Where to stop?

K was my school-mate. He dropped out of school in std X. He got married, and is a father of two already. He works as an 'assistant' to a local cable operator, and shares a 1 bedroom flat with his parents.

M, another childhood friend of mine, didn't go beyond Std. XII. He got married a couple of days back, and works in an import-export company. He told me that even though he was not stable in life, his parents wanted hom to get married, and he is not beyond their wish.

Many of my mates from engineering days are in Bangalore. They got jobs in big software companies, and are doing good for themselves. They say that they are happy with their lives, and are satisfied with whatever they are doing / getting.

Most of my friends in Clemson were from Electrical Engineering- Computer Science stream. They completed their Masters, and are earning big bucks now (no, Bioengineers dont like big money). Some of them even bought new BMWs, and are living royally. They have no plans on studying any further, and are content with their jobs.

I know people who took 5 years to complete PhD, and are now doing a Post-Doc. They haven't yet started making big money, and but are still content with their work. They say that it gives them an utmost satisfaction to work in the area of their own liking, and do something that no one has even thought of.

My lab-mate Sandra is in her 6th year of PhD and has at least 1.5 years to go before she can graduate.

I have just started my PhD. It will take me at least 4 years to finish my work. I am not even in a position to think and plan my life after earning PhD. I have been asking this question to myself plenty of times in past 4 years: "Where to stop?" and "Why to stop?" and I don't have definite answers to those.

"How do people choose their ultimate career?... How do people zero down on a profession?". Thinking and making observations related to these two questions is a favorite past-time of mine.

Lets start from India, and lets start from people whom we come across in our day-to-day life. How did a bus driver decide that that was going to be his job for life?. How did a newspaper vendor end up deciding that he wants to sell papers in a small corner of a busy street?. We come across postmen, hawkers, peons, etc. What prompts them to choose THAT particular profession over others?. Its a very intriguing question.

Now lets think a bit about the higher-end (only in terms of education) people. How do they figure out the million dollar question "where to stop?".

Here are my thoughts about this thingy:

There are many factors that compel you on zeroing down on the ultimate career option. I think the first and most significant one is the "socio-economic" factor. Many a times one is financially handicapped. He is responsible for entire family, and that burdens him from pursuing their ultimate dreams. I have seen so many people who wanted to do much more than they ended up doing, either because they did not have financial back-up or they were compelled by their family background or merely peer-pressure. They succumbed to social norms, and their career was ultimately decided by others (say parents or relatives) and not by themselves. I have also seen many (especially girls) who had to abandon their pursuit for higher studies just because they wanted to "settle" in life.

For those who cross this hurdle, the next hurdle was (or could be) their ability. Not everyone is born with same intellect or acumen. As one climbs up the ladder, often one realises that they cannot go beyond a certain point. There is an upper limit for everything, and the threshold is different for different individuals. At one point they realise that there is an element of risk involved getting to the next level. One often prefers to play safe than taking risks. Its human nature.

Another factor is ambition. It is one of the strongest driving forces in pursuits of an ultimate career. Some are happy with being just one of many, other want to be just a notch above others (more on that later).

Then comes work satisfaction. For some individuals (I can definitely say that about PhD students, and even for that matter for individuals pursuing medicine. I have ample of samples around me to prove my point :) ), work satisfaction comes first. Money, family life, etc. take a back-seat for a while, because they do not want to settle for anything less than the best. Its the quest of knowledge that gives them the energy to keep going (yeah, I know many of you are feeling sorry for these maniacs. But sometimes you cant help).

The least (or the most, for some) but a very important factor is money. Lets admit that money drives everything. One cannot survive without money, and no amount is sufficient amount for being happy in life (very unfortunately, our dear God forgot to create the real-money plant. I would have developed acres of those, and spent my entire life watching Seinfeld).

And then there are others.

I often see this world as a game of Monopoly. Our life is the board, we are merely the players, our destiny the dice, then there are various places that you can live- own- build houses and hotels, etc. We keep playing this game for our entire life. We know that ultimately its something we cannot win forever, but we keep playing it just because we don't want to loose. Others come and go, some players hit big, some don't. Some show great potential but loose everything in one move. Some make calculated moves and win. Some loose.

And the game goes on...

Tied to a Rope ...

I recently came across a very interesting article. It was a simple observation in day-to-day life; yet made so much sense out of it.

Read on:

Failed Once- Failed Forever!!

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. "Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away.

They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we don't believe we can do it?"

Doesn't this apply to human beings as well?. We don't do many things because we have a pre-defined mindset towards certain things, and we don't even try to break free out of it.

Do you ever have a feeling of having a limited horizon for your dreams and lifestyle, just because the way you are brought up??.

I have thought about this thingy so many times, especially after coming here. I got to meet so many new people from different parts of India, and for that matter of the world. Everyone was so different. Their thinking pattern, their ideology, their philosophy, their maturity, the way they react to a particular situation, the fear-factor... all such small things vary so much person to person, country to country...

We all are basically same human beings consisting of same flesh and blood and brain. Then why are we so different?.

Here is my short theory for it: Since all human beings are essentially same, they should be able to adapt themselves to different conditions/ cultures /diversity/ people. It sounds very simple and trivial, but its apparently not. We cant adapt ourselves overnight, and more importantly, we cant adapt ourselves to everything. There comes a threshold in life, where you are not willing to go beyond a point. You cant accept a certain things, and you choke up.

I myself did some small "experiments" on myself, tried to expose myself to different cultures, situations, and challenges. The whole purpose was to see how do I react to them, and if I am equally comfortable with all these situations. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not. After giving a sufficiently long time for the experiment, I realised that I am different, I do have my own personality, philosophy and vision. It was not possible for me to adapt to a certain things. Some things were imbibed on to my brain, and they are going to be there forever!!!. I could not break those shackles.

I guess it's all in mind.

Those "in between" times

What do you "think" in those "in-between" times?

Throughout the day, we keep doing different things; but there are some things that we do subconsciously, and we really don't need to apply our brain for them. We kinda go through motions. Our brain doesn't keep track of the things happening around us. Our brain is working, but we don't exactly remember what we were doing. What do we think during that time?. What does our brain do?

I don't have a definite answer for this one, so please drop a comment if you have one.

What do we (i.e. our brain) think when we:

1: Walk through a corridor or on a daily route
2: Take bath
3: Drive alone on an empty interstate
4: Take a pee
5: Take a dump
6: Tie our shoes
7: Stare at a computer screen
8: Attend a boring lecture or seminar
9: Get ready to sleep, just after hitting bed
10: Make a call and wait for the other person to pick it up
11: Eat
12: Wash dishes
13: Stand in a queue
14: Ogle at a girl
15: Listen to music

Any thoughts?

I would like to:

Here some additions to my Wish-List. There is no time frame for trying these things out, but I would like to do them sometime in my life. And would like to try them out sooner than later. No, these are not my retirement or old-age plans. Hopefully in next four years I will see some of them coming into reality.

I would like to:

1: Have a pet: Most likely, it would be a turtle. A turtle matches my personality: its slow-n- steady, eats a lot, doesn't make too much of noise, its not irritating, doesn't need too much of attention, doesn't get noticed too easily, considered to be very intelligent and mature species, very loyal, and trustworthy.

2: Try wood carving: I want to get a big block of wood, and carve something special from it. Something like a laughing Buddha, or mount Rushmore. It would be kinda big-n-huge. I would also like to put a layer of varnish to it, and would like to keep it in my drawing room. I used to try carving a chalk (my mom is a teacher, so I had unlimited supply of chalks :) ), but never worked out the way I wanted. I have also tried a bit of carpentry. Wood is better.

3: Draw a landscape on canvas: After swimming, drawing probably comes last in my skill-set. My drawing is pathetic. even though I am a certified intermediate grade artist, my drawing sucks. But that doesn't mean that I cant do it. Somewhere within I feel that I can do it. I want to draw a nature landscape, preferably taken from one of my photos. It will have some very bright and dark colors, and most likely it would include a mountain, a tree, lots of greenery, and nature.

4: Learn a guitar or mouth organ: I would be very happy and proud to be able to play Hotel California on guitar or Piano Man with mouth organ.

5: Start a small size restaurant serving my own specialities: I always try to experiment with my food. I like to try to cook something different, unusual, and distinctive (my sincere apologies to Sunil, Deep, Naren and Tejas. I can understand why you guys have lost your appetite in past couple of years :) ). Sometimes they turn out pretty well though. My restaurant will look something like a Goan shack, and will serve 15 varieties of omelets, 15 of chicken, and 10 of red meat. Some Classic Jazz or Soft Rock will be played in background, and it will have a cozy-romantic atmosphere.

(For those who are not a part of Orkut family, here is my hiking/traveling Wish-List):


1: Go on a road trip from east coast to west coast

2: Do the 'Kailash-Mansarovar' trek in the Himalayas

3: Go on the 'Europe tour' just for photography

4: Revisit all the forts in Sahyadri, where I have been in past, and capture them in my camera.

5: Go to Kashmir, Leh and Laddakh.

6: Do the Complete Grand Canyon Hike: From South Rim to North and back.

Very much achievable, eh !!

Maintaining a public image: Is it necessary?

A few days back, I was playing a game of Mafia with some friends. Its a game of logical arguments, intense discussions, and smart guesswork. After couple of rounds, the game got interesting. I tried to put forward a very logical argument about why 'C' could be a mafia. I was trying to explain my point, however, some people were not convinced about the logic. As usual, I was trying to make a point with some humor involved in it, and people thought I was being funny. At that point, 'P', a good friend of mine, said: "Shut up Vivek, no one amongst us takes you seriously !!".

That comment really took me by surprise. For first time in many years, someone actually told what people think of me. I was not sure how to react to that comment. I was kinda amused to hear that; was also disappointed as my very valid point was not being considered; but at same time, somewhere within, I was also pleased to know that I have some public image now.

Wow !!.

I have never tried to have one particular image of mine. As a kid I was very quiet, intense, subdued, and introvert. Even though I was active and forthcoming, I was anything but brat, wasted or arrogant. In engineering days, people would associate me with my laughter, and my monomania for trekking. As far as I recollect, I was always a trustworthy, modest, and happy-go-lucky person. I was part of a famous group in library, had amazing fun enjoying those 4 years, and was very content the way my life was going.

In Clemson, however, I tried not be be confined to any particular group. The reason: I wanted to experience whatever was on offer. I tried to be equally active with various student organizations, especially CISA, Surabhi, ISA and of course AID. At the same time I was there with crazy friends enjoying some barbecues, road trips, parties, playing cricket, and what not. Those were the days when I would live every day as if there was no tomorrow. Every experience was different ans vastly satisfying, and that kept encouraging me to venture new things all the time.

and now Cleveland. Here I tried experimenting with myself. (it's another story altogether). Anyways...

Is it really necessary to have a particular public image?. Or do people really have a defined public image?

Apparently many people do have one. Some are known to be street-smart, some poetic, some cultured, some talented, some wasted, some eccentric, some antagonists, some protagonists, some shallow and some deep. Some are known to be singers, some mimics, some dancers and some are know to be drunkies. When one goes to a public function / social event, one carries a specific personality with him. And he is expected to be just that. Anything else is neither accepted nor acceptable. I have often observed one thing in social events: certain individuals are 'expected' to act/ react in a particular manner. Often one would observe these personalities who would always debate about politics, some others would always start bitching about some thing or other, someone else would always sing a particular genre of songs, and someone would always start dancing the moment he enters the party. Some specific group would always discuss some specific topic (such as cricket, football, studies..) and there are a few who would just be in their own world.


Why do we have these pre-defined notions about people?. Are these people really like that in day-to-day life?... Do they reflect their real self?...

Probably not. I have known so many people who are completely different than what they show off. I have known intensely intense people being perceived as frivolous individuals. I have known extremely sensitive people being publicly recognised as rude and heartless. I have known really harmless people assumed to cause problems.

Do we ever bother to know them closely?... do we even try to understand why an individual reacts to a particular manner each time a situation arises?. We don't.

Why? (I actually don't have an answer to this one. Let me know if you have one).

In today's world it is very important to develop contacts, exchange your thoughts with others, be professional and perfect, be famous... most importantly to 'sell' ourselves. The mantra is to 'get noticed' somehow. It is very difficult to survive the fierce competition of today's world if we don't do that. Some people are quite smart and comfortable at it and some are not. And the ones who represent the second type often end up at the receiving end. Probably this is the only way life works and there is no apparent solution than self-belief and hard work.

When we go out for shopping, we often end up buying the stuff that looks good rather than what has more utility. When we go out to a fancy restaurant, we tend to order a dish that looks good. When we try to find a partner in life, we first shortlist ones who look picture perfect and gorgeous. Don't we?

Dear God, You Are NOT an Engineer.

Being a Biomedical Engineer, I often end up reading about human anatomy and physiology. Most often than not, I study the cellular level signalling and also tissue level functionality. Each time I read that stuff, I wonder how can everything be so perfectly organized. Even if you go to the cellular or molecular level, each particle has its own function and each action has a specific role to play. Each time I learn something new, I am flabbergasted to experience the mystery of human evolution.

I don't know who invented the human body. (While some people say it's God who created the world; I believe it was science. I am more inclined to link the human evolution to the probability theory and thermodynamics). However, lets for the moment believe that God made everything.

In that case, God is great. It must have taken immense amount of planning, knowledge, thinking, application, precision, accuracy to come up with something as complex as a human being. Being a PhD student (nothing can be more complex than a PhD student, by the way!) I often wonder what educational background did our dear God have?. Umm... probably medicine, or architecture, or biochemistry, or cell biology.... there are various possibilities; but I am damned sure that God was not an Engineer.

Reason?

Even the dumbest of engineer would make sure that he gets some quantitative output at each stage of a process. In engineering, we are taught to see to it that we get the output at every possible data processing point. Whether your algorithm is right or wrong, you need an output. It's as simple as that. Take an example of any programming language: first thing we learn is how to print the output. Everything else comes later. Any engineer would agree with me about the fact that first and minimum requirement of any engineering development is an output.

But strangely, our body has no quantitative output !!. How unfortunate and unthoughtful was that !!.

Imagine if some engineer was to make the human body... He would make sure that we have outputs at every point. Just imagine:

If you are not feeling well, there will be a digital display on your hand showing "how much" you don't feel well. So if the value is within a normal range (what can be the unit of "wellness"??), you can still go to work. Otherwise, you have to take the day off. Our mood swings would be quantified as "negative 4 percent as compared to normal" or "positive 6 % as compared to normal". It would be so much easier for other to judge your mood: just look at the display on the forehead, and know if your date is in romantic mood or not!!

Thinking of that, I let my imaginative powers take control of my brain.

I could have seen a barometer on my stomach, to indicate how full or empty it was. There would have been a pH meter coming out of my intestines to see if I had acidity. I could have had a speedometer as well as an oxygen sensor on my back showing the activity of my lungs. Oh and my brain would have been full of displays: showing what was going on. Every particle of light captured in my eyes could be printed on a photo-quality paper and I could get got exact print of what I just saw. Wow!!

How helpful would that have been !!

Dear God, you made such a complex world. Couldn't you add a simple display system for us??.. So silly !!.

A Perfect Sunday Afternoon

I have to tell you this:

(The phrase "I have to tell you this" is copyrighted by Aditi Herwadkar of Cleveland, Ohio. Every time "I have to tell you this" comes from Aditi, we know that some interesting story is coming up. Since last Sunday Afternoon was Aditi's plan; this had to start with "I have to tell you this". And it started just like that... Anyways...)

Last Sunday, Aditi felt like putting up chef's hat, and making her trademark Goan / Saraswat shrimp curry with white rice. She wanted some company to enjoy this delicacy, and since there are very few 'fish fanatics' (I am one of them. For me, fresh fish comes first, then chicken, then lamb, etc.), we were invited.

I woke up at noon, and it was snowing heavily at that time. It somehow felt very nice to see some fresh crispy snow after so many days. I had a voicemail from Meghna, asking me to be ready by 1.00 pm. Gautam and Amita were to join us at Aditi's place.

I made some Irish creme flavored coffee for myself, and stepped out in the balcony to enjoy some snow. It was not so cold, but was windy, and somehow felt very nice. I was simultaneously planning my day as well; it was supposed to be just an afternoon lunch at Aditi's place. So potentially the day was open for me.

Anyways, we all reached Aditi's place at 1.30 pm. I could smell coconut curry as soon as I entered the apartment. Food was ready, and without further delay, we latched on food. The menu was simple: coconut-shrimp curry (made with coconut milk, green chili, salt, shrimp. No red chili or tomato etc), mussels with green chutney / coconut stuffing, and white rice. We had some nice wine to go with that. ( It was Blue Marlin- Shiraz; one of my favourite ones). And we had some deliciously royal Baklawa as dessert.

Food was simply Divine. We kept eating till food was over. Of course, the topic of discussion was fish and food. Hot white rice, and some very well made fish curry is worth more than a million dollars. I probably wont be able explain my feelings here. Only true fish lovers will know it. But I had very satisfied expression on my face all the while.

After the hearty lunch, we were all set to go in the "hibernate" mode, but Dr. Gautam Shetty proposed a visit to Cleveland Botanical Garden. Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for him, Gautam is about to leave Cleveland to pursue a more lucrative career after spending 5.5 years here. He had never been to this place, it was on his to do list. It was a tempting offer, and even though it was cold outside, we decided to do it.

Cleveland Botanical Garden features a Glasshouse, which is a world in itself; a world of beauty and wonder. Its a crystal-peaked conservatory that beckons visitors to explore two of the world's most fragile and fascinating ecosystems: featuring the flora and fauna of two diverse and contrasting environments: the spiny desert of Madagascar and the cloud forest of Costa Rica. It features more than 350 exotic plants and more than 50 butterflies, insects, birds and other animals.

Both houses have been excellently maintained and give a perfect experience of a hot, humid tropical weather. One could see all the hard work that was put to made somethings as wonderful as that. It perfectly felt like a humid monsoon day in a jungle somewhere in Sahyadri, with that particular aroma filling up the space, all kinds of creatures showing the richness of nature, and some very specific tropical things that one doesn't get in the US. What mesmerised me was the fact that it was all snow and cold outside; and perfectly sunny and warm inside.

It was a very special experience to be at the glasshouse. It was beautiful, and yet quiet. I am actually planning to go there for studying once summer starts. It somehow feels nice to be there, may be because I am used to hot and humid India.

I will remember this Sunday Afternoon for Aditi's shrimp curry, and the world of Madagascar and Costa Rica.

Don't go, Sachin.. Keep playing.

After India's defeat in the recent Karachi test, there were reports from India about people demonstrating against Sachin Tendulkar, and few even demanding to throw him out of the team. There has been a nationwide debate about Sachin's form, with many claiming that Sachin is finished, and its the beginning of his end. It happened for first time in past 16 years, that people wanted Sachin to stay out of the team... They wanted him to retire. Sachin never received such a treatment any time in the past.

I was agape and confused after reading these reports. Somehow my mind was not yet ready to accept Indian cricket without Sachin. I cant imagine someone else coming out for batting at no. 4 in tests. I cant imagine someone else killing the bowlers in one dayers. I cant imagine not listening to Sachin's voice once in a while. I cant imagine Sachin being thrown out of Indian team.

No way, not even in my wildest dreams.

Sachin is God. How can someone throw him out of the team?. I dont think anyone is good enough to fill-in his place in Indian team. And above all, I don't think Sachin is over. Sachin WILL bounce back to his best once more, and will bid adieu to cricket on his own terms. He has to. He's not a normal cricketer, he's special; in more than one ways, he's exceptionally gifted than mere mortals. He simply cannot go wrong in scripting his own destiny.

Sachin is probably the most complete batsman that we have seen till date. Yes, he may not be the best (Lara is more graceful than Sachin, Steve Waugh and Rahul Dravid are more reliable than him, Viv Richards was more aggressive, the list goes on...), but he is certainly the most complete batsman. No one else can match the array of strokes he possesses: his shots are as perfect as one can play. His hunger for runs, passion for the game, concentration, and dedication towards a team and nation is unparalleled.

Sachin survived all the transitions, storms, and controversies in past 15 years. Note this: he was never ever suspected in any of the scandals; be it off the field or on. No on has ever been able to find out any technical flaw in his cricket. There hasn't been a single instance on field in past 15 years when it appeared that things were out of his control. Noone ever wrote or said about 'how' Sachin went wrong in his game. He has been master of his domain all the while. He is probably the only bowler in contemporary cricket, who can bowl all kinds of deliveries. I am sure that if he tries, he will even bowl left-arm chinaman, and will get a wicket too.

Off the field, he is probably the best example of a public personality. He's down to earth, absolutely well-mannered, never shows his emotions and anger in public, and sets a very good example for the ones who look up to him. He's a perfect father, a good husband, and even better businessman. He has hardly done anything wrong in his life.

Its not easy to reach perfection of this precision.

Imagine how thoughtful and imaginative he must have been to carefully plan his career and write his own destiny. Coming from a middle class family, it would have been very easy for him to go crazy with all the money he was getting, and the kind of talent he has. But he didnt. He made sure that he's always on top of everyone. It needs a great brain, and that too a very level headed one.

Sachin has been a role model for me since past many years. I have taken some very valuable notes for myself from him- and the process continues till date. Whenever I am in doubt or am unsure of something in life... I think of how Sachin would react to such a challenge. So far Sachin hasn't let me down. I still look up to him to learn a thing or two.

I want Sachin to play at his best yet again. Just to prove that he can do whatever he pleases to, just to prove that he is still a genius. Just to give us immense pleasure of enjoyng a game called cricket. I remember the world cup 2003 India-Pakistan game: there were about 50 guys n girls in a small room watching Shoeb Akhtar running in like a horse, and Sachin facing him for first time.... Sachin hit the first ball his over point and into the stands... and there was an eruption in that small room. Those couple of minutes were the most thrilling moments of my life so far. I remember how I could not sleep after watching Sachin's heroics on that sand-storm nite in Sharjah. I remember Shane Warne's comments on Tendulkar after that innings: "These days I get nightmares of Sachin hitting six off my bowling".

I would hate to think Sachin as a failure, I would hate to see him being anything less than perfect.

I would hate to see cricket without Sachin... I am not used to it.

Don't go , Sachin... keep playing. We are there for you!

PJs

I have been writing PJs these days!!... I know most of you got a shock of lifetime reading this. I know, I know, my sense of humour sucks.

Well, it all started on DesiCase, an Orkut community that Sruthi started for the junta at Case. There are not too many Indians at Case (may be 50 or 60 or so), so most of us know each other; and it was definitely fun to know their 'other' side on Orkut.

Soon, Gautam, Prasanna, Sruthi, Prachi and Siva started a forum called "DesiCase Jokes", and we had some nice Pjs on it soon. Not all were original, but they were different, as they tried to add a local flavour to them. Many others joined in, and soon it was a very active and entertaining forum.

I was too tempted to try one myself, couldn't hold myself back. And I enjoyed the whole process: thinking about a PJ, then thinking of people who would fit in it, then developing a small story around a one line PJ, and trying to make it humorous. Not all the Pjs were original, but some of them were, and the story and screenplay is definitely original. Believe it or not, there were days when I would actually think of a situation, and try to cultivate a nice story.

I know that my sense of humor sucks, and I am not a guy who would come up with instant Pjs., It takes me bit longer to think out of the block. However, Its been a very entertaining experience so far. Good thing is that everyone takes it in that vein, and often we end up developing the story. I always look forward to new entries whenever I log on to Orkut.

Here are some from my side:


1: BhandareJi counting 10...

Let me add a bit to the story:

(As far as the story goes, the plot is: BhandareJi and Siva are fellow students of Ms. Sruthi. BhandarJi is totally confused with counting, whereas SivaBhai is a Master of counting {he once even counted # of posts on the DesiCase jokes thread}).

So as usual, BhandareJi had a problem with counting 10. Ms. Sruthi taught SivaBhai how to count 10 by using fingers. So, when BhandareJi came to Ms. Sruthi to seek help in counting 10, Ms. Sruthi sent him to SivaBhai, who showed him how to count 10 using fingers (in case you dont know how to count 10 using your fingers: 1 means 1 finger up, 2 means 2 fingers up.... for 6, go to the other palm/ hand, etc etc).

BhandareJi tried it himself and was fully convinced with that.

A few years later, BhandareJi joins army. He was taking training of using hand-bomb. The instructor told them that the bomb would explode after the count of 10.

BhandareJi remembered his count of 10 taught by SivaBhai. BhandareJi had the bomb in one hand, and started counting...1,2,3,4,5...

When it came to 6, he needed another hand to count. Since he was in standing position, he put the bomb between the thighs. And resumed counting 6,7,8, 9, 10...

Well, rest is history...

2: BhandareJi in school

How do you recognize a BhandareJi in Case Primary School?

BhandareJi is the one who erases the notes from the notebook when Ms. Sruthi teacher erases the blackboard.

3: Siva and Eggplant


Siva, being a strict vegetarian, did not touch the eggplant pizza ever since he came to USA, as he always thought that there would be an egg in it.

On day, Vivek- Siva's best friend, saw that, and convinced him that eggplant does not have egg and its pretty tasty.

So Siva tries eggplant pizza at Guy's pizza on Coventry one day, and likes it. Next day he tries eggplant Parmesan at Tommy's-Coventry, and likes it. Third day, he tries eggplant sandwich at Dave's- Coventry, and loves it.

Siva, still being a graduate student (his OPT is yet to arrive, so he hasn't joined Bloomberg yet), is out of money to buy any more eggplant dishes.

So he goes to Apt 617, Fairhill Towers (voted as the most high-tech apt of Cleveland {HTAC}) and borrows 10 eggs from Vivek and Tejas.

A month later, Siva returns to HTAC for 10 more eggs. Again, a month later he comes back to HTAC for 10 more eggs (still no OPT, Siva is getting poorer).

Finally Vivek asks him whats the matter. Siva says: "I am trying my best to plant the eggplant using the eggs I got from you, but no luck yet. But I think I know where I'm going wrong,' says Siva, 'I think I'm planting them too deep and giving it too much water, and may be too less sunshine, and ......'

Vivek faints.

4: HTAC and battery


Since Siva was responsible for having HTAC in a messed up state, and since HTAC is a Cleveland heritage, Siva took it upon himself to clean the apartment.

He called Prasana, Ghauthamh, and Moiz for help. Calling Sruthi and Meghna was of no use, as girls never do any hard work.

Since there was no detergent at home, Siva requested Janki to get some of it. Janki started driving his car to Giant Eagle, but his battery failed soon.

Since he had Geico, he called roadside assistance. Surprisingly, the mechanic was desi. His name was Aditya Ranade.

Janki: "RanadeBhai, battery change karma hai"

Ranade: "EXIDE (in ghaati accent, Ek Side)- lagaa du?"

Janki: Kyon, doosraa side tera baap lagaayegaa?

Ranade took his mobile and tried to call India... #%%^%$^%$^

5: Siva and DeviPrasadh

I overheard this conversation in yesterday's party:

Siva: Maccha, how do you spell "Philadelphia"?

Prasadh: "F-I-L-A-D-E-L-F-I--A"

Siva: No, that's wrong

Prasadh: Maybe it's wrong, but you asked me how I spell it!

6: Orange Juice

So I came late for the party. Since I was hungry, I went to the kitchen to grab some food. I saw Sruthi statued near the fridge.

I waited for a bit, but Sruthi was very seriously looking in the fridge. So I had a closer look at what she was upto.

So I asked: "Sruthi, what are you staring at?"

Sruthi: "Its a bottle of Orange Juice".

She didnt even blink. As usual, her face was very serious and confused.

Vivek: "So, why are you starting at an orange juice container?"

Sruthi: "Because it says 100 % CONCENTRATE"


7: Bday gift to Siva


I overheard this a few mins. back.

Prasanna: Hey Siva, Happy B'day. (grabs a big chunk of cake, and also reluctantly gives Siva a gift)

Siva: Thanks (kinda irritated seeing Prasanna eating the cake as pig (or tiger??) )

Prasanna: (not happy with that look) BTW, how do you know that its your Bday??. Do you still remember it?

Siva: My mother told me. So I asked father, and he also told me same day. So I asked my grandfather, grandma, uncle.. and they all came up with same day. So I thought, its a high degree of coincidence that all of them have come up with same answer. So I had no choice but to believe them. How do you know that you actually landed on earth on 24th Nov??

Prasanna takes his gift back and walks out

:).


8: Detective N. Moiz

Good to see DesiJokes entering the 4th hundred. Here is another one:

Our most beloved friend N. Moiz decided to start a detective agency in Cleveland, Ohio. Given the crime rate in Cleveland, his business had some prospects. Even fellow-detective T. siva decided to join hands with N. Moiz, leaving behind his Bloomberg job, Lexus and even Suneeta.

However, as soon as detective N. Moiz announced the company, he placed a big order of Red Color ka Asian Paint (yeah, Meghna wala red). Sruthi teacher was quite amazed to hear that. Unable to hide her feelings, she went to detective N. Moiz, and asked him:

Sruthi: Detective N. Moiz, why this?.. Do you know what you are doing??

N. Moiz (chewing pineapple) ( Moiz doesn't like carrots, and he also wants to be original): Yes Sruthi, I know what I am doing. I want lots of red color, as I want to catch everyone "red" handed.!!!

9: contd..

At this point, detective T. Siva and detective N. Moiz had a split...

The reason:

Detective N. Moiz, being 7 ft tall, had lots of problems in getting DOWN TO EARTH. In spite of trying his best he could only go DOWN TO HIS KNEES. So detective T. Siva started operating from basement and detective N. Moiz started working in same office.

But one day it all changed. One day, detective N. Moiz came running to detective T. Siva's office, with his 2 India suitcases and what not, as if he's going to spend rest of his life in basement. Detective T. Siva asked detective N. Moiz about the urgency.

Detective N. Moiz said " I have got a new project, where I am supposed to be UNDER-GROUND. So I am here !!!"


10: Bombay girl

So the question was:

What are 4 stages in a life of a Bombay girl??

Ans:

dhamaal

maal

kamaal

hamaal (saari duniya ka boj uthati hai)

11: Vivek W and Vivek R


After waiting for so many years, Vivek W finally bought his dream car, an Audi V 6.

He was thrilled, excited, and on top of the world driving his V6 to Fairhill Towers.

He asked his best friend, the most trustworthy man in NorthEast Ohio, and a car guru, Vivek R to come down and have a look at his car.

Vivek R had a look at the car.

And then Vivek R told Vivek W :"Dude your car looks amazing. It has everything that one can dream of. You have been very thoughtful in your choice".

Vivek W told Vivek R: "Yeah dude, it has everything that should be there in a car. Bose speakers, 3 CD music system, GPRS, a mini screen for movies.. everything!!"

Vivek R asked Vivek W: "But why does it NOT have air conditioning??"

Vivek W said: "I dont need AC in my car. Dude, Its a COOL car."

;)


There are many others and better ones from other people, but I would like to put a few PJs by our PJ guru, Dr. Gautam (hope Gautam doesnt mind this. If you are reading this Dr. G, the copyright is still yours). He even made couple of them right in font of us. And that IS some skill.

12: Return of detectives T. Siva and N. Mois


So these detectives solved a tough case. The university decided to felicitate them on their great achievement. Since both of them had contributed equally towards the solution of this 'Case of missing donuts', both of them were to be felicitated in the Strosacker auditorium.

On the day of the ceremony, N. Mois walked in T. Siva's room. T. Siva was getting ready. He put on a nice suit (same one he had put on for his Bloomberg interview), and he put some limes in the pocket. N. Mois was puzzled to see this. Being a very inquisitive person, he asked T. Siva, " Why are you putting limes in your pocket?"

T. Siva said, " The organiser of the felicitation function called me and said that you and me, both of us will share the limelight in today's function. I am taking some extra limes so that there will be enough limelight for both of us!"

N. Mois started rolling on the floor!!!

13: Contd.

N. Moiz and T. Siva solved their first case successfully (someone had stolen Meghna's Einstein Bro. bagel while she had run down to say hi to someone in ISS office, N. and T. found out who that was! After solving the case, N. Moiz said "Elementary, T. Siva" exactly in Sherlock Holmes style, to bring a little novelty he replaced Holmes' tobacco pipe with plastic pipe).

After their success, T. Siva insisted that they move their detective agency office to the basement. N. Moiz was puzzled. T. Siva was very adamant on doing that. Finally N. Moiz asked him, "Why? Why do you want to move to basement suddenly?"

T. Siva replied, " 'Cos even after any success, one should always stay DOWN TO EARTH!"

14: Siva joins Bloomberg!

So Siva defended his MS and was all set to move to NY to join Bloomberg. He decided that he'll drive to NY, so he rented a SUV that could fit all his stuff. Prasadh, being a thick (not literally) friend of Siva, was helping him in packing etc. The day of his moving came. Siva and Prasadh loaded all the bags in the car.

Prasadh asked Siva, "Macha, did you take directions to your new apartment?"

Siva replied, "No, I am fine."

Prasadh asked, "What do you mean you are fine? Won't you need to know the route?"

Siva coolly said, "No raa, I don't need all that. I'll reach there without any trouble."

Prasadh was confused, "What are you saying? Why wouldn't you need to know your route?"

Siva smiled and said, pointing at his rental car, "Look, I've rented a Nissan Pathfinder. It will find its own path, why do I need to know it?"

Prasadh fell at Siva's feet!

15: Another one at the party

Prachi and Sruthi had already had 3 rounds of eating, and are pretty full.

Prachi: Sruthi, I am really stuffed, but I can have a dessert. Do you want to go for one last course?

Sruthi: Course? Sorry Prachi, I am already done with my course-work, I won't take any more courses...

Prachi starts singing 'kajra re' in 'aati kya khandala' tune...

16: Vivek and Tejas

Another conversation overheard...

Tejas: Aditya sings so well, I want to learn singing too, Vivek.

Vivek: (gulp- takes another sip of his beer)

Tejas: But I don't learn things so quickly, I take time to learn anything new...

Vivek: (another big sip) Hmm...I used to be same, but not anymore, no problems in learning anything new now...

Tejas: why? what happened?

Vivek: (Empties the can) 'Cos now I work in the learner research institute at Case!

17: continued...

One day, prasanna explained to bhandare that he meant 10 hr 11 min, and bhandare got confused 'cos 10 and 11 are successive no.s.
Bhandare decided to pull the same prank on someone else. Two hours later he met Siva. Siva asked him the time. Bhandare said, "Its twelve-thirteen". Siva said, "fine, thanks." Bhandare got confused b'cos Siva did not get confused! He repeated 2-3 times, "its twelve-thirteen". Siva said thanks each time. Finally Bhandare got mad and shouted at Siva," Oye, aren't u confused if time is 12 o'clock or 13 o'clock? Why aren't u giving me confused looks?"

Siva just ran away!!

18: Wake up everyone!

Level 0.1 joke...

Why does Meghna prefer a basement apartment?

'Cos she is doing PhD, and PhD requires a study of a subject IN DEPTH!

There are many more, which you can read on the community forum.

And Siva's PJs need a separate blog for themselves. More on that in coming days...

Friends and Friendships

I had a very interesting conversation with a friend that day. This friends of mine... ( I don't think is it necessary or relevant to reveal her identity here, lets call her P )... has been one of my closest friends since past 3 years. She knows me pretty well (and I can say same about her), and we often have healthy discussions about various things.

P: " You don't call me often these days"

I: "So?"

P: "And you don't call your other old friends either"

I: "So?"

P: "You will loose your friends and dear ones if you don't call them once in a while"

I: "I don't think so. For me, a friend is always a friend, and I will always care for my friends. I don't need to call them every week to prove that they are still my buddies".

P: "Yes, but you have to show that you care for them. You need to make an effort to know if they are doing alright, whats new in their life, etc."

I: "I don't think so. What makes you think that I will loose my friends if I don't get in touch with them regularly?"

P: "That's how the world works. If you don't get in touch with people, they feel that you don't care about them anymore"

I: "Whatever!!. I anyways don't follow the rules that the world sets for people."

And we agreed to disagree at this point.

But this conversation made me think about my friends, and the concept of friendship in general.

First of all, I don't think one needs to catch up on friends every now and then just to prove that the friendship still exists. I don't think it works for me: firstly because I don't think friendship works that way, and secondly, its not possible to be in touch with all old friends. And I am not very talkative person as such, who would go on and on in an animated conversation.

We all make friends all the time, at different stages of life, at different places, and for different reasons. We have nice time with them, have loads of fun, and then things move on. Often it is not possible to maintain the same level of interaction-communication-understanding with your old pals, because you relocate, your interests change, you meet new people, your priorities change... whatever may be the reason, but you cant maintain same level of 'closeness' with same set of people all the time. It cant survive every transition of life.

I had school and colony friends with whom I spent good 10 years; then I had new friends in VESIT and we rocked for 4 years; then a few more friends when I was working in Johnson Controls; then lots of new friends from Clemson days; and now a gang in Cleveland. Very unfortunately, I was the lone traveler thru this journey (I really feel I am a bit unlucky in this matter. I always had to start from scratch. Everywhere I went, I didn't know anyone, had no group to start off, its a painful process every time you are left on a lonely island) . There was not a single friend of mine who was with me thru these 'phases' of my life.

It is not possible to be in touch with everyone you've met in past on a regular basis. If I were to do that, I would be spending my weekend on phone catching up with people, which I dont think is the nicest idea. Besides, there are so many other ways to keep yourself updated with your old pals: there is Orkut, there are Yahoo-groups, and there is Gmail.

Yes, I have been bit lazy and laid-back when it comes to calling people- even my close friends and ones who will always be my special dear ones (partly, the blame goes to my Grand Canyon and Death Valley trip as well. My mobile was switched off for almost 2 weeks during that trip, I was completely detached from my routine world, and it felt so nice at that moment. I was so peaceful and content with being away from hustle-bustle... never felt like using my mobile ever since I returned from that trip. Most of the time, its either switched off, or is in silent mode. anyways...), but I am in touch with them thru Orkut, and emails. I occasionally read their blogs, send an email or so... Is there still a need to do anything more than that??

I really cling on my friends and cherish their friendship. I guess most of my friends who know me well know that. I hope they know that they will always be my friends and dear ones.

But one cant get everything in life. I sometimes feel helplessly morbid to digest the fact that I am no more in touch with same people with whom I have spent almost every day together for 10 years. We were in same class; we used to play cricket together; we used to spend our summer vacations playing cards, carrom, hide-n-sick; we live a block away from each other... but I don't know anymore what those people are up to. I cant help it... things changed after school... our interests changed; our friend-circle changed; our hobbies changed; our philosophy changed. It part of life. Change is inevitable. And not everyone survives thru changes. Its the fact of life.

I am not in touch with some of my engineering friends... we had a very good hiking group in my VESIT days, and we have done zillions of hikes, and rock climbing, and rappelling together.. .have spend some unforgettable moments; have experienced the sheer beauty and mystery of nature... There were so many instances where it was impossible to climb a peak without help of, and absolute confidence in these friends...

Almost same thing is happening with my Clemson buddies... work-load, career, personal life, stress, circumstances, ego.. whatever may be the reason, but I am not able to catch up with them as often as I would like to. I thought I knew a few people pretty well in those days. Some others had very interesting personalities, and it was very tempting to know more about them... But as days passed by, it was not possible.

But that doesn't mean that I don't care about them. Friends are friends... how can the friendship change?... At least for me, my friends will always be my friends, no matter what !!. If we happen to meet one fine day, I am sure we will have nice time catching up, and everything will be same as usual.

Someone has rightly put it in these words: "True friends are ones who survive the transitions in life". I would add a few words to it, and say that "True friends are ones who understand the meaning of friendship, and friends".

So P, got the point?

Beyond Positive Thinking

I was looking for something nice to read, something that would make my brain cells active and pumping again... So Googled a bit for some 'self-analysis' type books, and came across a nice title "Beyond Positive Thinking". It sounded interesting enough, and I was eager to read that book after getting it thru OhioLink.

Well, to start off, its a crappy book. Most of you won't probably even read it beyond the first few pages. For a book with such an interesting title, I expected it to be something logical, interesting, factual, and thought provoking. (another book that I am reading, called 'Three Boxes of Life, And How To Get Out Of Them' by richard Bolle, is a very interesting book though). On the controrary, it felt as if I was watching the "Miracle Network" channel, one we used to get through the cable TV network in India, where a guy would go on and on preaching about Jesus. The author, John Baughman is actually a spiritual healer (which I learnt once half through the book already) and it didnt surprise me at all.

However, the book was thought provoking for sure. It said simple things in simple words. The book says that everything you do in life should be thought of with a neutral perspective. At every point in life, you should have a clear vision of a task, and you should perform it the way Jesus would like it performed. It is your duty to put yourself in a position to know what Jesus wants you to do and you should prepare yourself to complete that specific task. It's got nothing to do with your skills as you are just performing your duty. If you follow this, you can achieve anything in life. In other words, you are the messenger of the God, and you just have to do your duties.

Well, I didnt agree to the "Jesus" part of the arguement. I am an atheist. Mr. Baughman claims that he has healed cancers and tumors with his 'therapy'. I don't agree to this claim either. I firmly believe in science, and science does not believe in God. Its simple. (More on that later).

But his idea of thinking as a third person made me think a lot. And I tried to implement that a couple of times, and it worked for me!!

Very often, we are not able to complete a task with perfection, somehow it doesn't happen. We sometimes don't know HOW to deal with the situation, either getting confused or misguided or helpless. We come at a point where we don't know how to tackle the situation, and we falter. Many a times, it happens because we involve ourselves too much in that situation, either trying to get something out of everything we do or trying to make it too perfect. In either case, we are well below our best.

The concept of cultivating yourself as a third person is pretty interesting, and it makes your life so easy. At every point, you simply have to do only three things: 1: See WHAT is to be done , 2: know HOW it is to be done. and 3: DO it. Your job ends here. You are not emotionally attached to anything you do, and hence there is no scope of you thinking negatively in this case. Potentially, this can be applied to anything in life, and that means that you can do anything is life, IF you know your steps 1, 2, and 3.

It actually becomes a very analytical situation. Every task you perform every day, has to have some cause. Every decision you take in your life, has to have a reason. Every day you live, has to have a purpose. What is this cause, this reason, this purpose... we don't know about it... but we don't need to know about it either. We just have to do it.

In short, be a clerk, or a typist. Do your job, don't think much about it.

For once, I found it pretty interesting.

This thing reminds me of one fact that I read somewhere long back. If you put a newborn baby in a bath tub, he will start swimming because he doesn't have the fear of drowning as he doesn't know how to think negatively. Its an interesting enough fact, and there is lots to be learnt from it.

I would like to see my own kid doing it one day, provided:

3: my wife permits me to do this
2: I have my own kid
1: I get a girl who's willing to marry me.
0: I get a girl

Season Two ...3..2..1..0...

I am blogging after 5 months and 7 days.

Yeah, Its been a while...

I was too occupied with a few things in past 6 months.

This year has been a bit better so far, so I am back.

In a way, it was a good break from blogging. If you read my first few blogs, you would have noticed that there was no particular theme to them. In true sense, they were "random thoughts". Off late, they merely became my travel blogs.

I never made an attempt to open up, never wrote anything about my feelings, thoughts or philosophy. The reason: I was a bit apprehensive to open up like that. I was not sure if this was a right forum for it, and also thought that one may get a different impression about myself if he/ she comes across the blog.

But then I realised that people hardly know the real Vivek (not that I know it myself completely either)... Since past few years, I have been consciously trying to experiment with myself, and my life. Even though it has been a truly amazing experience to be exposed to different lifestyles and personalities, I thought there is now a need for expressing myself, the real self, before it gets dumped.

There are very few people who know me well, and know me completely.

:).

Dont take it personally, but if you know me only since past couple of years, it is more likely that you have come across only one dimension of me, or may be couple. My real self was hidden somewhere else.

It was a conscious decision to mask my true self. First of all, there was no need for everyone to know what kind of person I am, and secondly I wanted to see how I react if put in a totally unfamiliar scenario.
OK, enough of that.

I am planning to blog regularly this semester, and would be writing more about myself, my experiences in past, my views on politics, cricket, my country, my friends, and things like that.

I would also be scrapping about few things that come to my mind... like relationships, friendship, commitment, compromises, etc.

So, season 2 starts...

Stay tuned.

Vivek writes an article...

Writing my thesis was easy... because I exactly knew how I wanted it to be. I had my thesis written in my mind before I typed my first page.

Writing my Langmuir paper was also easy... as I knew what my advisor wants from me. I had my thesis as a guideline, and a very strict advisor to edit my work.

Writing my PhD SOP was a bit difficult... because there were so many things to be written and main task was to fit everything in a page and half.

But writing a 2-page article from a thin- one line idea was something I never imagined I could do. I know my worth when it comes to doing something like that. I surprised myself when I agreed to write an article for the bi-annual newsletter of LRI-GSEC (Lerner Research Institute- Graduate Students' Education Committee). In one of the meetings, someone suggested that I should compile an article related to the experiences of a first year student at LRI. And believe it or not, I did it.

Here's what I wrote. Read on:

My Entry to the Crystal Maze


1: First day at LRI:

I enter Lerner Research Institute for a departmental tour, and one of the graduate students walks us around the LRI building. That girl seems to be the happiest person in the world, and when asked about her experience at LRI, she sounds like there is nothing else in this world that can be more pleasurable than LRI. I trust her for that.

My first thoughts: "Wow.... this place looks cool!!" I mean, coming from an academic research environment, LRI is like coming from a filthy bachelor efficiency room to Buckingham palace. "Ummm... this place seems to have a lot of money; the infrastructure is indeed excellent... And I will get free coffee as well, and free stationary... and free parking, TGIFs, picnics, parties, tickets to cedar point…Yup baby! This is the place to spend my next 5 years".

2: Honeymoon time:

First few days at LRI are really cool. The departmental staff seems to be very cordial, and gets most of the paperwork done in first 30 minutes. But still, I wait at the main entrance every day for first week or so for someone else to come, look suspiciously at me, and then let me in. The reason: It takes about a week to get my badge activated.

After a few days, my boss goes for a 2-week conference in Europe.... Since I am a newbie and am yet to begin my experiments, my daily schedule is somewhat like this: come to lab in the morning, pretend to read books and understand new concepts, read papers and ask a few questions to seniors, go to library and print papers, go to food courts. And have food, then go to library to take a nap, come back to my lab at 4.30, say bye to everyone, go home, play tennis. I never have had such a good 2-week holiday in my life.

3: First bombshell:

For first few days, my daily attire is jeans and a t-shirt. After all, I am still a student. One day, I come across a gentleman. I don’t know who he is (I later on discover, happens to be the administrative-in-charge). I say customary hello and exchange pleasantries etc. He doesn’t seem to be too pleased with me. I wonder what’s wrong... is it my face, or am I having too much of coffee. I am totally confused. AND then first bombshell comes my way. He says “Denim is not allowed in LRI campus. You should be in formals from tomorrow".... Oh boy... What will happen to all my torn-jeans and all those favorite t- shirts?... NO.... Someone is taking away my student-hood from me.... what should I do...

That evening, I go in my panic mode, and to JC Penny to get some khakis and shirts...

4: Trouble starts:

Well, soon, the honeymoon gets over and the "real" thing starts. After the first meeting with my advisor, I get 38 papers to read, and my desk is full of papers, books, research notebooks, and what not! And I have no idea of what they talk about. Everyone in my lab talks as if I am born with the knowledge of the research concept, my advisor talks to me in a language that is Greek to me, and I am supposed to come to that level by reading all papers!!!.... Problem starts...

Now I attend 4 meetings a week, spend most of my time under the hood and fill up 2 pages of lab notebook every day. It’s been a while since I have played Tennis.

5: Life comes back to normal:

Soon things get nasty... workload increases 10-fold... I want my boss to go for a 2-week conference in Japan... but this time around, all conferences are in nearby cities... He comes back in two days.

Nowadays, its just me, my work, my coffee, and my lab notebook... terms like chilling out, having a break, being tired, taking a day off, working out in a gym are out of my vocabulary. :(... I begin to realize that that’s what life really means... Nowadays I read journal articles in my free times, I read philosophy as a past time, my friends consider me as a junky waste... and my parents have given up hopes on me.

These are a few typical initial reactions of a first year graduate student at LRI. Jokes apart, the research activity and combined output at LRI is of so much of high quality that a new student typically gets overwhelmed seeing everyone so hard working, so knowledgeable and so thorough in their work... To start with, he/she has no clue about the cutting edge technology, has no experience of applying text-book knowledge to a practical use. Typically, what a new student needs is a mentor, who could guide him/ her in his initial research and answer a few basic questions, a few new friends with whom he/ she can have some fun while at work, a group of people with whom he/she can have daily lunch, and a boss who understands that people have life beyond research. It takes a while to get used to everything here, but once he finds his own small space in this horizon... things get easier and better.

So far, the first few months at LRI have been really satisfying and I look forward to making the next few years special ones in my career.

-
Vivek Raut

Whitewater Rafting in West Virginia

This one was on my "to do" list since past 2 months.... Almost finalised one in July... 10 people in Cleveland had actually said YES (my self-experience says that it takes on an average 21 e-mails to bring 6 people together in Cleveland. So imagine how difficult that was !!)... but then when it came to booking the trip... a few people backed out, and whole idea flopped.

So when Nigamath and Divya mentioned about rafting in one Asha meeting, (which was the first one for me) I saw a slim ray of hope somewhere. I liked 2 things about Asha-Cleveland chapter in the first meeting itself: 1: they all go out for a sandwich or so after the meeting. 2: they are a cool group, and don't pretend to be too busy :-).

Anyways, so we fixed 19th, 20th and 21st August to be the rafting weekend. We decided to do rafting with Songer as they offered us the cheapest rafting deal. A few of us decided to go for the Upper New river, and the rest of the gang (7 of us) decided to venture in the lower New river, which offers level 4 and 5 rapids.

A few facts about the New river. After the Nile, the New River is the second oldest river in the world (and hence the name), and it has world's second longest suspension less (single arch) bridge across its gorge. (the longest is in China, which is just 4 cm longer). It is 876 ft high. Every year, on a Bridge Day, hundreds of BASE jumpers and nearly 200,000 spectators are gather on the bridge and celebrate the largest extreme sports event in the world. The New River Gorge Bridge serves as the launch point for six hours BASE jumps. Just being there on the bridge and going beneath it was a great feeling in itself.

Anyways, so we started a long 5 hour drive at 4pm on Friday from Cleveland. Nigmanth, Divya, Himanshu, Rohini had left on Thursday itself. 6 of us (Bharadwaj, Ramya, Vishal, Dipit, Amita, me) left on Friday (we work very hard, we hardly get a day off during weekdays :D. :D.) Driving was hardly boring as we had lots of things to talk.

We reached the campsite at around 11.30 pm. Our Thursday gang greeted us with loud cheer and lots of stories to tell. We quickly set up the tent and went to bed (or sleeping bag ??) soon, as a hectic day of rafting was coming up.

On Saturday, we had delicious Masala Tea and spicy Pohe for breakfast. A very tasty and hearty breakfast set the day for us. After taking bath and packing up, we were ready for rafting. After a short ride to the starting point, at 11.30 AM, we were ready for 6 hours of rafting with our rafting gear, a huge 9 person raft and Megan (our instructor).

The New river gorge is East America's most popular white water river. Lower New River has an enormous volume of water coursing through a narrow canyon. The water creates a friction along the bottom and sides which generates big, oscillating waves, making for exciting rafting.

The entire 6 hour rafting experience was worth every rapid and every minute. Rafting has always been fun, challenge, and excitement And this time it was no different. Every time a rapid comes up, one feels a moment of excitement mixed with a bit of fear factor, one gets ready to face the worst and enjoy the best, quickly praying God with a hope of not falling in the gregarious current of water. But after all the high intensity action, that one moment of victory and joy makes you feel proud of yourself. That, I believe is the biggest and the happiest moment in rafting. When you look back at the rapid, and those thundering waves going up and down, you get an idea and a feel of what happened in your life a moment back.

We had a lot of fun in water, with many of us swimming in between rapids, and a few of us trying hard to swim. It was a very satisfying rafting experience for me, but my first rafting experience in the lower ocoee river would probably be the most cherishable one for me... may be because it was my first attempt with rafting, and also because our guide Lydia was too cute n sexy.

Some Brownie points for Songer: They have a very well maintained campsite, with excellent facilities. The restroom are spacious and very clean , with hot water bath facilities. The rates are reasonable and all the guides are friendly and helping. I would definitely recommend you to check them out if you plan to do rafting in this part of the world.

Saturday evening was camping and campfire time. We had a very delicious Rajma-Rice, and spicy masala rice (courtesy Himanshu) for dinner. It was indeed very very tasty (I swear you wont get a better rajma-rice even in the 5 star restaurent in Mumbai). We also had some sweet corn and some barbecue grilled lemon pepper chicken with that. After dinner, we had one small walk around the campsite and then we played cards till 1 AM. It was nice and cold, and overcast with occasional drizzles- a perfect atmosphere for outdoor recreation. For once, missed my monsoon trekking days in Sahyadri. Hope I can get those happy days of my life once again :(.

Anyways, plan for Sunday was to visit the ISKON Vrindavan temple in West Virginia, and also the Palace of Gold. Its a very well maintained and a very nicely developed place and one should definitely visit this place once. We had a nice time there and the 4 hour drive was worth it.

On our return trip to Akron, we had dinner in an Indian restaurant in Canton named Bombay Sitar. Its a fine place for some nice Indian food. I liked their rotis a lot.

So after almost 800 miles of drive, 2 nites of camping, and 6 hours of hardcore rafting, we were back to Cleveland with lots of cherishable memories, tons of fun, some Kodak moments, broad smiles, tanned skin and soar ankles( and for me, 9 new friends). It was a very nice trip.

Next on my task is a nite trek. Its been a while since I have done a nite trek on a full moon nite... there is no more pleasure than a nite trek with just a handful of friends in company. I don't know when that will happen, but I am looking forth to it.

I also want to do Kayaking sometime in my life. I was getting jealous of all those kayaks who were having so much of fun that day... I guess kayaking would be one ultimate pleasure. I know, for someone like me, who doesn't know swimming for nuts, (people have written articles about how they saved me!!!!) it is stupid to think of kayaking... but... there is always an hope!!

Click here for group photos. There are more coming. My digicam is broken, so have fun guys and girls. You will see some human beings in these photos because they are not taken by me :D.

Its been one hell of a summer so far: india trip, trek to himalayas, lots of travelling, a hiking trip, a rafting trip, couple of summer trips... its been fun. Am hoping to have more fun next summer.

Ok, Now I am Signing off!!

Washington DC trip

Well, this one was planned a long time back. The occasion was Neil's wedding. Neil is my distant cousin (son of Dr. Madhukar and Lalita Thakur, who happen to be my mother's mama[maternal uncle]). The wedding was on the 12th, and I was invited. So booked the tickets and a rented car a month back. Since I was going after a long time to DC area, also thought of meeting some of my long lost friends.

My flight from Cleveland was supposed to take off at 7 PM... but was delayed by 2 hours.... I was all prepared for such delays and had a bunch of movies with me to see in spare time. So it was time to see Shaw shank Redemption. Believe it or not, I was yet to see that movie, wanted to see this one since long long time... but never got 2 spare hours for it. Its a gem of a movie.... liked it a lot. Would put this one along with Forrest Gump and The life of David Gale, two of my most favorite movies. So the waiting time at Cleveland was very well spent.

After reaching DC and renting the car, drove to Richmond, VA to meet Rohit Sawant, my undergrad friend. It was nice to meet Rohit after 2 years, and first time in US. Apart from old memories, we discussed whitewater rafting in West Virginia... He did one a couple of weeks back and I am planning to do it this weekend. Saw the DVD of their rafting, which was really cool. The lower New river in WV provides level IV and V rapids, and am really excited about coming weekend.

Anyways, next day drove from Richmond to Washington DC for Neil's wedding. It was a very well planned one, and only selected few were invited. Got to meet mama, mami, Dilip mama, Sachin, Netra tai, Sanjay, Nikhil and everyone else after really long time... precisely after 2 years. Last time we all met was for Netra Tai's wedding in June 2003. This pretty much summarises all the relatives I have in the United States, and its a different feeling altogether to meet your loved ones after a long time.

The wedding itself was a class affair, which started in a traditional maharashtrian way, with all mantras and other customs... and followed by a banquet. Had a lot of fun and lot of food as well. It went on till 12.30 AM.

Then drove to Ajinkya's places in Manassas, Virginia. This was kind of unplanned visit. I actually had called Pramod Shanbhag, to see if I could meet him. But he, and a few others were going to meet at Ajinkya's place... So it was kinda Clemson reunion. Apart from Ajinkya and Pramod, there was a strong Clemson gang of Srinivas, Nilu and Bhargavi. Most of the time was spent in exchanging movies from one laptop to other... There were 6 Clemson engineers and 4 laptops.... So there was very active information exchange on Saturday nite/ Sunday morning. It was nice to see so many Clemson people together after long time.

Next day morning, had Indian masala tea with croissants... and we watched the Ashes test match between England and Australia. This Ashes series is shaping up very well and is promising to be a very absorbing and exciting one. Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell were in full flow, and it was good (and very rare) to see Mcgrath and Warne being hit all over the ground so mercilessly.

After a quick photo-session, had to say good bye to them, as I had another brief meeting with Het and Rohit in Washington DC. Wanted to spend some more time in Manassas, as they all were heading for miniature-golf. May be next time.

So Het, Rohit and I had decided to meet at Union Station, Washington DC. It was kind of VESIT reunion. In Rohit's words: "Had a good time since few old memories came up which made us laugh a lot. I hope we will be able to meet again once Binu is up here and makes some plan to Visit the East Coast here"... am looking forth to meeting my old gang.

Anyways, so after very hectic 2 days, 400 miles of driving... I was back to Dulles airport, only to realise that the plane was an hour late this time. Since one hour was not sufficient for a movie, it was Tom and Jerry time... which of course of full of fun.

Now am back in Cleveland, and back to work... but am already in the rafting mood. Am looking forth to coming weekend in West Virginia.

Japanese dinner at Pacific East

Who doesn't like free food?....

My roommate Siddhartha has a Japanese guest from Japan in his lab for some project related work. They were planning to go to a Japanese restaurant and (since it was not very close to our apartment, they needed a car,) Siddhartha asked me if I could join them. I accepted the invitation gleefully. There is nothing more fascinating in this world than to get free food at a nice place.

so we chose Pacific East. It had some good reviews online and was placed at a very neat location. Pacific East has a neat ambiance, a mostly blue space, nicely offsetting the red wood tables and chairs. The place has a vast menu, listing dozens of sushi options plus just about any vegetable ever grown in Japan as well as many tempura, yakatori, udon, don buri, and teriyaki. Service was exceedingly polite and efficient. It was my first outing at a Japanese restaurant, and I must say that I was not disappointed.

I found Ritsuko (Siddhartha's guest) a very well mannered, confident and a charming lady. I must say that she has been a wonderful ambassador for her country and her company. It was nice meeting her.

Anyways, so Ritsuko was there to guide us for ordering food. Pacific East has huge list of items on their menu.. and for a first timer, its indeed a huge task to understand whats going on. It took me a long time to figure out what is good and what is not. Finally ordered Miso Soup (Soy bean soup with been curd, seaweed and scallion) and Tako Yaki (Octopus balls) for appetisers, Oyako Don (chicken with egg on rice) and chicken Katsu (similar to breaded chicken strips) as main course. Ritsoku had Hiya- Yako (cold bean curd with flakes and scallion) and shrimp Tempura. Sidharth had Oyako Don, and Tempuras.

Food was good. Tried to have it with those sticks, but could not. So requested for fork and knife and enjoyed this new delicacy. Now onwards, Octopus will be one more addition to my list. They actually taste pretty good... similar to shrimp. I really enjoyed the Tako Yaki. Rest of the food was good.

They also served some Japanese wine at the end.... it was really good and mellow. Liked it.

All in all, had a good Tuesday evening.

Allegheny Camping and Hiking

Ever since I shifted to Cleveland, I was getting increasingly uncomfortable to see no mountains in and around Ohio. Even feared for a few days that I will have to give up my passion for hiking and camping, and will have to take interest in singing and cooking, etc (:D, :D).... and the thought was scary enough. Surprisingly not too many people hike in Ohio and surrounding states, as its generally a flat land. Come August and I was getting desperate to get out of Cleveland, go to some dense forest and have lots of fun.

So we had to go east to find a thick jungle. And we got Allegheny National park. Vivek, Devyani, Meghna were interested in camping, so we finalised 6th, 7th August as the D-day. I also invited Aniket and Abhijit from Ann Harbor, Michigan; and they were glad to join us. I have known Aniket since past 7 years, and had a few treks together in Maharashtra. We both came to US in 2002, but it was not possible to meet up, as I was in the Carolinas. So I was also keen to catch up with him. Abhishek is also a very avid hiker and has extensive experience of hiking in Maharashtra as well as US.

Allegheny National Forest has a rich variety of outdoor activities to entertain you. There are several trails, ranging from very easy to difficult ones. Also, there are over 600 camp-sites and other recreational activities. Amongst many trails, we chose the Minister Creek trail and the nearby campground, as it was described as a difficult trail in a thick jungle and undeveloped area, which sounded interesting.

Since I have met them 20 days back, I have always found Vivek, Devyani and Meghna full of enthusiasm, a hearty laugh and something to chatter. Devang and Amit also fall in same league. So all in all, an interesting weekend was in offing; with guaranteed non stop entertainment.

On a sunny, hot Saturday morning 8 of us (Abhishek, Aniket, Amit, Vivek, Devang, Meghna, Devyani, me) left Cleveland in 2 cars. Together, we had around 60 music CDs + 8 talkative people... so the 3 hour long drive was hardly boring.

As we came closer to the national park, the forest grew thick, roads became narrower and full of curves. It was a roller coaster ride for a while. As we reached the campsite, we realised that all the sites were full. Now the option was to set up our tents at another campground nearby (which was available, but was a bit too commercialised. We were looking for somewhat more primitive), or away from the campsite, in the woods at the Minister Creek. We chose the second option.

One good thing about Allegheny is that you can set up your tent anywhere in the jungle, except near the trails. It proved to be an excellent choice, as we had even more fun away from the crowd, just by ourselves.

By the time we set up the tents, it was 5 PM, and it was time for relaxing. We started with some chips and salsa, and some beer. The topic of discussion for the evening snack was Andaz Apna Apna and Hera Pheri.... :D.

The main challenge for the evening was to set up the grill. Since we did not set the camp at a normal campsite, we didnt have a proper grill to grill our food. So we fabricated a temporary stone grill, put some charcoal in it, topped with a couple of layers of Aluminium foil. It took 8 engineers and a lot of engineering innovation to set up a grill. But we did it at last (this situation was similar to a sardar joke: it took 50 sardars to change the bulb... 1 to hold the bulb and 49 to rotate the wall, and yet they failed. I am glad that 8 of us did the job :-).

Conclusion: we are not sardars. We can do it ).

Anyways, soon our burgers and chicken breasts and veggies were cooking on red hot charcoal. We also started a campfire side-by-side and put some potatoes and veggies in it, seasoned with Mexican seasoning. It was a very delicious dinner, and it tasted even better with some fine red and white wine. I must mention that the chicken I had on that evening was one of the tastiest I have had ever.

All this while, our topics of discussion varied from Cleveland, Ann Arbor, US, India, football, cricket, baseball to Human beings, animals, Aniket Joshi and Siddharth Dutta. Aniket (who claims to get loads of spare time because he is a full -time research student at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor) tried a lot to prove his point that U Mich is a superior research place, but his efforts fell short against 6 Case researchers. Later he tried to crack some jokes from his "improv" club; however, one must say that he needs to improve. Having said that, this trek won't have been even half enjoyable without Aniket. So keep it up buddy.

It was dessert time by then and we had some marshmallow roasters for dessert. After so much of food, a deep sleep was inevitable.

Next morning, after having the breakfast of apples and doughnuts, we started our hike. This almost 7 miles hike is full of huge boulders and lots of ups and downs as well as streams and trees. It was a very enjoyable 4 hour hike. We did a bit of rock climbing, a bit of tree climbing, some apple picking, lots of relaxing and some walking.

On our way back, we had a late lunch at the Pepper-mate Restaurant in Warren. They claim to be the best family restaurant in Warren. Well, considering their food, I would say that Warren families need to improve.

Anyways, it was an excellent weekend overall. It seems that Allegheny will be my second home in Cleveland in a next couple of years. I would definitely recommend you to visit that place at least once. Its cool, and all the trails are worth the effort. I am already planning another camping trip in Fall Break later in October.

Please click here for camping pics.

Baseball game

I guess I surprised myself when I went to see the Indians Vs. Yankees Baseball game yesterday.

I like the concept of baseball, as its close to cricket; and i have been trying to understand its rules etc. But never got a chance to follow the game closely. Life in Clemson was too busy to follow baseball in addition to other games.

Couple of days back, Vivek asked if I would be interested in joining him and Devyani for this game. It sounded a great idea.

Its a great experience to be in the ground and see the game live. It was my first such experience, so thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a strong 35-40 thousand crowd, and we were in the top rows. the screen was rt in front of us. Vivek helped me to understand the game; and it was very easy after that.

About the game.... in one line: "Cleveland Indians are a bunch of idiots". They were leading 3-2 till the start of the 9th Innings. Yankees hit 2 home runs in the 9th innings... went 4-3 up.. and then got all 3 Indian hitters in a minute. It was a huge let down at the end. Something I would expect from the Indian cricket team (because Indian cricketers do not carry brain on their shoulders when they go out in middle and play. If you observe closely, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra look mentally retarded when they bowl and are hit for 2-3 fours in one over), but not from the Cleveland Indians...

Bob Wickman messed it all up. MLB has a good cover-up article:

"CLEVELAND -- Bob Wickman knows how precarious life as a closer can be.
After recording saves in the first two games of the series against the Yankees, Wickman's attempt for a third was wiped out by ninth-inning home runs by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi on Thursday night.

The solo homers turned a 3-2 lead into a 4-3 loss, preventing the Indians from recording their first sweep over the Yankees at home since 1970.

Instead of recording his 30th save of the season, Wickman was saddled with his fourth blown save in 33 chances.

When it was all over, Wickman knew where to place the blame.

"I let the team down," Wickman said. "If it wasn't for me, we would have won three games."

Wickman, who leads the American League in saves, said pitching for the third night in a row wasn't the issue. It was more a matter of making bad pitches. After he retired Gary Sheffield on a fly ball to start the inning, Rodriguez crushed a 3-1 pitch into the bleachers in left.

"I was trying to throw it down and away," said Wickman. "It didn't go down and away. It wasn't where I wanted it, but it wasn't the worst pitch in the world."

The 2-1 pitch to Rodriguez raised some questions from the Indians. Plate umpire Bob Davidson called the close pitch a ball, drawing a long stare from Wickman and some yelling from manager Eric Wedge.

"There were a couple of questionable pitches late," said Wedge.

"It was tough to tell," said Wickman.

Wickman (0-3) retired Hideki Matsui on a ground ball, but Giambi, who also homered in the fifth off Kevin Millwood, took a 2-1 pitch to right.

"He hit a slider," said Wickman. "It's the first home run I've given up on a breaking ball all year."

Millwood held New York to two runs in eight innings. John Flaherty also homered off Millwood in the second.

Wedge had no second thoughts about pulling Millwood, who threw 94 pitches.

"It was tough, but Kevin had worked hard," he said. "He did a great job. That was enough for him. Wicky has been great for us. It was one of those days with Wicky."

Millwood, who allowed eight hits, struck out eight and didn't walk a batter, supported the move.

"I was done," Millwood said. "I used my last bit of energy in the last inning. If I went out for the ninth, I would have been real tired. I felt like I was pretty much done after the eighth. I wouldn't have had much on the ball."

Wedge chose to credit the Yankees.

"A couple of pretty good hitters got us late: A-Rod and Giambi," he said.

Wickman also credited the Yankees.

"I felt pretty good," he said. "I just didn't make the pitches. They make you pay when you make a mistake. Guys who hit home runs make you pay when you make a bad pitch."

Down, 2-1, in the seventh, it looked as if the Indians were going to pull this one out. Casey Blake walked to start the inning, which ended the night for Yankees starter Shawn Chacon. Alan Embree came in, and he walked Grady Sizemore. Coco Crisp sacrificed the runners to second and third. The bunt paid off when Jhonny Peralta's groundout off Tom Gordon scored Blake to tie the game.

Travis Hafner, who hadn't played since getting hit in the face by a pitch from Chicago's Mark Buehrle on July 16, grounded a 2-2 pitch through the right side to put the Indians ahead, 3-2, in the seventh. Hafner had missed 17 games with a concussion.

Flaherty's homer, his first of the season, came on a 2-0 pitch and landed in the bleachers in left. Giambi homered to right to lead off the fifth.

The Indians were unable to cash in chances in the second, third and fourth innings, but they finally broke through in the fifth. Blake led off with a single, but Sizemore hit into a double play. Crisp singled and scored when Peralta doubled off the wall in left.
"

All in all it was a great experience though. Enjoyed it a lot. A great game, fairly noisy crowd, pizza, and beer!!... Great experience!!

Asha

Being a part of AID was one of the most satisfying experiences for me at Clemson. Got a very fantastic friends to hang around with, had lots of fun, and also got some experience of event management in the USA. More important than that, learnt a lot about my country , India. There was a lot more to India than i knew before being a part of AID. The way I think of my country may not be same as the way others think of it; and more importantly the actual situation may not be exactly the same.

We often talk about India being a developed nation by 2020, and India making leaps of progress in IT; but there are millions of people in India who are yet to get the basic knowledge of health care, self-dependence, and education. That's when I decided to be involved with a non-profit organization. I am probably an infinitesimal factor in the development of my country, but still I want to contribute in whatever small way I can. That feeling of doing something for my country gives me a lot of self-satisfaction.

Anyways, AID doesn't have a Cleveland chapter. However, Asha (better known as Asha for Education) is fairly active here and the Cleveland chapter does lots of events thru out the year. Asha for Education is a secular organization dedicated to change in India by focusing on basic education in the belief that education is a critical requisite for socio-economic change.

I have been attending past couple of Asha meetings. Its cool. Its almost same fun as we used to have in AID meeting at Clemson. Hoping to be more involved with Asha in future months, and also get to know some of the members. We are organizing classical Indian music concert by Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan with his sons Ayaan and Amaan Ali Bhangaash on the 17th September. Am looking forward to it. Last few Indian classical music concerts have been a great experience. This one would be no different either. Lets see how it turns out to be.

Happy Happy Happy Happy, Happy days are here again....

I am enjoying these days... Past 2 weeks or so have been really great!!!.... After a good, long month; feel as if Cleveland has finally accepted me, and I have accepted Cleveland. This mutual acceptance is important for survival.

There have been lots of parties and cricket thru out. It started with a hearty dinner at Vivek Walimbe's place, with Devayani, Meghna, Sameer, Rashmi, and their kid. It was a delicious Indian dinner with Andaz Apna Apna in background, followed by Ice cream. We kept on talking for a couple of hours in Vivek's balcony. From there one can see a lovely view of Cleveland downtown. I want to take its pic one day.... will do it as I get time.

It was followed by Sunday nite dinner with some Case guys (and girls) at Tommy's, and a short trip to Edgewater park by Lake Erie. Its a cool place.... there were lots of people fishing there, and were actually catching a lots of them. I am looking forward to fishing someday by the lakeside.

Then we hosted a party at our place for Siddhath's friends, and they hosted a party the following weekend at their place. So obviously had a great time.

Also, I got my boxes from Clemson, so most of the spare time at home is spent in arranging all the stuff. And then rearranging it. Now my room looks the way I want, with a big (5 ft by 4 ft) US road map and also the world map on the walls, and a poster of a cute little lazy puppy with the quotes "Lazy Days" on the wall near my bed. Plus there are 2 small cabinets, a table, a chair. I would settle for this for now.

A few days back, went to see the hindi movie "Viruddh". Its a serious movie, but I liked it because the first half is well made, portraying the lives of upper-middle class parents living in Mumbai and having their son studying abroad. A few scenes got me thinking about my parents. I was going to talk about it to them, only to realise that they also had been to the same movie a day back.(its been a while since I have had a hearty talk with my parents either. Life is little too fast at the moment. When I went home back in June, hardly got a day to spend with them. Sometimes miss my parents and miss them for not there with me to share my happiness; but its OK I guess. One good thing is that they respect my personal life and do understand that I have a life beyond them and my other relatives. Not all parents are that nice)... They must have read the reviews somewhere.

Anyways, in between all these things, I am going to cricket practice every week and then also to Asha meetings every week.

Its good to be busy, ain't it?

Clemson to Cleveland... life moves on

Its been more than a month since I have shifted to Cleveland. Getting adjusted to it bit by bit. Never imagined it would be so tough to get used to this place, especially after spending good 3 years in Clemson. I mean, even my backyard in Mumbai is bigger than Clemson, so thought that since I am moving to a bigger city, things should be much easier at Cleveland, but soon realised that it was not the case.

Cleveland is a nice little city, but its weird in the sense that one struggles to find people to have a hearty talk with. Coming from Clemson, where I knew almost entire Indian community of 300 and so many others, felt as if coming to a desert, as there was no one to talk with.

This is something bit unusual. Its not that there are no people. The place where I work, the Cleveland Clinic, has tons of employees, but somehow all are in a hurry to do something. They don't walk, they run. That was a huge contrast from Clemson life, where we didn't walk either, we crawled. Another fact was that, since I am joining early ( in June instead of August), there is no one who's with me to start off with. So, it was bit unusual not to have a good company in day-to-day life.

Soon, things got better. Got a nice little apartment in a very good locality. Its called Little Italy, as it was primarily an Italian community, and has many nice Italian restaurants. It like lovely little castle. We have a nice backyard with a cherry tree (with cherries on it), and its a homely apartment. After settling in with the utilities, and the furniture, and all; the next task was to get a car. I was done with sitting at home on weekends.

And got a nice car as well. Its a Toyota Camry. Its runs smooth, and is a great comfort. I have already made a couple of small road trips here and there, and its cool.

Nowadays trying to meet people and make new friends.... its like whole new cycle.... did it after school, at engineering college, at Johnson Controls, at Clemson and now at Cleveland. Nowadays, am going for cricket practice every Friday with CSU guys. Its fun to be all padded up and playing with leather ball. And yes, I am not getting out on zero anymore :).

Met Suneel Sai, a VESIT senior last week. It was great to meet someone after 5 long years. He was accompanying his girlfriend Sindhu. We had a nice time first at the Omnimax dome. Watching something on a huge 160 degree dome screen was amazing. Its supposed to be one of world's largest screen.

Then, very interestingly, went to an Ethiopian restaurant, Taytu, and it was a cool restaurant. I would recommend anyone who likes to try something spicy and something new, at a good ambiance. We tried some Samboosas (similar to Indian Samosas), some spicy shrimp and some extra hot beef stuff. The shrimp was worth it. Excellent taste.

"As you walk in the door, the aroma of ginger, cardamom and cloves greets you. The walls are decorated with photos of Ethiopia, and servers are garbed in long white dresses. Here you'll dine as the ancient Abyssinian did: at basket- like tables (mesobs) where you scoop up food with injera, a pancake-like buckwheat bread, from tabletop-sized platters. Dining here isn't just a culinary experience, it's a cross-cultural experience, too. For starters, try the sambussa, fried turnovers stuffed with jalapeno±s and onions -- hot hot hot. For dinner, share a meat combo with marinated chicken, tender stewed beef, lamb and ground beef in their appropriate sauces, and/or a vegetable combo with spiced peas and lentils, well-flavored greens, string beans and potatoes in their appropriate sauces. Both come with good-sized "American" salads. Desserts are tame here (sweets aren't part of Ethiopian culture), so for afters, opt for the enchanting Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Green coffee beans are roasted to order and brought to the table still hot, then ground. Then, as your coffee brews in a clay pot, your soft-spoken server lights incense and explains Ethiopian coffee customs."

All in all, I am having a nice time in Cleveland. Never felt so relieved and relaxed in years: was always under some stress or other. Things are much better now (I hope I can get back some of my hair on my head :)) ). Making some nice friends at the clinic, and in community as well.

Signing off,
Vivek