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Friday, June 30, 2006

Honest confessions of a tired soul

I was tagged by some Karma guy :P to complete this!

I am thinking about: whether there is light at the end of tunnel

I want: the sky to be blue always:P

I wish: people would let each other know that they have changed.

I miss: being Moni (none knows how she was and who she was)

I hear: my inner voice

I wonder: whether the virtues I possess are my weaknesses in disguise

I regret : Innumerable things. Which if I would have done, life would have been something different and I would have been somewhere else

I am: what I am, take me or leave me

I dance: when no one is around

I sing: To the tune that life plays

I cry: to cleanse myself

I am not always: A fountain of forgiveness

I write: Its my profession:P (of course am not a writer):P

I confuse: myself

I need: Someone to come home to

I should try: My hand at starting cookery classes. Sometimes, I wonder if I chose the right direction in life!

I finish: very few things that I start

I tag: Pradyot and Nitin (long time), Gangadhar, Ujwal and Sudeep





Thursday, June 29, 2006

California..I saw, I came, I conquered:)


After a lot of gudbud, I finally landed in sunny california:) and just like the place...it rocked!!!


I had a lot of trouble putting up the pics...:X(
Hate blogger for that. It would not let me put up any more:((

California: The land in the west. Unmatched. Incomparable. A state in its own. I used to defend my place whenever Thanu and Vikram sang praises about it. But sometimes, you need to experience things in order to believe in them.

Although, it was a short stint..I believe no amount of time would do justice to explore the richness of the place.

A place that is culturally diverse and that lacks a major ethnic group. In fact, on the streets as well as on the roads, one can find either an asian or a hispanic:))

The fast life, the zzoming cars....it scared me..especially known was the fact that San Francisco (SFO) had notorious traffic!

My cousin lives in a place miless away from SFO in one direction and few miles away from nature!

Explored beautiful scenic places. Beaches,sand, waterfall, ocean..Man! how serene!!!








Another area of interest was the Golden Gate Bridge. A bridge that is spread over 8 miles and which took like 4 years to be constructed. They say one needs to be lucky to see the bridge clearly. As you can see in this pic, a thick coat of fog overshadows the bridge's top portion. Well, looks like I was unlucky..coz we went there twice and both the days were foggy!




Then in the middle of the bay, there is this 'prison' which is quite famous and called as 'Alcatraz'. Again you can see that in this pic (in middle) again hard to see coz of the fog!



We took this SFO tour bus which took us around the city. This one is the Fishermans Wharf. Live crabs :O and all sea-food delicacies..not of my interest:P




SFO skyline! Tall buildings, greenary!! now thats something which does not make CA a concrete jungle:)


The Pier 39. That offered live entertainment. This is what the real california is. Buzzing with people who look 'happy' and 'who enjoy life'



More people!!! rocking to the rock band..Viks..missed you here:(


The Pier again!


No visit to california is complete if you do not visit Ghirardelli:)

My age old desire to have Ghirardelli's warm Caramel Sundae:) Ummmmmmm..yummiee...so filling!!!





And my visit would have been incomplete if I hadn't met Thanu. She already blogged about my visit here.

She is one friend with whom I have connected marvellously. The first blog friend I met. She had made Masala dosa and sambar as promised.



She lives in a beautiful apartment and the best part is I could totally relate the 'online'Thanu to the 'real-life'Thanu. I always 'knew'she was organized, careful and planner. It was different this time, coz I 'saw' her that way. Her home is spotless. A friend who was accompanying me said 'Her house is so clean that even if we walk, it would stain it':)

All I know she is extremely warm and an equally adorable wife:) and that indeed was Thanu's Humble Abode:)

Overall, I got to spend some exciting time with family. Made some beautiful memories precious enough to be shared:)

Experienced California, the spirit of California. Celebrated Life!






Friday, June 23, 2006

United Airlines Sucks!

As I was about to embark on my trip to sunny california after a gap of one year, United airlines screwed it all!

Exactly 23rd June 2005, that I cam back from my trip to India and since then this was my first flight in a year.

Beaming with excitement, I landed at the airport for my 6:45 PM flight and while I reached, I saw this board saying flight departing at 9:00 PM..:O

I went upstairs and found that tehre were other ppl whose flight was delayed before me and they have been there for more than 3 hrs!

Darn! I might actually not be able to make it tonite, I thought!

Meanwhile, some angel showed us a direction and some flight came in and we were made to board that one!

We got inside comfortably perched and the dude announces "This flight will not leave Omaha due to technical errors which we previously tried to resolve. But we still see a leak"

Soooooooo??

Are we supposed to feel sorry??

Dude, if the flight was already screwed up..why din't you bring one aircraft earlier which would take us to our destination???

We were made to alight the flight.

OK! next flight coming down at 9:30 but you WILL MISS YOUR CONNECTING FLIGHT! and stay over in Denver fo that night!
WTF...

So.......??

You might have to leave tommorrow morning!1

Do I have an option?? No....

So thank your stars and reach home..instead of spending the night in some god forsaken airport!

I am still in a better shape..I am at home, sipping tea and cooking for the night.

There are several others who are still at the airport and dont know how long they have been travelling.

Lady 1:-Travelling from Hendley which is 4 hrs from Omaha (she was 70+ and started from home at 7 AM)

Lady 2;- has this important conference and she needs to be there by noon tommorrow

Man 1:- Has been transiting in Omaha and basically is stuck here.

Other flights are full and so are the hotels coz of this freaking baseball.
Some damn College World Series.

talk about sports and its craze spread over like a virus:X(

To couple the whole issue you got to deal with rude officials. Believe it or not, they were actually behaving as if they are doing a huge favour on us! We have paid 300$ or more for tickets. We DESERVE to go to our destination. By hook-or-by-crook!

How do u manage an airline company if you cannot handle crisis? worse still your employees are not trained enuf to deal with fuming people!

We do not get 10 days of holiday. And you ruin it with all this hassle in our 3 days of happiness and not even being apologetic??

As I type this, I am not even sure if I will get to go to California tommorrow:(


Monday, June 19, 2006

In a land of likes

Freindship with women: Can either be a hit or fail miserably!
I have always maintained that maintaining friendship with a woman is always tough (here I am talking about a girl-girl relationship).

Either you don't have expectations..(you be happy this way) or expect from someone whom you are sure wont let you down. I do have two friends with whom I can expect anything without getting hurt. But they have been friends from childhood so maybe its a matter of time!

The main problem with this being the fact that girls are prone to jealousy and are subject to sulking as well. Which sometimes prevent them from revealing 'their true self'

Although, I have been lucky in many respects as concerns to friendships with gals..but there are some incidents which I would rather forget.

Back in Summer 2004 when I left Lousiana, I was very good friends with a gal-I-would-rather-forget (GIWRF)

After being good friends..(now I need to be careful with my usage of the term 'good) neways atleast thats wht I believe, I was!

Suddenly, a week before leaving the town she shoots off a rude email to me and my roomie saying 'She wont be there for my farewell party and that she would never be friends with us anymore'

The damage was done here itself.

My roomie who continued to live there, tried to figure out the problem and told me that she was a victim of some misunderstanding. I tried to brush off this whole episode and called her after 6 mths. We continued to talk like before. No questions asked.

Later, in 2006..we never got to exchange a single word..coz she doesnt have a cell.

I left couple of messages on her home phone but she never cared to call back. Fine. I happened to talk to her today.

She had to dig out stuff from the grave and told me that I had hurt her previously. Adding that we had different levels of sensitivities because of which she doesnt want to be friends with me anymore. So that she can avoid any further hurt.

Well, irrespective of how much I hate a person..I have never gathered the guts to speak out this statement to anyone. Which can be THE RUDE thing to say to anyone.

We all might have done things in the past that would not have been pleasant. I am not defending myself or anything for the very fact being that, I have no clue what she was talking about.

The problem is that, a lot of damage can be undone if things are talked promptly. I would so much prefer being friends with a girl who would tell me I suck instead of one who cloys with her sweetness intitially.

Secondly, the other problem arises when one girl asks one common friends to stop talking to the 'vivtim' only coz she has problems!

If I think correctly, all of my guy friends have been really understanding. They dont mind my calling them 'dimwits, ullo, idiot, gadha, moneky'. None of them have bought up things 10 years back saying ' U said this to me like a million years ago'. Likewise, there are many guys who have told me ' Dimag ka dahi mat bana. Paka mat' etc..and I sware I have never felt annoyed. I guess I have very few girl-friends to whom I can comfortably say such things!

But nevertheless, am lucky to have those handful of them:)

Waise bhi zindagi mein kabhi haan kabhi na to chalte hi rehta hai. Some like you and some dont:D











A place so bountiful

I went to Minneapolis for a conference last week. My second trip to this beautiful city.

Minnesotta (state) thats up north can get cold even in summer..Last time when we went in september the place was cold and this time in Peak summer when we went..it was cold too:))

Rightly said by one of the postcards "Minnesotta: If the cold doesn't get you, the windchill will"

Hahahaa...

Newyas, we had a blast. First of all, free stay at 'Radisson' doesn't happen often in one's life;)
One funny incident happened. And maybe I am god's chosen one to go through such 'fantabulous'experiences;)

So while I checked in I asked at the counter who my 'roomate'was..She mentioned an Indian name..and which was a Guy's name...so obviously I dint wanna share my room with a guy.Period.

Me: I think thats a guy

Official: No..the person has registered as a 'female'

Me: Err..

Official: Let the person come..we can find out

I opened the huge room and was glad that I was all by myself.

A girl was walking in front of me. In some wierd fashion, we hit it off at that instant. She was also from Bombay and well in my experience, I can so connect to them. To some I might be biased..but well, in my opinion..I have always found fellow Mumbaiyya's quite approachable and initaite conversation with. I asked her "So well, who is this person from your univ"

She said"OMG! He is a guy and you DONT want to share the room with him"

I gasped and exclaimed to one of my american friends.

Guys are sometimes wierd:

Friend: Thats the thing about America. U can stay in the same room with 'a guy'.The room has two beds in it.

Thankfully, an American girl L came to my rescue and give him a good hearing.

L: Well, even an american girl wont be in the same room with a 'random guy'. Guys have rules of their own.Huh!

Finally, I spent the night with L. One more experience..that goes down the memory lane. In a new place, yet another stranger came forward to help me!




Then comes the beautiful majestic 'Lake Superior', the world's largest Fresh water lake.

A lake thats vast enough to swallow an entire cargo ship.





Amazing..aint it??

They had posted a signboard there saying 'No swiming' which was strange coz none in their right frame of mind would even dream of that.

But the best thing was, there was no restrain or serrated bars to prevent people from jumping into the water!



We were taken on a 'Cruise' too. My first cruise ride that too free of cost. Although, am no too big on that.
Two reasons: I do not know swimming
and I get sea-sick.

My first ship ride to Elephanta caves in Mumbai (when I was 10) was horrible..coz I kept throwing up. So I wanted to see if this phobia has reduced in 15 years..Naah! it did not. The moment I stared into the dark water in the background of night, there was a sinking feeling in my stomach.

But the evening was the most memorable one. Met some wonderful people on the shore. There was live jazz music on the cruise. One musician asked me which song I wanted to hear and what were we doing in there.

I replied: We have a boring life. We are PhD students. Seldom get holidays.

He said:Our life is boring!

Well maybe 'grass is always greener on the other side'

One more thing that I noticed was with an old faculty who was accompanying us on the ride. Him and his wife (both in their late 70's) danced to glory. They were the only 'young'couple who danced till they couldn't dance anymore. We stood there watching and clapping!

They had music in their feet and probably at that age one is more contended...



Lastly, this picture is my favourite one. So we were on the banks of Superior where we saw a flock of seagulls.

Thankfully, in the trip I had a friend who was equally crazy as me.

That sight reminded me of this famous place in Dadar 'Kabootar Khana'.

We decided to feed the seagulls with some 'popocorn'

This pic was captured by my friend who caught the action 'live'. The seagulls finished the entire packet in less than 5 minutes. The moment they saw the popcorns hurled at them, they would catch it..beautiful sight it was:)




We were taken to this excellent Body World museum. An artistic exhibition of human plastinates. Wike does an excellent job of defining this place, here. Although, it was scientific, there were some things over there, which completely grossed me out!

Lastly, this US navy cargo ship that we got to visit!

Cannot imagine that the cargo ship was so much like an entire house! With all the comfort n everything. And the entry fees being merely $3:)

The guy who explained the history of the ship basically was so full of life (all at age of 15-16). Of the trivia he explained...it came as a surprise that such a big and huge ship built in 1938 was discarded for $ 1 in 1970:)

In the basement of the ship, there lay a poster of Edmund Fitzerald ship. This was a huge huge ship and the last ship that sank in the massive Lake Superior in 70s. For all those interested in reading about it, can read it here.

It was extremely interesting, the way a place is associated with so much of history! This was my second visit to this land of lakes. And each time I go there is something to explore!



Although, I could not visit 'Mall of America' (which has more than 520 stores), I still think..that there's a lot to a place than just its malls and stores!
Minus the weather, Minnesotta is a wonderful place to be. Rich in fresh air, fresh water, beautiful locales!

P.S:- My next post will be my trip to California on friday!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Strangers in the nightime

We face extremes of weather. Too cold winters and intense summers too..although not as hot as Texas:D

So these days, I am making use of the blaring heat and the bright sunshine which means, I get to stand and read in my balcony for the better part of the evening, once I return from lab.

Thats the best part of summer..albeit the hot weather.

Time n again, I am reminded of a summer two years back when I moved from Louisiana. From a place, that totally was devoid of indian faces, Omaha came as a pleasant surprise. I live in a student housing that too junta thats in and out Indian.

Well, I am one person who cannot live without music. So whenever I come home thats the first thing I do.

Open the blinds, open the big glass window, switch on the music, make some tea and sip it for hours together.

Although, being in a student-friendly apartment, I had no clue who lived in the apartment above mine. Thats not uncommon in US:)

And I am not a person who would openly start talking to guys (in person)

At that time, I was on T-mobile cell phone provider and I had to go into my balcony in order to make/receive calls.


During that time, one day while I was on the phone, a voice said "Hi" and I looked above to find a desi-guy chirping that to me!

I merely looked..unsure of whether to respond back or not. [OK! I was a bit scared here. Dint want a stalker to come behind me]

Few days later, again the event repeated.

This time I decided not to even look into that guys direction.

After that it became a routine..Whenever, I would open the big glass window in my balcony..I would hear the guys on the top floor repeat suit.

I being a late night bird, would play music until late night. Sometimes, I would hear them humming the same tune. The guys would chat away to glory in hindi...until wee hours of morning. Sometimes, when I played some song they would talk amongst themselves 'Dil Chahta hai' and without realizing I would start playingDCH CD. I found it strangely amusing.

One day, I checked with my friends as to who were those guys who lived there.

They told me that the guys were Pakistanis and were nice chaps, one of them was a very good looking guy.

After being reassured that the guys meant no harm, I decided to smile when next time either of them tried to talk to me.

On a following sunday, I saw few movers outside my building. Since this was a routine thing, I ignored. Then I saw a familiar face talking on the phone. I held the door for him and he smiled again. I knew it was the guy who lived above.

He said 'Hi'...'We are moving. Now you dont have to stand our non-stop chatter'

I kinda felt bad and just said "No..that dint bother me a bit'

He said 'Well, it was nice of you to keep us company with some good songs. Hope to see you around'

Although, after that..I was kinda disappointed with my attitude here. Why do we sometimes distrust people initially? Not all guys are skirt-chasers. Maybe it helps being safe and all that.

Dont know what that was. But suddenly I realize that its been 2 years..I havent heard familair guys keeping me company in the wee hours of night in the house above me. I dont sit in the balcony all that often. I don't consiously try to overhear any conversations that anyones having there, which I earlier did.

Sometimes, strangers give you strange companionship:)