Gangubhai Ph.D.

Fall is in the Air!

2010-09-26T19:20:00.001-04:00

I know...I know...I know...I did not keep up my resolution (yet again!) that I made earlier this year, of coming back to blog. I apologize...for probably the 10oth time! Thanks to DFs Amit and Sundari for bugging me to get back to writing again. I enjoy writing; I really do! Now only if there were 26 hours in a day, that would probably do it.

A lot cooking at our end and some exciting times to look forward to! For one, dear parents are visiting again! It is of course an unusual time of the year to invite them to a "cold" north eastern USA. But, I'd like for them to experience the fall and winter seasons -- my favorite time of the year to spend with friends and family! As much as I am looking forward to having them here, so also am I bracing for the amount of weight that I expect to put on after loading up on some delicious home cooked food. I hear an inner voice yell at me everyday -- "Dude, you need to workout!". Predictably however, I'm back home gorging on junk that I buy from the local Indian store. Aaarrrggghh!

The summer was super! We kick started it with a trip to DFs Tessa-and-Rohit's beautiful wedding (see picture) in May. It was great catching up with fellow squadians in the USA, who attended the wedding as well. We then moved onto some incredibly fun activities with the usual suspects (FYI - we're much older now, but I love this picture) including our first time at the Oscar winning musician AR-Rehman's concert, beach weekend at Atlantic City, DW’s 30th birthday celebration in June, the July-4th BBQ and our yearly summer camping!

DFs Tessa-and-Rohit’s beautiful wedding!

Our beach weekend at Atlantic City! Summer Camping!

DW’s 30th birthday cake! DW’s 30th Birthday get-together!

DW and I at the Boulder field DF Sundari cooks awesome chicken kebabs at the July 4th BBQ

One of the highlights of my summer though, was captaining the Lehigh Valley Cricket Club (LVCC) through the 2010 Philadelphia Cricket League (PCL) season. I had the privilege of playing alongside some inspiring Cricketers like Kishor Kharecha, Bhavik Patel and Naazer Ashraf (who vice-captained the side). We had a talented but relatively inexperienced side, which showed in our results during the first half of the season with a 0-6 record. This honestly was a tough time for us (Naaz and I), trying to deal with the building frustration coupled with decreasing morale among the team members owing to the string of losses. It was time to take responsibility and turn things around for the team. The senior members began to deliver the goods and pulled the team out of the hole that we were in. This included a flawless July, which we finished with a 3-0 record. We finished the season with a 5-8 record that we are proud of, given how we started the season. Some of the key highlights of the season included Naazer’s unbeaten 112 against Mobil; Kishor bhai’s 19-ball 46 vs. British Officers; Dada and Shiva’s first 50 of their cricketing career in the US vs. Masters; 5-wicket hauls by Bhavik bhai, Dada and Amarjeet; and some incredible fielding performances by Bhavik bhai, Naazer, young gun Mayank and yours humbly! :) The season however, was also plagued with a couple of bone-crackling injuries to “superman Naazer” (who returned to play the game that he absolutely loves and scored a 100 soon after!) and another player who shall remain unnamed upon request (ahem!). Below are some (of the many) glimpses captured during the LVCC season by our official team photographer and DF, Viju (thanks a million!). Most of us cannot wait for the next season already! Looking forward to many more years of playing with LVCC!!!

Fancy photography of the LVCC team kit by DF Viju DF Naazer returns after a great knock!

Yours humbly trying to get some footage! DF Dada sporting the “good-boy Cricketer look”

We call these pictures -- “love bites” from Cricket!

DF Dada plays a picture perfect cover drive!

The cream on the cake-of-a-summer that we had was our latest edition of the Boogdee Productions! This time we went after a song called “Just Do It”, from the movie Chance pe Dance. Cannot wait for our Thanksgiving get-together at DF Ankit’s home in Boston, where we went the extra mile last year and made our best home video yet -- “Koi yahan nache nache”.

Alrighty then folks, it is time to sign off for now. I hope to continue to write and update our family/DFs around the world about the happenings at our end. Eagerly waiting for an exciting holiday season later this year with dear parents in town! Have a nice and fulfilling fall y’all!

An Inspiration!

2010-03-23T09:25:00.012-04:00

A colleague of mine recently lost his grandmother. She was 102. He sent us a little note via email this morning that inspired me to live my life to the fullest. If we get to experience even half of what this wonderful lady did in her life, I believe it will be a life well lived! This is something I thought was worth sharing with the world. Read on,

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Hey Everyone –

I thought I would share this with you. My Grandmother passed away on Sunday; she was 102. However this is not a sad time – she was an amazing person and everyone has great stories about her. She had live at home, by herself, until August 2009. Some of the things I would like to share:
· She was a starting guard on her high school basketball team in 1925. Most girls weren’t allowed to play sports, but basketball in Indiana was a bit different.
· Most women didn’t go to college in the 20’s, but she graduated from Manchester College in 1929 with a degree in education. She continued to take classes; she even took the same math class with my dad while he was at Purdue (he was NOT happy).
· She married a farmer in 1929 and had 8 children. She also had 16 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, and 7 great-great grandchildren. Her husband passed away in 1966.
· She taught school for 40+ years, kept the books for the farm, and raised an amazing family.
· Favorite memories include when she went in a stunt plane at age 70, went ice fishing in MN (-30 degF!) when she was 75, took a hotair balloon trip (and a fall) when she was 80, and road jet skis in her late-80’s.
· She broke her neck (YES NECK!) when she was 90. Somehow it fused back together, and even though she wasn’t allowed to drive after that, you would see her riding around the farm in her golf cart – usually going out the garden to cut asparagus or something.
· She witnessed so many technological changes – reliable electricity brought to the country, the invention of calculators, cars, washing machines, etc. She was born 4 years after the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk; and she was at Cape Canaveral to witness the fateful Challenger liftoff.
· She was an avid sports fan too. Unfortunately she never got to see her Pacers when an NBA championship (she loved Reggie Miller and despised Michael Jordan) and didn’t get to see Purdue win an NCAA title (she loved Gene Keady but had few nice things to say about Bobby Knight).

Anyway, I always thought she was a great person and just wanted you all to know how neat she was.

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This also marks yet another comeback of mine, to blogging. A wonderful season of Cricket is coming up at the Lehigh Valley Cricket Club and I'm pumped! Looking forward to blogging about the Cricket season and general happenings at our end over the Spring and Summer.

She gave in!

2009-05-11T23:45:00.001-04:00

Yippie! After months of pestering, discussing, arguing, disagreeing, flattering, buttering and taking her to shopping, DW gave in...we got ourselves the much sought after iPhone. I actually came up with a brilliant idea over the weekend in Philadelphia. I had DF Swats convince DW about the iPhone and the usual suspects (TUS) would know why? And it worked! If you forgot who TUS are (a.k.a. our Philly gang), see adjacent picture (I like this picture, thought I'd upload it for future reference). This morning we got a message from DF Swats, I quote -- "Congrats on not being Apple virgins any more :D hope you are enjoying ur new phone". Thank you again, DF Swats...you're an angel! This morning at work, I went on to share my joy with DF Ross, who promised to get me up to speed with some cool iPhone apps. And I am sure DF Ankit will pitch in too.

Alrighty all, I'll get back to fiddling around my new gadget. I am definitely looking forward to Twittering. Have a great rest of the week. I'll be baaak!

Victorious Again!

2009-05-04T23:47:00.001-04:00

We (the good ol' alumni team) won another edition of the Spring Cricket Tournament organized by Pragathi, the Indian graduate student association at Drexel University (my alma mater) on May 2. DF Ankit did a good job as our captain in the absence of DF dAdA. DF Saurin was in blistering form both with the bat and the ball. I cannot believe that we've sent him to bat so low down the order until now. DF Sujith hit a crucial boundary in the final that went right down to the wire. As promised, here are some pictures. I've posted all pictures from the tournament here.

Another great news came by this morning. DF Shanbhag had a baby boy! Congratulations buddy! Someday your kiddo is going to see these pictures -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 on my blog and know what his father was up to during UG days. :) The first Squadian to have a little person. Super!

Alrighty all, I'm singing off now. I hope you like the pictures. Take care and have a wonderful rest of the week!

Sledging Away!

Some candid moments from the tournament!

The Victorious Alumni Team!
Above L - R: DFs Sujith a.k.a. Boss, Vishal a.k.a. VGK, Chirag a.k.a. Patel, Anand a.k.a. Pillari and Shailesh
Below L - R: DFs Ankit a.k.a. Boogdee, Saurin a.k.a. Sau, Siddharth, Tushar and Yash

Whatever happened to Spring?!

2009-05-01T00:51:00.000-04:00

DF Ross and I have been cribbing for the past week about how nature decided to skip Spring this year. Only a fortnight ago, the trees were naked and I would not dare to step out of the home without a fleece on. And last weekend I nearly passed out on the Cricket field due to heat exhaustion. This might sound like I'm making excuses for my lack of fitness. Okay, that is true but not completely. It really was hot as hell! Well, this is only a preview of what is coming up over the Summer.

The Indian Premier League took off with a bang in South Africa. Tendlya has been in great form and that always cheers me up. No points for guessing who I'm rooting for, of course, the Mumbai Indians. Oh and BTW, I managed to get selected in the tryouts (that I mentioned in my previous post) to play with the Lehigh Valley Cricket Club (LVCC) in the Philadelphia Cricket League. I'm now looking forward to a super Summer of Cricket!

DW and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary today. Two years just flew by, just like the eight years of courtship that culminated into marriage. She is the smartest, most wonderful, level headed woman that I've ever known. To marry your best friend is easily the best decision that anyone can ever make. Last evening, I surprised DW with a cake and a card. The look on her face was absolutely worth the Cricket practice that I skipped for it. I then cooked chicken curry, which she loved! I hate to write posts without pictures...so here is one of DW and I, taken sometime last year. I call this picture -- Biwi No.1!

Alright people, I have to crash now. Tomorrow is a big day -- the Pragathi Cricket Tournament at Drexel. I'm excited and looking forward to meeting old buddies who I will be playing alongside on the Alumni team. I hope, as always, we will triumph! We will miss our usual captain, DF dAdA, who is chilling out in India at this time (dAdA, you better come back engaged or we're going to kick your butt!). I'll try to get some pictures from the event for my next post.

Yes, I remember that I still owe you the glossary of terms. But, you should expect this from me...remember, I'm a "P" type personality. Delays happen as there exists a sense of infinite availability of time. Alrighty then, will be back with you all soon! Have a super weekend!

Coming back to blog!

2009-03-24T01:10:00.001-04:00

I know, I know, I know...I've been out of action for a while and nobody missed me. Not even DF Mahesh, who has been out of action too. I have a lot to write, but I'm just plain lazy. Believe it or not, I think about my dear blog every day but haven't gotten to give my fingers a workout. Ah! That reminds me that I still owe you a glossary of acronyms (that I promised the pre-Christmas edition). Will do it soon.

A not-so-happy start to the new year given the nose-dive that the US economy (rather global) has taken into an abyss. I joined Air Products in October 2007, when the company celebrated its record year of $10B in sales. Just over an year after the celebrations, in December 2008, it announced the elimination of 1300 positions as a cost reduction measure to survive the recession. It is absolutely unfair how the market works. Some unethical million-dollar-bonus-earning-idiots on Wall street screw up the market and everybody ends up paying the price for it. My heart goes out to the families that have been affected by this economic mess.

Moving on to some positive things that have happened in the past few months. In January end, DFs Arijeet and Asavari tied the knot. In mid-February, DFs Ankit and Swats followed suit. Soon after, AR Rehman (they now call him the "The Mozart of Madras") became the first Indian to bag two Oscars. You should have seen how excited DW was?! The Indian Cricket team beat Sri Lanka on their home turf 4-1 (one day internationals, ODI) and more recently won their first ever ODI series in New Zealand. They kick started the test series in style with a 10-wicket victory at Hamilton. The team has been in superb form in the past year. Oh! How I wish the World Cup was round the corner? All these events did well to keep me distracted from the frenzy of economic downturn. I am now looking forward to the Indian Premier League (IPL), which unfortunately is being moved out of India due to the upcoming elections. But, I would not have wished for a better alternative than South Africa to host it. I am also excited about playing Cricket this Summer (DW graciously agreed to let me go!). If I get selected, I will be playing in the Philadelphia Cricket League on the Lehigh Valley Cricket Club (LVCC) team. Let's hope it all works out.

Recently, I had a sentimental conversation with DF Arvind a.k.a. "dAdA". We discussed how we have been neglecting the "artsy side" of our talents/hobbies lately. If you were not aware, DF dada is one of the best visual artists that I've personally known. We resolved to meet once every month to pursue our passion for visual art. During the past weekend, DF dada make this beautiful painting for us (DW and I, Thank you!) on canvas, replicated from here. DF Deep also came up with his creation, the colored tiles. Check out the adjacent pictures. I, as usual got lazy and passed. But, I promise to get something going next month.

Oh by the way, DW has been up to an OM. Its called - "O Pardesi" (literally translated as, "Oh foreigner") from the Bollywood movie called DevD. If you know DW well, you will also know why she likes the song (when you watch the video). Incidentally, I have an obsession this month too. It is called "Emosonal Atyachaar" (literally translated as, "emotional atrocities") from the same movie. This is easily one of the best rock songs I've heard coming from Bollywood. Ever since its release a month-and-a-half ago, I've been listening to it at least once to-and-from work everyday and haven't gotten bored as yet.

Alrighty all, I'll sign off now. I will come back with more (but shorter) updates. Looking forward to an exciting Spring and Summer of blogging! I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!

The Live Christmas Blog

2008-12-24T11:12:00.001-05:00

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

2008-12-23T03:40:00.000-05:00

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

2008-10-18T22:57:00.001-04:00

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

2008-09-06T13:40:00.001-04:00

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

2008-08-12T21:15:00.000-04:00

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!

- - Keeping it up - -

2008-07-20T23:10:00.000-04:00

Alright, I'm trying really hard to keep it up -- I mean the blogging. :)

It is interesting how blogging has begun affecting my life. I feel like a kid who has received a new gift; just cannot take my eyes off it. I spent a good part of Monday (7/14), admiring my debut post, sometimes re-reading it and eagerly waiting for your comments. I am curious if this has happened to you too? To the ones who cared to leave encouraging comments -- thank you! This post is dedicated to you.

Blogging is tough. I for one, need time to collect my thoughts and put them into words. This entails at least two hours of uninterrupted time. Given the current scenario at home (parents visiting), this is pretty much impossible. Guess what? My parents are visiting an uncle in Brooklyn, NY and DW is busy catching up on a project deadline. This gave me some alone-time with my blogspot and an opportunity to catch up with you all.

Early last week, I heard (and read) from colleagues at work that many businesses are becoming conscious about their environmental (or carbon) footprint. The European Union for example, has taken firm steps towards control of carbon emissions and several businesses are now feeling the heat. Anyway, this got me curious about what have I been up to lately? After all, real change starts at home. I visited this website to check my carbon footprint. After answering several habitual questions the "number of guilt" i.e. your contribution to environmental abuse (in tonnes of CO2), is shown to you. The only reasonably quantifiable variable that I could locate in this exercise, was the gallons of gasoline used each month. It turns out that a person living in New Jersey (USA) emits ~ 8.76 kg of CO2/gallon of gas consumed. So, I began digging through my gas bills starting Nov 2007 and came up with figure 1 i.e. total monthly expenditure on gas (I've tried to reason the two big spikes in spending). I then looked up the average monthly price of gas in NJ in the past year and estimated my total gasoline consumption in gallons per month (indicative of the kg of CO2 per month), show in figure 2. Before you judge me, I'd like to remind you that I live near Clinton, NJ and drive to work at Allentown, PA. The commute is 96 miles back-and-forth. My car typically gives about 34 miles-to-the-gallon, which puts my basic usage at 60 gallons/month (indicated in figure 2 by the red dashed line). But clearly, my claim in figure 1 about increase in gas prices being the lone culprit is not right. My usage has definitely gone up (figure 2).

Yes, I do feel guilty about dumping ~ 8 times my body weight of CO2 (on an average) in the atmosphere every month. Thought I'd share this with you and alleviate the guilt a little bit. Seems like this blogspot is going to serve an additional purpose -- my personal confession box to the world! I must also tell you that I've begun the efforts to reduce my carbon footprint, e.g. carpooling to work.

Moving on to more fun things -- a few of us (dear parents (DP), DW, DFs Viju, Deep, Arvind and Kalpesh) got together for a beach trip to Cape May, NJ. The drive was a pleasant one along the NJ coastline. After getting there and locating a metered parking (tough to find, carry a lot of quarters if you plan to go there -- 15 mins/25c, 10 hour limit), we started with beach volleyball. Completely failed to impress but it was fun.

We then moved to what beaches are meant for -- to enjoy the cool ocean water. The most hilarious moment came along when Deep and I forced my mom to get into the water with us. Check out her clearly freaked-out-face.

We then continued to the Sunset Beach (yes, this exists even on the "east" coast). This is a smallish beach with (as the name suggests) a beautiful view of the sunset. We reached early and ended up playing mini-golf (18 hole course) for the first time in our lives. DW was ecstatic! The participants and scores are shown in the adjacent table (Congrats Kalpesh!). Mom and Dad took over from Viju and I respectively from hole 8 onwards. They did pretty well.

By the time we finished, the sun had begun to set. We witnessed a touching ceremony conducted every single day during sunset (between memorial and labor days), wherein deceased war veterans are honored by singing the American National Anthem and lowering the flag (hoisted earlier in the day). Every flag used is special as they come directly from servicemen caskets. You can check out a video of the beach and the ceremony here. I managed to capture a good snapshot of the sunset too (see below)!

If you'd like to check out the gallery of all photos taken during the trip follow the links: Shailesh's gallery and Viju's gallery.

Moving on to movies -- we watched two really good movies in the past week. Both completely different in content and message. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na was light-hearted fun romantic movie with a whole lot of Dil-Chahta-Hai-like content (both newcomers, Imran and Genelia were impressive). On the other hand, Aamir was a gripping thriller with excellent direction and a serious message to convey. You must check these movies out, if you haven't already.

Finally, I decided to introduce a new section in my blog -- "DW's obsession of the month" (DWOM). Every month or so, DW is hooked on to something that she likes to listen or dance to over-and-over again (it is treat to watch her dance btw!). Anyway, we watch "So you think you can dance" every week and enjoy it big-time. DW being a super dancer and hip-hop fan, absolutely loved this performance by Twitch and Comfort. Thought you'd enjoy it too.

This is a good time for me to sign off. I hope you enjoyed this update. The next one should come in a week-or-so. Have a superb weekend y'all!

- - - Debut - - -

2008-07-13T12:11:00.000-04:00

Okay okay okay...after a whole lot of procrastination and absolutely no public demand, I decided today, to get into this latest Internet phenomenon called "web logging" a.k.a. "blogging". Nope -- no special occasion (several special ones passed by without fruition - like the New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, first salary increment, the IPL inaugural day, the IPL final, Ph.D. graduation, dear wife's birthday and so on...). Today is just another Sunday. I cannot believe this is all it took.

No points for guessing that this post is going to be completely meaningless and of no consequence whatsoever to humanity. If you're reading this, you're either a "saccha dost" or have a lot of time to kill online.

[Just spent 10 minutes scratching my head, biting my nails, randomly looking around, pondering the meaning of life and wondering what to write?]

I never thought I would maintain a personal diary. This might make sense if I tell you that Myers Briggs classifies me as a strongly "Perceiving" personality [actually ENTP for completeness]. This means, I make lists and lose them (and a diary is no different). Thankfully the internet though, is here to stay (unless it decides to go away someday). When I mentioned to dear wife (DW) that I'm getting into blogging, she said - "Shailesh, the internet is already cluttered with opinions". Hmm...interesting how she assumed that I'd use this blog to post my opinions. But, I know DW is pretty damn smart -- she forced me to think a little harder about the contents of my blog.

Here it is -- I plan to use this space primarily to keep my friends updated about happenings at my end (and the new ones I might make along the way). For the most part, you can expect photo/video updates (of me and my friends) and discussion about my day-to-day activities (inspirations -- Luann and Mike's blogs). This will definitely not be a "gyaan-giving" blog i.e. teaching you how to lead your life. Neither is it going to be opinionated (unless someone or something really pisses me off).

On-and-off, I've probably spent an hour on this post. Considering that I actually set aside an activity that is close to my heart for this (coding the kinetics of methane dissociation in non-equilibrium plasma using the ordinary differential equation solver in MATLAB, nerd *wink *wink), I think I should stop now.

Have a great up-coming week (a not-so-happy but a fruitful Monday) -- Good night!

PS: I dedicate this first post to my dear friend (DF) Mahesh, the only one who cared to ask why my blog (created in Feb 2007) had no postings on it. :)