Taste of Sikhism - A visit to the Gurudwara

On an invite from a colleague who was sponsoring the food at the Langar (Canteen/Kitchen) for that week, a few of my other colleagues and me visited the Gurudwara at the Palatine on Friday (Apr. 27-2012).

After covering our heads, we went into the Langar hall and there were some snacks being served. After having them, we went into the Gurudwara. Be it a temple, church, gurudwara or any other religious place, the pleasantness and the ambiance from the positive vibes floating around is the same.

The Gurudwara was a huge hall with a wooden dome in the center supported by four pillars. Within the dome rests the 'Guru Granth Sahib' which the Sikhs worship. Guru Granth Sahib is the religious book of the Sikhs. It was interesting to learn that the Sikhs actually worship this book which holds the preachings of therir Gurus,

We went into the Gurudwara during the Kirtan time and the guru and another guy were on harmonium and tabla. After every verse, they started explaining few things around it Punjabi. I was unable to get everything but was able to understand few words and connect the dots. The Kirtan lasted for close to 30 minutes and everyone was served halwa as prasad. Then the Guru Granth Sahib was folded in different layers of cloth and was taken around the hall. Everyone bowed to it while it was taken for rounds.

After the Kirtan, all of us headed towards the Langar where we all sat in rows and dinner was served. Its been quite a while since I had food in this fashion. It was similar to the way food would be served in certain house-warming (Gruha Pravesh) parties or during the Sri Rama Navami Festival in my colony in India.

The dinner included quite a few varieties - Roti, Pongal, Aloo-Capsicum curry, Dal, curd rice, and Achar. After having a sumptuous dinner we thanked the host and headed for our homes.

Adios Austin (April 17th, 2011)

It was Friday, the April 15th, I was treated by friends at Trudy's. I planned to start from Austin on the following day but coerced myself to stay in Austin on Saturday to complete our short film. However, it turned out to be a disaster.

I got up at 3AM on Sunday. I know, pretty early for a Sunday but I have a job at hand. Got ready by 4 AM and took off to Chicago. My car was filled with so much stuff that I could barely view the rear. Feeling sorry for the state of my car and the long journey ahead, I recited Mrityunjay mantra for 108 times while driving.

I then put in the Ramayanam Pravachanam by Chaganti Koteswara Rao into my music player and started listening to it. Don't mistake me to be an oldie, I'm just inquisitive to learn things and if possible implement. Also, it is better to follow a story to be awake rather than swaying to melodies while driving for so long.

The last memory of Austin was the rising sun at 6 AM along the Texan meadows. It was the most beautiful sunrise I could remember. I went crazy at its sight and stopped my car on the middle of the road to take a picture with my new iPhone which I gifted myself for successful in making a career change which I always dreamt for. Since, I haven't explored all the features of the phone yet and did not have enough to time to assemble my SLR on the middle of the road, I could not make complete justice to the picture but honestly the view was a feast to anyone's eyes.

I drove till Rolla, Missouri by 6PM with just a couple of fuel breaks and while sipping Gatorade. I thought of having a heavy Indian lunch but when I called up my friends who were grad students at Rolla for suggestions on a good Indian restaurant, they mentioned that Rolla doesen't have any. I was shocked considering the number and the plight of the Indian students at the University. I went into Starbucks and ate some junk food and bought some fruits for the night in the store beside. Then started hunting for a cheap but decently reviewed motel. I pinned on one and finally went to bed by about 10 PM after chatting with my mom and reporting my well-being.

I then started by 6 AM on Monday and reached Chicago by mid-day, again skipping lunch. I love sipping the Vanilla Mc Shake while on long drives and considering its calorie count, I don't feel lunch necessary :).

After reaching the suburbs of Chicago, I stopped again by another Starbucks and started browsing on my housing alternatives which I researched from Austin. Thanks to their free internet incentive, I would never have stepped into any Starbucks store if not for the incentive as I don't consume coffee.

After checking a couple of options, I visited downtown and after unloading my luggage at Avi's place. I parked my car on the road based on my friend's suggestion and here comes the twist. Next morning, my first day in Chicago, I was welcomed by the city by towing away my car. I had to pay $180 and the cost for the cab to get there to free my car.

Most people who know me would know that I would be distraught after getting my car towed away. But, thanks to my new found skill I was practicing, I was rather happy to pay the fee. Don't judge me by thinking something is wrong with me. The skill is to practice "Stitha Pragnyatha" - The art of being unperturbed by emotions be it happiness or sadness.

Thus, I bid adieu to my home after home (Austin) after staying there for close to four years of my life. More importantly, its the quality of the four years and the unforgettable things that I have learnt here that matter rather than the quantity.

A trip to Niagara Falls (July 2011)

On Friday, July 1st 2011, I rented a car from enterprise and was lucky to get a new sedan with just about 100 miles on the odometer. I picked up MJ and Tanu and then we hit the long weekend traffic and reached Neha's place. We picked Avi and Neha at her place and then started for a memorable and my probably first exclusive road trip to Niagara.

The GPS was fed and we were on our way. I was driving and MJ was my navigator. We started up with a fun game in which one player thinks of a famous personality and the remaining can ask upto ten questions to identify the personality and the answers from the player could be nothing other than a 'Yes' or a 'No'. I thought of Tantia Tope (freedom fighter from the first war of independence) and was caught by the 6th round. I cannot recollect what Avi thought of but he did win as we could not crack it.

Meanwhile, while we were engrossed in the excitement and the game, we missed an exit and did not bother much as the GPS re-directed its path. But sooner than later we found that we were going to Niagara via Canada and thus had to change course which added an hour more to our destination.

We stopped by a junk food store for a quick dinner by 11:30 PM. The funny part is that I ended up eating salad at a junk restaurant which seemed like the only option for a veggie. MJ took over the wheel and Tanu being her navigator drove till the wee hours of morning. We saw signs of a 'Mustang' driver initially but was smooth enough later for me to have a quick 30 min nap. By early morning, Avi took over and I navigated him and we reached Niagara by close to 7 AM. We were able to see the rising mist on our way.

After driving for the whole night, it was time for us to freshen up. We had a quick and a quite good Indian breakfast at an Indian restaurant which was actually a small truck. We then went to the visitor's center got our tickets and then decided that we would visit "Maid of the Mist" and "Cave of the Winds" before retiring to our hotel.

I took some pictures with my SLR before the Niagara falls and then headed towards the "Maid of the Mist" . I did not dare to open my SLR before it but caught a snap and a video from my iPhone. I haven't seen anything more beautiful, anything so gigantic and roaring with ferocity but yet pleasant.

We were all excited to witness this marvelous wonder of the nature. After taking some more photographs we then went ahead to the 'Cave of the Winds'. Here, we went to the top most location and stood directly under the falls and were completely drenched. The hot summer dried us in no time and we took the bus to visit all the remaining views of the falls.

We were all tired with the lack of food and sleep. So, we decided to have lunch at one of the Punjabi restaurant. We had a sumptuous lunch and everyone was so sleepy now that no one volunteered to drive to the hotel. Seeing the state of my friends, I decided to drive but I was equally tired after just sleeping for about thirty minutes last night. Neha was navigating me and as assumed everyone was fast asleep within a couple of minutes. Neha, being my navigator held her sleep for sometime but not for long. Here comes the scary part, soon my eyes were closing so much that I could concentrate on only one thing i.e., the car in front of me. I was sure I would not crash into it but was no way keeping the eyes on the route to take. I missed a few exits and turns but thanks to my driving skills, I brought everyone safely to the hotel.

Avi, MJ and I shared a room while Tanu and Neha were in the adjacent room. We took a quick shower hit the bed so hard that we didn't know the world until the alarm rang at 6PM. We decided to take an other look at 'The Niagara' in the lights and as it was not very exciting we left the place for some fireworks organized by the Casino. We parked our car in a ground and I set up my tripod and my SLR camera waiting for the fireworks to begin.

We then had our dinner and then left for the Casino. This was the first time, I entered a Casino. Though, I did not like the ambience of the place surrounded with the smoke from cigars and alcohol, it was a good experience to see Neha play. Ofcourse, I was a mere spectator, partly because I was from old school of thought who thinks not to invest money in gambling and partly because I'm miser enough to give away my money to someone (Odds are always in favor of Casino).

 We retired to our beds by about 3 AM and finally had a good sleep till 9 in the morning. Then we started to think of our plans for Sunday. After a quick research on the web, I found that the famous Pittsburgh Venkatachalam temple is not very far. After searching on the map, we found it was on our way back to Chicago with a very slight deviation. Everyone nodded with the plan, so we decided that we would have a quick breakfast in some Subway and then have our lunch at the temple canteen and the famous Udipi restaurant near the temple. We also decided on meeting a mutual friend of ours, Prasad alias Rapdas in Columbus and then thought of having our dinner at 'The Dosa Place' in Columbus, Ohio. Rapdas was soon leaving US to pursue his Phd at the 'London Business School'. He was my senior at my grad school and we shared good compatibility during his six month stay in Austin.

We went to the Pittsburgh temple and after offering our prayers, we had a good lunch at the temple canteen. We were too full to go eat at Udipi and so we just had some Mango Lassi, Coffee there and then started for Columbus at 6 PM. Since, it was already late on our schedule, it was late for 'The Dosa Place'. We reached Columbus by 9:30 PM and stopped by Rapdas' place. He then took us to a Mexican place for dinner. I struggled to finish my dinner as my stomach was already full to start with. We then bid adieu to him and started back on our road trip to Chicago and were all back to our mundane responsibilities preparing for the weekday next. However, the wonderful memory in our minds will never be erased.....

A trip to CA... (Jul 4th, 2010)

Again trying to dig into a few old and sweet memories before letting them escape. So, jotting down in April 2012.

This is by far the most enjoyable trip. After learning my lessons from the 'Trip to Orlando', I understood that more than the place, the people make the trip memorable and have decided to choose my travelers carefully.

This time I was invited by one of my very few best friends. Praveen to visit CA since it was about 2 years since we last met.

To give you a brief intro about Praveen, he was my school mate where I knew him as an acquaintance and was one among many friends. But, our friendship grew as we lived in the same neighborhood and both of us joined CBIT in different departments. He slowly became my friend, philosopher and guide. Soon, we spent almost all our free times together, traveled together to college (almost 4 hrs a day), prepared for competitive exams CAT, GRE, TOEFL together, used to play cricket and soccer in the corridors, ping-pong on dining tables, infact we played chess together and defeated the computer for the first time, which built so much confidence in me that I ended up playing for the college team in a few months. I knew him inside out and so did he.

Now, getting an invite from him to visit CA was irresistible and I knew that we belong to the same psychological frequencies and so would not face any issues I faced in my last trip to Orlando. I happily accepted the trip to CA.

Luckily, for the first time, my flight was on time and I reached Los Angeles. Praveen along with three of his friends drove all the way from Tempe, AZ to Los Angeles and picked me up from the airport. We all then drove to Six Flags Magic Mountain Park. Bought our tickets using some student discounts and employee discounts and then the adventure begins......Rides and Roller Coasters all along....

We covered all the MAX thrill rides which meant the scariest ones. However, the most precarious one was Goliath. It takes us about 300 feet high and drops us a speed of 85 mph into a tunnel 120 ft below ground level. Its ferocity multiplies as the harness is only at the abdomen and not for the torso.

After finishing the day with rides, the special attraction of the Magic Mountain awaited us, 'X2'. We had to stand in the queue for almost 2 hours but the anxiousness coupled with few kissing couples and other mundane surroundings passed the time. Its strange that South Indians have to make an analogy with Tirumala whenever a queue of such magnitude is visible :)

The ride lived up to its expectations which states, "State-of-the-art visual, audio, and sensory effects move X from the 4th dimension to the 5th as it transforms into X2!".


We drove to Long Beach after the adventurous day. Closing the eyes in the car meant sitting back on a roller coaster again. We had a quick dinner and stopped at Long Beach. My junior from CBIT provided us accommodation and we troubled them late in the night as it was close to midnight by the time we reached their place. We slept over and then started for the new day of adventure.

We started for the Malibu temple located in the Santa Monica mountains. The temple was beautiful and the scenery was mind blowing.

We then visited the Santa Monica Beach and drove all the way to San Diego and retired for the day.

The new day started with Sea World and all that I missed in Orlando's Sea World was covered here. The  Killer Whale Shamu as always stole the show and the act by Dolphins was no less.

After Sea world, we decided to have more fun as there was some time left for sunset. So, we decided to try out jet-skiing and here starts the adventure.

I and Praveen rented out a jet-ski and started out in the middle of the Pacific ocean. There were lot of weeds in the ocean and we were told that we might need to get into the water and remove the weed from under the ski if it gets in. Praveen started riding it and I was with him in the pillion seat. After few minutes, the weed got in and I was too scared to get into the water with my bare minimum swimming skills. With no choice left, Praveen himself got into the water and removed the weeds and got back. After a few minutes, he was riding close to 40 mph and sitting back with the waves of the Pacific ocean, I had no choice but to hold him. Suddenly, his hands slipped from the handle and both of us flew into the ocean with me having no idea about what was happening. Before, I could sense anything I was atleast 2 meters under water and for a split second was wondering if I would float and live or drown and die. The life vest was good enough to help me float and I swam to the jet ski and got onto it. I did not get a hang of the jet ski as I was going in circles and creating a whirlpool around us (However, I mastered it back in Austin and now ride at speeds no less than the max. possible speed a jet ski can withstand - 55 to 60 mph).

After the adventurous day, the next day was meant for Universal Studios. We reached early and visited most of the rides before the crowd started building up. The main attractions were the hollywood sets and an act made by TV actors (snaps below). The act looked so realistic and with no 2nd takes. It was a fitting finale.

I bid my adios to the beautiful city and my friends and left for the mundane week ahead.

The best part of the trip was that we were five people and still punctual enough to leave the hotel rooms between 6 to 8 AM. This was by far the best vacation I had ever spent.

A memorial day trip to Orlando (2010)

Yes, I visited Orlando in 2010 but jotting it down in April of 2012. A test to my memory but better do it now before it vanishes completely into thin air...

After struggling through my Masters and not having stepped out of Texas, I was eager to visit some darn place and was just waiting for an invitation from someone to tag along. During these moments, Sharath, my friend from CBIT, asked me to join him for a trip to Orlando during the memorial day weekend. I was excited but all the excitement was shortlived looking at the ticket fares. It was just two days before memorial day and the price of the air fare was more than half the fare to India. It took him some convincing from my friend and finally I chose happiness over $$$.

The plan was laid out and the places to visit were discussed. I must say, Sharath did a good job digging out  craigslist to find entry tickets to theme parks for half the price and with zero risk as we had the option of paying the vendor after the entry into the themepark.

Now its time to go!!! Yay!!! But......

Nothing unusual, god always tests my patience, the flight was delayed by close to five hours which means one day out of the 2.5 days trip is already lost :-(

Accepting the fate, I took the flight and reached at about 6:30 PM in Orlando. Sharath along with his room mate drove from Jacksonville in Florida. They picked me up at Orlando and we all drove to the Sea World. The first place, they took me was to a roller coaster known as "Manta". If you speak Telugu then you know what it means :D. The closest I've been to a roller coaster till date was the 'Merry Columbus' ship in India. It sways up and down along its center to emulate riding on huge waves. Anyway, back to 'Manta', this one is in a completely different league. It overturns the chairs into a 90 degree angle such that your face faces the floor and then rides along the loopy, curvy and topsy-turvy path. After successfully finishing the ride, we moved along to a Shamu show. The killer whale is a show stealer. Calling it a day, we moved to a restaurant and had a sumptuous meal and there is the first surprise in store for me.

As I haven't traveled much, its imperative that I am a bad planner. I just learnt that we did not have a place to stay. So, after some inquiries in the restaurant, we were given an address which supposedly would be our place to stay. However, the GPS asks us to take an exit left of the freeway where there isn't one and we tried and tried to fish the address resulting in going through the same path for six times before giving up and then moved to a different place and parked our car and started doing Market Research at 1 AM in the night to find the cheapest and decent place which can accommodate three of us.
We found one and our hero Sharath started driving on the left side of a road with a huge median. Luckily, since it was mid-night we escaped unscathed. He just drove into the nearest driveway when I mentioned it to him coolly that he was driving on the left side of the road.

We slept, got up a little late and then had to go to Walmart and buy few things and then had a quick breakfast. It was already 12 noon and my impatience was rising by the minute as the money paid at the theme park was not being optimized/utilized to the maximum. It started raining and we also realized that we did not have print outs of the entry tickets but have them in the email. After trying and trying, and the nearest fedex being few miles away, we decided to try it with the barcode numbers.

We parked our car and went in with the barcode numbers and they were accepted. Finally, it was 2PM by the time we entered the "Island of Adeventure", a theme park of universal. It was a day of exotic rides. We pretty much tried every single scary ride after buying the gold pass we could skip most of the lines. After having fun, we returned to our parking space thinking about the plans for the night. We then realized the 2nd surprise in store for us.

We forgot the place where we parked our car in the confusion and anxiousness of working the tickets with barcode numbers instead of the print outs. After trying to fish around for more than 30 minutes, we asked a parking attendant and he was kind enough to help us by asking the time when we entered the park and then directing us to the lot where we have parked the car.

We then watched a movie and returned to our base after another sumptuous dinner. Now at about 11 PM, Sharath wanted to go to a Beach which is about 80 miles away from Orlando. His room-mate nicely scrapped the idea and returned to bed. However, the typical me who wants to extract the maximum out of anything nodded but then was skeptical looking at the secondary plans he had. However, looking at his reaction, I agreed and after driving for about 40 miles, we realized it would be stupid to try this out and our plans next day would be ruined on executing this impromptu. Hence, we decided to turn back.

As usual, we woke up late and Sharath always makes sure he would be last to wake up such that he can get the maximum amount of sleep. I knew him from the college days, he was my roomie during our North India tour.

It was about 12:30 PM by the time we entered 'EPCOT', a theme park in Disney. I was really furious by this time as I have a flight to catch at 4:30 PM and the entry ticket is close to $100, which means I just had close to three hours. This invigorated a petty argument between me and Sharath and it was kind of him to ask me what he needs to do now even amidst the argument. Not knowing what to ask, I asked him to reduce the time on photography and try to cover the utmost possible. He agreed and we tried out our best to cover the majority of the theme park but definitely not the entire park.

He then dropped me at the airport and I flew back to Austin with some good memories and an unforgivable argument being the scar of the tour.

The lesson learnt is that we were people of two different attitudes, one carefree and the other always  looking for 'bang for the buck'. It takes just a moment of uncontrollable emotion to scar a beautiful and memorable trip.

After a 21 month exile...

After reading a blog on the web, there was an urge in me to read certain posts in my blog due to the similarity of thoughts in both the blogs. After reading mu blog, I must admit that I felt an air of immaturity surrounding my writings eventhough I know that the thoughts were mature enough, they were just not emulated well into words.

The eyes of optimism anyway tell me that there is a remarkable improvement in my thought pattern and writing abilities  as I feel I can express better :P.

So let me take a stab at it and here goes my first post after a 21 month exile....

What did I do in these 21 months and what changes have been brought to fore ?

This would be an awfully big post and would not be appropriate to answer in a single post, so will split it up into a few posts but to give a snapshot,

Got into HSBC, moved to Chicago, visited Miami, Keywest, Yellowstone and made some new friends, drove all the way to Niagara Falls from Chicago during the night and drove back to Chicago via Pittsburgh Venkatachalam temple with four other friends.

So, to summarize there was an all round improvement in career, personality and enjoyment.

A monk or a monarch!!!

A monk or a monarch - who is happier??

This is the million dollar question that I went through during different phases of my life.

The middle class family status in India is probably the worst as they try to induce themselves into the life style of someone who they aren't. Being born and brought up in such a middle-class family, I always had a burning desire to breakthrough into the riches and affluence. I even had some crazy ideas of becoming the richest man in the world reflecting on the hindi proverb - Khayalon mein khami kyun- What's the need to show misery in dreams?

So, where is the end of this story? - A richer man wants to get more and more richer and a king might want to occupy more lands and expand his kingdom and fame. As an example, entire India was under Ashoka's rule except for a small kingdom named Kalinga. But, Ashoka did not want to spare even that. So, if we assume that the riches would make a person happy then the happiness is very intermittent and would always replace itself with a new desire.

On the other extremity, a saint who renounces all the worldly pleasures and is just happy to spend all his life for the search of god, the eternal bliss or the ultimate aura has nothing to accomplish, nothing to prove to the world. Is this guy really happy? We have seen the likes of Ashoka and Siddhartha (Buddha) who turned into saints from royal origins but I cannot recollect a saint turning into a kings. So, did these great people realize something to renounce everything they had? Did they actually evolve? or is it just that they could not accomplish to become a monarch? I guess we would never know.

I personally feel that the monk is more happier and his life is more fuller than that of a monarch. However, its one such question which might not have an answer.

Eat, Pray, and Love

A good read especially when I am on my own spiritual search. The author after being devastated by her divorce searches for her inner-self and her identity by trying to connect herself with a bit of fun and a bit of spirituality in Italy, India, and Indonesia. Time and change of place heals all wounds.

Some good quotes from this book were:

"The Yogic sages say that all the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy. We get seduced by our own mantras(I’m a failure . . . I’m lonely . . . I’m a failure . . . I’m lonely . . .) and we become monuments to them."

I went through this phase when I used to call myself lonely as well as failure, may be to motivate my ownself  towards success, but the idea definitely back fired causing me pain and sadness. However, I transformed just by adjusting my thinking to 'I'm lucky and I'm happy'. Just by doing this small adjustment, I am able to find happiness in loneliness and now regard loneliness as an opportunity to learn and do things without wasting the time away.

Obviously, there are infinite things to learn and do and I now see loneliness as an opportunity to learn and live all my childhood fantasies.

 

 

 ‎"It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection."

In life, we often compare ourselves with others and get ready to trade our life with others who are doing better than us. But, if we are seeking someone's life then we always look at the brighter side of their life and often ignore the flip side denoting the sacrifices the person has to make. Its needless to say that we loose our own identity in doing so and every person has his/her own identity in their own way. 

But without comparison one cannot assess if he is progressing or regressing in his career. Therefore, comparison is essential. So there needs to be a change in the elements that are being compared. So, rather than comparing  with others, comparing ourselves on a time line would help in assessing the path on which one is traveling. 

Comparing one with another is analogous to comparing horses with mules and it only makes the mule sad that it cannot be a horse or it makes the horse proud that its not a mule. A mule would apparently love to trade life with a horse but would just torture itself performing the role of a horse.

Also, comparing a stick with a bigger one would dishearten it whereas comparing a stick with a smaller one would induce pride. Both of them are equally preposterous.

Philosophical me (Quotes)

Success is a chain reaction but failure is often its ignitor. -Siva Karthik
Success is the strongest intoxication one can ever experience. -Siva Karthik
Every bad moment is followed by some good ones. -Siva Karthik
Beauty without brains is like air without oxygen. -Siva Karthik
Life is an optimization problem with complex constraints. - Siva Karthik
Old: Reap as you sow; New: Sow what you would like to reap. -Siva Karthik
Today's sacrifice will be repaid tomorrow but don't sacrifice all todays until there isn't any other tomorrow left.   -Siva Karthik
Life is a see-saw. Sometimes you might need to move downwards to move upwards.   -Siva Karthik
Life is so similar to the game of chess, there are multiple options but just one best move!!! -Siva Karthik 
What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. -Leo Tolstoy

The Namesake

This Pulitzer prize winning book presents a nice cultural transition between India and USA. The book has a couple of touching moments but on the whole its very slow paced and very descriptive.

The book showed glimpses of my future and somehow reinforced the thought of getting back home.

Similarities b/w 3 idiots and FPS

Here are the similarities between 3 idiots and FPS:

1) Ryan - Rancho (The Macho)
2) Alok - Raju (The fearsome guy who alone reads in the group)
3) Hari - Farhan (Accepts Ryan on everything)
4) Virus - Cherian (The strict dean and father of Neha)
5) Neha - Piya
6) Venkat - Chatur
7) Ragging scene
8) Jumping from the building and breaking 15 bones
9) Neha's Brother committing suicide
10) Nehas's brother writes a letter secretly to Neha without knowing abt it to her father.
11) Neha giving the keys and they robbing the question paper and getting caught because of the phone call.
12) Maruthi Car as dowry for Alok's sister's engagement.
13) Mutter Paneer in Alok's house
14) Alok's father having paralysis.
15) Traveling triples on Ryan's moped (Changed to Piya's).
16) All the three are ranked last in the class (Ryan is made the topper in the movie)
17) What is a machine?
18) Drinking on the rooftop
19) Ryan ends up as research assistant so as Phunsuk Wangdu.
20) Alok moving with Venkat.
21) Ryan taking Alok's dad on his moped when his father gets an attack.

The movie revolved along the same plotline but was twisted at places to create the bollywood effect and to escape the ditto copy comment. However, it now looks like that the changes were made to take away the credit from Chetan Bhagat.

J.P.'s views on bifurcation into two states

Part1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_5raxeeYE8&feature=related
Part2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFmNUyv6D5g&feature=related
Part3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tteA2rfrVv0&feature=related
Part4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE65vIlmiwI&feature=related
Part 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE2PiPnccWM&feature=related

2 States - Chetan Bhagat

Amazing, Fabulous, marvelous and all the superlatives possible. A novel that made me laugh like a mad man and clap like a kid. Fantastic sense of humor. How the hell did he portray it so well and why the hell did he do it. I am not sure of others but expressing his own feelings for her proved contagious for me as I fell partly in love with Ananya. It fascinated me so much that I was considering an option to do an MBA from IIM eventhough I am working in US of A presently. "I cannot still forget the line: The little mole below her lips occupies 50% of my mindspace".

It had so many things that one can learn presented in a humorous and fun loving way. Yes, every one in this world is a pyscho and I am one amongst them and hence enjoyed your suffering but it was obvious you fought your way through and married the girl you wanted. Forgiveness, humanity (dad talking to Ananya's parents), etc are very well depicted. The equality of different clans and one clan mocking other was superbly pictured.

The only part that makes my heart heavy is the J factor, you have your Ananya but where's mine....

I know your books have fiction in them but they are so close to reality that you cannot make it out. But, I am happy believing the book in entirety is absolutely true.

This is not a novel but a personal diary in which the problems in post love are depicted with humorous analogies. And, I cannot deny the fun in reading others personal diaries is magnanimous.

This novel can definitely be used for a hit bollywood movie. Damn sure, if nobody sneaks in an opportunity, I would try someday in my life.

Please keep writing,
Siva

One night at a call center

Today it was the turn of One night at a call center. Somehow, I think Chetan was forced to write this book because of the gal he met in the train. Yes, he wrote it in the best possible way, the story had a moral insight and brought shivers down my spine when "GOD" was active in the story but did not have the magic of FPS.

What not to do at work

So the two things that comes to anyone's mind when they hear about five point someone are:
1) Chetan Bhagat and
2) What not to do in IITs.

I am calling this as version 2 because this is about What not to do at work.

You must be awed that I did not read any of Chetan Bhagat's novels until yesterday. Yes, it is damn true and this guy is the inspiration to all youth writers. All your pals start calling you as the next Chetan if you do a marginally good job writing an article and also call you the same for the wrong reasons if you do a bad job. The reason for not able to read this book was a denial to share the novel with me by some of my friends saying that I may get spoiled after reading it. You might have guessed by now that I belong to the cadre of Venkat (the antagonist) in the book. Even then, I was able to enjoy the book and almost found myself in soup when I was unable to control myself laughing out loud.

So yesterday at work I started reading Five Point Someone to see how good a writer my friend Chetan is? and ofcourse I was so captivated that I read the book in five hours straight at work (That's why I called this "what not to do at work").

One thing that really surprised me in the book was: Ryan enquiring his professor about gym machine which actually increases human effort and so is not a machine according to the definition of Professor Dhubey and the professor unable to answer it.

According to me, Gym machine is still a machine according to Dhubey because the purpose of body building is made easier with lesser human effort than building a body by natural exercise. But, professor Dhubey's definition fails to mention that human body is still a machine and human body reducing human effort is a bit absurd.

One thing that glued me to the book was the romance of Neha and Hari but was kinda sad when I read the prologue that he got married to Anusha Bhagat and not Neha. I should also applaud the guts of Chetan for mentioning all the romance with his HOD's (Cherian's) daughter in a book and publicly sharing it. I could not have done it as my conscience would not have agreed upon.

I also felt that he over-exaggerated at few places but he covered it up saying that it is his own point of view. However, when I started the prologue of "One Night at a Call Center", I am not surprised when the girl said it is an OK-OK book but he definitely is a very very very captivating writer

Lastly, I am dying to watch 3 idiots now which is Five Point Someone and my guess is as good as yours.

Aamir is Ryan
Madhavan is Hari
Sharman is Alok and
Kareena is Neha.


Wowowowowoww.

Being on wheels

As most of you might know by now, I am a jack of all and there are very few things that I have not tried out. One such thing is roller skating.

On Sunday afternoon, I wanted to test my GPS as well as my skating skills. With a new vigor in life, I fed the address of the skating rink on my GPS and moved to the skating rink. I reached the skating rink 30 minutes ahead and so started preparing myself for the big stage. Hahaha...I just kept listening to some sweet songs in my car.

Huh!!! Its time. I entered into the skating rink thinking that I might be the only person who being so old and hitting the rink for the first time. Oh yeah, you must have sensed it by now, its my Day 1. I was filled with some excitement, some eagerness, a little embarrassment, and a little happiness that I am learning something new.

I paid the fee at the counter and moved inside, I tried skating shoes of size 11, then switched to 12 and finally size 13 fit my huge feet and now I'm on wheels.

Now, I went to a separate section on the rink where Michael was taking public lessons on how to skate. Oh man, during the first 30 minutes, I was the only person in 20's who is starting to skate. I was slightly discouraged but I have this "never give up" attitude which never fades. I believe in "Better late than Never". So, Michael asked us ( few kids and me) to do certain drills and then I hit the rink. By the time, I hit the rink, I could see some guys and gals in their late teens/early 20s trying out skating. Uff, I am not alone anymore.

It was an awesome experience skating around. I felt as if I was a one year old baby learning how to stand, walk and run. Yeah, it was tough to maintain the balance especially for tall people because the center of gravity of the human body lies a bit higher. Oh yeah, I grasped the concept but not the application. Yes, learning to skate at younger ages is much easier as you are short and light.

I hurt my hands and ankle, fell more than 3 times in my 150 minute run, nonetheless it was a great experience. I behaved more so like a child who wants to try again even after falling without getting deterred by the fall. The effort was much more satisfying when people around mentioned that I was very good for the first day.

Its a must try experience for everyone if you haven't before...Good luck and share your experiences too.

More to go and more to try,
Siva

My experiences with handling a pistol

On a chilly Saturday afternoon of November, I moved to Red's Indoor Shooting range with a long held desire to operate a gun. The desire to operate a pistol arose from my interests to aim at things. I still remember the days when me along with some friends used to make bows and arrows from broom sticks and make darts out of needles and broom sticks to aim at calendars.

So, I started driving and missed my route but somehow made it to my destination. I was shocked to see that the parking was almost full. Wow!!! so many people with their own guns in their cases, rifles, and also children of age 12.

I filled a couple of forms and then I was allowed to hold the Wesson and Smith 0.22 mm pistol after being instructed on how to use, load and unload it. It was a basic pistol but I could see the very early concepts used while designing a gun.



Now, it was time to roll. I fixed my camera on the tripod, loaded the gun and started shooting at my target which was 7 meters away. I was neither consistent nor precise but atleast was close to both. I applauded myself that I was good for a first timer. After I shot 80 rounds, the target sheet was full of bullet holes and I cannot make out where I am shooting, so I started aiming at the head portion of the target and also changed the hold on my gun to a much casual approach and I was able to put all the 6 bullets into the head of the target, Hurray!!! I made it.



All in all, it was a great experience to hold a gun and shoot 100 rounds

My Personal Website

Yesterday, I created my personal website and it took me about 6 house of intense work to do it. Here is the link: https://webspace.utexas.edu/sk22957/Siva/home.html


Was it so simple. I almost postponed it for 2 years. May be I was very busy with other things (Passing the bug may be). However, I never expected to produce a personal website in 6 hours time if not I would have done it much before. Now, I am impressed by my efforts (The fruit of success is always sweet) and now I am a satisfied man. Another feather in my cap....HTML...LOL

'The Wall' is back

I bow to the persistent determination of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid....They proved us all wrong by making a reentry to the competitive cricket. Ganguly did perform well after his comeback and I hope Rahul will also prove his mettle and makes an entry with a bang. I wish him good luck.

8/14/2009

Today, I traveled and additional 20 miles after work just to play 2 hours of cricket....Is it worth it....Oh yeah...I played some aggressive cricket...Though I am well known as a bowler...I liked the contribution I made with the bat when the team was in tatters at 13/4.

I need a car desperately to travel so far and comeback home....Its hard to travel 10 miles via bus at 9 pm but I cant loose the fun especially when performing well :)