Well this was a little something I have been pondering over for a really long time. Thought I would blog about the same but everytime I decided to pen my thoughts (or rather type them out here), some stupid project/assignment submission kept getting into the way. Now that the 1st semester is finally behind me, I finally have some time to put this post together.
General norm... you do not say you love your friend. You say you like your friend. You will say "I love my friends" in general but will never say "I love ...." as in you will never take a specific name. I wonder why. Why the double standards? You can say "I love my mom", "I love my sister", "I love Tommy (your dog)" but why can't anyone ever bring himself to say "I love ABC", ABC being your best friend. I mean is that person not as important to you as any of the others. Does he/she not deserve the same treatment as the rest? Why is the word always associated with a romantic angle whenever it is used in conjunction with a name.... Just something embedded in people's heads?
There have been so many occasions when I have seen people judiciously steering clear of the word. Even if they accidentally use the word "love" the disclaimer "as a friend" is soon to follow. And when I witness this exchange more often than not I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Should I blame society for this distinction? Or the sheer narrow mindedness of people?
Society has anyways provided a means by which even by using the word "love" we can distinguish between the romantic aspect and the non romantic aspect. For the romantic aspect you can always use the phrase "in love" and English anyways provides a pretty vast set of words which can be used to express this. Yet if the word "love" is used for a friend, it gets misinterpreted. So one has to resort to saying "I like ABC" even thought he knows that deep down he has strong feelings of affection and trust for that person, enough to qualify him for the other word. So when you say you love some family member or someone close, aren't you pretty much talking about a similar level of affection and trust? Then why are friends not entitled to a similar treatment?
I personally feel that "like" is perhaps too mild a word to capture the real depth of feelings associated with the word "love". Can you think of saying "I like my mom"? Hell no. Agreed that all friends do not reach that depth but as and when if one friend does, he is still never promoted to the "love" level.
I know I cannot change the way the world thinks and nor do I intend to. Though I do wish that someday's people's outlook would change and they will learn to accept their true feelings for their close friends.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The first snow...
I was walking down Forbes Avenue towards the main campus, completely flustered about an upcoming mid term examination in a rather difficult course. I was sure I was not going to do well and it would pull my grades down. The smile had been wiped off my face. I had just spoken to my father and was feeling bad that I couldn't wish him "Happy Birthday" at 12 am sharp IST.
Suddenly I felt something cold landing on my lip. Confused, I looked up. And there it was! Snow flakes descending from the grey overcast skies above... all around me. It was a beautiful sight. Just a flurry... some random snow flakes here and there. I looked around completely mesmerised. I forgot that I had been worried about an examination. Suddenly I looked at my watch and realised I had to reach within the next 8 minutes... Increased my speed but kept looking around every now and then. But now there was a huge smile on my face...
This is what the first snow can do to you....
Suddenly I felt something cold landing on my lip. Confused, I looked up. And there it was! Snow flakes descending from the grey overcast skies above... all around me. It was a beautiful sight. Just a flurry... some random snow flakes here and there. I looked around completely mesmerised. I forgot that I had been worried about an examination. Suddenly I looked at my watch and realised I had to reach within the next 8 minutes... Increased my speed but kept looking around every now and then. But now there was a huge smile on my face...
This is what the first snow can do to you....
Saturday, August 12, 2006
The Epic Journey to Pittsburgh......
This is gonna be 1 loooong post n took me ages to write.... It has been put together for the benefit of those who wished to read a detailed account of my messed up journey to Pittsburgh... For all those who are deterred by the length, please scroll down to the next post.... ;-)
When it began : Aug 6, 2006 5.20 pm IST
When it ended : Aug 8, 2006 2 pm EST ( 11.30 pm IST)
It was a bright sunny afternoon... Oh no Oh no! How can it sound so nice? It was a cold wet afternoon when the whole of Mumbai and parts of Pune were facing the onslaught of a severe thunderstorm. And the rains showed no signs of letting up. Right since morning I had received several phone calls n messages from my future classmates warning me about the deteriorating conditions in Bombay and advising me to leave early, since I had to travel by road from Pune to Sahar Airport.
Finally left for Bombay at 5.20 pm. This leg of the journey was reasonably uneventful. Visibility was low but thankfully the driver was good. So no problems. Made a pit stop at a Food mall and then went on our way. Made it to Bombay by around 9 pm and then started hunting for an eatery nearby. Finally thanks to directions from Arpan, located a Pizza Hut and had my last meal with my parents (for now) and then went on my way.
Reached Sahar Airport Terminal 2C at around 11.30 pm. In a group of 12 people, I was the 8th to arrive. Amidst a lot of commotion and tears, we finally embarked upon what eventually became an epic journey.
Got the bags shrink wrapped, checked in and completed the immigration formalities. Then waited in a snaking queue for security check. Just when we were about a few meters from the entrance, an airport official hollered "All passengers going by AI 111, please sit down. Your security check will be later on" Aaaaaargh! How frustrating! We went and sat down in the lounge and waited for our friends to join us. Finally at around 2.45 am our flight number was announced and we proceeded for security check.
Boarded the aircraft, a Boeing 747-400 at around 3.15 am and our wait began. It was past 3.40 am, the scheduled departure time and the aircraft demonstrated no signs of budging even an inch. Finally the plane took off at 5 am and we were on our way to Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.
By around 5.30 am all of us were fast asleep but AI stewards chose to serve breakfast then.. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! What a pain!!!Amdist a lot of abuses n frowns we finished the food and got set to go back to sleep. But alas! That was not meant to be. We fastened our seat belts as the plane started landing. We reached Delhi and waited for the Delhi bound passengers to disembark. After that we all gathered around and chatted for a while and some of us shifted here and there as the cleaning was in progress. After about 40 min or so, we got back into our seats and waited for the other passengers to board the aircraft. Soon the remaining passengers were in their seats and all hopes of flying comfortably in an almost empty plane were shattered... :-(
Anyways, we waited and waited in the aircraft yet another time. Heard strange sounds and then there was a power cut. Looked like Air India was trying to remind us one last time that power cuts do happen anywhere on Indian soil. After a further delay of about half an hour the flight took off and we were finally en route to London.
Reached Heathrow after some 7-8 hours which we tried to sleep through but failed miserably because everytime we kinda managed to sleep we were served food and then more food. Uffff! Anyways, had to deplane with our handbags for aircraft cleaning and security reasons. Went around a whole circle, while gaping at the awesome duty free oh-so-perfect-for-window-shopping stores. I was stunned to see a board where some security instructions were in Gujarati. Felt like telling the airport folks that Hindi is the national language, not Gujarati (no offence to Gujjus but this was too much to digest!) Thankfully we travelled a few days before the London bomb fiasco so did not face the kind of problems others did. Anyways, boarded the supposedly cleaned plane and waited to get going again.
Alas, the Delhi episode repeated itself... This time more noises and a longer power cut. Finally the craft took off and we were on our way to John F. Kennedy International Airport, NYC. Another last ditch attempt to sleep.. but luck would not allow it. More food... more beverages and some lousy movies made sure I was up.
Landed at JFK on Aug 7, 2006 at 5 pm local time. Got off the plane and waited in a loooong queue for immigration. Finally it was my turn... I approached the officer with my I-20, passport, I-94 and some sheet for customs where I had to declare what I was carrying. He checked it, scribbled an A on that customs form, signed and stamped my I-20 and I-94 and I was on my way... or at least that's what I thought. Collected all three humungous bags which were pretty easy to identify because of the shrink wrapping and then waited for my other not so lucky friends to collect their bags. Once all 12 of us were set, we decided to push off for our connecting Delta flight. At this point the significance of the A marked on my customs form became obvious as I was asked to go to the Agriculture section since I was carrying some food stuff. Airport officials chose to check my cabin bag and 1 suitcase which had nothing. I smiled gleefully, came to the other end with my trolley (for which I had to pay $3 by the way), and then my struggle to put the bags back on the trolley began. The airport official there, seeing my condition offered to help and I gladly took his assistance. Meanwhile, Janhavi, who was also flying with me, was not so lucky. She had to open her suitcase and show them what she was carrying. Finally they were satisfied and both of us started walking towards a pair of huge doors leading to the arrival lounge and the elevators which we were to take for connecting flights. With a looot of struggling I managed to push my trolley out and from the corner of my eye saw Janhavi struggling to find her ticket. Meanwhile we had completely lost track of the remaining 10 cartoons we were travelling with. I waited for Janhavi to come out for quite some time. Then started looking around for the rest... didn't wanna miss the flight. By that time I felt I was lost in that huuge airport with less than an hour left for my connecting Pittsburgh flight. My trolley, loaded with 3 32 kg (actually all of them weighed more than the allowed quantity :-P) bags and my 12 kg handbag was extremely difficult to maneuver. Anyways, after a few minutes of hunting around I finally found some of my friends and with a sigh of relief I went and joined them.
Went up to the 3rd level from where I was supposed to take the shuttle/train to Terminal 3. The train came in a couple of minutes. 2 of my friends boarded and just when I was trying to push my trolley onto the train, the wheel got caught in the groove and just when I (with help from others) had managed to free the same, the door began to close. I had no option but to stare helplessly at the train and my friends as it sped off to the other terminal. Anyways after an agonizing 10 minutes wait, given that it was a race against time courtesy the AI delay and the long queue at immigration, the train came and this time my friend and I managed to board it. Reached the terminal and then made our way to the Delta counter which was a little far off and required a lot of walking. My 3rd bag kept falling off the trolley every few minutes and my friend Hardik and I had to keep putting it back in place. Uff!
At the Delta counter I checked in and got my boarding pass. It was 7 pm and the flight was in 30 min time. We rushed through the security check and reached the gate at around 7.15 pm. Rushed to the lady near the gate and asked her if the Pittsburgh bound Delta flight had started boarding yet. She flashed me a polite but thoroughly bored smile and asked me to wait. At around 10 minutes past the scheduled time, the flight started boarding. Sanchita and I burst into a grin after seeing the size of the airplane which we were to take. But our smiles disappeared when we had to hand in our cabin bags with our precious documents because they were too big for the overhead lockers. Anyways, we boarded the plane, fastened our seatbelts and waited to get going on the last leg of our journey. Alas, this was not meant to be this smooth.....
We waited for almost an hour... and the plane showed no signs of planning to take off. Finally the pilot apologized for the delay caused by ATC and taxied to the runway. Just when the plane seemed to pick up speed and (we thought) gear up for take off, it came to a halt. After another hour the pilot's voice crackled on the PAS, stating that there may be some delay owing to the heavy traffic caused by 1 non operational runway at JFK. Optimistic as I am, I thought things would be sorted out soon. Another hour passed by. Some of us had already begun to doze off. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the pilot made the announcement we were dreading... He stated that the flight had been timed out or in other words cancelled since it was sitting on the runway for 3 hours. After an additional hour we reached the terminal, completely dejected. It was 12.30 am and we were starving and tired, having gone several hours without food and sleep. Alas, our woes were far from over....
We reached the Delta counter only to find out that our group had been split up and some of us were not even confirmed. After requesting them to put us all on the same flight, this was where our final itinerary stood. LGA (for those uninitiated that's La Guardia airport, the 2nd airport in NYC, about 18 miles from JFK) to Cincinnati at 6.30 am and then from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh at 12.45 pm. Pretty crazy eh?
Anyways, we requested Delta folks to provide us with accommodation and transportation from JFK to LGA but they refused. By then we did not even have the energy to argue any further. We just took the number of the cab service and then went to the baggage claim area to collect our bags.
It was 2 am. The 11 of us started hunting for our bags in the huge baggage claim area. The fortunate few, including me, found all our bags and waited for the rest. There was one security personnel sitting at one end of the room. Those who couldn't find their bags went to him for help but in vain. Finally someone somewhere (ok... honestly I don't quite remember the details here...) mentioned that perhaps the missing bags had been put on the Atlanta bound flight which did take off and these would reach Pittsburgh the next morning. Yikes! Poor Pooja lost all three bags of hers and several others had 1-2 bags missing. We sat there... hungry, sleepy and dejected, with some of us (including me) sitting on the conveyor belt. The only bright spot were the theplas supplied by Jayini, which fyi, the American immigration officials confused for mangoes. :-P Finally around 4 am we called for cabs and mentioned to them that we have around 35 bags. Around 5 am a huge van and a large car arrived outside the baggage claim area. We piled into the van with help from the drivers.
After speeding through the city in the dead of the night, we reached La Guardia Airport in about 30 minutes. The airport was buzzing with activity. After waiting for a loooong time and finally checking in our bags, we proceeded towards security check. Finally at around 6.20 am we were through with the formalilties and while we were running towards the gate for boarding we could hear our names being announced on the public address system. We apologised and boarded the aircraft. Found our seats and sunk into the same after placing our cabin bags in the overhead lockers. Thankfully this flight took off and a beautiful air hostess served us drinks which we sipped happily and then dozed off to sleep.
Reached Cincinnati on time (for once) and then trooped out of the aircraft. By that time we had no energy to even drag ourselves, leave alone our cabin bags. After some amount of walking, reached a lounge and collapsed into the seats. Then went and bought some sandwiches for breakfast from Starbucks. The poor vegetarians had no choice but to drink hot chocolate at McDonalds. After breakfast we went and freshened up (which included brushing our teeth too... lol!). Met an American lady who asked us whether we have been travelling for a long time to which we responded with an affirmative. This was the first proof that we indeed looked tired by then. She then asked whether we were from India and when we said yes to this too, she gave a huge smile and said "Welcome to America". That sure felt really nice....
This time, with ample time in hand, we went and patiently waited near the designated gate for the Pittsburgh bound flight. Had a mini photo session there. After some time we got on board and thus embarked on the last leg of the journey. This was pretty uneventful. I sat listening to music throughout the complete duration of the flight, while occasionally peering out of the window to catch the first glimpses of Pittsburgh. And then I saw.... Scattered buildings amidst lush greenery. Greenery wise no comparison with Cincinnati, but beautiful nevertheless. I was absolutely excited. I paused my mp3 player and just stared out... mesmerized by the view of my new home. It was a fantastic feeling.
After the 55 hour long haul from Pune, I was finally at my destination, namely, Pittsburgh. There was a huge smile on everyone's face and everyone had just one thing to say "Finally we've reached". The excitement was oh so evident. It was almost like an achievement, a battle that we had survived. And at that point it felt as though all the efforts were worth it... And with this the saga ended as we parted ways and departed for our new homes.
When it began : Aug 6, 2006 5.20 pm IST
When it ended : Aug 8, 2006 2 pm EST ( 11.30 pm IST)
It was a bright sunny afternoon... Oh no Oh no! How can it sound so nice? It was a cold wet afternoon when the whole of Mumbai and parts of Pune were facing the onslaught of a severe thunderstorm. And the rains showed no signs of letting up. Right since morning I had received several phone calls n messages from my future classmates warning me about the deteriorating conditions in Bombay and advising me to leave early, since I had to travel by road from Pune to Sahar Airport.
Finally left for Bombay at 5.20 pm. This leg of the journey was reasonably uneventful. Visibility was low but thankfully the driver was good. So no problems. Made a pit stop at a Food mall and then went on our way. Made it to Bombay by around 9 pm and then started hunting for an eatery nearby. Finally thanks to directions from Arpan, located a Pizza Hut and had my last meal with my parents (for now) and then went on my way.
Reached Sahar Airport Terminal 2C at around 11.30 pm. In a group of 12 people, I was the 8th to arrive. Amidst a lot of commotion and tears, we finally embarked upon what eventually became an epic journey.
Got the bags shrink wrapped, checked in and completed the immigration formalities. Then waited in a snaking queue for security check. Just when we were about a few meters from the entrance, an airport official hollered "All passengers going by AI 111, please sit down. Your security check will be later on" Aaaaaargh! How frustrating! We went and sat down in the lounge and waited for our friends to join us. Finally at around 2.45 am our flight number was announced and we proceeded for security check.
Boarded the aircraft, a Boeing 747-400 at around 3.15 am and our wait began. It was past 3.40 am, the scheduled departure time and the aircraft demonstrated no signs of budging even an inch. Finally the plane took off at 5 am and we were on our way to Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.
By around 5.30 am all of us were fast asleep but AI stewards chose to serve breakfast then.. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! What a pain!!!Amdist a lot of abuses n frowns we finished the food and got set to go back to sleep. But alas! That was not meant to be. We fastened our seat belts as the plane started landing. We reached Delhi and waited for the Delhi bound passengers to disembark. After that we all gathered around and chatted for a while and some of us shifted here and there as the cleaning was in progress. After about 40 min or so, we got back into our seats and waited for the other passengers to board the aircraft. Soon the remaining passengers were in their seats and all hopes of flying comfortably in an almost empty plane were shattered... :-(
Anyways, we waited and waited in the aircraft yet another time. Heard strange sounds and then there was a power cut. Looked like Air India was trying to remind us one last time that power cuts do happen anywhere on Indian soil. After a further delay of about half an hour the flight took off and we were finally en route to London.
Reached Heathrow after some 7-8 hours which we tried to sleep through but failed miserably because everytime we kinda managed to sleep we were served food and then more food. Uffff! Anyways, had to deplane with our handbags for aircraft cleaning and security reasons. Went around a whole circle, while gaping at the awesome duty free oh-so-perfect-for-window-shopping stores. I was stunned to see a board where some security instructions were in Gujarati. Felt like telling the airport folks that Hindi is the national language, not Gujarati (no offence to Gujjus but this was too much to digest!) Thankfully we travelled a few days before the London bomb fiasco so did not face the kind of problems others did. Anyways, boarded the supposedly cleaned plane and waited to get going again.
Alas, the Delhi episode repeated itself... This time more noises and a longer power cut. Finally the craft took off and we were on our way to John F. Kennedy International Airport, NYC. Another last ditch attempt to sleep.. but luck would not allow it. More food... more beverages and some lousy movies made sure I was up.
Landed at JFK on Aug 7, 2006 at 5 pm local time. Got off the plane and waited in a loooong queue for immigration. Finally it was my turn... I approached the officer with my I-20, passport, I-94 and some sheet for customs where I had to declare what I was carrying. He checked it, scribbled an A on that customs form, signed and stamped my I-20 and I-94 and I was on my way... or at least that's what I thought. Collected all three humungous bags which were pretty easy to identify because of the shrink wrapping and then waited for my other not so lucky friends to collect their bags. Once all 12 of us were set, we decided to push off for our connecting Delta flight. At this point the significance of the A marked on my customs form became obvious as I was asked to go to the Agriculture section since I was carrying some food stuff. Airport officials chose to check my cabin bag and 1 suitcase which had nothing. I smiled gleefully, came to the other end with my trolley (for which I had to pay $3 by the way), and then my struggle to put the bags back on the trolley began. The airport official there, seeing my condition offered to help and I gladly took his assistance. Meanwhile, Janhavi, who was also flying with me, was not so lucky. She had to open her suitcase and show them what she was carrying. Finally they were satisfied and both of us started walking towards a pair of huge doors leading to the arrival lounge and the elevators which we were to take for connecting flights. With a looot of struggling I managed to push my trolley out and from the corner of my eye saw Janhavi struggling to find her ticket. Meanwhile we had completely lost track of the remaining 10 cartoons we were travelling with. I waited for Janhavi to come out for quite some time. Then started looking around for the rest... didn't wanna miss the flight. By that time I felt I was lost in that huuge airport with less than an hour left for my connecting Pittsburgh flight. My trolley, loaded with 3 32 kg (actually all of them weighed more than the allowed quantity :-P) bags and my 12 kg handbag was extremely difficult to maneuver. Anyways, after a few minutes of hunting around I finally found some of my friends and with a sigh of relief I went and joined them.
Went up to the 3rd level from where I was supposed to take the shuttle/train to Terminal 3. The train came in a couple of minutes. 2 of my friends boarded and just when I was trying to push my trolley onto the train, the wheel got caught in the groove and just when I (with help from others) had managed to free the same, the door began to close. I had no option but to stare helplessly at the train and my friends as it sped off to the other terminal. Anyways after an agonizing 10 minutes wait, given that it was a race against time courtesy the AI delay and the long queue at immigration, the train came and this time my friend and I managed to board it. Reached the terminal and then made our way to the Delta counter which was a little far off and required a lot of walking. My 3rd bag kept falling off the trolley every few minutes and my friend Hardik and I had to keep putting it back in place. Uff!
At the Delta counter I checked in and got my boarding pass. It was 7 pm and the flight was in 30 min time. We rushed through the security check and reached the gate at around 7.15 pm. Rushed to the lady near the gate and asked her if the Pittsburgh bound Delta flight had started boarding yet. She flashed me a polite but thoroughly bored smile and asked me to wait. At around 10 minutes past the scheduled time, the flight started boarding. Sanchita and I burst into a grin after seeing the size of the airplane which we were to take. But our smiles disappeared when we had to hand in our cabin bags with our precious documents because they were too big for the overhead lockers. Anyways, we boarded the plane, fastened our seatbelts and waited to get going on the last leg of our journey. Alas, this was not meant to be this smooth.....
We waited for almost an hour... and the plane showed no signs of planning to take off. Finally the pilot apologized for the delay caused by ATC and taxied to the runway. Just when the plane seemed to pick up speed and (we thought) gear up for take off, it came to a halt. After another hour the pilot's voice crackled on the PAS, stating that there may be some delay owing to the heavy traffic caused by 1 non operational runway at JFK. Optimistic as I am, I thought things would be sorted out soon. Another hour passed by. Some of us had already begun to doze off. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the pilot made the announcement we were dreading... He stated that the flight had been timed out or in other words cancelled since it was sitting on the runway for 3 hours. After an additional hour we reached the terminal, completely dejected. It was 12.30 am and we were starving and tired, having gone several hours without food and sleep. Alas, our woes were far from over....
We reached the Delta counter only to find out that our group had been split up and some of us were not even confirmed. After requesting them to put us all on the same flight, this was where our final itinerary stood. LGA (for those uninitiated that's La Guardia airport, the 2nd airport in NYC, about 18 miles from JFK) to Cincinnati at 6.30 am and then from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh at 12.45 pm. Pretty crazy eh?
Anyways, we requested Delta folks to provide us with accommodation and transportation from JFK to LGA but they refused. By then we did not even have the energy to argue any further. We just took the number of the cab service and then went to the baggage claim area to collect our bags.
It was 2 am. The 11 of us started hunting for our bags in the huge baggage claim area. The fortunate few, including me, found all our bags and waited for the rest. There was one security personnel sitting at one end of the room. Those who couldn't find their bags went to him for help but in vain. Finally someone somewhere (ok... honestly I don't quite remember the details here...) mentioned that perhaps the missing bags had been put on the Atlanta bound flight which did take off and these would reach Pittsburgh the next morning. Yikes! Poor Pooja lost all three bags of hers and several others had 1-2 bags missing. We sat there... hungry, sleepy and dejected, with some of us (including me) sitting on the conveyor belt. The only bright spot were the theplas supplied by Jayini, which fyi, the American immigration officials confused for mangoes. :-P Finally around 4 am we called for cabs and mentioned to them that we have around 35 bags. Around 5 am a huge van and a large car arrived outside the baggage claim area. We piled into the van with help from the drivers.
After speeding through the city in the dead of the night, we reached La Guardia Airport in about 30 minutes. The airport was buzzing with activity. After waiting for a loooong time and finally checking in our bags, we proceeded towards security check. Finally at around 6.20 am we were through with the formalilties and while we were running towards the gate for boarding we could hear our names being announced on the public address system. We apologised and boarded the aircraft. Found our seats and sunk into the same after placing our cabin bags in the overhead lockers. Thankfully this flight took off and a beautiful air hostess served us drinks which we sipped happily and then dozed off to sleep.
Reached Cincinnati on time (for once) and then trooped out of the aircraft. By that time we had no energy to even drag ourselves, leave alone our cabin bags. After some amount of walking, reached a lounge and collapsed into the seats. Then went and bought some sandwiches for breakfast from Starbucks. The poor vegetarians had no choice but to drink hot chocolate at McDonalds. After breakfast we went and freshened up (which included brushing our teeth too... lol!). Met an American lady who asked us whether we have been travelling for a long time to which we responded with an affirmative. This was the first proof that we indeed looked tired by then. She then asked whether we were from India and when we said yes to this too, she gave a huge smile and said "Welcome to America". That sure felt really nice....
This time, with ample time in hand, we went and patiently waited near the designated gate for the Pittsburgh bound flight. Had a mini photo session there. After some time we got on board and thus embarked on the last leg of the journey. This was pretty uneventful. I sat listening to music throughout the complete duration of the flight, while occasionally peering out of the window to catch the first glimpses of Pittsburgh. And then I saw.... Scattered buildings amidst lush greenery. Greenery wise no comparison with Cincinnati, but beautiful nevertheless. I was absolutely excited. I paused my mp3 player and just stared out... mesmerized by the view of my new home. It was a fantastic feeling.
After the 55 hour long haul from Pune, I was finally at my destination, namely, Pittsburgh. There was a huge smile on everyone's face and everyone had just one thing to say "Finally we've reached". The excitement was oh so evident. It was almost like an achievement, a battle that we had survived. And at that point it felt as though all the efforts were worth it... And with this the saga ended as we parted ways and departed for our new homes.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Speech is silver, silence is golden
Popular saying but for a chatterbox like me, this is not even remotely applicable, though I'm sure people reading this would beg to differ.. They are probably saying "Ok.. when is she gonna shut up n let me speak????"
Ah well... today I shall not be talking about the non existant "Mute" button on me but my perennial panga with the same on electronic gadgets around me. My journey begins when I was a toddler and could just about manage to walk, with occasional stumbles. My parents had bought a lovely Sony music system and were sitting right in front of it and investigating the same. Dad fished out a cassette of ABBA (ok ok.. obviously I don't remember these tiny details hence bluffing to make this post a li'l more interesting/believable... but the cassette part is true since I've heard this story several times) and placed it into the player. Then with an expectant/excited look on their faces, Dad hit the "Play" button. But to their dismay they couldn't hear a thing. Dad and Ma exchanged worried glances and quickly discussed "Yes.. it's a new set so within warranty.. We can easily get a replacement". Dad, the engineer that he is, decided to investigate. Took his face closer to the player and checked... Yes it was indeed playing. But then why couldn't they hear anything? He was probably one step away from opening it up when they realised that the tiny "Mute" button was down. Parents were obviously zapped because they distinctly remembered NOT hitting that button. So they started looking around for a possible explanation when they happened to see me in my usual mastiful mood standing quite close by. And there I was the culprit... whose tiny hand had shot out right past them and hit the button.
Fast forward to my engineering days (coz nothing noteworthy happened in between). Sumedh, Anshula, Suvrat and Indranil had come over to my place to work on the ADTL (Application Development Tools Laboratory) project. This was sometime towards the end of Third Year as far as I can remember. Anyways, after a tiring day of designing and coding we started fooling around. Sumedh sat with dad's pipe in his mouth (empty by the way.. he just wanted the feel of it). I got my webcam out and recorded a bunch of videos of all of us goofing around. After that we played all the videos, but to our dismay they were all silent. I was zapped. I remembered using the microphone built into my monitor. But why was it not working??? After a lot of pondering I finally attributed this to the installation of Windows XP on my home PC because the last memory of the working mic was when I had the eternally crashing/hanging Windows ME on my machine. After a few months my dealer paid me a visit with a new keyboard etc (ok people this time I ain't bluffing... I actually remember) and very indignantly I told him that the microphone had stopped working and that it should be replaced. The fella gave me an incredulous stare and then opened the advanced volume panel from the little icon on the taskbar. And there it was.... the culprit. A little green tick in the tiny checkbox below the microphone symbol and next to 1 teensy weensy word "MUTE". Man did I feel stupid or what!!!
Alas, my list of dumb acts does not end here. I have a lovely headset which I use at home. It has a long wire and allows me to walk around and sometimes even lie down on my bed while I am talking to someone. OK.. strayed enough. So getting back to the point... I connected my headset to talk to a friend. The Google Talk call went through. We started off with rounds of "hello".. "Hulllllllo" "Anybody home?" "Knock knock" "can you hear me?" etc. I could distinctly hear my friend but not vice versa. Thought something was wrong with my PC. Hence rebooted my machine. But in vain. I verified the settings several times to ensure I was not repeating an old error. Even tugged and then connected the wires back. Finally I was convinced that the microphone of my beloved headset had conked off. Dejectedly I made the switch... office working headset with mic with the one I use at home. A couple of days down the line, ond fine day (honestly like any other day), I happened to be listening to music while working parallelly. I was toying with the wire when I felt the little control panel. I looked down curiously and saw a little black button on it. I brought it closer to my eyes and realised that the button was pushed to one side and next to were the 4 now familiar letters M U T E. Baaaah! Another feather to my "Dunce" cap for sure.
Well these were the most memorable(actually the only) Mute pangas that I can recall as of now... Will update you guys when I have more related stupidities to write about. So till then Sayonara and have a nice day!
Ah well... today I shall not be talking about the non existant "Mute" button on me but my perennial panga with the same on electronic gadgets around me. My journey begins when I was a toddler and could just about manage to walk, with occasional stumbles. My parents had bought a lovely Sony music system and were sitting right in front of it and investigating the same. Dad fished out a cassette of ABBA (ok ok.. obviously I don't remember these tiny details hence bluffing to make this post a li'l more interesting/believable... but the cassette part is true since I've heard this story several times) and placed it into the player. Then with an expectant/excited look on their faces, Dad hit the "Play" button. But to their dismay they couldn't hear a thing. Dad and Ma exchanged worried glances and quickly discussed "Yes.. it's a new set so within warranty.. We can easily get a replacement". Dad, the engineer that he is, decided to investigate. Took his face closer to the player and checked... Yes it was indeed playing. But then why couldn't they hear anything? He was probably one step away from opening it up when they realised that the tiny "Mute" button was down. Parents were obviously zapped because they distinctly remembered NOT hitting that button. So they started looking around for a possible explanation when they happened to see me in my usual mastiful mood standing quite close by. And there I was the culprit... whose tiny hand had shot out right past them and hit the button.
Fast forward to my engineering days (coz nothing noteworthy happened in between). Sumedh, Anshula, Suvrat and Indranil had come over to my place to work on the ADTL (Application Development Tools Laboratory) project. This was sometime towards the end of Third Year as far as I can remember. Anyways, after a tiring day of designing and coding we started fooling around. Sumedh sat with dad's pipe in his mouth (empty by the way.. he just wanted the feel of it). I got my webcam out and recorded a bunch of videos of all of us goofing around. After that we played all the videos, but to our dismay they were all silent. I was zapped. I remembered using the microphone built into my monitor. But why was it not working??? After a lot of pondering I finally attributed this to the installation of Windows XP on my home PC because the last memory of the working mic was when I had the eternally crashing/hanging Windows ME on my machine. After a few months my dealer paid me a visit with a new keyboard etc (ok people this time I ain't bluffing... I actually remember) and very indignantly I told him that the microphone had stopped working and that it should be replaced. The fella gave me an incredulous stare and then opened the advanced volume panel from the little icon on the taskbar. And there it was.... the culprit. A little green tick in the tiny checkbox below the microphone symbol and next to 1 teensy weensy word "MUTE". Man did I feel stupid or what!!!
Alas, my list of dumb acts does not end here. I have a lovely headset which I use at home. It has a long wire and allows me to walk around and sometimes even lie down on my bed while I am talking to someone. OK.. strayed enough. So getting back to the point... I connected my headset to talk to a friend. The Google Talk call went through. We started off with rounds of "hello".. "Hulllllllo" "Anybody home?" "Knock knock" "can you hear me?" etc. I could distinctly hear my friend but not vice versa. Thought something was wrong with my PC. Hence rebooted my machine. But in vain. I verified the settings several times to ensure I was not repeating an old error. Even tugged and then connected the wires back. Finally I was convinced that the microphone of my beloved headset had conked off. Dejectedly I made the switch... office working headset with mic with the one I use at home. A couple of days down the line, ond fine day (honestly like any other day), I happened to be listening to music while working parallelly. I was toying with the wire when I felt the little control panel. I looked down curiously and saw a little black button on it. I brought it closer to my eyes and realised that the button was pushed to one side and next to were the 4 now familiar letters M U T E. Baaaah! Another feather to my "Dunce" cap for sure.
Well these were the most memorable(actually the only) Mute pangas that I can recall as of now... Will update you guys when I have more related stupidities to write about. So till then Sayonara and have a nice day!
Saturday, June 10, 2006
The final hurdle...
Now that I had the admit, there was only one thing that stood between me and my dream... the visa. It's a well known saying that when you are destined for something then all the forces conspire to make that come true. And that's what happened in my case too...
Without much ado, I shall now launch into an account of how things proceeded during my visa interview...
Since my parents were acompanying me, I had taken the VFS lounge service. Morning went to that place at around 8.20 am for the scheduled interview at 9.30 am. Waited n waited n waited.. Finally at around 9.40 am the bus came to transport us to the consulate. Apparently the embassy was running behind schedule. Eventually we were allowed in at 10.30 am, after waiting in the light drizzle for sumtime.
After the usual stuff (read security check n collecting the DS forms et al), I stood in the queue for the finger printing part. One chap hurriedly came n told all of us... "keep your hdfc receipt etc in.. u don't need that now." Now clumsy as I am... I struggled to open the piano folder with 1 hand and just when i felt good about having achieved the superhuman feat... SRRRR.........CRASH!... Okay.. for those uninitiated that is the sound of my docs landing on the floor and finally the complete folder. I hurriedly bent down to pick everything up... in the process the sequence of docs to be placed inside the passport was messed up. Anyways, I finally entered the booth in front of counter number 3 to be greeted by an American lady and an Indian dude who was assisting her. That chap got a little irritated to see that the olive green (or yellow as they actually call it) envelope was below the passport and not inside it... (grrr!) and said "Had it not been for the long queue, i wud've sent u back"... I flashed a sheepish grin and mumbled "Actually my docs had fallen down"
Anyways, so I placed my left hand index finger on the scanner and after a few rounds of "Press a leeetle more" from the american lady, she concludes that my finger is too dry. The chap rapidly wiped my finger with wet tissue, dried it on a piece of brown paper and attempted it again.. this time no problemo. Next right hand index finger... no problems here too. Soon I settled down in the waiting area.
Within 5 minutes or so the fella at counter 7 hollers my token number. I went and stood in the queue... the 3rd person there. I craned my head and saw an American gentleman sitting out there. So I looked at my watch and practised to myself "Good morning Sir"... Anyways, the 1st chap is done within a few seconds and exited with a huge smile on his face. Then the 2nd met the same fate and now it was my turn and here's how it went (while the chap was furiously typing away at his terminal).
VO: Token please
Me: (i hand it over and then realise i haven't greeted him)
Me: Good Afternoon... (fumble as i look at my watch)...ooops I mean Good Morning Sir
VO: (smiles) Good Morning (i look around feeling like a complete idiot)
VO: (mumbles sumthing)
Me: I beg your pardon
VO: Which university?
Me: Carnegie Mellon University
VO: Why this university?
Me: Primarily because of my area of specialisation....
VO: What specialisation? (doesn't let me complete)
Me: Information security Sir. There are v few univs that offer that course and carnegie mellon is the best
VO: (looks ok with the answer) So, where else have you applied?
Me: (I launch into the list and barely get 3-4 names out and I get the next question)
VO: So where have you been working?
Me: IBM India Software Labs
VO: (Now he looks interested and happy) Where?
Me: Pune
VO: What are you doing there?
Me: I am working as a software engineer (pause... then realising that the VO wants more details I continue)... I have been working on a security product Tivoli Access Manager for Business Integration
VO: Ok.. so who's financing you?
Me: My father and my grandparents
VO: What does your father do?
Me: He's (post) in (company)
VO: (now the VO seems impressed) Where?
Me & VO in unison: Pune
VO: Have you been to US before?
Me: No
VO: (mumbles sumthing abt passport delivery that i didn't hear and then says the magic words) Enjoy your trip!
I trooped outta the room with a huge smile on my face and left the consulate... Wondering how simple it was in hindsight and how I wasted time preparing that folder that I didn't even open....
Wasted my time the entire afternoon and finally at around 4.30 went back to the VFS to collect my passport. Got it finally at 5.30 pm....
So with this I crossed the final hurdle and I came home at 12 am and the first thing I did was change my status message on different messengers to "CMU Here I come... nothing can stop me now"
So CMU Here I come!!!
Without much ado, I shall now launch into an account of how things proceeded during my visa interview...
Since my parents were acompanying me, I had taken the VFS lounge service. Morning went to that place at around 8.20 am for the scheduled interview at 9.30 am. Waited n waited n waited.. Finally at around 9.40 am the bus came to transport us to the consulate. Apparently the embassy was running behind schedule. Eventually we were allowed in at 10.30 am, after waiting in the light drizzle for sumtime.
After the usual stuff (read security check n collecting the DS forms et al), I stood in the queue for the finger printing part. One chap hurriedly came n told all of us... "keep your hdfc receipt etc in.. u don't need that now." Now clumsy as I am... I struggled to open the piano folder with 1 hand and just when i felt good about having achieved the superhuman feat... SRRRR.........CRASH!... Okay.. for those uninitiated that is the sound of my docs landing on the floor and finally the complete folder. I hurriedly bent down to pick everything up... in the process the sequence of docs to be placed inside the passport was messed up. Anyways, I finally entered the booth in front of counter number 3 to be greeted by an American lady and an Indian dude who was assisting her. That chap got a little irritated to see that the olive green (or yellow as they actually call it) envelope was below the passport and not inside it... (grrr!) and said "Had it not been for the long queue, i wud've sent u back"... I flashed a sheepish grin and mumbled "Actually my docs had fallen down"
Anyways, so I placed my left hand index finger on the scanner and after a few rounds of "Press a leeetle more" from the american lady, she concludes that my finger is too dry. The chap rapidly wiped my finger with wet tissue, dried it on a piece of brown paper and attempted it again.. this time no problemo. Next right hand index finger... no problems here too. Soon I settled down in the waiting area.
Within 5 minutes or so the fella at counter 7 hollers my token number. I went and stood in the queue... the 3rd person there. I craned my head and saw an American gentleman sitting out there. So I looked at my watch and practised to myself "Good morning Sir"... Anyways, the 1st chap is done within a few seconds and exited with a huge smile on his face. Then the 2nd met the same fate and now it was my turn and here's how it went (while the chap was furiously typing away at his terminal).
VO: Token please
Me: (i hand it over and then realise i haven't greeted him)
Me: Good Afternoon... (fumble as i look at my watch)...ooops I mean Good Morning Sir
VO: (smiles) Good Morning (i look around feeling like a complete idiot)
VO: (mumbles sumthing)
Me: I beg your pardon
VO: Which university?
Me: Carnegie Mellon University
VO: Why this university?
Me: Primarily because of my area of specialisation....
VO: What specialisation? (doesn't let me complete)
Me: Information security Sir. There are v few univs that offer that course and carnegie mellon is the best
VO: (looks ok with the answer) So, where else have you applied?
Me: (I launch into the list and barely get 3-4 names out and I get the next question)
VO: So where have you been working?
Me: IBM India Software Labs
VO: (Now he looks interested and happy) Where?
Me: Pune
VO: What are you doing there?
Me: I am working as a software engineer (pause... then realising that the VO wants more details I continue)... I have been working on a security product Tivoli Access Manager for Business Integration
VO: Ok.. so who's financing you?
Me: My father and my grandparents
VO: What does your father do?
Me: He's (post) in (company)
VO: (now the VO seems impressed) Where?
Me & VO in unison: Pune
VO: Have you been to US before?
Me: No
VO: (mumbles sumthing abt passport delivery that i didn't hear and then says the magic words) Enjoy your trip!
I trooped outta the room with a huge smile on my face and left the consulate... Wondering how simple it was in hindsight and how I wasted time preparing that folder that I didn't even open....
Wasted my time the entire afternoon and finally at around 4.30 went back to the VFS to collect my passport. Got it finally at 5.30 pm....
So with this I crossed the final hurdle and I came home at 12 am and the first thing I did was change my status message on different messengers to "CMU Here I come... nothing can stop me now"
So CMU Here I come!!!
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Dream --> Reality... All in a day...
Well... to be very honest my last post was a tiny bit incomplete... as in I didn't divulge why after so many years I was getting my passport rectified and all. But now I suppose would be the right time to reveal what really has been going on in my life for the last few months, since that fateful day in March when it sorta changed forever...
By now I suppose some eyebrows are raised (kinda reminds me of that msn emoticon.. can just about visualise it), while close friends have started chuckling "Aah.. finally she comes out with it." Sharmistha, yeah yeah.. you can start yelling and telling people about what you've been yearning to broadcast for a long time.
The day : 22nd March, 2006
Time : 0800 hours
Place : My bedroom....
Ok.. more raised eyebrows and flying imaginations... STOP! Don't let your thoughts wander.. I shall explain.
Getting back to the story, it was 8 in the morning, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping outside my window. It was a beautiful Spring morning but my mood was as dark as the nimbus clouds filling the skies on a wet afternoon in the Amazon jungles. I woke up groggily as my alarm clock created a racket. My mom comes in gingerly and waits near the footboard.. trying to gauge how I was doing, given the fact that I was miserable the previous night and had been very very upset... Ok, given the fact that I mentioned "bedroom" and am now talking about a "bad night", I wonder what rubbish people's imaginations are churning out. Lol! Here's what had really happened. I had applied to several universities of USA for a Masters program in Computer Science/Information Security. It was the 3rd week of March and everyday and every night I used to pray fervently for that 1 mail/letter that would change my life but no luck till then. Honestly speaking I was miserable. Suvrat, Amit, Rohan(Shah) and Ameya consoled me that it was gonna come... my ticket to a new life in a fantastic university taking up courses in the area of my interest. But I was impatient and this was magnified by the fact that several friends of mine already had multiple good admits by then. Even people I didn't know personally seemed to be getting admits left, right and centre. I used to dread coming online coz I knew I was gonna meet someone or the other who would say "Btw so-and-so got an admit from so-and-so university.. amazing eh?" Anyways, 21st March was when I got my first reject, from a university where I thought I would get through (Blame people who were cock sure and convinced me that I would). This brought back the terrifying memories of the previous year's application process and the fate I had met back then. I promised myself I wouldn't cry so I didn't but deep inside a river of sorrow had already begun to flow.
Ok.. now that I've built the scene, it's time for the curtains to rise. I sat in front of my computer without even brushing my teeth and turned my computer and modem on, something I had been doing ever since early February when universities start responding. I connected to the internet and then signed into Google Talk. I was sure things would remain as bad as they were. Well I was wrong... so wrong....
Anyways, as soon as I signed into the messenger, I started receiving the mail alerts at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. I had 3 new mails and the 1st one was what changed my life forever. It was a mail from one of my dream universities (and the only one that I had applied to) and I just managed to see as much as I could in that split second. It read something like "We are pleased to inform you". That's it! I knew this was what I had been waiting for all my life... ever since I comprehended the concept of going abroad for higher studies. This was what I had dreamt for for as long as I can remember. Anyways, the look on my face underwent an immediate change as I burst into a broad grin. Mom meanwhile was watching the proceedings and she realised that her prayers had been answered. My hand was shaking while I struggled to click on the Mail icon on the messenger. I had to read the complete mail after all. After about 5 seconds or what then seemed like an eternity, the page loaded and there it was.... I had my first admit and that too from the university where I had been yearning to go. None other than Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US of A!!!
I just managed to tell Ma what happened and then started laughing and crying... all at the same time. My brain stopped working. I didn't know whether to sit down or stand, dance or jump with joy, scream or just laugh. Mom gave me a hug and started crying as well... Guess if someone had caught all the water or tears Mom n I spilt all over our clothes and the floor, we could have probably filled several buckets. After a long time finally managed to regain my composure and started calling people with the news. Relatives and close friends who had always believed in me. Forwarded my admit mail to dear friends as well.
That day.. I couldn't stop smiling. People would've probably thought that I had slept with a hangar in my mouth the previous night. But as my mom rightly said that the reject the previous night added to the joy I experienced the next morning. So within a span of 12 hours I had experienced the nadir and the zenith of emotions. And once again my faith in the saying "Whatever happens, always happens for the best" was restored.
That day was a landmark in my life... The day that would change my life forever.... The day that took me 1 step closer to turning my dream into a reality......
By now I suppose some eyebrows are raised (kinda reminds me of that msn emoticon.. can just about visualise it), while close friends have started chuckling "Aah.. finally she comes out with it." Sharmistha, yeah yeah.. you can start yelling and telling people about what you've been yearning to broadcast for a long time.
The day : 22nd March, 2006
Time : 0800 hours
Place : My bedroom....
Ok.. more raised eyebrows and flying imaginations... STOP! Don't let your thoughts wander.. I shall explain.
Getting back to the story, it was 8 in the morning, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping outside my window. It was a beautiful Spring morning but my mood was as dark as the nimbus clouds filling the skies on a wet afternoon in the Amazon jungles. I woke up groggily as my alarm clock created a racket. My mom comes in gingerly and waits near the footboard.. trying to gauge how I was doing, given the fact that I was miserable the previous night and had been very very upset... Ok, given the fact that I mentioned "bedroom" and am now talking about a "bad night", I wonder what rubbish people's imaginations are churning out. Lol! Here's what had really happened. I had applied to several universities of USA for a Masters program in Computer Science/Information Security. It was the 3rd week of March and everyday and every night I used to pray fervently for that 1 mail/letter that would change my life but no luck till then. Honestly speaking I was miserable. Suvrat, Amit, Rohan(Shah) and Ameya consoled me that it was gonna come... my ticket to a new life in a fantastic university taking up courses in the area of my interest. But I was impatient and this was magnified by the fact that several friends of mine already had multiple good admits by then. Even people I didn't know personally seemed to be getting admits left, right and centre. I used to dread coming online coz I knew I was gonna meet someone or the other who would say "Btw so-and-so got an admit from so-and-so university.. amazing eh?" Anyways, 21st March was when I got my first reject, from a university where I thought I would get through (Blame people who were cock sure and convinced me that I would). This brought back the terrifying memories of the previous year's application process and the fate I had met back then. I promised myself I wouldn't cry so I didn't but deep inside a river of sorrow had already begun to flow.
Ok.. now that I've built the scene, it's time for the curtains to rise. I sat in front of my computer without even brushing my teeth and turned my computer and modem on, something I had been doing ever since early February when universities start responding. I connected to the internet and then signed into Google Talk. I was sure things would remain as bad as they were. Well I was wrong... so wrong....
Anyways, as soon as I signed into the messenger, I started receiving the mail alerts at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. I had 3 new mails and the 1st one was what changed my life forever. It was a mail from one of my dream universities (and the only one that I had applied to) and I just managed to see as much as I could in that split second. It read something like "We are pleased to inform you". That's it! I knew this was what I had been waiting for all my life... ever since I comprehended the concept of going abroad for higher studies. This was what I had dreamt for for as long as I can remember. Anyways, the look on my face underwent an immediate change as I burst into a broad grin. Mom meanwhile was watching the proceedings and she realised that her prayers had been answered. My hand was shaking while I struggled to click on the Mail icon on the messenger. I had to read the complete mail after all. After about 5 seconds or what then seemed like an eternity, the page loaded and there it was.... I had my first admit and that too from the university where I had been yearning to go. None other than Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US of A!!!
I just managed to tell Ma what happened and then started laughing and crying... all at the same time. My brain stopped working. I didn't know whether to sit down or stand, dance or jump with joy, scream or just laugh. Mom gave me a hug and started crying as well... Guess if someone had caught all the water or tears Mom n I spilt all over our clothes and the floor, we could have probably filled several buckets. After a long time finally managed to regain my composure and started calling people with the news. Relatives and close friends who had always believed in me. Forwarded my admit mail to dear friends as well.
That day.. I couldn't stop smiling. People would've probably thought that I had slept with a hangar in my mouth the previous night. But as my mom rightly said that the reject the previous night added to the joy I experienced the next morning. So within a span of 12 hours I had experienced the nadir and the zenith of emotions. And once again my faith in the saying "Whatever happens, always happens for the best" was restored.
That day was a landmark in my life... The day that would change my life forever.... The day that took me 1 step closer to turning my dream into a reality......
Thursday, May 11, 2006
What's in a name???
Well over the past ____ years (now a lady ain't supposed to give out her age), I've faced such a lot of trouble with my name that I felt it totally deserved a post... so here goes...
Well as long as I was in Calcutta not too many hassles with my name coz the surname or rather its spelling wasn't too uncommon or perhaps people didn't try to use their brains too much.
Anyways rewind to my initial few days at St. Mary's School, Pune. Chemistry class and our teacher Mrs. Dhawan decided to ask some questions before starting off with the lesson. She looked at me and said "Yes Abhilasha, tell me....." (Excuse me for not remembering the question... yeah I got an elephantine memory but I happened to Shift+Delete those details). Anyways, getting back to the topic at hand, since I did not know the girls in my class I had no idea that I was supposed to stand up and answer. I sat and started looking around, wondering why no one had stood up while the teacher was glaring at me. Then she bellowed "Yes you girl." Oh boy! I stood up and meekly said "Mam, my name is Rupsha." and then proceeded to give the answer. Here's another 1... this one at a History class conducted by dear Miss Khemlani. Here I am christened again. She wanted someone to come n read out the lesson... So she looks at me and says "Vipasha, why don't you come and read it out?" Ok.. history repeats itself.. but this fast? With a sense of deja vu I start looking around and wonder "Is my name this difficult to remember? Uncommon may be... but still!!!"
Well ICSE done... I got a lovely marksheet with no errors and went on to join Laxmanrao Apte Jr College for the 2 years leading up to HSC. Board exams approach and we receive our "Hall tickets". My name is called out, I go and receive mine, look down and give out a cry in dismay... My surname had been misspelt.. I was supposedly Rupsha ChOudhAri. I go upto the office and they cross check records and set it right, as in put a stamp and hand write the surname with correct spelling. Anyways, exams get over and it's time for the results. I had made it to the Merit List and was very excited. Amidst a ceremony featuring reporters et al, we receive our marksheets and once again, my surname had been misspelt. Baaah! Took close to 10 days to sort out that pickle with me having to convince the people at the board that I indeed knew the spelling of my own name.... Aah almost forgot! Same story for my college leaving certificate too with people arguing with me that the spelling I was telling was wrong. What the hell!
Well my history of messed up surname continued through engineering. First Year Sem 1 marksheet.. and I am told I am Rupsha ChaudhAri. Whoa! And soon I am at the receiving end of jokes as people start asking me when I married a friend Umesh Chaudhari... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! My smart a** friend Rohan told me that perhaps I really didn't know the spelling of my surname. Anyways, soon after in all competitions etc I started being given certificates with strange spellings... and I stopped correcting them. It was indeed a futile attempt. As long as the gender was right and the name came somewhat close to my actual name, I was happy.
Engineering continued smoothly namewise as marksheets were issued correctly sem after sem (of course I had other woes then with incorrect marks but may be more on that later). In my BE, I got placed with IBM and a few months later I receive my appointment letter. It was addressed to Miss Rupsha ChOudhAri. I let out a sound of sheer frustration but felt I was better off than my male friend Apoorva who had received a letter for Miss Apoorva Mehra and another female friend who's offer letter was addressed to Mr. Nishigandha Mahajan. Oh boy!!! So I sent the signed letter back adding a note about the incorrect spelling.
Another time I had gone for some competition with a friend. And while my partner was filling out the form, he first put down his own name and then when it came to my name, he wrote down my first name and his surname. I was like "Whoa! What are you doing dude?" He gave an embarrassed smile and scratched it out and started writing out what I thought was my surname. He lifted his pen and voila! It was his surname again. By that time he was so very embarrassed that he was burying his head under the table while mumbling that he was very sleepy and his brain had switched off. Finally gave him the benefit of doubt, took the form, used the whitener liberally and wrote my name myself... with no errors this time.
But things were not to end here. A few months later I got another letter from IBM, again with the same spelling. Again a note... and hoped it would work this time. In July I joined IBM and received my Lotus Notes ID... (Shishir n Siddharth.. not revealing the id here so don't get excited). Basically it was derived from Rupsha Choudhari. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! Soon after I realised that the payroll database also had the same entry. Now this was clearly not good since this meant I would not get any money. And that happened... July went by with no money being deposited in my bank account. :-( Finally after a month of following up with HR people and several others I got the issue sorted out.
Meanwhile my BE result was declared and we received our college leaving certificates. Mine was ChOudhAri... Popular spelling I must say! No wonder Rohan tells me to change it to that permanently. I went down to the Students' Section to battle this out. The lady told me that this was the entry in the college register. She pulled it out and it was ChOudhUri.. ok... 1 letter down 1 to go. So she meekly agreed to correct only 1 character. Now I told her it was A and not O. So she told me this was what it was in the earlier college leaving certificate. I said "Not possible ".. fyi.. for those who have forgotten the earlier part, I had already gotten that rectified 4 years ago. So from amidst a faaaaat bundle of college/school leaving certificates mine was pulled out n Voila! It was ChAudhUri. So reluctantly she rectified her mistake with a whitener and I came out with a triumphant smile.
Alas this was not the end of it.... This time a new hassle. After having used my passport for 7 long years, which even included a trip to Japan and exams like GRE, I realise that according to my passport I had no surname... Yes.. the surname field was blank and my first name was Rupsha Chaudhuri. Took another round of running around to fix that 1....
That's the sob story of my name upto now... Will update this story as n when I have more messes to report. Till then Cheerio!
Well as long as I was in Calcutta not too many hassles with my name coz the surname or rather its spelling wasn't too uncommon or perhaps people didn't try to use their brains too much.
Anyways rewind to my initial few days at St. Mary's School, Pune. Chemistry class and our teacher Mrs. Dhawan decided to ask some questions before starting off with the lesson. She looked at me and said "Yes Abhilasha, tell me....." (Excuse me for not remembering the question... yeah I got an elephantine memory but I happened to Shift+Delete those details). Anyways, getting back to the topic at hand, since I did not know the girls in my class I had no idea that I was supposed to stand up and answer. I sat and started looking around, wondering why no one had stood up while the teacher was glaring at me. Then she bellowed "Yes you girl." Oh boy! I stood up and meekly said "Mam, my name is Rupsha." and then proceeded to give the answer. Here's another 1... this one at a History class conducted by dear Miss Khemlani. Here I am christened again. She wanted someone to come n read out the lesson... So she looks at me and says "Vipasha, why don't you come and read it out?" Ok.. history repeats itself.. but this fast? With a sense of deja vu I start looking around and wonder "Is my name this difficult to remember? Uncommon may be... but still!!!"
Well ICSE done... I got a lovely marksheet with no errors and went on to join Laxmanrao Apte Jr College for the 2 years leading up to HSC. Board exams approach and we receive our "Hall tickets". My name is called out, I go and receive mine, look down and give out a cry in dismay... My surname had been misspelt.. I was supposedly Rupsha ChOudhAri. I go upto the office and they cross check records and set it right, as in put a stamp and hand write the surname with correct spelling. Anyways, exams get over and it's time for the results. I had made it to the Merit List and was very excited. Amidst a ceremony featuring reporters et al, we receive our marksheets and once again, my surname had been misspelt. Baaah! Took close to 10 days to sort out that pickle with me having to convince the people at the board that I indeed knew the spelling of my own name.... Aah almost forgot! Same story for my college leaving certificate too with people arguing with me that the spelling I was telling was wrong. What the hell!
Well my history of messed up surname continued through engineering. First Year Sem 1 marksheet.. and I am told I am Rupsha ChaudhAri. Whoa! And soon I am at the receiving end of jokes as people start asking me when I married a friend Umesh Chaudhari... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! My smart a** friend Rohan told me that perhaps I really didn't know the spelling of my surname. Anyways, soon after in all competitions etc I started being given certificates with strange spellings... and I stopped correcting them. It was indeed a futile attempt. As long as the gender was right and the name came somewhat close to my actual name, I was happy.
Engineering continued smoothly namewise as marksheets were issued correctly sem after sem (of course I had other woes then with incorrect marks but may be more on that later). In my BE, I got placed with IBM and a few months later I receive my appointment letter. It was addressed to Miss Rupsha ChOudhAri. I let out a sound of sheer frustration but felt I was better off than my male friend Apoorva who had received a letter for Miss Apoorva Mehra and another female friend who's offer letter was addressed to Mr. Nishigandha Mahajan. Oh boy!!! So I sent the signed letter back adding a note about the incorrect spelling.
Another time I had gone for some competition with a friend. And while my partner was filling out the form, he first put down his own name and then when it came to my name, he wrote down my first name and his surname. I was like "Whoa! What are you doing dude?" He gave an embarrassed smile and scratched it out and started writing out what I thought was my surname. He lifted his pen and voila! It was his surname again. By that time he was so very embarrassed that he was burying his head under the table while mumbling that he was very sleepy and his brain had switched off. Finally gave him the benefit of doubt, took the form, used the whitener liberally and wrote my name myself... with no errors this time.
But things were not to end here. A few months later I got another letter from IBM, again with the same spelling. Again a note... and hoped it would work this time. In July I joined IBM and received my Lotus Notes ID... (Shishir n Siddharth.. not revealing the id here so don't get excited). Basically it was derived from Rupsha Choudhari. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! Soon after I realised that the payroll database also had the same entry. Now this was clearly not good since this meant I would not get any money. And that happened... July went by with no money being deposited in my bank account. :-( Finally after a month of following up with HR people and several others I got the issue sorted out.
Meanwhile my BE result was declared and we received our college leaving certificates. Mine was ChOudhAri... Popular spelling I must say! No wonder Rohan tells me to change it to that permanently. I went down to the Students' Section to battle this out. The lady told me that this was the entry in the college register. She pulled it out and it was ChOudhUri.. ok... 1 letter down 1 to go. So she meekly agreed to correct only 1 character. Now I told her it was A and not O. So she told me this was what it was in the earlier college leaving certificate. I said "Not possible ".. fyi.. for those who have forgotten the earlier part, I had already gotten that rectified 4 years ago. So from amidst a faaaaat bundle of college/school leaving certificates mine was pulled out n Voila! It was ChAudhUri. So reluctantly she rectified her mistake with a whitener and I came out with a triumphant smile.
Alas this was not the end of it.... This time a new hassle. After having used my passport for 7 long years, which even included a trip to Japan and exams like GRE, I realise that according to my passport I had no surname... Yes.. the surname field was blank and my first name was Rupsha Chaudhuri. Took another round of running around to fix that 1....
That's the sob story of my name upto now... Will update this story as n when I have more messes to report. Till then Cheerio!
Sunday, April 16, 2006
A Ladies' Day
Hello ppl! Back blogging after close to 2 whole months. Kya karoon.. life got kinda boring in between plus an appendectomy ain't sumthing I would enjoy writing about.. so in short had nothing much to report...
Today, I have decided to do something zara hatke.. Ha ha.. For once I am not gonna bore u guys with my IBM stories. A Ladies Night as u know, is a popular concept. Well, given Pune's horrible public transport system and our parents fear of us daughters not getting back on time, we decided to make it a Ladies' Day... And boy did we have a blast!
To begin some of us went to Pune Central in order to shop for a friend's birthday gift. As usual, we didn't get the gift early... bang on the day of the treat sabko jhatka laga. The shopping part surprisingly didn't take too long even tho the gift shopping team included someone who I would call a big pain to shop with.. He he.. no offence Sharmistha! It is incredibly difficult to satisfy her. But surprisingly within a very short span of time (I guess 30 min to 1 hour is very li'l time if 3 girls are shopping.. no kidding!). Swapna being Swapna was attracted to a red top which the rest of us vetoed. Again no hard feelings girl! Anyways, just when we were about to leave, we saw this Revlon free make up thing. Well, abhi free hai so letting the opportunity go would be sheer stupidity... We all thought that but felt awkward going and actually inquiring. Finally Sharmistha went n found out. I bought a lipstick (which fyi, my mom accidentally broke later) and we decided to get our so called makeovers done. Nothing much really.. some basic make up accompanied with beauty tips.
Following this we went to Gold Adlabs, via Baker's Basket (to pick up a delicious blackforest cake of course.. Yummm!) and met Yogita there. After contemplating on which movie to watch, we realised no movie showing was worth shelling out any cash on even tho I was enthusiastic enuff to watch any movie. So we just got that pencil sketch ish photograph/portrait thing done after we saw that machine there, which pretty much adorns all malls off late. We went in and saw a Sunsilk hair make over thing there. Sharmistha got very excited since she had seen the advertisements on TV. Swapna and I volunteered to become guinea pigs. My hair was anyways looking ghatiya, so I thought "Heck! Why not get a free hair wash?" So the both of us trooped in. Well it wasn't really a make over or restyling.. All they did was wash our hair and blow dry it partially. :-( But as long as it was free, no worries, eh?
After a scrumptous meal at Yana's where we also went through the traditional cake cutting ceremony, which also included us smearing the icing on Yogita's face, we decided to spend some time in Yogita's apartment. When we reached there, we realised that the area had no electricity but that could not stop us high spirited gals. We settled down on the mattresses and chatted away. Swapna entertained us with a dance performance while Yogita paraded around in a bunch of new clothes. Boy it was fun and yeah yeah, as guys would call it, totally "Girlie!" But hey, we were a bunch of gals after all and not too often we get to do anything girlie! Anyways, after sometime, we went out for ice creams or rather sundaes (so much for my diet ha ha!) and then parted ways.
I came home at around 7 pm with a huge smile on my face. The entire day had been a huge success and at some level I was actually happy that the guys had been unable to join us due to certain reasons. Sorry if I offended u guys... but sometimes it sure is great to have a Ladies' Day Out!!!
Today, I have decided to do something zara hatke.. Ha ha.. For once I am not gonna bore u guys with my IBM stories. A Ladies Night as u know, is a popular concept. Well, given Pune's horrible public transport system and our parents fear of us daughters not getting back on time, we decided to make it a Ladies' Day... And boy did we have a blast!
To begin some of us went to Pune Central in order to shop for a friend's birthday gift. As usual, we didn't get the gift early... bang on the day of the treat sabko jhatka laga. The shopping part surprisingly didn't take too long even tho the gift shopping team included someone who I would call a big pain to shop with.. He he.. no offence Sharmistha! It is incredibly difficult to satisfy her. But surprisingly within a very short span of time (I guess 30 min to 1 hour is very li'l time if 3 girls are shopping.. no kidding!). Swapna being Swapna was attracted to a red top which the rest of us vetoed. Again no hard feelings girl! Anyways, just when we were about to leave, we saw this Revlon free make up thing. Well, abhi free hai so letting the opportunity go would be sheer stupidity... We all thought that but felt awkward going and actually inquiring. Finally Sharmistha went n found out. I bought a lipstick (which fyi, my mom accidentally broke later) and we decided to get our so called makeovers done. Nothing much really.. some basic make up accompanied with beauty tips.
Following this we went to Gold Adlabs, via Baker's Basket (to pick up a delicious blackforest cake of course.. Yummm!) and met Yogita there. After contemplating on which movie to watch, we realised no movie showing was worth shelling out any cash on even tho I was enthusiastic enuff to watch any movie. So we just got that pencil sketch ish photograph/portrait thing done after we saw that machine there, which pretty much adorns all malls off late. We went in and saw a Sunsilk hair make over thing there. Sharmistha got very excited since she had seen the advertisements on TV. Swapna and I volunteered to become guinea pigs. My hair was anyways looking ghatiya, so I thought "Heck! Why not get a free hair wash?" So the both of us trooped in. Well it wasn't really a make over or restyling.. All they did was wash our hair and blow dry it partially. :-( But as long as it was free, no worries, eh?
After a scrumptous meal at Yana's where we also went through the traditional cake cutting ceremony, which also included us smearing the icing on Yogita's face, we decided to spend some time in Yogita's apartment. When we reached there, we realised that the area had no electricity but that could not stop us high spirited gals. We settled down on the mattresses and chatted away. Swapna entertained us with a dance performance while Yogita paraded around in a bunch of new clothes. Boy it was fun and yeah yeah, as guys would call it, totally "Girlie!" But hey, we were a bunch of gals after all and not too often we get to do anything girlie! Anyways, after sometime, we went out for ice creams or rather sundaes (so much for my diet ha ha!) and then parted ways.
I came home at around 7 pm with a huge smile on my face. The entire day had been a huge success and at some level I was actually happy that the guys had been unable to join us due to certain reasons. Sorry if I offended u guys... but sometimes it sure is great to have a Ladies' Day Out!!!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Proud to be a COEPian.... and an IBMer....
Yesterday was an interesting day for me... I had gone to college to catch up with old friends. There was some event that was scheduled in the college auditorium in the afternoon. I had received an email the previous day about some inauguration there where IBM was supposed to receive an award. I knew it was going to be like one of those typical boring functions and was not even remotely interested in attending it... or at least that's what I thought... But somewhere deep down, I could hear a tiny voice about going to the college auditorium and attending this award function as a proud IBMer. I knew that COEP too was involved with the event and felt it may be a different experience to go there as an IBMer + an ex student of COEP.
Anyways, somehow I ignored this voice and went out with some friends. After hanging out with them for a while, we decided to part ways and go back home. I got into a rickshaw and told the driver my destination, i.e. home. Suddenly I found myself saying "Bhaiya, achchha wahaan nahi jaana. Thoda plan change hua, mujhe engineering college jaana hai... woh Shivajinagar wala...." That guy must've thought I've lost it....
Anyways, I went back to college, put on my IBM ID badge and strutted into the auditorium. On my way in I met someone I didn't know, who asked "IBM?" I nodded and said "Yes"... but after sometime I couldn't resist myself and added "Also an ex student of this college." Immediately the look on his face changed. It was more like "Oh WOW!". (Yeah yeah I know my English isn't particularly great... but couldn't come up with an abstract noun that embodied the feeling of "Oh wow!".... Also, my last 2 paragraphs start with "Anyways"... just saw but chhod!)
I am tempted to start this one with "Anyways" too... useful word when you tend to stray away as much as I do... Went in through the security check n all. Security was tight as the Chief minister was supposed to grace the occasion. I entered the crowded auditorium and luckily found a vacant seat. I looked at one direction and saw professors sitting together and students in uniform. I looked the other way and saw very senior employees of IBM, including the country head and all. Of course there were lots of other people too, but not worth mentioning in this particular post, what say?
The event had started before I entered, so I was just in time for the prize distribution. IBM received an award for excellence in IT. I applauded. It felt fantastic sitting in my college auditorium, where I had spent many memorable days practising for Firodiya etc, and seeing my current organization receiving an award. It was a proud moment. Then COEP received an award for excellence in education. I clapped even harder. I cannot even begin to describe how wonderful it felt. At that moment I realised how emotionally attached I was to the college even 7 months after I had graduated. People sitting around me looked at me in surprise, wondering why I was so excited about the college getting an award. They knew I was an IBMer thanks to the badge I was sporting and the bag I was carrying which said in bold letters "IBM Software Group India Software Lab". I just smiled, looked back at the stage where the Principal was receiving the award from the Chief Minister, and continued applauding.
Long time back, while we were still in college, I remember my friend Swapna getting all excited when Narayan Murthy, the Chief Mentor of Infosys, had received an award. She was placed with Infy and I thought she was crazy. Today, when I look back, I feel that perhaps she was not so crazy. Yesterday, I too felt as if I had received those 2
awards. It's a wonderful feeling that I belong to both organizations that were awarded.
I am indeed a proud COEPian and a proud IBMer!!!
Anyways, somehow I ignored this voice and went out with some friends. After hanging out with them for a while, we decided to part ways and go back home. I got into a rickshaw and told the driver my destination, i.e. home. Suddenly I found myself saying "Bhaiya, achchha wahaan nahi jaana. Thoda plan change hua, mujhe engineering college jaana hai... woh Shivajinagar wala...." That guy must've thought I've lost it....
Anyways, I went back to college, put on my IBM ID badge and strutted into the auditorium. On my way in I met someone I didn't know, who asked "IBM?" I nodded and said "Yes"... but after sometime I couldn't resist myself and added "Also an ex student of this college." Immediately the look on his face changed. It was more like "Oh WOW!". (Yeah yeah I know my English isn't particularly great... but couldn't come up with an abstract noun that embodied the feeling of "Oh wow!".... Also, my last 2 paragraphs start with "Anyways"... just saw but chhod!)
I am tempted to start this one with "Anyways" too... useful word when you tend to stray away as much as I do... Went in through the security check n all. Security was tight as the Chief minister was supposed to grace the occasion. I entered the crowded auditorium and luckily found a vacant seat. I looked at one direction and saw professors sitting together and students in uniform. I looked the other way and saw very senior employees of IBM, including the country head and all. Of course there were lots of other people too, but not worth mentioning in this particular post, what say?
The event had started before I entered, so I was just in time for the prize distribution. IBM received an award for excellence in IT. I applauded. It felt fantastic sitting in my college auditorium, where I had spent many memorable days practising for Firodiya etc, and seeing my current organization receiving an award. It was a proud moment. Then COEP received an award for excellence in education. I clapped even harder. I cannot even begin to describe how wonderful it felt. At that moment I realised how emotionally attached I was to the college even 7 months after I had graduated. People sitting around me looked at me in surprise, wondering why I was so excited about the college getting an award. They knew I was an IBMer thanks to the badge I was sporting and the bag I was carrying which said in bold letters "IBM Software Group India Software Lab". I just smiled, looked back at the stage where the Principal was receiving the award from the Chief Minister, and continued applauding.
Long time back, while we were still in college, I remember my friend Swapna getting all excited when Narayan Murthy, the Chief Mentor of Infosys, had received an award. She was placed with Infy and I thought she was crazy. Today, when I look back, I feel that perhaps she was not so crazy. Yesterday, I too felt as if I had received those 2
awards. It's a wonderful feeling that I belong to both organizations that were awarded.
I am indeed a proud COEPian and a proud IBMer!!!
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