AEGIS

The new blog

2013-04-22T18:55:00.003-04:00

I am shifting this blog to shwetakarwa.com !!

It was a birthday gift, and I am totally ecstatic about it. Blogger.com has been very loyal to me for the last 6 years, but I am loving this change to my own website because it was a birthday gift from Aniket Thakkar! Thank you so much, Thakkar Jr.!

Great to know that you are all here. Looking forward to seeing you visit the new blog :)

Keep calm and be awesome!

States of countries I have lived in

2013-01-28T15:41:00.002-05:00

So after listing down countries of the world and being pretty bad at it, a suggestion came to do a related exercise of listing Indian states (should be 28) and then the 50 states of the US. I am pretty sure I can list the Indian states and the union territories. The US states - haha. I probably won't even get beyond 20. So here is an honest attempt.

Indian States:

Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chattisgarh
Goa
Gujrat
Haryana
Jammu and Kashmir
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerela
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Orissa
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Uttar Pradesh
Uttaranchal
West Bengal
(I am totally ashamed of forgetting about the following states. Also, I couldn't help my curiosity and shame, so I looked them up within 5 mins of not being able to get the 3 remaining states.)
Himachal Pradesh
Manipur
Tripura

Indian Union Territories

Andaman and Nicobar
Chandigarh
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Daman and Diu
Delhi
Lakshadweep
Pondicherry

States of the US

Alabama
Alaska
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Maine
Michigan
Minnesota
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tenessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin
(Edit: I remembered some more)
Idaho
Oklahoma
Nevada
New Mexico
Idaho
Utah

Okay, I have out performed my expectations in the United States category. But that isn't saying much, since I have missed out on 15 states of a country where I have spent 1.5 years now. Not cool. Had the number been under 7, I wouldn't have minded so much.

Country list; not quite

2013-01-25T15:21:00.000-05:00

So my sister asked me to list names of countries off the top of my head, without looking them up. It was just to check how many countries we know of. There are 196 listed countries in the world, you know. I am sure we know most names?
So I started listing up countries.

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Banana Republic
Bangladesh
Belgium
Bhutan
Bosnia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Cairo
Cambodia
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Czech
Denmark
Egypt
Finland
France
Germany
Georgia
Greece
Greenland
Herzegovina
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Jordan
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Luxemburg
Malaysia
Maldives
Mexico
Mongolia
Morocco
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
North Korea
Norway
Nigeria
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Poland
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Slovakia
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States of America
Uzbekistan
Vatican City
Vietnam
West Indies
Yugoslavia
Zambia

Well, if you look a continent up or something, it's so obvious that those countries exist. But without Googling a list or something, it is so hard to pull up names of countries. From pure memory.
Give it a try.

GT email address

2013-01-10T16:44:00.000-05:00

Georgia Tech is really good at managing their email system. It is huge, and they start giving out email addresses to students as early as beginning of applications. Which is pretty bold, since they have to put up with and manage so many more email accounts than just of their current students. But they are doing a pretty good job with it. I am sure my undergrad institution couldn't get half of that done.
In any case, I was trying to figure out how many email addresses I had on the GaTech account. And as it turns out, we all have only 4.

usernameyouchoose@gatech.edu - This is the one that you get to choose when you make an account with GaTech during admissions. People generally like to write a combination of their names and some numbers.
GTaccount@mail.gatech.edu - That is when you first make your GT account. You don't get to choose the name, but it is of the format of firstinitial.lastname.number - and that is also your GT account login.
firstname.lastname@department.gatech.edu - This happens once you get admitted to Georgia Tech, mostly as an employee. So graduate assistants or teaching assistants or anyone who has gets paid by Tech, gets this email address. The department you are affiliated with will make this for graduate students and just link it to your existing account.
firstinitial.lastname@department.gatech.edu - I don't know why this exists. No one really cares, or even knows about this one. So you might as well not give this to anyone. But it does exist. Whatever.

Well, now the first type of email alias, the one that you can choose and change is pretty awesome. You can do anything with it.You can change it only once a semester, and messages to the older address get diverted to the new one for 30 days or end of the semester, whichever is longer. The only catch is that you can have only one alias of your choice, and you can change it only once a semester. Which is all fine, until you find it is not so chill anymore and that there is a whole bunch of subscribing that you will have to do all over again.
There is a list of problems that come with changing your email address.

You find that all the subscription to lists.gatech.edu are gone and you have to go back and subscribe to all the lists again with your new email address. If you didn't note down your subscriptions, you probably won't be able to subsrcibe to all of them again.
The autocomplete in Zimbra (the Tech email client) still shows the old email address. Which means that most people are still going to be sending you emails at that email address because there isn't a way they'll magically know that that particular email address is redundant.
Emails to the old email address do not bounce, so people who send you stuff on the old address are going to assume that you received them.
There is no way to know how to remove the old email address from the system.

Although it does feel frustrating, it probably is all worth it. Of course it is, if your address is chillin@gatech.edu :-)

2012 Review

2013-01-02T17:14:00.002-05:00

What I did:

Developed allergies to the sun and sunscreen lotions and figured out that it might be the scent that I am allergic to
Bought a car, started driving fairly well
Started caving and became an instructor-in-training for it
First India visit - actually thought about the gifts I should take for people, and executed that.
Pulled off a party at my place
Found awesome people at a board games meet up
Learned to play chords C and G on the guitar (transition between them still isn't smooth)
Invited a friend over so that he doesn't have to spend Christmas alone
Perfected the art of roasting a marshmallow to become so soft that it'll fall off the skewer. Can also caramelize them very well.
Worked towards making okayish dosas. Now I can finally cook just enough.
Watched two complete anime series - Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Traveled to New York and Washington D. C.

What I didn't do:

Read a single novel
Work so hard that I'll get peaceful sleep at night
Make best-friends of my roommates
Spend time alone
Make an exercising schedule

Writing

2012-12-10T17:23:00.000-05:00

So this friend tells me that he read this post about Things I Regret Not Doing In India, and that he would make sure he does all of them when he goes back in 2 weeks. "Thanks, it was a good post. What I am going to do the most, is attend weddings. There are going to be SO many weddings."
Which could have been a passing remark for other big shot bloggers who get 5000 hits on their blogs each day. But for a small time one like me, it really feels great to know that someone is reading and is making use of the what I write! It is not as exhilarating as I am making it sound, but it sure feels really good. It feels like I have been doing something productive. That's a satisfying feeling =)
On the other hand, I was talking to another friend about how I always deactivate my Facebook account because I end up spending so much useless time on Facebook. And here's what he suggested: if you get bored, don't log into Facebook. Instead, do something productive. Like exercise, or learn Python, or think.
I thought about it, and it turns out that I write when I am terribly bored. Or when I am waiting for equilibrium in my sorption experiment, or I am waiting for someone to finish their work so that I can go out for dinner, or waiting for 6:30 pm so that I can attend the caving meetings. Well now considering the fact that I am doing a PhD, I should be reading more research papers or designing more experiments that I can do in parallel or just thinking about new stuff that I can do. But getting to that takes significant amount of effort and motivation. So that does happen sometimes, but there are also times when I want to do none of those things. So I try to write.
Writing on a pen and paper is great, sometimes even better than blogposts. But comments like my friend made about posts being useful make me want to write more. Even if one person tells me they liked it, it is so satisfying that it make my day. Or sometimes more than a day. So that's what made me make a resolution to write more. And more often.

Things I regret not doing in India

2012-11-30T18:40:00.001-05:00

Eating Indian Chinese - Although the US has some really good authentic Chinese food joints and it tastes awesome, it is still authentic Chinese food. The Indian-Chinese that we are used to cannot be found anywhere. What a shame. Had someone not told me to not venture into food related startups, I would totally have opened a restaurant specializing only in Indiandian-Chinese food.
Shoping at Colaba Causeway - US is the cheapest country to live in if you grab the offers and look for deals. But however lucrative the deals are here, that cannot be more satisfying than the experience of haggling over a Rs. 150 chappal on the roadside.
Getting a haircut - because it is so nice to have a haircut + head massage + grooming +drying for Rs. 400 in India. In the US, I won't even bother to find how mow big a hole in my pocket all of this will make in my pocket.
Buying wooden spinning top - Because I recently learned how to spin a top! And honestly, I was so impressed with myself about getting it in the first couple of times that I couldn't help boasting about it. Until I found that spinning it using a string is just the first step. I have a long way to go before I become a pro.. :-| But I'm ready to practice! And you do get those here, but they are so expensive.
Visiting all the places for nostalgia sake - Arrrrgh! I could easily give the excuse that I had to remain home to take care of things, but then I would just be lying. I just was being lazy and not taking initiative to go out. My school, college, Arrrrgh why? Now I regret it so much that I can't wait to go back again.
Buying a watch - They sell beautiful watches for so so so so cheap in India! Rs. 150 is all it takes to get an awesome watch. And I had gone to Mumbai, I could have made time from that busy schedule to get that watch. I am definitely not forgetting this part on my next trip to India.
Taking pictures - I HAVE A FREAKIN IPHONE WHY DID I NOT TAKE ANY PICTURES? Because when those Kodak moments were happening, I thought that taking a picture would spoil the moment. But then, now I see that not taking one won't give me that nostalgia 10 years later when I go back and look at what things I used to waste time on. Damn. Already feeling sad. Need to work on taking more pictures. And putting them up somewhere.
Traveling in an unreserved second class compartment of Indian Railway - Nudging people to scoot so that four people can sit on a seat designed for three, complete chaos, the batata-vada seller, the stinky toilets, standing in the doorway and feeling the wind blowing through your hair in the face of Kasara Ghats never seemed this satisfying until now. Okay, not the stinky toilets part. But the rest of it definitely is something I miss. There is this freedom that you get by doing such things, by knowing that you can get things done even when there is complete chaos that you don't get as much in the US.
Going to weddings - There is so much humanness in the errors of these Indian weddings. And there is so much humanness in trouble shooting through the weddings. It is surely something I yearn to see again. In the US, everything, everything is so planned and organized and rehearsed and perfect, that I forget that we are humans and that we make mistakes and there is fun in these small blunders that make every event unique. I'm not saying I like the miscalculation part of an event. It's just how everyone chips in and puts together a good show that makes me feel like I am not living a race to become faultless. I can't describe it too well. You should read Navin Kabra's answer to What do most NRI's miss of India? on Quora

Are there things you regret not doing in India? Ramble away here. I'll make sure I'll give you company doing those things next I'm in India...

Quarter life crisis?

2012-11-24T13:12:00.000-05:00

People told me that I'll get quarter life crisis sometime as I approach my mid twenties. I don't know what it is, and I have only heard of it in concept. And although it's too soon for me, I sometimes think this is what it might feel like:
I don't know what I want to do in life. I am doing a PhD, where I work on things that I am comfortable with and they pay me just enough. I get to try many other things, and meet new people and talk to random folks from all over.
On the other hand, I have absolutely no idea what I want to do in life. I know that the PhD will get me a good job if I decided and make the effort to look for one. I also know that startups are really awesome and cool and that is what all my family has ever done, and me not getting into one will just be an insult to them, and I know that I would like to do something that I like.
But really, I don't even know what I want my life to mean. I don't know what I want 'me' to stand for. Do I want to be that person that has done as many off beat things as possible? Do I want to be the person who knows so much about that one thing that no one comes close to that level? Do I want to be that person who takes risks, puts all her heart and soul into them, emerges on the other side victorious while having to willingly sacrifice other things in life? Do I want to be that person that gives highest regard to family, their emotional and intellectual upbringing which makes them and me both happy? Do I want to give up all these worldly materialistic possessions and do an Into The Wild? Do I want to just go around to see the world? Do I want to be that person who has an instinctive need to give back to the world what the world gave to them?
I am still deciding. And these are all valid options. They are all awesome things to do. None of them make me feel sad. But for some reason, right now, none of them make me super excited either. I mean, I know that I will do fairly okay on any of these. But for whatever reason that I don't know, I have no preference one way or the other. I have all the options. And most of them seem doable in theory. In fact, I need to start working towards one of them now. More than thinking so much about them. That is what probably is analysis paralysis. And I might be getting into one.
Heh, I discussed this with my dad. And you know what conclusion we came to? That I should read more :-)

Keep left

2012-10-30T05:59:00.000-04:00

I am back home!!!

Okay, it's not that exciting to be back. It definitely feels nice and good to be back. But it's not exciting. Which is totally fine. Because I don't want to expect anything. Expectations and curiosity kill the cat all the time.

In any case, these are my observations:

Nashik hasn't changed at all. Or at least Nashik Road hasn't. I haven't quite gotten the time to go to the "downtown" yet. But all the things back here are the same. Same traffic, same bad roads, same grocery stores, same uncle selling vegetables. No change.
I don't even expect it to change in 14 months, but still.
People don't really care what you've been upto, unless what you've been upto is directly impacting their lives. Our domestic help didn't even look at me twice to ask how I was, since I looked the same and didn't have an accent or bring back big gifts.
Things are so much more expensive than I remember. I know that inflation rate in India is very high, petrol prices are going up like crazy. But still, I just can't get myself to spend money now. Petrol = Rs 75 per liter.
Running a household here is harder than in the US. This maybe because in the US, my roommates and I cater to our own needs. While here, it's a family of 6 people. The amount of track-keeping gets significantly higher as the number of people and therefore uncertainties increase, is what I have learned. Also, in the US if something has to be done, you've got to get it done yourself. Here, there is so much domestic help, which equals to more uncertainty.
Driving in Nashik doesn't bother me quite as much as others who come back from the US. I like it that we have healthy entropy (= randomness).
Nashik is still beautiful.
Okay I am lying. I haven't gone out yet to tell that it is beautiful. I am just hoping that when I do go out, it really is as beautiful as it was.

Weekend X

2012-09-23T21:35:00.000-04:00

I have lost the count of the weekends that I didn't do anything. Bad Shweta, broke new year's resolution. But things did happen in the past three months (?) that I haven't updated my blog. The biggest thing is that I bought a car!
It is a used Honda Accord, old but runs good. I like it. So buying used cars is a very painful deal in the US, if you buy it straight from the owner. You have to keep looking on Craigslist for weeks, maybe even months to find the right car, with low miles on it, but which is still in a good condition, and fits your budget. Also if you find a post with such a car, you have to quickly call up the owner to make sure they haven't sold it already, and ask for this vehicle identification number (VIN). Then you check that VIN out to see if the car was in any major accidents recently (in which case you don't want to buy it. What if they damaged the engine and then you are stuck with a fat bill to fix it later?) If that turns out okay, then you go meet the owner and check out the car. Many cars fail the test here. They either have missing handles (conveniently not visible in the pictures on Craigslist), or have bad brakes or don't shift gears very well or stink of uncooked saltwater fish. But that is why they were so cheap right? Oh well, you reject that car then and continue with the stalking on Craigslist.
In case you do find a car that looks fine, fits all your criteria, doesn't have glaring flaws and seems generally acceptable you take it to a mechanic. He'll check things like leaks, brakes, fluids, circuits, axle, etc. And from his experienced ears he'll tell that the engines sounds good (or not), and the transmission feels good. If all these things are positive, then you start bargaining.
Now this is big thing, and it varies from case to case. If the seller is leaving country and wants to sell it in the next two days, you'll get a good discount if you bargain. Sometimes the discount goes to 30% of the original price (which is a good deal). One friend bought a car for less than it's scrap value too ($700, lucky dawg), because he bought it from a Korean guy who had to go back to Korea the next day. If it is a car dealer pretending to be an owner though, you'll hardly get 2% off.
So you work out a good deal, and buy the car!
It's as simple as that, until you start having radiator problems...
PS: Once you do that, you take the car to a mandir and send a picture of you with the car to your parent. They become happy and proud that you have still retained your sanskar. You also put a picture of you and the car on facebook. You get 200+ likes on it. Your friends like the fact that you have a car now, and will be able to give them rides to the grocery store.

Weekend 19 - Got lost, but didn't

2012-07-31T14:50:00.000-04:00

I have not been keeping up with writing the weekend warrior stories. Well, now that my oxygen sensor is calibrating and I can't pyrolyse for the next one and a half days, I might as well update my blog.

So here goes.

This was right after the Smokies weekend. Marion had come back form her awesome awesome roadtrip (I am totally doing that next year. You just see.) and was in the city for a week. And we had to do something, because that was the last time we were going to see each other for a very long time, if at all.

So after a lot of yes's and no's, we decided we wanted to go to one Raven Cliff Falls, 90 miles away. So we were all set, booked a ZipCar, spent a lot of money doing it, and left for it. Only for the GPS to take us to some other place - Duke's Creek. And while we were pissed at American companies making GPS, trying to resolve moral crisis of if we should be the $10 parking since no one would ever check, finding a spot away from the restroom which was essentially just a hole in the ground, we realized that this in fact was a really nice creek. So what if we ended up at something we weren't aiming for? This was as good as any hike we would have found at the Raven Cliff Falls. So we had our eggs, veggies, rice, asparagus lunch which was cooked just because we had no other food at home. Also listened to some Punjabi bhangra while explaining to our French and Chinese companions how India and Pakistan both have a province/state called Punjab. They are great listeners.

Hikes are great places to have personal conversations. Because you are far apart enough for others to not over-hear, and you are doing enough physical activity for your body to release the right hormones for the heart-to-heart/rant. And it feels great after the rant is over, just because it is so relieving to talk to someone about anything. That is the main reason I love to go on hikes with people I like, or people I don't know. Because it is a good chance to catch up with people I like and great chance to get to know new people. With my not-favourite people, not so much :)

Anyway, we started at Dukes Creek falls

hiked across from there, crossed a stream on a log of wood,

to come to the other side - and lo and behold! We were at Raven Cliff Falls!!

Oh the feeling after we found that we weren't lost! My goodness - it was amazing!

And guess what we made in the the middle of the hike? These pebble towers

Oh well, I made only one of them. The rest were made by random strangers before us. :)

I wish I can go on a hike every weekend. It's enough for me to keep going, and satisfying way of spending time.

Crazy brain

2012-07-07T23:11:00.001-04:00

Lately I have been having trouble keeping sane by the end of non-productive days. Obviously not literally, just figuratively. But I think that is because when I am not thinking of productive/work stuff, my brain starts thinking of so many other things - of how I am out of food for the next week, how I should be planning my life better so that I can get things done, how I miss or don't miss India, how I need to become less frugal in spending my hard earned money, the number of people I should have called and didn't end up calling, what my advisor thinks of me, how I think Mediterranean cuisine is the closest to Indian cuisine and that I would like to have more of it, how I sometimes feel that America can be a boring country if I don't find stuff to do on my own, how I don't know what I want to do in my life, how my dreams are becoming much much more relevant to my real life than ever before, how I hoped everything was alright back at home - and so on. Plus my brain being my brain which never wants to stop thinking, all of these thoughts come in a very quick succession. For some reason that I could not have anticipated, my brain has trouble focusing on one of these issues for too long. And that is what makes my brain go crazy by the end of the day.

Now, people tell me to meditate or do some physical activity so that my concentration ability improves. And I totally understand that -they are concerned for me and want me to try things that have worked for them. Hell, these strategies have even worked for me before. But right now, I am interested in finding out the reason for my lack of concentration on my own, by raw investigation. That I am getting no where close to it, is a different issue. But the point is, I don't want to resort to meditation right now.

On the other hand, I continue to be dissatisfied with everything else I do - even watching most movies, which used to be one of my favorite things through out my childhood. There are only a few that I can watch and feel at peace now. And dissatisfied might not even be the right word. Anxious, maybe. Or just unsettled, simply. I don't know what brings that unsettling feeling either. Maybe it is like what it feels when you haven't finished the to do list yet, or maybe I feel like whatever I was doing at the moment was not for me and that I was supposed to do something else, or maybe watching an anime is just not as satisfying as probably baking is. Or it is a cumulative feeling of all those types.

But as I am trying to pin point what is causing this feeling, I am also trying to get rid of it. So I started with listening to music - the right kind of music can change any kind mood, right? So that worked for a while, and a while being a day. But I found that I couldn't resort to the same kind of music, or music altogether, every single time this unsettling thing happened. Sometimes it was okay, probably because my brain was concentrating on favorite music that I hadn't heard in a while, or new kind of music. But finding solace there just made to listen to music way to often, and then it became one of those activities that added to the unsettling. It was not for me. Then I started baking. Baking has this super power that is so therapeutic that it would invariably change the distress into curiosity and then creativity. And I was careful to not overdo it this time - also because I can't afford to bake and make myself eat that many calories too often. But baking is good.

Then I found that reading is so deeply satisfying, that somewhere sometime it made me feel that reading was what I was born to do. But reading doesn't come as naturally to me as it comes to some others, especially big ass novels. It takes effort which I can totally put in, but it takes effort. And now with the internet for an alternative, I sometimes don't read as much as I think I like to. But that is okay. Now I definitely know that when I feel miserable about my concentration issue, I can always resort to reading to make myself feel better.

And the best way to calm my brain down is to just call up my family and talk to them. I have no idea why this happens, and I don't think 'Oh, it is the most natural thing in the world!', but talking to my mom or dad calms me down so much, that I start wondering what had happened during the phone call. I mean, before I speak to them I am not even agitated or over excited or whatever the opposite of calm is, and yet that talk manages to significantly calm me down. And its not even a counseling talk, it is just a normal mother-daughter conversation. "What did you cook today? Don't add too much garlic, okay? It's bad for your health. XYZ uncle and aunty had come over today, their son is coming to Chicago next month. I have given him your number, just in case of emergency. Yes, I know you will be 1000 miles away, but who else will be there for him? Btw, you are getting up early in the morning and meditating no? Arey, it will take only 15 mins everyday, why don't you ever listen to me? Also, don't forget to book tickets to India while they are available. No problem, plan it with your friends. Come via NY if you want, but plan stuff ahead of time. This time, I really don't want to handle last minute stress over the phone. And work hard at your research, despite of what all your classmates do. Okay? Chalo, call tomorrow morning again. Good night." I still cannot come to terms with how such a mundane and everyday conversation can bring so much peace, and such a great sense of security. Or maybe it is just because that conversation is with my parents, and there is such a deep bonding that even communicating random stuff feels so good. So calling my parents is the ultimate weapon I use to deal with emotional instability/dissatisfaction/unsettling. It feels right after wards.

Or this whole episode is just my brain's way of showing me how to set my priorities right :)

Weekend 18 - Camping at Smoky's

2012-06-30T02:35:00.001-04:00

Smoky's is beautiful. But I am going to tell you a spoiler - it is not something that I couldn't have dreamed of. It really is beautiful, but there are also some other place that are as beautiful in the same kind of way. And so many of them in India too. That is not a bummer though.

Because Smoky's is different in that we can camp there. So clean and beautiful and serene. And our camping location was perfect. Our campsite was right beside a stream which was so good to sit at that it would be my ideal location for having a hot cup of chai with kanda-bhaji. So much greenery and so much peace...

And our tents right beside this stream. Which is great because there is the constant hum of the flowing water in the back of all the synthetic noises we make, the coolness in the air coming from its intimacy with the stream, and the freshness it carries from the purity of the sweet disposition brought such harmony to me that I envy those people who stay there.

Of course there was a campfire - with the cold sending chills down our spines, intoxication of the darkness, balminess from the s'mores, and dynamism of the flames. It is really hard not to like it :)

Sleep comes real calm beside the river, I don't even feel the need of bed time reading to help me fall asleep. And when you get up the next morning, the remains of firewood from last night can only give you so much heat, but with them glowing from inside and ashed on the outside they are enchanting to no end.

Look at that, I can hardly ask for anything else. So beautiful. I still can't believe such an amazing picture got taken.

Another amazing part of the camping was our super awesome chef. Such good food... so much enthu to cook and feed us lazy kids - hats off to Jagan. But cooking while camping is an experience, really. You have to pre-plan everything, marinate before hand, take everything you think you'll need - even lemon juice, pepper, ice (!) and trail mix. I am totally in awe of people who can plan such foody trips. If I had been the planner, we would've had to eat tasteless food.

And such lip smacking food, cooked on coal grill. Slurrp!

P.S.: All the pictures have been taken by one Aditya - a friend of a friend of a friend. (See that is how random the trip was. And yet it was so much fun.)

Weekend 17 - Became homeless

2012-06-26T18:03:00.001-04:00

And this is when I moved out of my apartment. GLC was good. We kept cursing it all the time because it was so expensive that I hardly got a paycheck for three months every semester. What I got barely covered my phone bill. I had to literally ask for money so that I could eat. But GLC was such a great experience that I didn't mind going through all the poverty.

But that tiny room in GLC did look very empty after I got all my crap out of the place.

Obviously, it had so much stuff in that tiny space that can be seen, that it is unsettling to see it so empty.

In any case, I was homeless for about a week till I rented another place to live. Since I am blessed with friends who would offer me help during crisis (and not "Sukh mein tere saath chalenge, dukh mein sab mukh modenge". I just happen to be a Manna Dey fan), I did stay at a friend's for that one week. But it wasn't my own house, even rental, so I was technically homeless.

Being homeless is fun you know, its not that bad. It's like being a guest in a typical Indian household - you participate in all their sukh and dukhs. But obviously it is also painful to be looking for housing, because it is generally implied that if you are homeless you are desperate. Looking for houses, roommates, locality is painful as it is. On top of that considering convenience, safety, budget, commute adds n number of extra dimensions for house hunting. It is fun only upto a point, I tell you. Then, you just settle for something you have.

But what is fun is the experience of staying in living rooms of others' houses. Has two sides to it, like every freaking thing in the world.

Pros:

All visitors get to chat to you a lot every time they visit
You smell anything good that is cooking and can quickly go and gobble up a huge portion of it
You sleep, eat, watch TV, talk to friends, work, facebook, etc. all in one same place. Heaven for the lovers of laze
You get invited to random stuff that the people occupying the rooms in the house are going to, on their way out
Gives a different perspective to life

Cons:

No privacy. But you can always use the bathroom for that.

And the best/worst part, I don't even miss GLC. I do miss my roommates, but not the place. At all. Some say I move on very quickly, and that it is good for me. But I say - what about nostalgia?

BORED TO DEATH

2012-06-17T16:33:00.003-04:00

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

/rant.

Weekend 16 - Farewell Potluck

2012-06-07T20:56:00.000-04:00

No I don't have any pictures this time. But this was right before Marion left for her amazing road trip which made me jealous.

It wasn't as crowded as last time. But it was finals week, so I didn't expect too many people to come. In any case, great farewell to Marion, good videos and pictures. Great food! And lovely good bye. Satisfactory weekend.

Weekend 15 - Spring Football

2012-06-03T18:43:00.001-04:00

Spring games at GaTech are traditionally held on Saturdays, so that fans can tailgate. But the Spring game is a Georgia Tech game where you get to see the 2012 team for the first time. There are also older players and former greats that fans can meet and get autographs from. Concerts before and after teh game, inflatables, free food, cheerleaders and dance teams, and fireworks at the end of the game. And coupe de grace, fans get to go on to the field!

Obviously everyone who wanted to go get pictures with their favorite players, or just go to the field came to the game. And it still amazes me how many old folks come to watch these games. I thought sports fanaticism was for the young and thoughtless, no? But it turns out not. Here people enjoy their games, bring their kids, dress them as Buzz, even keep the score sometimes. It is crazy.

At this Spring Game we ended up sitting in stands beside the orchestra - and oh my, it is so much fun to see the orchestra function at the game. There is that one leader who has to keep a track of what happens in the game and then start conducting the orchestra. Of course he changes music for 10 yards covered, touchdown, penalty, and every other thing that happens. The most common is this fight song, we call it Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech

The end cheer "Fight! Win!" is the official cheer but most present other than the band and cheerleaders will yell the extended version "Fight, Win, Drink, Get Naked!" The composition is based on "Son of a Gambolier", the lyrics of which are based on an old English and Scottish drinking song of the same name. And when it plays live, it sounds so much better!The cheer leaders and the dance teams perform to these songs, and man oh man how the guys get dumbfounded when they perform.

The Spring game didn't have too much action. The White team beat Gold quite easily (white and gold are the Georgia Tech colours, FYI) with a 24-7 victory. But that is expected since even the main team of Jackets isn't performing exceptionally well. So expecting the backup players to be better won't work. But we really should work hard for the Labour Day game against Virginia Tech. Better defeat them this time, after last year's embarrassing defeat. Coach Johnson, please make the boys practice hard!

Weenkend 14 - Cut my own hair!

2012-05-27T12:47:00.000-04:00

Yes!! Its one of those things that everyone should do once is their life time, no matter how good or bad that makes them look. Another must-do on my list is going bald, but that's a topic for another post.

So hair and hairdos are really really important parts of our self images. Somehow, it really influences how we look - to ourselves and to others. Don't know how we transformed from dreadlocks in the medieval ages to all the frisky hair fidgeting people. Okay sorry, I don't know what kind of hair they had in medieval times - dreadlocks or nice managed hairdos. But the point is, when did we start thinking "If my haircut goes wrong, I am getting a wig and wearing it till my hair outgrows horrible look and I get another decent haircut"? When did we start obsessing about the way our hair made us look? And how would it be if I was raised in a society that thought hair was all disgusting and shaved their head, much like women shave their legs? Oh it is hilarious even thinking about it. But the point is that its us that determines what factors should be important for a decent self image. If a lot of people think going bald makes them look cool/bold/beautiful, who knows - that might even become fashion for some time!

But anyway, that is besides the point. The thing is that in the US, cutting your own hair is a little more popular than it is back in India. None of my friends in India would do this to themselves. Too much rests on how cheap (oh, but they're not!) getting a haircut is and how much a good haircut increases your face value. Well, it does exactly that - only increases your face value. But hey, who wants to take chances with face value, eh? So girls just won't cut their own hair, not even in the spirit of experimenting. On the other hand, in the US haircuts are expensive. A decent haircut might cost you $30-35, which is more than a week's groceries for me. That means that if I get haircuts less often, or not get professional haircuts at all, I am saving a ton of money (which I can then use to feed myself. Yes, I am that poor.) Also, more people understand this here and therefore you don't get mocked at for having shabby haircuts. Some even would offer you help doing it! Isn't that great? :D

It also turns out that cutting hair decently on your own isn't that hard. It gets even easier with YouTube having a ton of videos about how to ago about it. This is what I used for reference.

Its super easy if you are up for it, and there is such a sense of satisfaction associated with it.. OMG. It feels grrrreat.You should definitely try it.

And in case you are wondering, my hair cut did turn out to look good. Layers and all :)

Weekend 13 - Dance Show

2012-05-07T14:14:00.000-04:00

GaTech has a huge Indian community called ICGT, which holds major events throughout the year. This one that I am talking about was a Holi show - Jashn. It was majorly dance performances, and they were really good. And I say that because I have been used to performances in UD, and there everyone danced on stage. You didn't have to be a proficient dancer to perform on stage, and therefore we always had a bunch of really good dancers grouping together to perform the winning acts and another bunch who just really wanted to dance for fun. As a result I have been used to seeing 1-2 good performances (in terms of dancing+co-ordination ability) and 7-8 so-so but fun dances. Which was great in UD.

But here, "I dance" means a lot more than what it meant in India. If one performs in Jashn show that means that they have practiced 3 days a week for 3 months before the performance. And of course you have to get through the auditions before that, which are hard enough anyway.

So the thing is, here dancing is a commitment. You join a team, you practice every week. Go participate in shows and contests, win if you can. It works as exercise as well as passion and stress buster, so its a win-win-win situation. And all of them put up great performances, so audiences really love them.

The point is, I saw this performance the other weekend and got all inspired to join a dance team. I am not a great dancer, but I can practice and be okay. The only thing is, will I be able to balance all of this together? PhD, dancing, socializing (which I am not doing at all), playing a sport (I do hope to start), and my adventure weekends, all of this together? Hopefully I will. Lets see.

P.S.: I can't find a video of theirs to upload here. They have done a good job in not letting the videos leak, since they are selling a DVD of the videos.

Learning Chinese

2012-04-30T17:26:00.002-04:00

So I have been learning one sentence of Mandarin Chinese everyday from one of my roommates. I have been told that in my generation, knowing how to speak Chinese will really be helpful. So everytime my roommate teaches me something, I am going to add to this blog post.

Starting from the basics:

Ni hao - Hello (equivalent. Literally means "You good.")

Ni = You

Hao = Good

This is a formal way of greeting someone. Generally when friends meet in China, they don't say Ni hao to each other.

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Ni hao ma? - How are you? (literally ~ "Are you good?")

Ma = question part of the sentence. I was assuming it was literally the how part, but roommate tells me it is for questioning.

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Wo han hao - I am very good. (literally "I very good")

Wo = I

Han = Very

Wo pu hao - I am not good.

Pu = No. Negation, really.

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Wo taoyan zuofan - I hate cooking / I hate to cook.

Taoyan (taoyen) = Hate

Zuofan = cook rice (fan = rice)

But there is nothing (my roommate tells) for cook. Its always cook-something. Cook-rice, cook-noodles, cook-beef, etc.

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Wo seahuan ch-fan - I love eating / I love to eat.

Seahuan = Love

Ch-fan = Eat rice (ch = eat, fan = rice)

Here ch rhymes with 'le' in French.

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So now you can say:

Wo taoyan zuofan tan-shi wo seahuan ch-fan. - I hate cooking but I love eating.

Tan-shi = But

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Ch-la? = Eaten? (or Ate?)

la (pronounced like 'le' in French) = past tense

Ch (rhyming with 'le' in French) = eat

This is how Chinese great their friends in China, by asking 'Have you eaten?' Sounds like an equivalent of the more informal Hi to me.

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I am not working

2012-04-24T20:20:00.000-04:00

Its been 10 months that I have been in Atlanta now. Sure everyone tells me that time flies, but right now, time is really flying. Because I don't know what I have done in the last 10 months. I

went through the horrible semester that Fall was.
passed qualifiers.
did some kayaking.
went to Niagara Falls and Miami.

That's it. Why do I feel like I have done nothing? I sure would have dome something to pass my time, no? But I really have this unsatisfied feeling of how I am wasting my life away. I make it a point to do something every weekend, and that is quite a lot of activity, isn't it? Then why does it feel like that?

A small voice in my brain tells me that this might be because I am not working. Sure I go to my lab, put in the hours. But I am not doing a lot of work there. I could be so much more productive, and I have done that before. Watching movies, or TV, or doing these weekend things can only be fun if I have something more meaningful where I am constantly pushing myself going on throughout the week. These recreational things can only be for recreation, I think. Which means if I don't do any creation or real work, the recreation really becomes the main thing that I do. And that gets old after a while. I love watching movies, or Seinfeld or Scrubs. But if I do that the whole day, I would die of boredom. These things can't suffice for what I do the whole day. Because when I am watching TV or a film, I am not doing anything. I am just sitting there watching something that someone else has to offer. And TV is probably the most passive thing that has happened to mankind.

Which brings me to think that we can't live without making good use of our brains. There has to be creativity, or thinking, or innovation, or anything that does not require you to blindly follow a standard operating procedure. Any kind of action that makes you think about making the same job at least a little different. Probably that is why we are the most intelligent species on earth.

I think I have always complained about studying, or doing labwork, or research, or even reading. Most of the times I did things because they have to be done. Like studying, which I have to do because I need to pass my exams. And also because somehow we were trained to think this - if I don't study, I won't know what to write in an exam. And how can you not know what to write in an exam? Its not exactly very hard to do, right? All you have to do is read the textbook before." And so I studied. But I did complain because I saw everyone around me complain, and probably thought that you are supposed to complain about "work", or any tiring stuff. Same with the labwork, or dancing, or working for our cultural or technical festivals. Everyone had to do these things, so I might as well get done with them now. But now I realize that studying, or performing experiments, or planning a whole festival weren't done so that my resume could look good. They were done because there was a personal intellectual need. And I won't even say desire. I know it was need. Like food.

Knowing this kind of gives me a lot of solidity to come back to work tomorrow and not sigh about it. It reminds me that I am doing everything because of me, not because my parents want me to do something great in my life, or because PhD is a nice thing to have and I have to work in my lab to get a PhD. Feels good.

Weekend 11 - Got Sunburnt

2012-04-22T18:44:00.001-04:00

Which really means I did some extreme kayaking. We sea kayaked for 20 miles in two days, which is a lot for any kind of beginner. And since it was an overnight trip, we camped in tents (they were so easy to set up! They are making the designs better each day, I tell you) and had a campfire (love gathering wood for a campfire, it builds character). And I had s'mores for the first time! Where I realised that I just liked the baked marshmallows, without the cracker and chocolate (and this is where I say I have started having lifestyle preferences :P). They were so filling, and yet I could not stop eating. Would definitely like to have s'more of that!

This was at a lake called Jacosse in South Carolina, which actually has the cleanest water I have ever seen in my life. Cleaner than even swimming pools. But I also observed something which is drastically different from India - we don't have enough lakes in India. Like real lakes where people get their power boats or canoes or kayaks or what not. There was a lot of boat traffic at Jacossee, and I was told this wasn't even close to the peak that it can get. People with all kinds of boats were there - giant power boats, double engines, closed, open, kayakers like us, etc., and it amazed me to no end that people can spend weekends doing this. Because I have never seen such a thing in my life (yes, I have read about such stuff in books and seen it in movies, but that is a different feeling.) There is an unbelievable number of people here who go out on weekends to spend time zooming around in power boats. But of course, these lakes in US are extremely calm and peaceful, and very tempting to go to.

And that was why we were there. There was the exercise part to it (sea kayaking is unbelievably tiring), there was the recreation part and then there was the serene sense of satisfaction part. Ah no :), I can't describe the experience enough.

So there was the lake

And there were the camps

And there were waterfalls

And rapids

Of course we didn't kayak in the rapids, that is for the white water kayakers (I'll do that some day).

And obviously it is one of the best weekends I have spent here. It felt so free and good and clean. These are some of the perks of coming to the US. You get to meet new people on such trips, and get to try all kinds of crazy things like kayak-meditation (thanks to one of my instructors, Kyle), and you don't even have go out of your way to do this. Plus, it can get as easy as you make it.

The down side is that you can get sunburnt to a ultra degree. I could not believe that an Indian could get sunburnt, and to an extent that it looks like domestic violence. I mean, we have spent enough time in the sun in India right? And it isn't even that sunny or hot here! But I did get burnt, and trust me - sunburns are not fun. (FYI sunburns are not equal to getting tanned.)

Anywho, from this experience I have added a note to myself

"If your sunburn does not heal in a little more than a week, get medical help. Of course the doctors in your university might not be competent enough to treat sunburns, but give it a shot none the less.

And no, don't miss a chance to go kayaking or outdoor sporting for anything else. It feels so so so so so so so so (been watching Dr. Cox in Scrubs again) good.

Weekend 10 - Miami!!

2012-04-19T22:50:00.000-04:00

Of course it is beautiful!! Really. Not just because it is a Spring Break destination of America, or just because it is supposed to be pretty. It really is nice.

But you can do only three things in Miami:

Go to the beach
Party
Eat a variety of food in the million restaurants that Miami hosts

There are some things that make Miami different from most of the rest of USA. There is much more Spanish and Cubano influence here, and a third of the population speaks only Spanish, which is huge. By influence I don't just mean the language. It is seen in everything

Dressing - the patterns and prints out there can only be trusted to be seen in a holiday destination. Most people wear frills and skirts and hats, even to work. Of course they wear bikinis and gowns and cocktail dresses too, but no one is ashamed to wear a flowery shirt to work. That kind, you know.
Housing - the colours that they use to paint houses are so... different. They are bright and bold, and if you have been living anywhere other than here it'll take a while to get used to it! I saw purple and yellow and red and lilac for house colours. And no, I have never seen such variety and brightness on streets, not even in India.
Food - the air smells of food. And I love it. Because if you asked me, I would say American food doesn't have a characteristic smell. It is smell-less, essentially. And suddenly going to a place where it smells delicious food on the streets makes me ah so nostalgic. Plus the food is great and different. Different in that they have plantains as a side a lot of times, and their food is mild spicy but not elaborate spicy. You know what I mean?
Boats - damn, so many of them. So Miami is where you want to ideally retire. When you retire, you have money to pursue your passion. And a hell lot of people in this country have a passion to ride boats or sail or go fishing (saying this because I have not met one person in India who wants to own a boat when they retire!) Also, all those celebrities have at least one house in Miami - mostly in the richest Fischer island where you can't go to without a boat (no bridge). So they have a small boat to commute (which is the only boat most other people can afford) and a big (huge!) boat to show off to their other celebrity friends and belittle people like me. Other non-celebrity but crazy rich people have houses either on the South Beach or on canals that connect to the sea, and obviously boats. These houses are said to have "ocean access". Houses with ocean access are much more expensive than the ones without, because you assumed to have money enough to buy a boat. I am starting to think that your monetary status in Miami can be judged by the size and make of your boat and whether or not you have one.

But I really think I am fortunate to have relatives there. Because once you are done partying, and lying on the beach and eating all kind of food, there isn't much to do in Miami! Its great to spend time with them, and see beautiful sites side by side.

Weekend 9 - Sea Kayaking

2012-03-28T16:41:00.002-04:00

Tech has this amazing club (?) called ORGT - Outdoors Recreation at Georgia Tech. The volunteers call it Orgit, and it does all these amazing outdoor activities for very cheap. The organization of activities is all volunteer based, so we get real enthusiastic people coming and teaching us the basics, and come sea kayak with us. They aren't driven by any kind of pay, so they are not dead bored instructors. I like it.

On this weekend, we went to Lake Allatuna to sea kayak. I know, I know - its called sea kayaking and yet we went to a lake? Well, sea kayaking is the name of the sport, as opposed to white water kayaking. And those two sports are different in the stability of water. White water kayaking is done in moving body of water, which is generally much rougher - rivers or rapids. Sea kayaking is done in on open water bodies like lakes or bays or the ocean. Sea kayaks are also longer, turn slower, are more stable than white water kayaks.

That's a sea kayak. (I'll put up a picture of white water kayak when I go river kayaking).

Plus lake Allatoona is an amazing lake, beautiful and serene. Also cold (but that was because it was before spring).

Sea kayaking is more about touring and spending time with nature and looking around. Of course it requires strength, and the right technique. You kayak with your torso, not with your arms. If you kayak with your arms, you can be down in 10 mins. With the torso, you can go for the whole day, it seems (I get tired pretty quickly though).

Some real cool things about sea kayaking and sea kayaks are -

you have all these compartments in the kayak where you keep all your stuff (food, water, clothes, etc).
they make ergonomic paddles these days. Of course, ORGT doesn't have them. But one Jack (who doesn't go to GT, but loves sea kayaking) has one, and also his own fiber glass sea kayak.
they have all kinds of names for rescues - T_rescue, Cowboy rescue, etc. That is when you fall down from your kayak and try to get yourself into it while in water. Its hard :P
The personal floatation device (life jacket, really) have all these compartments in it where you can put granola bars, and they won't even get wet. Its so cool when you can just start eating in the middle of kayaking because you are growling with hunger
The body suits are amazing! They keep you so warm that I am surprised how I kept myself sane at 60 degree F. Trust me, water at that temperature is COLD.
You can do a 360 degree turn into the water and out, from of the kayak! Of course I can't yet, because I have just started kayaking. But that's like stunting on a skateboard or smth. Its coooooooool!

You should so go kayaking, anywhere in the world. It definitely is a lot of work, so that is a lot of calories burnt. Plus it is a great way to meet new people! It feels so so good after a good days work.

Weekend 8 - NPR Planet Money

2012-03-08T14:36:00.002-05:00

For this weekend, I went to my uncle and aunt's place in the neighbouring town (same metro). Every time I go there, I spend truly enjoyable time with them and their kids. There are those awesome talks, about nothing specific but are intellectually tickling. And there are always the gyaan sessions, where I always am told about some way of life - about getting things done in the US (cyber mondays, credit cards, banking or phone services, etc.), or dealing with myself and my experiments, or talking activities in and around Atlanta, and tons of other things.

This weekend, the most useful thing that I learned about was NPR - short for National Public Radio. NPR produces and distributes news and cultural programs, much like All India Radio back at home. Well, there are other radio channels that do all of this too, but NPR tells it in a very subtle educated way. It is a manner that is intellectually appealing to the tasteful segment of the nation. And they have this program called Planet Money, which generally talks about how economics of some X issue works. The other day I heard an episode about Katy Perry: if her record company made any money this year or not. Now Katy Perry killed it on the pop charts last year, she has been an outstanding hit.

5 of her songs were in the top 10 of America. She is the first one to be there after Michael Jackson. That's huge. But her record company didn't make any money that year. Is that believable? Go listen to Planet Money's podcast, and you'll understand.

And the best part is that I listen to it while jogging, like my uncle does. Random gyaan while shedding calories - total win-win!