Appearances...

Yes, in this world we have to keep up appearances for the sake of others. But, just imagine how suffocated you would feel if you were forced to keep it up day in and day out for the sake of people you love! Especially when those people are total idiots (pardon the strong phrase), who can not distinguish between genuine affection and the hollow words of shallow people who say a lot but neither fulfill nor have any intentions of fulfilling what they promise.

I put myself in the shoes of such a person for a few minutes tonight. I found the experience un-bearable... absolutely un-bearable. I felt that I would go insane, and all this in under half an hour. But this person has been at this game... this silly, idiotic, but ultimately necessary game for almost all her life. Just thinking about the frustration she would have felt drives me crazy. Yet, here she is, taking it all in with a calm which baffles me.

I thought of many solutions, but as long as those idiotic people whom you happen to love remain as idiotic as ever, all these end up just complicating an already complex situation. I just do not know how much longer I can stay silent and let this gross miscarriage of justice continue!

Thenara thenara....

Unlike my usual trips, this one had a lot of preparation. Not by me :D, but still, we were well prepared. 'Born to be wild' & 'Maappi' started this crazy idea off as they were driven to the edge of sanity by the working hours at their internship. To start off, I would've called it nothing more than a fanciful dream. But, as has happened some times for me, I was proven wrong. The dream came true, and we ended up driving more than 5000 miles in a short span of 7 days.

I was apprehensive to begin with, thinking (out loud) of all the things could possibly go wrong and of the easier options open to us. Even after thinking of all these things, and debating (though briefly) about the options, we went ahead with the plan of a road trip to the Grand Canyon.



'Naanga Ettu Per, Engulukku Sense Endral Ennathu Ennu Theriyathu', this is what who ever heard of the trip said. But what the heck, we enjoyed the trip to the maximum extent possible... taking pics left right and center, without a care in the world (we had lappy's with us, so memory limit was not an issue). We ended up taking close to 5000 pics, with 5 cameras taking up 30 Gig of space.

We went through 12 or 13 states and celebrated BigB's birthday in 5 different states, starting off in New Mexico followed by Texas, where we cut the cake. We stopped for a fantastic lunch at a place called Gopuram in Oklahoma City. After a week of fast food, this was a welcome relief, which was relished by all of us.

We were dead tired when we came back on Saturday morning... but who cares... we did something which all of us enjoyed a lot.

Prejudice

How prejudiced are we all really? Very very prejudiced I'd say. Do we ever try to understand people who are different from us? Given a choice, yes, it's definitely easier to be with people you know. I mean, why take the extra effort to get to know new people, when you can easily settle for people you already know and are comfortable with.

But, in following such a path, what all wonderful new experiences are we missing? Who knows, maybe the person who almost became your room mate might have changed your life in ways you never know. For better or for worse, you never know. But, then isn't that part of the fun. The thrill of the unknwon. Now that was my idealistic side talking, but realistically, would I do it?

My Friend...

You would never know that he had so much in him, yes, I give that I didn't know him that very well... actually I never tried to know him that well. Partly, maybe, because he didn't want others to poke their nose into his affairs. Always maintaining a 'don't care about anything or anyone' attitude about him. Was that all a charade, sub-conscious or conscious... I don't know.

I still don't know whether I'll make an effort to know him better, given our behavioural traits, chances are that I will not know more about him whether I make an effort or not. But, off late, I got a few glimpses of the person hidden underneath layers of sarcasm. Those glimpses, to those of us who (mostly) only knew the sarcasm part, was quite... I don't know... interesting.

Something Nonsense...

This was the subject of a mail that I sent once to the (close to dead) class group we've in yahoo. Now, why did I put in such a subject line - well mostly because I didn't want to be mocked by some 'smart ass' saying that it's foolish thing to do. So, well, I thought if I say that even I felt that it was kind of nonsense, then others would not find much interest in re-iterating that.

But well, I was quite wrong there... quite wrong indeed. Well, I don't mean that someone did send a reply saying that it was foolish, not quite... actually, people replied saying that it was as far removed from being foolish as anything could be.

What was the content of the mail? Well... one night, some 3 years into work, conversation between me and my roomies drifted off into college nostalgia, how friends lose touch and all.. finally ending up with us trying to re-collect the names of our class mates in college. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that with a bit of effort, we were able to re-collect most of the people.

This was hot for a few days, and later it lost steam is now sitting somewhere in my inbox. I wonder, how long would it be before I forget most of the people on that list? But, in any case, I'm sure that there are a few people on that list with whom I will never lose touch... never.

Taare Zameen Pe.

I don't think that I've been so moved by any film like this one. So well taken, so beautifully done... truly a welcome relief from the general glitz, glamour, nonsense films that bollywood is so famous for churning out with alarming alacrity... aamir khans name coming in second in the credits was a nice touch as well.

I think I'm running out of superlatives for describing the movie... as my friend would say, too good yaar.

...and I did cry while I was seeing it.

Thaenum Vayambum

Before I left for the US, I went to say bye to a dear friend who, by chance (good or bad I can't say) happened to be in town then. It was very late so I was able to meet his parents as well. Talk went from very general to very personal and ended with his mom advising me to be 'good' while I'm in the US and not to emulate the 'Aviva' ad. Auntie asked me what I wanted and I just asked for something cold to drink, basically anything other than coffee or tea.

What she gave me was pure heaven. Actually it was honey mixed with water. I never knew that something so simple could be so tasty. Recently, my friend caught up with me in chat and reminded me of it, so much that I decided that I'll get honey that night and make it again. But, unfortunately I was not able to get honey till now. Finally, I got around to buying that honey and made it. But you know what, somehow, it doesn't taste as good!

what are u upto these days?

a bit of research, a bit of studies and a bit of fun all mixed up in a jumble called life :D

OCCD.

OCCD - A disease that has a healthy percentage of the world population under its clutches. Hereditary in nature, it mainly affects the female of the species, with close to 98% of the cases leading to infections lasting a life time. The male of the species is somehow amazingly resistant/resilient to effects of this deadly strain.

Obsessive Compulsive Cleaning Disorder, OCCD for short, is one of the most comical yet (maybe) the most deadly of various strains of infectious diseases known to man-kind (not necessarily woman-kind). The symptoms of this disease are quite easy to spot. The person shows a maniacal zeal and fervour to the process of cleaning and the art of keeping things clean. Researchers have yet been unable to figure out whether this is an illness of the mind or the body. But, all evidence seems to point to the former. Though a permanent cure has not and may never be found, researchers have been able to formulate a remedy that at least seems to have some effect in stunting the growth of the disease and to an extent, ameliorate it.

A case study conducted seems to confirm the above postulate. A female was chosen as the subject to increase the chances of finding the disease quickly. Careful study and analysis done over a period of one month has led me (and fellow researchers, who shall remain anonymous for safety reasons!) to the conclusion that the subject in question has undoubtedly been under the influence of the disease for such a long period of time that medication that we administered was only able to stunt the growth of the illness and un-fortunately, could not ameliorate it.

We promise that we'll keep on working on this interesting research problem until a cure is found!

Alone in the crowd.

I was recently on a river rafting trip with a bunch of students from my college. Most of these guys were young blokes - mostly, if not all of them, undergrads from the US. The group was a pretty large one. But, I was not able to related with even a single one of those guys/girls!

I did play 3 or 4 rounds of volleyball with them, I think I was accepted into the group without much ado, but when it came to subjects for conversation, it was like we were from two different worlds. Come to think of it, maybe we are. The way we were brought up and the social circumstances were completely different. There were a couple of points about their general interaction that I liked, but overall, I was not able to digest their behaviour. I'm sure it was the same for them as well.

Usually talkative, I was labelled as the most silent person in the group! This was a strange and interesting experience for me.

All Forward...

The whitewater rafting trip began nice enough. For once, I thought I'd remembered to bring everything I needed along with me, alas, I was wrong. As usual, I forgot one item (This item changes from trip to trip, but for every trip I've gone on, I've inevitably forgotten one item). This time, it was my towel. This didn't cause much of inconvenience as there was a WalMart near our camp grounds and I was able to buy a new one quite easily.

I was 10 minutes late getting to the pick up point and I was one of the last person to get there. Whatever you say about them, Americans as a culture are damn punctual. One thing, we Indians lack. There is even a joke going around that IST stands for Indian Stretchable Time... :D. Once I got there, I realized that I was not the only one without friends there. There were a couple of others like me. I thought I could strike up some conversation with these folks, but unfortunately we were put into seperate vans. There were 4 of them, all Fords, each capable of holding 15 people and each one filled to near capacity. There was a lot of chatter in the van about anything and everything. Soon a friendly game of 'Uno' followed in which I too took part (the second time around). But apart from that, I didn't actively participate in the chatter that much. Anyone who knows me, would be surprised at this statement.



Due to large number of people in the van, we made several stops en-route to the camp. We stopped for lunch at a place called the Golden Corral. This, like everything else in the US, is a chain. But what the heck, they had good food, greasy - Yes, but good none the less. And I didn't care about how mcuh grease was there in the food either. For $11 + tips you get a really filling buffet meal here. There were puh-lenty of stuff to eat. So much so that I didn't get to the desserts section. I was pretty much stuffed by the time I got through the main course and the fruits. But I heard the desserts were really good. One of the guys in my van puked and was promptly given the name 'Pukey Pukerson' or something. I'm not too sure about the last name, but 'Pukey' was definitely part of it.



Well, after such a satisfying meal, went on a short trip to see the local legend 'Moth Man of West Virginia' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman). It was, mmmm.... interesting, to say the least. After countless other stops we reached the New River Gorge/Bridge. Man, this was a monster of a bridge. There was a spot near the bridge where you could take pictures of it. It was so very beuatiful. You get a panoramic view of the valley from here. Unfortunately I don't have a panoramic photo of the place :(. For now, these will have to do. The small bridge you see is the one which was there before the new bridge was built.



Following a brief stop here, we moved on to the camp grounds. There was a volleyball court there and we played 3 rounds of volleyball. Though my team lost two of the three matches, it was fun. We had dinner at 7 or 7.30. We built a small camp fire and sat around that for the rest of the evening, eating roasted marshmellows and trying to pass the time. We turned in early as we had a big day coming up and we need to get up early for it.

Sunday was pretty chilly. After having put on the wet suits, PFD's and helmets, we had a quick lecture on what is to await us (as if we already didn't have enough of it during our classes at OSU). This lecture continued all the way to the river. After the build up that was given at OSU, I was slightly anxious as to what was to be expected. But by the time we got through the first set of rapids, I was okay. Actually it was kind of anti climatic if you ask me. We were expecting something much much worse, and what we got was not that bad. And in a wierd sort of a way, I felt a bit let down. Actually I know I shouldn't feel that way, but somehow I just did. We did the rowing reasonably well as a team and we got through all the rapids with relative ease. Next time, I'm definitely going to sit in front of the raft to experience more adventure ;) :D. We successfully navigated, 'The Meat Grinder', 'The Greyhound Bus Stopper', 'Millers Folly', 'Thread the Needle' and a bunch of other rapids. At the end, we just picked up our raft, loaded it up onto a trailer and went back to the camp grounds pretty happy.

Pink Lemonade

It was Angela's farewell party. We got together at Mad Mex, a local pub, to (to put it in Angela's words) celebrate her leaving the country! As I don't drink, I was a bit hesitant at first, thinking that I'd be the odd one out. Angela re-assured me that it'll be fine and that I could just have water or something like that.

We didn't order much food. We were content with drinks, chips 'n dips. There were all sorts of drinks on the menu, a "Big Azz" margarita, Pink Lemonades and what not. Intrigued by the name, I ordered the Pink Lemonade, wondering how they made it. Out of curiosity, I even asked the waitress about it's contents. She just gave me a dazzling smile and replied that she didn't know how it was made either. The taste was, mmm... for lack of a better word, 'unique'. It had the taste of regular lemonade along with something I couldn't place. No matter how much I tried, I was unable to figure it out. So, I promptly stopped trying and began to enjoy my drink.

The waitress was apparently not impressed with our orders and tried her best to stay away from our table. There were 7 of us and consequently, the chips began to vanish quite quickly. And, as the waitress was no where to be seen, we had to send for her to get us some more chips. She was not too happy to do this as the chips come free of cost... :D. Some of us finally ordered actual food like the "House Salad" and the like which bought a semblance of smile on her face.

After many interesting stories and jokes, I called it quits as I had told my friends that I'd come for a game of badminton later that day. So after paying my bill, giving a hug to Angela and promising that I'll write often (which I intend to), I left Mad Mex (possibly for the last time) and headed off to the RPAC.

Share and share alike...

Are we all good at sharing? I guess not. Suppose you've a few slices of a pizza and have the option of either eating it or giving it to your friends, what would you do? Would you rather have the pleasure of eating it or the pleasure of seeing your friends eat it. I don't know.

If I were hungry, most probably I'll fall into the first category. But, there is a friend of mine who, I think, might have chosen the second option. I really haven't been able to figure out why, once a few of us argued against him saying that it was only natural that you don't share it, even with your friends, when you're hungry. But somehow, without rhyme or reason, he stuck to his point. And, though we accepted it and appreciated him for it, we were sure that we wouldn't do it as there was no logical reason behind it.

But you know what... though he wasn't able to provide any rhyme or reason for it... it makes you feel good when you share with your friends. You get a much better feeling than the alternative does (atleast I did). And maybe, that was the reason he was (and maybe is) doing it.

Of Fist and Feet.

Yeah, translated literally that's what Tae-Kwon-Do means. And, just for fun, I did take that course last quarter. And so did a friend of mine, you know, the driving master - Athreya. We were the only non-residents in the class. This was a little surprising, as our college is like a little India/China town... :D. We had a nice teacher in Sungjoo. He is a fun guy to hang around. Has a bunch of funny stories and is damn good (atleast I think so) at what he does. If I can, I'll take boxing under him in the fall.

The class was fun and it gave a nice reprieve from the usual stresses of course work. We practised a lot of kicking and punching techniques. And man, if you do it regularly, there is nothing wrong in dreaming of one day of being like one of those cool martial artists you see in TV all the time.

We did the front kick, the side kick, the jumping kick and so on and so forth. The drills really tire you out. I initially thought that the class was really short at 35 minutes long. But boy oh boy was I wrong. There were times when all of us struggled physically to make it through the class. Take it from me, It is tiring! But it was a ton of fun. I'm just sad that there is no level 2 class for it :(.

Licensed to Drive... :D

Like a lot of other things, the process of getting my drivers license was also a whirlwind affair. There were points when thought I would definitely flunk the test, and I would've too, if I had made a couple more mistakes. Thank God I didn't, for that would've ruined the wonderful plans we'd made for the next day, the details of which will (hopefully) form the contents of another (hopefully) interesting travelogue.

I really have to thank Athreya, for having the patience to sit in the car with me while I practised for my manoeuvrability test as well as for parallel parking. I might have driven, maybe, 10+ miles just practising for the manoeuvrability test. Going front and back and front again, in a less than graceful way.

We rented a car, a Ford Fusion, from Enterprise Rent-A-Car and took it for a spin around Columbus in the process of getting my license. We also raided a few grocery shops in the area and (drum roll please) invited a comment about the amount of food items we were purchasing from a startled lady, standing ahead of us at the cashiers' at the local Indian store. In response, the only thing I could do was to make a wide grin and say that this would only suffice for a month. She didn't speak to us again! After close to 12 hours driving practise, we called it a day at 4am in the morning, hoping that both of us would get up in time for the test that day.

The day of the test was gloomy and rainy. Little did I know that it was a sign of things to come. The whole thing started off on the wrong foot as, unfortunately, I couldn't understand a word that was coming out of the mouth of the official sitting beside me. He'd asked to pull the windows down, but I heard it as turn the wheel. When the whole, 'excuse me', 'pardon me', 'sorry, I didn't get that' became too much for him, he said that he'd fail me if I said that again. This put in a peachy state of mind... I was nervous as hell. Never in my life have I been so nervous. I was sure that I was going to fail the test at this point. Though it was pretty close, I managed to make it through the manoeuvrability test without knocking down anything. Then began the road test. Apart for a few minor mistakes, it went off well.

I was so very relieved when the whole thing was done with. I was still shaking when I got out of the car and he said that I'd passed. He also made a less than encouraging comment before saying I passed. But, at that point I was like, who cares... I'm "Licensed to Drive!!!!" and our plans for next day will be all right.

Friends...

I don't have a lot of them, but the ones I have are gems, absolute gems. For the life of me, I can't figure out how I ended up with them. But, I'm so thankful that I did. These guys and gals have helped me out in some tough spots, just by being there and listening to me.

Thanks for being there dears... :)

Following a crazy idea.

One fine saturday morning, when me and Sabari were chatting about anything and everything, as we usually do, one of us (or maybe both of us) got this idea of going around Chennai on our bikes and taking pictures of all the places to make kind of a picture encyclopedia of the city we called home for nearly 3 years. After a few minutes of in-decision and reality checks we decided that this was indeed a trip worth undertaking.

We started off from that most famous of all places, the place that a dear friend of mine calls a country within the city, 'Mylapore'. After taking a few pictures of the tank, which happily had water thanks to the many bouts of torrential rain we had, and the schools of fish in the tank; we began our eventful journey to explore the less frequented spots in Chennai like Foreshore Estate.

Unfortunately, our foray into Foreshore Estate came to a rather sticky end when I stepped into a pile of something which I rather not mention (I still have a picture for anyone who is interested!). After having failed at the attemt to find water to clean my feet, we decided to go to the nearest sure supply of water - Marina Beach. My friend was busy taking pictures of anything and everything while I trudged forward in the sand towards the sea. After having cleaned my feet in the saline water, we began our journey to the north of Chennai starting with the Cooam estuary, past Parry's Corner to reach 'Burma Bazaar' - the place to get pirated items in Chennai, which coincidentally happens to be opposite the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (hey I'm not complaining).

As we were taking pictures, we made slow progress, passing the High Court and the old bus stand to reach Chennai Central - that Mecca for many a weary mallu yearning for the taste of good water. Having taken a few snaps of those hallowed grounds, we moved on to Mount Road through Egmore. We finally hit Mount Road near the Spencer's junction. Ohhh, how many times did we come here with our friends, to spend hours window shopping, getting lost in the many corridors and just maybe buy a t-shirt for 100/- or 150/-.

As the light turned green, we turned right and headed towards Gemini flyover and T-nagar. And we would've gone into T-Nagar as well, if only we were up to the challenge of facing the almost impossible traffic. Having faced the north Chennai traffic for half a day, neither of us were mentally up to the challenge of facing the traffic in T-Nagar. So after a minute of contemplation, we went straight at Teynampet signal instead of right and headed straight for home and a nice lunch.

Recommendations galore...

Is the US really a land of equal opportunity? Well, maybe not. Back home we make a hue and cry about fair chance and equal opportunity. If someone gets selected in an interview because he got a recommendation from someone we immediately cry foul play. But, here that seems to be the norm. Back home, if you were good, you were atleast called for the interview so that you get a chance to prove yourself. Maybe futile, but your case still gets heard.

But here, it seems as if you don't even get a chance to be heard. People only call you for an interview if you have a letter of recommendation from someone they know. Otherwise you don't even know that such an interview existed. This is not the case for, pardon the phrase, 'desi's' alone. This applies to everyone in the US. And everyone justs accepts it for a fact.

This rant might be due to the fact that I come from a particularly politically active state where such bull is generally not tolerated. And due to the same reason, I find it very difficult to swallow the fact that professors have virtually unlimited discretionary powers over the students. Some acts, which back home, would've immediately caused a strike is accepted without question.