Life's Rolling

Oh boy! It's been almost a month since my last post. Neither am I that busy nor I am that lazy, I think I am losing desire to blog. And I believe culprit is this routine after school life, it seems like everything is at standstill. I don't intend to hint here to be bored. I am kindda liking this era. I like giving all my heart out to one of the passionate thing driving me around, my job. And chilling out on weekends, watching football all day long and to spice up a bit, go bowling, playing pool and movies. Life is rolling!

Lately, I am driven away with my daily calls and intent to be in good touch with my friends. Not sure what is going on their part of world. Hopefully I would catch up with all the missed stories, gossips and fun.

I am already smelling the weekend around, I have gotta big plan for this long weekend. Hopefully everything will turn up as expected. I hate twists and surprises fouling the holdiay mood.

I so much wanted to go home this December. So many of my pals are getting married during that time of the year. I can count at least 10 on top of my head. Damn it! I am going to miss so much of fun and moreover I am going to miss those moments to laugh my balls out watching them merrily lose their freedom. Though sometimes I think, in a way it is good that I am not going, as it would have been real trouble to choose one over the other and it would be doomsday to justify my choice. Whatever happens, happens for good.

It is Thanks Giving..so I would like Thank everyone for ??? (Chose whatever is appropriate but I do realize that I do not really mean it [;)] ) Happy Thanks Giving!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year People - may this New Year bring prosperity and happiness to all of you.

I was craving to write for so long but I made a 'horrible' mistake in my last post and I am still embarrassed by it. Thanks to mrinalini for pointing me that out. Knowledge is bliss but half knowledge is dangerous...lessons learned!

Yes, it's another diwali and new year away from home. Diwali means lot's of lights, praying, crackers and sweets. Well, neither I am too much of religion follower and nor do I know much about praying and traditions. I celebrated diwali like any another weekends - shopping, lots of football and outside food. And the addition was trip to Lake Cachuma.

Football - that reminds me of Crimson Tide's below average run this season. I am an ardent fan, be it football or cricket. Say it a coincidence or a bad luck but in both of the sports my team showers me with lots of disappointment. Lately, I have been irritated by this, I want to brag about my team, want to be mad fan, like other rival fans, but my hapless team performs below par. Repercussions are that I have already stopped following cricket and I have made my mind soon to stop cheering Crimson Tide. But, I would like to spare another season to this 13 times National Champions.

Had a long talk with one of my good pal last night, three years and I can already see a change of 180 degree in him. A firm believer in god, confident, energetic and intelligent chap is now atheist, dull and gullible. I wonder how much have I changed? I believe I have not.

Many of my past talks ended with people saying 'tu to baada aadmi hain'. The reason that, I am so reckless with the money is not that I want to brag about it, but instead it's same old that, money still does not hold importance in my life. It never did played importance to me in past and it would never in future. All I care for is Family, Friends and Comfort!

Things are going very cool at my workplace. Last Friday my team lead said, she thinks very highly of me and she sees me going very far in my career [:)]. I am all flattered and that does give me boost to tackle coming 2 overly busy weeks.

Mood: Energetic
Music: None

Tids N Bits

Woosh..its 7th, that makes 2 months since I moved to Santa Barbara. Time flies by so fast, it seems like yesterday, my life was about to doom, but here I am, at one of the best place one can desire for, working for a great company. That reminds me of the unique 'Bell Ringing' ceremony that we practice at work place. Every time we have major 'release', a 'bell', which is hung inside company’s corridor, is rung by all employees one by one. Yes, it is the same 'bell' like in Indian temple, which we as a kid used to find lots of fun in hammering it. Yeah, it is weird but very exquisite tradition. Today's bell ringing was special for me as I was part of the release. I had little bit of contribution to the version of product that went out today.

Last couples of weeks were very eventful, I felt like I was back to school life, those late night parties, stupid talks, pubs, drinks and friends to hang out with. I am back to life now and I guess I am going to have balls in long run.

My apartment mate's parents have arrived from India and he is really having a good time. And not to mention the regale I am having with the home made 'motherly' food. That makes me dream and plan for the day when my family would be here. Again not all my family members can be here together at same time. This is the biggest drawback one suffers for being from business family. I cannot recall a single trip with all my family members together, either one of us (dad, bro or me) had to stay back to look after business.

Oops..its bed time now. I am heading early morning with my friend and his parents to Universal Studios at LA.

Music: 'The Unforgiven' by Metallica
Mood: Drowsy

Tech Retreat

I think, almost all Indian kids are brought up with extravagance conveniences. Indian kids are the most spoiled kids, I have ever seen. Parents would do unnecessary night out, if the kid has to study all night long. And even make breakfast and lunch ready for them. In short, all they have to do is study, and in return everything is done or made available for them. They would enjoy the most relaxed life. Well, this post is not about bashing the way Indian kids are brought up. I just wanted to draw similarities the way I spent my last week.

I exploited my last week at ‘Tech Retreat’ held by my company at ‘Alisal Ranch’ in Solvang. And once again, I got the feeling of being spoiled. The resort was awesome, the facilities provided was more than expected. Everything was available at your fingertips and all you had to do was - have fun. Its breakfast or lunch everything was made ready for us. Three days of tech retreat were rejoicing, thrilling and relaxing. And I did got chance to try my hands out at Golfing, Canoeing, Horse back riding, Archery, Hiking and Biking, in addition to having an executive suite to stay, and all expenses incurred were paid off. Also, to double up the delight, I was being paid for having all these three days of ‘fun’. So that’s what I would say bringing up the employee’s as inspired by Indian parents. So, now who would not sweat out for the company like this?

Return from wilderness...

Yeah, finally I got sometime to write. Naah.. I was not ‘so much’ busy and neither was life at stand still, there was so much to offer and so much to hide. Life has been going through so much of changes that I could have easily written one page everyday. I knew that if I had to write, then it would be difficult on my part to be righteous about events to describe. Unresolved on what to opt, time fly by without any posts.

Still unresolved, here is the snapshot of time lost. Last month went by in bollywood style, enduring sense of all the emotions, which human kind knows. Excitement, Thrill, Challenge, Dream, Conundrum, Aloofness, Sentiment, Attitude all box packed into one.

Never imagined life bringing so much of variety in jiffy. And everything has changed in past month - habitat, environment, lifestyle, priorities, people and relations. Never wondered life can spin topsy-turvy so quickly. Yes, I know changes are inevitable, and one has to adapt.

Damn you emotions

How would you define emotions? I think it is the weirdest thing a man kind possesses. Emotions can swing hundred times a day and can drive even the sanest person crazy. It can make a person do something which he can regret all his life. It can make strongest of the person frail with its tantrum. Wonder if there is a way to tame this weirdo? Is this a product of desi soap operas or just a state of perplexed mind? Would man kind continue to suffer due to this untamed one.

Note: Please read 'Disclaimer' before filing any lawsuit.

A time for appreciation..

Something spectacular happened on 17th of July 2oo6. Even the word "Spectacular" seems bleak compared to that. One more step forward towards the 'wants' of life, yes I am talking about the grandest job offer I accepted. This one goes straight up the ladder to second position on my Top 10 Memorable days of my life. I was craving to write so much about it, but I regret being not able to do so. Life has always showered rather unexpected or should I say more than I ever expected. It is time for me to appreciate the love, belief and guidance that kept me driving all the way to here.

First of all I would like to thank 'The Almighty God' (Don't give me those looks..I am not an Atheist) for his constant blessings. My family for being on my side and having a belief that I would succeed (I wonder made them believe that ;) ). And last but not least all my friends for their constant support and time to time guidance.

Some of the words that helped me fight all odds –

Bhai: You are destined to become big and I am sure you are going to have 2-4 great offers to choose from. Don’t worry and just give your best.

Topi: Aache logo ke sath aacha hi hota hain. And tere sath aacha hona hi hain. And never forget – jo hota hain aache ke liye hota hain.

Punnu: Kaise kaise logo ko job milta hain and tu to un logo se kahi uppar hian, tereko aache offers aayenge hi.

Alok: Load mat le, abhi interview calls to aa rahe hain na, buss convert karne ki baat hain, keep on trying.

Sheetal: You always had been smart enough to grab good opportunities in past and I am sure you will do it this time as well. It may take little time but for sure that time is about to come.

Girish: Plunge yourself deeply into it and think that you need to definitely get the best one from the entire lot...

Mau: Tu sahi hain. Mereko pata hian tu kaise na kaise sab jama lenga.

Some of you are not present in the list above but that certainly doesn’t diminish your help and support in any way. I regret not able to put you all up in there.

Thank You All for being there when I was tested by time, when I need you all most. Amen!

A perfect weekend..

I always wondered why there is so much gung-ho about long weekends in America. But I certainly realized longing for those special weekends while interning last summer and fall. During the same long weekend, last calendar year, I was exploring New York City and Niagra Falls with two of my 'chaddis'. Enjoying NYC and Niagra was a treat and that too with some of the close friends was like a double treat - A dream come true. A trip that I won't ever forget. Though the grass was much greener at that time, showering more freedom.

This time around circumstances did not allow me to 'plan something' or much better would be to say 'think something'. I was always invited for some or the other plans, but at that moment even I was not sure about my life next day. Life is turning out to be full of surprises now - some pleasant and some sordid. And one such unpleasant news regarding expiration of my apartment's lease rather landed me with another pleasant oppurtunity to be part of this fantastic Atlanta Trip.

I am sitting here cozily at Mrinal's lavish apartment enjoying every bit of it. What on the earth could one desire for other than delectable food, warm hosts, fantastic city hang around and bunch of buddies to freak out. A perfect break to make me ready and pump up all my cylinders to encounter all odds that would be coming up in next few weeks.

Drift it baby!

I watched today another much hyped movie 'Tokyo Drift' and truly speaking, enjoyed every buck of it. I have special attraction for every movie with speed, cars and race. I would highly recommend every guy with love for any of above mentioned traits to watch it. It also reminded me of those ugly days of mine, street racing hard, driving rash, breaking every rule and every signal that came across. I was even required to change 3 two-wheelers during a course of 4 years. I do realize that it was all unnecessary or rather I should say unintelligent, but I guess during that time of life everyone goes flamboyant and must have done something obtuse one way or the other.

Back to Tokyo Drift, it rejuvenated my spirit for being fast and furious. Old passion driving thru my veins, kicking my adrenaline rocket high, glued me to chair. After coming out of theatre, all I could think of was a chance to replicate a small drift. If I would have taken my car to theatre, I am sure if not drift; I would have been driving fast and furious but with little care. Let’s see how fast I can lose this urge for drifting.

A Harley Davidson or similar bike still tops my wish-list right now. I want to experience that fire, power and pulsating thud generated by those machines. I think i have left that canny touch for furious driving far behind, but I guess it won't take much time for me to regain it all over again.

Until I return with next blog, wish me safe driving!

Transformation

Somehow I still get to enjoy parties, sport pool and bowling on weekends. Gang started enjyoing the weekend life as I always wanted to. That transformed charisma, those smoke filled pubs, heavy rock and rap building up the tempo and flood of booze...Aah..a perfect weekend party!

Though such parties were absent this semester, as my regular partying buds (surd and pasha) left for a swamp in far-far away kingdom. Suprisingly, the gang has started enjoying such parties lately, giving me oppurtunities to go wild in last of my few.

What I will cherish is the charismatic transformation after gulping few packs, it will bring the best of me. I would suddenly be more charged up, potting more balls with solid strokes, babbling more and enjoying to my fullest. I always adored this tranformation.

Today was my last party here, and I was not able to enjoy it as I wanted to. Now starts the journey of my unexpected future, battle of my witts and stalwart bad luck, and the path which I never wanted to follow. A transformation that was never expected!

Graduation Day!

I graduated on 13th of May with Master of Science in Computer Science here at The University of Alabama. Step ahead towards aspiration to make big in life. The best thing was that all of Gang was there, making it outstanding event. Here is the snapshot of my graduation day –
12:01 am – Lying around comfortably in our Gang’s Den (V’s and Trush’ place)
12:30 am – We (Gang - Ranjan) go on The Quad to hang around
2:00 am – We return back to Gang’s Den
2:30 am – I drop Mau and return back home. I flashback few years and then race forward few years. The sweet memories of past of back home and the memories of Denny Chimes, The Quad, Bryant Denny Stadium and The Football Mania that I would cherish for rest of my life.
4:45 am – I go to bed
9:30 am – Alarm rings and I snooze several times before waking up at 10:00
11:30 am – V call’s and offers me a ride. I enter Coleman Coliseum, the venue for Convocation Ceremony at 12:03 pm
12:30 pm – I call up home and describe all the regale going around me
1:00 pm – Start of ceremony and then I start feeling the goose and bumps, the feeling of being graduated
2:10 pm – I am awarded with the degree and I shake hands with UA President
3:30 pm – Convocation ends and I am rounded up by the Gang for pictures and compliments
3:46 pm – We go shooting all around campus. And as usual V was all enthusiastic and well equipped to take best of the shots. We had hell of a time with all the laughs and fun going around.
5:30 pm- We go to Waffle House and then to Bower’s park for FIAT’s picnic
8:00 pm – We start driving towards BHM as some of V’s photography equipment was mistakenly carried by other friend
11:30 pm – We are back to T-town and Den. A call to Papa John’s for 2 large pizzas and ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ to end the day @ 11:45 pm
11:59 pm – I call up punnu to wish him B’day but he won’t opt
12:45 am – Pizza at door. I and Mau go through V’s and Trush’s awesome pictures shoot out for the day while V and trush are already dozing off
2:oo am – End of the day; I drop Mau and off to bed
It was fantastic day and the fact that everyone (except Ranjan who is in India) was present from start to end made it even more enjoyable. It was a great day and was celebrated in style. This day goes on to top-10 of the days I will never forget. Cheers!

ONE

The Campaign to make poverty history!

Can you believe the fact that there are still 800 million people in world who go hungry everyday? I can’t still believe my eyes to have read that figure. Instead of dealing with this impounding task at hand, people are at wars for paltry issues. And not to mention how militancy, corruption, invasion and illiteracy are amassing this issue.

How much wonder can it bring if all the nations in the world cut loose 10% of soaring defense budget towards this cause? I think it should suffice at least half of the hungry population, if not all. In India, people will generously donate hundreds of thousands of rupee in the name of god, but when it comes to poor peoples cause, you will see everyone fume. Even if 50% of Indian population starts donating this ‘godly’ money towards this cause it will make all of the India’s poor population sate their hunger. As a matter of fact worldwide there are at least 100 million children who are out of school. Poverty and illiteracy suffice on each other forming a loop, thus making education a vital element. Only education can help in breaking this never ending cycle. Let’s work to put more children in school.

So what is ONE?

ONE aims to help Americans raise their voice as ONE against the emergency of AIDS and extreme poverty, so that decision makers will do more to save millions of lives in the poorest countries.

How can you help?

In more than one way, please visit the official ONE website - http://www.one.org/ for more information.

I would like to thank Victim Of Desire for making me aware about ONE.

Just another lucky guy

I received untimely but rather expected 'OIRA' style graduation treat today. To make it clear, OIRA stands for Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, where I have been working to earn my bread and butter for last 2 and 1/2 years now. One's favorite cake (Black Forest in my case) and 2 flavors of ice cream make OIRA style party. And of course something special for this party was a graduation memorabilia. Another seven days and I will bid adieu to OIRA as well.

It seems to be just yesterday when a shy, nervous, unexperienced and amateur brown guy discovers this opportunity waiting around unexploited in the unseen corner of the campus. I can still remember that day little vaguely, wearing a tee with inappropriate message I entered the lobby of the office. Since it was lunch time and everyone from office was in the break room, I was asked to meet the director in break room itself. The idea of facing every staff member at once, made me stumble a bit. When I entered and gave a brief introduction about myself, there were questions darting around from every nook and corner of the room and to my surprise I handled all of them rather unexpectedly well. And yes, some questions were indeed about the message printed on my tee. Leaving the office on high note of confidence, I was wondering if this tee did ruin my chances or did it made day for that bunch of gleeful Americans.

And within a span of 3 days I get the offer from OIRA. I still wonder if it was that tee shirt or my apt answers that made me providential. To make the events even more extravagant, I was having 3 opportunities to choose from on that day. But this one being 0.5 FTE there was essentially no option. From that day to today, everything worked out seamlessly without any sorts of hassle. I could not have asked more than having assistantship with such a considerate boss. I would always be thankful to everyone at OIRA staff and especially to my boss Mike, all my life for their support and consideration. Cheers!

The Caste Chaos

I always loathed the privileges enjoyed by minorities in India without any cause. I was agitated and confounded when I experienced this myself while applying for undergraduate program. This animosity inflated when one of my friends who extraordinarily marched his way up to top 50 students in state but still had to compromise. How does it feel when a minority student with 191/300 gets a seat into one of the finest institution while a talented upper class student with 291/300 won't make it? I was taken aback when I came to know that almost 50% of seats in all the institutions are reserved for minorities.

Now, being born in open caste is as good as crime. You have to make compromises at every stage of life. The privilege system was started more than 50 years back to encourage the development of poor minority classes with financial perspective in mind. This quota system which was initially started for a period of 10 yrs mainly to encourage learning and knowledge has now turned into major hindrance in nation's growth. How can you expect such incompetent people getting into top Indian institutions purely by quota’s aid to fair? Would increase in reservation will do any good? Does getting into top institution make them any better? In fact this quota system is having reverse effect, students belonging to this class study less, and they know how this quota system is there to their aid. When it comes to providing financial reservation which is what started this quota system back then, I totally support that. I would not like if the needy and deserving one's get deprived of higher education just because of inadequate money. But when I look around I find most of the minority class equally well to-do and surely can afford more or less same kind of educational cost. But I am ready to buy that there are people who cannot afford this cost. But providing quota’s in candidate seats won't lead us anywhere.

On the other hand this people always talk about getting categorized. Having a quota system is in itself the root for this categorization. How can they expect to ask for quota’s and on the same hand ask not to talk about this delineation? They talk about treating them indifferently, isn't this quota system another way of treating them indifferently? They would talk about eradicating this categorization but when it would come to increasing the quota, they would be the first one to claim about how they belong to lower class. I would say if they want to eradicate this categorization, than eradicate this system of quota’s and reservation. Let the talent prevail!

But the dark side is this would always remain as an fantasy. I do not see people enjoying this godsend privileges for more than 50 yrs now to yield. And not to mention the breed of parasites "Politicians" who are always ready to milk on such sensitive issue. It's shame to see so called leaders vowed to nation's improvement making mockery of a national interest for personal gain. I wonder why our apex court is not doing anything in this regard, which otherwise does take matter like this one into its own hand.

I am perplexed at the thought of having quota’s in the IIT's, IIM's and private sector as well. This clearly disturbs the idea of India as unity in diversity. Things are far from perfect but we should work together to make this cast system a non issue. I think its time for a Revolution, time for khalbali, an another Rang De Basanti!!

Why Power of S?

Dude..Whats the secret of Power_of_S?

Same question was being asked in past and ever since. I have successfully subsided this sort of questions in past with mysterious smile. But the intention was not to hide the secret but the real reason was that even I was clueless. As far as remember it was random pick by my brains, around 7 yrs back. But I guess, sometime, somehow I did believe that letter 'S' is the strongest alaphabet in English.

Ever wondered how the world would have been just SINGULAR without 'S', or may be just 'INGULAR'. And here are some power words which make 'S' seem even more important - Super, Sky, Speed, Simple, Smart, Smile, Sex, Saturday and Sunday. Even most of Super Hero's - Superman, Spiderman and even first India super hero Shaktiman have names starting with 'S'. And even now if you think this is absurd and senseless than what makes 'S' even more important is my name :)

Now keep on calculation how many times you use 'S' in a day and you will understand..

UA - losing way out?

Two headlines in today's crimson white grabbed my attention:

1. Industrial Engineering Department to be cut down
Why on the earth should they do that? What I inferred was that declining student enrollment was the most critical factor in this decision. Is Institutional Operation pure business now? Should not authorities take some initiatives to increase the enrollment, rather than just cutting the department off? I have not seen any campaign taken in this regard in last 2 yrs. Is it fair on authority’s side to just turn their face away on important aspect of engineering? Does money always outweighs everything else?

2. Feguson Parking lot to be Resident Parking
Ferguson Parking lot is the most widely used parking lot by commuters due to its proximity to ACU, SupeStore, USPS etc. Even though it’s such a big parking lot, still we have to fight to get space in there. And now it’s going to be Faculty/Resident only parking starting this fall. Needless to say all the other parking lots are as full as they can be. So now are we commuters going to find any space in the campus to park?

It is the time for student communities to raise their voices. It is time to show that officials should take students concerns seriously, after all its all about students.
ROLL TIDE!!

An end of an era!

13th May 2006, will mark an end of another era! For most of us here it will end the lengthy, painful spring semester. But for me it will also mark an end of my school life. No matter how hard I try, I fail to supress this fact. The more I think about it, the more is the anxiety - this mixed feeling of excitement, ambition, solitude, urge and loss.

I will surely miss all of my friends, fun, lakes and football mania that I experienced in T-town. T-town, my home for last 2 years provided me with incredible experiences and relaxed life. I would always crave for those camping trips, frequent timepass at lakes, incredible sitouts at Quad and walks at black warrior along with my T-town buddies. I will surely miss all of my buddies. Once someone said, its not about how many people I would miss, on the contrary its about how many people would be able to remember me? that marks the difference.

On the other hand, I am excited about the new professional life waiting ahead for me. The positive transformation that it will bring to my life. Transformation from reel life to real life. This new begin will end the desire, drive and quest that drove me to US. But would this new era be as exciting, entertaining and enjoyable as the last? Would I be happy?

Female Psychology

Sometime in past, I tried to ponder over an aspect of female psychic -"What do they look for in guys?" And definitely it was not that I wanted to master act of impressing girls but rather to understand the root of events that lead me toward this. Being in the field of software engineering, I tried to use one of the handy features - stakeholder interviews. And after asking the same question to some of my female friends and cousins, I always got varied answer. Typically a list of qualities right from good looking to sense of humor. Integrating all, I reached the conclusion that it varies from individual to individual and the problem in itself was trivial. But when it came to selecting the soul mate to most of the stake holders, I found out only one similarity...Money! Strangely none of the stakeholder ever listed this quality in their top 5 expected qualities. And now suddenly out of the blue..it climbs to #1 for most of them. Urrgh....there goes all of the research in vain...leaving one question "How to understand female psychology?". And leading, my already confused brain towards dreaded crash. This will always remain as known bug in my system..

Special note to all of the beauties reading this, please don't start sending me those hate mails. This conclusion is viable only for the given set of specimen stakeholders.

Me and Myself

Well, finally I too entered the blogging world..and what took so long? A war between me and myself...which started 3 months back..

Me: I should also blog..
Myself: What's the need?

Me: Its good way to slip off your thought anonymously to unknown world...plus everyone's doing it..
Myself: Why do you want to share your thought?

Me: I hardly share my thoughts with someone..
Myself: So why do you want to bare it all..

Me: It would be good to let some buddies know about it..
Myself: But you are not attention seeking? and this would do exactly that..

Me: Humm...alrite I won't explicitly tell about it
Myself: Do you have creativity? do you write poems?

Me: If it is required than in that case, I would be lead for untraditional, unrated, random style blogging!
Myself: And what about your english dude? Its below par..

Me: What the heck..Like I care..
Myself: You Suck!

Me: Thank You! Tell me something that I dont know...

So here I go...