Once upon a time....

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!

Look what I found!!! A DVD burner from Cheetah at download.com :)

Now I can burn my videos on a DVD
Heres the link if you want it too:

Just a start.... more to come... woo hoo!