Once upon a time....

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.