Mumbai Dabbawallas.

A nice article on mumbai's lunch box transportation system
Wish they had an international service...

Graeme Hick

I have heard a lot about this man who did very ell in county cricket but did not succeed in test cricket. a nice article comparing him to Peitersen

Reporting from California

Well, I have heard about it for a long time. To be precise for 3 years. The wait was further extended due to an united flight's steering failure for a day. Finally, I have arrived in California. The first impression when driving around from the airport (with aarti) was the resemblance of the houses (in San Jose at least) to India. There was an air if India everywhere. So, I loved it.

With me around physical activity is needed to have fun. So we went to trek on the Mission Peak. It was a very good trip with lots of steep slopes and good sceneries (6 miles round trip). I had fun. Then we went to eat at a salad bar and took rest for the evening.

Today was even better. We left to San Francisco after a nice chocolate shake and lunch (courtesy aarti). The cable car ride was awesome. The sceneries visible (especially when you hang to the bars and are swinging were too good) were very nice. Then the general photos of all those was nice. After that we saw a bike shop and decided to bike to the San Fran Golden Gate Bridge (yes you read it right). The ride was very tough with steep uphills and lots of wind. We even biked on gravel which did not make things easy (esp for my companion). I loved some of those slopes. As soon as you reach on top of the slopes with considerably huge effort the kick you get is unexplainable. Then the views on offer were also very beautiful. So it was all worth it. Once we reached the bridge I was awed by the monstrous size! I biked on the bridge with feels of tremendous excitement and weird thoughts. I was wondering about the possibility of jumping into the sea! When I reached the pier God! it was so good. The width and height of the tower just was so amazing (I wish I had someone to provide me with more adjectives!). Then we biked back (round trip 9 miles). We visited Ghirardeli and Boudin's. Then, we walked on to pier 39. It was pleasant, and slowly the wind chill started taking effect. So it started getting really cold. But somehow we managed to walk to "Little Italy" (I don't have to tell why we went there). After considerably walking in the cold we reached an Italian restaurant that we decided to eat at. It was a nice place and I ordered "duck meat". Like everything else today, it was one of the best dishes I had. Then of course with my companion it is compulsory to follow dinner with ice cream (irrespective of the space in your tummy). So we went to gelato place and it was cool.

Now I have many more days to go and will see how I will spend it. I will be leaving for Stan tomorrow and probably meet some other friends later in the week. Lets see how everything goes. The start has been promising.

Hilarious website

I don't take sides (as everybody who knows me can vouch for)

http://www.menarebetterthanwomen.com

A perfectly argued article

on Tendulkar

My phone

My phone cupped for the second time and the fact that I will not have when I will be traveling is somehow making me slightly nervous, but I guess people did manage without cell phones so, may be, i will be fine. Lets see..

An interesting discussion

An interesting discussion took place with my adviser and my group mates. My adviser discussed the problem of being pre-occupied at home (i.e lack of attention) when he listens to his daughters. I have also heard complaints about me not listening to my mother and sister sometimes in the past. My colleague felt it was a guy thing and that she (has to be a girl right!!) heard similar things from many other guys. Well, even I heard about a similar problem for many guys. So we were discussing why does this happen. My adviser felt it was because of a mistaken priority. I refuse to agree. I think it is more of the fact that they are your family and it is a case of taking them for granted (I am not saying it is correct!!). It is not a case of something you do being important but the fact they will be there for you always makes it easier to take them for granted. Personally, I have faced this problem a lot. There have been days where I was so angry with myself because I spend hours thinking about friends and people who don't give a damn about me and think very little about my family. I am working on it and I am yet to solve the problem. Friends though are close to you do not necessarily stay close unless you put the effort. However, with the family this is not the case. Irrespective of how much time you spend with them they are always there for you. This is what makes my behavior ridiculous. But I am like that and am trying to change. In sometime may be I will be better!!

What can you say?

A nice video



link via Ganesh

How pitiful?

To cause communal tensions it looks like the terrorists are attempting to kill the people who belong to their own religion now

Volley Ball

Another saturday another volley ball game. Today was after a two week break before another two week break. It was fun. I felt good for the first 4 games and the last 2 weeks i felt weakening but it was still alright. So looks like finally the fever has gone down and I am back to normal.. not yet but pretty close.

anyway.. life is back to normal

Captain Corellis Mandolin

A very well written book. It is a tragedy. But God it was so good!!
Its a small book. A story that starts during World War II.

Was I so fickle earlier too?

Sometimes I realize little ridiculously little things affect me. I am yet to realize why and how to stop that. I have to do something better than letting those things affect me.

anyway, my fever has finally receded and it is back to full time work again. I have a lot to do and need to be productive. So get going dude!!

Another interesting prediction

"You may be thinking about taking a vacation or possibly planning a fun-filled party. But your spontaneity may have to wait as reality makes demands on you. Even if you are feeling optimistic and want to share your enthusiasm with friends, don't be disappointed if they don't encourage you to indulge yourself. For now, keep your attention on the present moment or the weeks ahead won't bring you the freedom you desire."

It is apt. I just hope it wont be true!

Want to drink?

Follow this

Very Lucky

A survivor from a bike vs. truck crash

Interesting business model

MS's interesting threat

Not bad huh?

A paper thick LCD screen

Unrest

Someday the sleeplessness triggers restlessness and ridiculous thoughts. Don't know how to solve the problem!!

Typical Indian style

Typical family hierarchy politics from DMK now

Interesting fortune!!

"Share your happiness with others today" - orkut

Never heard this one

Pope Benedict blamed the weakening of the Church in the region on 'SECULARISM, hedonism, indifference and proselytising by numerous sects, animist religions and new pseudo-religious phenomena,' and urged the Catholic hierarchy to come up with 'new paths and creative pastoral plans' to counter these challenges.

Love in the time of cholera

A novel by Gabriel Garcia.
I just finished it. I do not know how to characterize my opinion of the book. It was very readable and interesting (may be until the last 50 or so pages). But I did not feel comfortable with the ending. I knew the way it was going to end and it made it worse. I somehow cannot understand some particular characteristics of the protagonist. But anyway...
Another interesting observation, I did get fever while I was reading the book. So if you want to read the book beware!!

Really good ones

A good many young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of a temptation to the editor.
- Ring Lardner

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting.
- Charles Bukowski

A very nice song

I just love this one!!
Wish more people could understand this!!

For more info on sunscreen
For more info on the creator of the song Baz Luhrman

What more should I do?

Some days I really feel I made a huge mistake in continuing for PhD at Austin. The more I think about it the more I feel the decision is not right. It is not the PhD that is my problem or the work or the lack of money. I just don't know how to address my problem. If a person cannot just understand you all you can do is give up and it is exactly thats what I am doing. He even does not understand this. Well, what do you expect me to make changes as if I am loving it. No, I don't like it and so that is how it will come out. I don't know what to do and how to address this!

The article

does have a point

Back to Austin

and also back to night outs. I need to catch up on sleep somehow very soon or else I will collapse!!

anyway

Reporting from Daytona beach

Well, the two days have gone by so fast, I will have a hard time remembering everything that I did. The journey in itself was very action packed. Before flying I decided ?I will read the book "Love in the time of cholera". so I left from ECJ to the library near LBJ at 10.35. My bus to airport was at 11.05. I did not find the Benson library till I had 12 minutes left and then I found the book and had exactly 7 minutes when I came out of the LBJ library. So I ran for 6 minutes (very fast!!) to reach my office and got my bags top go to bus stop. Well, I reached 1 minute late and the bus arrived 20 minutes later. So, i made to the airport. On the way I met an interesting person from Columbia and later a classmate on the bus.
Then the flight to Atlanta was late and so I arrived in Atlanta with very little time to catch the flight to Daytona and I had to run again but as earlier I just made it. Meanwhile love in the time of cholera was going on in full swing.
I reached Daytona and my friend was ready with dinner. It was cool. Then we chatted and decided we will be heading to a theme park the next day in Orlando. So we did. Well this was my first theme park and I realized I am afraid of heights. On my first ever rolla-coaster ride I was sitting in the front row and a corner. That did not make it very easy. But I managed by opening my eyes once in a while. After that we tried the doom's fall down (or something like that). It was easy.Then we tried some simulation stuff, followed by some watr stuff. It was fun except the waiting in queues. And finally there was the dungeon dragons. It was wild and i closed my eyes for most part. By then I was feeling a little sick with swirling. But it was an ok experience and I think I will need more time to enjoy them fully. But one thing I need to sort is my fear of heights. Well, lets see.
After the rides we went to a desi place and had food and reached home where a number of people from IITM were there. There we palyed cards for 4-5 hours with many gult junta and it was awesome fun. Then today we went to Tampa for lunch. We saw USF and UCF. After that we left to Daytina and were back soon. Now my conference starts tomorrow. Hope it is also as enjoyable as my previous 2 days

Why?

Sometimes you really wonder why you work for a person who does not appreciate you or your work even a little bit !!

Hehe

Can't help but laugh at this nice article by Great Bong

Well the 400th

Don't know why, but was reading this article. Looks like the investigation was handled in a ridiculous way and moreover the Canadians first of all should have found and stopped it!!

Working from home

I am at home, working on a long 30k line code trying to understand where it starts and ends (I worked on the code for nearly 11/2 years now and only now I know where it starts!!). It was productive and I think I got what I needed to finish. This should be helpful in reducing my burden slightly!!

But I still have other problems to solve. Wish everyday was as productive!!

Very very nice

In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.
- Ellen DeGeneres

this one is not so bad :P
I know nothing about sex because I was always married.
- Zsa Zsa Gabor

Break

It has been a hectic week and as I see there is no respite anytime soon. I am looking forward to a break. If it is decided soon its better, Until that time it is a pain. Anyway!!