Yo
Was just reading the TOI.Thought it would unwind me after a long and tiring day.But look what i get to read.These were the headlines in the Cities--->Pune section as of 5.47 Pm ET on Oct 21 2003.
Read the headlines ...just them ,,,
What the heck is Pune coming to? All news seems to point to negativity and pessimism.A truck accident ,spread of dengue,dismissal of workers....missing babies (sic) and self imposed crusaders of morality decing whats rite and whats not...YUCKKKKKKKKKK.....
Felt really sad .BoooHooooooooooo
PUNE HEADLINES
Sena to launch protest against massage parlours
Police probe nurses' role in stolen baby case
Cracker sellers go on rampage
Pollution high in regional rivers
BJP in fix over Rasne's role in riot
Woman dies of dengue
15 PMC employees dismissed for laxity
Missing baby found
Assessment rate for property tax approved
Snag delays issuance of certificates
Truck mishap kills eight
Out of dengue, and back to life!
Cadbury sales take a beating
=================================
PS : I still love pune with all my heart.This blog is not to be taken as a reflection of my thoughts about the city
:)

Yo
What a lazy tuesday afternoon.Just back from a satisfying lunch,and sitting here in the cold lab with Mukesh songs playing merily in the background,I am absolutely in no mood to do anything at all.btw I finally have a desk and a pc of my own (Psst ...it comes with a cd burner :D)
Its funny what a good desi style lunch can do to u if u have one in the afternoon.Blessed are those luck enuff to have one .
I had made "Palak bhaji in buttermilk "...thats the best way i know to put what i had done.Its one of my favorites.It took me quite a while to do the stuff yesterday,but in the end the wait was worth it.:DMy cooking resume is looking pretty impressive in the last couple of months.I havce successfully executed kandya chi bhaji with pith,Pawbhaji,matki usal and palak yesterday.
hehe,,,,every monday I have to solve the cooking conundrum and decide what to cook for the nite.I am a lucky dawg.Momday is the first day of the week so I am virtually free to do what i like and choose.As the week proceeds the choices narrow down.Pretty smart of me then to choose monday as my cooking day...aint it??
:))
Tats
PS: went to south beach and ocean drive ,,,,AWESOME..................

Wow
i am writing again exactly afetr a month. The exams are staring me in the face.Got a BIG test coming up in 10 days.If I do well my confidence is gonna boom....and vice verca.The highlight of the past month was the farewell to mama aka Keni.
Hes moved to Cali. the land of his dreams to look for a job.Mama (We call him that affectionately) was my senior in the biomed dept and my roomie since february.I wish mama all the best esp since nice things should happen to nice people like him

Sentiments aside the fun part was definitely setting up the Ganapati in our house for 5 days.It was a nice change for all of us.The presence of a ganesha idol (which btw cost us a cool 50 bucks) seemed to restore some sanity in teh otherwise chaotic proceedings that dominate in 411.Satyas back and he made his presence felt bt making supreme contributions in our kitchen.On ganseh chaturthi we cooked the following items 1) Shira 2) Batata bhaji 3) Kakdhi koshimbir 4) Waran bhat

Served lunch for like 25 HUNGRY guys that day.It goies without saying that a GRAD student is ALWAYS hungry.I mean doent matter whath time of the day.The pangs of hunger just never subside.

Of course last but not the least it was my birthday and once again it was FUN.Roomies gifted me a VCR. good blokes all of them more like a family now ......................
More later
Adios Amigos
Tats

Wow
i am writing again exactly afetr a month. The exams are staring me in the face.Got a BIG test coming up in 10 days.If I do well my confidence is gonna boom....and vice verca.The highlight of the past month was the farewell to mama aka Keni.
Hes moved to Cali. the land of his dreams to look for a job.Mama (We call him that affectionately) was my senior in the biomed dept and my roomie since february.I wish mama all the best esp since nice things should happen to nice people like him

Sentiments aside the fun part was definitely setting up the Ganapati in our house for 5 days.It was a nice change for all of us.The presence of a ganesha idol (which btw cost us a cool 50 bucks) seemed to restore some sanity in teh otherwise chaotic proceedings that dominate in 411.Satyas back and he made his presence felt bt making supreme contributions in our kitchen.On ganseh chaturthi we cooked the following items 1) Shira 2) Batata bhaji 3) Kakdhi koshimbir 4) Waran bhat

Served lunch for like 25 HUNGRY guys that day.It goies without saying that a GRAD student is ALWAYS hungry.I mean doent matter whath time of the day.The pangs of hunger just never subside.

Of course last but not the least it was my birthday and once again it was FUN.Roomies gifted me a VCR. good blokes all of them more like a family now ......................
More later
Adios Amigos
Tats

Yo
Fall has well and truly started and in just 3 days I am beginning to feel the heat! pun intended ...actually its a tri-pun,,,heat of the course work..the miami heat and of course the HOT crowd...man,,,,,,..FIU ought to be the most glam campuses around....unbeleivable crowd..boy!!!
This semester I have dedicated myself to understanding and studying Proteins and their structure and what not.Took 2 courses in the same field and to top that off I am doing a sit thro in biochemistry class.I hope I gain a lot in this 3 months and if i dont get in the act now I beleive i probably never will.

Add to this the excitement of being in 411....Man our house is a BUZZ of activity these days....at any given time of teh day and for that matter night there seem to be a min of 4 people in my house (that makes it 10...if u include our 6 members)
Planning to install Ganesha idol in our home for teh coming festival .I am all enthu aboout it.I am not a highly religious person but somehow "Lord Ganesha " seems to bring out the religious bent of my mind.

Watched Roddick in full blast againt Henman the other day.A pity is was a first round game.Saw Sampras cry on center court in his farewell ceremony.He was/ is GOD...Booming serve,a ripper forehand a rock solid backhand and delectable volleying skills.He wasnt the most fun to watch but when it comes to ruthless ability to win and raise the game under pressure he must be the best ...best ever..We will miss u sampras and tennis will be poorer since it lost a champion.
Thats it for the day folks
Tats
layer

Yo
Lots seems to be happening.Summer is almost drawing to a close.Classes start from next monday .Fortunately I have just one class to take and i am done with the course work.Mite do a sit through on a couple of other courses and start working on my thesis.That thought is now the foremost on my mind.Looks like the Fall 03 semester is going to be a busy one and exciting one for me.Of course thers the INdia trip that i am eagerly looking forward too.
I recall at the start of summer I told roomies that the summer was gonna be a long and boring one.Only the initial part came true.4 months is a pretty long summer isint it..but it certainly wasnt dull or boring. Since I was on a contract I was coming to school almost everyday and was trying desperately hard to inculcate the Amru way of working 9-5.That unfortunately I am struggling to achieve.But still I have made a start.Coming to school at 9-30 in the morning is an achievement to feel proud of.The advantages are numerous.You can pack off by 5,,,take a lil nap at home and go gymming or play tennis.It is fast turning into one of my favorite sports.I always enjoyed watching the game esp matches involving Becker..Agassi and Rafter. But now I realise that playing the game is just as much fun as watching it! Back home tennis was exorbitantly expensive.I think it was 60 bucks an hour and the cost of tennis balls was like 150 for a set of 3.Who was gonna fund me for that??? Here its so simple.Thers a tennis court on the terrace of my apt.A racket costs 20$ and we share the ball price.SO simple!!
hmm..food for thought.If we can make facilities available at a reasonable cost to the Middle class families youngsters will be willing to move away from cricket and football and try out their hand at comparitively expensive sports like golf and tennis.Get the point? India lost a budding tennis player.,....he went to MIami instead to do MS in biomed engg :-)
hehe

New kids are here and my mind goes back an year when I first sat on a plane and came to USA with the noble intention of pursuing my MS in biomed engg.Its no exaggerartion to say that time flies when I say that about my first year in USA.Boy! the chaos is unbeleivable.There are 11 guys in my apt rite now including montys friends.We could make a cricket team of our own!what say?

Poor monty! is having a tough time ...managing pickups and handling the crowd.Thats one of the disadvantages of owning a car.u just cant say no when ur roomie asks u to drop them to school at all odd hours. And i am amongst the guilty list...but at least i keep regular hours...:))

Finished a month now with my new advisor and things are fairly smooth and i do hope that i will pick up pace real soon.The world of proteins is quite fascinating to say the least and that they run our system and control a hell lot of stuff that goes inside our body ...well thats even more amazing.Need to read a lot really...

sujit

PS: khare and I plan to start training teh new kids on "Ideal tea making".They are gonna be in our apt for the next 10 days at least.What can be greater joy than to have someone give u readymade tea in the morning ? USA has been tough on both of us. Chai mangta hai?? Khud banao! boo--hooo...

Been on a movie watching spree of late.Only on the weekeknds though.Last weekend it was Qayamat and Mr and Mrs.Iyer.This time I have already seen "The Pianist", "The Life of David Gale" and some part of "Darna Mana Hai"

Over the past year that I have been here I have become a huge movie buff.Back home I used to hardly watch anything.Here I have fallen in love with Hollywood movies.

"The pianist" was a good movie though it is bound to leave u a little depressed esp if u watch it on a Friday nite.The story is based in Poland during the Nazi invasion of that country during WW2.Some scenes were outstanding.For instance,the scene showing the disabled old man being overthrown from his 3rd floor apartment from his wheelchair was outstanding for its impact value.I have watched quite a few movies of thhis type now.Schindlers List was amazing and Life is beautiful is of course my all time favorite.

I do not follow movies in Bollywood that regularly but looks to me like apna fillum industry is also going Hi-tech.Watched Kaante long back and now seen Qayamat and DMH.The attempt to try something different is definitely there.Perhaps the direction is a little bit offtrack but the intent is clearly there.I have come to absolutely HATE those love triangles/family wedding types.YUCKSSS!!!Same old story ..same old faces......A 100 room bungalow...heroines dressed up as dolls and heroes with hearts of gold!!! How bout something new and daring???

In fact I saw only half of DMH.Initially I was just ridiculing the movie.But in the end my reaction was "Actually its not that bad a movie."The scene between Nana and Vivek oberoi is quite outstanding and Aftabs wasnt too bad either.All these new breed of directors seem to be determined to carve their own path and I hope these guys do well.

Last word for the best! Iyer ROCKS! Outstanding performances by both Rahul Bose and KonKona Sen.The movie certainly provides some food for thought and I enjoyed the movie thoroughly.And as a bonus check out cute little Santhanam aka Santa!!

Over and out!
PS: Rahul Bose is also a member of Indias Rugby team.Which brings me to one of my all time favorite question.How can some people be so multi-talented? Beats me man.Used to think about this a fair bit but I have given up since. Guess u need to make do with what u got.barabar na?
byeeeee
:)

Yo
Was the object of much ridicule yesterday.Reason-I spent $12 on a couple of dog tags.I ordered them online from world pet store website.Roomies cant beleive that i spent that amount on such a trivial matter.Khartul was laughing his usual style,,,a sense of ridicule inherent on all his laughter.Monty was stunned and Pappan was as usual the most sensible of the lot.I mean he didnt defend me as such but at least he did say that "If u like something u must buy that".Lemme state on the record that those who dont own a dog have no idea of how important a member of the family he becomes and to what extent a owner (esp a rich one) will go to provide his canine with the best available!
Of course I do have a history of spending on my dog.On thanks giving I got a calendar for about $15 since it had a lot of dogs on it and one of them was almost like that of my Kaloo.I sent ot home and now I am told that the calendar os prominentlt displayed in our hall.Of course mom was just following my strict instructions :)).On other ocassions in India I have got him nice bones and nice Collars and what not.Its another matter that he eats up the bone in no time and tears away the collars to pieces if he does'nt fancy it.
Its a part of the game u see.I give him my best and he gives me the most pleasing smile whenever I happen(ed) to come home from school or from anywhere else.I am not kidding when I say that this simple senstive gesture is enough to drown away your worries tension at least for some while.
Speaking of relieving tension try this: Jogging.I have started running like crazy in the gym treadmill these days.3 miles run in 25 minutes leaves me fresh instead of tired.Try it out folks.
byeeeeeeeeeee

what a day..Things cant go much bettter.Took a half day (1/4 is more like it) at school.Actually I came home for lunch but didnt feel like going back...so be it.Decided to go on a haircut and I AM ALMOST BALD now.I am TAKLU tatke.:)
Had a good gappa session....followed by tennis and what a game.Khartul and me beat Phatak/baba in a thriller 7-6 (7-5) in a tiebreak.Nice Bday present for apna khare...eh?Went to the pool...jaccuzi and boy I am just waiting for the pav bhaji to be ready.Mite continue with the F.head and tahts it for the day.Nething else is Out of the question...byeee
have a nice weekend folks

Here I go.In the first week of July I visited Nachiket at Buffalo.Atul also joined us and we had a gr8 time.Nachya and atul are my mates from school (real school ...not the grad school..:))).I am a bit of a travel freak in the sense that I like travelling.Long jorneys rarely bore me and thats why I was longing to get out of Miami for a few days.I mean it has been 11 months I have been here and the farthest I have gone is Orlando.The long weekend was the perfect oppurtunity and I grabbed it with both hands.
I love nature and its power never ceases to amaze me.I have experienced the thrill of trekking in the Himalayan mountains and WOW is the only word to decsribe that awesome experience.Same with Niagara falls.Of course I saw it from the US side and I am told that from the Canada side the scene is even more awesome.The Niagara falls is composed of basically 3 falls.The names of those, of course, I dont remember.All I recall and will do so for the rest of my life was the thrill and fun I had being there.We reached early (12 pm is early for any self respecting grad student).On the way we picked up Nachyas friend from the airport and went straight to the falls. The first couple of hours were spent simply Ohh...Ahhing.We clicked a lot of photos of ourselves and the falls and in the afternoon went on a ride.Its called Maid of the Mist.Here u stand on a boat and it rides INTO the falls.As we began to approach the falls the sound of the water made it hard for us to even hear each other and we were not even 2 feet away from one another.Have u ever been in front of a water fountain?As u stand there, static, u can feel water drops sprinkling you and wetting u up.Same here except that this was the Niagara and water drops were more like bigg chunks hitting u all over the body.We were given a thin plastic sheet to cover ourselves and had it not been for the camera that I was carrying I would have been inclined to remove that sheet and stand on the edge of the boat.In TITANIC STYLE.In the evening there was a massive fireworks show.It was the 4th of july celebrations and we were on our second ride then.This one is called Cave of the Winds.Where you are taken down a looooong way by the elevator.Then u get to walk along a man-made wodden planked path and see the falls up close and personal.I enjoyed this one more than the boat ride.We were standing at one particular point and i challenged atul to stand in front of the fall with hands spread out for a minute.Its just too hard .The huge force simply leaves u out of breath and stunned.
Over all an awesome experience and a must see.The facilities were also outstanding and the way the public responds to these facilities is even more amazing for me.There were HUGE crowds ,it being a long weekend and the way in which the crowd effortlessly managed to have fun was a surprise to me.Everything from parking to the rides went on like a well oiled machine.No chaos,no pushing, no jostling.. just people enjoying themselves.I couldnt help but compare this to the sit. back home where watching a cricket game in a stadium is a torture and seeing the ganapati Decorations is out of the question for the physically handicapped and even the female class.The crowds make it impossible.Mebbe theres a lesson to be learnt here in organisation and crowd control.
I also visited a state park in buffalo and we spent the sunday morning just chatting to each other in Fort Niagara.I mean we were meeting after 2 years (atul had been to miami in Dec.) SO i guess there was a lot of information to be exchanged.U can have emails and net and all this stuff.But for me nothing quite comes close to a good old Tete a Tete with ur friends.
I also squeezed in a quick day trip to Syracuse at parags place and SUNY Binghamton at Satej place.PArag is my class mate from VIT and satej is anotehr friend from KHS.
Niagara was definitely the highlite of the trip but meeting my close Buddies is a verrrrry close second.
Adios amigos
More coming soon..

Back after a long time.So many things have happened since the last time I wrote here that I dunno from where to start off.There was this wonderful Niagara trip that I wanted to write about the day I came back to Miami but some more imp things have cropped up.I changed my advisor (Now thats Imp.isint it??).More about it soon,,,,Sometimes I feel as if I am losing control of everything around me.Like a true Virgo I like to stay organised and prompt....But I am losing it....slowly and surely things are spiralling way beyond my control...Look at what I am doing rite now.I am in the library to study and I am blogging!!!!!
Jaga hooooooooooooooooooooooooo...tatkyaaaaaaaa..jaga hoooo
But I am in the mood to write and no Mai ka lal can stop me now.....dhantadaaaan,,,,,Raaga.com is now and I am going on a writing spree,,,,,Studies and protein engineering can wait!!

Yo

Once again a long delay in writing my blog.Somehow though the weekend afternoon seems to inspire me to write...thats if i am not involved in the frenetic volleyball mania that has struck me and my roomies and all my friends.Actually even as I write these words I must confess that I am now trying out my hand at another game (tennis).

The first time I ever played Volleyball was sometime in november 2002.We had got so bored of playing cricket on our terrace that we felt we needed something new to keep us occupied. After that I havent stopped playing and what a terrific game Vball is.

What I like the most about this game is its emphasis on team work.Many team games can be won on the strength of a single individual players performance (cricket for eg).However for V ball this just does not hold true. Even a single weak link can destroy the team, conversely having a great player does not ensure its success.

Its even more fun playing in the sand and last week on south beach was absolutely fabulous.It was raining (well...to be honest it was pouring) but that served as a stronger motivation to play.South beach and ocean drive (the road that serves as an entrance to south beach) are perhaps amongst the most glamoros places in Miami.Thats where the bold and beautiful gather along with their flashy sport cars and limos to spend their weekends. And there we were,,,,like a bunch of freaks playing V ball in the rain...without even our T shirts on.But who cares? No one here recognises us and even if they did ,,,to hell with them.

After playing in the rain for over 2 hrs I made off with a couple of guys for a quick cuban coffee...ahhh....its heaven....cafe con leche is the closest thing that i have come across to my standard .(Vaishalis coffee is my set standard :D).

I really enjoyed myself then.What a blast we had,,,,

Masala tea or filter coffee?
Sachin or steve waugh?
Sunday afternoon Volleyball on south beach or sitting in school and doing ur work resisting all temptations?
Phone in india or voice chat?
Sky blue or pure white?
Nike or adidas?
Kishore kumar or Rafi?
A few good men or A beautiful life?
Col Nathan Jessop or Dawson and Downey?
Chicken tandori or Baingan ka bharta?
Amitabh or Aamir ?
Ford Mustang or the VW Jetta?
Iacocca or Jack welch?
India today or Outlook?
Addressing the email as Guys or bhailog?
MBA or job??
Diplomatic or frank?
Atalji or Advani?
Trekking or reading?
The Times of India or the Indian Express?
Vaishali medu wada or Bhel at Satyas?
Dynamic and proactive like my grand father or Quite but intense underneath like my Dad?
Judgemental and decisive or understated and neutral?
Sinhagad fort or Dukes nose Khandala?
Boring but economical Spendor or the Flashy but costly Yamaha?

Daily life appears to be full of choices.Some decisions are just too hard to make!

Its summer time and if the heat is forcing u to stay indoors there couldnt be a better time to pick up a nice book and get going.Really the joys obtained from reading are quite unmatched.Think i will share my favorite books with u.

My all time favorite is the one written by Dominique Lapierre .The title of the book is "Freedom at Midnight". The book is set in the year 1947 and gives a rivetting account of India's struggle to freedom,as also the complications and the politics involved in the entire process.Especially enlighteneing for me was the potrayal of Gandhi.Having read the book I can say that I have begun to understand and appreciate better Gandhis enormous contribution to Indias freedom struggle.Unfortunately, belittling Gandhi has become some sort of a habit, and I can only pity those souls.The descriptions of the lifestyle led by the Indian princes and the kings gives us a glimpse into the richness and the grandeur of that era.The book also deals extensively with the partition and the migration.For my generation,whose knowedge of our freedom struggle is often limited to that in the history books, reading the book was a eye opener.The narrative style kept me spell bound throughout.So much so that I re-read it 3 more times and I am sure there are at least a couple of more to go.

Another inspiring book is the autobiography of Lee Iacocca.Fired abruptly from Ford,Lee took over an ailing car company and helped it get back on track .From his humble beginnings to his heydays at Ford,from the shocking exit at Ford to the rise of Chrysler,Iacoccas story appears to be larger than life.He seems to have lived many lives all in the same lifetime. His story is bound to inspire all who read it.

While these 2 are my favorite I also have a liking for PG Wodehouse novels.Jeeves is my favorite fictional character and I guess Forrest Gump should run a close second.Thats another of my favorite novels.

I also enjoy reading magazines like India Today. These days I read it on the net (Sic).Curently I am reading "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand and also "Snapshots from hell".The later book by Peter Robinson is a account of the authors life as a MBA student at Stanford.A light reading with a lot of hidden meaning.

I hope u will enjoy these books. Go aheadread them and have a blast!!

Done with the business class ppt.Went well actually.There were a couple of panelists apart from the course instructor,Dr.Alan Carsrud.One of them a PhD from UCLA and the other was a VC.All these had their own start ups and know a thing or 2 about entrepreneurship.Quite a experience speaking in front of these big shots and other MBA students.There were like 40 odd of those.Was nervous initially but soon got some confidence going.I think if u know ur stuff well enough then giving a ppt is easy.If u are sort of hazy u have had it.Dr Carsrud gave me a big hug after the class was over and said well done.Now that made it a really happy day for me.A couple of other students also gave me the "Hey- U-are-an-engg student-but-u-did-a-decent-job" look

Just one big paper to go and I will be done with summer course.Need to speak slowly.Thats my problem.I speak too fast.TALK LOUD,TALK CLEAR ,TALK SLOW. Thats the magic mantra.My problem is the 3rd area.Hmm....will work on it for sure.

Yo,,

Just too tired to write anything ...Infact spent the whole afternoon writing a paper for my summer business class.Doing a feasibility analysis on my 'proposed' entrepreneurship venture.Sounds Hi-fi...infact it is.The only problem is that I have no idea on how to estimate whats it gonna cost me to start a medical device company back home in India.Hehe...doing this is routine for the MBA guys i guess but for engineers this is as alien as discliplined traffic in pune :D

Perhaps a glass of hot tea as soon as I go home will perk me up.Thats one of the benefits of having gr8 roomies.!!

Tchao

Sujit's Shangri-La

Thats what I call this blog space of mine...its my own space where I can express myself to the whole world (without the world being necessarily aware of it). Technology never ceases to facinate me and even as I write these words I marvel at how instead of writing my diary I am merrily typing away to glory!

Before I start ,let me thank my school mate for introducing me to this concept of blogging. Atul Nulkar ...thx dude....As my friends are aware I am 'technologically challenged' so these things are new to me. ;))

Just for the record,Atul or nullya as we affectionately call him also happens to be the first person who I ever called with a telephone.Now how many of u remember the first perosn you talked with on a phone????

All rite Back to the point --My intention as I write here is to give vent to my feelings/thoughts/call it what u like.These writings will be random and spontaneous and are my views.I have just started but I guess u will find a few postings soon on topics dear to my heart,,,,Cricket ...my dog "kaloo" and definitely some on my favorite books,

Happy reading guys (and gals) :D...U gotto be politically correct these days ;)

Sujit

Hello..
Just getting started