Someone comes flying through distances

Have you ever imagined, how people reach you? They may not visit you, they may not touch you, they may not hold you or comfort you. Still they touch you in a different way. They don't need a car to drive, they don't need to book tickets to visit you, they don't even need to get out from their homes. Still, they reach you. They swoosh a magic wand of happiness, spread a blanket of comfort and take you in their arms without embracing you. Maybe I am plain lucky, or maybe they are god-sent angels. And, I believe its the latter:) Yes, Sayesha, I agree that angels do exist. Each one of us have our angels who is someone amongst us. You just tell them and they come spreading their wings, showering you with just what you need. They just know what you need. Someone gave me a call last night when I was unable to sleep. That voice was so comforting that it acted like a sedative, just when I needed one. Someone sent me a cricket video, when I watched Dravid and something really cute on the screen that spread a smile across my face. Someone gave me a call immediately when I wrote that I was sad, for no apparent reason. When that someone is a person who does not talk for hours on the phone. Someone did it, only coz someone needed it. Someone always hears you, cares about you, when you cry. There are times, when you are blue and blue is all you think. Half of the times, that I am blue, it has to do with the weather. Neverthless, weather is something that has a profound influence on me, more than even people. Was looking for my sunshine, and some angels were really kind to send it across. I might not make a lot of sense to many others, who might bump onto this post. I am not proofreading it either. Its written in the shortest possible time with the maximum realization, that has dawned on me.

To my faithful shadow

Yet another friend walking down the aisle:) How do I feel, may I say?? As of now..mixed feelings, of joy as well as bewilderment. A confused state of mind.. Maybe its time for me to start remembering their anniversaries, instead of their birthdays:O Mayura is the fourth one from a group of 7 people who is getting hitched (including me). Of course, one couple who recently got married were from the same group. But, even before that, me and Mayura were friends from 11th grade. So now, we have blisfully completed 10 years of a very peaceful friendship. She remains special in numerous ways. For the first reason, coz she is the only "girlfriend" with whom I never had any argument, disagreement or any sort of misunderstanding. And that itself is a very big reason. In a world, where like poles repel each other, being together in the same field, in the same friends circle calls for a lot of scope for negative emotions as well. This, was never an issue with us. This apart. This really delicate darling is quite opposite to me (yet again). The only one who calls me "Motu", coz she is way too thinner than EVEN I AM:O She is really really pretty and who carries a mysterious aura with her. A girl who being in a big and boisterous group, hardly ever spoke. A girl whose "Cosmetics" Journal was more enticing than an actual "cosmetic". An artist who drew a designer "mehendi" in minutes. Someone, who was never hungry, loved ice-creams and who used to stop talking to any guy who "approached" her. The way we get along is something that is remarkable. She and me live in the same city, travelled in the same bus and trains, belonged to the same friends circle and sat on the same bench, studied together & got in the same college for our M.Pharm, which I quit later on. Well, funny that we ended up spending the maximum time with each other (minus the time that we slept in our respective houses). Finally, she said "If I were to get married, the guy has to be like you, so that I do more of the listening job than doing the talking". I still remember the first day of our "Professional Career". Stepping into our Pharmacy college. Well, we had only heard about ragging until then and did not know how it felt. So this girl, wore a "Violet"color dress and was walking down the hallway and when this senior asked her to come on the stage. As usual, she got nervous. When asked what the meaning of her name was? She uttered "Peacock". Immediately, she was asked to dance in front of a class of 200 students, much to her embarrasment. She went cold and started crying. Hahaha..and when a girl cries, none will dare torture her:p She escaped, but then she was forever called as "Ms. Catechol"[Catchechol violet is a dye]. Even now, she remains my "catechol" Considering the fact, that she was reticent in the beginning when we just started getting to know each other, and when our association finally came to an end as "fellow travellers", she would never keep her mouth shut. Laughed whole heartedly and I am very happy that she metamorphosized from a coy girl to a girl who actually fell in love! A phenomenon that she believed does not happen, and never believed until it actually did happen. So, well on this day, when she actually is getting married, I am going on a rebound. For someone who isn't too fond of cooking, someone who is actually meant to be cared for, is embarking on a journey, thats exciting. I am going back to the time when we first met, in 1995. 10 years and what has changed? A lot..still nothing has changed, coz everytime we talk we set on the journey again, reliving those college days. As soon as I came back home, I got all the stuff that she ever presented me. She remains, The one who sent me the "Diyas" that I light every diwali The one who sends me a "hand-made"greeting card, every birthday.Notice, in the picture, those two cards. She is one who can color any surface as long as she has a pen in hand. The card has a "dried peepul leaf", which she saved in a book until the time it became suitable to be painted on:) The only one who ever wrote letters in Marathi to me. Yes! she was not an internet savvy person and considered emails to be "impersonal". Therefore, she actually "wrote letters to me". Just like we had those long conversations in the trains, every single day, that she travelled she wrote something about her day. Kept me aware of everything that was going on in her life. Later, at the end of the month, she posted them together. Letters written in a notepad, in a diary, in notebooks, with a pen, pencil and whatever she found at that time. Finally, she remains my "Faithful Shadow" as she follows me here to OMAHA!Her husband has an offer from an University in Omaha and quite likely he would get the visa and here my faithful companion follows me, to continue the journey, which never had stopped. My best wishes for my sweetest darling:) ***P.S. These pics are taken from my camera:p. Just thought of posting a few pics***

Mujhse dosti karoge?

Today, as I opened my University email box, this message flashed in front of me, which totally drove me crazy! Hi , I am XYZ now working in City X as an engineer in the ABC project. I did my graduation in "Timbaktoo" university. I got ur mail address from net. so if u like to be a good friend u can contact me. Regards, XYZ I was so furious, not at what the guy had written, but the medium. I don't understand why people, confuse professional life with personal life! Off late, there have been people who have written unacceptable emails to be by acquring email address from my website. That email address has always been for professional reasons and so far, even my family members and close friends have not written to me on that address. Maybe I am over reacting, but I certainly don't appreciate people approaching me in this manner. Its another story, that people still write to me on that address, considering that its the only public email id, and approach me for strictly educational purposes. There was a guy, whom I tried to help with his GRE enquiries and he straight away shot an email, as to whether we can talk on the phone!!!!!!! Then, there are few others, who address me as "Dr. ROS" or "Madam ROS" Gosh!! I have still not got that degree and please don't ever call me MADAM!(Some of my friends do use this word for me, but I dont mind it from their mouth) The meaning of word "Madam" assumes a totally different meaning in this Country:O Few others, from Hyderabad have contacted me with different enquiries "ranging from my major until my marital status" only coz I have a Telugu sounding last name! No! I cannot speak Telugu and nor I speak Latin, french, German!!!! I talked to a friend about it, and was surprised to know that one gentleman used her University email address to contact her for matrimonial purposes! And now someone from "some farway land" wants to be good friends with me!! No! my dear, you need something else to be friends with me! AND THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT THE WAY!!!!! The qualifications, you possess are not enough for you to be my friend. Talk about cons of having a website:(

Pleasures and Pains of shopping

Like, I mentioned my weekend went past in a zoom. Had loads of fun and now the fun is driving me crazy. Somehow taking a break seems like a crime, when you are neck deep in work. Anyhow, I dont want to get stressed out writing this post, as I want to share the exciting time, I had. Movie Time: Yeay! I have realized that, if I watch a movie, I go on a movie spree and if not, I seek complete abstinence for months together. So, this time, we went to watch this hilarious comedy movie "Yours, Mine and Ours". It was total fun and unrealistic. Well, after all you can't imagine 18 children in an American family, living together in a Light house:D Well, anyhow, I would recommend that movie if you want to spend some decent 90 minutes of laughter riot. Yeay! of course, the number of kids could have been reduced. Who cares?? Above all there is this hunk "Sean Faris" who bears a striking resembelance to none else but "Tom Cruise". Yeay..except that he is Tall!!!!!!!! Well, we decided to stay up for the entire night, so that we could go for the early Thanksgiving sale at 4:30 AM. We ended up watching another movie "Devdas", following this movie. That was the only movie, that could keep us up:) ************************************************************************** The Morning Shopping Hmm..For the first time, in US I saw the opening of a store. 24 hours Wal-mart, was closed for Thanksgiving and opened at 5:00 AM. It was crazy!! These people all trumplin one another, just so that they would attack the cheapest thing, before someone else set their eyes on it! It almost resembled like a stampede. The usually sophisticated amroos, breaking through a crowd of people, without saying "Sorry, Please, Excuse Me". I finally bought myself a Digital Camera!!!!!! Now, I have no clue what the resolution and all mean (I bought it on a friend's recommendation:D) Anyhow, that was the only thing I really wanted to buy. Its a HP E317 5MP camera. Thats all I know and I got it for 88$. This is all that matters. Well, somehow, I cannot buy something only coz the entire world is buying it. Never felt like buying one, until the time when I actually bought one. I love my film camera. I love the feeling of having a hard copy of pictures in my hand. My entire house is adorned with pictures taken at different moments. I know, all this could be done with a digicam also, but considering my enthusiasm for gadgets, I dont think I would be doing it:( Secondly, what else can you buy on sale..Yes!! CLOTHES! I ended up buying branded clothes for much much cheaper price. Yeah! I am a cheap shopper. I don't care. I cannot convince myself to buy a 60$ worth jeans on regular days, when you can get the same one at 3 times lower price on sale. Again, I treated myself to GAP jeans. This has been a record for me. Every year, I buy an awesome looking GAP jeans for $9.00. They are the only one who carry my size of jeans:) A logitech webcam for 10$. Then I bought 2 sweaters. No matter, how many clothes I have, I have to buy new winter clothes:) Last, but not the least..A foot massager:) Off late, I had realized that I did not pay attention to my feet. This was just an impulsive purchase. Overall, this time I decided that I would allocate 200$ for my Thanksgiving shopping. Guess what, I managed my shopping in that money and ended up saving some also:) *********************************************************************** Life is all good until here. BTW, I have to still take lessons on photography and I have to yet unpack that camera from its box. I am containing that, coz the moment I do that, I will start playing with my new toy:) and I will forget all my studies. So this can wait:) By the end of it, I was so tired that I slept the entire afternoon. But, yeah it was worth tha pain, coz in the end it gave me satisfaction that I bought lot of stuff at a much lower price!

Thanksgiving to remember

Thanksgiving has all always been a wonderful joy with people whom you call "your own"! Every year the motto has been the same, but the people have changed. I can proudly say, that I have three families here, who are not my own or are not even remotely related to me, but who are not less than a family to me. Every year, it has been a non-american family, that has hosted the traditional Thanksgiving meal for me. The very first year in this country, An Iranian Professor hosted it for me. I was totally not aware of the tradition, but I was willing to learn. So, as always the festival is marked with feast and loads of fun. My professor had a very nice menu consisting of traditional Turkey, Hams, Smashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Though, I would have gorged on the feast, if I was a meat-eater. But, the fact that I am a vegeterian, made me relish on potatoes and salad:O Neverthless, I experienced the most talked of event in America after Christmas. Well, this year was truly the most memorable of them all. It was hosted by a Maharashtrian couple over her, who are very close to few of us Grad students. Well, considering that uncle and Aunty have been living in the US for past 40 years and they are well past 65 years of age. Despite that, they are as Indian as can be. They do not fake the american accent, they do not roll their R's:). The most striking thing about the couple is the way they guard Indian traditions at the same time being liberal and having a modern outlook. People who have acquired a lot and given a lot, back too. That combination is too rare. They are someone whom anyone can relate to. People to whom you can talk about science, philosophy, literature and voila..they have a huge mansion here. The first floor of their house consists of two rooms full of books. One with all english and other with Marathi books and CDs. Aunty, stil teaches Sanskrit to the little kids and yes! I do attend few classes sometimes:) So, well they had a Banquet for all of us today. We were in all 60 people!!!!! I cannot imagine the pains that they have taken to make this "A family reunion" Aunty, single handedly managed a meal for so many of us. Not to mention we had alteast 20 different dishes to choose from!!!!!!! Evey family has a history. Every family has certain rules and traditions that they abide to. In this case, when they got married 35 years back, they had resolved that they would have a traditional meal for people whom they are close to. And that they would observe it every year, regardless of what. As years went by, they came to know a lot more people and with time, the number of guest entries shot to 60 (with obvious subtractions, of course). They are non meat eaters, and can you imagine she roasts a Turkey only for this special day and which she does not eat. She roasts it because if you are doing something the traditional way, you stick to the traditions. You don't bend them according to your convenience. Since there are many Americans whom she knows and who do not have a family anymore, she does not want to deprive them of a Thanksgiving meal. Some people are inspiring and she is one amongst them. Anyhow, so this was a formal meal in the banquet hall of their house. Man, it was unbelievable and grand. Apart from the traditional meal we also had Salad, Rice, Cranberry pickle, Green bean casserole, Sprouts. huh!I dont even know half of the dishes names;( The best course was the dessert. Cakes and pies with Awesome sounding names: Here goes:- 1. Death by Chocolate 2. Better than Sex 3.Pumpkin Pie 4. Apple Pie 5. Strawberry Cheese Pudding I don't know from where people derive such motivation from. But, I was certainly amongst the lucky ones to be invited to it. Of course! felt like a family:) I know this one, will go down the memory lane too:) Now, my stomach is so damn full that I can easily go without food for next 3 days:O:O I hope I have gained a few pounds too, thats been my dream, since ages:(

Long distance lovers

Yuhooo..Its a long weekend again:O The Thanksgiving holidays. Wow, its just wednesday and in retrospection, I havent quite worked this whole week. I will be in town for a change, this long holidays and I am probably going to unwind and finish up my paper. I certainly will. Somehow, beginning the month of November, everything here is happy and merry. Everybody is making plans for the holidays. They have family reunions. Shopping sprees. Endless joy. Vacations and trips. I saw quite a few people, taking off early today. Some were driving down and quite a few had an evening flight to their destinations. Long distance lovers, waiting to spend some decent time with their lovers. In this country, holidays are hard to come by. Sometimes, people whom you love are located on the other side of the coast. As stressful it might be, people see each other through it. You also spend almost half of the day shuttling between airports and missing/delayed flights. Even then, when you meet you are able to spend 4-5 days, after waiting for months. Neverthless, those few days are so precious that you catch up with all the months that were spent in eager anticipation. On one of the occasions that happened with a friend of mine. She and her boyfriend lived miles apart and used to fly every long weekend. They still do:) This happened at the airport. When her flight was scheduled for 12:00 PM. The guy came to drop her at the airport. While checking her luggage, the guy casually asked if there were any empty flights after the one that was scheduled. So the airport authority (AA) said, "Yes, there is one at 12:20 PM." The guy immediately said "Put her on that one" The AA said "It would cost you an extra 100 dollars, considering that you are on time for your scheduled flight and you have not missed it" The guy said " That is OK" The AA said " Man, you have spent an entire holiday with each other, how much more are you going to catch up, in 20 damn minutes, after spending a 100$ amount"?? The guy quipped "Every moment and money that I spend with her is priceless and cannot be equated to a meagre amount such as 100$" The AA was actually touched, coz you don't get to see such lovers all that often. Bonus: The girl got a flight that was scheduled at later during the evening. Maanga 20 min, mila 2 ghanta:) Don't happenings such as this melt your heart?? Irrespective of distance, miles and any other "realistic" problems, you got to believe in a relationship to carry it on your shoulders. Sometimes, you are close even though distance is a barrier, and sometimes people who live in one house are seperated by unfathomable miles. As it is said "Distance can never seperate hearts, that truly love each other". *************************************************************************** Those who are not going anywhere, either dream about going somewhere or make best use of the time. For people like me, who invite trouble for themselves by being eloquent at wrong times, sit and write the paper in those 4 days:( I just invited this for myself. So here I end my holiday, even before it started. Damn. I have a party tommorrow and on saturday. Hope am able to attend those:( P.S: I have been attempting to finish this write up for past 2 hours and yes a lot of my thoughts have changed towards the end.

To my girlfriends..

\ Well, we all do have "friends" which symbolizes a term irrespective of the gender. There are guy friends and then there are girlfriends. So here's to all the girlfriends in my life. Girls you ROCK! ************************************************************************************************* 1. She will always care for you. When you are sick, she will make sure you are eating well and will take you to a doctor. 2. She will give you a piece of her mind, when the need comes. 3. She will drive you around, if you don't want to drive. She will go grocery shopping with you and wont crib, if you take your time in making a choice between Oatmeal Cereal or Banana-nut-crunch. 4. She will go sweater shopping with you. Wont complain if you do a million dress rehearsels and drive the life out of her, while asking her to give her honest opinion if pink looks good or green. 5. She has loads of patience to listen to the same story, even if you tell her for the third time. [This happened with me today, when I was with Jas and I was telling her what amazing palak-paneer my sister had made when I reached Mumbai. She then told me, that I had told that her that for the third time and each time, that I tell her, there is some novelty in my expression] 6. If you are fat, she will tell you that. If you are putting on weight at the wrong places, she will tell you that. She won't give you an impression, that you are slim and trim, just to please you. 7. She will listen to all that you tell her but won't give you advice. Coz she knows at times, all you want is someone to listen. Not someone who would give her a lecture. 8. She will listen to your sob-stories. If a guy has hurt you, she will help you see the brighter side of it and if the guy has done something typically-guyish...she will sit with you and give him 1000 galis along with you:D 9. She will watch DDLJ and Dil to Pagal Hai with you. She will not call you an emotional nerd if you cry for the zillionth time. She wont call you a loser, if you refuse to watch "Gadar" and "War of the Worlds". 10. Even if you meet her for the first time, she won't ask you questions whether you are into basketball or football. 11. She won't be scared, if she sees you wearing that fruit or mud mask on your face. 12. You can hug her, touch her without thinking what she would be thinking. You can dance, wear whatever you want and feel your unrestrained self. 13. She won't mind if you wear tight clothes or short clothes. She will find something to compliment you on. 14. She won't mind coming and spending the night with you, if you are scared. 15. She wont consider an intrusion on her privacy, if you call her for the 4th time in row. She won't cut the phone saying.."Go get a life" Well, these are things that I have come up with. Any additions are welcome:D In the end..."Boyfriends come and go but girlfriends are forever"

The damn thing..

Damn! Did not know, my $2 Maggi for lunch is going to cost me so much. The root canal cap on my tooth that popped out last week, is gone. In my system! It got entangled in the noodles and even before I could do anything to it, I SWALLOWED the damn thing:(( Reason: Coz there was no restroom close to the place, where I could go throw it up... The thing that was almost like a tooth, which stayed for 7 years in my mouth is nomore. Now, I have a huge expense waiting for me..Sheesh.. I hate it...:(( I feel awful..Wish there was a way out..

The other half of my personality

Have you ever felt that some times, you want to be something and on some other occassions you contradict yourself?? A split personality?? Well, don't worry..I am not schicophrenic:)) As written by Robert Stevenson in "Dr.Jeckyl and Wicked Mr.Hyde" that a person can well be a combination of good and evil. While, I do not think I harbor ill/evil feelings for anyone. But, the point here that I wish to address is that, on numerous instances when you feel you know yourself, just at some other time, you end up doing things which contradict your knowledge about yourself. I find myself getting "spilt"on quite few times. As much as I claim, I love being outdoors, when I am sitting at home the whole day today..I love being home! As much as I claim that I love cooking, I can cook horribly when I am not in the mood. As much as I claim that I sleep less, I wish to be on the bed all day long and feel how it feels to not do anything. As much as I love "behaving myself" by not being loud or boisterous, I sometimes, wish to let go off that and giggle and break into laughter. As much as I think I am quite girly in my dressing and behavior, I wish to just behave tomboyish. Beat up few gundas. I love being with people, but sometimes, I just wish people would just let me be. Love being cared for, but wish that there were times, when people just dont care what you do, what you eat, whom are you talking to.. Love my independance but want to rely on someone. Love my space but I wish there was an intruder. Knows where I am heading, but find myself lost at times. I do not seek attention,but wish there was someone who gave me that extra attention. A cleanliness freak, but wish to just scatter stuff on the floor at times. Love being myself but wish to be like my mom. Aah! I know I am sounding as confused as can be..but again this is the other half of my personality:D I dont know, if its just me. Is there a second half to your personality as well?? When one half of you says something and the other half beleives in something else??

Harry hits again....

{Disclaimer: I am not doing a review on Harry Potter-Goblet of Fire. People would kill me and bury me right here on my blog, if I even mention anything about the movie} So, today for the first time in yearsssssss, I watched the movie on the very first day, it was released! I am a big Harry Potter fan and we were all excited to go watch the movie on friday night. All dressed up, we reached AMC to get tickets for 9:30 PM show. Well, the theatre was running housefull, so we got tickets for 11:30 show. Well, considering the fact that Sneha being a die-hard fan of him, she would wait even if it was 2:00 AM. Anyhow, we went inside to check the crowd and Whoa! we were in for surprise. I have never seen so many people at one time in Omaha. Now I know why you dont find people on the streets. Coz they are hiding in the theatres. Can you imagine, people in America forming queues?? sitting on the floors of the theatre and lining up near the gate 2 hours before the show?? Well, this was the exact view. It reminded me of Mumbai and theatres in Bandra where so many people were crammed in one place:)) It was amazing to see people dressed up as Harry and Hermione..hahaha.. Well, the 2 hours went by in a jiffy observing people and their wierd and nice ways. First of all, when these amroos come anywhere, irrespective of the outside temperature, they would sip a diet coke with tons of ice in it. Then next comes food..so junta over there, were pigging on nacho cheese. Now, the best sight was that of an obese woman eating cheese laden stuff along with a diet coke:))) Then, there were US..bunch of desi chatterbox girls laughing away to glory and quite oblivious to the glare of our amroo junta:p Exactly, next to us were a "couple" who were exact opposite of us. In fact, the topic of our discussion for 10 % of the time was, whether these "couples" were couples or not. The girl and guy did not talk to each other for 95% of the time. Considering the general amroo teenagers who are quite boisterous, they looked a class apart:p Anyhow, thats none of our concern, but nevertheless, we desis to tend to ogle around a lot. Then, there were bunch of cute children. Man! more than excited, they were almost ready to go to bed. Wonder why parents can't bring those 4-5 year old kids at normal hours!!! The movie started and went off until 2:15 AM. Harry was greeted with claps and whistles.Yeah, just realized that even in cinema halls here, people can enjoy:) Well, like I said, this is not a review. Eventhough, I would like to add, that by the end of it..we were flipping our phones to check the time:D Children were actually in dreamland and some were crying their hearts out. But, Hermione stole the cake..She is so damn cute in the movie.. Well, all you Harry Potter fans,I am not revealing anything more. I loved the book though:) {P.S..There are better looking guys in Magic School, rather than Grad school:p}

A pen in my hand-I

It all started when I was signing a bunch of greeting cards for K, during the seminar yesterday:) I had three cards to send: A card for her engagement, that took place on 5th september! Her birthday card A good-luck card Well, 5th september is gone long back! What was I doing all this while? Ever heard of "procrastinating"? Yep, thats what I was doing. Finally, I managed to send the cards on time. But, by fedex overnight express, so that it reached her by today!!! If only, I could have done that long time back, at the time when it was actually needed, maybe much before that. On the day of the event, a good luck card ends up looking like a mere formality. But, off late, I have realized that I go by "Ab kare so aaj, aaj kare so kal" Which is so bad! I hate behaving like this. We lose out on many moments, days, months and years by postponing things. We wait for things to happen. For the time to come. But, time just flies by and you don't even realize the best time, just went past you. Especially, when you have not been that way before. I have known myself as someone who: Did her homework on time Never submitted an assignment late Had all her lab journals completed and ready for submission Someone who was regular Had the greeting cards stamped and posted to reach the destination atleast 2 days before the event Studied her stuff on just the day it was taught Utilized every single day of her study-leave Agreed, you get busy. This is not an excuse. Change is good, only if it is making you a better person. I dont like this change in me. I hate so much work accumulated in front of me, ready to be taken care of. I want myself to be the way I have always been. I do not want moments to pass me by. Meticulous. I am searching for the lost me.With a little effort in that direction, I will find myself.

Those times with a roommate

Tommorrow is K's big day. K has been everything for me in US. My friend at LSU, where I first stepped my foot on, here. Never can I find a person such as her, who has been honest with me on every count. We are as different as can be, but we were the best of roommates and greatest of friends. We did have our share of misunderstandings. Despite that, we were like a family to each other. She studied in BITS and I never stayed away from home before coming here. Naturally, our wants were different. We grew out of our differences and now our friendship has stood the trying times and Touchwood! still going strong. I think you got to be really lucky to have good roommates. I remember the time, when she was taking her qualifying exam and I cooked for both of us, day and night for an entire month's time. After she passed with flying colors, she gave me a Thank You card that said "I could not have made it without you. You know the way to my heart is through my stomach" These words echo in my mind, every time I lose that strength that keeps me going. Its a great feeling when you know there re friends out there who appreciate the person in you. Its just a card, although for me its like words written on sands of time. A time which brings back memories of good and bad times spent with your first family away from home on foreign shores. Funny part is, amongst the both of us, I have always been vocal and she being a tough scorpion would never ever say out things. We still understand each other and even though, we have not met in two years, still talk like we were never away from each other. So tommorrow is her yet another big day. A big day in the life of a PhD student, her Comprehensive Proposal Defense and her birthday on the same day. How I miss being with her.Incidentally, she was my first and last roommate. I just talked to her and all she said was "I need your prayers, to take me through my big day tommorrow" I dont know why I am feeling nervous, why there are knots in my stomach? Maybe I am imagining myself in that position. I would have been doing my proposal, had I continued with my PhD over there. I don't regret my decision of moving out of there, but you kinda wonder about that lost year. Sigh! Mirror mirror on the wall, why do I cry at all?

Dental Woes

Gosh! Its the december mushroom again! Happened last december and its back. This terrible tooth problem. Last year, at this time my 6 year old root-canaled tooth got reinfected. You can take any kind of pain, but if that one tooth hurts, it will almost make you desirous of dying instead of tolerating that. This is where the agony starts..US of A..and health problems. You rather not fall sick, coz if you do then be prepared to get that big hole in your pocket. Well, I did not have a dental insurance (Could not afford one, health and auto itself is enough to spend the entire months salary). So, well I ended up going to a dental school different from ours and got an X-ray taken.The school charges three times less than private practioners. I somehow think I am in the wrong profession. I should either have been a dentist or a lawyer.Would have minted money like crazy:)) Thankfully, the student doctor was an Indian and was nice to me. He suggested me to get a new root canal which would cost me 1600$.Gosh! I would rather come to India and do it inclusive of flight tickets, which would still be cheaper. Well, like a typical desi, I tried antibiotics, Oragel (the ones that kids are given) and our good old clove oil. It worked and then I missed the appointment scheduled for sometime next week. After all, who sees the doctor when you are healed. Also, coz of heavy snow, I could not drive. Talk about patient complaince:( Well, that was a mistake that I still regret. Turns out that, I get a letter from that hospital saying that coz I missed the appointment, subsequently the doctor's time (coz they usually allot time slots) and only coz their student dentists get experience by using us as subjects they charge lesser amount. Therefore, they will never treat me in near future, as I had disregarded their valuable time. Well, sometimes in life you dont get a second chance. You have a valid explanation but there is no one to hear. Well, today while eating..the silver cap that covers the root canaled tooth popped out and am dead scared. I am very particular about dental hygeine and this thing is bothering me. Now, I am wondering whom should I go to to get that one thing fixed. The previous hospital wont accept me now and any other dentist is going to be freaking expensive. How I miss my dentist at home:( He is an awesome person. His daughter and me are friends from school and he did the best treatment for me. Any problem and he would schedule an appointment upfront for me. Man! Doctors and Dentists in India rock..and so do dhobis and istreewalas:). They are just a call away. Why haven't I befriended any dentist here?:(