Babies have it easy!

The lifestyle of an infant
Repeat every 2 hours
1. wake up and cry for food.
2. be fed until you are full and stop crying.
3. adults play with u and try to entertain u. U entertain them by just lying there and giving that occasional percious smile.
4. u start feeling sleepy.
5. mother takes great pains to put you to sleep.
6. go to sleep.

it doesn't get simpler than that. But i must admit, they are a bundle of joy and are the most adorable things on earth.

Riverdance - worth every penny and more!

It is almost blasphemous of me not to have posted anything on riverdance yet. But after watching their NYC performance at radio city music hall on dvd a couple of hours back, i just cant resist!

I was lucky enough to witness them perform live from the 3rd row at the orpheum theatre. I must say it was the most spectacular, energizing and uplifting thing that I have ever witnessed. I just love everything about the show. The dancing, the music, the people, the atmosphere,their merchandise...........oh, i could go on! It is one thing that never ceases to amaze me. I get so energised and excited every time I even see the riverdance video that i have on mpeg. But i must say the real thing is something worth waiting ur entire life for! I'm just lucky i got to witness it before my 22nd birthday. So all of you out there, if u ever find out that they are coming to a town near u, do whatever it takes to be there.

Few performances that i have witnessed over the years have delivered when I've wanted it to more than anything else on this earth..........
Goran at Wimbledon 2001, Dravid at the Adelaide oval last year and Riverdance @Orpheum - November 27th 2004.
$65 - it means so much more to me than that!! Its a memory i will cherish forever!!

The tap show!

The Shim Sham

Who could have imagined I'd tap dance in front of an audience of over a 100 people in minneapolis?

But thats what I did a few hours ago! This pic is from the Shim Sham routine that all of us tappers did together. It was a whole lot of fun! Its pretty difficult to spot me in the snap! Here's a clue. look at 11 o'clock from the lady's head at the bottom right!

22 and still feeling young!

So a year older.........didn't really feel like it though! It was totally different. Usually i'd be greeted with a card and wishes from my parents early in the morning followed by dinner and movie in the evening. It used to be rajinikanth movies in my childhood but it progressively moved toward SRK movies off late.
I had my first ever midnight birthday bash of sorts this year. Cake, candles, friends, party.......the whole package!! People near and dear to me, people not really known to me and people who made other people's heads turn all showed up to make it a delightful celebration!! There are so many tamil people here that it felt like madras not minneapolis!
In true birthday tradition, I decided to watch a movie with a couple of friends. Crown cinema in downtown and a Julia roberts-Natalie portman-Jude law movie playing. The perfect situation right? Wrong. The movie turned out to be the most inappropriate thing I have ever done since coming here. Let me just leave it at that!

Oh, and as usual I have exams to look forward to after my birthday! so back to the grind!

India on the verge of victory!

There is no greater joy than watching India inch closer to victory in a test match. Even if it is just a ball-by-ball update online, I can still picture it. Rahul Dravid hitting the winning runs and lifting his bat to the dressing room and the Eden gardens erupts!! Can it get better than that!!

Of thanksgiving, Veer Zaara and the first snow

Yesterday was thanksgiving, which basically means a holiday and nothing else. Every shop including all restaurants are closed as 15 hungry junta found out the hard way! Guess every american is home, busy with their turkey!

We finally got to see snow. And it was worth the wait. Rushed out of the house at the sight of it, camera in hand, excitement all over. Ran 6 blocks in my bathroom chappals, night pants, and a thin t-shirt - utter insanity!! Who cares - i've waited too long for this.
Coolest feeling - sticking the tongue out and letting the snow fall on it!
Cant wait for a heavier fall so that we can start making snowballs and having snowfights!

I also had my first movie theatre experience in Minneapolis. Was glad that it was a Shahrukh movie. Veer Zaara turned out to be pretty good! Incidentally the two movies I've seen so far in north american movie halls have both had Amitabh and Hema Malini in it!!

Weight control in the USA!

I never knew the kind of food you ate could affect your weight and appearance so much until now..............what was i thinking - silly me!!

In the first 3 months of my time here I've lost 8 kgs. Thats 20 pounds!! And I'm not alone!! Its not that I have cut down on how much I eat. I still do have a dinner which is comparable to what I used to eat at home but its just that I've completely cut out my fat intake. No ghee, fried stuff, chocolate, chaat, PANEER!! I'm bound to lose weight. So I've begun my weight gain regime since last week. One icecream a day to go with all the cheese, cookies, brownies and chocolates my stomach can digest!
I should be back to normal in a month's time. And its sweet on the tongue too!!

Unfathomable - Sankaracharyar arrested!

Whats going on in this world? When a pontiff like the Kanchi kamakoti can get arrested so easily, there is surely something wrong. Not much difficulty in making the arrests, not much public opposition save a few shouts from staunch BJP(vhp) faithful. Even the bail plea has been adjourned. what happened to the people of chennai? i was expecting a public uproar, mass hysteria. how is this happening? and it seems there is some solid evidence against him! i cant even imagine!
hope the whole thing is just a terrible nightmare!

Fortnight from Hell!

Let me for a change take time off to write about my day-to-day life. These past couple of weeks have been so hectic that mails, calls and this blog have been neglected!
My nightmarish two weeks finally ended with my midterm today. A whole bunch of assignments, projects, TA work(i think this should be no.1) and midterms meant that I really haven't been in touch with too much outside of academia! i'm almost ashamed to say this but i didn't even know there was an india-pakistan match over the weekend and that too at eden gardens.
Heck even diwali went by like any other day! no crackers, no sweets, no new clothes, no mom or dad! but atleast a potluck and some good food! also Flavors, a must see ABCD movie. Good fun!
Incidentally the midterms turned out very well! As soon as i finished it I felt a big weight lifted off my shoulders. Suddenly, life seemed fun again.
I just realized that I have almost no work over the next couple of weeks. add to that the thanksgiving break and the riverdance show and basketball game that i have planned with friends..............boy, am I jumping up and down! So what if i haven't had anything to eat except noodles for the last two days,haven't done my laundry in more than two weeks, haven't cut my hair in more than two months............i have a carefree fortnight to look forward to.

That rare 25 hour day!

Yesterday was October 31st which means we switched from daylight savings to the normal central timezone in the USA. So basically at 2am the clock was turned back to 1am. I strangely felt happy that I had gained one hour in my life without doing anything. Not that I made much use of it. The whole concept of daylight savings is stupid. Why adjust the clock just so you could have more daylight in summer and work more hours.

An interesting thought! What if somebody committed a crime in this 1 hour and claimed to have an allibi. The person would be telling the truth coz they could have committed the crime and been somewhere else at the same time!!
Wonder how that works!!

Red Sox nation can finally rejoice!

It finally happened. The Boston Red Sox are world champions. Yes, you heard it right! No joke this time! And what an emphatic way to lift the curse of the bambino by sweeping the cardinals in the world series.It sounds too good to be true doesn't it??

No one and i mean not even the most die hard red sox fan would have imagined this 10 days ago when they were down 0-3 in the ALCS against the NY Yankees. Red sox fans are no strangers to miracles. They have witnessed a few over the years but its always been produced by their opponents. But this time they scripted a miracle of their own! They left it late till the 9th inning in game 4 of the ALCS blowing Mariano Rivera's enviable record to pieces winning in 12 innings. And then they did it again the next night in 14 innings! Thanks in big part to that highly underrated David Ortiz! They go on to win 4 straight against the Yankees and then win 4 straight in the world series creating history in more ways than one! There was no better sight in baseball than watching Schilling, Pedro and Lowe pitch shutouts in games 2,3 and 4 of the WS. This was no fluke! They seemed fearless. They seemed to take charge of their destiny. There was no doubt this time. They have been so close on numerous occasions only to have their hearts broken every time. But this time they were not to be denied! There was a belief and conviction in their play! It was quite simply awesome!


Ahhhhhhhhhhhh..............its been a painstakingly long wait(86 yrs to be precise) for every Sox fan but it has been worth it! Thank you to Terry Francona and the entire roster of players for making our dream come true!

Puja Hols - now and then!!

What it used to mean

Eagerly anticipating that day when you have the complete freedom and permission from your parents to not go anywhere near your books.
Get up in the morning, keep all your books in front of god, do puja for all useful things around the house eat an extra-special meal made by mom and spend your whole day doing whatever you want!!

What it means now

I have a midterm tomorrow. And I have to get my TA work done before that. Study for that and finish that in the day.now, i have to cram for my midterm. So stay up all night studying for it. its 5 am and i need to get some sleep coz my exam starts in 4 hours. Oh my god! was it saraswathi puja today? shit!! No one told me! Would it have made a difference..............no, i'd still have to cram for the midterm(making up for all those years of no studying i guess). So what is the use? well, atleast i know now. So i'm going to make up for it over the weekend by doing all things non-academic - movies, eating out, laundry, cooking, groceries - whatever comes to mind except work!

But first I'm going home and getting some much needed sleep!!

The harbingers of Snow!

Yesterday I had my first experience of snow...........almost. I dont think it was cold enough for it because the flakes were coming down as transparent ice and melted as soon as we touched them. It was so mild that it was like a drizzle of rain. But it gave us a feel of things to come.

So there you have it.........my first glimpses of snow............which actually wasn't really there! Cant wait to see the real thing.

Tha Mall of America - truly American

The biggest mall in the USA is a 20 min drive away from downtown Minneapolis. So we decided to check it out and see what the fuss is all about. The locals actaully frown upon the mall saying its more of a showpiece than of any use. I would disagree.

The instant your inside the place the first thing that hits you is the size of the place. Every damn thing there is big. Like any other mall its filled with storeys and storeys of shops,restaurants and movie screens. But what makes this even bigger is that there is an amusement park called Camp Snoopy inside the mall. Its simply mindblowing. Yes, I maybe too old to enjoy amusement parks but the rollercoaster ride was simply fab!!

Every storey has restaurants as well as food courts. I had my first taste of Taco Bell. Its decent + its great value for money! But what made my day was that outlet of Haagen Dazs that was hiding round the corner. For those of you who dont know, Haagen Dazs makes, quite simply, the best icecream in the world. After indulging in my chocolate sundae I just realized that I had eaten to satiety for the first time since I've come to the US. Haagen Dazs rules!!

Simply put, The Mall of America symbolizes the quintessential American way of life - big, rich,and busy!!

Bush bashing!

Well, Michael Moore was on campus yesterday as part of his 'Slacker uprising' tour to get people out to vote and more specifically against George Bush in all the swing states. I was fortunate enough to listen to him. For those who dont know Michael Moore, he is a documentary filmmaker whose sole purpose is to remove the current government from power. Farenheit 9/11 is a brilliant movie and a must see!!

Few people in the US, i think, have the power to publically embarass the president like he did yesterday. During the presidential debate, for every stupid look, guffaw and lie that bush made he donated 10,50 and 100 dollars respectively to the democratic party. The event was held in front of a totally partisan crowd which was laughing at bush throughout.so much so that it felt like an anti-republican convention. We were even live on HBO for a few minutes.
He has also released a book recently called "Will they ever trust us again". It is essentially a compilation of 3000 letters written to him by american soldiers in Iraq. He read out a couple of letters. It was quite compelling and moving.
This was followed by a series of six commercials that he has made as campaigns for the republican party. They mock bush to the core and were simply hilarious!
The event was a grand success coz not a single soul seemed to have a hint of respect left for republicans at the end of it all.
After this, there's no harm in calling Minnesota a blue state.

Spreading the word of God!
Vivek(my roomie) and I were accosted by this middle-aged lady at the tram station in downtown yesterday evening. Instantly she started talking about everything from her education, background, her future plans to our experiences in the US so far.She seemed nice enough just a bit chatty until she posed the question that i knew she was itching to ask "what are your traditions"? what she really wanted to know was what are religious belief was. She started off with her half hour "sermon" on the scientific existence of christ. Ah, these missionaries............sheesh, they cant help themselves!! She even gave us a pamphlet to read. Luckily we slipped out saying we had a train to catch.
Hey, I believe in god as much as the next guy but that does not mean that I have to adopt their beliefs! maybe there is only one god after all so why should one force everyone else to have the same religious beliefs as you do! that goes against the true meaning of faith itself!

There's no food like home food!

My roomies and I had somehow managed to get through the first month here with this brand of thai rice called "3 ladies" whose categorization as rice is highly questionable. Trust me, it tastes more like soft pebbles than rice. My tastebuds had gone into a coma! Then, enter "Ponni raw rice" (courtesy the indian store in minneapolis)- the same rice i used to have at home. I suddenly rediscovered my appetite! Eat it with sambar, rasam, pulikachal, curd.............everything tasted better! Suddenly everything in the world seemed nicer and almost heavenly. Home food makes all the difference. I'm never going back to that crappy thai cereal masking itself as rice. I wish my supply of powders and spices that I brought from home could last forever!!

This one is for my mom. Amma, thank you for every home cooked meal that you have ever prepared for me!!!

I've been itching to say this

I finally got myself to post an entry about something that i truly enjoy - sport. I thought this article on sachin that i found on rediff was an appropriate place to start. The article expresses the exact sentiment that I've had about sachin's game better than I could ever try to. So, just sit back and enjoy the article.
Wanted: Tendulkar of old

The author of this article has a nice blog on cricket at Beer, chips and cricket

Stand up comedy!

This weekend was fun! Soccer or footer as they call it here is exciting. A bunch of friends and me went over to st.paul for a game on saturday. We played for the international team and they were quite good. some africans as well. they are really quick. a couple of europeans who know how to play the game the way it should be played. We were found wanting and woefully short of practice.
I think i should do it more often!

Saturday night is usually filled with expectation and then it bombs. i usually end up doing laundry. This saturday was much better though! I had my first experience of stand up comedy and it was awesome! I've always likes spontaneous comedy......(hell, whose line is it anyway is my favorite show) but this exceeded my expectations. The comic was simply fabulous. He could make fun of just about anything and anyone without being dirty or politically incorrect. simply awesome! cant wait to see another show!

Rahman Teases with the power of music!

I had completely lost touch with indian music until the genius of a.r.rahman revived my sense of sound again. I just saw the promo of Swades(his next release in hindi) online and it simply rocks! The theme just grows on you and stops suddenly leaving you begging for more. It is almost entrancing!! Ah........can't wait for the audio release on the 26th. Doesn't this remind you a lot of the first lagaan promo where a small bit from 'ganan ganan' is played. That was so captivating! and why shouldn't it be similar coz its rahman and ashutosh gowarikar again who have come together for swades........only this time its the inimitable shahrukh in the lead.
For those fortunate souls in India stay tuned to sony or zee to catch a glimpse of the trailer. The rest will just have to watch streaming video at radiosargam.com

Now I listen to the CDs I brought from India all day to keep myself charged. I'm never leaving home without arjun's mp3 player again!!!

My new tap shoes!

Don't they look neat!!
Actually, i'm realizing how challenging tap dancing can be. But its a lot of fun. The sound that the shoes make is so unique. Today, our instructor showed us the routine we are going to learn and perform by the end of the semester and trust me it was phenomenal! There is no way I can learn that but he seems to think otherwise. I'm well on my way to being the next Michael Flatley(i wish!!!!). Oh, and Riverdance (the irish dancing troupe) are coming to minneapolis in november. Yeah!! They are the reason I wanted to learn tap on the first place. Thanksgiving is going to be one heck of a weekend!

India is pervasive!

Yesterday, i went swimming at the recreation(rec) centre. I was doing laps and the guy in the neighboring lane comes up to me at the end of a lap and says hi. since both of us were taking a breather we got into a conversation. Bill Wealy (i think that was his name) was a local and was teaching management at the business school here although he is an attorney by profession. so anyway, he suddenly says "ninne kannada gotthu, numke kannada solpa solpa gotthu" and i'm like Oh my god!! is this really happening to me. Here is a quintessential minnesotan trying to converse with me in fluent Kannada. It was almost embarassing as my knowledge of Kannada was far less than his. Turns out he had lived in Raichur for more than 20 years. Here he is telling me how beautiful the city of Belgaum is and how bangalore has developed and I was just frozen there listening to him in amazement. It seemed he was very fond of karnataka from the way he was describing it. He says he will go back there again. Then we went on to topics which were much closer to minneapolis like skiing and the winters and the conversation looked more like one between a local and a foreigner!! phew!

What can I say...........India and its presence are ubiquitous!!

What I'd give for a TV!!

So, the long weekend dawned on me full of expectation albeit a bit late coz i woke up at noon after the emergency room debacle the previous night. so i was looking forward to a weekend of fun filled with games, a trip to the state fair and maybe even a taste of downtown. wishful thinking!!! turned out that most of the guys here were out in on hiking trips in various parts of the US. and with arjun out cold i was left stranded with nothing to do.

i realized that all a man needs are a TV and a computer for entertainment. I always knew i was dependent on them but only when you start having enough time to stare out of the window and see the rains come down like never before for more than 4 hours do you realize that you are addicted to it. I miss watching sitcoms and movies, browsing online(the only thing i do online now is check and reply to mails). I realized that I'm completely disconnected with the world when i found out that india had won a cricket match two days ago and i came to know of it only now. its almost pathetic to see that I have completely lost touch with what i truly love(sport, in case your wondering). but i will try to stay updated on campus where i will atleast have access to the internet. And maybe the occasional basketball game once the season begins. Right now I'm watching paes and navratilova dismantling sharapova and mirnyi and waiting for justine's match to begin. it feels like heaven!! i just dont want to go home!! hail the man who invented the television(i think that would be a gentleman named baird)

so atleast i've salvaged something out of this miserable weekend. Cant wait for classes to begin. My first tap dancing lesson is tomorrow. Will keep you posted on that!

The definition of the term 'Emergency'


The US medical system is known for its ridiculously high-priced service. But atleast we were supposed to get our money's worth. Well, unfortunately as we found out first hand that is not the case. I dont know if every emergency medical facility is as bad as the one we went to on Friday to treat a friend of mine who went over his ankle(i pray they aren't) but this must have been one of the worst.

It was 11 in the night when we figured out where the place was after much confusion with the lady in the emergency helpline. Sheesh, we should have guessed then that this wasn't going to be pretty. Anyway, the place itself seemed to have all the facilities to treat emergency cases. But as soon as we entered the fact that the triage nurse made us wait more than 1/2 hr before attending to him was the sign of things to come. Finally she came back with an icepack, placed it on his foot and said "unless you have blood oozing out of your body you will have to wait" and that usually patients having heart attacks or open deep wounds would be given preference! was she kidding? i assure you she wasn't. After a bit of paperwork which was basically an personal information quiz which included questions like "would you like to state your religious preference?". What the hell........the guy is in a lot of pain and ur sitting here wondering which religion he believes in. I mean come on.......this is an emergency facility and clearly this was a medical emergency. Dont they know that?

He was finally ushered in only to be quizzed again this time by the triage nurse about questions on his medical history. This also included the most ridiculous question of all. " On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your pain". was she trying to torture him. This was outrageous. and as if this wasn't enough he was given a chart with grades of pain ranging from mild to severe to unbearable. All this while we were wondering if all this trouble was worth it.

It wasn't for the lack of nurses or doctors but nobody seemed to care. The guy was dying of hunger now coz he had been told by the lady on the phone not to eat anything until he was checked up. Now that the doctored had OKed him to take some food we asked the nurse for some vegetarian food. She promptly brought a frozen banana, a few crackers and juice! Well, if the insurance didn't cover all this we would have sued for mental and emotional trauma in order to pay for this visit.

By the time we left it was 3:30 in the morning and we now realize how important it is to stay healthy and not get involved in any serious injury...............else our fate would be sealed........literally!!

NEW APARTMENT

As you already know I just moved into my new apartment and i love it. Its a spacious two bedroom with a nice view on to the road. I dont know my neighbors yet but by the look of things they seem cool. most of them are students both desi and american.
The apartment itself looks clean and furnished. I will upload photos soon. The kitchen is handy as it comes with a lot of storage space, a garbage disposal and a dishwasher.........yey!! and the bus that comes outside takes me right to my department.

Well, labor day weekend is coming up so maybe i'll goto the state fair that is going on here. The last weekend of fun before i buckle down into some serious studies. So i'm quite looking forward to it. I'm quite looking forward to the classes as I will get an opportunity to make some non-desi friends for a change!! oh, and did i mention that i'm also planning to take a course on tap dancing. it will be an audit but its bound to be interesting. i hope i dont break any bones.

AVANI AVITTAM

Its quite amazing that i changed my thread yesterday during avani avittam more sincerely than ever before when i'm more than 20000 miles from chennai. 7 of us iyers and iyengars performed the ceremony religiously. we followed it up with 1008 gayathri mantram chant today. Sridhar mama(the man who taught me every sloka i know) would be pleased to know this. anyway, it was both a satisfying as well as calming experience.

anyway, it was a crazy weekend. saturday was slow and lazy to say the least. our walmart shopping plans gave way to our lethargy. the only activity for the day was an exciting game of tennis. i really hope i can get to play tennis more regularly. we ended saturday watching a movie. sunday morning passed doing the religious ceremony. u know we even cooked and ate paayasam! i just couldn't believe it. this was really the icing on the cake. this was followed by an exhausting game of football. lunch was at home as i had already cooked before i left for football.

The international student association had planned a welcome night in the den of the undergrads also known as Melrose. The place is something else. It houses more than 500 undergrads. It includes a games room, library, internet access facility, gym etc. Its almost like a multistar hotel. Well there was also a mini-theatre room where we got to see a movie followed by pizza for dinner. Whats with orientations and pizza? hope i get to eat something else during my department orientation on wednesday. we ended the day playing table tennis or ping pong as these guys call it.

More craziness on the horizon as I move into my apartment this week. Lot of moving and shopping to do. Hopefully we will settle in by the weekend before classes start next week.

Orientation

Well, we woke up early today to attend the international student orientation. No student, especially indian, ever misses an event which provides free food and refreshments. So there we were promptly at 8:45 in the morning only to find out that we were late and had already missed this fun thing that was meant to help us get to know each other better. basically it was this form in which we had to find people fitting certain descriptions. it was a cool idea! unfortunately i couldn't be a part of it for long. This was followed by a series of boring lectures and do's and don'ts for international students.

The most awaited part of the meeting-lunch- came to the rescue. We stuffed ourselves with pizza and cookies. It was great. This was followed by a hilarious lecture by a Zambian native named Duncan about health insurance. Anybody who can talk about sickness and death and still keep the audience alive and excited is pretty cool!! his sense of humour was the highlight though it was a bit morbid at times. That was the bright spot of the day.
This was followed by a session on culture shock which was sillier than i thought it would be. People started complaining about how unhealthy it is to serve pizza for lunch at the orientation. Come on...........ease up a little!! a few slices of pizza wont kill you!!

anyway, it was more of an advice session for the students than an orientation. i didn't get to interact too much with the other students as we were forced to listen to the lectures most of the time. i guess i will have plenty of opportunities later. they said there were atleast about 40 countries represented in the room. anyway, not a bad way to spend the day i guess.

From MT to Blogger

I've temporarily shifted to blogger coz movabletype suddenly got a mind of its own and stopped working. i wonder why coz its not like MT to be unreliable.oh well i'll just have to figure out what happened. until then, i'll be posting here.

So, time flies here like nowhere else. My day begins at about 9am. I cook lunch, have breakfast and am ready to be at the lab by 10:30. the whole day is usually spent in the grad lab. wonder how much time i spend browsing, printing, proffing, meeting profs. oh, did i mention there is a grad lounge right next to the lab which has a fridge that is always stocked with coke. lucky me i guess. wonder who would be silly enough to leave all that stuff behind. definitely not PIGS(poor indian grad students).

anyway, evenings are spent either at the park or on the phone. and the day winds up cooking and eating dinner and watching TV. besides the cooking, its not very different from a day in chennai. i guess things will be a lot different once classes start(sept. 7th).