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!!

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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!