Hangover and I-Day runups

Hi people, here I am back in India, safe and single :-) When I returned, I did not feel any difference, maybe I was just plain happy to see my folks. But as the days passed by, I started remembering the teeny-weeny things and then started the hangover of this magical fortnight. Excuse me for this little childishness, but many firsts were associated with this trip, I had a lovely time.

This trip has also helped me in a major sense. I have decided to stay back in research for another year and see if I survive alone. If I do well, I try again, and if I don't, I quit :-D So I will apply for postdocs and since my boundary conditions do not extend very far, I can maybe go as far as Bangalore or Bombay.

I loved the institute I visited (ICTP in Italy). This is a UNESCO funded institute and attracts researchers from all parts of the world. So imagine, in this one visit, I met people from Brazil, Morocco, Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq, Japan, China, Italy, Venezuela, Georgia, Croatia, Lebanon, France, Argentina, Algeria, Senegal!!! and saw people from many other countries. A lovely experience. One thing I noted is that everyone else is much well-versed in Geography when compared to me :-D Like my roomie said, she knows India's capital is Delhi, whereas I don't know where exactly her country is in Africa :-D India is very famous everywhere, and much of the credit goes to Bollywood - Shahrukh Khan is hot everywhere :-D
On our way back, we had some 12 hours stopover in Dubai. I roamed around in the airport to my heart's fill and line maarofied openly. (Many) Arabs are very handsome!! No wonder the western M&Bs have an occasional Arab sheikh as their hero. I met a very charming man on my way back to India, but unfortunately, I fell asleep pretty soon. I was cursing myself afterwards for this big blunder.
So ends my magical fortnight. Ill add little snippets to these posts as and when I remember :)
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In the run-up to the independence day, the news channels have been telecasting really good shows. Even Aaj Tak raised its level and had a show on "Hum nahi sudhrenge (we will not rectify ourselves!)" and showed all our(Indians) bad features like spitting and urinating on the roadsides, eve-teasing, corruption, jumping queues, etc etc. BBC has a series on India too. I am also looking forward to The Hindu's supplement on the I-Day. They promise a bunch of articles by eminent personalities and intellectuals.
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My posts might not be regular until I get a good net connection and a healthier attitude :-) So here in advance are my wishes for a
Happy Independence Day :-)

Ciao Venezia

We finally visited Venice on Saturday after a long deliberation on whether to go or not to go. We even almost missed the train to Venice, barely got in two minutes before it started. The place is so full of beautiful age old architecture that we kept taking snaps. Tastefully done buildings. One thing I like a lot about this place is that lovely flowers dot every balcony.
From the train station, we took a vaporetto to one of the islands called Murano. This island is famous for glass blowing. We saw some beautiful creations made in coloured glass. I will upload some pics when I get them.
Next stop was the San Marco Island. This has the famous St. Marks Square. We first visited the Palace Ducale (Doge's palace), paid an awful lot to see this (13Euro!!) This palace had gorgeous expensive paintings on the walls. The Armoury had a variety of weapons on display, some swords even reaching my height. Those warriors must have been very tall to hold them! Such weapons are seen in Indian forts too.
We walked on the Bridge of Sighs and took pics in front of it. This is a bridge that leads from the palace to the other end of a canal. Apparently, the prisoners, after being sentenced, used to be taken through this bridge to their prisons. The prisoners used to look out of this bridge at their last rays of freedom and sigh, and hence it is called the Bridge of Sighs. This reminded me of Count of Monte Cristo, in which Edmond Dantes, fights for his freedom when he is taken to the dungeon. That book is a masterpiece, in which every passage made an impression.
The St. Marks square was full of thousands of pigeons. We fed these pigeons and took snaps with them.
The basilica in the square was closed by the time we reached, so we couldn't see that. Thats a big regret as we were told that it is a must-see, and now I might not get another opportunity like this.
We then went in search of the Rialto bridge. Apparently, this is also very famous. We just did not know where to find it. So we reached these streets, which are basically waterways, and gondolas were passing through these. We were told that gondola rides are very expensive, and are meant for honeymooners and those others who have time and money to kill. So we didnt take one. In one of the gondolas, a man was singing "Ciao Venezia" to the tune of an instrument. Thats when the beauty of Venice sank in. So far, it was nice architecture etc etc. But we experienced the charm on listening to that song. Those 5 minutes were very beautiful. Venice has to be lived in, to experience it completely. We saw the Rialto Bridge when we took the vaporetto back to the station.
Venice was truly an experience of a lifetime.
Another thing I like here is the music. I will learn to play an instrument sometime in my life.
I wish we had more time to explore. We caught the last train back, which takes a longer route. Halfway through, the next coach caught fire. It was controlled immediately though. Happening trip :)
Yesterday, we took a boat ride to the downtown city. Roamed around, ate genuine pizza with tuna fish toppings (I love Tuna fish now) and icecream (Yummmmm).
Lovely weekend. :-)

Magical fortnight ahead :)

Hi all, here I am in a new country and enjoying it thoroughly. The place is gorgeous and the food (especially the sea food) is delicious. On our way here, we stopped over in Dubai. The airport was posh and the guys handsome. Woww what great looks. It was also like a home away from home, with many Indians employed there as service staff. I plan to shop a bit on my way back.

The guesthouse in which I have been put up here faces the sea. Its my dream stay. We leave the doors open at nights. People play soft music here at the sea side at night and we fall asleep to the sounds of that. Guess what! Day before, they even played a hindi song. I couldnt believe my ears. My roommate is an African Muslim girl and is very gorgeous. She says India is very famous in her country as people there often watch Shahrukh Khan movies. I was amazed (and thrilled) at the outreach SRK has.. She speaks good french and bad english. My french doesnt go beyond Bonjour. But we manage well :-D I am learning a bit of Italian too. As far as the conference is concerned, it is all nice and good, but I have this thing that I cannot apply for post doc yet and that slightly gets me down. I mean I feel whats the use of all this for me :-D So I am maintaining a low profile here.

Ok so here full and final is my advertisement for a cheerful, educated, liberated Muslim guy who will let me live my life as I wish :-D Most desirable if he is 6'2" :-D ;-) Btw lots of handsome Muslim guys in the campus here too, mostly from west asia.. Umm but my mom objects to (even) north Indians, I dont think she ll like the idea of a foreigner :-D

Jokes apart, nice place, nice people and I plan to enjoy myself the rest of this magical fortnight.

Ciao to you and have fun :)
(wow i posted this post with italian instructions)

A new adventure

So I am leaving for Italy in two days after all. A new adventure and a new experience :) Looking forward to it and at the same time nervous about it. At the end of it, I will certainly have some new material for this blog :-D So long then. I have no idea about what after this.. but I do deserve a holiday and so will try to enjoy being jobless for some time.

Kafeel's terror attack had us all shocked. So far we had this perception that jobless, uneducated youth are easily brainwashed and they resort to these acts. This guy's act was shocking and condemnable. I would have written much much more about it but in a hurry.

Wish me :-D

I am Dr. T now :-D

Rains

Its been raining here since yesterday. Very pleasant climate :-) And I have been walking in the rains mindless of the aachoos which are bound to follow. I do take to water like a true Pisces

Notes from Bangalore

I spent this weekend at Bangalore. This was my first visit to the city. Visited my relatives. Met old college friends. I must say I seem to be the only one who has not changed at all in appearance. Everyone else has put on weight.
My impressions of the city! There are always goods and bads in a city and so its not even a good thing to compare. But then one does end up comparing.
The autowallahs are much much better there than in Chennai. I was surprised to find them following the meter rate to a rupee. The meter can be used in a negative way also as we found out in one case where this guy was taking us through narrow lanes and byways instead of the main roads just to increase the rate. We promptly got down 10 mins after getting in ( I was suspicious also as this guy covered up his face in the petrol pump, and avoided the main roads. Who knows if he is a terrorist. He he my imagination was on full drive. I digress.)
The bus service is lousy, Ill say. And the commuters are more lecherous (in my experience). I felt travelling there is difficult unless one has a personal vehicle.
It was so pleasantly cool there. After the sultriest few days in Chennai, this was very welcome. As it happened, it rained in Chennai too this weekend. Not fair. We missed 4 days of chennai rains :-(
We roamed around Garuda Mall. One can buy stuff in Spencers but not in Garuda Mall. Its indecently overpriced. I think Spencers caters to all sections. Anyway, we entered the Scary House there and got mighty scared. My cousins tell me that I apparently told one "bhoot" to not do what he was doing- scare me :-D He he I am jumpy by nature and I am scared of darkness too. So I got my money's worth of getting scared :-D Enjoyed max in all. I would love to return to Bangalore :)

There is big hype surrounding the movie Sivaji down south. Apparently people are even paying 1k to watch this movie! Its a crazy little world.

My good luck charm?

Crow droppings. Yes, you read it right. Consider these incidents:
1. School days: My brand new cycle used to be parked in the stand alongwith others'. But most often, only my cycle used to be spotted with crow droppings.

2. College days: My lunch periods used to be spent in searching for a crow free zone. I was notorious for attracting crows.

3. Masters convocation: I was seated in the last row in a hall with very high ceiling. All the parents were seated on a higher level right behind me. In the middle of the ceremony, when we were awaiting our turns, this crow which is flying over us, makes it mark on me, and a collective gasp is heard from the scores of parents seated behind me. In an assembly of 1000 heads, this crow in flight, has to select just me to drop its blessings!

I remembered all this, cos yesterday a crow blessed me again. Again lots of people before and after me were walking under the tree, but this crow had to choose my head. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Updates

Pirates of the Caribbean - Worlds end is a must watch for all those who did not miss the earlier movies. We watched it in our old style - bunked a working day and rushed to get the movie tickets after lunch. This part is an entertainer like the rest and ends with a blast ( or is this really the end ?!)

I have the sequel to Inkheart by Cornelia Funke in my kitty for the past one week but its impossible to read a book at home. I spend some 5 waking hours there, and there is always something or other going on. Even my plans of preparing for the interviews haven't been put in action yet. I also realized that TV doesn't interest me anymore.

Another bus story

Maybe I should rename this blog as Chronicles of my bus journey :-D
Today, a nice old lady was sitting next to me. She asked me about my education and went on to say thats a good thing, one should stand on their feet, and a life partner should be just that - partner in life, we shouldn't depend on him, kaalam maari pochi (days have changed), we should do as well as he does. She said all this with a passion.
These ideas are very common now, but it felt good to hear them from a veteran who has lived and learned.

My chance to say get well soon :-D

Two hours of travel in the peak hours is definitely painful but it has its moments of humour also. At least I manage to enjoy myself. :-D
It often happens to me in the bus that just when I get a seat, either an old lady or a pregnant woman comes and stands near me. Courtesy demands that I sacrifice my seat, but it does annoy me no end.
So yesterday this fat lady in a crisp starched cotton sari gets in and asks me to give up my seat. I try to hedge as she looked very fit to me. She insisted, even refused to share my seat, so finally I gave up. thinking maybe she does need to sit ( Unfortunately I am easily bullied). This lady turned out to be attending a party in some hotel. She even once asked me not to crush her sari (!!).
Anyway I said "Get well soon" to her before I got down :-D
(Well I didn't want to risk her pitaai so chose the last moment before I escaped :-D Mom says I will get beaten up for my cheekiness some day soon :-D )

Ta ra rum pum and hum

Hi all ( at least the ones who still read this blog :-D I too have been a bit slack in putting up new stuff here. Somehow for the past few days blogging was not the fun it used to be. I realised that it has been about I-me-myself in the past many posts and I took a break. Its not as if it has changed but then still, here I am).

Watched Ta ra rum pum a couple of weeks back. Recently, we have seen many low budget movies with not so famous actors albeit with refreshing stories. Sweet, amusing, astonishing, thought-provoking - many varieties of them. Ta ra rum pum jarred on the senses in comparison. Agreed Rani, Saif are established actors but Im sure even they did not know who their target audiences were. Muddled and directionless. Thats what it was. (Spoiler) Saif is a tire changer who meets Rani and falls in love. He also has a penchant for driving fast that lands him into car racing. He gets rich and also spends more than what he earns. (Bit like me. I never go in for instalments but I spend a lot :-D bad habit) has two cute kids and an awesome glass house, He has an accident and his car racing suffers. He loses all his assets and is now poor, this is where it gets more annoying. A blatant copy from Life is beautiful, they pretend to the kids that its all a reality show and they have to win the game. The poverty gets so worse that Saif and Rani miss their meals to save money!! Then after a series of events, Saif emerges victorious/richer and wiser.
Now to talk about the target audience, they were confused whether its the NRIs or the desis, or the kids, or the resident Indians. I loved the car racing sections. I would like to know this, Did Schumacher also win by hitting his opponents, Never watched F1 races before this.
My friends said at the end, that we spent some 100 bucks per head for the movie only to learn that one should never spend in excess and should value money :-D
****
I changed my status from a hostelite to a day scholar last week. I have been eating well, sleeping well, and traveling a lot - 2hrs per day. Mom is trying to rid me of the hostel habits. For starters, Im not regular about eating, I sleep at any vacant place, I dont use the regular things like towels, tumblers, pillows and etc etc. 7 years of hostel living ought to make a mark :-D
If things work out I might be visiting Italy in July. Im already dreaming about Venice :-D Only if things work out :-D

Flight at your doorstep

Ha ha this is interesting! Check out the story

Whats in a name

I saw Orhan Pamuk's My name is red in the library and wanted to read it. I am curious about his book as I have heard much about him here and there. I admit that the work of Nobel laureates has ever been beyond my understanding.

Dont you think Orhan has a nice sound to it! Few months back I met a sweet Turkish lady with twinkling greyish blue eyes, whose husband's name was Orhan and she pronounced it very musically (OrHAAN). Maybe her affection to him also added to the charm.

A name defines the identity of a person, and so is a very important thing to that person. Names have character too.
And when someone doesnt even take the time to pronounce it right or spell it right, even when they know the person quite well, it is not right. At least I get very annoyed. You are not my friend until you know how I spell my name and how I expect you to pronounce it.

Some people have very beautiful names, many a times influenced by the local culture. For instance, what is Maitri or Maitreyi in other languages is Moitri in Bongland, sanjay is Shonjoy, or Kajal is Kajol.
He he sometimes the local language screws up the name too. Eg. in Tamil (Tamizh), maha is not accepted. So Mahalakshmi is Magalakshmi. This is a Tamilian enough name so it sounds nice. But when Zahera (ZAAhayRaa) changes to Jageera or Jagara, I draw the line :-D

As an aside, I realised that lately I have been giving very corny titles to my posts - Moving Movies, Post Mortem, Castles in the air! and whats in a name :-D Kya karen mamu, bheja chutti pe gayela hai and waise bhi creativity thodi apun k reach k baahar hai :-D

Anyway, another fantasy series I discovered is Septimus Heap by Angie Sage. The first part is called Magyk, and next one lined up is Flyte. It is an interesting read. Good timepass.

Moving movies!

I finally got to see Jillunu Oru Kaadhal in OAT. Rather suffered through it. Everything was in excess. Lots of editing would have made it watchable. Our feelings alternated between Yewww ugh and gaawwd. This is the story- Surya marries Jyothika and lives happily, Jyothika one day finds out about Surya's 1st love Bhoomika and since J loves S so much, she brings B back for him. B and S spend one whole day together, roaming shopping, boozing, dancing, screaming, dining and just when they reach the bed, J wakes up from her dream. Come on!! Major lesson if you ever plan to make a film - never make anybody dream a full 24 hour day! It grates on the nerves. Only Ekta Kapoor has the exclusive rights to such insanities.
What a waste of good Rehman music!

In my opinion, even Guru was not that great. Maybe we have seen many such rags to riches stories on screen. Moreover, there was an artificial look about it, as if it was meant to impress. A collection of punchlines.

Few days back, Departed was screened in OAT. For an Oscar winner, I didn't find it impressive. We came out with the feeling that if the actor (Leo) had watched Hindi movies, he would have been aware of the traps laid out for him :-D Or maybe if we had paid attention to the dialogues in between the f***s, we would have liked it. Do dark, gloomy backdrops and abusive language guarantee an Oscar?

I missed watching Blood Diamond in OAT. Everyone tells me it was good. There is this genre of movies recently that highlight certain issues and still do not make one feel miserable. I mean without being pathetically depressing, they tell the facts in a detached, documentary-style manner like Motorcycle diaries or Constant Gardner. Maybe it is not a recent thing, just that I noticed them recently.

A friend suggested "12 angry men" as a good movie. Looking out for it. Apparently, it is about focussing on an idea rather than the emotions around it. There is a word for it which eludes me now - ad something

Castles in the air

Chennai got to see a spectacular air show on the 22nd of April on the Marina Beach. More details and colourful pictures can be found here and here.
Since we live quite close to the beach, we got to see the Jaguars and SuryaKirans flying above our terrace at close quarters :-D Too late, we decided to go to the beach and see the show. Thats when we realised that a very huge crowd had turned up to watch the air show.
We got to see the Akash Ganga team (paratroopers) landing from a distance. Unfortunately, that was the tail end of the show. We did get to experience the huge crowd. It was a hassle getting back home.
But a memorable show :-) If watching the aircrafts is this thrilling, how would flying them feel like!!

I submitted my thesis last week and have been hibernating since then.
I watched a lot of nice sweet movies like Honeymoon Travels, Just married, Mistress of Spices, Jo jeeta wahi sikander. Pl suggest some more nice sweet movies that I can watch.

Movies are a good escape from the real world. I am very close to abandoning my hazaaron khwahishein :-)

Post-mortem! :-D

Hurray my thesis will be submitted in a week, though its 2 months behind schedule. I no longer know why it was so delayed, even when the first draft was ready in Jan. I admit its more polished, but the content is not different from what it was then. Maybe it suffered the same fate that my PhD did. In the quest for a "good solid" thesis, it took me 5 years to complete. Now I don't know what to do with this "good solid thesis". I think I hate it. Maybe I'll appreciate it after a couple of years. Not now.
We friends were thinking that we did crib a lot these 5 years but we enjoyed these days too :-) I have seen many people who are passionate about their work. We were never so. So we found easy outlets when something didn't work like impromptu visits to the theaters, a few fun trips, trying out different cuisines, lots of books and innumerable movies.
Now that everyone is settling down, I still am clueless about what to do next. Sort of waiting for the thunderbolt :-)
Sometime, maybe I'll jot down a few of the crazy things we did. A diary of sorts to say been there, done that.
Till then. have a lovely day :-)

A fwd

I have CtrlC-CtrlVed this forward. Hilarious :-)
"
After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form called a gripe sheet, which conveys to the mechanics problems encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction. The engineers read and correct the problem, and then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken, and the pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by Qantas pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. Btw ... Qantas is the only major airline that has never had a major accident.
(P = the problem logged by the pilot
S = the solution and action taken by the engineers)

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.
P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.
P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.
P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.
P: Friction locks causes throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.
P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.
P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.
P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

:-D

Tere Bin- Rabbi Shergill

Have you heard this song by Rabbi? Its beautiful..
(Translation from Wiki)

tere bin / besides you

sanu sohnia / my love

koi hor nahio labhna / i shan't find another

jo dave / who'll give

ruh nu sakun / peace to my soul

chukke jo nakhra mera / and indulge me

ve main sare ghumm ke vekhia / i have gone and seen it all

amrika , roos, malaysia / america, russia, malaysiana

kittey vi koi fark si / there wasn't any difference

har kise di koi shart si / they all had some condition

koi mangda mera si sama / some asked for my time

koi hunda surat te fida / some were fascinated with my face

koi mangda meri si vafa / some demanded my fidelity

na koi mangda merian bala / none wanted my demons

tere bin / besides you

hor na kise / no one else

mangni merian bala / wanted my demons

tere bin / besides you

hor na kise / no one else

karni dhup vich chhan / shall shade me in the sun

jiven rukia / (the) way you paused

si tun zara / slightly

nahion bhulna / i shan't forget

main sari umar / all my life

jiven akhia si akhan chura / you said, looking away

"rovenga sanu yad kar" / "you shall weep in my memory"

hasia si main hasa ajeeb / i laughed a strange laugh

(par) tu nahi si hasia / but you didn't

dil vich tera jo raaz si / you had a secret in your heart

mainu tu kyon ni dasia / why didn't you tell me

tere bin / besides you

sanu eh raz / none shall tell this

kise hor nahion dasna / secret to me

tere bin / besides you

peerh da ilaaj / what druid

kis vaid kolon labhna / has the cure to my ills

milia si ajj mainu / i found today

tera ik patra / a note of yours

likhia si jis 'te / on which you had scribbeled

tun shayr varey shah da / a varis shah couplet

park ke si osnu / upon reading which

hanjnu ik duliya / a teardrop fell

akhan 'ch band si / what was locked in the eye

seh raaz ajj khulia / was revealed today

ki tere bin / that other than you

eh mere hanjnu / these tears of mine

kise hor / won't be kissed by

nahio chumna / none else

ki tere bin / that other than you

eh mere hanjhu / these tears of mine

mitti vich rulnha / will wither in the dust

Fiddler on the roof

I got these clips from the movie "Fiddler on the Roof" from a friend, and felt nostalgic on watching them. I had seen the movie a long long time ago and would love to see it again.

Matchmaker, matchmaker find me a match



Sunrise, sunset



If I were a rich man



To Life, Lechaim

Trichy Diary

I was in Trichy for the past two days. Let me start by saying that everything about this trip was unique for me. Ill start at the very beginning.
When I started, lots of tensions were up. My uncle fell ill, my parents were worried, I was worried that I should be able to get back in time if god forbid something happens, and my parents didn't know I was going to Trichy ( I just didn't have the energy to justify my visit and fight it out). So, I was very tense and keyed up.
My train starts from Egmore. I have never been to this station before, and I was charmed by the ambience. Chennai Central sees people from all over India, but Egmore mostly gets the TamilNadu passengers. So, this station gives a real feel of TN, you see mamis in the 9yards sarees and diamond nose studs, laced with easy smiles and soft words, then thathas in lungis. Even the train was nicely scented- sharp cinnamon - clove tinge in the air. This station is also much much more cleaner than Central.
I couldnt sleep all night as I was worried Ill miss the station. My train- Rockfort express, goes to Kumbakonam via Trichy. It starts at 1030pm from egmore and reaches Trichy at 515am. It turned out I need not have worried. By 430am, everyone was up and about. Lights were on and people were talking. I was feeling sorry for the Kumbakonam passengers. It turned out I need not have done that either. Apparently, a lot of people get down at Trichy. So, Trichy passengers are alloted separate coaches. At trichy, these coaches are detached from the rest of the train and the train proceeds to its destination. Efficient. No wonder Indian Railways is minting money. They use common sense.

I was put up in a hotel. I was sceptical about this as I have never stayed in a hotel before, but it was a good hotel - nice people and close to the station.

Trichy is a small city. Here, the general people are not overly friendly but they are not rude either. Chennai is rude. Also, in Trichy, everyone is curious about everyone else. Like I was asked by so many people if I had come to give examinations (I look younger than what I am, its a disadvantage also as sometimes Im not taken seriously, many students even asked if I am in my first year of PhD!)

The university I was visiting is some 17kms away from the station and is reached by taking a mofussil bus. One of my friends there, VM, picked me up on the first day. Beautiful countryside, though it predominantly has dry vegetation. Also smooth roads and frequent buses. I met very friendly people at the university and my my!! Their motivation levels have to be seen to be believed. Before lunch, I had discussed more physics/research than I had ever discussed in one whole week. My talk in the afternoon went well. I was asked to make it accessible to the Msc students as well. I tried but I dont think I succeeded. I got positive feedback from the graduate students.

Anyway, I came back to the hotel on my own. I enjoyed those bus journeys :-) I slept very early after an early dinner and woke up 12 hours later.

Next day, I went to the university by myself. I can read Tamil though I'm painfully slow at it. This helped me this time in reaching the university without mishaps.

After a few discussion sessions that day, I was invited for lunch to the girls' hostel mess. Now here I must compare it with our mess. They pay 20pd, we pay 43pd. They have to bring their own utensils,we dont have to. They even wash their plates, we dont even bother to clean the plates of the mess. Their food is served very hot and its very tasty and unlimited. Believe me. They even get unlimited ghee! Our food is supposed to be hot and tasty, but something happens to it.

In the afternoon, VM and her friend TM, took me around to show places around Trichy. We first headed to Srirangam. On our way there, they pointed out Prez APJK's alma mater. TM had even met the Prez once and has a photo with him. Quite an experience for her!! We parted ways with TM after a while.

VM took me to SriRanganathaswamy temple in Srirangam. Very impressive place. The entrance was very majestic and very tall. I think thats what is called the Rajagopuram. Like a fort, there were townships in and outside the entrances. It has three entrances and apparently totally 26 gopurams of all sizes. We could count only 16. It seems the fourth side also has some gopurams and that is allocated for the harijans (as told to us by a person working in that place). Many were also hidden by trees. The picture here shows the Rajagopuram (from wiki, I unfortunately did not take my camera on this trip :-( I did not think Ill actually go for sight-seeing).Beautiful architecture in stone from the days of the Cholas. Markets and houses surround this temple and so sitting there, one can almost imagine how the township looked like some 700 hundred years ago.
I also saw the temple elephant up close, sort of came upon it suddenly and jumped out of my skin :-D
After this, we travelled back towards the city and went to the Rockfort temple.
This is, as the name suggests, on a mountain. If I counted right, we climbed 330 steps to reach the top. We looked like the old man climbing the stairs in the Chawanprash advertisement :-D And I saw a guy who was climbing these steps on his knees with a ghee lamp in his hand!! No words at all.
The view from the top was beautiful. We could see Srirangam temple from here. Also we could see a very dry Cauvery bed from the top. It is waiting for either Karnataka to release waters or for the rains in July.
This wiki picture shows the river, I saw only the riverbed :-)

There were many temples inside the rock mountain too. In one place, I saw a carving with a pregnant woman in it and wondered what it could be for. Maybe this wiki entry answers it. I saw another temple elephant here which again took me by surprise.

We then came back to the city and after a tasty dinner, I headed back for Chennai.
India-Srilanka match was up. So everywhere I went, cricket was being closely followed. Even in the station, the platform was empty as everyone had gathered in the arrival lounge to watch the match on the TV. At one point, a loud cheer went up and the platform emptied some more. One guy came to the station just as the train arrived ( You see I like to be at the platform 1 hr before the train arrives!). And he calls up his home asks what the score is! :-D Today early morning, before we reached Egmore. the passengers were wondering what was the outcome. One guy even said that we must have lost and in case we win, the match must have been fixed. :-D
I took a bus from the station (at 515am!! wow I'm impressed by the bus service). Chennai looked beautiful that early in the morning. I love visiting new places but finally I belong to Chennai :-) Or maybe its just that I love returning home :-)
A memorable trip, one that will linger at the back of my mind for many days to come.
Chennai does not give a complete picture of Tamil Nadu. The real TamilNadu lives in these cities.
I was asked many times if I was a north-Indian, to which I said no I'm a Tamizhian :-)

I have a similar opportunity to visit Banaras via Delhi, but I guess Ill have to forego that. Im sure there will be stiff opposition at home and I dont want to do things chori chupe. Inspite of having worked hard for the major part of this trip, there has been a nagging feeling at the back of mind that my parents do not know about this, and I think they deserve this much honesty from me.
A pity. I would love to see Banaras too :-)

baazigar o baazigar

I was listening to songs from the 90's - baazigar main baazigar, chura ke dil mera, hum aapke hain kaun etc. These songs reminded me so much of my childhood days, leisure days spent in Delhi, Chennai etc. A pen sieve of the kind talked about in the Harry Potter series would have been useful.

I recently discovered spanish-guitar pieces. Fascinating! Do check them out.
I dont know how to share music on blogspot. I know there is a way of doing it, but just dont know how. Someone please enlighten me. I would love to put up few of my finds.

Really bad things happening in Bengal and worser things near Bihar. Its sad that some people's lives are of no value while a nobody's wedding is celebrated in media. Maybe this is what they call de-sensitisation. You either feed the public so much gore that they don't feel a thing when a village is massacred the next time or you feed them trivialities so that they don't stop to think whats relevant and what is not. The news did not bother me much. This is what I meant. Im also insensitive.

I'll get the chance to do a bit of Bharat bhraman in near future starting with Trichy next week. If things work out, Ill also visit Delhi sometime soon. I spent my formative teens there. Will be nice to see that city again :-)
For a girl who had the Chennai border as her boundary conditions, I seemed to have roamed around a lot - Kolkata (twice!), Bombay, Kharagpur, Ahmedabad. I havent seen Bangalore yet (hush hush), nor have I seen Ooty, Kodaikanal, Pondicherry which are the local tourist places. All in good time :-)

I have made n drafts of the chapters already. This will end someday soon. A little bit of patience is required but I seem to have exhausted my quota. A friend called this Hanuman's tail - very apt. Formal writing has corrupted my blog writing as well, blabbing doesn't have the free flow of the earlier days. And I end up being bad at both :-D

A couplet by me - Nosh farmaayiye :-D (pl say irshaad, koi to sune :-D)
kuch to alag ho, kuch to naya ho,
zindagi ka ek naya falsafaa bayaa ho

(Ill imagine the wah wahs :-D )

Hope

I watched Shawshank redemption again this weekend. V good movie.
Tag line : Hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing in the world, and no good thing ever dies.

Ill continue hoping :-)
Cheerio.

Heart in the right place

tic tac tic

I have a piggy bank in which I put the coins collected in a day. I have hoarded quite a treasure this way. It is well hidden as if my sis spots it, she will not fail to ask "kis traffic signal par chandaa ikhattha kiya"
Anyway so today, I absentmindedly put the coins in the wrong box. I realised immediately after I did this, and the first thing that came to my mind was Ctrl-Z. :-D

I wish I could Ctrl-Z some of my impulsive blunders in real life too :-D

Over head transmissions

In general, when we listen to a seminar in some advanced topic, at least the first five minutes of the talk or the first 3 slides are understandable. Attended a talk today in which even the first slide flew over my head. It IS a tough task making people understand what we have been using our grey cells for. There were some specialists in the audience. So naturally their questions and speaker's answers also flew over our head :-D
I tend to talk too fast in my talks. That is a major drawback as that also ensures that the listeners are not with you. I'm trying to work on it.

I tried another book by Valerio Manfredi called Oracle. Gripping but very sinister.
I got Chronicles of Avonlea by LM Montgomery as a present. A very sweet book.
Saw Crash finally. Good movie. I never faced racism and hope I never do.
I'm really cutting down on reading books now. I mean hereafter :-D
I saved the Joanne Harris book for reading after I finish my deadlines. Something to look forward to.
Have a rocking week :-)

Calvin and Susie

Your kind attention please.

Just a few posts back, I was talking about the book by Joanne Harris called Gentlemen and Players. Today, my friend gifted me that book as an advance birthday gift :-D So now you know what Ill be upto tonight! ;-)
Books are the best gift in my opinion. They dont wilt, stay forever, and sometimes its like sharing something that you liked with the other person :-)
Just in case if anyone is paying attention ( :-D ),

1. I would like to own a Longines watch like the one Kareena wears in some ad :-D
2. I would love to go on a world tour. I can also settle for an Europe trip, or an all India trip, or a Himalaya trek, or just some hill station or even St. Thomas Mount if you like.
   
3. I would love to have a home theatre system. Imagine - sparsely furnished room, a very comfortable plush diwan, snack of the moment ( I like and dislike snacks seasonally), and Lord of the Rings trilogy playing on the home theatre system.. Some other comparable fantasy will also be welcome. Or just full size Sharukh in DDLJ :-D
4. Lots and lots of books.
5. No worries just laughter and smiles all around.

6-1000on. Many more wishes but then Ill try fulfilling them myself :-D
1000on+1. Oh how can I miss World peace :-D

The motorcycle diaries

Watched a good movie called The motorcycle diaries. It is about the Cuban leader Che Guevara.
When he was studying for medicine, he took a break and went around Latin America on a motorcycle with his friend, Alberto Granado. They had lots of fun and adventure in this trip. In a way, this trip influenced him too. This movie is based on a diary he maintained during this trip.
Alberto Granado is still alive.

On watching this movie or The Constant Gardner, I felt that I am very lucky that I dont live in those places. I have every comfort I want yet I crib so much!! :-D Lesson learnt and hope I remember.

Chennai sangamam

A week long festival in Chennai called Chennai Sangamam starts from today. Apparently "over 400 cultural performances would be held in 60 schools, 20 colleges, public parks, malls, corporate offices and on streets without any entry fee"
This is a great idea as no entry fee ensures that every one will be able to enjoy the festivities. Some carnival spirit in Chennai in the next 6 days.
Well my only crib is that the participants have been practicing in our backyard and they continued their practice until 1.30 in the night yesterday with the loudspeakers ON. Beyond a point, music is more noise than pleasure. Awful. They could have stopped the din at a decent hour. 11 or 12 is what I would call decent.

Trackback on Kalash people

I had talked about the Kalash people in Pakistan, who are apparently the descendants of Alexander's army, many posts back. Shara, who hails from this valley, has posted a comment with a link to gorgeous pictures of his people and his place. Do check them out. (I was excited to get a feedback in this form :-D ) Thanks shara..

There are so many places in the world I'm dying to see.
The book Thief Lord is set in Venice, and the description made me want to visit that place. Thats one of the many drawbacks of nurturing hazaaron khwahishein.. Only a few of these are meant to be realised :-)

Potli mein hari bhari pariyon ke par

Well I was seriously working, and then I just glanced around, spotted Thief Lord lying nearby, felt I deserved a break, and then went on to finish reading the book in one continuous sitting. If only I worked with this fervour! The book is adorable.
Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke is the story of two brothers Prosper and Bo, who being recently orphaned, have run away from their aunt who wants to separate them. They arrive at Venice and join a bunch of kids who are likewise orphans and run-aways and live off by stealing. Actually their group leader Scipio steals and these kids just sell the stolen goods and live off the money. They are doing quite well and live a joyful contented life until a detective on the lookout for the two brothers gets to them. Its a lovely story with surprising twists. It must be very difficult to write books for kids as their attention span is much much shorter.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a cute romantic story set in the French revolution days. More Barbara Cartlandish.
Up next is Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I have heard a lot about this book. I hope its interesting.
Saw Joanne Harris' Five quarters of an orange in the library and yearned to read her latest books Gentleman Players and the Lollipop Shoes. Last time I checked, Gentleman Players costs some 600 bucks. No way.
Please suggest some book which is interesting without being depressing and very intellectual. Fantasy, Adventure, Humour, Romance, something.
Buonanotte (Good night in Italian) :-D

On Valentines!

I will wake up soon.. 5 minutes pl

Hi all :-)
I have been quite lethargic after the marathon sessions and had almost zero interest in almost everything. So much that my colleague says I have transformed into a guest physicist!! Ok well I stopped short of telling him that I have been that for the past 3 years or so. Outcome: I have a deadline for submitting a paper tomorrow and I have not yet started working on it. Im praying for miracles. He he thankfully I still believe in miracles.
I saw this nice movie called Tum Bin. psst psst Priyanshu's eyes were nicer. I generally fall for nice eyes and sweet smiles. Anyway the song of the moment is
Koi fariyaad tere dil mein dabi ho jaise
toone aankhon se koi baat kahi ho jaise

har mulaqaat pe mehsoos yahi hota hai
mujhse kuch teri nazar pooch rahi ho jaise

raah chalte huye ye gumaan hota hai
wo nazar chup ke mujhe dekh rahi ho jaise

Women gossip. Men gossip harder.
And I totally detest men who gossip maliciously (if you get what I mean). Had an encounter of this kind recently with a couple of them and ughh I find it hard to respect them now.

Saturday qualifies as a weekend. Yes thats not the accepted norm for a graduate student. But a weekend for me means the liberty to work as I wish and spend time as I wish. Many a times I have ended up taking a day off on Saturday and working on Sundays. So I really hate it when people assign tasks on weekends. Atleast courtesy demands that they let me know well in advance so that I reschedule my plans.

Indibloggies nominations are up. I was excited to find some blogs there that I track quite sincerely. I ended up adding some more to my stuffiread list too.

A lot of debate goes on about India shining and not shining. Another aspect of this debate is the youth of this country. We have achievers and then we have the roadside eve-teasing romeos cum college students. Arent those the ones who later end up being unemployed! Why cant they learn from their seniors' plights. Its a darned nuisance when they sing and create a ruckus in the buses. Its definitely not cool.

I think Ill work from tomorrow.
Have a good productive week ahead :-)

How rich?

In my thesis work, I talk about a rich phase diagram that we obtain. My friend today asked me how rich is the phase diagram really? :-D
I think its very very rich as I have spent 5 best years of my life studying it. I could have done so many things instead and reduced the count on the khwaahishein list. So its priceless isnt it! And what price! My confusions have increased manifold at the end of it. Two conflicting ideas in these couplets

Tadbeer ke dast-e-zareen se taqdeer numaayan hoti hai
Qudrat bhi madad farmaati hai jab koshish-e-insaan hoti hai
------
Haathon ki chand lakeeron ka
ye khel hai sab taqdeeron ka :-)

but I guess the order in which they should be remembered matters.

Yahooo Ill be done with my thesis talks tomorrow. One more month of toil and Ill be out.

Of late I have been getting negative feedback from my blabspot. I wish I could put a for-friends-alone firewall on this blog. Im sure there must be something.

Books in my kitty (lots actually :-D )

1. Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
2. Sherlock Holmes ( This edition has illustrations too, I have never read a Sherlock Holmes before so this is my introduction to the legend)
3. St Claire by Enid Blyton ( I still love them :-D )
4. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy (Im told that this story is heartwrenchingly romantic. I have saved this for tomorrow night :-D )
5. Some book by Valerio Manfredi (Last Legion author- LL had a gripping narrative so hoping for something similar in this too)
   
6. A couple of M&Bs (nothing more refreshing!! One can switch off the brains and enjoy them. )

Snippets

• The whole of Chennai is teeming with mosquitoes. These dheet mossies are resistant to Allouts too. So a tough time with them.
  
• Big Brother made top news for a few days and died down. Much was said about Shilpa being a B-grade actress, Goody being the uneducated and her educational trip to India. Hope she doesnt end up hating India in the process. A bit of gandhigiri will do the job here I guess. But then wasnt too much importance given to a publicity stunt! Im sure an average Indian settled abroad faces much worser slurs. Thats why I believe India is for Indians. We are immigrants elsewhere. Lets start respecting our own people first. Respect from others will follow.
  
• My number is registered with KBC :-D Im waiting for the computerji to select my number and Sharukh here I come :-D My friends say even if I reach the hot seat, Ill be tongue tied there as Ill be busy drooling non-stop at him. Nazron mein bhar loon main thoda :-D
  
• I hope my prince charming better hurries up or he will really miss me :-(
  

Inkheart

While reading a book, have you ever wanted to enter that world of make-believe? Or have you ever felt an aura around you of the fantasy world created by the book ?
Something like this happens in the fantasy Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. In this book, characters from a book come alive in this world. It is a very interesting read if you love fantasies. I found it un-putdownable and was sad later that it got over. But to my delight, I discovered that this is part of a trilogy. Second part is called Inkspell and the last one is not yet released. Im waiting to read the 2nd one. My birthday is coming closer and if you know when it is, you know what to do ;-)

Cornelia Funke is a german writer and the books we read are translations of her work. The other book I read is called Dragon Rider. Very interesting again. Her Thief Lord is the best-seller Im told. Yet to read that.
Have a nice weekend :-)

Salaam-e-Ishq

Salaam-e-Ishq was screened in OAT as part of a fund-raiser and I absolutely loved it :-D Inspite of being abrupt in parts, this was a total timepass. Ill say that I wouldnt have enjoyed this movie elsewhere but OAT has the best ambience possible for almost any movie. The clear sky, bright stars, full moon, and an audience which was there to enjoy itself added up to make this movie memorable for me :-D

John and Vidya Balan really look cute together, their part was also very beautiful. John's proposal to Vidya in the movie was very beautiful according to me. He says "lets create a lifetime of memories" :-)

Govinda was awesome!! I never enjoyed his comedy roles before this movie. Salman-Priyanka and Anil-Juhi part dragged a bit. Im a fan of Akshaye since his Humraaz days. His comedy tracks rock.
This movie represented Hindi movies on a big scale :-D Like the scene where Govinda stops a wedding with the typical Ruko ye shaadi nahi ho sakti :-D or when the wedding resumes, another guy enters and says ruko ye.. They could laugh at their own film making style - at all that we love in the movies.
Movie was looong. A full three and a half hours! But I enjoyed every minute of it :-D
I must warn you that you shouldnt go by my review as among all my friends I was the only one who enjoyed it :-D Go prepared for entertainment and you ll get it.

Im waiting for the day when Ill really laugh without something nagging at the back of my mind. These days nothing I do is with full enjoyment. I forgot my troubles for 3.5 hours and had a blast. So yes I loved Salaam-e-Ishq :-)

When the woods rocked

Saarang this year arrived with larger sponsorships and greater noise. I used to look forward to Saarangs earlier but there is only these many Ss one can take.

The only concert I attended was the one by Global Rhythms. It was amazing to see a group of Americans performing Indian raagas. Apparently they spent 3 months learning them. And in the gallery, we had the "youth" - the future of India, booing them. But as soon as they started shakalaka baby, everyone was on their feet. Call it shallowness or call it apathy.
They also played an Italian waltz on the saxophone which sounded very much like Edelweiss in The Sound of Music. I wish they had played more of such compositions as we dont get to hear folk music from elsewhere. For that matter, though Indian folk is used time and again in filmmusic, we seldom recognise it until we are told its folk. GR's show was mainly a tribute to India which fell flat on these young Indians.

Surprisingly, I liked the rock show. This was by Junkyard Groove (loved the guitars) and Merzhin who played celtic rock. Maybe my liking them also had to do with me not being inside the OAT and hence modulated noise levels :-D Anyway got to hear good music for free. :-D

This year I felt that Rehman was the theme of the show. Uff the number of times I heard Chaiyya chaiyya!! And please whats with the long hair and dirty beard?? It looks so yewww and its called fashion!

Every year around this time, we see the hep crowd roaming around the campus. Whats left behind them is a pile of waste on the once-green campus, food stench etc. It takes some time for this ecosystem to recover from the massive attack. Masti is fine but a little responsibility on everyone's side would make it a great fest.

(I discovered yesterday that I lost a year Phoebe style :-D Why god why!! :-D )

This was supposed to be my last Saarang. Hey Im giving my synopsis talks on 6th, 7th and 8th. Wish me luck :-)

Happy Republic Day

Happy Republic day :)

Its a long time since I have seen the republic day parade. Next year god-willing :)

Khumar Barabankvi

I seem to be developing a taste for Khumar Barabankvi's ghazals.. A few of them on Aligarians.com.. Simple words yet intense ..
By the way in vo jo aaye.. , did you notice the beautiful ladies? Some people are so gorgeous!!

Avalanche of Weddings!

Three of my friends are getting married on 28th of this month and one more close friend is getting married on the 29th.. Great news except that I wont be able to attend even one of them :-( Even the one thats right here in Chennai :-(

Btw, Is it something to do with muhurats? Please enlighten me.. Someone told me about this incident that because of some muhurat, an apartment block had 4 weddings on the same day and this guest wandered into the wrong wedding, gave his gift to the bride and groom and while eating his dinner, he realised he hasnt seen a single familar face yet. By then it was too late :-D


He he sabki baraaten aayi........

The nth draft !

Something something

Hello Im back after a long hiatus.
This new year started with gory killings (kids for godsakes!!) and a shameful hanging. Yes Saddam was a dictator and a murderer but the way his death was publicised just like the n# of reality shows around, was disgraceful. Noida killings is a horror saga thats still on, as bits and pieces of innocent kids are still being unearthed (or rather fished out). Gives one the shivers. Im sure an execution in this case is too fast and too easy a death for the fiends. They deserve something worser.

Back to me, I was off for a Kolkata trip, a nice and memorable trip actually. Had fun and did some work too. Met old friends and made new friends. You know research may be monotonous, mundane stuff but it sure has its benefits. There is some amount of prestige involved in being called a scientist or a physicist. And then I love learning new things and Ill hate to miss all this just because I have to follow conventions. Oh I hate it all... sighhhhh

Movies watched meanwhile: Kabul Express (it rocks, good cinema); Umrao Jaan (Agreed Ash looked gorgeous but I had to ffwd much of it, didn't everyone (except a few) sound artificial speaking Urdu, come on its not tough!! Its called a meethi zubaan and certainly should be an effortless task for a multicrore movie); Maine pyar kyun kiya ( Timepass); Baabul (Sob sob); Something something (Tam movie which was something something)

And oh yet again - When will I get out of this infernal place!!! and which other infernal place am I heading to!!! And oh cant I just ffwd my life!!!
So much for a new year arriving with a bang :-(

PS: IM NOT TB. TB is someone else. IM JUST T who is actually called something else.