Home sweet Home

I reached Mumbai in the early hours of Saturday….I was very very excited to come home after 2 and a half years….the plane journey was a bit irritating as we had a lot of delays and we got a plane which had very little leg room and we had to run a lot in Paris as our flight from Atlanta was delayed and we were the last to board the plane in Paris….the plane was held for us as 50 of us were in the flight from Atlanta that was delayed….we had an extra delay in the Paris Airport as we weren’t issued the boarding passes in Cleveland…we were asked to get them in Paris and that made us the last people to get to the flight….Sindhu and I were scared that we would be delayed by a day in Paris and that we would lose a day of our trip….that’s unacceptable !!!!!!!!!!! We were glad that we made it and we were tortured by the brilliant movie… Paap …John Ibrahim was the hero and his expressions were worse than Ham Kings….he can be crowned the new Ham Master:)

We got some good food on the Paris-Mumbai leg….and the service was also much better….atlast we reach Mumbai and we were both very relieved and excited…..Sindhu was tensed as she would be meeting my parents for the first time and she was trying to figure out what to say….one of my friends said that he had made some arrangements with the customs guys so that I can walk out freely without hassle….a Havaldar was standing at the gate with my name and he had asked me to come to Counter 2…..once we got our bags we went to counter 2 and I thought we should put our bags through the scanner….but I guess my friend has a solid contact in the Customs….We were asked to walk straight through the gate and we were surprised that it was that easy:):) …..I had a lot of electronics so I was scared that the customs guys would catch me….but it turned the other way round….. we were the first to come out of the airport and my parents had not expected that I guess….I couldn’t find them so I walked to the nearest PCO and I called my sister on her cell……she was surprised that I was out and my parents were surprised tooo and they couldn’t figure out how they could have missed us….I could see the joy in t heir faces….I was delighted to see them too:)…thenI had to do some weight lifting as I had to load all the four big bags into the rented van….then we dropped off sindhu at the Santa Cruz airport for her to fly to HYD…..I could see that she was visibly tensed but she was trying to have some kind of conversation or the other with my folks….once we dropped her off ….we came home and I was up all night talking to my parents and my sis….my sister went to bed early at 5 AM!!!!!!!! and my parents at 7 AM!!!!!!! then slowly I hit the sack at 9:30 AM…..I slept like a log till 6:30 in the evening…..I met with my friends later that evening and had a good time

The next day I met a couple of friends and we went to watch a new movie called “UUFF kya Jadoo Mohabbat hai”…..at a multiplexer called IMAX….it was next to the real IMAX….I was surprised seeing the crowd and I was informed that it was the most visited place in the weekend inspite of its cost!!!!!!!!!! The ticket for an evening show is Rs.130 and for a day show is Rs.65…we bought Pop-Corn for Rs.25 a bag (rather a small pouch) and also two bottles of coke for Rs 35 each…..I was shocked!!!!!!!!!! its damn expensive and people are buying stuff left and right!!!!!!!!!! One more thing that I observed was that almost everyone had a Mobile!!!!!!!!!!! auto wala, sabzi wala, taxi wala, etc…everyone…India has become HEP….then I bought a couple of Jeans as I had hardly enough room to pack my clothes….after putting all the gifts I purchased and those that my friends had given to take home!!!!!!!!!! I had abt 5 sets of clothes for the whole 38 day trip!!!!!!!!!!!…..the next step to start driving….I had to concentrate a lot but now Iam getting better….a couple of times I got onto the wrong side of the road….I thought people would panic….I sure people in the US would have….but here…they just went on to the other side as if it was normal!!!!!!!! that shocked me:)…but now I back to the ranti and ghati driving….I am enjoying honking and giving gaalis:)….

that’s it for now as my mom is waiting for lunch and being in India….every hour is a meal time:)

End of a glorious era in AP

By now most of you may have guessed what I was thinking of....its abt the end of the Naidu era in Andhra Pradesh. Yes, the hitech and IT driven era of Chandrababu Naidu has come to an end in AP...congress hit the sweet spot during their election campaign by targetting the farmers. They showed the farmers how neglected they were and how the Naidu Govt was pampering the IT industry and ignoring the agricultural sector....they promised to give free power and water for irrigation and thus turned the tide on Naidu who was expecting another term as the CM.

Though Congress has a point that farmers have been overlooked for facilities and infrastructure it cannot deny Naidu from being one of the revolutionary and aggressive leaders of our time...obviously when one sector is being developed the other sectors will suffer but I think Naidu did the right thing by trying to tap the IT potential of Hyderabad....now Hyd is the Silicon Valley of India along with Bangalore...and it would not have been possible without Naidu. He initiated a lot of deals which resulted in the benefitting of the companies in Hyd. All the major IT companies have offices in Hyd....now with Bioinformatics begining to blossom...I think its sad that Naidu is not there to make the most out of it....he was a leader with an aim and he worked till he achieved....

People may say that he had a one track mind...and they he wasnt an efective leader.....for those guys....he started a project called "Janma Bhoomi" which was basically cleaning of AP and helping the backward places to get roads and electricity....all this just based on voluteers and the local residents of the place being developed....this was a brilliant effort and it helped a lot of people in AP. It brought the masses together and they worked together for the betterment of AP.

Bill Clinton had come to India i think in 1999....if I am not mistaken....he spent 4 hrs with the Prime Minister and abt 2 days with Naidu.....what more needs to be told abt the business sense of the man....when sanctions were being imposed on India after the Nuclear testing....companies abroad were ready to fight the sanctions to do business with Naidu.....

Kellogg's wanted to start a B-school in India and had approached different states in teh country for a suitable location....everyone wanted a share of the seats and also charge for the land.....come Naidu...he says..take the land for free (or what ever cost)....his proposal was accepted by Kelloggs and now we have a B-school in India which is accepted world wide as a great institution...not to take away the pride of other Indian B-schools...but its just a mention

F-1 wanted to set up a race track in india....where did they settle????? AP ofcourse.....why??? any doubts?? Naidu...did the job again...its a Rs. 1000 Cr project and who is benefitting from this??? people of AP....well what ever said and done....Naidu may have lost the election but he has defenitely set the trend for the coming years.....there are lot more things but I cant write all those here...i dont know all of them....but at the same time...there were a lot if drawbacks in the Naidu Govt....but which Govt doesnt have a drawback???? he atleast have enough positive points to offset the negative ones...unlike other states...

What Anil Kapoor did in a movie called "Nayak"....Chandrababu Naidu did it in real life

I hope Congress doesnt lose the businesses and market developed under Naidu

Respond instead of reacting: Azim Premji

I am very happy to be here with you. It is always wonderful to be with young people. The funny thing about life is that you realize the value of something only when it begins to leave you. As my hair turned from black, to salt and pepper and finally salt without the pepper, I have begun to realize the importance of youth. At the same time, I have begun to truly appreciate some of the lessons I have leant along the way. I hope you will find them useful when you plan your own career and life.

The first thing I have learnt is that we must always begin with our strengths. From the earliest years of our schooling, everyone focuses on what is wrong with us. There is an imaginary story of a rabbit. The rabbit was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were concerned. They said, "Forget about hopping. You are anyway good at it. Concentrate on swimming." They sent the rabbit for tuitions in swimming. And guess what happened? The rabbit forgot how to hop! As for swimming, have you ever seen a rabbit swim?

While it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses.The second lesson I have learnt is that a rupee earned is of far more value than five found.

My friend was sharing me the story of his eight year-old niece. She would always complain about the breakfast. The cook tried everything possible, but the child remained unhappy. Finally, my friend took the child to a supermarket and brought one of those ready-to-cook packets. The child had to cut the packet and pour water in the dish. After that,it took two minutes in the microwave to be ready. The child found the food to be absolutely delicious? The difference was that she has cooked it ! In my own life, I have found that nothing gives as much satisfaction as earning our rewards. In fact, what is gifted or inherited follows the old rule of come easy, go easy. I guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to earn it.

The third lesson I have learnt is no one bats a hundred every time. Life has many challenges. You win some and lose some. You must enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don't beat yourself for it or any one else for that matter! Accept it, look at your own share in the problem, learn from it and move on. The important thing is, when you lose, do not lose the lesson.

The fourth lesson I have learnt is the importance of humility. Sometimes, when you get so much in life, you really start wondering whether you deserve all of it. This brings me to the value of gratitude. We have so much to be grateful for. Our parents, our teachers and our seniors have done so much for us that we can never repay them. Many people focus on the shortcomings, because obviously no one can be perfect. But it is important to first acknowledge what we have received. Nothing in life is permanent but when a relationship ends, rather than
becoming bitter, we must learn to savour the memory of the good things while they lasted.

The fifth lesson I learnt is that we must always strive for excellence. One way of achieving excellence is by looking at those better than ourselves. Keep learning what they do differently. Emulate it. But excellence cannot be imposed from the outside. We must also feel the need from within. It must become an obsession. It must involve not only our mind but also our heart and soul. Excellence is not an act but a habit. I remember the inspiring lines of a poem, which says that your reach must always exceed your grasp. That is heaven on earth.

Ultimately, your only competition is yourself.

The sixth lesson I have learnt is never give up in the face of adversity. It comes on you suddenly without warning. One can either succumb to self-pity, wring your hands in despair or decide to deal with the situation with courage and dignity. Always keep in mind that it is only the test of fire that makes fine steel. A friend of mine shared this incident with me. His eight-year old daughter was struggling away at a jigsaw puzzle. She kept at it for hours but could not succeed. Finally, it went beyond her bedtime. My friend told her, "Look, why don't you just give up? I don't think you will complete it tonight. Look at it another day." The daughter looked with a strange look in her eyes, "But, dad, why should I give up? All the pieces are there! I have just got to put them together!" If we persevere long enough, we can put any problem into its perspective.

The seventh lesson I have learnt is that while you must be open to change, do not compromise on your values. Mahatma Gandhiji often said that you must open the windows of your mind, but you must not be swept off your feet by the breeze. You must define what your core values are and what you stand for. And these values are not so difficult to define. Values like honesty, integrity, consideration and humility have survived for generations. Values are not in the words used to describe them as much as in the simple acts. At the end of the day, it is values that define a person more than the achievements. Because it is the means of achievement that decide how long the achievements will sustain. Do not be tempted by short cuts. The short cut can make you lose your way and end up becoming the longest way to the destination.

And the final lesson I learnt is that we must have faith in our own ideas even if everyone tells us that we are wrong. There was once a newspaper vendor who had a rude customer. Every morning, the Customer would walk by, refuse to return the greeting, grab the paper off the shelf and throw the money at the vendor. The vendor
would pick up the money, smile politely and say, "Thank you, Sir." One day, the vendor's assistant asked him, "Why are you always so polite with him when he is so rude to you? Why don't you throw the newspaper at
him when he comes back tomorrow?" The vendor smiled and replied, "He can't help being rude and I can't help being polite. Why should I let his rude behaviour dictate my politeness? In my youth, I thought of myself as a rebel and was many times, a rebel without a cause. Today, I realize that my rebellion was another kind of
conformity. We defied our elders to fall in line with our peers! Ultimately, we must learn to respond instead of reacting. When we respond, we evaluate with a calm mind and do whatever is most appropriate. We are in control of our actions. When we react, we are still doing what the other person wants us to do. I wish you all the best in your life and career. I hope you achieve success in whatever way you define it and what gives you the maximum happiness in life.

Remember, those who win are those who believe they can.

Dhanraj Pillay Issue....

I think IHF and Mr.Gill have time and again humiliated Dhanraj Pillay by asking to prove his fitness and then saying that he was being omitted from the experimental sides as he is expereienced....but now they have committed a blunder by dropping Pillay from the Olympic squad.I am a big fan of cricket and badminton but I do follow some hockey...what sachin/sourav/Dravid are for cricket and Gopichand for badminton Dhanraj is that for Indian Hockey.

Teams all over the world fear Dhanraj and they know that his sheer presence will be enough to motivate the indian team and that they will have to play harder. Over the years Pillay has proved time and again that he is the best thing to have happened to Indian Hockey in the past 15 years. How many times has he lead the team from the front and bore the brunt of the media when the Indian team didnt perform well but he excelled. With his talent he can walk into most of the international sides but the officials of IHF think otherwise...I think its high time that these people are shown the right way so that Indian Hockey can prosper. How many years has Gill been incharge of IHF and what have we to show with him on the top...NOTHING...so I think its time for some change in officers and there should be some room for new ideas.

Baljit Singh Dillon and Baljit Singh Saini are players of high caliber, they should not have been treated like this either.

All the reasons given by IHF and the coach are lame and none of them are convincing.

"We need Dhanraj Pillay for Olympics"

A blog atlast!!!!!!!

Well....I have atlast decided to write a blog :):) the past month had been pretty eventful with a lot of things happening....I attended a conference for the first time...I presented a paper at a conference for the first time.....I had my first publication thru the conference proceedings.....I drove for 9 hrs for the first time (to go to the conference and to visit Phani)...I saw fire in akron for the first time.....

Yes....the fire was in Sindhu's house and it was a big one....it totally destroyed the second level.....the devastation was such that the girls living upstairs.....lost everything expect for the documents (luckily) and themselves.....they were left with no clothing but the ones they had on that day.....it was a really sad scene....I had never seen anything like that before....there were 3 fire trucks to doze the fire off....the only positive thing in this incident is that no one was hurt and that all the passports were safe.....the girls lost clothes,books, notes and all their belongings (including soft toys).....this is the finals week so the loss will be bigger to bear as they dont have their notes to study from and they also have to bear with the mental shock.

Sindhu lives downstairs so all her belongings were intact but the house cannot be lived in....everything in the house was stinking of ash and smoke....so was my car which was used to transport most of the remaining valuables.....but to their and our surprise the librarian at the University acted promptly by waiving the fees for the lost books and also contacting Red Cross....representatives of Red Cross came home to meet the girls the next day and they gave each of them gift vouchers for Value city......it was really nice of them......I wanted to ask Madhu to see if ISA could do anything....but as I expected the Girls straight away rejected my idea of fund raising.....even in such depression they didnt let go of their principles....hats off to them.....on constant pursuasion though....they agreed to accept some coupons from ICAGA and also household items from the ICAGA members when they move into their new house....

The fire incident totally freaked me out....becoz....my roomie and I have a lot of stuff at our place....both of us have TV's,VCR's, DVD Players's, Laptops....and many other small electronics.....and we dont have a second level.....and most of the things in the room are inflammable....thats a scary thought:(:(

i hope the girls do well in their finals and get done with the semester as they will have some time to relax then and think abt what has tobe done next....in a way the finals are helping to keep their mind away from the incident....so thats good.

the other thing....is that I cleared my PhD qualifiers....I cleared 6/7 papers....I failed in "Numerical Analysis"...so I was asked to take a course in that subject and get atleast a "B" in it.....I will be taking that course in the fall semester. I am happy that now I am a Doctoral Student and from the fall semester I will be on PhD pay .....hhehehehehe

The conference was a good experience....though it was a small one....500-600 people thats it.....but its always better to start with a small group before going to the national conf.....I got to spend time with Phani so that was a bonus....he showed be around his village (sorry phani but thats the best description I could give)....he showed me his work place and the polymers he made.......he made some awesome rasam and beans curry for dinner....we watched Khakee later that night......it was relaxing weekend....if not for the driving....I drove abt 1300 miles over the weekend....I had never done that before.....so it was quite an experience.....

well....I think....I will go to bed now....its quite late as i have to get up early to go to the lab:):)

India wins first series against Pakistan in PAK 3-2

India won its first series in PAK today, its been a long time since India had won a One-day series. It feels good to see the Indian team bounce back from 1-2 down in the series and also shedding the tag of chokers in the process. It was a very very close game, the margin of victory (40 runs) doesnt tell the story of how close the game was.....ask those who were watching!!!!!!!!!!!! everyone was very tensed and was hoping that Pak gets all out as we had the doubt that if they batted the stipulated 50 overs they may attain the target, though it seemed improbable...but thats how the series had been!!!!!!! when a team was counted out of th game it bounced back tremendously to make the match close if not win it.

India-Pak series has always been a much-waited series as the tension in each of the games is unbelievable....u need to expereince it to know how it feels!!!!!!!! the joy when the indian team wins and the disappointment when we lose....but its a part of the game....this series was termed "Friendship series"....it was a friendship series off the field not on the field!!!!!! u could see the intensity in the players during all the games.....that didnt look like a friendship series!!!!!!!!! I think the politicians coined that term for the series as I feel cricket is a game and the players had gone there to win matches but not to solve the Kashmir problem or to reduce the tension between the two countries so the term "Friendship series" is very veyr inappropriate.

Back to the matches.....each game had a common factor....Ganguly losing the toss..hehehehe but I guess that was lucky too as we ended up on the winning side. I find it really strange when people I watch cricket with start commenting on everyone else expect Sachin.....I find that very very irritating and the criticism the other players have to face (not in person) is unbelievable....Ganguly...such a great player...yes, he is a great player....a player cannot make over 9000 runs by fluke!!!!!!!!!! he is having a bad patch that doesnt mean that he doesnt deserve a spot on the team as a player....he has been criticised a lot but never supported....everyone fails...sachin had a bad patch in AUS, then everyone said that it was a bad patch and it will go....he was very very inconsistent and failed in the first three tests before he fought back with that double century....people were patient then but the same people are not ready to give Ganguly the time to get back into touch....I still feel he should open the innings...he was the best there and he belongs there....like how sachin didnt click when he came down the order and was back in form once sent back to the opening slot I think Ganguly will fire too if he gets the opening slot. As a captain what he did is unparalleled....people often forget that he made the difference in the attitude of the players by backing them up when they were down and encouraging them when they did well.....he gets under the skin of the opposition with his verbal volleys which none of the past Indian captains were successful with....u can see the results of the Indian team since he took over as the skipper....the records speak for themselves....

Laxman.....he did a splendid job today....people were cursing him for not firing so far this series but he laid all the questions abt his form to rest with his century today....I found it absolutely disgusting when people started cursing him for slowing down in his 90's when he actually was scoring run-a-ball or more (same thing with dravid in the first match)...people were like...this guy should get out then only india will score more....he is wasting balls....he is costing us the match.....rubbish talk all this....whats wrong if he slows down for an over or 2 to get to his century and then accelerate he worked hard for the century and he deserved it so let him get to it......the so called "genius" and "little master" also does the same thing....once he gets to his 85's or 90's he slows down too...that too considerably....then these same people will say whats wrong with that....thats bias...I agree there is nothing wrong with that but that should apply to other people too.....someone said that sachin would have gotten his century by the 35th or 40th over had he been there so its ok if he slows down then.....so is it laxman's or dravid's fault that they come down the order and get to the 90's in the slog overs????? thats very unfair to ask them to try to accelerate and in the process miss the hundred for the team sake....people say "they shoudl think abt the team....and not abt the records" thats rubbish....whats wrong in scoring a century and also scoring runs for the team......century is not a everyday thing...so when u get close to it u tend to get a bit cautious....there is nobody who is an exception to this.......the only person I have seen who never stays in his 80's or 90's for long is Azhar....I have atleast seen him hit out 4-5 times when he was in his 90's and get to his hundred. in one instance....he was on 82 the next 4 balls were....6,4,6,4.....now thats something one cannot do everyday.

dravid.....scored 243 runs this series.....highest aggregate for India and 2nd only to Inzy in the series.....but people still criticise him....what else should a player do ??? people criticise his keeping....but i guess he is such a true team person that he is taking it in his stride....he is not a keeper but took up the role for team's sake....the team management has forced him to continue keeping when he has expressed his dissatisfaction.....and when he misses something people will be extra critical....he is doing his best for the team so give him credit for that and try to be a bit more open minded and less critical of this outstanding player.

as a matter of fact....let ask the sachin fans a stat.....how many times in the past 3-4 years has Sachin come good in a clutch match....I am sure there are some but not that many....he is a great player...no doubt abt that... but dont look down upon the others and criticise the other players....people will say sachin scored a century in the Chennai test against AUS.....but the clucth was Calcutta when laxman and Dravid came good......chennai test against PAK....sachin on 100 something....great knock...didnt take us home....considering that he was the last of the recognised batsman barring mongia....same scene Adelaide test.....dravid saw us thru to the end when it looked that India might get all-out....stood there till the end.....

I know that the sachin fans out there are ready to jump at the chance to criticise the above blog....but i had to put forward my thoughts:):)

Done at last!!!!!!!

I am done with my PhD qualifiers at last!!!!!!! Man !! thats a good feeling....I have been studying like crazy for the past couple of months and i am glad that I am done with studying for some time now.....atleast i feel I have done well so i should clear the exams!!!!!!!!!

It was one hell of an experience which i would not even like to repeat even in my dreams!!!!!!!! It was an exam marathon of 7 exams in 6 hours.......the dreaded day started at 7:30 when i got out of bed lazily and by 8:30 I was ready to go as i had the exam at 9 am.....I needed Sindhu's help to take the huge pile of books that I had....some of the exams were open book so i didnt want to miss any book concerned to that book....it took 2 trips up and down my apartment to get the books down to my car.....when i stepped into the office in the department the secretary was stunned to see me with a ton of books and going back down stairs a couple more times to get the remaining books!!!!!!!!!!! she was laughing and couldnt understand why i was getting that many books!!!!!!!! I was set up to write the exam in the department library.....I got the morning session papers at 9 am.....I was told that i will have to find another place to write at 11 am as there was some kind of meeting at that place!!!!!! I found that very strange as I was writing my PhD qualifiers (which was a big deal for me)and the department couldnt even reserve a room for me!!!!!!!!!

The morning session comprised of Physiology, Biometry (I hated both the subjects) and Biomedical Instrumentation....all these are core courses and i did well in them when I took them in my first 2 semesters!!!!!!! but now it was a diferent ball game......I dreaded Physiology as it entailed all the systems in the body and many other things!!!!!!!!! I studied real hard for that and I was surprised to see one of the questions from the first chapters of the book!!!!!!!!! it was an easy question and the next one was hard but I did well in that subject and i was thinking....that wasnt a bad start for the day....one of my dreaded subjects out of the way and I am feeling good!!!!! But little did I know what was in store for me in the next paper.....It was biometry....statistics.......yuck!!!!!! i am not a great fan of the subject but i can do with it......but t my shock....I saw alll theor questions in the stats paper!!!!!!! my heart sank!!!!! i was expecting to get atleast 1 or 2 problems to solve but Dr.Sheffer (instructor of the course) had other ideas!!!!!!!! I could make sense of 2 questions but the other 2 were bouncers to me!!!!!!!!! i answered the first two and then decided to get to my instrumentation paper....that I was expecting to be a cake walk.......when i looked at the questions I thought I will breeze thru them but when I started doing them i realised that it wasnt as easy as it looked...and my neglectance and over confidence in the subject was now showing as i realised that I wast prepared enough to answer the question.....I struggled to get the Fourier Coefficients for the given signal and I didnt manage to get them....I was disappointed but the second part of the question was a bit better as it had Laplace Tranform....I got the answer and I was elated but in the mean time i lost track of the time and I realised that I had 15 minutes to answer the 2 questions in biometry!!!!!!! i wrote what i felt was appropriate as i wasnt sure abt either of the questions!!!!!!! i had to dig into the reserves of my skills honed over the years of writing crap in the answer paper in India!!!!!!!!! when U didnt know the answer beat around the bush and fill up the pages!!!!! thats exactly what i did but anyways, i was done in time and I had an hour's lunch break.

Had lunch at Sindhu's place and came back for the second innnings!!!!!!!! this time it is 4 papers in 3 hours!!!!!! the subjects were easier than the morning session....Circuit Analysis, Signals and Systems, Numerical methods and Analysis and Linear Algebra....I expected linear algebra to be a easy but it turned out other wise.....I answered the first question and the second was a bouncer......if A is a matrix then find A power n........I had 4 books for linear algebra and i couldnt find a answer to that question!!!!!!! I started with Signals and systems which turned out to be Signal and Image processing!!!!!!!!! now that was a blow below the waist as I was told it would be only signal processing!!!!!!! it was 1 and half questions Signal processing and 1 and 1/2 questions of Image processing.......I thought I was doomed but the only good point was I had to answer only 2 questions of the 3.....so i thought I will try my best to answer the signals part and answer the half Image processing question.....thats exactly what i did.....the i started with Circuits next......It was like clock work as I had practiced a lot for that stuff!!!!!!!! It went smoothly.....I was left with numerical methods.....I saw the questions and was stunned as I didnt now a lot of them.....but I had abt 45 minutes left so i decided to think calmly and went abt answering the ones I knew and finally I finished the exam on time and the feeling was amazing!!!!!!! it felt like a big burden taken of my shoulders and then i got to watch the Ind-pak match so i was very very happy....though it was a close game we could have played better and should have won the game.

"Chai Bana na".....

The person our group here at akron can associate with that statement is Adi, Sunil Adwani, is my friend who left for India this morning....he was one of the most joyful persons that I know. He is always lively and keeps the people around him cheerful. the fact that he has left akron has not yet sunk in.....I guess it will take some time...may be tommorow when I start doing my usual stuff I will realise that Adi isn't there.....

I wanted to write the blog on Adi earlier but the cricket matches kept me away from the blogging world for sometime.....so the WAAARRST FELLOW Phani grabbed the chance to write the blog on Adi....and man did he do a great job!!!!!!! awesome blog phani.....

I think I first met Adi at his place for the ganesh puja.....the first reason due to which I remembered Adi was that his name was Sunil and he had a roomie named Nishant.....well...I am suneel too and I had a roomie named Nishant...so it was that sheer coincidence that I used to remember abt Adi.....I didnt even know him that well till the Cricket 2002 season....which was a memorable season for most of the people on that team....as Phani said we could go on and on abt tht season and the 2003 season.....people in Akron have started hating us for the fact taht the guys from teh cricket team always talk abt cricket where ever they went and never get tired abt discussing their losing season....heheheh

In the summmer of 2002 I met Adi and Phani at the nets, ram and I were trying to make a team and they wanted to be a part of it. We started practice and thats when I saw how dedicated they both were in improving their game...neither had experience with the season ball cricket....they were always on time and we had a lot of fun with the relatively rookie team....sunny, sairam and all the otehr rookies also had a ball...that season will always remain in my fond memories....Adi's career as a bowler was almost disrupted by Ram !!!!!!!!!! what ??? Ram?? how can that be possible people knowing Ram would say....but the truth is that Ram wanted to teach Adi to swing the ball and take advantage of the natural angle that a left arm seam bowler gets bowling over the wicket.....they used to practice hard in the nets but Adi who was used to bowling around the wicket (similar guard to that of a right arm bowler) found it difficult to bowl that way....and could not adjust to the new style....he was naturally hit for some runs and wasn't successful in getting wickets....no wonder he ended the season with only 2 wickets!!!!!!!! but he made up for it with his briliant fielding and oustanding catching.....he was the best fielder we had and the person to go to for a high catch.....he was outstanding in the cover region and has had tremendous success there....he got two direct hits in a game in 2003 season....one was that of Bharat who is one of the most feared batsman in our league......batting.....he was a typical gully cricket...leg side player...just like me...but i had a wider range of shots than Adi (u have to admit that Adi)......

then came the famous and memorable six-a-side tournament where AkronCC performed extremely well exceeding everybody's expectations.....the best part was that Adi wanted to watch Sampras-Agassi final of the US Open....but we were in Columbus....so he wanted us to lose so that we could go back in time for the start of the match.....but for what we experienced I think Adi didnt mind missing that match....beating the top seeds....making it to the play off's after losing both the league matches....brilliant batting from Adi and Phani....I getting hit in the face....losing the final by one run.....name it and we had that!!!!!!!! most of all....phani hogging after every game!!!!!!! he kept on eatin eating and eating......by the end of the day he had eaten more than the rest (five) of us.

played some tennis with Adi....it was great.....he was a really good player but for some reason never beat me...seriously....I am not bragging abt it but I have to admit that he was the better player but always lost to me.....i guess I was lucky!!!!!! the fact that he was a left-hander used to irritate me as I never liked playing racquet sports with lefties!!!!!!! I have had bad experiences in both Badminton and now in Racquetball with lefties....i get confused and keep hitting the ball to their forehand side.....

then came the 2003 cricket season.....it was a turn around time for Adi's bowling career....Ram had left akron!!!!!!!!!!! i am just kidding.....we missed Ram .......but adi went back to bowling left arm around the wicket and was very successful in getting wickets and drying up runs!!!!!!!!! he was so successful that he was selected for the all-star game !!!!! thats indeed an achievement as the best players in the league are selected for the all-star game!!!!!!!!! he ended the season with 16 wickets!!!!!!!! I was in race with him for most of the season (phani and manpreet dropped catches to make sure that I was always behind) but his 5-wicket haul against OSU took him away from the rest of us!!!!! he even batted brilliantly against Youngstown and almost took us to victory......he top-scored in that match.....

for the past few months.....i got to know adi very well....with he coming over to my place and we playing racquetball together...i got to know him well.....he was always cheerful and was clear minded....he was also very optimistic and looked at the positive side of things!!!!!!

apart from sports adi was a part of our cultural program for Diwali.......he did a great job in our play at the 2002 diwali and was hilarious in his role as Raja Gajendra Singh in the play "teri Biwi Sirf meri" that we perfomed at Diwali 2003.....the practice sessions were the best part as Adi and madhu used to have a laughing competition as to who will disrupt the practice first by breaking out with laughter!!!!!! we had a tough time getting the two of them to get the scene and dialogue right!!!!!!!!

Adi is a big sachin fan and I am a big Dravid and Laxman (and of Azhar) fan so we used to have endless debates abt who is greater....though i was always outnumbered I still will say "Dravid is the best, Dravid baba ki jai!!!!!!"

there was one more thing that i can associate myslef with Adi.....the "Sunil-Suneel" picture...we invariably have atleast 10-15 of those pictures....we get a picture taken of the two of us whenever we find one of our friend's taking pictures with a camera......he have had those pics at almost all the parties we went to together and at all the events

Leaving us with all these and many more unforgettable memories Adi left Akron this morning for good!!!!!! Now, who will......

.....Ask for chai or make chai at any hour
.....stand in the cover position next season
.....play racquetball with me everyday
.....say "Sachin baba ki jai !!!"
.....bowl left arm around the wicket
.....leave the ball outside the stump looking as if to nick the ball on its way to the keeper
.....watch tennis and keep me updated on the latest news in tennis
.....make Renu and Prathyusha laugh (they are Sindhu's roomies who invariably break into laughter when they see adi)
.....call phani whenever Dravid scores a century
.....take all the high catches on the field
.....get the direct hits to get Bharat run-out
.....be happy to see indians fail and Gili (Gilchrist) tear apart the indian attack
....be in the "Sunil-Suneel" pictures with me

.....guys please feel free to add more of these one-liners!!!!!!!!!

ADI, my best wishes will be with you whereever you go and whatever u do......I will surely meet up with u when i come to india the next time!!!!!!!!! it will be time for another "sunil-suneel" photo:):)

My planned crime......

I think after reading Brijesh's blog I am inspired or rather have become bold to reveal the crime that me and my friends pulled off in my 6th standard, yeah I know that we were too young to plan but we planned it to perfection.....and never got caught....though i wasnt a part of lifting i was a part of the crime too.....

In 6th standard we used to have a craze (rather obsession) for collecting stamps, coins and currencies.....we used to literally bargain for exchanges....it was fun....i still have all my collection....we used to treasure triangular, circular, rhombus shaped stamps, rare coins and any kind of currency notes from foriegn countries.....at the peak of this collecting fad there was a stamp and currency exhibition in our school.....all the classes were given time slots to enter the exhibition hall and we were given the time after the lunch break....we were happy that we got a lecture off and that we could see some to the rare collection....two of my best friends...yes...at that age we used to have 3 or 4 best friends....that would just make the other person happy....hehehheh....thinking abt that makes me laugh even now....back to my two best friends in school.....they were collection maniacs......so they sneaked in with the other class during the lunch break and were blown away by the variety there.....there they found out that a student from the other class managed to flick a coin....so they decided that they will do that too....they came to me and said that they needed help.....I being a kind of quite and reserved (then not now!!!!!!!!) person was scared initially but they told me that they will do everything but I will have to hide the loot as i was the unsuspected person there.....all the teachers kind of liked me, though i wasnt a great student, so I was perfect person to hide things.....they came up with the plan to flick a circle stamp and an Indonesian currency note.....they had seem them on the previous visit and exactly knew where they were. So they came up with the plan that they will go in with 3-4 people between them....we were taken inside in a line...so one guy would slightly pull them out and the other will pocket it....but there was the catch....everyone was checked.....ok here was one thing that i could never understand....only the guys were checked !!!!!!!!!!! the girls were let off without even being questioned!!!!!!!!!! thats unfair. So now the problem was..where to hide the things.....they were thinking all kinds of possible places....but it will difficult to get to those places while in the crowd....so they were all eliminated.....shoes and socks were also checked....then I came up with the master stroke.....i asked them to stuff it up their ties!!!!!!!!!!!! they were shocked!!!!!!!! Suneel the calm guy came up with such an idea.....all this was planned during the lunch break.....then when we went in everything went according to the plan......they were out with loot untouched and unsuspected.....lekin woh time pe mera itna phata hua haalat tha....poocho mat!!!!!!!.....we were back in the class and they gave the stamp and the note to me.....they were really impressive looking.....I like a good boy put them in the brown cover of one of my books.....I used to cover all my books with a brown cover with my school logo on it and I also used to staple them so it was kind of difficult to push them in but once they were in there it was a perfect hiding place......

the missing stamp and currency note created a havoc in the hall.....the exhibitionist was furious and my class teacher tooo....she came fuming into the class and said that she was ashamed of us....then none of us came forward to accept the crime and the whole class said that we were all innocent....she said that she would agree with that only after checking all the bags.....here too the girls were let off without being checked!!!!!!!!!! very very unfair......she checked everyones bags....books....tiffin boxes....shoes....everything.....but she a few favorites in the class and fortunately i was one of them.....she just browsed through the bags of her favorite students and checked thouroughly in the others bags!!!!!!!! after the whole episode my friends had a naughty smile on their faces and i was shit scared and guilty......but they were my best friends so could not turn them in.....anyways....I was also a part of the crime so I kept my mouth shut.......welll...my friends exchanged those two items the next week (they were smart enough to wait that week).....and good a great deal.....they gave me a coin and triangular stamp for my help......I was very delighted with gift and I completely forgot abt the chori!!!!!!!!!! well....at that age and with the craze of coins and all that stuff i didnt feel guilty abt the incident at all and I completely forgot abt the incident in a few days time with the exams and all......now when I look back I feel kind of guilty for stealing something but there is also a joy that i was involved in a successful lift off that even the teachers could not find out!!!!!!!!!

brijesh.....thanx to ur crying episode that inspired me to relive the memories of the above incident.....I think i will list only this incident else mera poora history patha chal jayega.........hehehhe....just kidding.....I dont think I have any other incident even similar....I was shit scared that time in the hall that I never even tried to indulge in such activities.......just imagine????....what if we were caught!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....maa kasam.....sooch ke hi dimaag hat raha hai.....how could we face our parents?????

Snow Day.....!!!!!!!!

Today the university will be closed from 1 PM due to snow and the incoming snow storm....thats a nice break as I have class in the evening. This is a very rare thing to happen at Akron....it happens at the most once a year when we have tons of snow and tons more coming....the first time it happened during my time in akron was the first day i took my car to school!!!!.....boooooooo.....I was very very disappointed as it was the first time I got a parking permit and I owned my first car and with a brand new driving license and insurance I was all raring to go and it was called a SNOW DAY...not fair I thought...but I was glad later that day as i saw cars sliding and skidding in the snow....I was thinking...."thank GOD!!!!!, thats not my car". Me being a rookie I could have easliy been one of those cars and I am sure that i would have hit somebody or something had I driven that day.

One more reason to be happy on a snow day is that the classes are cancelled and we doint have to turn in any homeworks!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now thats a nice incentive......I will take that option of sitting at home and doing nothing to attending class and turning in Homeworks!!!!!!! But on the flipside.....the GYM is closed tooo!!!!!!!!....so all we can do is sit at home and do absolutely nothing but to chit chat and watch movies!!!!!!!! I would rather play something like RACQUETBALL instead. Talking abt RACQUETBALL...there is a league tournament coming up at KENT STATE.....its a nice tournament....it has abt 15-20 players in the league and you play every player in the period of 3 months at the end of which the winner is decided by the number of wins and also based on tie breakers. Its a nice tournament for the people who have been playing for over an year or so....as there will be a lot of players with ur skill set and also with varying styles of game so that will improve ur game more than when u play with ur regular practice partner....if anyone needs info please let me know!!!!!

Abt the snow....its been very very cold for the past month!!!!!!! its been freezing with abt temperatures between 4-30 degrees F without the windchill.....now add the wind chill !!!!!!!! that will be 10-15 degrees lesser than the normal temperature.....now i will enjoy my holiday by going home and having a nice and hot coffee and a ood lunch later.

Home sweet home.......

A lot of my friends had gone baack to India to visit their families during the past month and I couldnt go.....I am very jealous of those guys !!!!!!!! Its been 2 years since I last went home....I miss home, family, friends, College and of course MUMBAI!!!!!!!!!!! Not that I dont have friends here.....I have made some great friends here and I am very happy for that and for the fact that met a special person here in Akron:):) but being away from family always hurts!!!!!!!!

I have to go to the airport in the evening to pick-up Rajesh.....he went to my house in mumbai!!!!!!! I am jealous again......gggrrrrr....talking of the Cleveland Airport.....I have made tons of trips for the pick-ups and the drop offs but I still distinctly remember the day i landed in the US.....khyati, ashwin, priya and rujul were there at the airport to pick me and Manasee up....it was a strange feeling......but I was very excited and i had no regrets of leaving India atleast for the time being....I was away from home, parents and sister for the first time!!!!!!!! but the next time around......when I made my first trip to India and came back.....I remember Bhaddu, Milind and a couple of other friends waiting for me at the airport.....I was very excited to see them.....but I was very sad.....cant say depressed.....but i felt like I was missing something big in the life here......when I had gone home.....i had given my parents a surprise.....I went a day earlier than i was supposed....it was all preplanned and my friends came to the Sahar Airport to pick me up.......the look on my mom's face when she saw me was priceless!!!!!!!!!! my dad was sleepy but he was delighted too.......and sister jumped out of bed!!!!!!!!! that is indeed an unforgettable moment (Kodak Moment) and just shows how much they love me and miss me!!!!!!!!!!! My friends had made surprise welcom plans too....they came with a poster!!!!!!!!!!!!! it read "TM Assistant Plumber Vasinaka" (TM is the name by which my friends at home now me as), they even got me a garland!!!!!!!!!!!! It was very very embarrasing!!!!!!!!! but I loved it ...

My mom was initially very upset that I surprised them....as they had made all the arrangements to come to the airport the next day......but i guess seeing me comepensated for a lot things....hehehehhehe...mom and sister wanted to talk all night, they were that excited......but I had to force them to go to sleep so that mom can get up early and make break fast and take care of other things for dad in the morning and deepika had to go to work!!!!!!! then started the constant requests to eat. eat and eat!!!!!!!! where ever I went and whom ever i met would give me something to eat or drink.....i must have eaten a year's quota in a month!!!!!!!!!!!!

the rest of the trip was very eventful and filled with lots of fun and cherised memories.....met with all my childhood buddies.....Goti, Battery, Kotli, Saby, Wali, Boozie, Naga, Kummu, Daru, pappu and rest of the gang........they were very excited too to see me after a long time...we had a ball of a time!!!!!!!!! got together with all my cousins for Pongal at my Grand Parents place for the first time in 9 years!!!!!!!!!! that was some reunion we had!!!!!!!! it was filled with singing, dancing and catching up with uncles, aunts and grand parents......i can stilll remember everything on that trip like it had just happened yesterday!!!!!!!!!!

when it was time to leave Mumbai.......I started realising that all this was coming to an end and that i was returning to akron.....my mom, dad and sis were noticably sad!!!!! at the airport it was not like the first time.....i was all smiles tht time....but now I was very sad to leave all my beloved ones and friends back....the flight back was very quite and kind of depressing........the life in akron felt very boring compared to what I experienced there.....but as everyone says....time is the best healer.....in no time i was back to my normal life here in Akron and I was back with all the friends here.......little did I know that i was to meet the special person in my life that year!!!!!!!

cant wait to get back home!!!!!!!!!! hoping to go home in May.......cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out the two links.....

Facts abt September 11 Washington

Spoof of Matrix

hey he hey......India Wins !!!!!!!!!!

The win abroad (in Australia) at last !!!!!!!!! Most of us cricket fans are very passionate abt the wins and losses of the Indian cricket team. It was evident from the gathering at my place during the ICC championship, World Cup and now for the India-Aus series. The fact that they have been played at odd times (early mornings) but still we had a good crowd watching the games. The best part was the India-Pak game when we had 50-60 people in Vikas's and my house !!!!!!! But now with India beating Aus in the test match I am sure that those numbers will be crossed in this series.

It was really great to see India win a test match in the Kangaroo land after 21 year and for the first time in the Indian Cricket history we won a match in Aus to go ahead in the series !!!!!!!! That is quite an achievement in itself and speaks volumes of the dominance that AUS team has had over the years. But now things will be changing pretty soon I guess. BUt we need to guard against complacency......thats been a factor which has brought down Indian teams many times over the years...be it Cricket, Hockey, football or badminton etc....we get over confident after a single victory....thats when we overlook the strengths of the opposition and take them lightly....AUS has not won 50 games under Waugh for no reason......they are a great side (probably the best team ever in Test History).....yes you have read that correctly....this AUS team has been the most dominant team ever to have played cricket in both versions. They are talented, hard working, agile on the field, have a never-say-die attitude and confident.......just this one loss will not make them a bad side.....no team can be perfect...they are bound to lose some games......so Indian should watch out for a spirited comeback....watching the Indian team play has been very very encouraging over the past couple of years......whatever people may say (that includes me) or might have said abt Dada (Sourav) they are being proved wrong....he has transformed the team with his attitude and backing of the players. That has been his strength.....gaining the confidence of the players......they respect him for what he does for them and for the team not becoz he is the captain....he gets into the mind of the opposition teams and frustrates them....this has never been the attitude of the indian captains......

The team now has a talented and aggressive batting line up with some good bowlers to back them up. We have always been a good batting side but now we have bowlers who want to perform and at the same time learn more with every match. That has been the difference.....
there has always been a debate as to whether India is Tendulkar's team but now we can say no!!!!!!! he has been a dominant batsman in the one days but has never been the same player in tests (people may feel free to refute....this is my opinion)......he is too aggressive to last for long time at the crease.......he can be devastating and demoralise the bowlers but in test cricket its the ability to last and at the same time score is waht is important....I have been a fan of Azhar, Dravid and Laxman (of course sachin and sourav too) over the years......but I feel they never get the credit they deserve. People may have different notions abt Azhar.....thats a different debate altogether.....but the point is on the field u evaluate a person by his skills.......not by his actions off the field........people say he has fixed matches and alll........still he scores 9400 runs.....just imagine how much he would have scored otherwise....I am not very sure abt the whole issue as to why only he is being made the scapegoat of all this when others were involved too....agreed that he has made a mistake.....but u should not take it away from him that...... he was, is and will be one of the cricketing greats of India ......

Dravid the poor guy....never gets the credit he deserves........people talk abt laxman's 281, it was a great innings no doubt, but no one talks abt Dravid's 180 from the other end, people mention Ganguly's 183 at Taunton but never mention Dravid's 153 from the other end (one more funny incident.....Ganguly was dropped by Murali in the outfield and his throw gets Dravid run-out....what rotten luck)....people talk abt Sachin scoring 186 like God!!!!!!!!!!!! but who was at the other end......ofcourse Dravid with 153 !!!!!!!....people made Kaif hero (he deserved that)....abt his century in the ICC trophy but no one mentioned Dravid's 71.....what abt the world cup!!!!!!! he was there every time the team needed him.....people said that he scored very slow and all that stuff.....is that important when ur team is 30/4 ??????......or when the team is on the brink of losing with the last recognised pair in the middle???? people
talk abt the devastating 98 by sachin against PAK in the world cup......but what abt Dravid's 44* to take the team to victory????? hello is anyone getting the point??? one more interesting stat abt his test performance is that of the 16 centuries he has scored 15 have been meaningful "It often escapes all attention that only one time out of 16 when India's best Test batsman has made a century have India lost the match. Nor have these been centuries, bar one in New Zealand, scored once the match has died. It is hard to know about God and stuff, but few human beings have reached Dravid's levels of recent accomplishment. "

Laxman.....man!!!!! lesser mentioned abt the bad-luck he has had the better it is. First of all he is a good middle order batsman....he is sent opening in West indies....of course its hard to perform there especially in a position u are not accustomed to....he "failed" (had a 50 and couple of otehr good scores).....he was dropped from the team......then he makes a comeback and then establishes a spot in the team......he is still shuffled in the batting order with Dravid.....hello???? is anybody with brains there ????? when a batsman is in form u want him in the middle saving the game for u and not a batsman out-of-form. People agree that Laxman and Dravid are good players but when they are not making runs.....they have to be dropped and that we should not go by past performances!!!!!!!!!!!! but the same people say this when Sachin is not getting runs "he is out-of-form he needs some time in the middle".....isnt that unfair???? Not to take away anything from the great batsman but shouldnt the treatment be same for the talent. Laxman can match sachin in most of the strokes......but remember Sharjah !!!!!!!! Sachin was playing like a God but Laxman was made to take singles to give sachin strike.....how many times have u seen that happen otherway around????? why should Dravid's and Laxman's sacrifice their natural flair and ability for the team when otehrs are not ready to do that?????

I guess this is an endless debate that can go on and on.....but the best part is....INDIA is WINNING, thats what matters

I got my grades.....I am happy that I got more than i expected in a course....

Story of Life ......

WHEN THINGS IN YOUR LIFE SEEM ALMOST TOO MUCH TO HANDLE, WHEN 24 HOURS IN A DAY ARE NOT ENOUGH, REMEMBER THE MAYONNAISE JAR........AND THE BEER.

A PROFESSOR STOOD BEFORE HIS PHILOSOPHY CLASS AND HAD SOME ITEMS IN FRONT OF HIM. WHEN THE CLASS BEGAN, WORDLESSLY, HE PICKED UP A VERY LARGE AND EMPTY MAYONNAISE JAR AND PROCEEDED TO FILL IT WITH GOLF BALLS. HE THEN ASKED THE STUDENTS IF THE JAR WAS FULL. THEY AGREED THAT IT WAS.

SO THE PROFESSOR THEN PICKED UP A BOX OF PEBBLES AND POURED THEM INTO THE JAR. HE SHOOK THE JAR LIGHTLY. THE PEBBLES ROLLED INTO THE OPEN AREAS BETWEEN THE GOLF BALLS. HE THEN ASKED THE STUDENTS GAIN IF THE JAR WAS FULL. THEY AGREED IT WAS.

THE PROFESSOR NEXT PICKED UP A BOX OF SAND AND POURED IT INTO THE JAR. OF COURSE, THE SAND FILLED UP EVERYTHING ELSE. HE ASKED ONCE MORE IF THE JAR WAS FULL. THE STUDENTS RESPONDED WITH AN UNANIMOUS "YES."

THE PROFESSOR THEN PRODUCED TWO CANS OF BEER FROM UNDER THE TABLE AND POURED THE ENTIRE CONTENTS INTO THE JAR, EFFECTIVELY FILLING THE EMPTY SPACE BETWEEN THE GRAINS OF SAND. THE STUDENTS LAUGHED.

"NOW," SAID THE PROFESSOR, AS THE LAUGHTER SUBSIDED, "I WANT YOU TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS JAR REPRESENTS YOUR LIFE". "THE GOLF BALLS ARE THE IMPORTANT THINGS--YOUR FAMILY, YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR HEALTH, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR FAVORITE PASSIONS--THINGS THAT IF EVERYTHING ELSE WAS LOST AND ONLY THEY REMAINED, YOUR LIFE WOULD STILL BE FULL".

"THE PEBBLES ARE THE OTHER THINGS THAT MATTER, LIKE YOUR JOB, YOUR HOUSE, YOUR CAR". "THE SAND IS EVERYTHING ELSE--THE SMALL STUFF."

"IF YOU PUT THE SAND INTO THE JAR FIRST," HE CONTINUED, "THERE IS NO ROOM FOR THE PEBBLES OR THE GOLF BALLS". "THE SAME GOES FOR LIFE. IF YOU SPEND ALL YOUR TIME AND ENERGY ON THE SMALL STUFF, YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ROOM FOR THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU". "PAY ATTENTION TO THE THINGS THAT ARE CRITICAL TO YOUR HAPPINESS, PLAY WITH YOUR CHILDREN". "TAKE TIME TO GET MEDICAL CHECKUPS". "TAKE YOUR PARTNER OUT TO DINNER". "PLAY ANOTHER 18". "THERE WILL ALWAYS BE TIME TO CLEAN THE HOUSE, AND FIX THE DISPOSAL". "TAKE CARE OF THE GOLF BALLS FIRST, THE
THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER". "SET YOUR PRIORITIES. THE REST IS JUST SAND".

ONE OF THE STUDENTS RAISED HER HAND AND INQUIRED WHAT THE BEER REPRESENTED.
THE PROFESSOR SMILED. "I'M GLAD YOU ASKED. IT JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU THAT NO MATTER HOW FULL YOUR LIFE MAY SEEM, THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR A COUPLE OF BEERS."

I am back !!!!!!!!!!

The past three weeks have been very very hectic.....I was literally working everyday till 2-3 in the morning. But now I am done with 75% work for the semester....only one take home exam to finish and have another final on Wednesday.....and I will be done for the semester !!!!!!!

I was soo depreived of sleep for the past week.....busy with projects, presentation and a final. I was up till 5 o'clock this morning finishing up a project and then i slept thru the day !!!!!!!!!! I havent done that in a long time....but it feels good to sleep for more than 6 hrs once in a while....I am very fresh and ready to go now.

Now back to Sapna's story.......


hmmmm.....where was I???? haaann.....then for a couple of days I found it difficult to find a place for her to stay temporarily before she found a house. Fortunately, disha said that sapna could stay at her place for a while and that they were looking for a house too.....so they would also be moving out pretty soon.......I thought....its Ok as it will be of great help for sapna to stay with them and look for a house with their help. We moved her into Disha's place that night.....it wasnt too hard as Sapna was living out of the suitcase......not very surprisingly, sapna hit it off well with what started out as Disha and Co and now Sapna is an integral part of that group.....she got aong well with everyone and everyone liked her immediately....adi,hemant, raghav,aarti,shyamala,nihir,nishant, pankaj, manas,raashi,anurag,priya & priya, shradha and later madhu and brijesh........everyone became a good group

then started her search for a house and roomies !!!!!!! Me being the ISA president had all the info needed for anyone who is looking for a roommate.....hheeheee.......but then Priya (then known as Rajiv's friend) and Shradha (then known as Raghav's friend) got in touch with Sapna and they were all set to live together.....I dont remember the exact details as to how they got in touch with each other......thats why the people reading the blog should write comments describing the missing pieces :):):)......she looked at a couple of houses and she liked one on the allyn street......what was better was that Disha and all would be her next door neighbors!!!!!!!!!! she wasnt ready to pass on such an oppurtunity ......so she called me that night and asked me if I could come and have a look at the house the next day......though I myself hadnt looked for houses anytime prior to that....i said that i would be there the next evening.....it was a decent house but had a lot of cleaning up to do.....the rent wasnt exhorbitant either....but all this would have made more sense had she had roomies by then......but all of us convinced her that there would be a lot of girls coming that fall and that they would gladly accept to live with her......how many of us would let up on a chance of coming straight into the house u would live in, when u come from India ?????......i know Adi came straight to Torrey St.....hehehehhhe.....

Priya, Shradha and Sapna became roomies and from then on alll of u know what has happened and how we became good friends.......I guess Phani, Hemant and Sapna became great friends over the summer and they were a trio wherever they went !!!!!!!! all this till the worst fellow phani left for connecticut and now all of a sudden Sapna left fr India tooo.....i got to talk to her once but other than that there has been no news abt her....i didnt even get see her update till today.....i was soo busy that i havent been in touch with anyone.....

Swamped with work.....

I am really sorry for delaying the update on the blog.....i have been swamped with work.....its been a busy busy....couple of weeks.....I know that writing will not take a long time....but somethings have to taken care of first and the post on Sapna cannot be written in haste.....so please bear with me.....as I promise that one of these days....I will continue with the story......

In the meantime.....I would like to wish my darling sister Deepika a very very HAPPY BIRTHDAY.....Hope u had a great day

Farewell........

Wednesday night was my cooking turn and as usual I had gone to play racquetball with Kiran and started cooking at 9pm. Then i saw that i had a missed call from Hemant....little did I know why he had called.....he had called to let me know that they were going out for a farewell dinner for Sapna (huh?????)....what ?????? farewell !!!!!!!!. I was stunned !!!!!!!! I didnt understand what was going on??? why are these guys giving a farewell dinner to Sapna when she is getting married in Jan and was planning on leaving akron after that ???? I was totally confused....i had no clue that she was leaving for India the next day !!!!!!! It was too late for me to join them for dinner and as it was I had to cook for my roomie. So I called Sapna and asked her to let me know once they get back from dinner.

In the meantime, while cooking I was thinking about how I met her and all that. Its actually an interesting story....we had a common friend Nitin (studying in houston)....I had no clue who Sapna was (till last June).....Nitin called me ask abt Akron...what kind of a place it was and if they had a good student population and all that stuff.....then he told me that Sapna got a job there and wanted to talk to someone abt the place....Sapna who???? then he told me that she was his best friend's (Sandeep) Girl friend and all. I told him that she can call me and that i could take care of her accomodation temporarily. Then i talked to her a couple of times and I didnt know where to set her up??? so I decided to ask her if she had any problems staying with me for a couple of weeks ???? I told her that i was staying alone...my roomies had gone to India....and that she can have a room for herself....as expected she said that it was fine with her. She came to Akron on the weekend of the july 4th....Sandeep came the next day. when I went to meet her on her arrival I was surprised to see the car completely Jam packed and had enough space to just accomodate her. even if I tried I could have gotten into the car....it was well packed....heheheh. I showed her the route to her workplace and we had a lot of fun the 2 weeks she stayed at my place. Most of the times i got invited for dinner so I used to take her along as we would get better food than we could cook. Then Nishant came back from India.....now we had to look for options to set Sapna up temporarily....it wasnt too hard as she was a talkative and easy going person....


I have to go to a seminar now....willl complete the blog soon...hheheheheh

We got the Intramural Champions shirts.....

As I mentioned in my earlier post....we are the new Wallyball Intramural Champions.....we got our shirts today. The shirts are the prize we won for our tournament victory. All of us went to the office eagerly....atleast the other three guys did...I was kind of enthu but not very very excited as I was a couple of years ago when i won my first shirt.....all of us chose the sizes and colors to our liking and we even got a shirt for the 5th guy on the team who played only 1 match !!!!!!!!! but I guess that worked well for the rest of us as we practiced together and performed as a team better....he could not make it to the practices and most of the matches due to class...

I must have won atleast 14-15 shirts so far in my three years here.....not that I am boasting.....but I have been lucky enough to get the shirts for my friends too.....though I won many shirts i think i have only 4 with me.....I gave them to my old roomies, friends and also sindhu. I even took some shirts to india to give them to my friends as they had a University of Akron logo on them. Badminton was the main reason that I got that many shirts.....I used to win the singles and Mixed doubles regularly and the year Hemant was my partner i even won the doubles (that reminds me....hey hemant did u get a shirt for that????). We used to get shirts for playing against the Kent State University in the Inter-university games. Wallyball and racquetball got me more shirts. so over all I am happy that i won the shirts becoz I have never bought a University of Akron shirt....I have bought my department and College of engineering shirts but never the Univ shirts.....hey that reminds me of one more thing....last year at the International Dance party I won the "Best Male Dancer" award for which the prize was.....one more shirt (heheheheeh)....I gave that to a friend who I felt was/is/will be a better dancer than me (i think I better fit the TP dancer or Ghati dancer category). I think thats too much of writing on shirts....I dont think I have ever written so much abt shirts.....

Comment section added......

hey people.....i have added the comment section....I have been wanting to do this for a long time but had no clue how to do it. Thanx to Rajesh I found out how to put it on, actually it was very very simple......but... once u know the process most of the things are simple...isn't it ???

Fall'03... Wallyball Champions....BIOHAZARDS !!!!!!!!!!

Biohazards is our team name and we as u must have guessed by now that we won the thursday night league of the intramurals (intra-collegiate).......yeah !!!!!!!!!!! we had a very very close game...but ultimately we won !!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very very happy.

It was a very satisfying victory as it was a sweet revenge.....we had lost to the same team in the league stage. That loss made them the top seeds and us the second seed . We were comfortably wining that game and suddenly our game fell apart and we lost in three games....that was a very frustrating loss. Tonight we were determined to beat those guys.....our team Rajesh, Shadi, Luay and myself....have to beenplaying well lately......Shadi and Luay upfront for setting up and spiking, rajesh and i stand in the back court to receive the serve and to take the smashes...... to do all the running around. We started off with a series of good serves and solid spikes. shadi is our main spiker....if he has a good day we win easily else it becomes difficult. Its hard to win without spiking. The other team were good athletes and we covering the court with ease. we won the first game easily 15-7. we didnt expect such an easy victory but we took the win. Then we expected them to make a comeback.....to our surprise we took off....exactly the way we did in the first game and we ran to a 13-2 lead......all of us were playing well and shadi was having a great day....then it all started....they got their game together and our game started falling apart......they won point after point and finally won the game....15-13. thats 13 points on a strech!!!!!!!!! we were down and we getting back the memories of the previous loss.....the final game was played at their pace and they kind of dictated the terms in the first few points.....they were up 9-3 and shadi lost his cool.......once he loses his cool his game falls apart and he starts making silly mistakes......then we started our comeback...we were very very determined. shadi regained his composure......Luay started controling his spikes and served well.....rajesh was running down everything. So we were back into reckoning.....we equalled at 9-9.....now it was their turn to get restless and they started to come under pressure...from then on every point was contested closely and the rallie became longer and both the teams were pumped up. we could see the emotion in both the sides after winning a point. we somehow got the upper hand and shadi at one point made a brilliant retrival with his foot (any part of the body is allowed).....we won the game 15-12. atlast we win back the title......yes, we were the champions for 2 years....2000-01, 2001-02....but last year we couldnt get a team together so we couldnt play.

this week has been pretty hectic with midterm, homework and project discussions for Dr.reddy's class and Dr.V's class.....the semester is coming to an end and its going to be busy time for all of us with 2 projects, one paper presentation and two final exams and another midterm......

India has lost both the games that i watched.....its very disappointing to get up at 4 in the morning (or not sleep all night) and watch for 8 hrs to see them lose.....not that they are not trying....but they can do better. welll I hope they do better from now on and we go on to win the cup.....that looks a difficult propsition seeing the Aussies play....man !!!!!!!!!! they are definitely a team to beat!!!

watched MATRIX REVOLUTIONS.......it was very very disappointing....it wasnt that bad but I went in expected more. I was very disappointed with the second movie so i was expecting them to make up with the third......but alas I was disappointed. the movie was too slow and boring for the first 30-40 mins....from then on its was ok.....but Adi, Sindhu and I were having our own fun by passing comments....

Now my hopes rest on LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING....and i am sure that it will not disappoint....