The Live Christmas Blog

So, this is my first ever attempt at live-blogging. DW hates this idea, I'm super excited about it! As I understand, making mistakes while live-blogging is not frowned upon and I hope you will grant me that luxury here. The intent is to capture every moment as it happens and bring out candid emotions. Not adulterated with well thought out keying. The ones who follow this post over the next couple of days -- I know you care and I love you for it. Alrighty, here it goes --

Dec24, 11.03AM: I woke up late this morning after posting the Pre-Christmas blog. I hope you enjoyed the post. I am now gearing up for an unbelievable day of cooking. The menu is pretty ambitious --

1. Carrot Salad and/or Raita
2. Soups (Chicken noodle and Spring Veggie)
3. Pilsbury Savorings -- DW is very eager to try this out, I do not know what this is?
4. Veg. Biryani
5. Paneer Tikka -- or curry for a change.
6. Prawn Briyani
7. Chicken wings
8. Fish Cutlets
9. Cake -- DF Viju offered to bake this for us. Thank you!

I'll see you in a bit. Gotta get cooking!

Dec24, 11.55AM: I am done with marinating the prawns and set it aside in the refrigerator. Dear parents-in-law (DPIL) brought some tasty masalas  (spiced powders) from DW's home town (Mangalore), when they visited us over the summer. I religiously use them in addition to ginger-garlic paste (that I am an avid user of), some coriander chutney and a little salt to marinate. The potatoes are boiling at this time, who will later make their way into DW's fish cutlet recipe.

We are also exploring some recipes online. In the  past month, DW has been hooked onto this chef from VahReVah.com for cooking instructions. He makes cooking sound exciting. We will most likely use his recipe for Vegetable Biryani today. Anticipating a heavy cooking load, we bought the Oster food processor over the weekend to make things easy. It works like a charm and chops large onions in a few seconds.

I'll be baaak!

Dec24, 1.20PM: DW finished up with the Carrot salad (see picture). It tastes yummy! Also done with cutting onions. We had an SOS moment in between -- no Paneer in the refrigerator! DF Deep came to the rescue by graciously accepting my request to bring some Paneer along (from the Indian store) in the evening. I should be a matter of less than half-an-hour to make the Paneer Tikka. The chicken wings also should take no more than 15 - 20 minutes. I peeled off the  boiled potatoes and DW mashed them. We are now preparing the mix for the fish cutlets.

I will now step out for a little bit (Shoprite) to bring some vegetables for the biryani. Be right back!

Dec24, 3.45PM: Oh man, it took much longer than I had imagined. The holiday season traffic had completely clogged the roads in-and-out of the mall area. The weather isn't helping much either. It has been raining incessantly. The nice part about driving during the holiday season is that people tend to be more understanding than usual. But for the kind heartedness of two gentlemen (who let me into the mainline traffic), I would have been waiting at a stop sign for what seemed like eternity (happened in NJ, can you believe it?).

When I got back home, DW was done making the fish cutlets. I tasted one of them and absolutely loved it. I always knew that I made the right choice of a life partner. But, each time she  feeds me something like this, my belief becomes stronger. :) DW also set up "the crib" (see picture).

Alrighty, I gotta get cleaning and cooking now. DW is fuming!! Will key in more soon.

Dec25, 2.24AM: Merry Christmas!! DW says -- "May the good lord shower his choicest blessings on all of us". Keeping up with the live blogging is tough, especially when you have so many things happening around you. I cooked for 4.5 straight hours starting 5pm. We managed to complete all the dishes except Paneer Tikka (Sorry Viju!). No points for guessing the most popular dish of the evening -- DW's fish cutlets. Slurp!

DFs Deep, Viju and Swati came in at about 7pm. DFs Arvind and Akshay at about 8.30pm. And finally, DFs Ankit and Anand showed up at 10.30pm (they drove all the way from Boston). All of them brought along an ornament for the Christmas tree with them (see pictures).

          The Christmas Tree                         DF Swati's Ornament             DFs Viju and Deep's Ornament          DF Arvind's Ornament

    DF Akshay's Ornament                 DF Ankit's Ornament                                   Our Secret Santa gifts

We absolutely loved the ornaments that our DFs contributed to the Christmas tree this year. We plan to continually use these ornaments in the years to come. In a few years, will be able to associate each ornament on our tree with wonderful memories of Christmas with our DFs. This was actually suggested to me by an office colleague of mine, Arlene (Thank you!). What a wonderful way to make each Christmas, a special one? We clicked several pictures, which I will share with you soon. Tomorrow morning, we will open our "Secret Santa gifts" (see picture above). Cannot wait!!

Alrighty, I'm going to crash now. DW and I plan to attend the Christmas mass at the St. Joseph's Church tomorrow morning, at 9am. Merry Christmas again. I hope you have a wonderful time in the company of your family and friends. See you again tomorrow!

Dec25, 10.11AM: We woke up at 8am this morning and went to the Christmas mass. As always, DW dressed cool. We had DF Deep take a picture of us after we got back home. Check it out. We will be opening our Secret Santa gifts soon!!

Dec25, 10.40AM: We opened our Secret Santa gifts at last! DF Ankit bought me (Thank you!) "MLB 2008 - the show" and a memory card for our Play Station 2. DW received "Buzz - The Mega Quiz" for PS2 (thanks for recommending this game, DF Reggie) from DF Anand. We absolutely loved the gifts, thank you!

The other usual suspects loved their gifts too. If you still do not know who these "usual suspects" are (the ones I talk about often), here is a chance to put faces onto names. All of them with their respective gifts.

 

Opening my gift                     DF Viju and DW are thrilled!        DW's puppy-like excitement            DF Arvind a.k.a. Dada

 

DF Akshay a.k.a. Bhand                                         DF Swati a.k.a. Swats                                     DF Anand a.k.a. Pillari

          DF Deep a.k.a. Buzurg                                      DF Viju a.k.a. Ramky                                DF Ankit a.k.a. Boogdee

Christmas turned out to be a wonderful day, indeed. We played Buzz (DW's gift) all day long. We also decided to compete in a knock-out league amongst ourselves, which DF Ankit won (as usual). But mind you, DW and DF Swats were plenty smart. The beat us all in most of the match ups that followed.

Dec25, 7.30PM: In the evening, we assembled beside the Christmas tree and put together our latest home video. It is called -- "Dance Pe Chance Maarle", which literally translates to -- "Dance on Chance Hit-take", but supposed to mean -- "Take a chance on (try out) Dance". Check it out (click on image below). I hope you enjoy it! Let us know what you think?!

And finally, the week ended (yesterday) with an absolute miracle. Dear team (DT) E.A.G.L.E.S (you probably saw me wearing our team jersey in the Dance pe Chance video, above) made it through to the playoffs against all odds. They beat the Dallas Cowboys convincingly, 44 - 6. For the ones in India, who may not be able to comprehend the significance of this win; this is equivalent to India beating Pakistan (in Cricket) for Philadelphia American Football fans. Not only did we beat them, we deservedly secured a berth in the playoffs and ousted them from it. DF Arvind (my sporting BFF) and I were ecstatic! I am eagerly looking forward to their first playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings on Jan 4.

Alrighty all, I have to crash now. For a change, it is not 4AM in the morning, but 4PM in the afternoon. You may have already guessed (from above) that I haven't slept much in the past days. So, I am really looking forward to catching up on it. The usual suspects are now planning a road trip to Boston for the New Year celebrations, hosted by DF Ankit. Be assured that I will have a lot to key about soon.

See you all again, in 2009. I wish you a wonderful holiday season and a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious New Year ahead!

 

Pre-Christmas

Lethargy at its best; would be the most accurate description of my blogging mind set at this time. Honestly though, I have been busy. With what? Don't ask, because I don't know.  It is one of those times when nothing much gets done, but you feel busy as a bee. I cannot decide if it is bad time management or just too many appetizers on my plate.

Several significant events occurred since I last keyed in. A complete roller-coaster ride of emotions. We know that these are times of great uncertainty, yet there is hope.

First up. GOBAMA!!! Change has come to America! The Obama story is exactly, what the American dream is all about. Awe-inspiring! So much so, that it inspired a new blog out of DF Viju -- check it out. A few days  before the President-elect's victory, home team -- Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series (Baseball) for the first time since 1980. The team (of course) was felicitated amidst much fanfare, which I managed to partially follow over the Internet at work. DT Eagles (American Football) have had a checkered season and it seems unlikely that they will make it to the playoffs this year. Well, there is always a next time (hope -- remember?).

I turned 28 on Nov 10. The usual suspects were gracious enough yet again, to visit and celebrate with us. Unfortunately, no pictures. I do not know why, but I have not been "my-click-happy-self" in the past month. I did  however, manage to get a picture with the awesome birthday gift that sweetheart DW presented to me -- Rockband (see adjacent picture)! There is a guitar, a drum-set and a mike (vocals) in the package. We absolutely love it! I am now busy buttering her up for the iPhone. Unfortunately (here), DW has a sensible head over her shoulders. This implies that I can forget about getting one until after the economy recovers. Respect.

On Nov 23, we fulfilled a long-time wish -- to see the Lion King (Broadway) at the Minskoff  theater in NYC. It delivered beyond our expectations and totally blew us away. If you happen to visit NYC anytime, I would any day choose Lion King over going atop the Empire State Building. On the same day, in India, DF Sando got married to his sweetheart, DF Riddhi. As expected, the squadians attended it and DF Pallavi shared some pictures. Congratulations Sandrid a.k.a. Kamadhani a.k.a. Madhamath! I wish you both a wonderful married life.

We took a break during the week of Thanksgiving (Nov 24 - 27) and had several exciting things planned. But then, it happened -- the shocking Mumbai terror attacks. We sat glued to the computer and CNN for two straight days, trying to follow latest updates from the horrific event. Two of our family members had close calls. Dear brother (DB) Gautam was at the Oberoi hotel for a meeting that afternoon. Thankfully, he left the premises a few hours before the terrorists attacked. DW's maternal uncle, Roney was an employee at the Hotel Taj. By God's grace, he narrowly escaped a certain massacre. A few of his close colleagues passed away (RIP). People say that the attackers were were Islamic terrorists. I personally do not believe that they belong to any religion. I would not insult Islam by associating these severely brainwashed complete idiots with it. This is another example of how humans take good intended teachings of a religion and misuse it (discussed in my last post, O).

In the past days, few DFs pointed out to me that the "modern-day pictorial Ramayana" links in my last post did not work. Apologies. I have updated the links and they should work this time around -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The other day, I was digging through some old picture folders and found something amazing. Thought I'd to share it with you -- DW enacts Michael Jackson (see adjacent). This picture was taken during a "Mock-Rock" performance at a MIT (Manipal) college festival (undergraduate days). DW grew up loving and dancing to MJ songs, but has mixed feelings about them now (for obvious reasons). I have been reminiscing in my blogs lately. So, this may be a good time to initiate a new section -- "blast-from-the-past" (BFTP). Not a novel name (reminds me of Channel [V] days in India), but it sure does clarify the intent; I suppose.

We watched a couple of good movies in the past month. We started with -- "Slumdog Millionaire", which I thought was a pretty good movie. I need not say much, because its wonderful reviews, several international film festival awards and four Golden Globe nominations should speak for itself. I did have one issue with the movie though. It was an excellent factual presentation of all the unattractive aspects of growing up in India. But then again, it is the story of a "slumdog". I highly recommend that you watch it. More recently, we watched "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" (RNBDJ). I thoroughly enjoyed it. I consider Aamir Khan to be the best actor in Bollywood, but Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) is clearly the best entertainer. I have gotten obsessed with this song from the film -- "Dance pe chance" and now trying to get the "usual suspects" to put together a home video over the Christmas weekend. Watch out for it after the holiday season (early January) in one of my future posts.

DW at last has an OM = DWOM. She is very selective. If a song does not enthuse her into busting a few moves, it will most likely not make the cut. Though I can tell you that she is big on hip-hop. Anyway, the latest DWOM is this song by Kanye West called -- "Love Lock Down". I hope you enjoy it too!

A massive snow storm blasted across the USA last week. Consequently, our area (New Jersey) also got a decent bashing and experienced temperatures as low as -18C. My supervisor was kind enough to allow me to work from home (WFH) during this time and I managed to take a picture of the scene outside our home. Thought I'd share it with you (see below). I heard today that another one is heading our way in the coming days. The only positive that I can see from this whole experience is that we are now assured a "White Christmas" (back in India, I always wondered what it meant, LOL!).

It is Christmas -- the most wonderful time of the  year!! We set up our Christmas tree over the weekend and are hosting a dinner get-together with the usual suspects on Christmas Eve (tomorrow). I plan to be on a vacation starting tomorrow until Sunday, Jan 4. I promise to be "click-happy" again and give you all a detailed update of our celebrations (may be a Live-Christmas blog).

A few weeks ago, DF Hemang (Thank you for the feedback!) pointed out to me that I use a large amount of abbreviations in my blog. He suggested that I introduce a "glossary of terms" in order to accommodate newer readers. I agree. I am currently working on it and it should be up in a few days.

Alrighty all, it is now time to sign out. I wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hope you all spend a wonderful time in the warmth and love of your family and friends!

O

O! what a month it has been? Unbelievable amount of activity at my end, and of course the rest of the world. I had this uneasy feeling over the past fortnight. Something felt amiss. I could not figure out what it was, until a few DFs inquired last week -- "Hey dude, what's up with your blog?". That's when it dawned upon me; I desperately needed the third best release known to man (in the recent times) -- blogging. So here I am, back again to update you with the happenings at our end and that of my DFs. I also have some thoughts to express about some of the recent events around the world.

The urge will never go. So, here it is again. The title of this post may be obvious to some, O = October. But, let me clarify that  this is purely coincidental. My real intent was O = Obama! No points for guessing the candidate that I hope, will become the next President of the USA on November 4, 2008.

First things first. If  you remember, I was on my way out to a get-together at DF Stephanie's place (Sept 6), when I excused myself out of the last post. It was a nice, well-hosted, private get-together (check out pictures) amongst a few office colleagues and several of their "little ones". I bet there were only about 10 of them (children), but it felt like 30. I try now and then, to learn about parenting from several of my DFs like Bulent. I hear that one tried and tested way to make kids not do something, is by distracting them into doing something else. Saying -- "Don't do it!", only aggravates the situation (agree Luann-Mike?!). Valuable lessons.

I also told you last month that we were worked on a home video during the Labor day weekend -- here it is. I hope you enjoy it and post your comments. This is our inspirational take on the ending track of the movie, Madagascar. If you haven't already watched it, you should check it out! I cannot wait for part deux -- Madagascar, Escape 2 Africa , coming to theatres on Nov 7, 2008.

We had a MIT (the other MIT) alumni reunion at Joshua Tree in NYC on Sep 13, 2008. It was nice catching up with alums ranging from 1984 - 2007. Here are a few pictures taken during the meet. Soon after, DFs Akshay, Kaushik, DW and I decided to go bowling at the Chelsea Piers. A pretty neat place to visit, if you have too much moolah to spend (mind you). I asked our waitress for water and she came back with a Norwegian designer glass-bottled water, Voss worth $5. Easily the most expensive 375 milliliters of water that I've ever drunk in my life. I tried my best to convince DF Akshay to take the  bottle and say the award winning dialogue from OSO in Hindi while I take a video, but he wouldn't agree (and he expects me to work on the HQ of my blog). As usual, I tried to teach my DFs to spin the bowling ball. While I was at it, I asked DW to take a video. Thought I'd share it - here it is.

 

During the week of Sept 15-19, I was in Washington, DC, attending the 4th International Workshop and Exhibition on Plasma Assisted Combustion (IWEPAC). It was an interesting conference with  smart plasma researchers from all over the  world and few entrepreneurs seeking to invest in new promising technologies of the future. I could begin writing about using plasma in combustion and its advantages (may be some other day), but you wouldn't want me to. Trust me. DW can enlist a 100 reasons why not to ask Shailesh -- "What is plasma?". So, I will let you read about it here. During the evenings, I hung out with DF Sundari and took some nice pictures of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington  Memorial and the US Capitol building (see above). During the same week (on Sept 17), DF Anand defended his philosophy and  became a proud owner of the title "Dr." Anand Pillarisetti. His journey through graduate school was a roller coaster ride (started at UC Davis, moved to Drexel and finally graduated with Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park). After six years of unintended delays, patience and  hard work, a well deserved sweet moment of success!  We met that evening at celebrated at a Moroccan restaurant (Taste of Morocco, I definitely recommend this place). A week later or so, DF Sundari went skydiving along the coast of New Jersey (Ocean City, NJ). Check her out dive here. I probably will never have the guts to do this.

Talking about DFs; a close friends' group of mine from Manipal (undergraduate days), celebrated the 10-year anniversary of friendship this month (we first met on Oct 5, 1998). Often known as -- "The Squad", we had a great time in Manipal with loads of memories to cherish for the rest of our lives. We did some hilarious things during the time, one of which, thought I'd share with you today. Its called the "modern-day pictorial Ramayana"  (pictures here -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, taken in late 2001 and posted online in 2002). We parted ways after graduating (in 2002), but thanks to the Internet we kept in touch and celebrated 10 years (via email for now). There are a million things to write about the_squad. I will dedicate one of my future posts to re-live our memories.

On Oct 1, Sara Ansaloni, current President of the Drexel Graduate Student Association (GSA) sent me an email that made my day. After years of continual efforts of several GSA boards (including two that I was a part of, 04-05 and 06-07) in the past years -- Drexel University approved and implemented the graduate student health insurance subsidy program. Kudos to Sara/GSA team for getting this done and my congratulations to all eligible graduate students who will reap the benefit of these efforts.

I'd like to move on to expressing my thoughts about some significant recent events. In mid-September, the peace in Mangalore (DW's home town) was compromised by attacks on Churches by members of the Bajrang Dal. For years, Christians and Hindus have peacefully co-existed in this beautiful southern India town. The reason for attacks? There have been several, including (major ones)  forcible conversions and supposed distributions of devious literary works by a Christian organization. Here are my thoughts. I have experienced being approached for conversion (wait, do not judge...read on) to Catholicism first hand (when DW and I were planning a Catholic wedding). But, let me also tell you that there was not an iota of  "force" in it. My denial to convert in fact, was gracefully accepted and never was it mentioned to me again. At no point in time, was I ever made to feel uncomfortable about being Hindu. In fact, I took an excellent marriage counseling class (alongside DW, that I very highly recommend), wherein parallels of Hinduism and Christianity were very beautifully put into perspective for us. If you think that being approached for conversion was unacceptable, let me tell you about the events that followed. We of course had two beautiful inter-religious weddings (Catholic and Hindu styles) and soon after, went to register our marriage in Mumbai. On meeting the officer-in-charge (after 2.5 hours of waiting in line), we were asked -- "So, where are the conversion papers of the bride?". We explained that the two of us have chosen to respect each other's faiths and do without conversion. The officer replied -- "In that case, fill out form no. X and come after a month to sign the papers". Puzzled, we inquired -- "Can this not be done in today?". She promptly replied -- "Yes, if the bride converts to Hindu, this can be done today". Applause to the secular, democratic, republic of India! What double standards?! We decided to ask the officer to "shove it" and registered our marriage in the USA. Coming back to religious conflicts, check out these videos that showcase the misleading views of two hands (named  Christian and Hindu) that belong the same "clap" -- 1, 2, 3 and 4. Do not get me wrong, I'm a big believer in the concept of religion. The original intent of religion was a noble one. Something that, in its unadulterated form was the key to the survival of humanity. See good in, be good to, do good to others (preached by all religions) are the quintessential elements of peace. Unfortunately, it has been grossly misused and abused by humans to fulfil their personal desires. There is a desperate need for modern-day humans to ingest religious information with a "survival filter".

Moving on to the big O. I'm enjoying every bit of the political drama that is cooking in the US right now, leading up to the Presidential elections in early November. I remember how awestruck I was, when I heard Barack speak (for the first time) 4 years ago at the Democratic national convention. I knew right then that he was cut out for something big. And here we are, looking at a realistic possibility of Barack making history. I watched all three Presidential debates (see here  -- 1, 2, 3) and I have just one thing to say -- Barack Obama speaks my mind. I could not believe how much I agree with Obama and his policies. People in the  US  are easily the nicest that I have ever met. Yet, this amazing nation is perceived as a "bully" to the rest of the world. This (unfortunately) implies that the true quality of the American people somehow, never translates into its leadership. The US needs a President who will showcase the real face of the nation to the world, i.e. "change" the  current face. The one who knows, how not to lose his cool during difficult conversations; one who will not take emotional decisions but a well thought out one with an exit strategy (we need Arjun and not Abhimanyu, haha!); one who believes that a dialogue and not force, is the right path towards peaceful solution to problems. Do not assume here, that I have issues with John McCain. His commitment and determination to serve/lead the country is incredible. He is a true fighter and I have high respect for him (I hate his smirks though). However, I believe that cool-as-a-cucumber Barack Obama is the way of the future. Let us see how all this shapes up in November?!

I recently took a diversity class at work. We were shown a video that I thought was amazing. I immediately decided to talk about it on this blog and share it with you all. This documentary called -- "A Class Divided", is a lesson on racism taught by Jane Elliot to her 3rd-grade students in 1970. She then shares it with them more-than-a-decade later in mid-1980s. Check it out -- Part1 and Part2. It shows how the  human behavior, capability and productivity can dramatically change, when you are discriminated against. A excellent demonstration of the human nature in its purest form (in children). Talking about work, I am in the process of changing my job assignment. I will move from developing technological solutions for the metal heat treatment industry to modeling hydrogen production plants. I'm mighty excited!

Changing gears again. A lot to talk about in Sports. DT Eagles are struggling with injuries, but they seem to be displaying brilliance at times (4th quarter against 49ers last week). I'm not a big baseball follower, but it has happened. DF Nachiket says that I've now become a "believer". Home team Phillies made it to the World Series (WS) this year, their first after 1993. I hear that they have not won the WS since 1980 (the year I was born). Whoa! Such stats get me excited, big-time! I am really hoping to see a Phillies vs. Red Sox match up in the WS. Depends on what happens in the game today. I am also closely following the much awaited Australia vs. India Test series going on in India at this time. The first test ended up being a lame draw and the second one might head in the same direction (given the state of the pitch). The only saving grace until now has been Tendulkar breaking the world record number of runs in Test Cricket. He is indeed, the God of Cricket.

It is quite surprising, but there has not been a DWOM. I asked her yesterday - "Hey, how have I not seen you being obsessed about something this month?". She replied -- "Too busy". She recently changed her job profile from post-sales to pre-sales. The transition has been keeping her busy. Nevertheless, I did see her watching a couple of new songs by  Britney Spears -- "Piece of Me" (she won the 2008 MTV video music award for this) and "Womanizer". You have to give it to the woman (Britney), what a comeback it has been?! Good for her.

Alright all, its time to sign off. I hope you enjoyed this update. I got some really good feedback from a few of my DFs about how my blog inspires them to write  their own. This is a serious compliment and I thank you for it. I hope DF Mahesh (one of my inspirations to get into blogging), recovers from his mid-blog crisis. Take care and have a great coming month. You should read from me next, some time in November (possibly during or after Thanksgiving).

Motley

Allow me to make an auspicious start by wishing you all - Happy Ganesh Chaturthi. Dear parents flew back to India on August 24, to celebrate the yearly Ganesh puja at home. The most festive time of the year in my hometown, Mumbai. All those people, all the sonorous beating of drums, all that fun with friends and relatives! Sigh, I guess one cannot have everything at all times. The law of conservation of happiness (satisfaction) does exist after all. This post is a "mixture" of updates, thoughts and emotions. Hence, the title.

We had an interesting Labor day weekend. I will have to give you some background information to explain my first activity. So, here it goes. A few months ago, my alma mater, the Drexel Plasma Institute got more than just a facelift. It was re-established as the A. J. Drexel Plasma Institute (AJDPI, facelift) with an objective of (I quote) - "development of use-inspired research programs leading to the development of new technologies and applications in their designated areas that will contribute to the development of practical solutions to complex societal problems". I hear that they are planning to expand and move the lab to an independent research building in Camden, NJ. If you haven't been following, I would like to introduce AJDPI's major research initiative to you -- Plasma Medicine. DPI researchers (my former lab mates) have developed a floating electrode cold plasma device that can be used for several medical applications  like rapid coagulation of blood on wounds and non-surgical treatment of skin conditions/cancers. The most intriguing part of the technology is that your body acts as the secondary electrode that comes in direct contact with plasma (see picture, ref.). For the ones interested, here is an excellent review paper related to development,  discussion of possible mechanisms and applications of Plasma Medicine. This of course led to considerable media attention and licensing (another link) of this technology. Dr. Fridman (my Ph.D. research advisor and Director,  AJDPI) even spoke to the French media about the wonders of Plasma Medicine in Orleans, France. I cannot explain enough, how proud I feel about being the first "official" Ph.D. student to graduate from the DPI. It is an honor that I will cherish all my life. By the way, here are some neat pictures (students with plasma technologies developed in the lab) taken at the AJDPI by a professional photographer, similar to the one selected for the Drexel Research Report 2005 with myself  in it.

Alright, coming back to the point -- we had a nice get-together on August 30 at Dr. Fridman's home to celebrate the establishment of the  AJDPI (see picture). As expected of most student attendees, I too was asked to prepare an act for the event. During our get-together in 2006, I sang "Mera Joota Hai Japani" from the movie Shri 420. I knew this would fly without a problem, because Raj Kapoor movies were quite popular in Russia in the 1950s. This time around I was asked to perform something with an alumni theme in it. The only song that struck me (you probably guessed it) was, "Papa Kehte Hain" from Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (my favorite movie as an 8 year old). A video of the event (and my act) is currently being uploaded, I will share it when I get hold of it (hopefully in my next post). I also came across the newest AJDPI anthem written by Dr. Fridman - check it out. Here is a video with Dr.Fridman and the DPI bandwagon singing it! Here are a whole lot of pictures from the event (courtesy Grisha Fridman).

On August 31, I partially fulfilled a longtime dream of mine -- to visit the US Open at Flushing, NY. I say partially, because it would have been complete if I had witnessed Andre Agassi play at the open. Argh, LCH strikes again! Anyway, we (the usual suspects) had a great time. We watched two matches, Elena Dementieva vs. Li Na and Novak Djokovic vs. Marin Cilic. The second match was an amazing one wherein Cilic (seeded 30, who we were supporting!) gave a tough fight to Djokovic (seeded 3) all the way to the end. Check out a panoramic snapshot (below) of insides of the Arthur Ashe Stadium. We took loads of pictures -- take a look (these are pictures compiled from 3 cameras, so you might see repeats. Apologies!). On the way to the open, we also had some fun with DF Swats' magnificent hair.

On Sept 1 (Labor day holiday), we shot a new home video (as expected of us). DF Ankit has promised to complete the editing over this weekend. I recommend that you bookmark this link, where I suppose he will release the final video. Else, be assured that  it will show up in my next post. Just to give you a glimpse of what you can expect, check out a still taken from the raw video footage. I for one, cannot wait!

I love writing about my DFs on this blog (remember the intent?). This is simply because I'd like to share my joy of experiencing these wonderful personalities, with the rest of the world. Today, I would like to introduce to you, an interesting group of friends that I met during Drexel days. They arrived at Drexel in 2004 (an year after I did) and proclaimed themselves as "Drexel Warriors" (cheesy name, yes). They came and revolutionized the face of Indian cultural activities at Drexel. Such mass-enthusiasm to pursue all-things-fun was not something that Drexel Desis had experienced before. We often referred to them as the "Gujju Gang". Here are some innovative ways that this group came up with to celebrate birthdays. Freaking awesome!

Apparently, it all started at DF Tarak's birthday where they were fishing for an interesting party theme. They decided to relive their childhood memories and set up a "Kid's Birthday Party" theme. This included all elements of a kid's party - balloons, whistles, hats, ribbons, Sponge Bob Cake, pizza, soda, fun games, return gifts, magic show, etc. The special acts at the party were DFs Saurin as the clown, Viraj as a magician and Sherna played the mother. Check out all pictures here.

They then decided to surprize DF Saurin on his birthday. This time they took on the tourists at Central Park, NY with a "Greek Theme". Saurin was asked  to come to park for a get-together and to his amazement, found the rest of them dressed as Greek mythical characters when he arrived -- DFs Palak as the  Helen of Troy, Sherna as Hera the Queen of Heaven, Tarak as Hydra, Suchitra as Aphrodite, Ashish as Socrates, Ashmi as Dido, Viraj as Alexander, Kinjal as Zeus, Gaurang as Hercules, Heman as Achilles and of course, the star of the show Saurin as Apollo. I hear that the visitors at park began taking pictures of and with them enquiring about the details of the show. Hilarious! Check out all pictures here.

Most recently they  took on a popular Bollywood movie -- "Sarkar Raj" at DF Kinjal's Birthday. The setup is that each one of them comes to Sarkar with a problem of theirs. Unlike the movie, inexperienced Sarkar Kinjal ended up with no solution to any of their hilarious problems. As usual, DF Sherna plays Mrs. Sarkar. Check out all pictures here. Hope you enjoyed these pictures. Thanks to DF Saurin for sharing them with us.

Three weeks ago (or so), a junior of mine from Manipal days (Undergrad), Naman initiated a yahoo group to promote networking amongst past and current MITians. If you are a DF from MIT Manipal, I strongly recommend that you join this group -- mit_alums@yahoogroups.com. A few days ago, a current MIT student sent an email to the  group informing us about this new initiative, Formula Manipal. I can tell you (being one myself) that it is every MIT mechanical engineering student's dream (if not all of India) to put together something like this. What a tremendous effort?! I hear that they will be traveling to Marenello, Italy to compete at the FSAE Italy 2008. My congratulations to the team on their achievement. You know who I will be cheering for, right?!

Moving on to more serious issues that I would like to/you to pay attention to. On Aug 18, an embankment on the Kosi river was breached at the Indo-Nepal border that caused severe flooding in Bihar. I  hear that  this happened because Kosi changed its course following the breach. It now flows incessantly through several villages in Bihar, displacing millions of families, killing hundreds, destroying agricultural land and still worsening. It has been three weeks since the disaster, many people are still trapped in their homes with relief efforts slowly moving in. This is a time that the people of Bihar need your prayers and generous donations. Here is a link that enlists several ways that you can provide monetary contributions to the relief efforts. Also, last evening DW and I watched a show on NBC called "Stand Up  to Cancer". Several Hollywood and television personalities came together to promote a "surge of humanity" towards Cancer research. I urge each one of you to donate. I hope we will see a cure for cancer in our lifetime.

Changing gear again. This according to me, is the most  happening time of the year in the USA. The NFL season started on Thursday where NY Giants beat the Washington Redskins. Loved it. I cannot wait for Dear Team (DT) Philadelphia Eagles to take on the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. With several other events and occasions coming up like the MLB World Series (10/22), Halloween (10/31, DW and I are already planning after drawing inspiration from the "Gujju Gang"), Thanksgiving (11/26), Christmas Eve (12/24) and Day (12/25) and  New Year's Eve (12/31), I sure will have a lot of stuff to write about in my upcoming posts. Stay tuned.

Early this week, DF Halim sent me a link via email of a shocking Indian reality show gone bad. It is called -- "Dadagiri - TV's meanest game show". This show took off in June this year wherein, four daring students are made to revisit the horrors of being bullied on the first day of college by surviving three "dadas" (big brothers) and compete against each other for a winning sum of Rs. 50,000 in cash. The very concept of this show pisses-me-off! As if "ragging" (called Hazing in the US) isn't already a rampant bane practiced at several colleges in India, these morons are promoting it on Indian television. I sincerely hope that the young upcoming generation do not emulate these stupid ideas from TV and end up thinking it is "cool" to abuse the human rights of incoming students. Anyway, coming back to the video. The character, Esha-The Goddess (cheesy) is one of the three dadas (hostess) of the show (in the 3rd round) who is supposed to be a foul-mouthed mean young lady. During the  shoot, it turned out that a conversation between her and one of the contestants got ugly -- here it is. This is what I think of the entire situation. [1] It was absolutely unprofessional of the hostess to have physically abused a contestant on a show. [2] Before I go further, let me tell you that I have great respect for women and stand up for the equality of sexes. But, if a woman physically abuses a man without prior sexual, mental or physical provocation, it is absolutely fair that the man retaliates (DW agrees). I personally would not have hit her in return, probably sued her. [3] I hate men who try to portray that "they are trying to do the  right thing" by beating up a man (in such a situation) without properly assessing the situation. [4] I absolutely hate  (from the bottom of my heart), random people who take advantage of the pandemonium and launch freebie punches just for fun (check out the guy in pink tee and brown shorts who rushes to the scene at  about 30 seconds in the video). I've seen something like this happen first hand in Mumbai, when a woman physically abused a man over an argument about who was first in line. When the man "pushed" the woman away (owing to self-defense) five other "righteous people" came to beat him up saying -- "Ladies ko haath  lagata hai" (How dare you touch a lady?). Where was all of this "do the right thing attitude" when the dignity of a 13-year old mentally unstable girl was being mercilessly compromised at a knife edge in a Mumbai local train while other passengers watched (in 2002)?. Double standards. I believe, be it a man or a woman, one should carefully and objectively assess the situation before choosing the right course of action.

Finally, I come to one of my favorite sections of the blog: DWOM. Lately DW has been dancing big-time to this song -- "Disturbia" by Rihanna. She's been a fan of Rihanna songs for a while now, starting with "Umbrella". I did not like Umbrella as much (until Marie Digby sang it), but I think Disturbia is absolutely rocking. Must check out. Another video that DW has been all over in the past week or so is the Bashful Bazzard. Pretty funny. While driving back home from work last evening, I was reminded about Manipal days when I heard a blast-from-the-past - "I Disappear" by Metallica. Try this while driving. Its super.

Alrighty all, I'm done for today. I have  to get going to DF Stephanie's place for a get-together with some office colleagues (this should also figure in my next post). I hope you enjoyed the update. Please do not hesitate to leave comments. In fact, I look forward to them. Have great upcoming fortnight! :)

八月

I did it. Procrastinated. Kept putting it aside, hoping no one would notice. But that did not happen.

On Aug 7, I received an email from DF Mahesh (MK) that read (literal translation of non-English portions in brackets) - "maamu (uncle)....blogging ka ek usool hai baap (blogging of one principle is dad).....if u say u will post by next week, u shud post by next week. Its kinda important to show up. Not that it matters at the start so much, but down the line ur readers will wait. guess i am waiting :)". I couldn't have asked for better friends. Thanks MK for pushing me to keep it going. I really appreciate it.

I assume that you've noticed the unusual title of this post. After making up my mind about today's content, I realized that the only word that summarizes it all is, August. Not satisfied, I decided to give it a twist -- in Chinese (for obvious reasons).

According to me, China lived up to their promise of hosting the greatest show on earth (leaving aside the-little-lip-synching-girl and fake fireworks controversies). The show was indeed spectacular from the perspective of a television audience like me. As I write, Michael Phelps is getting ready to swim the history-in-the-making race, 200 m butterfly. He has broken the world record (WR) six times in this event before now. [5-minute break to watch it]. Alright, he won (as expected) but did not break the WR this time around. But hey, he just made history; athlete with the highest number of gold medals at the Olympics, now 11 (his 5th in Beijing 2008 and counting). Brilliant! This brings me to my favorite moment @ the Olympics - the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. French swimmer Alain Bernard was quoted saying - "The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for". I absolutely love moments like these in sports. After reading this, I ended up glued to the television at 11.30pm EST on Sunday night. And guess what? USA won! Jason Lezak probably swam the race of his life when he came from behind in the final 50 meters to win the race by a margin 0.08 sec. Exhilarating! Check out the expression on the faces of Mike and Garret after their victory. A real sweet moment of success. If you missed it, check it out here. It is a must watch! Another special moment of course, was the first ever individual Olympic gold medal secured by an Indian athlete - Abhinav Bindra (10 m shooting). While following this news I stumbled upon an interesting historical fact. Cricket was played at the Olympics in 1900. Only two teams competed, where England beat France (?). Belgium and Holland were the other two teams that opted out due to co-hosting issues. So, the idea of playing Cricket at the Olympics is not a new one (Twenty20 at the Olympics in 2020?). I am really looking forward to it!

[Rest of this post written on Aug 13]

Moving on. We had a nice get-together on Aug 3 at home with the usual suspects - DFs Viju, Deep, Arvind and Anand. Mom cooked good Indian-Chinese food (I plan to post recipes in the near future). We also celebrated Arvind's birthday (Aug 6) with some delicious cake. Check out some pictures here.

On Aug 9, we visited the Empire State Building (ESB) in midtown New York City (NYC). As much as I love NYC, the view of the city from the 86th floor observatory of the ESB failed to impress me. There may be a couple of reasons for this - [1] I've been atop twice, both during the day [2] I cannot forget the view from the SkyPod of the CN tower in Toronto. Anyways, I managed to take panoramic snapshots of the North, East, South and West side views of the city and the Statue of Liberty at a distance. Also, I thought the view of midtown NYC from DF Akshay's place in Jersey was pretty neat (see photo). Other pictures from the trip can be viewed here. DF Akshay accompanied us to the ESB and while we were at it, he said - "Dude, you should make your blog funny if you want people to read it". I tried to explain/remind him about the intent of this blog and invited him to be a guest writer in my blog to improve its humor quotient (HQ). He agreed. I haven't gotten anything from him as yet, but he did start a blog of his own. Thought I'd do my DF part of advertising it. Look forward to stuff from him in my upcoming posts.

I did however, take Akshay's comment seriously i.e. decided to work on my blog's HQ. I absolutely loved my time at Drexel. I met some of my best friends there and did a lot of fun things along the way. I was casually digging through my external hard drive last week and bumped into some hilarious videos that we made at Drexel. Here is a video that was filmed by Shubham in (~) Oct 2004 (all shot at one time with absolutely no re-takes), but decided not release it at the time. So, you're watching the first ever public screening of this clip (some of you may already have seen it). I hope you enjoy it. This a spoof of a song from a Kannada movie called Premaloka (literally means -- Love World). Check it out here [Requires Internet Explorer, may take a while to load the first time you play it].

DWOM: I probably will never run out of stuff for this section. This time around though, DW obsessively "hates" this song -- "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. I am pretty sure it isn't Leona (she is a fantastic singer!), it may be the lyrics. There is also a song that I've heard her listen to several times -- "Calabria" by Enur feat. Natasja (RIP). It all started with this Target commercial. This is one other video that she's been completely hooked onto and forced me to watch (I loved it too!) -- "Grandparents" by Bill Cosby.

An interesting event took place at work today. Hydrogen powered cars taking part in the Hydrogen Road Tour 08, made a fuel stop at the Air Products H2 fueling station in Allentown, PA. All employees were invited to participate in the event. Some got a chance to drive/ride in these cars (chosen by a raffle draw, I did not make it). I personally did not expect (but pleased) to see perfectly normal looking passenger cars run by H2 fueled IC engines. Air Products personnel also demonstrated safe re-fueling of these cars. While walking back to my office, one of these cars "whizzed" by me. I closely observed the exhaust and actually saw water (H2 + 1/2 O2 => H2O) or condensed steam trickling from it!

Alrighty all, I have to end here. I'm super hungry (mom's cooked methi-chicken and its aroma is activating my stomach acids) and have to prepare for a long day of work tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed this post. (Playing it safe) I do not know when I will be able to post next, but I sure will keep you informed when I do (probably the end of this month). Take care and have a super rest-of-the-week and weekend!