Kehne ko saath apane ek duniya chalti hai
Per chhupke is dil mein tanhaayi palti hai
Bas yaad saath hai
Teri yaad saaath hai............
Movie: Namaste London
Song: Main Jahaan Rahoon...
These lines describe the emotions of each one of us at some point in our lives certainly.....
A beautiful song that I have been lately listening to.....
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
I think I win handsdown!!!
Sheer Co-incidence....Just about an hour ago, ten of my co-workers gathered around my cubicle to participate in what they called a "Tough Competition" which was Who can pronounce my last name quickest and wid the right intonation......It was almost like these guys had read my blog posted just yesterday!!! n of course no prizes for guessing...none of them won, but at the end of the so called competition went back amused, disappointed but wid a hope of getting it right before I end my internship....God help them!!!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Arnold...You have competition Honey!!!
This blog is a dedication to my dad whose name has been mutilated a zillion times by my co-workers, credit card companies, banks, my cell phone network providers, my laptop service providers, my landlord, the IT personnel of my school, my undergrad students to the latest addition on this long list (my second blog finally seems shorter now) was the person who drew my blood at the blood donation drive yesterday! For everyone's benefit my last name is Krishnamachari (phew even I get confused with the m and n in my name). Trust me for all the Americans and Asians (other than Indians) spelling my name and even worse pronouncing it would make "Rocket Science" seem less intricate in comparison. Before I comment any further, a brief heads up on a recent NASA launch (Krishnamachari To NASA....I aint digressing). The most recent activity at NASA was the Themis mission, wherein five satellites stacked like a wedding cake were launched on a single rocket to figure out the source of a potentially devastating geomagnetic substorms in the earth's atmosphere. (I must admit, I could not comprehend much out of this sentence, but all I can say is it's a sentence when used as pick up line can easily woo girls like me who get completely enticed by the sheer magnetism of such a powerful cerebral lobe). Well, the blog aint directed towards what turns me on and without digressing any further, the principal investigator of this mission said that this was the most difficult launch ever implemented by NASA. So now I wonder, if these very same scientists on this mission were asked to pronounce and spell my last name would they still consider the launch difficult?????????????
Trust me I aint over exaggerating. These are a few of the comments made by people (from the long list I cited at the beginning of the blog) when asked to say my name.
1. Are all the alphabets in English language encompassed in that one name. That could be a great alternative to ABC...
2. How do you say that awfully long word- When I do manage to say it effortlessly much to their chagrin for some and amusement for others they all go "Give us 25 years and even we will master this art"
3. K...Kr...Krish...I am not even gonna attempt..coz by the time I can pronounce your name, our office hours will be over and we still would not have your credit card activated or your laptop issue resolved.
Trust me at places where I have to spell my name for these people to make a note of, every transaction takes me atleast 5 times longer than an average one, as I have to repeat my name atleast 10 times with a different alphabetical source of error each time.
4. When I have to spell my name in a way giving an example for every letter, the operator on the other end is usually exhausted half way through and the usual comment is "This seems eternal" or "Aint it over yet???????? or "Are you providing us with the last names of all the members in your family tree?????????"
5. Just yesterday, at the blood donation drive the comment was "Withdrawing 500 mL of blood took me less time than trying to pronounce your name right"
But all these diverse people from radically different spheres of life have just one advice for me that is "Please marry someone with a shorter last name!!!!!!!!!"
I used to feel pretty embarrassed and hurt by such insensitivity and impolite comments initially but later as I could understand their conundrum, I started to take it in my stride and infact these days I am almost in splits myself when I have to spell my name and I realize there are still more 8 alphabets to go and I am already fatigued.
So now I can happily say what "Schwarzenegger" is to Indians, "Krishnamachari” is to Americans (Both are 14 alphabets long) and so I love you Dad!!!!
Trust me I aint over exaggerating. These are a few of the comments made by people (from the long list I cited at the beginning of the blog) when asked to say my name.
1. Are all the alphabets in English language encompassed in that one name. That could be a great alternative to ABC...
2. How do you say that awfully long word- When I do manage to say it effortlessly much to their chagrin for some and amusement for others they all go "Give us 25 years and even we will master this art"
3. K...Kr...Krish...I am not even gonna attempt..coz by the time I can pronounce your name, our office hours will be over and we still would not have your credit card activated or your laptop issue resolved.
Trust me at places where I have to spell my name for these people to make a note of, every transaction takes me atleast 5 times longer than an average one, as I have to repeat my name atleast 10 times with a different alphabetical source of error each time.
4. When I have to spell my name in a way giving an example for every letter, the operator on the other end is usually exhausted half way through and the usual comment is "This seems eternal" or "Aint it over yet???????? or "Are you providing us with the last names of all the members in your family tree?????????"
5. Just yesterday, at the blood donation drive the comment was "Withdrawing 500 mL of blood took me less time than trying to pronounce your name right"
But all these diverse people from radically different spheres of life have just one advice for me that is "Please marry someone with a shorter last name!!!!!!!!!"
I used to feel pretty embarrassed and hurt by such insensitivity and impolite comments initially but later as I could understand their conundrum, I started to take it in my stride and infact these days I am almost in splits myself when I have to spell my name and I realize there are still more 8 alphabets to go and I am already fatigued.
So now I can happily say what "Schwarzenegger" is to Indians, "Krishnamachari” is to Americans (Both are 14 alphabets long) and so I love you Dad!!!!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
How I taught my grandmother to read!!!
Preface: Gives me immense pleasure to write about a woman I am completely in awe of!!!
Alright, reproducing this title verbatim is copyright infringement (although tempting to take a leaf from Anu Malik's book, i would like to say inspiration), but in my defence, this clearly shows the humongous influence, this tiny little books has had on me. Like many others, I was completely unaware about the existence of this book, until I happened to lay my hands on it recently. However, I must admit that I have maintained the highest regard for the author of this book. This book however revealed some newer dimensions about her powerful personality and generated tremendous admiration towards her to say the least.
This book is a collection of short stories by Sudha Murty,- the significant other half (I find the word better half to be an understatement to describe this amazing woman who has a strong individual persona) of India's IT baron, Narayana Murty. Th book unraveled the multifaceted Sudha Murty. Her life as an innocent child having tremendous zest for life and who took it upon her to make her grandmother literate (hence the title) at an age, when starting to learn is considered inane by most of us. The only female student at IISc Bangalore also coupled with the distinction of being the topper who had the audacity to write to Sir JRD questioning Tata's policy of not hiring female engineers and then going on to become the first woman floor engineer at Telco. The woman who had tremendous belief in her husband's dreams.Her unconditional support, timely help and Narayana Murty's grit are the pillars on which stands the edifice of Infosys- one of the most revered companies not just nationwide but worldwide.
But what touched me the most about this achievers personality and what was a startling revelation of her life was her life as a teacher and her uncanny ability to inspire and guide her students through a unique art of story telling (without giving sermons, I am sure we all detest advises). This hallmark of her persona has been depicted wonderfully in her book, wherein every chapter is a short story of her life narrated in an extremely lucid manner but the thoughts and message it conveys- extremely poignant.
I read this book at a point, when everything did not seem very rosy in my life, but with every chapter I read, the imbroglio (at that point it did seem to be like that) I was in started slowly detangling and by the end of the book my perspective towards the whole issue changed. The story that inspired me the most and brought about a radical change in me was the one that she narrated to her students in response to a question "What do you do when you are posed with a problem seeming insurmountable and that which makes you feel everything is over?" To this she narrated the story of Lord Hanuman getting the medicinal herb Sanjeevani. When Laxmana was seriously wounded, this was the only herb that could reinforce life within him. Lord Hanuman was entrusted the job of getting the herb, but when he flew to the directed mountain, he was unable to recognize the required herb amidst the millions of plants growing there and he knew he could not return empty handed. But how could he carry the mountain????? But he had this unique power in him to grow bigger in size and he did that until the mountain actually seemed so minuscule that he could carry it in his palm and he thus proved to be the savior of Laxmana's life. She ended her story here. Perplexed by this abstract answer (like many of you are-including me whilst reading) the student demanded that this was no answer to her question. To this Sudha Murty said, she hadn't finished her story yet. The message she wanted to convey was that when faced with a problem, if you start feeling that the problem is bigger than your self, it definitely becomes invincible. However, we must all remember that each one of us has this innate strength within all of us, which otherwise dormant if awakened bring to fore our strengths and our powerful self to such an extent that this huge daunting impediment will seem so insignificant that we shall be able to easily overcome it. This problem also actually helps us self introspect and stir up our dormancy that needs constant wake up calls to prevent our strengths to go into hibernation and this is what Lord Hanuman did to overpower the problem he faced.
The story indeed helped me realize that its actually a different high facing challenges and emerging victorious. I cannot really capture this wonderful persona in just one blog. I have however made the most earnest attempt to share some interesting facets about this truly inspiring woman and highly recommend everyone to grab a copy of the book to catch a glimpse of her life.
Alright, reproducing this title verbatim is copyright infringement (although tempting to take a leaf from Anu Malik's book, i would like to say inspiration), but in my defence, this clearly shows the humongous influence, this tiny little books has had on me. Like many others, I was completely unaware about the existence of this book, until I happened to lay my hands on it recently. However, I must admit that I have maintained the highest regard for the author of this book. This book however revealed some newer dimensions about her powerful personality and generated tremendous admiration towards her to say the least.
This book is a collection of short stories by Sudha Murty,- the significant other half (I find the word better half to be an understatement to describe this amazing woman who has a strong individual persona) of India's IT baron, Narayana Murty. Th book unraveled the multifaceted Sudha Murty. Her life as an innocent child having tremendous zest for life and who took it upon her to make her grandmother literate (hence the title) at an age, when starting to learn is considered inane by most of us. The only female student at IISc Bangalore also coupled with the distinction of being the topper who had the audacity to write to Sir JRD questioning Tata's policy of not hiring female engineers and then going on to become the first woman floor engineer at Telco. The woman who had tremendous belief in her husband's dreams.Her unconditional support, timely help and Narayana Murty's grit are the pillars on which stands the edifice of Infosys- one of the most revered companies not just nationwide but worldwide.
But what touched me the most about this achievers personality and what was a startling revelation of her life was her life as a teacher and her uncanny ability to inspire and guide her students through a unique art of story telling (without giving sermons, I am sure we all detest advises). This hallmark of her persona has been depicted wonderfully in her book, wherein every chapter is a short story of her life narrated in an extremely lucid manner but the thoughts and message it conveys- extremely poignant.
I read this book at a point, when everything did not seem very rosy in my life, but with every chapter I read, the imbroglio (at that point it did seem to be like that) I was in started slowly detangling and by the end of the book my perspective towards the whole issue changed. The story that inspired me the most and brought about a radical change in me was the one that she narrated to her students in response to a question "What do you do when you are posed with a problem seeming insurmountable and that which makes you feel everything is over?" To this she narrated the story of Lord Hanuman getting the medicinal herb Sanjeevani. When Laxmana was seriously wounded, this was the only herb that could reinforce life within him. Lord Hanuman was entrusted the job of getting the herb, but when he flew to the directed mountain, he was unable to recognize the required herb amidst the millions of plants growing there and he knew he could not return empty handed. But how could he carry the mountain????? But he had this unique power in him to grow bigger in size and he did that until the mountain actually seemed so minuscule that he could carry it in his palm and he thus proved to be the savior of Laxmana's life. She ended her story here. Perplexed by this abstract answer (like many of you are-including me whilst reading) the student demanded that this was no answer to her question. To this Sudha Murty said, she hadn't finished her story yet. The message she wanted to convey was that when faced with a problem, if you start feeling that the problem is bigger than your self, it definitely becomes invincible. However, we must all remember that each one of us has this innate strength within all of us, which otherwise dormant if awakened bring to fore our strengths and our powerful self to such an extent that this huge daunting impediment will seem so insignificant that we shall be able to easily overcome it. This problem also actually helps us self introspect and stir up our dormancy that needs constant wake up calls to prevent our strengths to go into hibernation and this is what Lord Hanuman did to overpower the problem he faced.
The story indeed helped me realize that its actually a different high facing challenges and emerging victorious. I cannot really capture this wonderful persona in just one blog. I have however made the most earnest attempt to share some interesting facets about this truly inspiring woman and highly recommend everyone to grab a copy of the book to catch a glimpse of her life.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Justification!!!!
Before I started writing my blog yesterday, I came across this interesting Quote by Harry Crews which goes "What deserves to be done needs to be overdone". This paradigm is completely reflective of my blog yesterday. I was so intensely passionate about writing my blog and my thoughts that I went completely overboard and that explains the longgggggggggggggggggg (perhaps the number of "g"s are still less) blog........
Before I conclude I must add I heard this beautiful number from the recent movie "Jaane tu ya Jaane na" called "Kahin Toh....and the lyrics go sumwat like this" Jaane na kahaan woh duniya hai
Jaane ya woh hain bhi ya nahin
Jahaan meri zindagi mujhse
Itni khafa nahin!!!!!
Just loved the song and strongly recommend it!!!!
Before I conclude I must add I heard this beautiful number from the recent movie "Jaane tu ya Jaane na" called "Kahin Toh....and the lyrics go sumwat like this" Jaane na kahaan woh duniya hai
Jaane ya woh hain bhi ya nahin
Jahaan meri zindagi mujhse
Itni khafa nahin!!!!!
Just loved the song and strongly recommend it!!!!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Memoirs from Akron Sojourn
STATUTORY WARNING: This blog is tiresomely longgggg...Not for the faint hearted!!!
Lemme start today's blog with a revelation. As I posted my blog yesterday, I was elated at the thought that I was finally able to bring my latent passion for writing to the forefront. Well, this is certainly not the revelation part.Its actually the fact that somehow I had let my real self, my real passions, my real thoughts take a backseat in the last coupla years as i was pursuing a path that had no final destination. Is it an excessive usage of the word "REAL" making it seem that I possibly lived a very pseudo life in the last two years?????? The answer is a vehement "NO". It was a cherishable journey that helped me unearth certain facets of my life which I thought never existed and possibly a journey that was best to not complete.
I guess enough of my worldly wisdom. Lemme transport myself back to Akron- that almost seemed like paradise on earth to me for two days. As we zoomed off in my brothers's car, we got talking and the next thing we know is we are on the wrong expressway!!! We thankfully realized our oversight soon and got back to the right track. Hey, but at this point, we did not realize the implication of missing just "ONE" exit. Why have I emphasized the "ONE" so much???? coz I havent completed my story yet and I promise you shall find an answer to the this in this very blog. We caught up possibly on everything under the sun within 45 minutes that was d drive duration from Cleveland to Akron leaving me wondering what are even gonna talk in the next coupla days....But then again I realized i was underestimating my strength (yes i prefer it believe its my strength. I can blabber non stop to the extent, I often tell my friends, my mouth actually hurts when it is shut!!!). Late Friday afternoon, we went grocery shopping. (I must mention here- I had promised my cousin that I shall exhibit my culinary skills to the maximum and forced him to buy all possible vegetables ever harvested by mankind). At the cost of receiving brickbats from him, I must make another revelation (am i disclosing a bit too much??????) which is that his hostility towards cooking is pronounced!!! I am sure he got all the stuff hoping to get to eat a four course mean soon, little did the poor guy realize that.........
WE got home and pacified our growling stomachs to some ready to eat food (the vegetables that we got needed their breath of fresh air too before they were crucified). The most significant part of the day was the night after the Olive Garden (yeah, the auspicious time to cook hadnt dawned yet) dinner, where some intense conversation and some orange juice (yes the same orange juice- am I making it seem even more potent than the holy water of the Ganges????) payed way to torment you poor souls into reading this blog. So if you yawning at this point, you know whom to blame-yes our good ol friend-the Orange juice).
The next morning was the beginning of a fun drive to Pittsburgh to the famous Venkateshwara temple there. entering the temple, I realized I was garnering attention, some looks of scorn, some bewilderment etc etc. A careful look at myself and a skirting look around me gave me my answer-it was my attire. The women around me adorning the best of their sarees and jewels (secretly giving me ideas to give up my PhD and instead becoming a Nalli and Tribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri franchisee and earning big bucks) and here I was in denims and a black sleeveless top making me seem like a clown (read irreverant youth not deserving to visit the temple). After I finished my prayers amidst those prying eyes,I rushed back to our car all excited to reach UDIPI (the mecca of authentic south indian food). The long and tiring wait at the restaurant (yes longer than the queue to offer prayers to the Lord Venkateshwara) din seem so long and so tiresome afterall as I gobbled my first morsel of steaming hot idli laden with sambar (and the singer inside me started humming- garam garam sambar mein doobe idli- a famous adv I saw as a kid. Indian Adverstisements (man I miss them so much), perhaps it needs a whole blog dedicated to its cause.
After overindulging ourselves in some fine food, we started our drive back. At this point, I must mention that this was the first drive I was embarking upon without a GPS. Until now I have always travelled with people who have believed that GPS is the coolest invention of the millennium. Not undermining the ability of this small gadget and certainly not offending the female voice who is the guiding force literally- I must admit the thrill of travelling with a map, getting lost, losing orientation and landing at a completely obscure place and exploring one's way back are no less exhilarating than a Sixflags batman roller coaster ride. These "GPS Guys" are completely alienating themselves from this thrill (Sorry if I have inadvertently hurt some sentiments there). In a span of 10 minute drive, we lost our way thrice and ended up travelling on the same freeway thrice and truly experienced a sense of deja vu. We finally got back on the right roads feeling triumphant about our orientation skills completely oblivious to the woos that were gonna come our way. We were discussing material science, rheology and computational fluid dynamics (nope we aint any descendants of Einstein or Sir Issac Newton). Our first conversation was about an overtly complex subject called "Relationships" ( I can see some assertive heads endorsing the adjective I have used there). This talk famished us leaving our brains more convoluted than ever before. And so as a food for our brains, we struck some intellectual conversations about cardiac aneurysms and stent fabrications ( am i losing my readers loyalty at the mention of such jargons...hang on guys, I wont elaborate on this any further). And in the backdrop was playing a CD with voices crooning their happiness and misery. At the beginning of this conversation, my bro had hammered it into our brains that we needed to take Exit 218. But cardiac aneurysms and stents proved to be such smart a***. We got so immersed in our talk that any pharmaceutical brain hearing us converse would have gone.. Voila...I have the solution to cardiac aneurysms and we have the perfect stent technology to patent instantly- U guys are hired!!!!. As my cousin was explaining computational fluid dynamics differential equations to me, we could hear those familiar voices crooning the same songs all over again from the start. And the next thing we do is take some efforts to look at the green direction boards and what did it read????? EXIT 170. The realization that we have overdriven "50 Exits" was shocking. But our first reaction was- Woo hoo we have brains and we can engage in meaningful conversations.....We took the next exit and drove our way back, but this time however supremely vigilant of every single green board (Now I know the exact exit numbers to Kent, Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, canton, Cuyahoga and Columbus- so now u guys know, who to reach on ur next road trip to Ohio...jus kidding). But words fall short to express the fun of getting lost especially after having driven always with our beloved "Neverlost Garmin buddy".
It was almost time to hit the sack. We ate all the food that we had bought from the temple and transported ourselves into dreamland as we spoke. Now that the blog has turned disproportionately long, I terminate it here for another blog in the next coupla days. (For all those who have survived up to this point- kudos to your patience).
Lemme start today's blog with a revelation. As I posted my blog yesterday, I was elated at the thought that I was finally able to bring my latent passion for writing to the forefront. Well, this is certainly not the revelation part.Its actually the fact that somehow I had let my real self, my real passions, my real thoughts take a backseat in the last coupla years as i was pursuing a path that had no final destination. Is it an excessive usage of the word "REAL" making it seem that I possibly lived a very pseudo life in the last two years?????? The answer is a vehement "NO". It was a cherishable journey that helped me unearth certain facets of my life which I thought never existed and possibly a journey that was best to not complete.
I guess enough of my worldly wisdom. Lemme transport myself back to Akron- that almost seemed like paradise on earth to me for two days. As we zoomed off in my brothers's car, we got talking and the next thing we know is we are on the wrong expressway!!! We thankfully realized our oversight soon and got back to the right track. Hey, but at this point, we did not realize the implication of missing just "ONE" exit. Why have I emphasized the "ONE" so much???? coz I havent completed my story yet and I promise you shall find an answer to the this in this very blog. We caught up possibly on everything under the sun within 45 minutes that was d drive duration from Cleveland to Akron leaving me wondering what are even gonna talk in the next coupla days....But then again I realized i was underestimating my strength (yes i prefer it believe its my strength. I can blabber non stop to the extent, I often tell my friends, my mouth actually hurts when it is shut!!!). Late Friday afternoon, we went grocery shopping. (I must mention here- I had promised my cousin that I shall exhibit my culinary skills to the maximum and forced him to buy all possible vegetables ever harvested by mankind). At the cost of receiving brickbats from him, I must make another revelation (am i disclosing a bit too much??????) which is that his hostility towards cooking is pronounced!!! I am sure he got all the stuff hoping to get to eat a four course mean soon, little did the poor guy realize that.........
WE got home and pacified our growling stomachs to some ready to eat food (the vegetables that we got needed their breath of fresh air too before they were crucified). The most significant part of the day was the night after the Olive Garden (yeah, the auspicious time to cook hadnt dawned yet) dinner, where some intense conversation and some orange juice (yes the same orange juice- am I making it seem even more potent than the holy water of the Ganges????) payed way to torment you poor souls into reading this blog. So if you yawning at this point, you know whom to blame-yes our good ol friend-the Orange juice).
The next morning was the beginning of a fun drive to Pittsburgh to the famous Venkateshwara temple there. entering the temple, I realized I was garnering attention, some looks of scorn, some bewilderment etc etc. A careful look at myself and a skirting look around me gave me my answer-it was my attire. The women around me adorning the best of their sarees and jewels (secretly giving me ideas to give up my PhD and instead becoming a Nalli and Tribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri franchisee and earning big bucks) and here I was in denims and a black sleeveless top making me seem like a clown (read irreverant youth not deserving to visit the temple). After I finished my prayers amidst those prying eyes,I rushed back to our car all excited to reach UDIPI (the mecca of authentic south indian food). The long and tiring wait at the restaurant (yes longer than the queue to offer prayers to the Lord Venkateshwara) din seem so long and so tiresome afterall as I gobbled my first morsel of steaming hot idli laden with sambar (and the singer inside me started humming- garam garam sambar mein doobe idli- a famous adv I saw as a kid. Indian Adverstisements (man I miss them so much), perhaps it needs a whole blog dedicated to its cause.
After overindulging ourselves in some fine food, we started our drive back. At this point, I must mention that this was the first drive I was embarking upon without a GPS. Until now I have always travelled with people who have believed that GPS is the coolest invention of the millennium. Not undermining the ability of this small gadget and certainly not offending the female voice who is the guiding force literally- I must admit the thrill of travelling with a map, getting lost, losing orientation and landing at a completely obscure place and exploring one's way back are no less exhilarating than a Sixflags batman roller coaster ride. These "GPS Guys" are completely alienating themselves from this thrill (Sorry if I have inadvertently hurt some sentiments there). In a span of 10 minute drive, we lost our way thrice and ended up travelling on the same freeway thrice and truly experienced a sense of deja vu. We finally got back on the right roads feeling triumphant about our orientation skills completely oblivious to the woos that were gonna come our way. We were discussing material science, rheology and computational fluid dynamics (nope we aint any descendants of Einstein or Sir Issac Newton). Our first conversation was about an overtly complex subject called "Relationships" ( I can see some assertive heads endorsing the adjective I have used there). This talk famished us leaving our brains more convoluted than ever before. And so as a food for our brains, we struck some intellectual conversations about cardiac aneurysms and stent fabrications ( am i losing my readers loyalty at the mention of such jargons...hang on guys, I wont elaborate on this any further). And in the backdrop was playing a CD with voices crooning their happiness and misery. At the beginning of this conversation, my bro had hammered it into our brains that we needed to take Exit 218. But cardiac aneurysms and stents proved to be such smart a***. We got so immersed in our talk that any pharmaceutical brain hearing us converse would have gone.. Voila...I have the solution to cardiac aneurysms and we have the perfect stent technology to patent instantly- U guys are hired!!!!. As my cousin was explaining computational fluid dynamics differential equations to me, we could hear those familiar voices crooning the same songs all over again from the start. And the next thing we do is take some efforts to look at the green direction boards and what did it read????? EXIT 170. The realization that we have overdriven "50 Exits" was shocking. But our first reaction was- Woo hoo we have brains and we can engage in meaningful conversations.....We took the next exit and drove our way back, but this time however supremely vigilant of every single green board (Now I know the exact exit numbers to Kent, Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, canton, Cuyahoga and Columbus- so now u guys know, who to reach on ur next road trip to Ohio...jus kidding). But words fall short to express the fun of getting lost especially after having driven always with our beloved "Neverlost Garmin buddy".
It was almost time to hit the sack. We ate all the food that we had bought from the temple and transported ourselves into dreamland as we spoke. Now that the blog has turned disproportionately long, I terminate it here for another blog in the next coupla days. (For all those who have survived up to this point- kudos to your patience).
Monday, July 7, 2008
I am finally Blogging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been wanting to pen down my thoughts in the form of a blog for a while now. But sadly, the thoughts that were eager to embrace the world faded into oblivion-thanks to my monstrous trait-over contemplation and an over scrupulous analysis of right vs.wrong. But one meeting, one profound conversation and a few gulps of orange juice (it never tasted so good before) changed it all......
The day was July 4, for the world it meant Independence Day (read the start of a relaxing long weekend), for me it meant the excitement of meeting my brother who is also possibly my closest buddy. I was flying out of Chicago to Cleveland. I have been quite lucky by far with my flight schedules. This line deserves a mention here because the cousin I was visiting has had the most horrendous experiences flying, wherein an hour long journey would take him a day. I reached the airport at 5.30 in the morning and I was the solitary soul loitering around the gate. the bright day and the sunrise seen through the glass panes in the backdrop of the multiple anchored air crafts seemed to be a great visual. As I was immersed in admiring this serenity, I could hear two voices speaking a language that would have seemed alien to the passengers slowly gathering there, but to me it was familiar. The loud uneasy feminine baritone immediately caught my attention. It did not call for the presence of Sherlock Holmes to unravel the truth and mystery of their anxiety. They were an elderly couple flying out of India for the first time eager to catch a glimpse of their son and grandson after 3 long years that seemed eons to the mother. As fate may have had it, they had missed their connecting flight to Cleveland the previous night and had to spend the night at the airport and all their attempts to contact their son were futile. As I approached to help them, I could see traces of hope on their worried faces. The eagerness and happiness of the family Reunion that was masked by their apprehensions and communication quandary seemed to resurface again. I helped them get in touch with their son and saw all their worries melt away as their beloved son answered the call as I dialled. It gave me a sense of immense satisfaction. But before I could bask any further in the elderly couple's glory,I had another daunting task ahead of me which was to wake my cousin so that he could come to the airport to pick me up at 9.00 am (which was the wee hours of morning on a weekend for him and I am sure most others would corroborate his sentiment). Sometimes, I feel I am the only creature on earth that does not whine about getting up early to the extent that I feel restless the day I wake up later than 8.00 am in the morning. Is that insanely abnormal????- well that's a trait I can possibly touch upon in an another blog.
Coming back to the task, I was happy that this herculean task was already accomplished by my uncle (his dad) as he had made sure that he had woken up on time to drive to the airport. the flight was nothing to write home about although I gotta mention that I don't quite enjoy flying within the US for two reasons. Firstly, the inability to readily strike a conversation with a fellow passenger (those who know me can fathom the profundity of the above reason) and two- the food or more so the lack of it on flight. Beverages, Soda and peanuts and pretzels that are abundantly available mid air don't qualify as food for me. As a kid back home, speculating the in flight menu was the best way to overcome the boredom of waiting at the gate.
As the flight landed, my excitement of meeting my cousin (read closest pal) increase manifold. I was impatient as the flight started taxing to the gate at a snail's pace. As I disembarked, I briskly started walking towards the baggage claim and the wait for the bag was needless to say annoying (although I must admit, it was just about 5 minutes). As I came out, I saw him and excitedly we greeted each other and we zoomed off to a lesser known place called Akron.
My next post will have a vivid and explicit description of my wonderful two day stint at Akron.
The day was July 4, for the world it meant Independence Day (read the start of a relaxing long weekend), for me it meant the excitement of meeting my brother who is also possibly my closest buddy. I was flying out of Chicago to Cleveland. I have been quite lucky by far with my flight schedules. This line deserves a mention here because the cousin I was visiting has had the most horrendous experiences flying, wherein an hour long journey would take him a day. I reached the airport at 5.30 in the morning and I was the solitary soul loitering around the gate. the bright day and the sunrise seen through the glass panes in the backdrop of the multiple anchored air crafts seemed to be a great visual. As I was immersed in admiring this serenity, I could hear two voices speaking a language that would have seemed alien to the passengers slowly gathering there, but to me it was familiar. The loud uneasy feminine baritone immediately caught my attention. It did not call for the presence of Sherlock Holmes to unravel the truth and mystery of their anxiety. They were an elderly couple flying out of India for the first time eager to catch a glimpse of their son and grandson after 3 long years that seemed eons to the mother. As fate may have had it, they had missed their connecting flight to Cleveland the previous night and had to spend the night at the airport and all their attempts to contact their son were futile. As I approached to help them, I could see traces of hope on their worried faces. The eagerness and happiness of the family Reunion that was masked by their apprehensions and communication quandary seemed to resurface again. I helped them get in touch with their son and saw all their worries melt away as their beloved son answered the call as I dialled. It gave me a sense of immense satisfaction. But before I could bask any further in the elderly couple's glory,I had another daunting task ahead of me which was to wake my cousin so that he could come to the airport to pick me up at 9.00 am (which was the wee hours of morning on a weekend for him and I am sure most others would corroborate his sentiment). Sometimes, I feel I am the only creature on earth that does not whine about getting up early to the extent that I feel restless the day I wake up later than 8.00 am in the morning. Is that insanely abnormal????- well that's a trait I can possibly touch upon in an another blog.
Coming back to the task, I was happy that this herculean task was already accomplished by my uncle (his dad) as he had made sure that he had woken up on time to drive to the airport. the flight was nothing to write home about although I gotta mention that I don't quite enjoy flying within the US for two reasons. Firstly, the inability to readily strike a conversation with a fellow passenger (those who know me can fathom the profundity of the above reason) and two- the food or more so the lack of it on flight. Beverages, Soda and peanuts and pretzels that are abundantly available mid air don't qualify as food for me. As a kid back home, speculating the in flight menu was the best way to overcome the boredom of waiting at the gate.
As the flight landed, my excitement of meeting my cousin (read closest pal) increase manifold. I was impatient as the flight started taxing to the gate at a snail's pace. As I disembarked, I briskly started walking towards the baggage claim and the wait for the bag was needless to say annoying (although I must admit, it was just about 5 minutes). As I came out, I saw him and excitedly we greeted each other and we zoomed off to a lesser known place called Akron.
My next post will have a vivid and explicit description of my wonderful two day stint at Akron.
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