt snow and realized that this is something that I should make myself accustomed to for the next two months

Mother Nature has been kind enough till now to spare Philadelphia from snow.

My roommates, who have been year for the past two years showed me snaps of snow which started right from November end. Foot deep snow, cars buried under snow, people playing in snow, people shovelling truckloads of snow to make pathways and clear roads. It all looked fascinating and I was waiting for Philly to catch its first snow shower. I didnt have to wait for too long; I had a first hand experience today, 9:00am lecture, I was all set to leave for college and I saw outside the window. A white expanse stared back at me. The ordeal of dressing up for facing the weather took almost 10 mins. ek toh aadat nahi itne saare kapde peheneke upar se itni thand, which we mumbaikars are least used to.

So there starts the trudge to college. Well it was not so bad though. Only problem was the running nose ; ). The entire place looked like icing on a cake. It was like walking in a freezer. people were up and about, going about their chores, unmindful of the snow. Maybe after a few showers I'll be doing the same.

Gmail Account

Google has been generous to me in doling out invitations for gmail account
I have 6 invitations. Anybody who wants a gmail account get back to me
at sameerkalghatgi@gmail.com. hurry!!

Celebrating New Year's eve!!

31st Dec 2002: At home with family watching new year's special show on TV and enjoying some delicious hotel food.

31st Dec 2003: In Hiranandani, Thane with friends partying and dancing the night away and finally crashng at a friends place for the night.

31st Dec 2004: In Philadelphia, at Penn's Landing river side with roommates and other friends, watching a splendid fireworks display and trudging back home as we couldnt find a cab!

31st Dec 2005: Where would new year ring in for me? Times Square,New York or Home sweet home in Mumbai?

Years pass by so swiftly and and on 31st Dec we remember fleeting moments of the year gone by, hoping that the new year would be better than the old.Here's wishing a very Happy and Prosperous new year

2005! whats in store? Lets face it as it comes with new resolutions and new resolves