Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays :)

And enjoy the best Christmas song ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=995csL2wmRA

The coolest thing ever!

One of my friends sent me the following link this morning...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0BdAdRL_2Wo

This is funny as hell and this guy owns!!! I got goosebumps watching this!

Check it out guys.....

Cant get better!

My day-to-day life can never be complete without quoting something from this audio clip! So famous!!!

Listen to it here:

http://www.pixfolder.com/viewmovie.php?file=7025.mp3

Smells and Memories.....

As I gently open the rice cooker lid, I cant seem to get enough of the smell of the freshly cooked rice with the steam.....All of us experience this in our day-to-day lives...But the experience is just so out of the world that I wanted to write a post on it!!!

Smells have this strong power of vividly bringing back memories....of people, places, things and incidents....
Here are a few ones:

Petrichor.....or in Tamil "manvaasanai" - My childhood days when I would be gazing through the window, waiting for the rain to stop to play with my fellow mates....

Smell of photocopies and new notebooks - When I rushed to the nearest shop 2 hrs before the exam to make copies of my classmate's notes.....and the smell of new notebooks when you put on brown covers and labels just 2 days before the school reopens!

Petrol - When I used to ride the scooty and when it stopped half way, would walk to the nearest gas station.....

Crackers - The smell of crackers during Diwali after they are all burnt out with the million pieces of papers lying on the road!

Incense sticks - When appa does pooja at home with the camphor and incense sticks burning and when u prostrate before Him, that is divine!

Rasam with the coriander - The smell of amma's home made rasam with the coriander and curry leaves on a late Sunday Morning.....Wowwww!!! (Can anything ever beat this??)

Smell of coffee @ StarBucks - The million times I've gone to Starbucks, just because I luv the smell of coffee there.....

And many more....

As always, contributions welcome!

Yipeeeeee!I'm graduating today!

Yes, Its a BIGGGGGGGGGGG day! I'm graduating today and I'm no more a student!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Sandyyyyyyyyyyyy.........

Wishing you a fabulous birthday Sandy....Have a fantastic year ahead!

Endrum Natpudan...... - Part III

Sasi : Fondly called as "Bhattar", he's the next Vaali! He writes amazing poems in tamil.....Here's a link to one of those poems which I loved:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7291/2314/1600/kangal.5.jpg







Subha a.k.a Vaathu a.k.a dubuks: She cooks awesome, has been responsible for us having good food at Lafayette and is an awesome host. Has great taste in choosing the right outfits.....With the little telugu she knows, she's made many of us in the group speak telugu.






Sumi: The fitness-freak of the gumbal....Has a great sense of humor and she's the only one who has the ability to manage people like Chowdhry and pay them back on their own coin.





Sundar: The proud founder of the IHRC - I Hate Raji Club and the ko.pa.se (kolgai parapu seyalaalar) of the club. The club is going great guns only because of him. Talks strictly in long sentences, digs out and analyzes anything to the core before accepting the facts.






Viji: The greatest Rajinikanth Fan I have or without exaggeration, the world has ever seen! Nothing motivates/energizes more than a Rajinikanth song/movie. She's terrifically confident and I just luv the way she carries herself.



And finally!



Me: ??????







The above space is for people (no one knows me better than these folks) to write about me!

Folks, we are an awesome group and lets live endrum natpudan!


(Photo Courtesy: Santhosh)
(Thanks for making this awesome collage Sandy!)

Endrum Natpudan......- Part-II

Karthik: Thalaivaa........He's been our "thalaivar" and will always continue to be! and has awesome driving skills!







Prashanth Parate: Fondly known as "opicer" to all of us, his views on many things in life seems weird or rather unconventional to many of us! Have many a time fallen in love with the way he programs in Java and Oracle.....and he's my birthday buddy!





Prabhu a.k.a PShan: A complete workaholic and a total perfectionist, be it anything. He's an awesome dancer!









Raji: Has the reputation of having the group form a club for her! Her accented Tamil has gained her the name TR.....She's a very level-headed person and has plenty of patience.





Santhosh a.k.a Sandy: The epitome of sincerity and orderliness! Is a very mature and helpful person and has many a times played the role of the mentor to a few kids in the group! (what say chowdhry and cheems??)

Endrum Natpudan......- Part-I

There's just been one thing thats been exciting to think about in the past 3-4 days.....It is the feeling that I am going to be seeing my closest circle of friends tomorrow.....Yes, they all are coming to Lafayette for the graduation ceremony on Saturday...
These are folks with whom I've spent most of my time in Lafayette, who've undergone the same experiences I underwent in this place and they have just been my world for the past 2 and half years. I am really looking forward to seeing them and having a great, fun weekend....

I am sure this is a loooooooooong post, but, its worth it and these folks deserve this! There's just too much to write about each and everyone, so I'm writing one line about everyone that flashes on my mind when I think about them.

Here we go, meet the dudes and dudettes!


"Jiljivappu" Aarthi: The name says it all! We've had the funniest times listening to her futile attempts at speaking tamil....A few examples to prove this fact: jiljivappu, rendu eedu thuni.....








Aravind a.k.a D-Ma : Popularly known as "Dma", he and his camera have been responsible for us being able to treasure memories of all our times spent together....





Shrimathi a.k.a Cheems: The youngest in the group and the hyper-active girl! Her enthusiasm is too contagious......




Chowdhry a.k.a Beedi: Calls himself "Mr.Palmanasukaaran" and his acrobatic skills have never failed to impress "many". This guy is a "cheapo" (for obvious reasons) and has been a major source of entertainment to the group.





Gokul a.k.a GD: Nobody can ever beat GD in cracking a joke at the right time. His sense of humor and the "nakkal" dialogues has always kept the group alive!


I'm not able to upload more pics...Check out part-II and part-III.....

The post-India trip

While I went to India, the long 16 hrs flight from Atlanta to Mumbai seemed to pass by in minutes..It was just exactly opposite when I came back to US. It felt like years when I reached Atlanta. I was travelling alone and the loneliness was just killing me.

P and K were there to see me at the Lafayette airport and I felt good seeing them. We reached home and left my baggages at home and was off to dinner with P's and S. The moment I sat inside our fondly called "lachumi", it felt too damn empty.... C and P, memories of you keep flooding when we went to the chinese restaurant last night, in Lafayette itself, in C's home and lachumi feels so empty without u guys man! C and S, we miss u people a lot! Life actually seems to suck so much in Lafayette right now with P also leaving the town tomorrow.

We have decided to make jobs asap and leave this place forever. Can never stay alone in this place at all. and to add on, I have been having total jet lag from the time I came here. I slept at 9 PM on Monday night and got up only at 8 PM last night completing a 24 hour sleep and I have been up all night writing blogs, watching movies and chatting. The thoughts of looking for a job has been haunting too....So, to put it in one line,
"life and loneliness suck right now!"

This is the exact feeling post-India trip!

The awesome India trip!

From the moment I landed in Chennai, until I left, there was not even one single moment where I didnt enjoy. My best bud and my chithi were there at the airport to see me and I felt too damn happy seeing them. Was excited to see the chennai crowd, to listen to those early morning songs in the tea-kadais, to see the pallavan buses, to listen to FM, to see those huge posters,advertisements and boards about new movies, to feel the early-morning breeze which said "sorgame endraalum adhu namma oora pola varumaa" on my face, and to just know you are in a place that totally belongs to you!

Went to my chithi's place where she had steaming idlis,coconut chatni and sambar for breakfast. And after a real heavy breakfast, my friend came and picked me up for my medical checkup the next day. Had a thorough medical checkup done the next day and I was peaceful to know I was completely alright. Spent the next 2 days with my cousin and with her super-cute kid and never missed to have a single heavy meal in the 1 week I spent in India.

And, sudden change of plans, my parents couldnt make it to Chennai and so I had to travel to Kenya to see them. So, booked tickets to Kenya. And tears rolled down my cheeks when I saw my mom at the airport. So, had a wonderful 8 days at Kenya where amma made every possible dish that I liked. Bascially, Kenya-la rest eduthu rest eduthu tired aagiten.

And then, the last 4 days in India were good! I spent a lot of time with my friends at the beach, spencers and watched movies. Did lil bit of shopping too. Finally the day came when I had to leave Chennai which was the worst feeling ever. I never wanted to!

The pre-India trip!!

I am just back from an awesome trip to India...and here I am, blogging after a very long time. After my appy surgery, I lost all hopes of going to India and I was feeling very bad and lonely staying home most of the time watching movies and just whiling away my time doing nothing. And, I had my doctor's appointment for removing the stitches of the surgery on the 16th Nov. I had a wish (to call it precisely "napaasai", in tamil) somewhere in the corner of my heart to go to India and somehow that day I got the guts to ask the doctor if I could travel, at the same time, mentally getting prepared to face the "certainly No" answer he was going to give me because it had only been a week and a half since the surgery got over.

But I was surprised/shocked at his "defnintely Yes. I dont see any reason why you cannot travel!".....I literally jumped at his answer. I did not even think for a second after he told me so. and then came the question of tickets to India. Thanks to the super-smart Charlie, he had not cancelled my tickets to India after my surgery, rather he had postponed it to the 20th of November. That means, I had 3 more days to pack and leave. 3 days seemed a lot to me. I was just prepared to leave the next day given a chance.

This time, I wasnt developing too much expectations and kept it low until I definitely landed in Chennai. 3 days - I did some shopping, V came over for the weekend and helped me pack stuff..Thanks V!

Watched the awful Borat movie,(totally disgusting movie, please dont watch it for anyone who hasnt seen it yet) and had a nice dinner at the local Indian Restaurant trying to break Charlie's vows and rules he had promised himself. The last 2 days were fun, playing with C's fishes and working on their class project.

Came 20th Nov, 10:00 AM and I was all set to leave. This was one time, I have prayed so much in my life, not to let anything happen to deter the India trip. And, I bid a warm goodbye to C and S,coz I wont be seeing them again. I couldnt express much to them, but the final hugs at the airport before going through the security checkin brought tears....

And, then, took the long 16 hrs flight (which seemed to just pass by in minutes) from Atlanta to Mumbai and when I landed in India, the excitement was just too much, I was literally overpowered by the excitement.
The feeling was awesome!!!!Kudos to me for managing to recover well post-surgery, for having the guts to take a bold decision to travel! It did a world of good to me!

Birthday Wishes!!!

A season of birthday posts.......

So, here's to Amit, Happy Birthday Amitu! Have a blast!

Good things about post-surgery!

1. Incredible care from friends and family

2. World of good,healthy food which you normally feel lazy to cook on your own

3. Loads of sleep and rest at home, which means, lots of time for YOU and only YOU.

4. You get to watch a whole F.R.I.E.N.D.S season a day, lots of online movies, and TV Shows

5. You catch up with a lot of old buddies and relatives whom you havent spoken to in ages, and all of a sudden they seem to be too worried about your health and surgery.

So, yeah, if you think about it, there are good things after a surgery too!

Happy Birthday!!!

Here's to Nov 12th Scorpio Raji.....Happy 25th Birthday! (I am sorry, I let out your age here ;) )

Bye...Bye

Bye...Bye appy! Won't miss ya for sure anymore!!!!

And thanks a million folks...for all the good wishes and incredible help....

BITS Pilani - Need I say more!

Got approval from Graduate School to go ahead and bind my thesis copies today! And, I printed out the copies and got them signed from my thesis committee...So, that "officially" says I have a Masters Degree now and it also says, "No more tests/compres/assignments/seminars"......I dont know if I should feel happy or sad about this....

I started thinking about how I was 6 years back when I stepped into BITS. BITS has truly shaped me into a very strong person, given me love and most importantly the lovely people associated with it! Every memory of that place is just priceless! I guess, everyone has this feeling...whenever you hear some song, you get reminded of a place/people and go back in time and think about the times spent there/with them!.....So, thats what happened with me too....I started listening to "Aaja maahiya" from the movie Fiza....and I could even exactly recall that I'd gone to *Birla Mandir* in Pilani one evening after listening to this song before an *adcal test* and it was the day after *BOSM*! So, that led me to listen to so many other songs from movies that came out during my 4 years of stay at Pilani.....and memories of Pilani came flooding..

People say, "its not the place, its the people who matter!"....But to me, any day, I'd even love to sit alone in the Birla Mandir or Sky lawns or the backside of IC and enjoy a hot chaai or a cold shikanji!

Ok, I guess this is turning out to be a typical senti post which I bet you will definitely find in any BITSIAN's blog! Yet, it gives so much happiness and the very thoughts are so comforting!

The 8 AM common hours, the cold mornings with the damp fog....the wing lachaa and fun,
combined crash, gate calls (and how can I forget the blushes that come along!!!!)
the dance and dialogue exchange that Harini and I do just to irritate Madhu,
the way I irritate Gayathri by saying "aiyo...gayathri thaanga mudila....naaraasamaa iruku!",
"ei....indhaadhi kappa kezhange" (Gugi, miss ya!!!!),
appu and preethi's awesome strawberry cakes for birthdays, the super six gang, the terrific trio,
Standing in long queues at the IPC just to check a mail from "someone" (wink), ghotting sessions in the Refli, nite outs, watching the Birla Mandir view from FD-2,
Senti-sem - heights of vettiness, wing treats, sam chat, chaai, audi movies, "naa indha test soore zuk....(with a totally dismal look on the face)", and laughing over it after 5 seconds throwing it away and going to c'not!

The list goes endless!

I have lost touch with so many people whom I promised to e-mail/write to when I left BITS....
So, whoever is reading this, "Thank you guys! Love ya!!!...Times spent with you were absolutely fun and will always treasure all those moments"....

168, 10080, 604800........

7 x 24 = 168 hours
7 x 24 x 60 = 10080 minutes
7 x 24 x 60 x 60 = 604800 seconds

If you were wondering what do these random numbers on the title and these calculations say! Well, it the hours/minutes/seconds left before I board the flight to India!

In exactly a week from now, I'll be on the flight to India....I'm thrilled...My dear Chennai, Here I come!

Tamil lyrics that I fell for!

Here are some lyrics from Tamil songs which I think are beautiful:

1. "Naalum nilavadhu theyudhu maraiyudhu, nangai mugamena yaaradhai sonadhu"

(There have been just too many songs in Tamil where a women's face has been compared with the moon, and this one is different!)

Song: "idhazhil kadhai ezhudum" song from Unaal mudiyum thambi. (This has also been one of my most favorites in all Tamil songs, and will always appear on my top 10 list)

2. "kadalile mazhai veezhndhapin endha thuli mazhai thuli, kaadhalil adhu pola naan kalandhitten kaadhali"

Song: "Anjali..anjali...pushpaanjali" from Duet

3. "முகிலினங்கள் அலைகிறதே முகவரிகள் தொலைந்தனவோ, முகவரிகள் தவறியதால் அழுதிடுமோ அது மழையோ?" (Brilliant imagination and wonderfully put to words by vairamuthu!!!)

Song: "Ilaya nila" from payanangal mudivadhillai

4. "வாழ்க்கை ஓர் வட்டம் போல் முடிந்த இடத்தில் தொடங்காதா"

Song: "azhage sugamaa" from paarthaale paravasam

5. "nanbargal pole, vaazhvadharku, maalayum melamum thevai enna....medaiyai pole, vaazhkai alla, naadagam aanadhum vilagi chella"

Song: "mandram vandha thendraluku" from Mouna Raagam

6. "manadhin neelam edhuvo adhuve vaazhvin neelamadaa"

Song: "anbe sivam" from anbe sivam

7. "paadhaiyum dhooram naanoru baaram ennai un ellai varai kondu selvaayaa
udalukkul irukkum uyir oru sumaiyaa pennae unnai naanum vittu chelvaenaa"

Song: mudhal murai from sangamam

8. "thaalaattu kaettidaamalae, thaayin madiya thaedi oadum malai nari poalae"

Song: Elangaathu veesudhe from pithamagan

9. "nee azhum bodhu naan azha nerndhaal thudaikkinra viral vendum"

Song: snegidhane from alaipayuthey

10. "unakkae uyiraanaen ennaalum enai nee maravaadhae
neeyillaamal edhu nimmadhi needhaanae en sannidhi"

Song: kanne kalaimaane from moondram pirai

Hope to add more to this! Contributions welcome!

Best time in my life - Phase 2

Sometime back, I guess it was on C's B'day, we had been to a Thai Restaurant and were talking about what was the best time in everyone's life...It was my turn and I told the best ever phase of my life was when I was in Pune, India doing my internship at Symantec for 6 months.....It was indeed the best phase for many of us who did our internships there....There's already a blog about it here: http://balajiscribbles.wordpress.com/2006/10/27/best-time-in-my-life-relevant-to-our-pune-gang/

I call this the best time in my life because, I was living life the way I had always dreamt of, loads of fun and did not have to worry about anything in life. An amazing set of friends, unforgettable trips, totally dependable people and there wasnt a single moment when we stopped laughing.....I wanted life to go on endless during those times...And some of these people have indeed become what you call "Friends for life".....

And, surprisingly, may be unbelievably, I am getting to see and feel the same happiness again now! For the past 2 months....Life's never been this much fun anytime (of course apart from the time during Phase-1).....I think I feel this because, I can totally connect people here with the Phase-1 people and I can even relate their qualities....Though each of us have been having our own work,thesis,courses and what not, we've had some incredible times....The laughter has really never stopped until now! Every person's enthusiasm in the group is just too contagious, especially, Cheems....When she starts sthg with enthusiasm, then there's nothing that can object it at that point! Start misic after that!

I wanted to write about each person in the group in detail..But, may be it needs some more time! But, Guys, I just want to thank you all so much for giving me such a wonderful time and company....Will miss you all loads! I really do hope, we remain "Friends for Life"!!!

The perfect trip - Part 2

We thought it would be too late by the time we reached NO temple and didnt want to miss going to the temple on Diwali day. So, we went to the BTR Datta temple around 12:00 noon and after a good darshan continued with our drive to NO....We thought we'd stop by some fast food place and have lunch on the way so that we could reach NO faster.....Cheems was totally against the idea of having lunch at a fast food place....She insisted on having lunch at the BTR Indian restaurant....and Charlie and I did not want to do that coz our only concern was the directions...We did not want to lose the directions and waste time...But when Cheems got totally irritated and said "Who wants to see a stupid aquarium after starving on Diwali??".....I still remember these exact words because it hit me hard when she said this..By this time we were already 20 miles from BTR and apidye oru U-va potom!

We had a sooper lunch at the BTR India's....The pakoda and gobi were awesome...Thanks Cheems for those strong words! It indeed made our day! So,everything was running perfect on time as we had planned.....We reached NO at around 4:00 pm and NO welcomed us with slight drizzles....The weather was totally romantic and the moment we were in NO's french quarter, all of us totally fell in love with the city....The tall buildings, the weather and the roads, everything was great in this city....Damn the hurricane Katrina...Why did it have to destroy such a beautiful city!!!!

So, we spent the evening with a movie at IMAX with one of our friends joining us from Memphis, and then went to the hotel to refresh ourselves. Then we set out for dinner at an Indian Restaurant at NO...after which the dudes roamed around the most famous Bourbon street for sometime in the night.....

The next day, we were ready on time, by 9:00 AM and even this was going right on schedule...We spent the whole day at the aquarium, cruise and the zoo....And, since everything was going as planned, we had a lot of time in the evening, so we went to the Ripley's museum which was totally bizarre....Got to see some really weird stuff there.....after which we roamed around on the streets for sometime and again had great Indian food.....Finally, without the heart to leave NO, we returned back to Lafayette at around 11 PM.....

This was the most perfect trip I've ever had....We call it "the perfect" because everything went totally perfect and planned...There wasnt a single hitch....Everyone was totally cooperative to everything and I definitely had loads of fun and it is one of the most unforgettable trips I've ever had...

The following is relevant to the trip group!

Some of the most memorable moments on the trip: (These are incidents that none of us can ever forget)

1. Aquarium of the Americas

2. Parate's "infamous" words about "defects" while on the River Walk

3. Charlie gets caught red handed again!

4. "May I come in!", "Yes, come in!"

5. Poornima's funny dance and the incoherent sentences (especially, obstacle malia and tapsa kannu)

6. The dogs and the fun Charlie derives out of pulling me close to the dogs ("ippo maatna dee nee!")

7. 'Onna enaku pudichiruku"

8. The illusion at the Ripley's

Lastly, this will definitely crack us all up whenever we listen to this..Here you go!
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/Mr2gy10VMS.As1NMvHdW

Guys! WE DEFINITELY ROCK!!!

The perfect trip! - Part 1

I guess finally God heard my endless cribbing on the last post about missing the fun on Diwali and decided to make me feel better....So, there came a trip to New Orleans on Diwali day. The masterminds behind the trip were Charlie and Opicer....right from convincing people for a 2 day trip until renting a car and managing to find a hotel close to the most beautiful part of NO, the french quarter.....On the eve of Diwali, all of us wanted to get new clothes and so, we'd been to the mall.....Of late, all of us have seen a drastic change in Opicer's dressing sense for reasons only him and God knows, but its been awesome...I luv his choices, be it anything.....So, opicer got a whole lot of new clothes and all of us did!

So, we came back pretty late from the mall and our champion whiner Charlie starts whining about nobody caring to take printouts of directions for the next day's trip. So all of us went to the lab to take printouts and look at some of the places to visit while at NO.....And as usual, Opicer and Charlie start their mischief and start doing crazy things.....Soc and I were seriously looking for some sight-seeing places at NO and we found an aquarium, cruise and a zoo....
Now comes Charlie into the scene after all those mischiefs, he comes and stands behind me and Soc...

(I was trying to find out the direction from Lafayette to the aquarium and the aquarium is called "Aquarium of the Americas".....).

Vidhya : Typing.....Aquarium of the Americas...(on google maps)

Charlie: (with a serious look on his face, interrupts me ), ei...enna kalaaikariyaa?

Vidhya: enna solra da loose?

Charlie: elaarum inga serious-aa map, hotel-nu paathitu irukom, nee engala kalaaikarathukune "aquarium of the americaaaaaaaaaas"-nu type adikariyaa nee? enna nakkal-aa? "aquarium of the americas-aaaaam"!!!!.....

Vidhya: I couldnt control my laughter and so did everyone else....We burst into laughter....

(The aquarium was indeed called like that! and only after this incident, I realised it was a funny name!!!I am reminded of Joey in FRIENDS here.....there's a scene that comes when he tries to make every phrase sound sexier and hot...He tries to say "hmmmm...Grandma's chicken salad" and it indeed sounds sexy....So does this guy....He has this ability to make any phrase sound funny!!!!)

So, after the printouts, we decided to hit the bed and get going by 9:00 AM the next day morning...The dudes were ready by 9:00 AM on the dot, on Diwali.....And, we girls, wore sarees and we were a bit late and finally we hit the road by 11:00 AM.....

More to come on the next post!

Happy Diwali...

Diwali 2006 actually didnt start cheerfully...One reason, the awful lot of Diwali Wishes pouring into my inbox made me really really sad and to add on, on the eve of Diwali, me and my lil group of friends here at Lafayette started discussing about how much fun Diwali would be in India...the sweets amma makes, the pleasant torture of crackers, the diwali medicine to compensate for the sweets, temple,relatives and togetherness!....And then I called home to wish amma and appa and when amma said "Unna romba miss panrom kanamma...We were just thinking about you!".....I was in tears...Oh my god! Just thinking about all these left me really really depressed....I wasnt at all looking forward to this day because I knew it was gonna bring me down further!

I was just thinking how much fun Diwali times used to be when I was at home or at Pilani.....When I was at home, on the eve of Diwali, we used to burst crackers until late night, and compete with each other on who gets to burst the first cracker on the next day....Diwali day, amma wakes me up around 4:00 am and after a nice warm oil bath, we get to wear new salwars/dress.....Exhaust the flower pots, hydrogen bomb,atom bomb,seven shots and chakra in the morning with appa and friends, and come home all dirtied with the crackes smell.....Then, we used to parade in the temple, just to meet other buddies in new clothes in the temple....Amma's delicious sweets and food....And then, those special programmes on SUN TV and the arguments appa and I have over the Solomon Paapaiya or Leony pattimandram! and watching those "thiraiku vandhu sil vaarangale aana putham pudhiya thiraipadams" lying on amma's lap....It was heaven!

Ok..I am feeling after cribbing about being homesick and the diwali feel....It sure did help! Folks, Wishing you all a very very Happy and Safe Diwali...

The wait is over! and the countdown begins!

So,it was worth the wait! Before talking about anything else, I am dedicating my defense success and the thesis to my parents.

Dearest amma and appa,
I dont talk with you everyday to tell you what I am doing or where I am. I do not even talk to you about my school,academics or anything related to my work. Yet, its just the belief and trust you have been having in me for the past 2 years after sending me to the U.S, the support you have been giving me through those e-mails, those numerous 5-minute phone calls and your prayers and good thoughts have been the only reason for my success now. Mom and Dad, I am happy and proud of you and yes, I love you! :)

So, I had 2 entirely sleepless nights before my defense day....I have participated in a lot of oratory contests and have done a lot of presentations...But this was in no way close to any of them....The pressure was building up and it was too much for me to take it....The last minute changes to most of my slides from my professor added to it....and the "I shouldnt let my advisor down" feeling was driving me crazy....But,finally,all ended well...I was pretty confident people said and was able to tackle most of the questions from the defense committee...

Following are folks whom I am very grateful to....Thanks you guys! You guys are awesome!

1. Suresh (Goldie) and Amit - For patiently listening to and answering all my questions about my defense presentation and be it any damn silly questions...You really gave me the confidence....

2. Cheems - On my D-day, she comes from nowhere and says "Viddy! I wanna come for your presentation!".....I was surprised, because she had a midterm the same day....Cheems, thanks a million...Just seeing you there was a total moral support! Love ya!

3. Charlie(a.k.a chowdhry) - Those pointless discussions and the crazy things you do have always cheered me up and given me loadsa energy during work!

Cheems and Charlie - I can never forget you guys in my entire life....Thanks for the incredible support and help during times of illness. I really cudnt have done it without you guys....

4. Sandy - Thanks for the mind-blowing good luck cheesecake.... ;)

Now, that I am totally jobless, I have actually started the countdown....because I am going to India in a couple of weeks! I cannot believe it myself..Yipeeeeeeeeeeee! On 8th November, 2006, at around the same time, (2:00 PM) I'd actually be flying.....!Wooooooooooooooow!

I did it!!!!

So, I did it finally.....Yes, my defense is done and I complete my Masters degree successfully! It was a great experience presenting my work to the graduate faculty especially, after the 2 days of total trauma I underwent....I am literally dozing off now, as I write this after 2 entirely sleepless nights.....More to come on the defense story later tomorrow...But, I am out of the world happy that I am done!!!!

Reassurance!

This post is just a reassurance to myself that everything has gone right until now, and I hope everything falls in place on the Wednesday of the next week! Yup! Thats when I defend my Master's thesis.....I consider it a significant achievement in my life and its of course a very very BIGGGGGGGGG day for me.....I have done all that I can until now, from my side, and at this moment, I leave everything to Him. I hope He gives me the inner strength and courage to fight it off.

Congratulations!

One of my close friends made a job yesterday! I am so happy for her! She is one of the few people whom I know, who can stay calm and fight tough situations with total inner strength, determination and she sticks to her principles. Hearty congratulations Aarthi....Best wishes for a very successful career....

Happy Birthday!!

Viji and Cheems!




Happy Birthday to you! Have a wonderful year ahead.....Love ya!

The Real Party.....

Event : Madness!
Place : Graham Central Station
Date : 09/16/2006
Day : Saturday
Time : Midnight

Yes, we were at the Graham Station! (a club in Lafayette). The same bunch of people at Lafayette, Cheems,Chowdhry,Soc,Parate and I with the addition of Poornima this time. With Poornima and Cheems in their own power-dressing (Girls, both of you looked awesome!), and the guys in what I can call a "decent" attire, we reached the club at around midnight and the party began. I got to see the real American way of partying.....Huge crowd, dancing, drinking, people yelling at the top of their lungs and absolute Madness everywhere!
We remained in our little group with Chowdhry and Cheems being the stars of the night. Non-stop dancing of all kinds! (even Bharatnatyam and "namma ooru dapaanguthu" - clapping hands with beer bottles on the top of their heads)....I, the only passive witness, was rolling with laughter over the crazy things that a little alcohol does to people. (by people, I refer to our very own group!)......Every moment was memorable and finally, all was well. Though I didnt dance, I had loads of fun just hanging around with these people....There are some more incidents which I'm not supposed to "disclose" to the public, because "whatever happens in Lafayette, stays in Lafayette!"...So, we had a good night's rest and are back on track with school/work today! and that's how my weekend was....

P.S : In case any of you are interested in the specific incidents, (I have one incident for everyone in the group which can literally crack you up), buzz me!

Whatever happens!

This is kind of a very spiritual and emotional post!......I felt like writing about this probably because, I prayed well and meditated after a long time yesterday and it feels good. I'm feeling totally at peace now.....
The GITA UPADESAM is considered to be the most vital part of the Bhagavad Gita, since Lord Krishna tells the GITA UPADESAM to Arjuna. Sometimes, when life is too damn rough and things go totally out of control for me, this is the only thing that gives me hope and courage to withstand the stress and pressure of the situation....The following is an English Translation of the GEETHA SAARAM.

FAITH

Whatever happened was for good
Whatever is happening is also for the good
Whatever will happen will also be for good
What did you lose of your own that you are crying for?
What did you bring with you that you have lost?
What did you create that has been destroyed?
Whatever you possess, you have got it from here
Whatever you gave, you gave it here
Whatever belongs to you today, it belonged to someone else yesterday
And tomorrow it will belong to someone else.

“CHANGE IS THE RULE OF NATURE”

Dearest,
As I look back at my life, I find you helping me in every stage of my life and never once have you left me alone. Be it in my successes or failures, you have been there, helping me succeed, giving me the mental strength to withstand failures and come back alive and kicking. Thank you for being so kind to me, thank you for your blessings all along my life, thank you for taking care of me and thank you for everything.

SARVAM SAMARPANAM.

Four Things......

These are just four things in the world that drive me to the edge of fear! (necessarily in that order)

(I'm wondering if there were just four things...May be the list keeps adding on as I sail through life more! or may people who read this blog and know more about me can comment!)

1. Dogs

Dogs, of any kind,breed..whatever....Even if its just a puppy. I hate dogs! or for that matter
pets of any kind. I cannot walk anywhere near a dog, not even on the same road as the dogs are! I hate visiting people's
houses who have dogs as pets...In my childhood days, I'd say every silly reason to my parents for not visiting my relatives/friends's houses who have dogs.....I used to throw all kinds of tantrums when my parents ask me to visit the relatives. So, friends, whoever is reading this, beware! I will not and cannot visit you if you have dogs in your houses!

2. Stale Food

The next weird thing about me is, I go crazy when I get a feeling the food am about to eat has become stale. Even if its not gone stale, but if someone even raises a question about it, I cannot go near the food! and I can even starve for the day! I wasnt even affected by this when I was in India. Because, mom used to cook fresh always, (Mom, how much I miss you now, when I'm writing this!) at all times and I didnt even have to worry about this. But, from the moment I stepped out of home for my internship at Pune, I have developed this kind of a weirdness and I cannot seem to get rid of it. Its just plainly weird! And Sorry Santhosh, I know I've troubled you enough with all those weird questions and being adamant when it comes to eating old food.

3. Sitting in the front seat of a car

Now that you have already thought, "how weird is this female!", here's some more to add on..The title says it all! It's just impossible for me to sit in the front seat of any car with my eyes open. Especially, if I am the only person in the car along with the person who drives the car, that person is dead-meat from the "ssssssssssss...ooooooooooooo...aiyooooooooooo" sounds I make when we are on the road. Many a times, I pity the person who's driving the car sitting along with me. When someone drives faster on the InterState, I go to the edge of fears that I catch hold of their hands on the steering and ask them to slow it down. When we go on traffic, I just tightly shut my eyes and cannot even talk to anyone normally! I feel like I am on some roller-coster ride! I can just trust nobody when they drive sitting near me! Sorry guys for all those hissing sounds I make when you drive!

4. Plane take-off and landing

Ok, now to a person who's been in the US and has travelled a lot, this should sound so silly! But, its not! I am scared to death when a flight takes-off and when it lands. Its just the insecure feeling or may be call it, any type of "phobia" or the perfect word is in tamil - "mana braandhi/brahmai". But, the same way, I do sitting in a car, I cannot see outside through the window when the flight takes-off or lands. I hold the two arms of the seat in the flight tightly or I hold the person sitting beside me tightly, if I know them! I can release my hands and open my eyes only when its on the air! Pretty weird huh???

So, yeah, thats some more stuff about me! But, dont think I'm totally weird! I have some good stuff too!.....

Miles to go.....

Its 1:00 AM and I am still in my lab writing this post!....My thesis is taking all the time in the world and I am not even done with my first draft yet. Man, I never thought those small indentations, diagrams, and writing references will take hell of a time. And the worst part is, I should be at work at 8 AM tomorrow morning....Anyways, the thoughts of completing everything perfectly and visualizing a good successful defense is what keeps me going now.....

Am listening to THALAIVAR's "vetri nichayam!'..and it sure drives me to work more and I have
"Miles to go before I sleep"....

Will be back with more updates later....

I'm neck deep in my thesis drafts.....So,will be back with more later....

.......

Somehow, I felt there was nothing to write about, but crap, in the last 3 days.....So, one more long weekend has passed by and a big week ahead of me. Did a lil bit of work for my thesis on Saturday and Sunday. And on Sunday evening, some of my friends here (including me!) suddenly started craving for Indian food and so! We were at Baton Rouge India's for lunch on Monday...(We- Chowdhry,Prashanth, Socrates,Cheemz and me.....I must mention here that Cheemz and Chowdhry have a weird relationship where Cheemz calls Chowdhry as "thambi"(younger brother) and chowdhry calls Cheemz as "thangachi!" (younger sister)...Can it get more weird????). Ok, back on track, one of the few things that I've been terribly missing at the US of A is good south indian food..Lafayette has no Indian Restaurants and the closest place we could ever smell Indian food is Baton Rouge.....Ate to our fullest, for the 10$ we paid for the buffet.....Once we were there at the restaurant, we never thought how weird it was to have dosai,naan,rice and pudding all at the same time!

And after some usual photo sessions, while coming back we started playing this game in the car, where I start with a word and the next person should say something related to that and it goes on. At some point, we start with the last word and keep saying the words in the reverse order. So, I started with the word "blue" and the game went on! Once, Prashanth said "thangaachi!" and I was to say the next word. I said "paasa malar!" (was reminded of the sivaji ganesan-savithri movie that time)....and next it was chowdhry's turn! Guess what he'd have said....he said "cheemz!"......Cheemz was completely overwhelmed and was at a loss for words! You should have seen the look on her face! That said it all!!!!

And so, after all this, we started working again...I have a deadline coming up soon and the rest of them had an algorithms homework to complete....In the middle of work, we thought we'd go for dinner and ate at a chinese place....While I was at the restuarnt with these ppl, I got a call from one of my friend's at Lafayette asking me if I knew something about "something" (I am sorry, I cannot furnish more details on this..) that happened in Lafayette on Monday.....and that was enough for all of us to spice up the dinner with the already spiced-up chinese food that we were having....especially, chowdhry,I and Cheemz were in full-form! guessing what wouldve happened.....And Chowdhry the 5-year old guy he is, started doing things which couldnt get any more funnier! and we all laughed like crazy.....It was one of the memorable moments I've had in Lafayette so far! and the talk did not end even after coming home and the funniest thing was, one of the guys didn't even start with the algorithms homework, ended up gossiping about this until 11:00 P.M in the night....! I am sure ppl who saw us laughing, wouldve, without any doubts, thought, we were totally drunk!

So, Monday was a good day! We had lots of fun...and oh I forgot! Some of my friends had been to Niagra and Newyork for the long weekend..Guys, hope you had loads of fun and do send us the pics!

நானும் மெழுகுவர்த்தியும்!......

"பேச்சு எல்லாம் தாலாட்டு போல என்னை உறங்க வைக்க நீ இல்லை
நிலவின் ஒளியில் முத்தம் தந்து காலை காபி கொடுக்க நீ இல்லை
விழியில் விழும் தூசிதன்னை நாவால் எடுக்க நீ இங்கு இல்லை
மனதில் எழும் குழப்பம் தன்னை தீர்க்க நீ இங்கே இல்லை
நான் இங்கே நீயும் அங்கே இந்த தனிமையில் நிமிஷங்கள் வருஷமானது ஏனோ
வான் இங்கே நீலம் அங்கே நீலம் அங்கே இந்த உவமைக்கு இருவரும் விளக்கமானது ஏனோ"

Have been hooked up on this song and listening to it in a loop.A perfect song to listen to when you are done with the day's share of staring at the blue screen....

A one-liner about this song:

"Uruginen idhai kettu mezhugaai"!

After a long time.....

So, it was a good day! I got some time to speak with two of my friends whom I consider very close.....One's my "bestest" bud in India (the one I'd talked about in the previous post) with whom I voice chatted in the morning....Something about this guy. He loves to laugh as much as I do...and I guess thats one thing that we enjoy the most in each other...The entire chat session was great and was totally refreshing..Brought back a lot of memories! After which I got back to work. Something about me too! Well, I am a kind of person who wouldnt want to share about my personal life with anyone easily...There are just very very few people with whom I do that...All my emotions, feelings and thoughts have always been a guarded fort.

So, after that voice chat session, in the afternoon, I had one more good chat with another guy who's in the US. We did our Masters together....Among the lot in our group of friends here, I have always felt a special bonding with him, but have never really got a chance to get closer with him...And today, after a very long time, we got a chance to chat at length....one talk led to another and finally, before I could realise, I'd talked a lot about some of the good and bad incidents that happened in the past to him....It was a long time since I'd spoken like that to anyone and this just came out naturally.....In the end, I felt very happy about the chat.It did a lot of good to me. But, we still have a lot more left to talk....

I was just thinking about how time heals everything in life. "Time is the best healer of all rifts in life!" So very true...There have been some sad incidents in the past and still, life has moved on! Taking inspiration from this, I started working towards my thesis and it was indeed a very very good day!

The first gruelling session!

Today was the first "official' gruelling session from my thesis advisor for my thesis....Last night around 11:00 PM he'd sent me a mail saying he wants to look at the 1st draft of the complete thesis this morning.....The good girl that I am, had completed the draft by then and took printouts of the thesis. (Ok, a little something about my advisor here.....My advisor is a kind of a person who's very particular about the references and citations in the thesis and wanted me to use a software in Linux (Latex) for writing references. But, I'd used MS Word for doing the references inspite of him telling me so many times because its so much easier to do it in Word....)

I wasnt confident at all about my style of writing and the content because this is the first time in my life, I'm writing a document of an entire 50-60 pages, all by myself....I hardly slept last night, and in the little time I slept, I had nightmares about the session with my professor. Finally, around 2:00 AM this morning, I thought to myself, "I am prepared for the worst, and if the best comes, let it be a pleasant surprise!"....So, with these thoughts, I slept finally...And soon,my day dawned. The session started around 9:30 AM and was at its best until 10:00 AM. He seemed to be impressed with my writing....I couldnt believe it myself...I was the happiest person in the world...Suddenly, he noticed a reference somewhere in the middle of a chapter which did not refer to the correct reference and "looked" at me!. So, there ends the story and there started the REAL session....But in the end when he finished reading the entire document, this is what he said.."Ok, I think its a pretty reasonable document, what you have now". I dont know what this means! But, I was satisfied with the entire thing today inspite of his acid remarks on my references, probably because I was expecting something worser than this to happen! And it didnt....I thought to myself, "Thats ok....Its a part of every professor's life and part of my life too"....I learnt a good lesson....So, after all these, I started converting the entire document to Latex Form...and that took almost the whole day and damn! Its just totally the opposite of the easiest way of doing it in Word....In the evening, a very tiring and long trip to the Walmart. A long day it was....But at the end of the day, what a surprise! I got a lil something from my best bud in India through one of my friends who just returned back to the US after an India trip...In case he's reading this post, I'd like to say "Thank you so much....Its beautiful and I just luv it!"...This came just at the right moment and was the only thing that cheered me up today amidst all the pressures.....

Ok, am literally dozing off....Yet another big day ahead tomorrow!

The first one!

Phew!!! Finally I am here too! I've been wanting to do this for quite sometime now.....to pen down my thoughts, incidents and day-to-day encounters with people......or write about moments which I never want to forget in life....be it the best ones or the worst....For some reason, that was the last thing I ever thought about at the end of every day! But, of late I've found, writing gives so much clarity of thought and helps you bring out so many emotions and feelings which go unsaid otherwise.....

So here's my first post and I hope I continue this for a long time..I'd like to dedicate this first post to a person who's my best friend...We did our Masters together here at Lafayette and he's literally seen and shared every moment of my joys and disappointments....He recently got a job at "The Mathworks Inc" at Boston and has started his career today. So, here's to him! Thanks for all that you've been to me in the last 2 years. Your mere presence has kept me going and has inspired me a lot. Hearty congratulations to you.....
Miss you so much!

PS: The person I'm talking about is Santhosh (aka Sandy) for people who know him.