Real Love

Ann Arbor's music and art enthusiasts recently had a chance to witness John Lennon's lesser known art. Lennon's paintings are on display in Ann Arbor for a few days. I had the opportunity of catching the exhibits today. 'Bag one', his gift to Yoko on their wedding night was a collection of sketches celebrating their union. This collection apparently had a few erotic lithographs, which were confiscated by the London police. A few of them which were displayed today were indeed scandalous. However, given an artist's license he had every right to express his love for his wife.

The one collection that caught my eye was 'Real love', his gift to his son Sean. The vibrant colours in the pictures look very cute and the collection stands apart from the rest. Have a look for yourself..

Overall, quite an interesting collection, although it's apparent why Lennon was known more for his music than his art!

Schools done..

I was a bit sad today as I left the classroom. The last class of my Masters program. May be my last class forever..or may be not! Schools done for me..for now!!

One and a half years ago I had very little clue of what I was getting into. Looking back I wonder, did my Masters really give me all that I had come here for? I would proudly say, that not only did this teach me tons of what I always wanted to learn, but also taught me a lot about life. That I think has been my most important lesson. This phase made me very introspective. Made me critically analyze every step I took, questioning some things I'd taken for granted in life, and reinforcing some choices. I'm happy I learnt about myself as much as I learnt about operations!

Now starts a new, exciting phase with a lot more to learn and even more to do!!!!

Lifes so blue.... :p

There's some uncanny connection between my life and the colour Blue!
Starting with my school logos,













to where I worked












and now...



Is it that or is it just that blue's a very common color !!??!!

Happy Diwali- Halloween- Id!

National Integration. This could well have been an ad on an Indian government channel - all of us celebrating all three in equal enthusiasm. We celebrated all three this week by a fabulous wine n dine party. The food was too yummy and too (un)healthy. Catch a glimpse of what we ate!

Trick O' Treat

Halloween's just around the corner and its time to scare, get scared and worship the holy spirit! In true spirit of Halloween, instead of partying, we carved a few pumpikins.

China and Parag, the enthu souls brought the pumpkins. Harry and I drew on 'em and Parag, Anagha and China did a great job of carving. Dont they look awesome with the lights turned off?
After carving, we had a long session of spooky ghost stories. With ghosts on the train to ghosts in open grounds, we narrated 'em all! A nice start to Halloween ..
Now I want the good part..the tons of candy!

Trick O' Treat! Have a spooky and Happy Halloween..

Arresting Spam Comments

Every time I visit my blog, I see an increased number of comments left by my readers. This used to excite me earlier, but nowadays I know its just another spam comment. So starting today, I've enabled the word type in my blog to ensure I get comments from real people and not some freaky computer code written by an advertizer.

Keep commenting real people!

Blogger Power!

Recently a friend of mine published a post on his blog related to some Indian management school's false advertisements. Unfortunately, the legal advisor of the school slapped him with a suit worth 125 crores! Apart from fighting the law suit, he also had to resign from IBM, since he didn't want to tarnish their image. Everyone from the blogosphere has been supporting him in his fight for his freedom of expression! This has made him a celebrity as NDTV and Indian Express have been reporting the story!

Kudos to Gaurav for standing by his convictions and having the courage to fight a suit worth 125 crores!
:p

Flowers make me happy :o)

The fuller they bloom, the broader my smile!

Experiencing Ann Arbor

A friend from Cincinnati was in town for just over two hours and wanted to meet me and experience 'Ann Arbor'. It was my chance to show him around the lovely town and make sure he loved it by the time he left. Thankfully the beautiful weather and the fall colours made it a super day. We started out from Willowtree apartments, which looked lovely in the weather.

Driving down Plymouth we reached Zingermans. This place is located in the historic part of Ann Arbor called Kerrytown. Zingermans is known for its traditional Jewish dishes and is one of America's best known Delis. The sandwiches are too yummy and too filling. I strongly recommend the chicken barbecue sandwich and the potato au gratin. Too good to miss!

After Zingermann's we headed out to the central campus, where I showed my friend the Law school and the campus full of fall colours.

Ashley's is one bar you cannot skip when you are in Ann Arbor. Right on State street , in central campus is this bar which serves about 70 beers on draught and boasts of a global beer collection. They serve Belgian, English, Scottish and tons of other beers. We had a wheat beer sampler, which had four very sweet and light ales. I think Ashleys is the only place where I actually enjoy beer!

All in all, a day that ended unexpectedly well!

Araktini Prasad!
Cheers!

Fab birthday bash!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! had a fabulous day! here is a pic of the night out with my friends...

Unwinding......

The last month has been crazy. Yes, crazy by all means. Major emotional upheavals, recruiting presentations and events, assignments galore and a sudden weather change are hard to handle at the same time. It was a bit baffling at first, but now I'm back on track and kicking!
Some people might call me a control freak! I'm no "Monica", but yes, I admit I love it when things fall in place. I like to be in control of my stuff, organized, planned, tidy and timely. It unnerves me when all the things you've planned start diverting in unknown directions and you have no control on the outcomes. These unpredictable outcomes have upset me for a while now, and that's why I've decided to handle them differently now on.

I'm planning to let life take its own course and sit back for a while. Literally. I've decided to stop analyzing events and people for a change and live for the moment. Live on the spur of the moment. Experience the weather rather than crib about it, catch a movie or a good exhibition, paint, enjoy some great music and treat myself to a nice ice cream without worrying about the fat! Hope this new attitude teaches me something that I didn't learn from my earlier ways!

Home..

About a year ago, when I left 14 Alankar society, Raghuneet Bungalow, Pune 411052, somewhere in my heart, I always knew there was never going to be another 'Home' for me. Having brought up in that place for 22 years, I had never ever called any other place 'home'. With all my fond memories of growing up with my family associated with that house, I'd defined 'home' as a place where family is. A place where you're loved unconditionally. A place where every little thing you do is appreciated. Psychologically and physically, a shelter from the cruel world outside.

But Websters describes home as "one's place of residence".
Really? Isn't it much, much more than that?

Over the last few months, I've decided to create my own definition of 'home'..
For me, home is still some place full of warmth. A place where you can be your own self. A place where you create ambiences you like, to change your moods. A place in which you build memories. A place you feel like getting back to at the end of a long, tiring day. A place which grows on you. A place which is very very very hard to leave............

Its amazing how a small space can give you so much!

Overworked....not quite!

I haven't been updating my blog for a few days now...why, you may ask. With just about two weeks left to wind up my project(s) and assignment(s), this is when I'm getting the real flavour of working at Dell. About a few weeks ago I had complained to my professor at Ann Arbor, "They dont give me enough work!". I'll have to take all that back, cause I've never been this busy my entire life. Remember how we're rushed around submission time? I'd say this is even worse!

Actually, not worse, I'd say better! I'm loving it! I love the pace, the rush, the drive, the early morning coffee, the round of emails at 11.49 pm, the round the clock meetings, presentations, lunches...lovin every bit of it! This infectiously fast pace has caught on to me. As the summer comes to an end, though I want to be back home (AA), meet friends, hang out at 3036, it's going to be hard getting back to school. I'm afraid the gear shift to a much slower pace might put me in a lazy mode!

Leaving Austin is going to be hard...Pray that they like my work and call me back!!

Why do people marry?

A casual conversation with a friend got me thinking. His parents are trying to find him a match, and this sparked a debate on ' why do people marry at all?'. Is it for love? yes, surely..only if you are in love. Marrying for love might be the most ideal of circumstances. But not everybody finds love. Not at the right time, not at the right age. What about arranged marriages then? Arranged marriages are a compromise right? Two people, who are scared of living alone, need companionship, need security and stability, get married, just because our forefathers adopted a tradition of monogamy and called it 'marriage'? Is there something beyond that? I've heard of 'connections', 'you'll know the right person for you' stories...but, are they for real? Doesn't the connection die out eventually? Then, whats left? Again, just the companionship and materialistic pleasures that the couple shares.

Another question that crops up, is, can all this be acheived without marriage? The same commitment, the same companionship can be well achieved without marriage. Whats missing then? Nowadays, there exists no social taboo, per se for live in relationships. Except for the government and our parents, does anybody really care about marriage? In a world of financially and emotionally independent, mature individuals, where does marriage stand??

Obviously, everybody has his or her own explanations to this debate, and they'e convinced themselves thats the right answer. Apparently, there is no right or wrong here, and the answer totally depends upon individual perceptions. So give it a good thought, and make sure you convince yourself before taking the big step!

Parineeta

I caught this review by Shobhaa De in the Times of India, and thought she had done a wonderful job on it.

I'll shut up and let you guys read it in the comments section...

Food drive

As a part of our performance plans at Dell, we are supposed to support and volunteer for a social cause at least once a quater. I had the opportunity to spend some time at a local food bank today. The concept of a 'Food bank' was alien to me. I spent my first ten minutes there mostly looking all around, amazed by the tons of food around me. I wondered how my working there for three hours was going to help the poor.

After the initial introductions, the manager shared some mind blowing facts and stats about hunger in Texas. The fact that struck me was that 20% of the population in Texas is below the poverty line. Organizations such as this food bank collect food and other surplus supplies from individuals and grocery stores and distribute it to the poor through the church, the schools, the hospices and the old age homes. A program that touched my heart, was the 'Kid's cafe'. Single parents, who handle two to three jobs per day, and still can't feed their children, are eligible for this program. The food bank delivers goodies such as cheesecakes, pastries, cookies, candies along with nutritous meals to such unfortunate homes. Isn't that a wonderful program?

During our stint there, we did various things such as sorting canned food, sorting non food items, weighing and packing beans etc. Though this was not very exciting, the end result was phenomenal. By the end of the three hours, we had contributed to 6000 meals for the poor...that'll feed almost 20 children an entire year!

www.austinfoodbank.org is the official site of the food bank.

This stint showed me how a little effort can go a long way!

Counter motivation

Did anyone notice the counter I put up? Now I can keep checking whether you guys visit my blog often...Increasing the hits is my current motivation for blogging!

The long weekend was undoubtedly crazy. Nobody in office worked on Friday! We were all home by 2, and all of us (four interns and four full timers) started on a camping trip in the evening. The final destination was Mustang Island on the Gulf of Mexico. Simon and Garfunkel, along with a few cops :) kept us company on the long drive.

On our way to the island, a Hooters caught my friends eye, and we had to make an emergency stop! Sorry to say guys, but I was totally let down by the Chicken wings ;) ..People have hyped it a little too much! Anyway, after reaching Mustang Island, putting up the tents in the winds was quite a task. Once the camp was set, we all got down straight to business..Tequila! 5 shots each (at least!) and then, a round of truth or dare! Whatever happened next... stays there ;) - right guys?

The next morning, we left early for a beautiful island, the Bird island. Bird island is a heaven for windsurfing, and is voted one of the top most windsurfing sites in the country. Rob, a fellow intern is a keen surfer, and thanks to him, we got our windsurfing beginner lessons. Once we were in the water and fully equipped, there was nothing stopping us!

Though Rob taught us the basics, it was every man for himself out on the water. Maneuvering the sail with your hands while balancing on a board, holding it at the right angle and pressure to resist the wind, bending just right to hold on to the sail, and keeping an eye on fellow surfers and their speeds was quite a task! After about 5 hours of water coupled with the scorching sun, I was burnt a crisp brown, and that made me stop! However, the exciting experience was entirely worth the tan!

Hang on for the photos..keep visiting!

Tex Mex at Trudys

I was recently introduced to a very spicy and multicultural cuisine called Tex- Mex. Over the past century, Tex -Mex evolved by mixing a lot of Texan meat with north Mexican recipes. One of the many restaurants that serve Tex- Mex in Austin, 'Trudy's', is by far my favorite.

The moment you are seated, they serve baskets full of tortilla chips and tangy salsas. The salsas are mouthwatering for sure, but mind you, extremely spicy! Its so hot, that our very own, Marathi Mirchi cha thecha stands bland in comparison!

The house Margarita is one of the best I've ever had. The right amount of tequila blended with the tangy fruity flavors keeps you asking for more...(you shouldn't! its very potent too ;o) ) Trudys is known for its enchiladas. They serve the yummiest enchilada sauce with the juiciest meat possible. Along with the delicious nonvegetarian fare, (which is always so), the vegetarian fare surely deserves a mention. The portabella and spinach quesadilla are fantastic. The perfect way to end this sumptuous meal is with a 'brownie with ice cream'....tons of calories...but...Irresistible!

With all these mouthwatering details, I'm suddenly very hungry....

Want an IPod?

Believe me or not, my friend did get a FREE IPod just by referring a few friends..
go to this link, register yourself, and refer it to 5 more friends..just make sure whichever offer you choose, yo ucancel it before the free trial expires..

Loneliness

Watching the sunset
here I lie
alone
in an empty bed
an empty soul
searching for one more...
to fill up my senses
with warmth and love
with laughter
with life.

Miss you Ameya ....

Mr and Mrs Smith

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt do make an explosive couple. Well, looking at their volatile chemistry, no wonder Jennifer Aniston filed for a divorce!

I can't categorize 'Mr and Mrs Smith' into a particular genre. Lets call it a romantic action comedy! Though the plot of the movie is extremely juvenile, the action scenes where the couple teams up are fabulous. The hilarious dialogues, the comic timing and Angelina Joile's presence bowled me over...oh yes, more than Brad Pitt, Jolie impressed me with her acting, dresses and fights!! (isn't that weird!)

Go have a look guys, its worth a watch....

Home sweet home

the living room


Now that I have my laptop here and cant give any more excuses for not blogging, let me start by giving you guys a nice view of my apartment. This place is a 5 minute walk from Dell and is totally equipped with a gym and a swimming pool (not that I use it often!). It has a movie theater and a bar! My roomie and I share the apt, but its too big for the two of us. All you guys are invited.....please visit me :( !

My smokin' hot lap's here!

Yooohoooo..finally got my 700 m today. its such a relief to be connected again!

Dells going great! Too much to do in the next 10 weeks! Will keep you all posted ...

for now, my laptops getting all my attention!

Party time!

We're all gearing up for one more awesome party...but this time, it's gonna be bugger boy's farewell. Bugga boy got a job with Bosch and is moving to South Carolina. Come this Sunday, Bugger will leave Ann Arbor for good. As much as I'm happy for Bugger, I'm a bit depressed. One more 'departure' from the gang .. right meghna ;) ?? Well, let me tell you the plan for tonite. It's a costume party and China and Monto are insisting that K and I dress up either as cops or twins. Not that K and I are gonna oblige. We'd rather dress up in kinky white tops and black pants... shall put up the pics tomorrow ;) ..and you ask the drinks? theres malibu, jagermeister, stoli, sauza tequila, bacardi and loadssss of beer...somebody's gonna get drunk tonite!!!! keep visiting for updates!!

The grand Regatta...at what cost?

The 'Regatta', a word, an event, an experience....close to many a COEPian hearts. The Regatta strikes a common chord with all COEPians around the world. The boat club and the Regatta have been an integral part of life at COEP. COEP (recently renamed PIET) happens to be the only Engineering college in India which boasts of a boat club. Every year, a boat show (the regatta) is organized by about 200, 20yr olds and the whole of Pune is invited to watch the glorious boats displayed on the beautiful, mighty river, the Mula. The students toil night and day for almost a month to put up the colorful show. Thankfully, the college funds along with Pepsi or Coke take care of the monetory responsibilities.

The only thing amiss in this boat show, is safety. Every year, a few people fall in the river during practice sessions or during the actual show, and people laugh about it and let it go. But, yesterday, nobody laughed. The mighty Mula, gulped down a 20 yr old young man.

She laughed last....and the hardest.....

'Special status'

Most of my dear friends and I belong to the 'special status' group here. To my utter disgust, 'special status' doesn't necessarily mean a privileged class. It simply means an 'F' on your visa! All the employers try and stay away from us. They do empathize (actually pity) and do worry about a 'loss of talent'...but, they hardly care! Who wants to go through the hassle of filing for an 'H' when you can find a perfectly good employee who is already a citizen? I do understand the restrictions imposed upon them by 'you- know- who', but nonetheless, dont we deserve a chance? I'm sick and tired of people not even accepting our resumes. The only ray of hope they ever give me is 'apply on our website'...yeah right! as if they check!

While I whine about this mad job search, my phone buzzes.... an ex-boss calling! suddenly see a ray of hope! :)

'Spring?? Break??!!?'

To begin with, my apologies my dears, for not blogging often. I was waiting for something to 'inspire' me to write a blog all this while, and I guess, still haven't found anything that inspiring. So, might as well crib about my so called 'Spring break'.

The fact that this time of the year is called 'spring' annoys me! Its not spring..isn't spring supposed to be colorful, chirpy, bright and sunny? I've heard Ann Arbor isn't all that till about the end of April. So calling this time of the year 'Spring', is totally unjustified. So lets now call this our mid-winter break.

'Break'? yeah..it was supposed to be one! from the routine. from trampling 6" of snow on your way to and from school. from classes. from school. from studying...oops..no! God alone knows why teachers think the spring break is an excellent time to study and have mid terms right after the break! mine surely does! how i love cursing her for ruining my break! anyways... now that my 'spring break' is almost over, i have to get back to Studying... see you all then!

Still the one!

Looks like we made it

Look how far we've come my baby

We mighta took the long way

We knew we'd get there someday

They said, "I bet they'll never make it"

But just look at us holding on

We're still together still going strong

You're still the one I run to

The one that I belong to

You're still the one I want for life!

..........

A, looking forward to many many many more years of 'us'!

- n

Marriage anyone?

Whats with people? Everyone I know is getting married! It surely isn't wrong, but whats with the season? I personally know 14 couples who tied the knot this December! Congrats all of you..but, take it easy guys..
I think its the 'NRI season' as they call it, when every guy living here goes home just with the intention of getting married. 15 days to find a bride and marry her! How weird is that! How can you choose a life partner in 15 days, that too under pressure? Beats me!

Memoirs of a Geisha

This book, much to Ameya's disgust, accompanied me on my journey. I picked it up without much thought, just as something to scan through during the flight. Unfortunately for Ameya, I was literally hooked on to it! It's not that the book is a classic, but it can surely touch you. In spite of the grammatical errors and poor language, the author does manage a decent job. He opens up a Geisha's world for you and gives you a totally different picture of Japan. It's the story of a very successful Geisha and how she pines for man she loves, but never gets him! The author decribes the details beautifully and you start expecting a good story from him. But of course, it gets boring along the way, and at the end, depresses you even more. The book has many sad undertones to it but in the end, it does give you an insight in the lives of those unfortunate girls. Verdict: Don't bother reading..theres a movie releasing soon anyway!

lazy blogger

Thats what I call myself! A lazy blogger..I have so many things to write about, that I keep putting it away for the weekend, and then homework takes up my entire weekend. Isn't that a pity! But before my friends put up my name in one of the 'Pretend to blog' lists, I decided to post something.
My Greensboro, New York, NJ trip was fabulous. The entire break we ate great food (most of it Indian. thanks to the million Indian restaurants in NJ), heard good music and chilled out with friends. Ofcourse, shopped like maniacs and saw the NYC attractions. What I liked the most about NYC is not the Times square or the skyline..no doubt they're great, but what struck me, was the energy. The sheer energy of the city is intoxicating. The pace of the city is so much like Bombay, that you feel at home. A lot of Indian faces also make you very comfortable. And the crowds and the trains, definitely remind you of Bombay. My suggestion to all you guys: If you ever feel really really homesick, book a flight to NYC. I promise it'll refresh you!