Well, another lengthy snowy spring semester is almost nearing completion at Missouri S&T, as we see the trees sprouting new leaves and the grass growing greener by the day. The spring is bringing with it the bright and beautiful tulips, the sweet smell of warm grass and of course- A MYRIAD OF ASSIGNMENTS AND TESTS.
Oh yeah! The ‘torturous test and assignment filled period’ is rearing its ugly head at us again with its deep-crimson eyes and a devilish smile. It’s that time of the semester again when the professors are relentless in doling out assignment after assignment and when they don’t even care if we have an exam that very same day.
Just as I begin to appreciate the warm climate and the sparkling Schuman lake view outside my window, the darkness of the tests and the projects clouds over my head and throws my mood back into that deep dark pit of ‘academic terror’.
Students now begin to realize that they aren’t anymore in a position to ignore the assignments until a few hours before the submission deadline because we have far too many assignments to be completed.
The coffee sales go up as students load themselves up with caffeine, in their quest to stay up through the night. Sometimes, I feel there’s a new Newton’s law in town, that says “the toughness (read: degree of solvability) of each assignments is directly proportional to the duration of the semester completed so far.”
The pressure is building up and each student is dead worried about his grades now. He or she will be thinking about various strategies to better their grades
This is the time when those super-studious individuals who score straight A’s and still say “But I didn’t study at all for that test ..I don’t know how I got so many bad marks” can be yelled back at with guiltless hatred and can be passed the ‘rude finger’ gestures.
I myself am tied down with three assignment submissions on a single day followed by an exam two days later. I thought about writing on a more entertaining topic this week…but my mind is so ‘academicated’ right now that I wasn’t able to write about anything else.
I fail to understand this merciless semester-ending treatment wherein we are all put in ‘pressure pot’ situations and the stress-levels rocket up to the skies.
Do feel free to contact me if you have any bright ideas on ‘how to raise a dead grade’ or any such related material. Your ideas will always be welcome. NOTE: Lame remedies like ‘work hard and you’ll get there’ or ‘don’t worry about the grades…they’re useless’ will not be appreciated, and might earn the ire of the writer of this article.
So, if you happen to bump into an unshaven guy scurrying around campus into the library or the nuclear engineering building, just ignore him and tell yourself that it’s just another guy who has been engulfed in the flames of the end-sem-stress .
Wish I could wish you luck for your exams/tests/assignments/presentations/projects/other ugly terms, but I myself need all the luck I can garner and yes, I am selfish bastar
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
The Chronicles of the Indian Railways
Episode 1: My APPY story
So, we all know about how convenient the Indian Railways network is when it comes to visiting our ‘but-I’ve –never-met-them-before’ relatives in Cochin, or the great-grand-father in Bhopal. The Indian trains are a vehicle for all occasions, all age-groups, and all seasons. It does not discriminate based on caste, creed, sex , the density of your facial hair or how hard you can sneeze in public.
Having grown up in India and having changed over nine educational institutions due to our constant shifting all over the country, because of my Dad’s transferable job- I’ve had more than my share of adventures with the Indian railways.
I started traveling alone for the first time (on a regular basis) when I was in my college. I had shifted to another city and was living in a hostel. So, come holidays, I’d gleefully pack up my ‘stuff’ in a bag or two and head home to eat my mom’s hand-made parathas and ‘gaajar ka halwa’.
So, there was this one time when I was heading home for my winter vacations, when all the guys in the hostel had unanimously decided to turn into bears and go into hibernation. The Guys really started competing fiercely in the ‘who-can-sleep-longer’ competition which became a rage during the winters.
This incident revolves around the soda called ‘Appy-fizz’. I don’t know how many of you have heard about the drink ‘Appy’ (Apple juice) but I think it was quite popular. Well, it sure was popular with my taste buds since I used to gulp down at least one pack a day (one pack a day is high considering the fact I was in hostel and the finances were required to be managed very sharply…sharply enough to make any gujju proud). So, about a month before my journey date, this new version of ‘Appy’ called ‘Appy fizz’ had come out that just mixed the appy drink with soda and came out with a bubbling-fizzy version of Appy. Needless to say, I fell in love with it. Since, it was priced more than twice the normal appy drink since it came in a bigger bottle, I used to have it rarely. The train journeys home were always a chance for me to spend lavishly since I knew my ‘funds’ would get refilled as soon as I got home.
So I happily bought the bottle of that golden fizzy drink right before boarding the train. As always, with me and with most other guys in the country, I checked who my co-passengers were and to my utter disappointment (as usual), I found that I was literally surrounded by aunties. In fact, I was the only other guy in the bunch of eight seats in mys section of the coach. Oh! The other male was a eight month old baby happily gargling away his own spit on his mother’s lap.
So as with all Indian Aunties, these aunties, although seemingly from different regions of India , started yapping away in full glory with an enthusiasm that would have put a pair of 13 year old girls to shame.
At that time I belonged to the under-privileged population of the society that did NOT own an i-pod which served as their best friends in the aforementioned situations. So I sat there looking at the passing farmlands out of the ‘window seat’. I suddenly felt thirsty and twist-opened my bottle of Appy Fizz to have a sip or two. As I did so, one of the aunty’s eyes fell on the bottle. Her momentary glance, quickly returned in under three seconds and turned into a full-fledged glare.
The conversation that followed between me and the glaring-aunty will be written in direct speech in the lines below to maximize their impact :
Aunty: “Beta, what is that you are drinking”…. She said this in a tone that clearly had hints of annoyance.
Me: It’s a new drink aunty. It’s called Appy Fizz.
Aunty: But it looks like whisky no?!
Me: No aunty, It’s just apple juice with soda in it.
Aunty: (clearly not convinced) It surely looks like whisky to me, give me and I will taste it and tell you.
Me: (appalled at aunty’s suspicion) But Aunty, it’s a cold-drink soda. It’s available in most shops around the country.
Aunty: Then let me taste it no?! You won’t have any praablem if I had a sip of it no?!
Me: Ok. Here you go. (And I handed over the drink to the lady).
Aunty : (first sniffs it and puts up distorted looking expression …then she very reluctantly takes a sip …a sip that wouldn’t even be enough for a sparrow to get a taste of that liquid in his tastebuds) AAK!! This IS BEEEEER! ….ayyyyayyooo….
The glaring-Aunty then managed to 'rainbow' (yeah I used it as a verb) her expressions that ranged from shock, to appalled to sheer surprise.
Now, I don’t know how she knew what beer tasted like, or how she quickly converted her precious accusation of my drink being ‘brandy’ to calling it ‘beeeeeeer’…but I surely was confused and did give her my best stare.
At the aunty’s shriek, all the other aunties raised their eyebrows so high that for a moment I thought they heard my glaring-aunty say that I was Rakhi Sawant.
I had had enough nonsense for the night, so I dutifully took my bottle back from her and tried explaining for the next 20 minutes that my drink contained absolutely no alcohol or beeeeer in it. I showed her the ingredients list, showed her the green dot in the square that indicated that the consumable product was vegetarian and many other things.
Glaring-Aunty finally got over her shock and let me stay in my berth and did not make me leave. She however did threaten me by saying “I shall tell yaar parents when they come at station”.
I couldn’t believe what had happened in the past half hour and I couldn’t stop laughing about it later. I did manage to consume my ‘beeeeer’ when the lights turned out and disposed off the bottle as soon as the last drop was in my mouth.
So guys n gals, next time you board the good ol’ Indian Railways for a trip home, make sure you buy ‘safe’ products that have ‘anti-aunty-glaring’ ingredients in it….otherwise you might end up in a soup like your truly. :)
Peace out!
So, we all know about how convenient the Indian Railways network is when it comes to visiting our ‘but-I’ve –never-met-them-before’ relatives in Cochin, or the great-grand-father in Bhopal. The Indian trains are a vehicle for all occasions, all age-groups, and all seasons. It does not discriminate based on caste, creed, sex , the density of your facial hair or how hard you can sneeze in public.
Having grown up in India and having changed over nine educational institutions due to our constant shifting all over the country, because of my Dad’s transferable job- I’ve had more than my share of adventures with the Indian railways.
I started traveling alone for the first time (on a regular basis) when I was in my college. I had shifted to another city and was living in a hostel. So, come holidays, I’d gleefully pack up my ‘stuff’ in a bag or two and head home to eat my mom’s hand-made parathas and ‘gaajar ka halwa’.
So, there was this one time when I was heading home for my winter vacations, when all the guys in the hostel had unanimously decided to turn into bears and go into hibernation. The Guys really started competing fiercely in the ‘who-can-sleep-longer’ competition which became a rage during the winters.
This incident revolves around the soda called ‘Appy-fizz’. I don’t know how many of you have heard about the drink ‘Appy’ (Apple juice) but I think it was quite popular. Well, it sure was popular with my taste buds since I used to gulp down at least one pack a day (one pack a day is high considering the fact I was in hostel and the finances were required to be managed very sharply…sharply enough to make any gujju proud). So, about a month before my journey date, this new version of ‘Appy’ called ‘Appy fizz’ had come out that just mixed the appy drink with soda and came out with a bubbling-fizzy version of Appy. Needless to say, I fell in love with it. Since, it was priced more than twice the normal appy drink since it came in a bigger bottle, I used to have it rarely. The train journeys home were always a chance for me to spend lavishly since I knew my ‘funds’ would get refilled as soon as I got home.
So I happily bought the bottle of that golden fizzy drink right before boarding the train. As always, with me and with most other guys in the country, I checked who my co-passengers were and to my utter disappointment (as usual), I found that I was literally surrounded by aunties. In fact, I was the only other guy in the bunch of eight seats in mys section of the coach. Oh! The other male was a eight month old baby happily gargling away his own spit on his mother’s lap.
So as with all Indian Aunties, these aunties, although seemingly from different regions of India , started yapping away in full glory with an enthusiasm that would have put a pair of 13 year old girls to shame.
At that time I belonged to the under-privileged population of the society that did NOT own an i-pod which served as their best friends in the aforementioned situations. So I sat there looking at the passing farmlands out of the ‘window seat’. I suddenly felt thirsty and twist-opened my bottle of Appy Fizz to have a sip or two. As I did so, one of the aunty’s eyes fell on the bottle. Her momentary glance, quickly returned in under three seconds and turned into a full-fledged glare.
The conversation that followed between me and the glaring-aunty will be written in direct speech in the lines below to maximize their impact :
Aunty: “Beta, what is that you are drinking”…. She said this in a tone that clearly had hints of annoyance.
Me: It’s a new drink aunty. It’s called Appy Fizz.
Aunty: But it looks like whisky no?!
Me: No aunty, It’s just apple juice with soda in it.
Aunty: (clearly not convinced) It surely looks like whisky to me, give me and I will taste it and tell you.
Me: (appalled at aunty’s suspicion) But Aunty, it’s a cold-drink soda. It’s available in most shops around the country.
Aunty: Then let me taste it no?! You won’t have any praablem if I had a sip of it no?!
Me: Ok. Here you go. (And I handed over the drink to the lady).
Aunty : (first sniffs it and puts up distorted looking expression …then she very reluctantly takes a sip …a sip that wouldn’t even be enough for a sparrow to get a taste of that liquid in his tastebuds) AAK!! This IS BEEEEER! ….ayyyyayyooo….
The glaring-Aunty then managed to 'rainbow' (yeah I used it as a verb) her expressions that ranged from shock, to appalled to sheer surprise.
Now, I don’t know how she knew what beer tasted like, or how she quickly converted her precious accusation of my drink being ‘brandy’ to calling it ‘beeeeeeer’…but I surely was confused and did give her my best stare.
At the aunty’s shriek, all the other aunties raised their eyebrows so high that for a moment I thought they heard my glaring-aunty say that I was Rakhi Sawant.
I had had enough nonsense for the night, so I dutifully took my bottle back from her and tried explaining for the next 20 minutes that my drink contained absolutely no alcohol or beeeeer in it. I showed her the ingredients list, showed her the green dot in the square that indicated that the consumable product was vegetarian and many other things.
Glaring-Aunty finally got over her shock and let me stay in my berth and did not make me leave. She however did threaten me by saying “I shall tell yaar parents when they come at station”.
I couldn’t believe what had happened in the past half hour and I couldn’t stop laughing about it later. I did manage to consume my ‘beeeeer’ when the lights turned out and disposed off the bottle as soon as the last drop was in my mouth.
So guys n gals, next time you board the good ol’ Indian Railways for a trip home, make sure you buy ‘safe’ products that have ‘anti-aunty-glaring’ ingredients in it….otherwise you might end up in a soup like your truly. :)
Peace out!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Facebook'ed
I have done quite some reading about the birth of this website and its evolution into one of the most visited websites on the planet today and I cannot help but be in awe. I mean, look at the facts here people: A 19 year old ‘computer geek’ launches a small website out of his Harvard dorm in 2004 and within 6 years, the website sits at the top of the ‘social networking’ bunch of websites, enjoys the loyalty of 57 million (and growing at the rate of 250,000 new members each day) users from across the globe, is worth $82.29 billion as of today and is one of the biggest internet companies in the world. Those numbers are really hard to ignore and one can’t help but gawk at them, like I do.
The popularity of the website has been rising and does not see any signs of slowing down. As if this was not enough- the movie ‘The Social Network’ which was based on the story of birth of Facebook went on to become one of the favorites of the critics and also earned a total of eight Oscar nominations. The movie that shows the founder of Facebook – Mark Zuckerberg in grey shades though out the movie, engulfed in lawsuits almost as soon as Facebook is launched and as a crude and unsocializing person, has even become one of the frontrunners for this year’s Oscars. The movie, even though about computer programming and coding doesn’t really have an awkward moment filled with techie-gobbledygook. It is fast and ruthless and has some great performances by the lead actors which only compliments the movie’s credibility.
The success of the movie, which hardly showed anything good about Mark Zuckerberg didn’t even manage to put a dent into the company’s image and Facebook continues to encompass the internet and its population. On the contrary, people like my parents who were unaware what Facebook and the whole ‘social-networking’ ruckus was about now know about it. And like them, more people who earlier didn’t know about Facebook now do know about it, ultimately ending up at the website’s gates to become a member and start their ‘socializing’.
Adding another feather to the cap, and again boosting Facebook’s image, was Mark Zuckerberg being named the ‘Person of the Year’ by TIME magazine or the year 2010. He beat out competition from the likes of Hamid Karzai- the President of Afghanistan and Julian Assanage- the controversial founder of the international whistle blowing Wikileaks organization.
Zuckerberg has been described as a torchbearer for a whole generation and I cannot disagree with that. He has managed to connect a twelfth of the world’s population though his single website, and has more or less, changed the way people interact and relate with each other today. We had heard of couch potatoes, bookworms, video-game addicts and soon might have to come up with a new term for people addicted to facebook. Maybe ‘facebookED’ might be a good term to describe that. Not giving a Facebook account today is scorned upon by teenagers and can lead you to being ‘unfriend’ed from society itself. Words like ‘Poke’, ‘Tag’ and ‘Unfriend’ have shot to fame because of this social-networking behemoth. Facebook has provided a new method of socializing and it’s all on the internet. The person doesn’t even need to get up from his laptop, doesn’t need to shake hands (can instead just ‘poke’) and doesn’t even need to be in the same room as the person he’s meeting with -to be able to socialize.
It took me a couple of hours to finish writing this article, which included researching all the facts and figures related to Facebook. And am eager to see if there has been any activity on my Facebook page or whether anyone has ‘liked’ my latest profile picture. So with that, I am sub-consciously directing your attention to your own Facebook pages. Go get ‘Facebook’ed!!
Monday, January 3, 2011
2011....resoluuuuuuutions!!
FIRST of all....to all those whom I have not wished already-- HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :)
now....
well...
Another year has come and gone....
I wanted to blog about how the year was and all that but that will be a looooong blog and having been on vacation since two weeks now has resulted in me becoming amazingly and 'involuntarily' lazy.
So, I'll just go ahead and write down my list of resolutions for the year 2011....
I'm not one of those pessimistic persons who say- 'another year....whats going to be different?! ...years come and they go...!". NO!!..I am an optimistic guy and will say "One more year....full of twists and turns, surprises and shocks, adventures and incidents....hope the goods things far outnumber the bad ones!".
So here are my resolutions:
1- Get fitter! (specifically-- improve my ever-falling stamina ..)
2- Gain at least 1.5 kgs of muscle before my sister's wedding and my trip to India. (gain muscle and not FAT...they're two different things....but my mom and most others hopelessly use them interchangably...)
3- Initiate Parkour 3.0 ....get better, better and better at Parkour. Possibly shoot my first PK video in US.
4- Go Skydiving!!! yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!!
5- Like most other students in the world--- " do well in studies." (I know that most of you must be rolling your eyes up at this one...lol)
6- Get a Tattoo.
6- most important::::: LOVE the people I love today EVEN MORE!
blah
blah
20-adopt a mosquito...
lol....
just kidding!
that's all I guess...
lemme know which ones you think are possible...give the numbers. :)
Peace!!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Great weekend
WOW! What a weekend I’ve had. Haloween party on Friday and the trip to the Six Flags amusement park on Saturday. I had been looking forward to this trip since quite some time and had put a lot of hopes on it to have fun….and BOY! It did not disappoint!
 |
| oh..the giant spider clinging to the roller coaster ride was due to the haloween theme that week |
Will go and now and tell you about what all I did in the trip to SixFlags. We left at around 10:00am from our college (it was one of the student body sponsored e event), and reached our destination about 1.5 hours later.
We clicked this pic right at the entrance. Even from the parking lot, we could see and already predict that we were going to have a good time here….judging by the size of the roller coaster rides visible. There was not one, but 4-5 different kinds of roller-coaster rides here. And I was determined to ride each and every one of them.
I will now go on to mention some of the rides that were really great and are worth talking about in here.
The first ride was the good ol’ Ferris wheel (giant wheel). This one was the dullest ride in the park. It was slow and we were made to sit inside a cage kind of a thing ‘for our safety’. Even the Indian giant wheels are more exciting. The wheel turned at such a slow pace that at one point of time, all of us wondered if it was even moving. But the good thing about this ride was that, from the top-most point- we got a good picture of all the rides that we would eventually be trying out. We counted the number of roller-coasters at 5 and decided that we should ride at least 4.
One of the biggest roller-coaster rides (lasting upto 2 minutes of topsy-turvy and stomach-content-churning twists) was next on the list....it was aptly named 'The '. We had to wait for quite some time in a looong line to get into the RC(roller coaster), but the wait was worth it in the end. Man!! The drops that the RC took after reaching the top of the curve, was just exhilarating.
Next was the ‘Dragon’s wings’ ride. And this one was truly the highlight of my day at the park. What happens in this ride was that, the person(s) would be strapped to a long wire, just a wire. The wire would then be pulled back to the extreme end (as in a pendulum) and let go!! The first swing , was the BEST! It was like, you are free falling in the air and there’s nothing to catch you at the bottom. Of course, because you are attached to a wire, you basically make pendulum type swinging movements. Trust me when I say this, the first ‘oscillation’ really made my heart stop for a few seconds. I was riding that with two other friends of mine. I was shouting curses (at the awesomeness of it all) all the way, till it stopped about 2 minutes later. Was a really awesome ride. |
| Superman . |
From there, we went on to the SuperMan tower ride. This had a tall tower (about 1.6miles into the sky) with seats attached to it. We would be taken to the top slowly, and then just drop. Almost like a free fall. Although, the drop lasted only about 2 seconds, it was enough to give you the thrills that the name intended ...Super! The drop took such less time, that by the time a person's expression started showing on his face- he was already at the bottom. It was quite funny to watch the expressions of many people, whose expressions started just as they reached the bottom. The expressions ranged from shocking to smiles, and from 'oh-my-gaaaawd' and 'too overwhelmed to express' . Lolz.
There was a ride called mr.Freeze, another RC where the RC would, at one point- go vertically up- stop for a split second and then fall back at full speed in the reverse direction. UNNNNNfortunately, I missed that one, which some say was one of the best rides in the park. :-/
 |
| the REAL Superman! |
I also tried my hand at some games where you have the chance of winning small prizes like teddy bears and capes. And yeah...i did win some stuff. At one contest, I won an awesome super-man cape and at another place ,where I had to hit and break a plate with a ball...standing at a distance-- I won a green-frog teddy. Lolz. It is kinda too green for my taste, but I took it anyway, as the other alternative I had was a pig-teddy..which I didn't like too much. Am including the pictures of my awesome cape which will soon adorn the wall in my room giving it a sense of awesomeness. :D Another friend of mine who also played the game in which I won the cape, won a wonder-woman cape. The rest of the day I spent in roaming around and checking a few more similar contests without any luck. In the end, I had an ice-cream (though I don’t remember the name of the shop). What makes this ‘i-had-an-icecream’ worth mentioning is that this was the first ice-cream I had after landing in the USA. The flavor was cookie-dough and true to it’s name, the taste was exactly like sweet dough with chunks of cookies in it.
We finally reached Rolla back at around 8:30pm and I realized that I was starting to get a head-ache, which I think was due to the excessive fun I had. :D
Friday, October 22, 2010
say NO to dowry!
This is my first blog after shifting base to the US of America. Been wanting to write since so long. It’s been three months since I came here and even longer since I wrote my last blog. Here’s the explanation for me not being able to blog for so long (which I don’t think anyone even noticed…hehe). Initially, I had a lot of time on my hands (when my classes hadn’t started here yet) but unfortunately, I didn’t have access to any personal computer/laptop to be able to blog. I did have access to the computers in the library (with 10mbps connection….WOW!), but it didn’t have that atmosphere needed to blog you know.
To all those random bloggers out there, you’d know what I am talking about. You can’t just start writing a blog from any computer. It has to be a machine you are comfortable with, an environment you are comfortable with and the right moment….(which didn’t happen in the library, in my case).
And after I finally got my own laptop, the classes started and have been really really hectic ever since. Man! No one ever told me that Masters ki padhai is going to be this hectic.
Anyways, I finally had some time in my hands today, after toiling the last 3 days and not getting too much sleep....courtsey-- a test and a painfully lengthy assignment submission falling on consecutive days . Plus, I found that one of my best friends, Sujeet had recently started blogging all of a sudden. (I’ll take this moment to appreciate sujeet for starting his own blog….way to go bro!! ). Trust me when I say this-- sujeet was one of the last people on this planet who I had expected to write a blog. He just wasn’t that writer type guy. Although, he had composed some really beautiful poems back in college. But, all that ‘not being a writer type’ has changed I guess. So his blogging, motivated me to finally get my lazy part off the bed and type something that comes from the heart.
Wow, look at me, I’ve already written half a page and neither you nor I have any idea what this blog is all about. Lolz. I need you to be a little more patient and I promise you that the ‘real thing’ will start within the next 2 lines.
So, here goes nothing…..well something actually….hehe..
I know for a fact that ALL Indian citizens have heard of the term ‘Dowry’. There’s not a single Indian adult that hasn’t heard of or doesn’t know about this. And if I am not mistaken, (and not meaning to disrespect any particular caste), almost all castes in our country have the tradition of giving and taking dowry. Chances are that even if you haven’t been directly involved in any dowry ‘transaction’, you will have come across it in some form or the other in your life.
I personally, HATE this dowry system from the entirety of my heart. I completely, utterly and wholly abhor it. I wanted to do some research on this topic and know where this system of dowry originated. But, to hell with it…..am just going to go on and insult the dowry system and compare it with all kinds of shitty things in the following few paragraphs. And if you are one of those -who support the dowry system for whatever reasons you feel are valid….may want to stop reading at THIS point..
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.
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Well, if you HAVE decided to go one and read my blog then I guess I should get on with the dowry-system bashing right away.
What I don’t understand is, what is the need to take or ask for dowry. By what right is a family asking for dowry? Isn’t the bride’s family already giving them an invaluable gift in the form of their daughter. They are giving someone, whom they have loved their entire lives and have always wanted to best for- to another family. They are parting ways with a piece of their own flesh and blood. They are giving away a person who, for the rest of her adult life will be under a completely new household…..working and taking care of the husband and his family. Isn’t that MORE than enough??? Apparently NOT for a majority of families in our country. They want MORE. And they want it in the form of money and financial assets, or in some cases even in the form of immovable assets like a house. I mean, what the hell people?!!?? Why would someone want to just give away their hard-earned money….money that they have acquired working hard their entire lives to someone whom they had no previous relationship with prior to wedding of their daughter?! Again, here, I would ask the question….what RIGHT does the bridegroom's family have to ask for someone’s hard-earned money just like that?! If they are so desperate for money--- then I'd say--”GO EARN IT YOURSELF Goddamnit!! And if you can’t then better learn to live with it.”
These dowry seekers should be ashamed of themselves if they expect to live a part of their lives on someone else's money. And they actually display their shameless guts to the world by bargaining for the dowry amount. Wow! These people should be applauded for their high degree of ignorance and pathetic plight in asking for money. Maybe they should be also given an award every year, titled as 'Mr.Pathetic' or 'Mr. i-want-ur daughter-AND-your-money....-because I am greedy'.
Even in today's world, where Indians are creating waves in all fields of technology and science by attaining dizzying heights of success , a world where Indians are respected the world-over for their high academic skills (which means they are very educated),------there STILL are people (and quite a majority) who ask and give dowry.
Shame on them....Shame on the people who ask for dowry and also shame on the people who agree to give dowry.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
MISS YOU...
I only have two weeks left before I fly away to the US of A for my Masters. Will be gone for two years.
I had some work at a bank today. Now this bank, lies almost on the sea-front of Vizag. I was there early and since Indian banks DO NOT open up before time even if you put a gun to the manager’s head- I ended up with some spare time. I decided to take a stroll on the beach road. As I was walking, I noticed a number of tall buildings on the sea-front. There were trees blocking my view of the sea.....and I reeeealy wanted to view the sea. It had been a long time since I had visited the sea and said my helloz to the crashing waves.
I came up with a plan to have my wish granted. I decided to go onto the roof of one of these 5 storied-buildings and catch the majestic sea-view from up there. I zeroed in on one apartment complex...chiefly because after walking past the building thrice, I was pretty sure that the watchman could not see me since he was in his small dwelling behind the flight of stairs. I casually strolled into the apartment complex and walked towards the stairs. I started climbing. Almost none of the flats had any nameplates on. I desperately wanted a name plate so that if the apartment watchman caught me on my way down and started asking me who is it that I was here to meet—then I’d simply tell the name of the flat-owner and the flat number. Finally after climbing 6 flight of stairs, I reached the fourth floor where I saw a nameplate of a doctor. “Lucky me!” , I thought, I’d simply say to the curious watchman- that Dr.X (let’s just call him that) was my doctor and I had come to see him regarding a treatment he had told me about. I quickly memorized the flat number and proceeded on towards the rooftop. Huffing and puffing, I finally reached the roof and opened the door (which was luckily open) which led on to the terrace.
The sight was as beautiful as I had expected. The blue sea was right in front of me staring at me with all its watery might. There were several ships dotting the horizon as usual, along with some small fishing boats here and there. The wind was pretty strong at this height. I found a comfortable set of stairs for me to sit on and just stared into the blueness of the sea.
As I sat there in the light of the setting golden sun, enjoying the lovely sea-breeze brushing my face and staring at the beauty of the ocean- I started thinking about the people and things I’d miss when leave this place for a good two years.
The list of things and people I’ll miss just kept growing and growing. I would miss Hyderabad- it’s fast (but not super-fast) lifestyle, I’ll miss it’s huge and glitzy shopping malls into which I'd regularly stroll into to help me pass time, I’ll miss the new house into which me and Goli had moved into only a month ago (will miss it’s red wall), I’ll miss my Dell friends who also became my closest buddies in Hyderabad- Lambu (Ayesha) and Karthik (will miss having coffee with them on breaks that almost always extended the set time-limit, I’ll miss my roomie and my bro Goli who tolerated me for a good eight months (his weird moods and his stories about office and how they were sucking his brains out), I’ll DEFINITELY miss from Hyderabad- my closest friend Vio- with whom I spent most of my last few days in Hyderabad having coffee at CCD or Gloria Jean’s coffee and talking so much that I now wonder if there’s actually anything left that she doesn’t know about me.Will miss my pals Sid(me verbally abusing him when he doesn't answer my calls or mails...but this will continue even after me leaving India- lolz) and Murali(his stone-faced reactions to everything I say or do..), Rev(M!!).Sid, Rev and NOS already stay away from me, ie- they don't stay in Hyderabad....I missed all these guys when I was in Hyd itself....so going away to US would only add to the 'weight of missing them' even more.
I slowly realized that there were a lot many things about India that I will definitely miss, but that’s life I guess. I truly believe that one should keep moving on in life and not spend his entire life in one place. As a proof of ‘I practise what I preach’- I FYI have changed 10 (schools and universities put together) alma-maters since my childhood and this (MS in USA) was going to append itself to this long list. Life is all about adapting to changes taking place around you---changes that take place with every breath that comes out of your lungs. You can’t just sit and brood over all the things that you will be missing- instead we should cherish all the beautiful moments we had with those people and in those places that made it worth missing them.
Kudos to all my friends who made my stay in Hyderabad a blast ....LOVE YOU ALL.....
:O)
Peace...
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