Once upon a time....

With due credit to.... http://asma.eomag.com/category/lifes-funny/ whom I stumbled upon for some GRE entertainment :P

A NORMAL PERSON : People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
GRE STUDENT : Individuals who make their abodes in vitreous edifices would be advised to refrain from catapulting perilous projectiles.

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NORMAL PERSON : Twinkle, twinkle, little star
GRE STUDENT : Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minim.

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NORMAL PERSON : All that glitters is not gold.
GRE STUDENT: All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.

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NORMAL PERSON : Beggars are not choosers
GRE STUDENT : Sorting on the part of mendicants must be interdicted.

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NORMAL PERSON : Dead men tell no tales
GRE STUDENT : Male cadavers are incapable of rendering any testimony.

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NORMAL PERSON : Beginner’s luck
GRE STUDENT : Neophyte’s serendipity.

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NORMAL PERSON : A rolling stone gathers no moss
GRE STUDENT : A revolving lithic conglomerate accumulates no congeries of small, green, biophytic plant.

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NORMAL PERSON : Birds of a feather flock together
GRE STUDENT: Members of an avian species of identical plumage tend to congregate.

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NORMAL PERSON : Beauty is only skin deep
GRE STUDENT : Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity.

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NORMAL PERSON : Cleanliness is godliness
GRE STUDENT : Freedom from incrustations of grime is contiguous to rectitude.

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NORMAL PERSON : There’s no use crying over spilt milk
GRE STUDENT : It is fruitless to become lachrymose of precipitately departed lactile fluid.

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NORMAL PERSON : You can’t try to teach an old dog new tricks
GRE STUDENT : It is fruitless to attempt to indoctrinate a superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.

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NORMAL PERSON : Look before you leap
GRE STUDENT : Surveillance should precede saltation.

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NORMAL PERSON : He who laughs last, laughs best
GRE STUDENT : The person presenting the ultimate cachinnation possesses thereby the optimal cachinnation.

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NORMAL PERSON : All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
GRE STUDENT : Exclusive dedication to necessitous chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders Jack a hebetudinous fellow.

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NORMAL PERSON : Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!
GRE STUDENT : Where there are visible vapours having their provenance in ignited carbonaceous materials, there is conflagration.

My co-op assignment culminated last friday and I finally bid adios to all my co-workers and the cat-house for good. I was in a state of baffled ambivalence- torn between the grief of not seeing those friendly co-workers regularly and the excitement of finally graduating and entering into a new phase of life. I was amazed at the comments and compliments I received over my last week of work; I could not bring myself to believe that my colleagues had actually confessed to me that they found me so transparently pristine and morally strong! On a funny note though, one Mr. Patel who happens to be from the same district in Gujarat as me sent me the following email:

"You are a good girl, so here are some tips that may help you for your bright future.

1.Work hard.
2.Be honest.
3.Learn new things.
4.Take more responsibility.
5.Never get married until you are 100 % sure with your partner. Trust your partner.
6.Manage/control your weight.
7.Nothing is too late to do something new in the life. Never say “It is too late”.
8.Think everyday is new day of the life. Keep your mind fresh.
9.Never say “I am old now”. Be active. Be open minded, and talk with others.
10.Have a good night sleep. Never sleep with sleep with family issue. Trust god.

I wish you all the best for your school and bright future.
God bless you…."

I did not know how to react to this one either - laugh it off because I already knew all the above, or respect the advice because it was given by an elderly person. My ultimate reaction was an amalgamation of these two ambivalent feelings.

Anyway, work is done, and so is everything else except for some formalities for the 'co-op of the year' award that my supervisor nominated me for. Ok well, back to GRE marathons for now; I will get the paperwork done later.

Never did I imagine even in my wildest dreams that I would be inundated by such self-created eccentricities and outlandish incidents! These past few weeks have seen me go from morose in worries to exhilarated in ebullience, and from debilitating in mettle to glowing with ambitions. It has been a roller-coaster ride that I have thoroughly lived and remembered. Despite of everything, I feel bubblier; more effervescent than ever and satiated with optimism! And as you can tell, the GRE study is on, albeit not as efficiently as I would like it to be, but also not bad enough for anyone to disparage.

And lastly, I am beaming with joy for coercing myself into watching 'Chak De India'! I loved the fact that YRF were thoughtful enough to represent the eastern states of Mizoram and Manipur. No wonder the populace of those states have lacked patriotism so far! We have ostracized them for being Chinese or Nepalis indeed!! And SRK has perfected the role of 'the' coach - he is middle-aged, charismatic and diligent- qualities felicitous for an experienced captain who was extradited for seven years! Despite of all the current ardor surrounding the film, I wonder if it will have any impact beyond an ephemeral celebration as witnessed by other reformatory films such as Rang De Basanti and Lage Raho Munnabhai?

I finally registered to take the GRE on 24th of Sept, right before school starts! Wish me luck and let me know if you have any suitable practice tests.

Alright, here is a GRE question for you. I answered it incorrectly but I do not understand the thought process behind the given answer choice. So leave me your answers if you will so that I can justify my opinions::

Recent advances in research methodologies in neuroscience have created excitement in academic circles and have __________ greater interest in funding new research projects in the field.

a) stymied
b) intensified
c) magnified
d) engendered
e) multiplied

So? What's your choice?

Have you ever been swamped by offers so wrong that you wonder what you have been doing to attract them? I have! I used to be nice and easy-going with people who I suspected to be jerks just to give them, you know, the benefit of doubt in case I was mis-interpreting them. But not anymore. I have stopped being super-nice because I do not have the time or energy to deal with the actions of berserk people. Sure I feel guilty for being so rude and cocky to someone, but my antipathy overrides my guilt a lot of the times. And yet, despite of all my efforts to beguile and shove away these irritating individuals, these annoying characters (who are probably devoid of self-respect I wonder) try to strike a punning, perversive conversation with me! What did I do to deserve this I ask? Being affable isn't a coveted virtue for me anymore...

Holy cow! there are so many international Indians in all the masters programs that I have been applying to that it scares the crap out of me to have to compete with these guys for getting admission. And even if admitted, I would love being around Indians, but a part of me is also scared that I will not get an all-rounded cultural experience if I am surrounded by desis all the time.

I do not know what this says about me :-P

Before I get comments saying that I need to update my blog :P, here is what has been going on in life lately:

1. Chasing deadlines at work to meet an important milestone. Work-week is therefore stressful these days, but I enjoy doing it since each piece of work is a new challenge that needs to be tested and corrected for.

2. Going for a walk/jog in the evening. I usually escape to the downtown area which is very cute with shiny buildings with old-school architecture; it feels like you are walking in a town from 80's. :)

3. The walk/jog always ends at the library, where I spent an hour or two ruffling through the pages of different GRE books, trying to solve exercises and cramming vocabulary. Honestly, I am too tired to retain more than half of the words that I read. Afterall, there is a myriad of words that need to be fit in my coconut-sized skull, but I shall write a more interesting entry on my GRE study experience next :P....

4. Weekends are usually spent at home - helping mom with groceries, general cleaning around the house, laundry :P, finishing chores, playing tennis, working-out in the gym, catching up with new developments in the family (which there always are, given how big both my parents' families are!), relaxing and watching Indian song videos on TV.

5. Now I am also in charge of finding a place to visit over the Labor Day weekend. I do not want to go to a beach (have been to too many in this area), and the selected place has to be within 5 hours of driving distance from Chicago. So, any ideas? So far I have only come up with Rock Island in WI, which is an island without any luxuries (not even cars and bikes are allowed, so you have to walk where-ever you need to go, and cook using firewood :D), but all the tents have been booked already for that weekend :( ... Let me know if you have any suggestions for places that would match the above description !! :)

6. Went to Six Flags Great America yesterday for the co-op outing from work!! It was amazing!! My boss ended up spending over $600 on the 8 of us. He brought us flash-passes so that we did not have to wait for hours in lines at any of the rides!! I liked Raging Bull the best and hated BATMAN ride the most. BATMAN ride gave me a neck-ache, and made me nauseous because it spins and loops around so fast that your head bangs from side to side or hangs loose downwards during the steep drops. Ahh... don't remind me! Its deja-vu all over again even though I am sitting in a perfectly still chair *yuck*

Alright, so with that I am going to wind up this entry and get ready to leave for home. Happy weekending to ya all! :)

aye mere vatan ke logon
zara aankh mein bhar lo paani
jo shaheed hue hain unki
zara yaad karo qurbaani

jab ghayal hua himaalay
khatre mein padi aazadi
jab tak thi saans lade vo
phir apni laash bichha di
sangeen pe dhar kar maatha
so gaye amar balidaani
jo shaheed...

jab desh mein thi diwali
vo khel rahe the holi
jab ham baithe the gharon mein
vo jhel rahe the goli
the dhanya javaan vo aapane
thi dhanya vo unaki javaani
jo shaheed ...

koi sikh koi jaat maraatha
koi gurakha koi madaraasi
sarahad pe maranevaala
har veer tha bhaaratavaasi
jo khoon gira parvat par
vo khoon tha hindustaani
jo shaheed...

thi khoon se lath-path kaaya
phir bhi bandook uthaake
das-das ko ek ne maara
phir gir gaye hosh ganva ke
jab ant-samay aaya to
kah gaye ke ab marate hain
khush rahana desh ke pyaaron
ab ham to safar karate hain
kya log the vo deewane
kya log the vo abhimaani
jo shaheed...

tum bhool na jaao unko
is liye kahi ye kahaani
jo shaheed...
jay hind jay hind ki sena -2
jay hind, jay hind, jay hind 

I just finished watching Life In a Metro, and I am pretty aggravated by what is being preached through the movie. Konkana Sen is taught to accept the fact that Irfan Khan can have the nastiest habits, but she should still be acceptive of them and learn to love him for his other qualities (which I did not even think existed- afterall, the man lied to her about not drinking, was ready to leave his wife on the day of his wedding and acted like a total villager).

Also, does Shilpa Shetty or Shiksha have to put up with her husband for the rest of her life, despite of how she was treated?! Do these men ever learn? Are they ever ashamed of themselves??

Well, I guess I was okay with Dharmendra pair and Sharman Joshi and Shiney Ahuja couples. But I really wonder if life in Indian metros is really like what they have shown in this movie? Are they really that needy and superficial???

The neighbor on my right is my friendly Post-It neighbor, but the one on the left is a little cold and unfriendly. My boss once described him as the most irrational person working in the Systems Validation department, which I found quite ironic since using logic and rationality to test the system and software are the foundations of his work. Anyways, we always hear him arguing on the phone with a new person each time, and he mutters under his breath as he fumes out after putting down the receiver. His favorite abuse word is not BS, but horse-s***, and his usage of that word cracks up my Post-It neighbor. This validation guy also seems to have a loud, feigned laugh that sounds like a grand-father laughing at his silly little idiotic grand-children. (I am not doing justice to his laughter; do you remember Amrish Puri (Mogambo)'s laugh in the movie 'Mr. India'? yeahhh, thats how he sounds!!)


Next down the aisle in the direction of this disgruntled neighbor of mine is the cube of my ex-boss. She is currently part-time, but there has never been a time when people are not excited to have her around! An alumni from my university, she is very perky, inevitably smart, an extrovert and a party-lover. I think I enjoy working with her more than anybody else, and am glad that I have had that opportunity this whole term! Did I mention that she is very generous and has often treated us college students to delicious delicacies?! :)


Across from my ex-boss is my current boss. A young guy with a good personality and pleasant nature. But he has too many responsibilities on hand and thus, cannot fulfill the mentoring needs of five amateur minds. He holds up well against the childish teasing by his seniors, whether it be for his unintentional charm of attracting girls or for wearing matching clothes (same-colored pants and T-shirts) or for taking numerous vacations to Vegas. But he is pretty nice as a boss, and has promised the co-ops an outing of our choice, all on the corporate credit card... classy na? :)

.... I need to close my post here and call it a day. But watch out for *maybe* yet another sequel about my other work-related acquaintaces. So long, then! :D

check out the articles on this page: http://www.desijournal.com/articlelist.asp

My fav was: http://www.desijournal.com/article.asp?articleid=306 out of the few articles that I read.

Current status: downloading songs and gathering matinee masala for my radio show this sunday. Listen to me live at www.wnur.org on Sunday 4-7 pm Chicago time!

I shall be heading home tomorrow for the weekend, and my next post will not be until next week... Just wanted to share that with you :-P.. Have a lovely weekend!!

Being the ideal employee that I am, I decided to let you peek into my daily work-life. Not the technical side of my job ofcourse, since I do not want to get into trouble for violating company confidentiality (not like you would be fond of the nitty-gritty of my engineering tasks anyways :-P). It has been almost a year working at this medical device company, and a lot has changed over time, but I have only enjoyed my experience here more and more with each passing quarter.

So where should I start from? Oh yes, with my cube-mate ofcourse!! When my division got sold-off to a private investment firm (TPG a.k.a Texas Pacific Group) early this year, the hiring managers went on a mad recruiting spree to maximize their employee per inch of office space ratio. And that is why I, like all other contractors and interns, am sharing my cube with a fellow worker. Some of the super-cubes have like four employees sharing the common walls of the cube. Not the most efficient way to work for sure, but a very coy way to chat and bond away with your colleagues. And so I get to share my socializing fervor with a blonde engineering co-op!! We get along quite well, and thankfully, she is not the typical blonde character! :D She is, a spoiled American kid though, and also a complete party animal! We share jokes and our frustrations on a daily basis, apart from the giggles aroused by chairs that seem to bump into each other every time one of us moves a little from our designated spot!

Let me move on to our neighbor on my right side. We have a special mode of communication, especially when we are distracting each other by talking loudly. We use post-its to notify each other of our grudges and opinions. Oh, we are friends and we are definitely on speaking terms with each other, but it just so happens that we find posting sticky notes on each other's cube walls to be a funny and effective mode of communication. In a typical week, we usually exchange about five post-its over the tall common wall that separates our cubes. :D

Man, I have so many other people and events at work that I could write about, but I will have to hold off until my next post to describe my work community and environment. I guess you will have to wait for Parts 2, 3 and maybe 10 of this post. Stay tuned! :D

I managed to impress myself for a very silly reason (not the first time I will be doing this, ofcourse!). I have seen more movies in the last month than I have seen in the entire year(2006)! Amazing, isn't it? Ok fine, I only saw like 3 movies in 2006 :-P. Forgive me for not being a movie buff *grin*

The following movies made it to my seen list.
1. Delhi Heights (first time I saw Neha Dhupia act, an alright movie)
2. Khosla Ka Ghosla (hilariously real!)
3. Partner (saw it in the theatre, some parts maybe entertaining, otherwise the story is greatly 'pakao')
4. Chandni Bar (depressing, but an eye-opener to the problems of prostitution in India!)
5. Kaho Na Pyaar Hai
6. Bheja Fry (stopped soon after I started)
7. Lagaan (for the second time)
8. Dil Se (only because my bro put it on)

.... and that's all I can remember to have watched in the last few weeks. But a pretty decent turn-around for an apathetic movie person like me.

Thanks to Shalin for the movie website www.videoduniya.com. Amazing quality films for free...! Ah, entertained, at last! :)

U.S. may be a melting pot for people of all ethnicities, but Indians stand out, even more so than the Chinese a lot of the times.

I read up a few articles today on the perception of the market towards immigrants, and India seemed to be at the back of every writer's head, especially when it came down to the professions of dot-coms and doctors.

At this point, I get the feeling that some Americans are spiteful towards Indians, for we seem to have the capability to work harder and act smarter. I read a few opinions complaining about how people from other countries returned to their homelands after several years, and take their capital with them so that America loses its money.

It does seem unfair to me that we gain from this wonderful economy and tolerant culture of America, but do nothing to really give back to the nation. Maybe Indians become entrepreneurs and create several jobs for this economy, or innovate amazing computer chips in the Silicon Valley, or go shopping for overly priced articles at the mall, but they might still want to consider celebrating July 4th with the same fervor as Aug 15th!

You might enjoy reading this: http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/11621/

This is insane! It is 12:40 am, I have to be at work by 7:30 am tomorrow and I cannot resist the urge to blog! I am actually exhausted after the long trip to and from Chicago - had numerous thoughts during this commute; those thoughts also included how I wanted to pen down (on my blog) what I felt and why.

Actually nevermind, my brain is giving out very inarticulate signals and the shutters of my eyes are ready to drop any moment now. Will continue this post some other time.....

I am so excited for next week - for some reasons that I cannot disclose over the public webspace!

But I will tell you this: Monday night I am going to Chicago for an informational session of Bain & Co. Consultants. That will be a nice change from the routine work-life, and also an opportunity to clear my questions about consulting!

Next weekend, we are also throwing my friend a surprise party somewhere in Chicago!

Work has been great so far! Things have been moving along at a good pace, and I keep getting attached to my co-workers more and more everyday! They are a bunch of talented, friendly and candid people. Just the type of company I have been seeking!! :-)

Oh, and my car is finally back from repairs. I spent 3K on the old thing - but its still my car and I love it!! Atleast it is newer looking, has nice interiors and a CD Player that works!!

Btw, I am downloading some songs because I am tired of my current song collection. What are your all-time favourite songs??

Lastly but very importantly, does anyone know how to scare these cats out of my room???

A Duke University survey found that immigrants in U.S. contribute substantially to the technological progress and development out here :
http://memp.pratt.duke.edu/news/?id=829

Ahh the uncertainty!! With just one more year of undergrad education left, I am feeling the crunch for time to prepare for my GREs, choose the right grad school program, fill and send out grad school applications, and update and send my resume to potential employers!

The feeling of ending up with an insecure future is intimidating! Better get back to researching schools and degrees....

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Also, I am going to stick up these witty sayings (which I found on web today) outside my cube the next time I go to work =D

Cubicle One-Liners

1. If you do a good job and work hard, you may get a job with a better company someday.

2. The light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off due to budget cuts.

3. Sure, you may not like working here, but we pay your rent.

4. Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings -- they did it by killing all those who opposed them.

5. A person who smiles in the face of adversity probably has a scapegoat.

6. If at first you don't succeed--try management.

7. Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether.

8. Never quit... until you have another job.

9. Hang in there: Retirement is only 30 years away!

10. Go the extra mile--It makes your boss look like an incompetent slacker.

11. Pride, commitment, teamwork--words we use to get you to work for free.

12. Work: It isn't just for sleeping anymore.

13. There are two kinds of people in life: people who like their jobs, and people who don't work here anymore.

I made the move! I am now a paying guest in a house with a single mother and her two daughters. I get a small wooden room, neatly furnished with a bed, closet, desk, a tall chest and a TV. Along with wireless internet and other utilities, I also get the privilege to live with two cats! I have never had any pets, nor am I a cat person, but I think I am learning to like them.

The family I live with is amicable, but not really friendly. The mother is a mid-wife who is usually not at home till late night, and the daughters have their own things to do, so I am usually by myself when at home. Luckily for me, I made an Indian friend while searching for a renter close to work. I wonder how depressing it would have been to not have anyone around in the evening! My newfound friend was quite desolate when he moved close to work eight months back. You begin to value good friends and good company even more once you pass through such phases in life.

I finished watching Jhoom Barabar Jhoom online, and I can't believe that I watched the entire thing! This movie is even worse than Bunty aur Babli. What is Yash Raj production upto?????

The first half of the movie is a whacky dream, with unnecessary kissing scenes and senseless stories. The second half is just as bad with AB Jr.and Preity trying to cover up their lies. Choreography and the film plot were both below my expectations. The presence of AB Sr. is pretty much useless.

Also, I would like to comment about the increasing interest of Bollywood producers to imitate western concepts of romance. Salaam Namaste, Namaste London, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, JBJ, and several other new movies have been targeted towards NRI audience, and in the process, they also pique the curiosity of ignorant, indigenous people of India. People back home assume what they see on the screen to be the general culture of U.K. or U.S., and often feel peer-pressured to live upto the western culture and be all liberal. I have a problem with the showcasing of such pseudo-ubiquitous ideas by the media. They are not genuine or funny. They are, in fact, sick and a bad influence on the common classes of India. I would be very sad if India lost its culture a few years down in the road on its way to westernization.

What happened to making decent, modest, family-type films? Why can they not come up with better plots rather than retorting to showing skin and "love"? Hopefully, Munnabhai Chale America will not blow my hopes away unlike JBJ.

I do not know where to start. Feels like I have too much to tell, but not enough time to write it all out.

For starters, I started work(co-op) this week. I have decided to move away from home and closer to work. The commute time one way suddenly increased to 1 hour and 30 mins thanks to bunching up of traffic due to road construction, nice weather and low gas prices. I called quits from this necessity of riding the highways and wasting precious time in the car. The downside? I lose out on being with my family on weekdays, have to pay rent for the new place and worry about cooking. Oh, and the question of having a social life after work might go out the window, because I might be by myself after I get back from work....

Also, finally finished reading the John Grisham novel yesterday. It is titled 'King of Torts' and was a gift to my dad by one of his friends out here. It is a very captivating story of one attorney who goes from rags to riches thanks to the American law of suing others. I do not want to reveal much about the book, but I would recommend reading it if you can lay your hands on it.

I skipped work today to get my car fixed. The car issue has been bringing my spirits down - it is distressing to spend money and still not be able to see the results you want. I am afraid that I will lose this car and along with it the money that I paid for it. If this car becomes useless, I might have to lose even more time and money searching and buying another car to help me to get to work. And I will probably go broke at the end of this exercise. Although I am staunch believer of an underlying good behind all unfortunate events, I just don't see a light at the end of the tunnel here. My dad tried to cheer me up, but all in vain. His car might also be having some problems to be fixed. Moreover, I left my boss an awkward voicemail this morning which probably sounded like I was not interested in coming to work. Talk about having a domino effect after a mishap. talk about writing a dry blog.

I need someone/something to instill hope in me again... I am crossing my fingers for the meeting with the car dealer.

dammit! I hate the fact that yahoo advertisements have disfigured my html coded web-page and scattered the contents all over the place :( (if you want to see what I mean, check out http://in.geocities.com/trivedi_shreya)

Now I am in search of some other free web space host which can let me use me copy-paste my old html code without any trouble. I tried Google Webpages, but it is not easy to transport my html code into its pre-set Dreamweaver format .. sheeesh!!

And btw, this is just a mini-rambling, not really my next post :D

My life just took a 360 degree turn in the past week!

For the past three months, I was toiling to ace my classes, network with professors and classmates, maintain a good balance of acads and entertainment, get to know my friends better and explore fun activities.

But now, I have moved back home for summer break, and there is no need or motivation for doing any of the above mentioned activities. Instead, I have been sleeping for ten hours on a daily basis, watching hindi television, eating delicious gujarati food and listening to stories of family feuds. I am also catching up on the lives of my cousins and relatives, and 'patiently' listening to repeated bragging of their social or professional achievements.

But, more than anything else, what has begun to bug me is my parents secretly planning and getting prepared to find a match in the coming years. My mom was always against these kinds of conversations under the pretext that I was too young, and that it was too early to even talk about such matters, but now, all of a sudden, she seems to be laying out a time-line for finding someone. I was hoping that my dad would understand when I told him my life and career plans, but it definitely does not seem like I have been taken seriously!

Alright, I am going to end this post here, and hope that I have better things to talk about in the next one!

The Divorce Letter !

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

..............Robert Frost

Why is it that I have to miss my cousins' weddings in India? Why is it so difficult to make a trip back home? Why is is that what you wish for with all your heart, does not seem to work out? Why?

Nehaldidi, Megha and Tejasbhai are getting married in Jan-February of next year. I missed another cousin_s wedding around the same time last year. Weddings in India are so much fun!! The family gatherings, the practice of ancient customs and traditions, the fuss over getting ready and looking nice, the mad rush to have everything ready in time, the excitement of meeting new people from the other side, and the ability to enjoy despite of everything. I miss it, time and again, despite of scattered events of advising and scolding given by elders, and some trivial back-bitting and jealousy from few mean women. I have also not seen my old grand-parents in four years now, and *touch wood*, but I am terrified at the thought of never being able to see them again.

I can't go for their weddings, because I will be busy with the final quarter of school at that time. I have always been very close to these cousins, and will not have anyone else's marriage to look forward to after them. They cannot have them other than that time for legit reasons, and I cannot go to India for 3 weeks to attend each one of their ceremonies. I guess there is still plenty of time to figure out a way to attend these family events and make myself happy. And I also think that I should sleep now, since I am a wee-bit emotional and have no motivation to study!

Have a good one, people, and 'may the power of family be with you'! =D

I want to get back to writing, but words don't come to mind. I think I am pre-occupied with finals and projects right now. I can't believe that this quarter is going to end in a couple of weeks!! And with nice warm weather and BBQ season around, who would feel like sitting in the room blogging? :D

We are playing this game in the dorm called 'Assasins'. It is an awful lot of fun!!

here is what each player gets:

"You have a new assignment. Your task, should you choose to accept, is to find
and eliminate the target detailed below. This target should be considered extremely
dangerous and armed with all manner of weaponry (such as clean socks and plastic spoons)
and cunning. They are also working on an operation for a rival- should you complete your
mission, you must take on their mission and complete it so as not to arouse suspicion. Be aware-
you may not be safe. Should you die during this operation, please send a message back to base.
Once you have read this information, destroy it as appropriate to keep it confidential."

Also, the rules of the game require that the assassination cannot be seen by anyone else, so technically, you could use your friends as bodygaurds. But, I got killed on a second day by my predator in midst of our hustling cafeteria, where I had least expected to be assassinated without being seen. I also escorted one of the girls on my floor to her room to prevent her assassination, but found out later that she had not survived too long after I left her.

Here are some descriptions of the murder if you have the time to read them. They are extremely hilarious for me anyways :-P... (The name of my dorm is Sargent)

#1.
I am writing to report to you the untimely, tragic assassination of the late Jennifer Berman,
resident of Sargent Hall, Room 329. Jennifer was brutally murdered in a freak laundry drive-
by, however the identity of her assassin remains highly classified information at this time.
Though there were no witnesses to this tragic event, Jennifer's spirit has come back to report
the details of her passing. As Jennifer innocently walked down to the laundry room in
Sargent Hall to gather her freshly dried laundry, she thought to herself how greatful she was
that it was Friday, and how excited she was to find out who her target would be for the dorm-
sponsered game of assasins. Jennifer entered the laundry room humming to herself, thinking
what a great place this would be to catch her target. She turned to begin removing her
laundry from the machine, when a familiar voice called out her name. Jennifer leaped into
the air, as she had thought herself to be the only entity in the room. However, when she
caught her breath again, she turned to see a familiar face, and unsuspectedly began to make
friendly conversation. Jennifer continued to remove her laundry, until BAM!!!! she turned
once again to find herself face to face with her killer. She screamed for help, but it was all in
vain. The clean sock came like a bullet to her chest before she had the chance to save
herself. As she stood in utter shock, her assasin delivered the finals words that Jennifer was
to hear: "You are two hours late." It seems that her killer had stalked her doing laundry
earlier in the day, and had waited two hours at the crime scene for Jennifer to retrieve her
dry clothes. This tragic event serves as a lesson to all residents and guest residents of
Sargent Hall. Your dorm has been transformed from the safe haven that you once called
home to a battlefield, with assasins lurking every corner. Just remember...In the laundry
room, no one can hear you scream.....


#2. Flashing News::

Shreya Trivedi was found assasinated in Sargent dining hall this evening before having her last dinner. She was merrily picking up some fruits when she heard a friendly voice greet her and touch her back. As she turned around and smiled at her friend, he revealed the deadly sock that had touched and killed her. Shreya desperately looked around to find a witness who had seen the killer with his rolled-up sock, but in vain. It was a pity to be terminated in a crowded place like the dining hall, and she lived just long enough to pass on the name of her target.

This breaking news has been brought to you by S.S.A. (Sargent Secret Agents) to alert residents that they will be killed if they don't watch their backs.

P.S. The spirit of Shreya Trivedi will haunt the dorm and not be at peace until she gets justice. Keep the search on!!


#3.
S.S.A (Sargent Secret Agents) has breaking news!

It has come to their attention that the President of Sargent was assassinated on Friday evening.
The autopsy revealed he was stabbed in the abdomen with a very large knife, possibly a butcher
knife. The killer is still at large, though intel suggests he was kept alive long enough to reveal
his next target. President Taylor was 18 years and 17 days old. He will be missed. Stay vigilant.

#4.

I realized that I never got back to the story from the weekend when I got to fly thanks to my brother's interest in aviation. So here it is, with a few interesting anecdotes and pictures. We made a six-hour journey to get to SIU in Carbondale, close to the southern border of Illinois. And guess how brilliant I acted that weekend? First of all, I was supposed to leave for home Friday afternoon after my classes, so that we could all drive up together for this career fair on Saturday. But instead, I got done with classes, and waited, and procastinated, and procrastinated, until I finally got yelled at 11 p.m. to drive back home immediately. I finally left my dorm at midnight, and made it home at 2 a.m., just in time to start the arduous roadtrip to Carbondale. I ended up going without sleep for over 24 hours that day, my second all-nighter in this lifetime. Phew!!... :-P

So we finally made it to our destination at 8:30 a.m., and got my brother registered for flying with the university pilots. I joked about flying with my brother, and they seriously signed me up for the ride too! So leaving out all the minor interesting stories, we basically flew in a glider (seen in the pics below) at over 2300 ft!! And I clicked pics of the bird's eye view while my brother handled the controls as per the pilot's instructions. But it wasn't mind-blowing until the pilot started playing zero-gravity tricks! He dived the glider nose down in a free-fall condition, so that all of us (including the papers on my lap) inside where being pushed away from the earth with equal force, just as Newton's third law of motion would have predicted. But boy, oh boy, that was some scary adventure. For a second, I was afraid that my heart was going to fly off into the space haha....


And once the two-three rounds of zero-gravity were over, I began to feel air-sick. I was glad that it was time to land and get back on the comfortable earth. Soon after landing, my brother and parents went on for a campus tour while I pulled out my books and started solving exercises with a weary head. My family returned after three hours of touring, and decided to head back after having some lunch. It was now time for the dreadfully long reverse road-trip, but we switched drivers and navigators every two hours, and even my brother was permitted to drive on his driver's permit. The confidence of being able to land a glider successfully and weary family members who could not hold up the argument worked to his advantage of taking over the driver's seat.

It was 7 p.m. when our exhausted family finally reached home. We were all glad for a productive day, good family time in the car, and more than anything, coming back to the comfort of home.

OMG! My friends have been so ecstatic ever since they found out that this British Bhangra group (RDB) is performing at the university! I have never been to a concert or a live (famous) band performance before, so this will be exciting, I hope.

I wonder if I will be able to talk to them in person for the radio thing, because then the whole of Chicago can listen to them! :)

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."

Will be back to blogging after Wednesday... :)

I am so brain-dead right now! Have been working on this C++ code for more than 7 hours now. It is the de-bugging that is getting annoying. Small mistakes in the code that I cannot find argghhh... I thought about starting from scratch, but even that seemed like too much work *sigh*

Anyways, I am already late on this assignment, and can hand it in for 10% penalty by tomorrow evening. Also need to get up early tomorrow to study for the physics quiz in the morning and lab in the evening. Have two more exams coming up on Wednesday of next week! And also have a big homework due then hah!

I wish I were more efficient at acads. :-(

:( :( .. I got done with all my midterms today. And am horrified at my performance in all of them. I literally feel like the dumbest person on campus!! So ashamed of myself that I do not even want to disclose my marks. Life just sucks currently uhhh...

I do not understand what is wrong with me? For example, yesterday, I slept for 10 hours last night, even though I had slept enough the day before!! Unacceptable! Especially when I needed more time to prepare for the exam today. But I took relief in the fact that the midterm grade could be dropped if I did better in the final, and so ended up weaving hopes to do excellent in the final. Why am I so irresponsible???? what should I do to improve? Is it just not my cup of tea; should I just give up? (hopefully, no)


i don't know what else to say. I so don't know what to do with myself. Period.

Thanks for your comments, you guys... it makes blogging a much more joyful experience when you know that others like to read and respond to your entries...

Anyways, I just logged in to say that I will not be blog again until the weekend, just because there is a lot going on. I have a quiz tomorrow morning, a lab due tomorrow night, and two exams on friday morning, none of which I am well-prepared for. :-P

The entire day Saturday is booked for my brother's career fair trip to fly with a pilot at Southern IL University. Sunday I will have to drive back before noon for the radio show (yes, it will actually happen this time :D) and then spend the rest of the afternoon cramming Greek and latin words for a midterm on Monday. Also need to worry about the homework due on Tuesday.

Time flies!! And I might need to too.... :-s

If I were a girl, I'd despair. The supply of good women far exceeds that of the men who deserve them.

-- Robert Graves

-- Katharine Hepburn

-- H. L. Mencken

An ideal wife is one who remains faithful to you but tries to be just as charming as if she weren't.

-- Sacha Guitry

-- Arthur Schopenhauer

The course of true love never did run smooth.

-- William Shakespeare

-- Mother Theresa

-- Gloria Vanderbilt

-- Henny Youngman

I married beneath me. All women do.

-- Lady Nancy Astor, attributed

I am very excited about living in the dorm next year. My roommate and I just came back after picking one of the biggest rooms on our floor. What is more is that we have two big windows facing the east side, which give us a beautiful panorama of lake Michigan (which is more like a sea than a lake!!).
How lovely will it be to be awakened by the first rays of the sun every morning! Or to stand by the window and sip hot chocolate on a breezy evening after a heavy day of classes?

This is probably what they call SWEET Life! :)

I have:
3 homeworks, 1 lab, 1 quiz and 3 midterms over the next week. And I really need to do well in all my classes since this is my senior year. God help me! :-s

Me and my roommate have this habit of sleep-talking, only hers is worse than mine. She will even wake up from bed at random hours of the night (3 am, 4:30 am on several occasions) and start getting ready before she looks at the watch and realizes that she should be sleeping for the other half of the night.

She is actually muttering the words, "Well, thats all I have for now" in a stern tone right now. She is fast asleep and only her sub-conscious brain knows why she sounds so tense. I don't want to sound mean, but she scares me sometimes :-P...

My professor for visual science class, a jovial British man who recently lost his wife to cancer, asked us if one of us would like to write a wikipedia article about vision, because a lot of the material covered in class is based on latest research, and there does not exist an appropriate textbook for it in the market.

Seems like the idea struck a chord in me. I was quite intrigued at the thought of being an author for an article which would be read and searched by millions of students and curious learners. I also know that it will not be too difficult to be approved as the author as I will probably be one of the two people considering writing this thing out of a class of ten. I have always wanted to write for our engineering magazine, but never found the time and motivation to churn out any 'sample' articles. I would have all these ideas for the articles, but unfortunately, they never materialized on paper.

However, I have already set my mind on writing this article. I know that it is going to be time-consuming, but it will just as well enhance my resume, and maybe buy me a good recommendation letter from this prof. Moreover, I am fascinated by the material covered in class and was actually contemplating joining him in his research. But first of all, I need to brush up on the basics, research some sources of information touched upon in class, and find out what kind of information needs to go into the article.

Have any of you ever authored or editted a wikipedia article? Would you be willing to read and give me feedback on my article if I ever got around to writing it? I have not written essays or papers in a long time now, and I am highly skeptical of my writing skills at the moment. :-P

Guess what I have been wasting time on tonight? coding an html web-page. :'(

http://in.geocities.com/trivedi_shreya

In case you were planning to listen, the show has been delayed by 45 mins because of sports.. :-|

I just had a brilliant idea in this genius head of mine. Nothing academia related though, so don't stop reading! :D

Alright, so I am going to be RJing for our desi radio show this Sunday from 3-5 pm Chicago time. In the first hour, my colleague and I will be playing and talking about Hindi-Urdu pop songs, and the second hour will be playing songs requested by listeners. My friend came up with the idea of pulling a trick on my colleague, by calling in the studio and telling him how she loved his voice and would like to meet him for a date. So, I was thinking that it wouldn't harm if you all called in as well and said something similar to him!

For example, you could say that you found his info from shaadi.com and found him interesting. Honestly speaking, he is a nice guy who is still single, so it will be hilarious to find him sweating with so many people calling him. Shalin, you should call in too, and say you are interested in him lol... that would be super-funny :D...

You could also call in the studio at 847-866-9687 during our show and dedicate romantic songs for him lol... Any other suggestions to make this a fun show are also welcome! :)

Oh, and if you are not in the Chicago area, then you can hear our show streaming live at www.wnur.org.....

And last update for the day is that I am going to choreograph that dance, and also be in it with other Malaysian girls... :-P Youtube will indeed be very helpful in this regard, just like RedSoulcurry suggested.

In the meanwhile, if you admire college shows, then here is the video of the skit that we did for SASA show 2005. See if you can guess where I am... You will only find me in the dances, as there wasn't much role for girls in it anyways. We were showered with compliments after the show, but this video leaves out tiny parts of the skit, unfortunately. :(

Today was truly notorious. For starters, I overslept by an hour, which translated into not getting any reading done before my classes. Even after getting up, I did not feel very energetic, and I realized as I was walking that my muscles had gone sore from playing tennis yesterday! Baloney again! :-P

So I had just absorbed these two disappointments in the morning, when a third one appeared in my email. It was from the girl who was selling me the textbook at a really low rate, but now she had sold it to someone who had offered her twice as much! She was apologetic in her email, but it wasn't going to help me, especially since a text is very much needed for this class, and I fought with this seller on Amazon.com to cancel the order and not send me the book. He agreed to cancel the order, but has not yet given me a refund. So I cannot purchase the text until he officially gives me a refund!!! Also, just two days back, I realized that I had lost my $85 programming textbook, and could not find it anywhere. So that was even more money sent down the drain! :'(

Later this morning, as I was thinking about money miseries, I discovered that my tuition was past due and the university had not received any payment from my bank. On the other hand, when I checked my bank account, it showed that the tuition has been debited since last week. Talk about something getting on your nerves.....GEEZ!


And since we are on the subject of mishaps and misfortunes, how would you like it if God decided to add a little salt and pepper to your destiny? Well, I did ponder if that was really the case today when I stepped out to go to classes, and was horrified to see snow flurries and chill winds. I mean, it was summery and hot since last two weeks, and where did this drastic weather change come from all of a sudden? Two words: No fair...

Further on, it looks like I will have to ditch swimming and going to the gym in lieu of studying for the quiz and lab tomorrow.


Despite of it all, I can only say the following to end this dreadfully negative narrative:

"Har ghadi badal rahi hai roop zindagi;
Chhav hain kabhi, kabhi hai dhoop zindagi;
Har pal yahan jee bhar jiyo;
Jo hai samah, Kal ho na ho...." :)

I start smiling just thinking about the events of this weekend. It was in complete contrast with my Thursday mood, and more exciting than any of the weekends I have had in a loooong time.

So friday night, my two girl-friends and I went to this club in downtown Chicago called Zentra. They were playing hindi and English music downstairs and Hip-hop upstairs, and we also got in for free with RSVP! :) .. We also met up with three other mutual friends (2 indian girls and a gay guy)who had had alcohol before coming to the club that night. Anyways, so we had mainly gone because this was supposed to be a party with college crowd from UIC and DePaul universities and because they were spinning Hindi music. The music was pretty good as long as the desi DJ was handling the controls, and there was adequate space for us to dance on the floor without bumping into other people.

But it wasn't all happy-go-lucky night; there was a slight twist to the story. I was kind of afraid of running into this problem with just us three girls and it actually happened. Some of the stupid guys (who were obviously there for reasons other than dancing) tried to join our group and come close to us. Plus, there was especially this one guy (looked in his upper 20s - I am guessing he was a grad student) who was trying to talk to me the whole time we were there. This is what upset me somewhat, and spoiled my excitement for dancing. Anyways, my mutual friends were thankfully very protective and shoved him away; they even had to get a bouncer to ask him to leave the club as he was persistently disturbing us. He pleaded to the bouncers, and they allowed him to stay in the club, but he had to move away from us.

Oh, and guess what? Around the same time as this, the bouncers threw out one of our mutual friends (the gay guy) because he was totally drunk. I guess he was more drunk than those other two girls. As for my tthose two girls, I was pretty disturbed when I saw them grinding and making out. My other two friends couldn't stop laughing at my expressionless face as I was trying to hide my disgust for such individuals in the club. I guess I am way too conservative to understand what pleasure those girls would derive from acting the way they did. This sort of indulgence is one of the big reasons why I dislike going to clubs around here, but then again, I don't always have the time and convenience to go to these places either.

So we finally came out around 2 am when the music transitioned from Hindi to House, and were waiting outside for the guy to bring our car from valet when two drunk friends walked up to us. One asked for the time, which Shradha told him, and then after he had left, the other friend walked upto her and put his arm around Shradha and started talking trash to her. At this point, I was totally mad at his behavior (and guys in general for being such jerks), and asked him to move away. I gave him the look of death and asked him to get out of there. It worked, and he left feeling insulted!

And then, we were still not ready to call it a night, so we went to IHOP to get Hot Chocolate and Cheese-sticks. It was 4 am by the time I finally went to sleep, thinking what all we were going to have to do in order to be ready for the Saturday party.

Alright, so I can't write too much more now. But the Saturday night party was even more fun with games (Catchphrase, Dumbsheras/Sharads, Taboo, Antakshri etc), Indian food + yummy cake and music. It was Shreya B's 21st birthday party, and it was quite different than traditional 21st parties. I really have to leave now, and I might finish bragging about this weekend some other time. Till then, have a gnight! :)

You know how there are some days when you just want to be left alone? When you have the desire to run away from the civilization and people and go into hiding where no one can find you?

If you do, then you can probably relate to my mood today. Luckily, my roommate has been out since 4 pm today, and won't be coming back till 11 pm from her ROTC and baby-sitting job. But I am bored of my room, and so will walk to the corners of the library and find myself a quite place to study. It has hardly been the fourth day since school started, and there is a pile of assignments and reading to do already. (Well, I am equally to blame for wasting time watching a movie, taking a long lunch break with Shreya B, and napping for an hour)

I wonder if I feel so unsocial because of the pressure to finish my work, or because of the confusion created my observations about some random friends, or due to a combination of both!

ANyways, enough spilling of thoughts on the web.... My books are calling...

Wow! I am so glad to be back in school! I wanted to be done with co-oping and commuting for this term, and really needed a change. And since I was living at home while I was working, I did not get to see my friends much. I guess I missed college life and friends and school-activities.

So, just to brief my fellow blog-readers, and astray web-surfers, about my plans for this quarter:
A. I am taking 5 classes - one is independent study, the other two are EE classes, one BME class and Physics
B. I plan to work out more often - started with a jog around the lakefill today! :)
C. (Tentative) helping choreograph indian dance
D. Radio-jockeying
E. Not falling behind in classes, not sleeping in classes, Physics GSW, taking a yoga class maybe
F. More be-friending and more networking..
G. Staying connected with parents on a day-to-day basis
H. Staying connected with cousins on a weekly basis

And last but not the least, hanging out with friends. I have met all my close friends today and yesterday, and they were so sincerely excited to see me back on campus! While thinking about it today, I was relieved to find that I have finally got the friend circle that I was longing for when I initially came to Northwestern, and which did not quite exist until last year. Having the biggest room on the floor was nice, but sharing a slightly smaller room with an understanding roommate is even nicer!


Saying of the day - . "All we want is money, all we need is love" Tagline from the movie Apna Sapna Money Money

Of late, I have been daydreaming about adventuring into the unknown woods and travelling to far-off lands. Maybe it sprouted from the discussions at work about the ironies of life. I really got down to instrospecting myself and my life when my carpooling buddy made the comment that, "When you are young, yo do not have any money to travel and when you have money, you are too old to be able to enjoy life. Money comes and goes, so we should enjoy life while we have the zest and the energy to travel."
So I tried to remember how little travelling I have done ever since I got to U.S. But then again, life got a little harder from the moment I flew into America, and touring around was simply out of question then. Although it seems like I sacrificed my recreational side in the face of a long lasting emergency situation, I had a good learning experience nonetheless.
And now that the waters haev become stiller, and my family has adjusted here better than before, I actually have a chance to go travelling. Organizing the trip to Niagara Falls last summer was one big triumph when it comes to my travelling portfolio. It was a fascinating road trip with my family and Megha's, and something that I will cherish forever. And now I want to do it again - only at a different place!! I do not know how feasible it is with a low bank balance and a long wishlist for other necessities, but I really really really want to break free of this routine and go to a marvelous destination. Rio de Janeiro or backpacking in Europe would be perfect, but Grand Canyon, Brooklyn Bridge, Wisconsin woods, or Chicago Botanic Gardens will work too!
Ideas, suggestions, info about dirt-cheap travelling packages and cash donations are more than welcome!

"My Karma ran over your Dogma" - Unknown

I am a very harsh critic when it comes to movies, and there are hardly any hindi films that I can count as my favourites. But when I saw this movie, it took me by surprise and I liked it so much that I watched it thrice in two weeks! Now that is a record, because I have never liked watching the same movie over again.



Director Shirish Kunder's debut film may not have done too well at the box-office, but it definetely impressed me. Shirish also happens to be choreographer Farah Khan's husband and was actually an engineer at Motorola before he plunged into writing screenplays and dialogues for Bollywood movies. If you are curious to read more about this man, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirish_Kunder. His engineering career might explain his attention to details of The director has been very attentive about the careful about even the small things in the movies

Anyway, what caught my fancy in this movie was the subtle comedy, meticulously perfect character depictions, fashionably sober outfits, wonderful acting, picturesque backdrops, sparkling colors, catchy music score and a very reasonable storyline. Ofcourse Farah Khan's dances add on to the entertainment. Anu Malik's music is quite appealing and also more unique than his other albums. Sonu Nigam's vocals in the song 'Ajnabi Shehar' fascinated me beyond any expectations. And last but not the least, I loved the costumes of Preity, Akki and Sallubhai. I am looking into having similar skirts in my wardrobe for the upcoming spring season! =P

Just one word of caution before you go to see the movie, don't start the movie expecting it to be a mind-blowing film, because that will disappoint you. It is one of the rare feel-good movies of 2006 that can be watched with the entire family.

I have been wanting to write an entry since before Jan 14th, but somehow or the other haven't found the convenience and time to do that.

There are three topics in particular that I have been wishing to express about:
1. Jaan-e-Mann
2. The Work-scene
3. My 21st Birthday Extravaganza

I will get to writing it sometime this week, and post some good pics that I took. Got to go now.

checking off the things that I did like I had announced in my previous post:


1. finish building my website in Dreamweaver - have some ideas, but haven't found the time to implement them not yet started

2. record a tune for LotusBeat News Segment. might ditch doing this. have another idea in ma' head to replace LB news segment

3. Finish reading 'Reading Lolita in Tehran'. this will be my non-fiction books in years. got the book from the library, but dont feel like reading it. Instead, read a biography of Bill Gates, and the 'Dreamweaver for Dummies' :-P

4. volunteering at a local hospital DONE!

5. giving myself a refresher course in physiology and multivariable calculus. Does reading System Physioloogy text count?

6. joining a gym and working out every single day. Playing outdoor sports will be difficult in winter :( I did join the gym, but haven't been working out every day...

7. catching up on lost sleep, watching bunch of movies and recording lots of song CDs DONE!

8. helping out with more household chores, and spending more time with the family! DONE!

checking back on this list does make me feel a little embarrased now as I have, in reality, done fewer things than I thought... Baloney again!

After these two insane weeks, I plan to:

1. finish building my website in Dreamweaver - have some ideas, but haven't found the time to implement them

2. record a tune for LotusBeat News Segment.

3. Finish reading 'Reading Lolita in Tehran'. this will be my non-fiction books in years.

4. volunteering at a local hospital

5. giving myself a refresher course in physiology and multivariable calculus.

6. joining a gym and working out every single day. Playing outdoor sports will be difficult in winter :(

7. catching up on lost sleep, watching bunch of movies and recording lots of song CDs

8. helping out with more household chores, and spending more time with the family!

so many ambitions, so little time - 20 days to be exact, until I start co-op again! I am so not looking forward to the long drive...yuck!

Black Friday shopping:
after having traumatizing and abrupt shut-downs from the 2 yr old Toshiba laptop, I bought a new HP Pavillion laptop from a Circuit City Black Friday deal. it has a glossy screen that produces crystal clear images, an inbuilt web-cam, is Windows vista-ready and is from the entertainment laptop series :)....

Wow!! looks like there are soo many interesting things happening back in India:

for starters, I read in USA Today that Banglore was going to be renamed as 'Bengaluru', the Kannadian name for it. This IT hub of India will most likely lose its anglocized name if the cabinet approves the bill. While the cultural chairs in Indian govt. can boast about changing all those city names given by foreign rulers (remember, Bombay-->Mumbai, Madras -->Chennai, Calcutta --> Kolkatta, Pondicherry--> Punducherry !!), can they actually preserve the culture and traditions of our ancestors that are being sucked up by western influences? I am up for a more broad-minded society, but can you tell at what point people will compromise their lofty ideals in the face of the modern style of living? Are we actually happier after integrating western influences into our beliefs? I understand that there are pros and cons to everything, and I am not voting against western ideologies, but instead, only hoping that we can combine the best of the two and come up with our own system. Like it or not, the reins of future of any society are controlled by the culture preached by media and other influential people. I don't know much about influential people, but Indian media definetely does not seem to be helping with its increasing use of carnal content. The only thing left for us is to see if changing anglocized names of cities will remind people to be proud of their original identities and forego the western ideologies that preach obtaining sensual pleasures.


One more note on the topic of media:- two superstars from Bollywood are planning to get married in 2007. It could be one of the several rumors that has been making rounds since past year, but it seems very likely now that Abhishek Bachhan and Aishwarya Rai will end up as couple to the dismay of their fans. After all, these news were busted by Bachchan family's Swamiji who checked Abhi and Ash's hororscopes :-P...

Also, note that Shabana Azmi is going to receive gandhi Peace Prize.... an ultimate honor for her! You can read about this article here:http://in.rediff.com/movies/2006/oct/27shabana.htm

Interestingly enough, after the big cry in US of how jobs were being outsourced to India, China and other low-income talent houses, now Indian IT company Infosys is also outsourcing its jobs to foreigners....maybe outsourcing is not the right word, but it is definetely attracting foreign citizens to settle down in India!! This should be an interesting development for the country and the foreigners, although, the real question is: can Infosys pick and keep these talented international workers with its salaries and facilities for long?

I have a crazy friday ahead of me, and I cannot even enjoy it all. It is Homecoming weekend at Northwestern, and the alumni grand marshall of the parade is Stephen Colbert, from Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show'. It is a huge deal that Mr. Colbert is going to be led to the streets of Evanston, since he is such a popular TV host, and particularly since he rose to fame by likings of the internet video-hunters and Apple Podcast listeners after his speech at White House where he tactfully criticized President Bush in his own home in front of the camera! Anyways, this year’s Homecoming week theme is “Roll Out The Purple Carpet,” inspired by Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. There are a lot more events planned out for this weekend, but I will be missing these in favor of Diwali celebrations at home. Remind me to post all these pics to show off crazy NU traditions, ok? =)

Oh but, before the excitement begins in the evening, I have an important presentation tomorrow at 3 pm. I better go work on that or it will ruin all my happy plans.... so long!

Woh lamhe --- everything except for Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai is badmusic, yuk! I thought Prittam could do better than this!!


Anyways, in the meanwhile, here are a few pics from the World Music Festival at Claudia Classidy theatre. I interviewed Moroccan music band : Aza, and artists from the Bhattacharya family.



Aza, playing with their traditional instruments. It was quite an experience to hear them!




Live on air at that time...woo hoo! P.S. I still need to find the recordings for this show!


Interviewing Debashish Bhattacharya with his two siblings. I am on the right.

That's all for now. I went to Falguni Pathak's Dandiya Dhamaka last weekend, but didnot take any pictures from there. This was my first time going there, and although the turnout and crowd was good, the music was only good in patches. I did not feel like it was worth the ticket money...but oh well... Oh, I am going to BMES Conference this Saturday and then home for Diwali the weekend after! Will post more often if i find interesting to say.

I just had a big piece of delicious Rice Crispies (cooked rice covered in melted marshmallows), before which I had a bowl of milk and cereals and pilaf with vegetables. I am still feeling discontent after eating all this variety, not so much because I did not have enough to eat, but because it is not a balanced diet. In general, the food being served at our dining halls is becoming nutritious day-by-day, but it is easy to gain weight if you do not make good food choices.

Obesity is a big concern in U.S. and above 50% of the population is dealing with obesity-related health problems in this country. Well, meet the culprit of obesity and the victim of industrialization: CORN. Yeah, as strange as it sounds, U.S. produces enormous amounts of corn, way more than what it needs. The result? Corn is pretty darn cheap and is put to all possible uses. Starting with high fructose corn syrup found in 99% of all packaged foods to corn oil to baked corn sold in tin cans, corn is all over the grocery store aisles. Corn has a very high fat content and is bad in very concentrated forms. But there is hardly anything you can eat that does not have abundant quantities of corn. A lot of preparations and fast-foods or packaged foods sold in U.S. are sweet, and are made with high fructose corn syrup. Even cattle is fed with corn instead of grass and hay, so milk and meat are fattier too, making corn omnipresent in food!!

Illinois, the state in which I live, is the largest producer of corn in U.S., and is using excessive corn to make ethanol as a mixture for fuel in cars and automobiles. The efficiency of burning ethanol is very debatable, but it does burn clean and not pollute the environment.

But corn is not the only thing that is wrong about the diet of this country. I personally don't think most natives eat healthy because their diets are not balanced. Fast food like burgers, hotdogs, pizza, pasta, french fries, cakes, chocolates, cookies, corn tortillas, etc doesnot sound too healthy. I prefer complete Indian thalis with rice, dal(proteins), chapatis, vegetables, curd (plain yogurt) and salad, made with love. I can sense a restlessness to go back back to my mom's cooking. I shall end this post here with the following words ringing in my head "Oh home, I miss thee :-("

Karan Johar's latest venture, KANK, has definetely created an impact on the Bollywood audience, albeit a confusing one. As far as my opinion goes, the movie had many flaws. I felt like the story revolved around the weakness of a man, and the undecisiveness of a woman. A man who was always potrayed as everyone's hero and leader, and a woman who was usually a symbol of strength and sacrifice. This might have clashed with the general public's expectations from the actors and actresses, but that is not the only mistake that Karan committed. He glorified the sin of Rani and SRK, in a cheesy way at the end, instead of letting them burn in the fire of their guilt and immaturity forever. SRk was bitter and selfish, Rani was immature and confused. They were both wrong and sorry, and I hope they forever live with the guilt of hurting others in their silly love story.

I saw a story, but learnt nothing new from it. Even the glamor wasn't upto my expectations! I did not like Abhi Bachchan's rugged look. I liked him better when he was clean-shaved and all in Kuch na Kaho. Preity's make-up is good, and she looks alright. Again, I liked her look lot better in Veer Zaara, during the song "Aa gayi lodi re". Rani is same old- straight hair, husky eyeshadows and same style of clothing. She doesnot seem to create any magic for being Karan Johar's Maya. SRK is using his old tricks of over-reacting again, but he ends up making a fool out of himself when he uses those tricks to cheat on his wife. And did I mention he looks too old to be romancing with other women when he has a wife and a kid at home. Lastly, I ignored Amitabh completely because I could not stand him.


Overall, my ratings for the movie would be 2/5 stars. Bottomline is, I am not convinced that love is something divine or miraculous, like Rani believed and SRK realized, but it is your psychology and circumstance that drive your decisions and beliefs. Like someone said on orkut, 'Love is not a feeling, it is a decision'.

Related Links: http://www.santabanta.com/cinema.asp?pid=11560

ANother entry after a long break.. Well, that is because I hardly had free time and the availability of getting on the net at the same time. Being at home needs more adjusting, because it is not like Drumil will ever offer to let me use the T.V. or computer, and I don't want to pick a fight with him for the sake of our neighbors.
Anyway, it is Saturday morning right now, and I wish I could have slept a little more, but we have to go to the Museum of Science and Industry. Baxter is celebrating its 75th anniversary there and so is treating all its employees to a party this weekend in the huuuge museum. Looking forward to the special Da-VInci exhibit!!
Oh, speaking about Baxter and party, did I mention that my boss is resigning from our company? :( well, he got a better position elsewhere, and our division is very likely to get sold. (another frown) but that doesn't stop anyone from having parties! We have a picnic coming up in mid-August, farewell party for our boss and others this Wednesday, and poker night next weekend!
Have to run now.. already late to head out to the Museum, and still have not got my car's emission test done. its going to be a busy weekend with a bday dinner, playing tennis and going to O'hare. later!