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!