My Happy Place

Today while i was coming back from the School, as usual on the Subway,i was listening to this song called "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack which reminded me of a Certain Episode from "Dawson's Creek" which had a Phrase called "Happy Place".Thats made me think, what is My Happy Place.

My Happy Place would be My Grand Ma's Place(a difficult choice to make, but i think this would be on the top or all).It's a Small village called Atchuthapuram on the East coast of Southern India, with a population of may be 600 tops. All my childhood (that would be till my 10th grade), i used to spend my summers there, right from the month of April till June. Reasons for it to be on the top would are many. A few of them would be sweet and caring people as half the population are related to me, lovely climate, all we had to do was nothing but eat and play ALL DAY. Back in the day when all of the relatives had nothin but love to share among themselves, it was fun to meet cousins once in a year and aunts and uncles who are so happy that visited. The Climate made the place more happier.Though it was summer, it was hardly HOT most of the time.The evenings was majorly cool.And at times, the conditions used to be over cast, with cloud covering up the sky so think that you could actually hear an echo ( this is my most favourite kind of weather).We used to scream at the top of the voice and compete as of whose voice would echo for long.And when it starts to pour down, we ran on the huge open grasslands,getting drenched in the drizzle, until our parents/grand parents/etc would shout at us to come back into the house.And when we come back, we made these paper boats and sailed them along the small water canals which ran along the outside of the outerwalls of the houses, which are made of mud.

During those days Eating,Playing and ocasional studying was the WHOLE WORLD. No egos, no selfishness, no back stabbing, no jealousy, nothing.I miss being Naive and Happy and everything but an Adult.May be thats what makes that my Happy Place and those my Happy Days.

I feel everyone should have a Happy Place and they should visit it often, if not Physically , Mentally.Hope you Realize What your Happy Place is.......Sooner if not Later.

Choices

Life is full of them.Somtime its good to have them and most of time its not, or it just me that i am not able to make good out of them. Having Choices is one hell of a responsibility.Some of you may think i am reading your mind while you go through the following blog, some of you may think i am too imatured to write something like this.
Choice is like having a Right, Because as along with every right comes a duty, along with every Choice comes a responsibility.I choosing between something would be so difficult untill i had total freedom.Untill very recently(3-4 years ago) most of the decisions for me were made by my parents.Though some of the decisions were against my will, i had to follow them, as you know with the whole respeting parents and stuff.But lately, it has been the case that i have to make my own deicions and choose between the various possibilities like...... Should i go for a PhD (which is not so easy) as a step towards acheiving my childhood dream of being an Astronaut or should i take up a Job and lead a simple life while serving the people around me in the way in can.I so wanna be an Astronaut ever since i was what 10, but then i think....how much good can i do to the world being an Astronaut. And then comes the Love life..... should follow what my heart says..... i.e. not to get over someone whom i truely love....... or should i be practical and try and get over her.... find someone else (like thats gonna be easy) and go out with her or marry her or whatever and hurt her feelings bcos i cant love her more than the one i love now........
Some real tuff choices to make haan??......
Anyways this is something which has been runnig in my mind for quite a while now...... just wanted to get it out.... if not to a person.... i thought why not on a blog.... anyways i am not gonna advertise it... so i hope no one reads it....

A Trip to the Countryside

After a long week at the end of Fall 06' semester,i finally got some time to chill out for one whole day.This was the Christmas Weekend and Shyam (my ex-roomie who is now working in DC) was here too,so we have someone to drive ur around...:P...so we decided on going to either Montauk (my Idea) or CatSkills (Shyam's Idea).We finally decided on going to Montauk first.We immediately rented a car at JFK and headed on out way to Montauk, the end point of Long Island in New York.

We started our small journey to the other end of Long Island.Though it was just 5:00 PM,it was almost dusk,you know how winters in NY are.Anyways there was heavy traffic untill we crossed the city.Her there is something i forgot mention,while we rented the car,we also rented a GPS unit.Its great.This was the first time we ever rented a GPS unit and man does it reduce the work of the navigator which usually if I.Anyways for those who never used one, it does help you alot.It give you the shortest route,give the estimated time by when you can reach there,tell you when to take a turn and it even speaks out in a girls voice.It also can tell you about the available Motels,Gas stations,Car rentals,movie theatres,amusement parks,diners etc.All in all,its an awesome invention.Anyways enuf about the GPS.We reached Montauk by around 8 PM and we stopped a Gas station to look out for Motels.It so happens that the Gas station is the only one in the whole Town of Montauk.We used the GPS to locate some Motels and we called them(the GPS does give you the Phone no.s too).It was kinda difficult to find a place for the night in Motels as most of them were closed as it was winter.Also the place was kinda deserted,very very few people to be seen around on the roads.We finally could find a place at the "Montauk Motel" (some kind of Co-incidence i guess).The cottage which we got was cool.It was 100 bucks per day and man was it worth it.It had everything. 2 bed rooms, kitchen which i should say is very well equipped,TV,heat, a BBQ unit too.We dumped the stuff which we got in the cottage and headed out for dinner.Thank to GPS again helped us find some places to eat,but it being almost 8:30 and the fact the its Country side most of the places were closed.We finally went to an Italian Restaurant called Village Pizza,which was right in front of the Gas Station where we stopped first.They were almost about to close,but they did welcome us.Thanks to the old lady who was almost about to leave but stayed back to serve us..Had some Pizza and Pasta (which kinda tasted like feet...:(....).After dinner we dint know what to do.Because nothing planned and we wondered if we would have something to do at places like this.But hey, as always we had the GPS for rescue.We searched and found that we have a Bowling Alley 15 miles back on the same road where we came from.We called them and enquired till when they were gonna be open and got to know they would be open for a while.Then we headed towards the Bowling Alley.Had some fun time Bowling.Later after that,i drove a car for the first time in the US,though it was just in the Pakring lot of the Bowling Alley.Hey i missed to tell you,there was a road called the "Old Montauk Highway" which was quite like the roads in California with absolutely zero traffic(for those who dont know what it means......driving on it would be like a Rollercoaster ride).It was fun going on that road.Then after the bowling,having nothin to do we had to return back to the Motel so early at 12 Midnight.I tried to sleep early as we thought of roaming around alot in the morning,but only could manage to sleep at 4:00 AM after chitchatting,watching TV and searching online for the places to be seen in the morning.


The next Morning we wpke up with a great difficulty at around 8:30,got ready and went to the "Montauk Point Light House" the oldest light house in New York city and the fourth oldest running light house in US.This light house was commissioned by President George Washington in the year 1792.We roamed around the light house,on the beach surrounding it,took some pictures and njoyed the scenic beauty of the place.After that we went to have Breakfast at a place called "Mr John's PanCake House" (which again was just beside the Gas Station).I had pan Cakes for the first time in my life.They were great.While having the brekfast i was just observing people in the restaurant interact, i observed how everyone almost knew everyone else.Also i observed something strange, people addressed anything as a singleton, u know like THE postoffice, THE Bank, THE movies, THE Pancake House etc.It felt kinda weird, you know after living in NY for more than an year to know that there are places where you have things only one of a kind.But then i realized it used to be the same way back home in India,people used to know almost everyone in and around the neighbourhood,we used to have only one Bank,One postoffice,One movie theatre,one gas station in the neighbourhood and stuff.Felt kinda nostalgic too.I kinda fell in love with the place.We could not do much there as it was winter and most of the resorts and stuff were closed.If it would have been summer, we could have done fishing,boating, a swim in the beach, scuba diving etc.
Over all it was a great experience to go away from the city for atleast one day if not for long.

Passions,Dreams,Inspirations and Contributions

Yesterday i went to this movie "Invincible",which was a real life story of a Footballer (American Football not Soccer) named Vince Papale(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Papale) who inspite of never playing College ball makes into the Philadelphia Eagles team.From being a normal Bar Attender, he became a legendary NFL player and the whole and sole reason for that is his PASSION for the GAME.This movie was my inspiration to write this blog.

I always felt that every human should have Passion for something or the other,no matter what the passion is.May it be Earning money,may it be getting into an IVY league,may it be becoming Miss World or for someone like me,it could be becoming an Astronaut.Living life without a passion is like eating or rather say drinking a molten icecream.

I dont exactly remember when was the first time when i got the thought of becoming an astronaut into my mind.But as i grew up it became stronger and stronger.And if not steadily but slowly i did work towards it.Firstly getting into one of the Best Universities of the world,then becoming Physically strong(which is still in the process) and now started to work towards my Doctorial degree.Becoming an Astronaut would have been the childhood dream of 1 in every 10 children because of all the fun in floating in space.But becoming an astronaut is not an easy task.It requires alot of both physical,mental and intellectual strength.Luckily i am working very good towards all of them.But as i became older and older(not that i am old, remember i still am young 22 y.o.) a thought used to visit my mind ocassionally.What good would it be to the Humanity if i become an Astronaut?Would it help atleast few people in the world?This has been bugging me like for the past 2-3 years.The only reason i am still perceving this Dream is bcos that is what i wanted to be ever since i could remember myself as a child.

Along with this there are a couple more Passions for me in Life.(a) Winning an Olympic Gold Medal for India in Track Events and (b) a Nobel Prize in which ever field.The path which would lead to the later would definetly be something which would contribute alot to the world.Coming to the former,this may inspire if not many atleast few people in their own fields.Let me give you some examples similar to that of Vince Papale.

Ex (1) - Lance Edward Gunderson (Lance Armstrong) - After being diagnosed as suffering from a Stage three testical cancer which was already spread to his lungs and brain in the year 1996 and with a 3% odds of survival,he went on to recover and win the pretigious Tour de France for a record 7 consecutive times.This is the most inspiring story i have known.
(2) - Brain Charles Lara -

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

I was watching this movie "In her Shoes" the other day.It was a decent enuf movie.There is a recitation of this poem by E.E.Cummings in this movie.I loved that peom.I thought may be i would share it with you guys.Its a lovely one.And it goes like this.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Summer in New York

After the long freaking cold winter of NewYork,you would never even notice when did the Spring come and leave and all of a sudden its Summer.The Climate of NewYork is pretty much like that of New Delhi,Extremely cold winters and hot summers with a little shift of the average temperatures to the cold side by say 10 degrees celcius.
Summer is New York is a good experience.Its Dawn by close to 5AM in the morning and you wont be able to see the stars even till 9PM,even on a cloudless night.Though the days are hot,its kind of refreshing after the loooooong winter.You find children playing on the streets late till night,tourists and friend visiting the city,people taking break and going out on vacations,girls in hot and short dresses,summer romance,Occasional and unexpected rain,floods sometimes (surprising but true),even more surprisingly blackouts...:D....,Balls games (Base ball and Football),etc
Its a cool new experience for me to work and go to school even in summer bcos i've spent all my previous summers either at my grandmas place or preparing for some exam or the other.But this one,i get to work on campus,work on my project in my lab the ac of which still gives me the feeling of winter,bcos its so freaking cold.:d.....,playing soccer or cricket during evenings,and ocasional movie in the weekends.....
All in all things have been pretty good in recent days and life is smooth.I hope things are the same with all you guys or even better.
P.S. yeah yeah i accept this is kinda boring blog.....Sorry....:P..I promise the next one would be an interesting one...:)...

An Year out of IIT:Graduation and Memories

A couple of weeks ago I went to one of my roomie's Graduation.The atmosphere was awesome.All graduating students dressed up in "The Gown",taking pics with Family,Friends and Professors.The whole scene made me think how I missed my graduation a year ago beacuse of my illness.If someone graduating from a Univ like Poly (not that Poly is a bad school,i'm just comparing it with IIT) is so excited,how much excited one would have been when he/she is receiving a degree from IIT Delhi .....and I missed all that.

During the whole ceremony I could not stop thinking about those wonderful days of IIT.The stupid hostel food, the late night maggie and iced tea at nescafe,Sassi ka Parantha and Chai,the Hockey Field,the 10 slides/min slide shows of Bhim Singh,the last min studies for the minors,"studying" in Reading room and Ex-hall,the Karate,the broken hearts when a girl turns down the request for going to RDX during Rendezvous,drooling eyes while watching the hot DU girls during the same,the House Days,jumping over the back gate when returning from a movie at Priya,the Socials,the NCC during first year,the Wind-T and the list is endless......whenever I think of those days,tears roll down my cheeks.........those were the best days of my life.Though I dint make much of it academically, I really did mature alot as a person and that was very helpful.The bookish knowledge could be obtained anytime,but the real life experience that I had in IIT has been the best.Yeah I definetly do agree that I could not make much of IIT like many of my friends did,but I surely am not in the worst of the cases too.I still remember those last few days at IIT,attending parties daily of the boards or clubs or depts or job treats,roaming around in the campus with friends and yeah not to forget I was also busy doing career and relationship counselling for many of my friends .......man.... I miss those days.......

Those r the days that I can never forget...those r the days that can never come back...those are the days which I made the most of...those are the BEST...

"Can never forget U......IIT........U r the Best"

Dedicated to all those people who were there in the best days of my life.......may be u r a friend or hostel mate or class mate or professor or may be even my butler or dhobi or vendor or coach whatever......no matter who u are....its U who has made those to be my best days....Thanq for being there...... I will always remember you ....