Saturday, December 27, 2008

My Day out in San Francisco

It was a bright & sunny day yesterday. I havnt explored outdoors for a while, so i decided to head to the city and make use of my new DSLR. After a long time , this was an excursion i was doing alone on my own and I had a gala time! I took the BART from Fremont to Powell Street. After getting down i walked to the Union Square. It had pretty Xmas decorations. There was a bagpiper playing there, that was fun to watch. From Union Street i walked through the Chinatown exploring the city on the way on foot. After walking about 2 miles and using my extremely precious streetwise San Francisco, i reached Ghirardelli Square. It was fun climbing and descending the hilly roads of the city. The city was bustling with crowd because of the holiday season. At Ghirardelli Square i saw another Xmas tree and a super long queue at the Ghirardelli Ice Cream shop. I clicked some pictures and asked a guy to take a picture of me. The only issue with travelling alone is taking pictures of yourself. You either mount your tripod or request someone. I had a hot chocolate at Ghirardelli and took a short break from walking. It was quite refreshing to sit down after such a long walk. My foot journey began again towards Fisherman's Wharf, and i saw more and more crowd. I walked all along Jefferson and Embarcadero stopping at Pier 39 . The xmas decorations here were the best among all places. Here i tried the self timer mode of my SLR for the first time and took shots of myself. Finally i reached the Ferry building and by this time i was pretty hungry. I went to the other side to Embarcadero Center and had a crepe which was yummy and along with that also had another sit down break. Now i could feel the brunt of my 5 mile foot exploration during the day on my legs :-), but it was fun. I was so determined to walk the entire distance yesterday from the very beginning that i thoroughly enjoyed it and completed it with more energy inspite of the slopes of the city. I was now waiting for it to get dark so that i could use the manual mode of the SLR to take some night pictures. Once it was dark, i walked to Pier-1 to click the Bay bridge. Overall a fun filled day spent with myself. I totally loved the experience of travelling alone without a plan with a Streetwise San Francisco map as the best friend.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Travelling Retrospection 08

2008 is going to come to an end. Looking back, one of the resolutions i had for this year was to travel a lot. So now logging the places i visited...let me think...:

1. Big Sur (February) - Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur River..
2.Palomarin Trail - Point Reyes National Seashore. (May)
3. India- Delhi, (June)
4. Mount Shasta, Sisikyou lake, Burney Falls (July)
5.SF Bay Bike Trip (july)
6. Camping - Big Sur, Elephant Seals (August)
7. Yellowstone National Park , Wyoming (September)
8.Eastern Sierras, - Bishop, Mammoth Lake (October)

Thats all I can think of, so how did i perform. Probably better than 2007 but still could have performed better in doing more overnight trips. So thats the new resolution for 2009 :-)

Saturday, December 20, 2008

There was snow, white snow!

It was a long and dark December..There was snow, white snow. It was Madison, it was 2007. It was University Avenue. There was no bus no 2. I was walking behind my tall friend M, to shield myself from the snow flakes falling from the sky. I was also being shielded by the wind walking behind my friend M :-)..Winter in Madison truly rocks!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Lesson..

We start enjoying things only when they are about to come to an end. Its human nature followed by a majority of this human race i believe. We tend not to realize this fact. While we are in something, doing something, with someone, we forget to enjoy the goodness, pleasant things in that situation. For instance you might not love your job but still you might be enjoying plenty of things in that job which you forget to appreciate while you are in it. Or you might be with some one as a friend/house mate/ any other relation but you might not see the goods that person has to offer. When you are just about to be parted you might suddenly start enjoying being with that person. There are myriad examples. The only lesson which we should learn and try to follow is that we should try to see the small things and enjoy which typically get overwhelmed by other things. Maybe i am writing but not making sense :-) , maybe! Although i am trying to learn my lesson , hopefully!:-)

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Will Politicians take a lesson?

After the Mumbai attacks, many political parties were flogged with SMS messages. One such SMS message was addressed to "Mr" Raj Thackeray of Shiv Sena and was mentioned in the Times of India on the front page.It said ( i dont remember the exact words but this is what it meant) "To counter the Mumbai attacks terrorists 200 NSG guards were summoned from Delhi. These guards were not all from Maharashtra but were mostly North Indians and South Indians who fought with no fear of their life for the "People of India" so that Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray could sleep in peace. Does Thackeray take any lesson from this? Will he still continue to create biases based on regions for his political gains or consider treating India and all its people as one?"

I really hope the politicians take a strong lesson and learn not to divide the people of India or use this extremely unfortunate Mumbai attacks for their party profits in any way.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Confusion never stops, closing walls and ticking clocks.

Thats a line from clocks, a song in A Rush of Blood To the Head album by Coldplay. After listening to parachutes i am now trying their second album release. Unlike the first one , there is a lot of stress on piano in this album. Parachutes has more use of guitar. 'The Scientist' is my new favorite ballad from their second album. Mellifluous lyrics, a rhythm that sinks in your heart, completely beautiful composition. Like their first album this one also takes some time to sink in, but once it does thats all you want to listen..

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Profound Sleep

It comes unknown full of stealth,
takes me away to far unknown,
in the beautiful cradle that she owns.

Nothing matters in her land,
its like it was before big bang,
hours pass in her land unknown,
in the beautiful cradle that she owns.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Yellow...

What does Yellow remind you of? If you had asked me a week back, i would have said sunflower. But now i would rather say 'Coldplay'. I am generally not a fan of rock music. But after seeing rock on i did enjoy their music. And then my friend B introduced me to Coldplay and the first track i heard was Yellow. How can someone not like it? And now i have completely heard their first album release 'Parachutes'. I just love it. Whats different about their music is that its melodious rock, melody is what makes it stand out of the hard rock. And the lyrics are so beautiful, theme of the songs is full of variety: war, romance, friendship they have everything. Coldplay, way to go!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Songs that remind me of...

There are fragrances which remind you of some memories, and then there are songs that remind you of some memories. I was listening to my favorite song 'Naam Ada Likhna' from Yahaan and it took me back to Madison. I used to listen to this song in my apartment many times and my roomate S used to like it too. I remember listening to it on my newly bought Ipod and walking down the lanes of Union South on my way to the CS dept for meeting the 752 TA. Beautiful memories splashed by the sweet melodies of this song....

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Everything is relative

I am writing this as this is something i discovered that applies to me and also to anyone and anything else. Might help some readers in some way.
Rest and motion are relative to a frame of reference. Remember the Newtonian Physics lesson? Similarly hot/cold or precisely the temperature has no meaning unless you are comparing it wrt to something. Similarly position has no meaning unless compared to something, each galaxy thinks it is at the center of the universe. So the entire nature or the Universe around us obeys this law of relative comparisons. And we are such a tiny bit of it, to think about it, the entire atoms/molecules composing the Universe are just 3-4% of the Universe. so what are we? we have no option other than to obey the laws of physics.
So in day to day life, we are happy, sad, excited, depressed and what not. But each of those emotions are also relative. You might think why did this happen to me of all. But think about it, relatively you will be definitely better than some other possible situation. However thats not a consolation for being in a bad situation, still think about it...

Friday, October 3, 2008

Looking for something

I was in some ancient book market which resembled the Chandni Chowk Book Bazaar in Delhi. And i was looking for a VLSI book from shop to shop. I dont remember if the people around me were desis or not which would have given me a hint as to where was this Bazaar. But i had someone with me hopping on and off the bus to check out the big bazaar. I dont remember who was that too.But i remember the book i was searching for. I was searching for a VLSI book written by Khaled Hosseni. Yes the same guy who wrote the marvellous Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Well it was a dream, what else you could expect! :-) . A dream i remember half from last night.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Journey of Life through a Forest.

Life is a journey through a forest out of which no one ever comes out alive.

So what does that mean:
Have full fun while you are in the forest, enjoy the wildlife, the sunny , cloudy as well as the dull days. No use fearing the future or grumbling over the forlorn past. The journey will come to an end one day and near the end there wont be much time left to explore much. And who knows when is the end, so its better do what you always dreamed of, atleast give it a shot and if you fail, you will have the satisfaction of trying to achieve your dream. There are very few who actually achieve their dream, and even few who attempt to achieve it. So give your best shot, relish the juicy sweet fruits on the way, endure the rough waters while crossing the rivers, capture the beauty of the naive wildlife and the deep blue waters, snow capped mountains, lush green grasslands, deep canyons, gorges. There is no end to the list of things you can see, discover and do on your way through the forest. You can have both your hands full. When the journey comes to an end you are either a satisfied traveller who had all the fun possible in the forest and your spirit is beaming with knowledge, discoveries and beauty. On the other hand you could be a traveller who forgot to enjoy the journey and just realzied the journey is over. You are tired, bruised and dissatisfied that you never had the courage to do what you wanted to. So decide how you want to see yourself?
I am going to try and do this from now in my life, its easier said than done i know, but let me give it a shot to be the fun loving traveller of life. (BTW traveller is British english, while traveler is American english).

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The most awesome trip ever- Yellowstone National Park

The skies shine deep blue with conical clouds hovering on beautiful hills. Smoke and water erupts unforeseen in any direction you see. The river accompanies you wherever you go, clear as a crystal, flowing with utmost grace. The vast plateau, colorful basin, serene valley, profound canyon, mystic waterfalls, green grasslands, calm lakes and dancing rivers, all provide a lovely habitat for the inhabitants of this ecosystem. The inhabitants make their appearance every now and then and include the huge Bisons with an innocent face, posing mooses, grazing dears, poghorns, rare coyotes and fox and the abundant elks. Yellowstone National Park is the perfect example of an ecosystem with all members of it in perfect harmony with each other.
We had our trip spread over 3 days. The first day we entered, the sudden apperance of the Bison along the Madison river got our heart jumping while we were busy capturing the elk family relaxing by the river. We got some videos of the Bison and went South towards the Old Faithful region. There we spent the rest of the day seeing different geysers erupting at different times including Old Faithful, riverside, castle and some mud pots. B was quite angry the way we were spending the time posing before every geyser as being the planner he was afraid that we wont be able to catch all geysers which were predicted to erupt in the next few minutes. We missed Grand, thats something for next time. S was trying different things during this walk like walking backwards, sidewards etc. R was as usual looking for food every now and then. L was trying to convince the 4 of us (me, B, S and R) on the correct pronunciation of geysers.
After a very pretty sunset in this geyser region, we headed towards our lodge. When we reached Grant village only the Lake restaurant was open. And the only veg option there was the Tuscan Bean soup. So me , B, S and R ordered that and L ordered a custom made dish which turned out to be quite challenging for the chef.
The next day i was the frist person to wake up as usual and woke everyone else. We left the hotel at 5 am to drive towards the Yellowstone Canyon and lower falls. We reached Artist point and the Canyon looked beautiful. We took pictures and enjoyed the early morning. We drove back along the widespread Yellowstone Lake and stopped to enjoy the cold and cloudy morning. The lake looked perfect at this time of the day. We saw wildlife on our way back. We all took a shower after coming back and went to the Grant Village Grill for our brunch. The Grill served burgers pretty much the same way as they were served in Union South with a Salad Bar. Also the Irish Cream coffee tasted quite similar. One thing i was obsessed about was gift shopping. Everytime i used to see a gift shop , i would end up buying some Yellowstone gift from there. We spent some time at the gift shop and spent the evening at the Upper Falls which was awesome. We then drove towards Tower Falls and by the time we came back, again the only place open for dinner was Lake Restaurant. We again had the Tuscan bean soup.That night we played Uno. The third day we drove towards Mammoth Hot Springs. What a pretty little town! Just looked like Europe. We went to Lamar Valley and saw huge herds of Bisons. It was pretty cold this day. We also crossed the 45 degree latitude this day where quite some unusual things happened. Like B hitting his eye on the car door, L almost falling into the river, S behaving normal and R not feeling hungry. We attributed this to the strange geological phenomenon present at this latitude :-). This evening we also saw a fox through the binoculars. While driving back it snowed this night. Overall days well spent at this beautiful location which I recommend a must go atleast once.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Ceremony of Mathematics

There was a time when i used to depend on my dad for so many things. The best was my Math. He was my Math Guru all till class 9. I remember i was in class 2 that time. I wouldn't move a page of my Math book without my dad not sitting next to me. Its not that i couldn't but Math was a ceremony for me which had to be performed only sitting next to my dad. It was one of the ways i could get full undisturbed attention from him :-). So before every math exam at school, i would wait for him to return home from work and start giving me a revision of the curriculam. Till the time he wont come, i wont even open the book. I would sleep, play with my toy scooty and peep from the balcony every half an hour to see if he was coming. And inspite of my chilling out like this, i would score excellent on the next day of the exam , all because of the solid preparation my dad would have given me before the exams on a regular basis. Once i remember he was extremely late, he called me saying he is stuck and will come home late night , so he asked me to start the revision on my own. But i blatantly refused, how could i start on my own :-). So my father came back late, gave me a revision for a couple of hours. Next day the exam was a cake walk :-)
Now its my turn to give back something, i feel very happy when my father emails me, chats with me, sends photos ,attachments. Not a big deal but gives me a great satisfaction that i have made him interested in all these things and he can use them well . Slowly i hope to teach him more of these internet thingies ..

Thursday, August 14, 2008

India turns 61!

India turned 61 a few hours back. I am not a big follower on politics etc but i just hope that issues like communal riots which have broken out in the past 61 years many times, poverty which has afflicted millions, terrorism which has left us crippled many times should come down this year in India. Everything is defined by the people of the country. The least we can do is to not have biases against different religions or communities. India has been secular ever since its birth and we must maintain that feeling in our minds not just to print in the books. If all citizens do this minimum possible of living together as Indians and hold no distinctions between north or south or east or west or based on religion/caste etc , India would be a much more peaceful state. On controlling these internal issues we can stand much stronger against thousands of other issues which India faces.

Now coming to the celebrations , I am sure lots of colorful Kites must be decorating the skies. I do miss the unsuccessful Kite Flying attempts with my brother M. Although this time when i was in India we both did have one attempt successful. I bought a Toy Story huge plastic kite from here when i went to India. One fine windy morning, me and M went down to fly the kite. I was holding the manjha for him as usual. The wind was very high and our Kite went up flying! It was so much fun..

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Busy Busier

Work is getting busier every day and personal time seems to be shrinking. I need to do something to strike a balance, manage time better so that i can do some relaxing things. My Kite Runner is lying near my bed waiting to be read, Planet Earth is waiting to be watched :-), Star Wars is waiting to thrill me with the sound effects. There are 10 other things like my audio book, movies. Ah! so many things to do, so little time. Hope this high pressure time goes by soon..

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Shahi Paneer..Yummy!


Weekend means time to try one new recipe.This time it was the turn for Shahi Paneer, my all time favorite since i was a child. Any time i have gone for dinner to a restaurant in Delhi, there has been hardly any time when i didnt order this Punjabi delight. So i gave it a try.
Here is the recipe:

-Cut fresh Paneer into triangles ( i like traingles better than cubes and my favorite restaurant Supas used to serve it that way). Heat oil in a pan and add fresh ground cumin powder, salt and some red chillies powder. Fry the Paneer triangles in this till golden brown.
-Take 2 big tomatoes and puree them in a mixer along with some cashew nuts, coriander leaves, a couple of kish mish and curd.Also mask a small piece of fresh paneer in this puree to give some thickness.
-In a kadhai , fry onions with ginger till onions are dark brown. Now add salt, turmeric powder, chillie powder, amchur powder and black pepper to this. Add one cinnamon stick also and cook for a while till you can smell the cinnamon fragrance.
-Add the tomato puree mixture to this and cook for 10 minutes till the color becomes red and cinnamon smells strong.
-Add the Paneer triangles to this gravy and cook for 5 minutes.
-Serve hot with chapatis. Enjoy!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

My Alma Mater

Today evening we had an Alumni Reception of UW hosted by the ECE Dept. It was hosted in sunnyvale and i was there with a bunch of Madison folks at around 6 pm. Professor Parmesh Ramanathan was present there with Lori Burrow. Had a small chat with the two of them. Prof Ramanathan gave a small talk on the ECE Dept, and some of the problems faced by ECE Dept and COE like retention of Professors, funds etc. He was mentioning that the road near Union South (Randall Av) has been completely dug and a research institute is being built there with the 50 million dollars given by an alumni couple.Union south brought images of the irish cream and the cappuccino on winter mornings after a walk from the business school to get to the ECE 756 class. Also my favorite cookies and cream babcock icecream :-)

One thing i would like to talk about which must be true not only about Madison but even other schools in US. The Professors and the other academic staff so overly committed to providing education to students. They have so many different departments like diversity, international students (we had ISS in Red Gym in Madison), student organizations etc all committed 200% to the benefit of the students. Students dont have to encounter any blocks or corruption or bureaucracy at any level interacting with any body in the university. Things like paying tuition, getting resources , getting help , setting up administration stuff like accounts etc, there is hardly any struggle for anything. A job of a student is only to learn, he is given everything else he needs. This is what i can say with full confidence about UW Madison. I am sure its true about other schools in US too. I remember the 4 safe cab rides privilege also given to us every month to use late night to travel from one part of the campus to another. Not just that, when we came in new, we had an orientation and outing hosted by ISS. We were taken around the city of Madison in small groups by a local Madison family. It was fun and gave us a feeling that we were being welcomed not just by the University but by the city. Its an experience that can not be described in words. UW Madison is truly my alma mater.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Kashmiri Dum Aloo


Dum Aloo is a kashmiri delicacy, i gave it a try, here is the recipe:

-Pick up small sized potatoes , peel them and with a fork perforate them all around. Now deep fry them in oil.
-Fry an onion cut into slices in another pan.
-Grind coriander leaves, turmeric, ginger, kashmiri red chillies, cumin seeds, saunf and eliachi in a grinder.
-Once the onions are fried, add the grinded masala to it and heat some more.
-Cut two tomatoes and make a puree out of it and add some curd to it.
-Add the tomato, curd puree to the onion mix and add salt and cook for some time (~10 mins). Also add a cinnamon stick to this.
-Now once the potatoes are fried, add them to the other pan with hot water and cook for a few minutes still the cinnamon smell is strong enough.
-Serve with Tandoori roti or rice.

Bay Bikers

The last time i biked ( bicycle) was in Madison about an year back with the famous Red Bike. Yesterday was a super biking day. Me and another 4 friends B, S, B and K left for San Francisco through the BART around Noon. We rented a Bike from a shop near Ferry building and biked all along the bay. It was fabulous! We saw Alcatraz, then biked over Marine drive , Fort Point... The only problem for me was the uphill roads where i couldnt bike and had to walk and push the bike. But overall a g8 experience. We followed the marine driver over to the Golden Gate Bridge. The winds were extremely strong and opposing over the bridge, that made it very difficult for us to bike especially for the light weight members me and S :-) . From over the bridge i could see the waves hitting the shore below me and the long red structure of the bridge above me. What a view! After crossing the bridge we were very tired , there was a ferry back to Ferry building from Sausalito in half an hour and we werent sure if we would be able to take it as me and S were the slow bikers. We all decided to try , we biked one uphill road to Sausalito and after that every thing was downhill :). We just sat on the bike and it rolled , the view was beautiful. We reached the ferry station and joined the long queue. The ferry people stopped boarding any more bike traffic :-(... We thought we would have to bike all the 10 miles back! I proposed of taking a cab and bikes on top of it , there was another ferry in half an hour and luckily we got a place in that, came back to ferry building, biked another mile to the bike shop and returned the bikes. By this time my legs were giving up but i was proud to have biked all 10 miles :-) the longest biking trail so far for me. We had dinner at Osha Thai right opposite to Ferry building , it was nice Thai food..Nice day!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Beautiful Mount Shasta

After a long time, i went exploring this Saturday to Mount Shasta County. Quite peaceful and serene. We went to Burney Falls which is a waterfall nestled in a state park. Followed by that we drove towards lake Siskiyou which has a beautiful view of Mount Shasta. Driving towards the lake, Mount Shasta peak was visible on and off through the side windows. Since i was driving, i caught a glimpse of it shining with a golden aura in the sun. The few patches of snow on the peak add beauty to it. The Siskiyou lake was a picnic resort and we had lunch. They had amazing pizzas , huge and filled with heavy fillings. We then went paddle boating in the lake enjoying the view of Mount Shasta from the middle of water. The trip was a day trip so was very tiring but still quite a satisfaction on exploring these places!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Few days back

An evening at India gate followed by dinner at Haldirams. That was a day couple of weeks back. Family time it was, every evening outing with parents . Sometimes Dwarka and sometimes India Gate. And i also remember the Pizza Hut day when we had a nice Paneer Makhani pizza and masala lemonade for dinner. All evenings used to start with a badminton game with M. After a long game, we used to head back home for a chilled lemonade or a cup of tea. I do miss those days. I remember droppping the shuttle in the drain every evening while playing and M taking it out :-) . Lovely days, Lovely time..

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

A day at CP

This is the memory of one memorable day at CP (Connaught Place) with ma and Mohit. So we met M at the Moti Nagar Metro Station and took the metro to Rajiv Chowk. What a station! Special because its the junction station where the 3 metro lines- red, green and blue meet. Very tidy, exceptional planning, ultra modern, doesnt seem you are standing in India. I was very very impressed. Got out from the Palika Bazaar exit and M dragged me to Thapar to buy some clothes. Then we moved to Keventers and shared a strawberry milkshake from the generation old joint. After that we went around in the CP Blocks window shopping. And then also visited 'Wengers' where we always used to buy the delicious cherry crumble cake every Christmas. And then inspite of the warnings from my mom and M , i ate the aloo chaat by the famous guy in block B corner. We 3 then went to Palika side and had some lemonade and then Mohit wanted to get a Langar being distributed outside Palika. He has this big obsession with Langars :-) . But because of the long lines he gave up, although the Rajma Chawal smelled awesome. We took a round in Palika Bazaar then and i ended up buying a kurta. After that we were tired so we took the metro back to Dwarka and had a nice nap at home.
The day was so special as after long i hanged out in CP with my brother and mom.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Nameless

Waves of turmoil roar in the sea of thought,
and the roar so loud that i can't hear myself,
Thoughts seem entangled, words are caught.

Smoke of mystery cuts my breath,
desires conflict with one another,
like silence trying to break the shatter.

Yesterday and today are poles apart,
whats missing though is hard to spot.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Holiday Over

My Indian holiday came to an end yesterday with my departure from Delhi. Time just flew very fast. Wish i could have stayed there with my family longer! I didn't miss California even for a day during my stay and now i am at the Chicago airport waiting for my connecting flight to San Jose with a blank and tired mind :-) . From Monday back to the same work routine, although now i have got used to taking afternoon naps after a heavy lunch so need to break that cycle.

This holiday was quite special as i experienced quite a variety of things some of which were quite enriching for me as a person, also was the first time i was traveling with a job and not as a student, and it was after 2 years i was back in Delhi in the summer time with a huge variety of summer fruits we don't find in the western part of the world :-). Will write in detail about some of the special experiences in other posts.

Worth a mention this time, Delhi had atleast 500 new things to offer since i went there the last time 1.5 years back (500 is a bit of an exaggeration). Since the commonwealth games are scheduled to be held in Delhi in 2010, everything is going a major plastic surgery for the good! All attempts are being made to make Delhi a world class city by then. World class is a bit too much to achieve in another 2 years but still plenty of commendable changes have already taken place. Starting with the International airport which has only 2 runways and used to be in a pretty bad plight till last time, new construction is taking place and the whole airport has been privatised. The airport is being changed head to toe. I was quite surprised to see this time that the seating arrangements for the gates have been made much nicer and tidy. Nirulas, Subway, and other food joints have opened their outlests inside the terminal so there are plenty of food options available for hungry souls. Immigration/Emigration lines are somewhat messy as that part of the airport is undergoing construction right now and lines tend to grow very long but thats only a temporary thing seeing the other progress that has been made. The best is yet to come. An Airport Express Metro line is being made from Connaught Place to the Delhi Airport with checkins of baggages which will be done at CP itself! Thats really a big deal in a city like Delhi. Delhi Metro is one of the biggest and the most classy thing Delhi has got recently. Its serving the traffic problem of the city big time. I have travelled in the New York Subway and i must say that Delhi metro stations are much more cleaner, well planned and the train (coaches) itself is much better that the New York Subway. Every major road in Delhi has almost got a metro line running now so there is hardly a need to travel through car anymore. During my stay i traveled through the metro atleast 30 times. It was totally hassle free.
Well everything hasnt happened good, there are things which i also saw have gone bad in the last 1.5 years in Delhi which i will write about in my other posts in detail.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Kiran Bedi - Woman of substance

I guess everybody is familiar with this name. Kiran Bedi is India's first and highest ranking woman officer who joined IPS (Indian Police Services) and retired in 2007. She has served the IPS for over 35 years which predominantly has been a male dominated field if not now atleast till the last decade. And she hasnt been just another ordinary IPS officer but an extraordinary officer who has also represented India at UN, international forums, crime forums, women issues and what not. i just came to know yesterday that she retired in 2007. She is although still a very active social activist. I was just browsing about her biography, quite impressive. Born in Amritsar, Punjab, she was a simple girl who dared to take a tough job as IPS after doing her LLB from Delhi University. She married in a very unique way by going around the temple 7 times instead of the costly wedding customs. During her service, she was also the Inspector General Prisons of , Tihar Jail, Delhi- one of world's largest prison complexes. She did lot of reforms like spirituality, yoga, meditation for the prisoners which earned her magsaysay award.. Person worth reading about!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Welcome Monsoon, nostalgic of snow.

Monsoon showers drenched Delhi yesterday bringing in cool winds and pleasant temperatures. The fragrance from the mud after the first rain was still the same as it used to be 3 years back :-). Everything looks green and fresh after the first rain. This rain incidentally also reminded me of the first snowfall in Madison. We were in CAE, and a group of friends came and yelled its snowing outside. It was the first snowfall i had ever seen and all of us were extremely excited. We all went walking to State Street, in the snow to Taco Bell. We had a nice dinner and again came back walking to Engineering hall. Those days were fun! As far as i remember we were Me, Daphne, Bharathwaj, Rohit Malshe, Anand, Vishal mehta, Sunil Sunkara. Just 2 years in Madison has formed many many amazing memories which keep popping up now and then making those refreshing moments alive!.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

My Best Buddy

After a long time, i finally got to spend time with my best friend D today. It was nice talking and shopping together after one and a half years. D selected all my clothes which includes 8 T-shirts and 2 jeans, my shopping stock for the next one year. She reminded me of one of our golden childhood memories definitely worth a mention. We were in class 8 and we were best buddies :-). D suddenly changed her school in class 8. It was like a life change for me when she left the school and so for her. We used to miss each other a lot and i actually remember crying in the school and my class teacher explaining me that this is life and things like these happen, we should get used to it. Me and D used to wait for our schools to get over, get back home and talk to each other over the telephones. Our conversations were always a big source of business for MTNL! We used to chat for hours together over the telephone. And then D did something incredible, she left the new school, pleaded to the principal of our old school and came back to my school in my class. The day she came back, there was a round of applause in the class for the two of us, for our friendship indeed! What a gem of a friend, a friend for a lifetime!
And today D and i had a wonderful time talking about our lives, sharing our thoughts, concerns and complexities. Cheers for you dear friend!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

More Experiences in Des

I encountered some resistance from my friend H who read my last post and thought i was being anti-Des. I just wanted to say that these posts about my experiences in India after being gone for 1.5 years are merely my expressions of happiness over things that have improved, disappointment over things that have deteriorated, desire over things that should change and unhappiness over things that never change. In my posts I am not trying to compare India with US as the countries are very different in every way and it would be like comparing apples with oranges. But i do express my opinion on certain things which have been copied from the West and implemented in a very inefficient way.
So i saw a movie Indiana Jones on PVR. Awesome theatre. The theatres in Delhi are very superior to the ones where i went during my stay in US. Here in Delhi, the seats are much more comfortable, sound systems are better atleast by a factor of 5X and the screens are bigger. So far so good. I also took a ride in Metro to Dwarka. Delhi metro is undoubtedly a class apart, a very well implemented network, convenient, clean. Kudos to the Delhi people who have maintained this asset neat and clean till now. I went to the Tilak Nagar Gurudwara and had an encounter with horrible traffic. There is absolutely no way pedestrians can walk on the crowded roads in Delhi ( most of them are crowded and pedestrians do walk). It took me a while to get back to the old ways of crossing roads by running and not expecting the vehicle coming to slow down or stop. People push, force their way and what not. This is something i really dont like and definitely want it to change but its like hoping against hope.
I also visited Big Bazaar and Reliance Fresh stores which are new built on the same concept as the grocery stores in the West. Unfortunately, these stores are extremely crowded and claustrophobic. The crowds push their trolleys all around and there is absolutely no space to move around. The product quality is not too good and vegetables and fruits are not too fresh. The billing takes extremely long and i saw some people just leave their stuff and leave the store after waiting for long in the billing queue. The average time per person in the billing was 10-15 mins. Huh! I have a small suggestion for these stores, they cant do much about crowds and their small areas as thats the case in any city in India but they must start an express lane for people who have lesser items so that they dont stand in the queues waiting so long for their turn.
They should also make their billing staff and computer systems more efficient to reduce the billing time per person.
Still more experiences both sweet and sour are going on...

Saturday, May 31, 2008

First Day in Desh

I landed yesterday night after a long long journey of over 24 hrs including the waiting times at the intermediate airports. Was finally glad to land and stretch my cramped legs. At Delhi, as i landed i was shocked to see an extremely long queue for immigration. In fact the queue was uptil the stairs which lead down to the immigration area. There were lot of folks who were pushing and forcing their way through the queues to get their immigration done soon. Well, thats how things work here, don't they? I waited and got my immigration done in 1 hour.Quite an experience. Then i headed towards the baggage claim area and got my 2 suitcases very quickly. Was relieved to see my baggages on time! Finally i was on my way home. The parking of the cars was as always disordered. I was expecting to see some change but hopefully will see somewhere. The new road built was pretty impressive from airport to Dwarka. It was a 4 lane road wide and nice just like the highways in US. I was home pretty soon. Today i went to the local market and sat on the rickshaw to go to another sector to buy some stuff. Quite an experience, well it does take some time to adjust to the traffic sense here. Rickshaws never stop on redlights. They squeeze their way through the narrowest bumpy side walks anywhere. It would really be good one day to see the traffic abiding by the traffic rules everywhere. I am sure i can no longer drive here as driving here means being careful not just for yourself but for every other vehicle driving around you and unexpected rickshaws and bicycles which can crop in any time. So first day a mix of both good and bad. Good because there are new big wode roads and bad because the traffic sense of people still remains the same.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Sunday evening by myself...


After a few hrs of work, i came back home at 5:30 in the evening today. With a totally empty stomach i attacked the aloo pakoras i made yesterday evening. Followed by that i had a combination of maggi tomato soup and maggi noodles - my favorite combination since i was a child. i sat for some time in my patio enjoying the cool breeze. So then i wanted to go for a walk around the community. I saw the full moon in the sky. I was totally taken by its beauty that i went home and got my camera and tripod and clicked some pictures of the moon..Here is one, Enjoy!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

What is Life...

What is life, is the most complex question, almost as complex as the origin of life and universe. Atleast there is a theory in place for origin and evolution of life- Darwin's theory, but there is none that defines 'What is life' from a human perspective. In the end both remain unanswered.

Today evening i drove down to the Golden Gate Bridge inorder to break the same daily routine of coming back home late from work followed by eating with Fred Flintstones on my TV and then sleeping. Although it was a thursday evening, i had the enthusiasm to go since its Friday tomorrow, finally! Yes, i am one of those who look forward for the weekend.

On my way to the bridge i saw the hills of San Francisco and the low black clouds hovering over them, which reminded me of the Mordor tower in Lord of the Rings :-), although there is nothing evil about these hills. Maybe just a little fantasy running across my brain after seeing the LOTR triseries last week. The moon suddenly peeping through the windshield brought an unexpected smile on my face. Well, these unexpected smiles are a must once in a while to get the blood pumping through your jaws. Finally i was at the GGB. Quite some people had turned out there, with their cameras to capture the bridge and the Sf city shining on the bay in the night. The first thing i noticed was the Big Dipper in the sky, visible very clearly. I was quite happy to recognize it.

And then i was doing what i had gone to GGB for. I just stood there looking at the calm ocean in the dark cuddled by the bay bridge, the city and the golden gate bridge. Looked like somebody had painted a painting in front of me. I was trying to find answers to the questions which keep cropping up in everybody's mind once in a while. What is life, and what do i want to do? Huh, thinking and thinking but no answers. And then i just looked in the distance and thought maybe this is what is life:

Traveling to the unexplored lands, far and distant never seen before, experiencing the wonders of the pristine nature untouched my man, musing and shocking yourself by composing a rhyme , singing a song long lost and forgotten, feeling the drops of rain, the colors of sunlight and the frail breeze on your face, seeing the stars twinkle in the dark sky, loving someone.
I dont know whether thats the answer or not but for now my soul is satisfied with these thoughts that came across my mind. But, not for long!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Bagalabath Recipe

I tried making the South Indian curd-rice or Bagalabath yesterday night. Quick and simple to make and tastes delicious. Being a North Indian, i didnt really know that curd-rice is typically eaten at the end of the meal. I actually ate it as a full meal with the gobhi-gajar-shalgam pickle. Awesome combo! Funny trivia is that since i only eat Basmati Rice, thats the only one i had at home so i made bagalabath with Basmati rice. My tamil friends were all laughing at this. Here is the recipe:

1. Make the rice in the microwave. Put some more water so that the rice are overcooked and can be mashed easily later.
2. In the mean time, take some ghee in a pan and heat. Add mutard seeds once the ghee is hot. Once the mustard seeds sputter add ginger, green chillies to the pan and mix. Now add curry leaves.
3. Take some seedless grapes and split them into halves. Add these to the pan mix. Also add a pinch of hing to this.
4. Once the rice are done, mash them and while mashing them add some milk to it. Once they are mashed, add curd . The amount of curd depends on the amount of sourness you like. So you can add more as you like.
5. Add the above rice-curd mix to the pan and garnish with very finely chopped coriander leaves.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

The old chocolate days!

I had a slice of a "Chocolate on Chocolate" cake today at Prolific Oven. Pretty delicious and ofcourse loaded with calories :-) . It reminds me of the exam days in Madison. I had Trader Joes , a block away from my apartment During the exams i used to eat huge portions of junk food. i used to walk down to the Trader Joes and buy a plethora of food items like veggie chips, my favorite pink lemonade soda, a big tub of salsa, veg cutlets, tandoori masala chips. One of my exam favorites were the chocolate cup cakes i used to buy at Trader Joes. Sitting whole day on the weekend in the apartment, i used to have a delicious feast with the cup cakes and other stuff..somehow eating used to get the exam stress off my mind..Those days were fun!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

This one is for you - Dadi..

Solitude is sometimes a good means to reconnect to your past. I generally go for a short walk after finishing lunch at work. I headed again today alone for a short walk. The thoughts which crossed my mind were of my childhood when I was blessed to have my dadi (grandmother) around. She was the most magical person for me ever. I remembered how i used to trouble her after coming back from school and she used to take everything with a smile. She was my best friend, confidant, my candy supplier and what not. She used to pack lunch for me everyday for school and used to give me a slice of my favorite home made pickle made by her in my lunch box. My mom never knew about it as she didn't like me eating too much of pickles which would lead to coughing. And then the summer vacations which i loved to spend with her. I remember hazily as i was in nursery or the next grade probably that time. She used to make mango ice cream and i used to wait impatiently for it to freeze opening the freezer every 20 mins. She used to put me to sleep for a short nap after lunch and i used to wake up and run back to her. I remember pulling her hair when she used to comb and climbing all over her on the sofa. She used to buy me those small toys which the guy on the road used to sell passing by our house every afternoon. She used to go to her cupboard, pull out some coins from her old tin can and buy me those small goodies. I don't remember she scolding me for anything ever, and i still wonder why as i was such a troublesome kid , especially I used to deliberately trouble her a lot. She was calm, sweet and adorable. She was the best and her memories will always be in my heart...

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Yummy Samosas

I believe that Delhi serves awesome chaat and samosas through its myriad restaurants, dhabaas and chaat corners. The samosas, chole bathure , pav bhaji and any other dishes used to be divine at most of the places i ate in Delhi. Especially Samosas used to be for evening snacks every other day and be present at every other party. The second part even applies to US. It was a pleasant shock for me when i saw samosas served at my first office party. Since then i have been expecting them at every office party and well that happens to be the case! But in terms of taste and closeness to the actual punjabi samosas i ate in Delhi, they were not too close. However this weekend i tried the punjabi samosas at Milan, a small restaurant on Abel Street in San Jose. This was the best i had in US so far. The taste was pretty close to Samosas i have had back home..So if you are looking for good samosas in San Jose, it might be a good try:
Milan Sweet Center:
296 S Abel St, Milpitas, CA

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Music - Mood Booster

What do you do when your mood is not that great? You seem not to be interested in anything. Music! I think its a great mood booster. One reason i think is that music pulls you away from the world or the present and takes you into a different land. It works for me! For me my mind doesnt sway towards the worries or the general stress while listening to my favorite music. I find myself immersed in the lyrics and the melody. So try it next time you need to energize your mood. I bet it would work!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Schindler's List

Its midnight past and i was trying to sleep since 11:00. Finally gave up and switched on my laptop. Before trying to sleep, i just finished watching Schindler's List , what a movie..I have been pretty bad with World War history so this movie was a huge bank of knowledge for me. I got to know a lot of things which I didnt know. The movie is an enactment of the true history, with nothing altered. Quite disgusting that these incidents actually happened. The movie would leave an impact on anyone, so it forced me to find out some more about the incidents shown in the movie. On searching the web I discovered some shocking facts about 11 million jews being murdered under Nazi regime and their sufferings. Such horrendous acts committed by man which are not justifiable under any plausible explanation, make me think what goes inside the minds of those individuals who commit these crimes. Cheers to Schindler who showed courage and humanity in those times.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Crazy imagination

Today while coming back from work, when i looked up at the sky it looks something like this:

The sky looks like a calm blue ocean. The clouds seem like ships sailing in the ocean, slowly and steadily around the world. The hills over which the clouds float look like rocks and ice bergs from a distance. The wind sails the ships of clouds through the sea of sky, and my thoughts.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Weekend Getaways and Activities in Bay Area

Although I haven't explored a lot of the gold country, here I list a few places I visited for weekend getaways and some adventure. I keep updating this list from time to time to add more places to it.

1. Yosemite National Park: This place also known as the crown jewel of California is definitely worth a visit atleast once every year. Summers, you can enjoy the waterfalls in the valley, camping and exploring the milky way in the night. The valley has some of the clearest and amazing views of the night sky.
2. Sequoia National Park: If you want to see giant trees ( you wont know how tall trees could be until you visit this place), this is the place. Beautiful and away from crowds, nice hiking trails and viewpoints. Has World's biggest trees. After returning from this place, i bet the typical trees we see everyday will appear as if plants compared to the giant Redwoods in Sequoia.
3. Big Sur Coastline: Just drive along the Highway 1 Big Sur coastline to see some of the vast romantic expanses of blue Pacific cuddled between small hills. Some of the most luxurious dining and living is available on this Coastline if you are upto it. Perfect for a drive on a clear day.
4. Big Basin: This state park is about redwood trees with nice hiking trails and picnic areas. Ideal for a day out. Stop for a coffee in the beautiful Saratoga downtown.
5. Los Altos downtown: Small and pretty, lots of local coffee shops. Good for spending the evening, window shopping and sipping some coffee other than starbucks.
6. If you want to see the snow: in winter on a rainy day just drive upto the hill of castle rock state park. If you are lucky you will get to see snow there.
7. Sausalito: A small and pretty meditteranean village on the other end of the golden gate bridge on 101N. Has some wonderful and rejuvenating views of the Bay.
8. Santa Cruz boardwalk: A getaway for evening, beach and a boardwalk if you want to play some games and do some stuff.
9. Clock Tower, San Francisco: You can go around the ferry building, or just around that area, or take a cruise from ferry building to Sausalito.
10. Half Moon Bay: You can see a beautiful sunset on this beach. Nestled in the hills, a nice getaway for a day. The downtown is also worth seeing by a casual walk.
11. Walk the Golden Gate: On a clear day you can walk or bike on the golden gate bridge for a nice exercise and some great views of the bay.
12.Mount Hamilton- Lick Observatory: If you are in a mood for some adventurous driving then a 12 mile winding road only 12-13 feet wide for both lanes leading to the summit of Mt Hamilton, where the world's largest refracting telescope is housed in an observatory might be a nice destination for you.
13.Palomarin Trail, Point Reyes- This Hiking trail has spectacular views of the ocean on one side and hills on the other. You can also see the Stinson beach in the distance.
14.Bike the Bay- This can be one of the most rewarding experiences. Rent a bike from Fisherman's Warf and bike along the Bay , Marine Drive, over Golden Gate into Sausalito. Its an over 10 mile bike with beautiful views of the bay. On the way back you can take a ferry back to Embarcadero.
15.Breakfast Sunday in the city (San Francisco): How about a nice lazy Sunday brunch in the city. A nice hash brown sandwich at the family run Art's Cafe or Mama's cafe can give your Sunday the right lazy start that we all need once in a while. The city is always buzzing with life, and there is nothing better than a Sunday brunch there.
16. Mt. Madonna, Hanuman Mandir: Want to do some yoga or meditation to elate your spiritual powers? Mt Madonna center is the ideal place, nestled in Gilroy hills away from noise, traffic and crowd.
17.Uvas Canyon Park: Beautiful state park, with lots of lady beetles, waterfalls, rolling green hills, creeks. Perfect for pikniking and some short hikes.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Quarter Life Crisis

Maybe everybody goes through it. Thats what i have concluded after talking to some my friends who are also as confused as me or maybe even more. I think we can call it Quarter life crisis and I would put it as, it happens to the thoughtful twenty-somes who like to retrospect, circumspect, plan ahead or just think too much. Here i list some of the symptoms of this disorder (maybe).:

1. You think you were much happier as a student as you had lesser responsibilities. Since now school is over , you have to be responsible whether you want or not which makes you think you are growing older and soon going to be one of those colleagues at work swamped with responsibilities of work and family. This is what you always feared.

2. Did i make the right choice in my career? Most of the days at work you think, did i think i would be doing this one day in my life. All these years , was i preparing to do this or i might have been much better off if i would have made the other choice. Should i continue with this. Is this what gives me happiness. The usual fight between happiness and being practical. Doing what you like is one thing and doing something from which you can earn a good livelihood is another. Now its time to be practical? maybe.

3. What am i doing, whats my purpose, all these questions might haunt you many times. you might always think, what do i actually want in life? You want to figure out that answer but you know its a very difficult thing to figure out.

There are many more things to list out but those are the ones at the top of my mind. .

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Cooking Blues

There are many things which we are typically fond of which are also a part of our daily activities. For instance cooking. I am quite fond of cooking, trying to make new recipes and eating healthy and delicious self cooked food. Well its worth the effort since I am the one who has to eat it after cooking. But i wonder why once every couple of months it becomes a matter of just survival -cook something quickly to get done with it. Huh! , i am right now going through that time. Just till last week i was so enthusiastic about cooking , and now nope! just cook something in minimum time. although i am sure, it wont last long, i will soon be back to action. Maybe because these days I am quite busy due to work and non work reasons. And also maybe always cooking just for yourself is boring beyond a point. Last but not least maybe I am bored of eating my style, got exhausted with the stuff i cook and need some change for some time. In such times I am a big fan of chipotle burritos and Pizzas..sounds yummy..

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Big Sur-Paradise on Earth

This weekend i spent a day and a half in Big Sur, the central coastline of California between Carmel and Hearst Castle. Fortunately it was a bright and sunny day and i started my Saturday with a delicious breakfast at River Inn. The Big Sur river just flows by River Inn Cafe. A very relaxing place to read or just sit and do nothing. Followed by that on highway 1 , i saw some of the most beautiful views on this planet ( from the little what i have seen so far). The huge Pacific is always seen on one side of the road, changing colors during the day and with the angles on the road. At one of the places near Henry Miller memorial library on the way to Pfeiffer beach, i saw a huge spread of white fog captured between the hills above the ocean. This was one of the most majestic sights. The water in the ocean sparkling in the sun was immersed in this spread of fog. It seemed like the land, sea and sky were blending into one another. Pfeiffer beach was a deserted and beautiful beach with hills on one side of the beach along with a few huge rocks. The ocean roaring through the rocks seemed eager to reach the hills, the tides were quite high. After Pfeiffer beach I saw some more scenic views on the historic highway including the Big Sur bridge on one side of a huge cliff above the ocean. Big Sur has a few state parks, but i didnt visit any of them this time. I havnt even explored one tenth of this beautiful expanse of land, ocean and sky, so have to go again soon!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Atlantis launch hopefully today

NASA is going to launch Atlantis (hopefully today , if everything goes fine) from Florida. The mission is to install the new European space lab 'Columbus' on the International Space Station. ISS is a joint project of 16 nations although US has been the major contributor so far. This is an astronaut mission today. It also reminds me of the Columbia disaster which happened on Feb 1, 2003 which had Kalpana Chawla among other 7 astronauts on board. Well how dangerous these things can get, but still man is constantly lured by the excitement of exploration irrespective of the accompanying dangers.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Space Tourism - Business or could mean something else?

Today morning i was listening to the news on CNN when they showed that Richard Branson of 'Virgin' along with some other business partner is going to launch a space tourism jet by the end of the year. The jet will carry 6 passengers to outer space along with 2 crew members. The price is targeted to be 200,000$ per passenger. Sounds like a great business plan for Virgin who are ready to invade the outer space. Well there are 2 sides to this. This program which will be a cup of tea for the affluent will enable people to travel to outer space. There are already 200 passengers from different countries who are signed up for the program. However the other side to this is that man has started putting his footsteps in space for commercial purposes. Where would it lead to? It has been seen in the past , that wherever man goes he brings with him pollution, acts which harm the nature and destroys peace. This is not too far if we dont stop our rapid invasion of space. I think space should be kept for research and exploration as much as possible and not for commercial use. This will help maintain the sanity and peace of space.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Tangy Honey Kissed Baked Potatoes

INGREDIENTS:
-Potatoes
-Honey
-Mustard Seeds
-Ginger
-Black Pepper
-Red Chillie Powder
-Turmeric Powder
-Salt
-Cooking Oil

RECIPE:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small rectangles.

2. Take some cooking oil in a pan and heat. Once it is hot, put some mustard seeds in the oil.They will sputter. Now add some turmeric powder, ginger juice, black pepper and red chillie powder,salt to it. Mix them and heat for sometime. Now add one table spoon of honey to this and mix to form a glaze.

3. Coat the potato pieces with the glaze and spread them on an aluminium foil to bake.

4. Once baked, garnish them with coriander leaves. Serve hot. Enjoy the spicy and tangy flavor.