Good bye 2008...

Its time to wave hand to 2008, and look forward to the coming year. Its always good to see the past and set goal for future... so lets begin Best and Worst of 2008 for ME! (It dose include some of the old stuff that I have used in 2008 again).

LIFE: Sometimes on top sometimes at bottom, but had a great time on this See-Saw called life!
Looks: First time ever with french beard for more then 7 months of the year, and finally back to the regular looks... loosed some extra pounds... then again gained few extra pounds...
Man with the Brand: First time ever in my life I know names of at least 30 brands, and using some so-called branded products (Uncle Sam effects)!!!
Language: Still survived out of the fake accent...
Movie Continuum: Continued my trek record of 5 movie per week and took it to another level on the mid of year... but finally down to 5 mpw. Started spending some $$ on theaters, but still a big fan of some of the social service websites ;-)
Movie of the Year: A Wednesday, No Country of Old Man
On the wings of Songs: Listening some of the great songs of all times...
Song of the Year: Jaane Kya Chahe Mann... (Pyar ke side effects) and Bawara Mann... (hazaroon kwahishein aisi)
Song of 2008: If today was your last day- Nickleback (Dark Horse)
Video of 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmJccJW_t0w
Director: Neeraj Pandey

Actor: Heath Ledger
Singer: Kalish Kher
Crush: Aditi (Jaane Tu... Jaane Na), first crush ever!!!

Dialogue: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn...
Month: June
Day: Nov 1st, 2008
Moment: Some time in summer... driving back from Khajarana to Celebration on MG road
Trip of the Year: I-N-D-I-A (yippi!!)
Pastime: Online History and Discovery Channel Documentary
Achievements: President: CAI, Site Leader: ASB, Publicity and Programming: GPC
Go Crazy: Devil's Ice Box, Colorado-Utah, Cumberland Island- GA
Craziest Thing: 1. Drove from 00:00 AM to 10:00 AM non-stop covering 680 miles and three states... 2. Spent a whole day under earth exploring caves in Devil's Ice Box
Drink: Vault (no alcohols please :D)
SMS: ...miss you too!
Website: urbandictionary, ovguide, fpgacentral
Restaurant: Olive Gardens
Person: ...
Public Figure: Barack Obama
Book: Bhagvat Gita by Eknath Easwaran (once again)
Quote of the Year: "...and now i knw wat i have to do, as i am clear abt wat u r thinking"
Quote: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take; but by the moments that take our breath away..."
Worst Experience: ... :)
Worst Person: ... :)
The Best of Me: Did what I wanted to do... except studies :(
The Worst of Me: 1. Bad management of research work... 2. Still keeping the fire inside... and lot more!

A Childhood Dream...

Year 1996: A middle class student from Indore, India heard about Internet.
Year 1998: He used Internet for first time.
Year 1999: He got to know about some 2k virus, this name really fascinated him and he created his email address including this '2k' word in his very first ID, and still he is using this email address.
Year 2000: His interest in this field made him learn more about this 'i' thing and he dreamed about website designing and having a website on his own name.
Year 2001-2007: Never got chance to learn about web designing and related stuff.
Year 2007-2008: Just started web-designing as part time hobby and still learning till date

His very first work (just for maintaining and managing for an year)- http://web.missouri.edu/~umcmedmayur/tarang/main.htm
Then- http://www.vmth.missouri.edu/lco/index.htm
... and now finally his very first website, which he is still working on to make it better with his own work (this time it is just Microsoft template)- http://anoopjain.com/default.aspx

This non-professional guy has created a semi-professional website with most of the section devoted to his studies and research, but still 'My Space' section is worth giving a try!

Frustrated...

Some of the recent headlines-
1. Condoleezza Rice visited India, Pakistan to assure peace in the South Asia
2. Pranab Mukharjee had a talk with his Chinese counterpart over the issue...
3. Foreign minister of Saudi Arabia visited India
...and then finally here comes the biggies-
4. India tone down war talk!
5. We will declare war if any other attack took place in 'future'- Pranab Mukhaejee

Conclusion- Dearest leaders of my country have worn bangles, they are seriously suffering from short sightedness, they are weak in their foreign policies and strategy management.

I know, in this globalized world its really hard to survive alone and withstand the global pressure from some countries those direct (or I'd say dictate) the world, but still I have very simple question to ask- 'Do we have some self respect?'. We have got a very good chance to end this age long problem of India... and we wasted it foolishly. I am surprised that we are from the country where people like Kautilya (Chanakya) who was the forefather of the Nitishastra were born. I am frustrated listening to these so called 'hard' statements, and seeing these boneless creatures ruling the largest democracy in the world.

Ghajini... lets change the mood

Its been a long time since we have seen some good action movie is Indian Cinema, I think the wait is over with Ghajini. It was the time of 90's when the action movies were at the prime spot of the Indian cinema with the action icons like Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Ajay Devgan etc. After that this place was well taken by new stream of comedy and light entertainment cinema. After the success of Ghajini, I think this time will come back. I was happy to see the recent trends in Indian Cinema and some really good story lines and different trends in the cinema, with the release of Ghajini I see some changes in the forth coming newline cinema.

Well, bringing back my thoughts on the track of my review of this movie, Amir Khan movie never needs any review in terms of acting and technical aspect. I would see, it was a really nice movie and keep you going with its fast pace, a well written story and wonderful screen play. I must admit that its hard to digest three hours movie these days, and there was enough room to cut the size of the movie by 30 min. with cut in the songs and some of the scenes, but still it never feel like a burden for a hardcore 'desi' fan. The background score of the movie looks like a part of the movie. The screen play and story is just well written (or copied) in the movie and the love story and the action in the movie just complement each other.

Winter, Library, and Interest

Its winter time, after a long time I have seen such a gloomy weather with dark clouds for almost a week. I really didn't remember when I have seen temperature above zero and had a walk around campus without tons of clothing. The only good place these days is library, where its really hard to see signs of species called human. Its so calm and serene there that I am spending almost whole day there, working on my research and also searching some new documentaries on Internet. In last couple of days, I have seen some really good documentaries that all started with my curiosity about 23 December 2012 (the day that is supposed to be doomsday and end of human civilization). I started with Mayan civilization from Mexico and then hippie inside me forced me to learn about this civilization and myths. It was surprising for my to know that these guys have built thousands of pyramids which are much better then that of the world famous pyramids which exists in a small numbers.

Then I came back to the original topic of doomsday and got to know about a book, which is known as the lost book of Nostradamus. This book has really interesting prophecies about a lot of the recent activities and also mention about the doomsday. I was lucky enough to find a documentary about this book, which, indeed turn out to be a great documentary. After reading about all these, I went back to my all time favorite topic 'UFO and Aliens', but didn't got anything interesting or worth sharing here on this blog (though you can ask me any question in this field). Finally, this evening I picked up a new topic- 'Secret Societies' , today I have seen a documentary by History channel which was just an introduction to some of the most famous societies and rumors about them. Probably, in next couple of week I am going to explore the available details available on this topic...

Time...

I was talking to a good friend of mine after a long break of about two and half years. Just realized after talking to that friend, how time pass by leaving us behind with the some remains of the past. It has been a long time talking to some good old people, whom you left behind trying to walk with life or getting busy with some other stuff. It was a great experience knowing that sometime some good memories left with you and bad memories vanish with time, may be it is a great remedy or a great reminder.

The Dark Sky...

The sky is looking dark and dawn is not the soothing as it used to be, the moon has suddenly gone behind the dark and lightening clouds. Some known faces are missing in this crowd, and some voices have lost their virtue. I don't know whats wrong or missing, but there is someone or something that I am searching for, but still not sure that it is just a mirage or the true source. The alchemist is still confused and waiting for the whisper in the wind that has always had the prophecy of a new direction and a new world, where he will find that 'something' or 'someone'...

I Quit!

Finally, I told her, " I am not very comfortable working here, specially there is not much to do for me, I would love to work as volunteer instead. I am quitting this position."

Now, I am no more GRA (Graduate Research Assistant), sometime my heart speak over the mind and this was a great example of that. Specially after knowing that the other position (Research Assistant) is going to end next week and there is no other source of income. Sometime, some things and some people are so over your mind that you start making some weird decisions. Hopefully, this will not counted as one of those great decisions.

Dare to dream with open eyes... the daily updates

We always have some dreams in our life, when dreams were seen in night we usually forgot them or just ignore them, but there is yet another category the dreams seen with open eyes. These have power to convert them into reality and they are more realistic. Dreams seen by Abdul Kalam, Nelson Mandela, Mt. Gandhi are some of the examples of these dreams. Some days back, I read these lines in some news paper- " Dreams are not what you have when you sleep, dreams are those that don't let you sleep". Go for your dreams in life... just go and get it!

Updates- Its snowing heavily outside, the very first snow of the season with some late night thunderstorm warnings. Just coming back from my first snow walk of this season, its always great to welcome the first snow of the season by being a part of it, specially when the freezing air is touching your soul (this time it was close to -10'c). Being a part of the nature always brings you close to yourself and give some eternal memories to cherish.

Screaming from Inside

Screaming from Inside

For all those days and nights,
For all those lows and highs,
I have been calm and composed outside,
Though screaming inside...

Never complained, never said a word,
Never showed my frustration,
Was waiting for few signs,
Though screaming inside...

Of all those sleepless nights,
Of all those doomed days,
Calling out of heart,
Though screaming inside...

Waiting for that miracle,
Waiting for that dream to come true,
Waiting to see heyday of my life,
Still, screaming inside...


-anoop

Ek Saathi Aur Bhi Tha...

एक साथी और भी था

चलते चलते क्यों भूल जाते हो,
अपनी जिंदगी में य़ू डूब जाते हो,
की याद नहीं रहता तुम्हे,
एक साथी और भी था...

साथ चले थे, साथ बढ़े थे,
मंजिल एक थी, रस्ते अलग थे,
फिर भी सोचा न था की भूल जाओगे,
की एक साथी और भी था...

रुका रहा वो तुम्हारे लिए,
देख रहा था रह तुम्हारी,
आओगे शायद तुम लौट कर,
वो ऐसा... एक साथी और भी था...

अब इंतज़ार और नहीं होता,
नयी मंजिलें बुला रही है,
नयी दुनिया खड़ी है सामने,
फिर भी रुका हुआ हूँ मैं,
वो एक साथी मैं ही था...

-अनूप

Confused

Sometimes you are so confused that you are not even able to understand yourself. In a single day you have several moods that make you go crazy. Since morning I had mood of joy, excitement, then started feeling down then missing something and then feeling like sleeping (which is very unusual for me) then had some anger from inside... it’s just 4:00 PM and still a lot of time left for this day to be over.

In past two years in US, I have meet several people and analyzed their behavior. Its really amazing to know that how two people with the same background, who have same thinking have so different approach towards life. How they react very differently to a same situation and how the communicate with each other. On the other hand some people with very different thinking and background can mingle with each other so easily. I have seen some people who claim to be best friends separate their ways with some small issues and some people in acquiesces show a great level of understanding as if they know each other for a long time... Life is so simple but so confusing... :)

Pray for me brother... A.R. Rahman

Wonderful lyrics by Blaaze.. A.R. Rahman

Pray for me brother
Pray for me brother
Pray for me sister
Are you searchin’….
Pray for me brother

Lookin’ for the answers To all the questions In my life
Will I be alone Will you be there By my side
Is it something he said Is it something he did
I wonder why He is searchin’ For the answers
To stay alive

Could you ever listen Could you ever care
To speak your mind
Only for a minute For only one moment
In time

The joy is around us But show me the love
That we must find
Are you searchin’ For a reason to be kind, to be kind…
He said… Pray for me brother

Pray for me brother Pray for me sister
Pray for me brother

Say what you wanna say now
But keep your hearts open
Be what you wanna be now
Let’s heal the confusion
Pray for me brother

Don’t let me take When you don’t wanna give
Don’t be afraid Just let me live
Don’t let me take When you don’t wanna give
Don’t be afraid Say what you wanna say now
But keep your hearts open

Be what you wanna be now Let’s heal the confusion
Pray for me brother Pray for me brother
I’m ashamed ah, brother be dying of poverty
when he down on his knees its only then he prays
And it’s a shame ah, brother be dying of ignorance
cos the world is a trip and everybody’s a hypocrite
Need to stop ah , taking a look at the other
I’m not ashamed of poverty
need to be making his life better
So think about it, think about it once more
cos life is a blessing and it’s not justa show, ah
Round and round the world is spinning around

We need to be singing a prayer, we need to be singing it now
Round and round the world is turning around
We need to be singing a prayer, we need to be singing it now
Need to be feeling the power, need to be feeling the faith
We need to coming together just to win this race

Need to be feeling the power, need to be feeling the faith
We need to coming together just to win this race (twice)
Are you searching for a reason to be kind ?

Lets go together...

After a long time we are fighting for some worthy cause, but with what I see from here in United States reading newspapers and watching channels, there still a big chunk of people missing. Looking at the crowd at Gateway of India, Jantar-Mantar, Bangalore, Pune, and other places and looking at the words of wisdom written on the posters I could easily make out that its all educated people, people from offices, colleges, and schools (which is good in a way). But we need to take care that we should not forget the people from other part of society those who work on hotels, restaurants, and daily wedges. These are the people who are major contributors in the voting system of India, unfortunately they make their decision over night based on who is paying for their drink a night before the election or who is paying them mere 10-20 rupees. Lets put some efforts to bring them into this revolution, or else we may probably face similar leaders again.

Colorado and Utah... the way I see it!

Unite we stand

Its been a week since attack on Mumbai, yesterday I have noticed an unusual thing in the whole country, people from all over the country have joined the solitary and peace march in Mumbai. It was a crowd of more then 50,000 people there at gateway of India and they all were protesting on the theme 'enough is enough'. Its very unusual to see people talking intelligently and logically about issues related to recent terrorist attack. The similar peace march and candle vigil was held in the different cities all over the nation, it was good to see that South India also actively supported including cities like Banglore, Channai, Hydrabad and many more. Before this attack, the general mentality of people of these cities was 'let it be', but now it is changing to 'its us'. Hope this unity will stay longer and together we can again prove the world that we are the best! amen

Stunned... anger... and humiliation

I was out of blogging for last week, just reading the news and stories across the world about the latest terrorist attack in Mumbai. It was Wednesday afternoon when I came back from my road trip and welcomed with the information that Mumbai is under terror and couple of hotels and VT station has been attacked by some son of the b*****s. After this attack I was following the reactions and statements on some news channels and analyzing with my perception to it-

1. People (Aam Janta)- These attack again proved that no one is safe in the country, it was totally ridicules that some 10 people come into industrial capital of a country with ammunition in their hand and start playing with their life. We are angry, we are stunned and we are feeling humiliated with all that happened.

2. Politicians- Hates off the these people, I must say that they really know whats going in the mind of people. For the first time I have seen these people running away from media and expressing their reaction to people. But, I am very sure that soon they will try to make it political issue to get some votes and that all!!! Accept it or not, these guys sitting in the parliament have no guts to deal with these situation and take proper action in time. Our country is in the hand of a bunch of most corrupt, useless, and shameless people sitting in both the houses and all they know is to talk, making issues out of no where and keep overlooking the real problems existing in the country. My very simple question is what is the point in sending rockets to moon and space and showing off in front of world when you are not even able to save ourselves.

3. Intelligence- Unlike others, I am most pissed off at the intelligence agencies of your country. They didn't have even a mere hint of the planning that was going on from past six months. What is the point of spending millions of rupees on RAW and IB specially when the top officials of these agencies are busy in recruiting their relatives and playing politics in the agency rather then doing what they are suppose to do? The fact is this is not the RAW of Indira Gandhi era, its the time to reform the whole intelligence system.

4. Police and coastal security- If you go to the coastal area of the country and talk to a fisherman there, he will be able to tell you the truth. These guys appointed there are completely sold out, you can bring anything to this country if you have some bucks in your pockets. These guys are so busy in collecting money by these means that they can't even see a boat coming in with bunch of people carrying A.K. 47 and hand grenade. I did heard some time back that some local fishermen went to Colaba police station with the information some suspected people in the area, and all they got in return is kicked off from the police station.

5. Army, NSG, and NEVY- The only sigh of relief in the whole crises is an assurance from these security agencies that they are still out of rust and know their responsibilities. I am really amazed and impressed by the way that have carried out the operation and saved some lives. I can understand the complicacy involved and time taken by them. I salute these true heroes of the nation and my deepest gratitude to these guys. I also pay my tribute to the men those who have lost their lives in this operation.
At the same time I am feeling ashamed of people like Achuthanandan’s whose remarks directed at the family of Major Unnikrishna. Its the time to expose these people and give them proper response.

6. Pakistan- Here I am talking about the mass of Pakistan, not about some of the intelligent pakies. On Thursday I saw a footage from Karachi where Pakistanies are protesting against Indian government for allegations against Pakistan government. I saw some video clippings from a pakistani television channel, where a mulla was blasting India and saying that this is the plan of Indian government in order to get world sympathy and make Pakistan look like a terrorist country (my dear friend, you are a terrorist country). I never had any hard feeling against people of that country, but by looking at these reactions from our neighbors, I must say that its time to whip their a**, with all apologies to those few Pakistanies brothers and sisters (friends you are just a run of the mill).

7. World- There were some strong reactions at local level, but overall everyone has done the formality. The surprising one was China as I have not seen even that formality from these guys (or may be I missed it).

For all guys sitting in Delhi, I just want to say 'we need to clean our own home, don't expect that someone from other corner of the world will come to aid you'.

India Nite photographs...

India Nite 2008 photographs are up on the net... check out this link-

http://picasaweb.google.com/culturalassociationofindia

Some more photographs are pending, I will upload them on my personal page once I will be back from Utah...

P.S.- Thanks to Bharat and Kamakshi for such a wonderful work...

Yaaden

Baaten bhool jati hai... yaaden yaad aati hai...

I was listening this song almost all day today, may be feeling nostalgic after getting so much time in hand. It has been two weeks when I was busy as hell, and now I am sitting without any good and troubling myself, trying to meet people (most of them are apparently busy with the coming exams) or reading the world news and caring about all those issues that I have never cared before. In short, I am trying best to keep myself as much busy as I can, but still got no luck.

Now involving myself in the preparation for the next road trip to Utah, on paper it sounds like true adventure and fun. Once again, its a new group and new people... its always been a great learning experience when you go out with unknown faces. At least for me, they are much better those known ones who always bring pain towards end. Anyways, learned some really thoughtful lessons in past couple of months so its time to keep quiet and look forward towards a hippie life rather then having a life with worldly things and relations...

Its Election time

MP, Rajasthan, Delhi, and CG, apart from being a part of Republic of India the have one more thing common this time, all these states have state assembly elections this time. On one side we have BJP ruling states (MP, CG, and RJ) and other side we have Congress rule (Delhi). These election will be a major indication of the next year's national elections.

I always like reading about politics and on and off screen stories in a number of news papers. This year, being in US it was not that easy but thanks to revolution information technology that I can read all those stories here as well. Sometime I do feel nostalgic reading those stories, and finding myself at home reading tidbits and depth stories of India Politics. This time two news stories attracted me and surprised me-

1. This was a coverage of MP elections, which says this time election is more about the local issues that involves development, education and basic supplies rather then what we have seen in history of the state. I have seen and read about the past when elections were more about national issues or some time emotional issues, but these elections are like a breeze in desert of the politics of central India. I am just hoping for this trend to continue for future.

2. This shows a real face of the silent heroes of the country, this story is from Narayanpur, CG. This district is infamous for Naksalite influence and in past I read stories about these guys killing people those who went for voting. It has been a long story of blood and ballot there, people have been killed, some have lost their fingers but still there is a passion about voting. These people mainly belong to SC and ST and then have spent their life in forests of Narayanpur without any modern facility like electricity, school etc. but still their passion for exercising their right to vote is surprising for me when I compare them with the people in South Mumbai, so called posh areas of Delhi, east Indore and many developed cities. I think we all have something to learn from these true champions of carrying forward the dreams of modern India that our grandparents have seen some decades back.

Go Wild!!!

This is latest blog entry on Priyanks's blog... after reading it, I feel like someone is speaking my mind (except for the starting part) . So this time lets 'Go Wild!!!' by Priyanka...

"I was watching this series on Discovery, "Thrill Zone", based on the stunts daredevils performed on Niagara Falls. I was not at all happy with people risking their lives (and of the rescuers) for few moments of mad thrill but what fascinated me was the power of nature. And I wondered how every time we try to conquer natural force, mother nature shows us our limits. I had a crazy idea of not getting involved in the family and social bonds and earn money and discover the wonders of nature. Go places and see wonderful things. Go wild..!!

Go to Grand Canyon and see the largest canyon, go Australia and see the largest coral reef system, climb the might Himalayas, see the beautiful and amazing northern lights, witness an active volcano. Go wild in the jungles of amazon and feel the love in Swiss Alps. Feel the thunder of waterfalls. Float on the dead sea. Witness the most wonderful sunrise in key west and mesmerizing sunset in Langkwai. Have an adventure in raw hills of Arunachal and back waters of Kerela. Get burnt in the heat of Sahara and freeze in Alaska..

And if some day I want to see how we have done wonders.. there is always Colosseum of Rome, Pyramids of Giza, Beautiful bridges and underwater tunnels, epitome of Love, Taj Mahal, always awake metro cities..

There is so much to explore that a lifetime seems to be too short. And here we are wasting our lives in the day to day miseries.
I wish some day God would grant my wish and say that I am being relieved of all my duties and responsibilities and could go and see what he has in store. Heaven on Earth..!!"

India Nite... Preparation to presentation!!!

Those of you who have just heard about the India Nite, but not got chance to see the event this short collection will probably help you to get a feel of the event. This is a behind the screen collection, I will post a link of live event photographs soon on this blog.

Photographs by: Bharat Choudhary

Sorry! This video is no longer available due to technical problems.

ⓒAnoop Jain and Bharat Choudhary

CAI over... what next?

So finally Diwali Night is over, it was the last event of the year for CAI and for me as president of the organization. It was a great year for us, I started with certain objectives to strengthen this organization. I think it was partially successful reign, I would rate it 6.5/10. I have a lot to share about this organization and I had some interesting experiences while working with this organization, but it would be better to share all those after the elections.

Now the question is what next? Its been a while since I have been wild as before, and did lot of things that was not in my basic nature (though did some wild things ;-)). I never wanted to be in any comfort zone, but working in CAI was making me within this zone, working with people you know, being within the community and interacting with same people. Now really looking for some 'true' adventure. I also must admit that studies have been affected up to a certain extent, so its time to get on the research work again.

tidbits

1. India Nite is over with record breaking attendance

2. Our dance was super hit with great song selection... though we were lacking in coordination

3. IndiaNite afterparty was grand success with about 200 attendance, and thanks to day light saving starting from mid night that we have got chance to dance one extra hour

4. Diwali night is next in the list, our last event of the year and for me last CAI event as the president

5. Its really hard to get back to study after a long break... just trying hard to start over with a new energy

Chicago Diary... Day-3

Finally, the last day of Chicago trip has come. In accordance to our previous plan we left from Brookfield Zoo at 10:00 AM. I did hared about this zoo and the variety of animals it has. After driving for 45 min we reached there, by the time we entered there it was almost time for Dolphin show, we rushed to the show area and made it there in good time... show was really good and I really enjoyed watching dolphins for the first time in my life.

After the 20 min show, it was time for roaming around zoo. The whole place is divided into world sections and you could see almost all major animals of the world. Africa, South America, Asia, Australia etc, all continents were there with a great collection of animals. Apart from this they also had some special sections like one for frogs, water animals, lion family etc.

I really enjoyed Africa section with giraffe, zebra etc, the Australia section with kangaroos, birds, and the best of all is the tropical section with all species and similarities of monkeys with baboon, orangutans and lot more from a size of frog to that of human being.

All continent sections were divided into open area with large animals and closed area with small animals and reptiles. It was a great time there!!!

Now, its time to move back to Columbia. Nishant has some homework to do, so I suggested him to do it in car itself and I will drive all the way back. It was a fun journey back with just one major stop in the way and overtaking most of time with some great night view night drive...

Chicago Diary... Day-2

Date: Oct 19th, 2008

The morning begins with a wonderful breakfast, Gujarti thepla, Kaju Katli, some Namkeen etc. After having stomach full of breakfast, we left to catch the train from Cumberland station which is very close to our hotel. There we came to know that some construction work is going on and train will drop us at Irving Park station and wee need to catch the connecting train from Belmont station, but heats off to the system here that cts (Chicago Transportation Services) has arranged a great bus connection which immediately take you to the Belmont station without westing any time and you can catch the next connecting train from there. We got the train from there and reached Washington at 10:50.

Our first spot for the day was Millennium Park which was 10 min walk from Washington station, I must admit it is one of the best example of the modern construction and engineering work (watch photos when I upload), especially the bean over there was simply great! I spend about 45 min in observing bean and taking photographs there, from there we went to Old Navy shop at downtown Chicago for some shopping.

After shopping we decided to move to the Shadd Aquarium and Field Museum, it took me some time to figure out the bus connection over there and I must admit I almost lost my direction sense (which I am proud of!) into those streets with sky creepers, luckily intuition paid that time and we got the right bus to the next destination.

Shedd Aquarium was a good collection of the marine life, divided into sections as the continents of the world but it didn't live up to my expectation. I was expecting some more, but really disappointed with occeanerium closed there and I could not see the dolphins :(. But overall its a decent place to spend 2-3 hours. After that we moved to Field Museum, it was freaking great place, but due to time constraint, we need to shorted up our visit to limited sections within three hours. If you really want to enjoy this place, I recommend you about 5-6 hours for this place.

Then comes the last part for of the day... Devon Street!!! The true and authentic Indian street in Chicago, we invested almost two hours to reach there but all time paid off as soon as I started eating Masala Dosa!!! OMG... I was really missing it badly... it was eating like I have not eaten for some billion or trillions of years. Then it was time to come back to hotel... we started back about 10:30 and reached back by 12:30... and crashed on bed!

This is the morning of day-3 and this is the last day of the Chicago trip... I am trying my luck again with zoo to see Dolphin show lets see...

Chicago Diary... Day-1

Date- 17th Oct 2008
Time: 2:30 AM

Its time to leave for Chicago in order to reach there by 9:00 AM. I had a short nap from 10:00 PM to 12:00 PM so that I could drive well. Nishant started driving for first half of the journey, we have selected some internal route to reach there as soon as possible, but the first half of the journey was bit tough as we had a lot of turns, slow speed limit and some animals coming on the way (deer was the biggest in the lot). Finally I took over that driving at highway and started slowly, after half hour I started increase in pace and we were running at 80-85 mph on the road of 65 mph. This brave decision paid off and we made it to Chicago by 9:00 AM (hurreeeyyy!!! My first US city ever!!!).

As decided earlier, we meet with Nishant's uncle at Marriott Suits (O'Hare, Chicago), it was frikin' good place with a 72 inch plasma TV in each room, we took bath there and started packing up the stuff to shift to another room in Marriott O'hare in a 4 BR section. After moving stuff there, we decided to roam around the town with local transportation (train and bus) so that we can save some time in traffic and could see the life local Chicago people. As we started around 12:00 PM in morning, we planned to cover two spots first day and then to have a downtown walk.

So, it took us 10 min to understand the local train system of Chicago (which was surprising similar to that of Mumbai), and we then started our Chicago visit officially, first reached the downtown area to collect our Go Chicago cards and then visited the John Hancock tower... This place was frikin' 95 stories tall and has one of the best view of coast line on one side and skycreepers on other side. Then we went down and Nishant had some cheese cake (which was looking yummy) at cheese cake factory and then we took a bus to Nevy Pier, there we took the architectural tour of the city. Believe me guys, this city has some of the greatest constructions in the world, it was a complete worth of the money and time... seeing some of the best building from Chicago river and sailing all the way into Chicago town was a great experience.

The weather was getting cold, so we spend some time inside Navy Pier and also prepared 'bhel' there!!! Then started roaming around the place and had ride of Ferris Wheel, by the evening all of us were hungry and want to eat the famous Chicago delicacy Gino's Pizza. We took a cab to Gino's and it took us 30 min to get in as it always has waiting line there. Finally we ordered one large veggie pizza with 8 slices. The pizza was so heavy that the great pizza eaters like me and Nishant were able to eat just two slices :-(, uncle was able to make just one and we were left with three more... took it with us for breakfast next morning and left back for Hotel as Nishant has to submit one exam... reached back by 9:00 PM and I simply crushed on bed and just woke up for next day!!!

Now leaving for the day 2 adventure....

A Moment, some signs and a reminiscence

Sometimes a moment is enough to change a whole world, just a small fraction of time changes direction of life in such a way that a person spend his whole life in that direction. From all the stories that I have read, or heard from all the experiences of the people around me, came to know that this moment comes most unexpectedly, but it is for sure that this moment comes when you really need it.

In my regular discussions with friends, I was talking to one of my friend, he was talking about a book that he read sometime back. In that book it is mentioned that signs are there in all spheres of life to reach to ultimate goal in life, all you need to do is identify them and follow them... and those who have successfully followed them are most successful people in the world.

When I look into my past, I find that behind every successful venture in my life, there was a whole mechanism working behind me and I was following the right signs with best of my efforts. Every failure had a success story following it... sometimes some huge and unexpected setbacks live you on unknown paths and you struggle to get back to your normal life, but most of time it left some reminiscence with you... that guides you, that helps you, make you laugh and sometimes make you cry... when you move on to your 'voyage'.

Thought...

20 Days...

So finally 20 days left for India Nite'08... last meeting was with mixed reaction, some of the members were lazy as always some of them were gearing up for coming tensions and some were bit nervous about it.

The scale and popularity of the event has made it prestige issue for any CAI (Cultural Association of India) team, especially this year when we have to wear the big boots after last year's grand 50 year celebration and success of India Nite. Things are looking under control, but looking at last experience you and always expect unexpected and as the President of the association I have to face all the outcomes The issue becomes more serious as this year we are having Consulate General of India as chief guest and with him you can definitely expect some top most faces of the university.

Well keeping my fingers crossed, looking for the next weekend when I could have a break from all these activities and enjoy some moments in Chicago...

Schedule...

The days are going crazy, lot of work with a little output...
If I think of my daily schedule, the only two things that I remember is that I wake up around 7:00 AM and sleep back about 1:00 AM. In the whole day I have-

- At least two meetings for India Nite
- One group meeting related to research work or job
- At least 40 incoming mails and 10 outgoing mails
- About 10 official calls
- Some job searching
- Some rejections
- Watching some Indian TV show for some time
- Some research work

That's all that I can recount right now, I used to think that I am a good time manager but these days that assumption is going wrong. Hopefully things will be better with time, specially after 8th November.

Subconscious Self

Mind and its control---

I was reading this book for some time back (though not completed yet), it has a very good description of all tips and tricks to control mind. In this phase of career, sometime you really seek a perfect control over mind, but one can understand how hard it is to control it.

Couple of days back, I decided to try to control it... got success in some and missed some then I realized that the biggest challenge is to control the subconscious mind. You may be good at hiding things, you may be good at suppressing you anger and emotions, but this subconscious mind is a kind of background processor that stores all those wanted and unwanted information and time to time it pops up those information. Deja-Vu, dreams are two best examples of presence of this subconscious mind. Some experiences are such that you feel like that you have gone through it and on the same side sometimes your dreams keeps you reminding what you really want to forget or live behind.

I am about to start reading about this subconscious self withing every one and will updated on this blog page if I came across some interesting information.

Random thoughts...

१। मैं सुबह का सूरज हूँ, जीने वालो को अंदाज़ नए देता हूँ,
बड़ी शौख है तू, मुझसे यु नज़रे न मिला,
खुली आखों से काज़ल भी चुरा लेता हूँ।

२। ज़िन्दगी उन लम्हों का नाम है, जो जिन्दा रहने के लिए मजबूर कर दे...

३। ज़िन्दगी भी क्या क्या रंग दिखाती है, हर मोड़ पर एक नए हमसफ़र से मिलाती है...

४। ये अंधेरे भी छट जायेंगे, उजाले फिर लौट कर आयेंगे,
उड़ गए थे दो पंछी अलग दिशाओं में,
एक दिन उन्ही रास्तों पर फिर मिल जायेंगे।

5. I am an evil, just got misunderstood...

6. Heaven kicked me out... and hell is afraid that I will take over.

7. If you can't understand my silence, how can I expect you to understand my words?

8. I am not a player... I am the game!!!

9. I am not a tease... I am a reminder of what you can't have.

10. Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once...

11. Smile... when it hurts most

Mann...

मन का हो तो अच्छा, मन का ना हो तो और भी अच्छा... (If you get your desire its good, and if not... its better).

हरिवंश राय बच्चन की यह पंक्तियां शायद आज के समय की सब से उपयुक्त पंक्तियां है। आज भी मुझे याद है जब मैंने इन शब्दों को पहली बार पढ़ा था, तब शायद मुझे भी इन का महत्व समज नही आया था। लेकिन आज जब वापस सोचा जाए तो ऐसा लगता है की शायद पुरी ज़िन्दगी ही इन में सिमट गई है, कुछ बातें कभी बहौत परेशान करती है तो फिर कुछ समय निकल जाने के बाद लगता है की अच्छा ही हुआ। शायद इसी का नाम ज़िन्दगी है, और ऐसे ही आगे बढ़ते जाना है...

These are the random thoughts collected by me sometime back... out of the blue... at some unknown time at some unknown place...

Behind every successful...

When I was a child, I used to laugh at some of the old sayings... like the one in the title. Behind every successful man, there is a woman, then I started looking around to check the factual content of this saying. After fooling around for some days, I came to conclusion that in some cases it might me true considering the inspirational and motivational support but on the other hand there are a lot of successful men around those have written their own success story, no one standing behind them. Taking all credit off and giving that to some woman is injustice to half of the world's population. Though, I know that one of the most successful man in our country (Mr. Manmohan Singh) has woman behind him :).

Then looking at these facts, my mind started boggling to find more details about it. I talked to some of the guys around me, also looked at some of the stories available online. Then I came to conclusion that there are two main reasons behind... one that I have mentioned above, the motivational, inspirational and emotional support... and the other, which I find in most of the cases is related to ego. I think for most of the men on this planet, its too hard to digest if some woman kick on your ego (common' guys lets accept it that we have a big... big ego problem, and I think we should have that!), probably that impact make you more focused to your goal and take an eye off that impact. Probably, we want to prove ourselves (and definitely the person on the other side) that we are better and this lead us to a path of success! ha ha ha... I know I am right, accept it or not...

Meet the greatest management guru of all time

Since my childhood, I have been fascinated towards the ancient Indian Wisdom and visionaries. Chanakya (Kautlya) is always being on top of the list. A Management Guru, The man who evolve economics, and may be called a man who knows all aspects of governance. This blog is dedicated to him with some of his very famous quotes-

1) "A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.”

2) “Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.”

3) “The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you.”

4) “There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.”

5) “Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.”

6) “As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.”

7) “The world’s biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.”

8) “Once you start a working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.”

9) “The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction.”

10) “Whores don’t live in company of poor men, citizens never support a weak company and birds don’t build nests on a tree that doesn’t bear fruits.”

11) “God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple.”

12) “A man is great by deeds, not by birth.”

13) “Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness.”

14) “Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends.”

15) “Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person.”

16) “Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.”

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish...

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish... one of the few mantras that Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios) gave in his Stanford University commencement address in 2005. Hungry to learn... and foolish enough to look around...

Just keeping this blog short, posting the link for text of his commencement address. It is one of the very practical and and honest speech I have ever heard-

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Vo Jubaan kuch kah jati shayaad,
Vo ghadi u hi ruk jati shayaad,
De jati kuch nishan aage badne ke,
Zindagi u tham na jati shayaad...

Socha aage badhenge un raston par,
Jahan kuch nishan abhi bhi baaki hai,
Mann kuch bhi kahta ho ab,
Yaadon ki dastan abhi baaki hai...

Waqt shayaad tham sa gaya hai,
Un lamhon ko ji lene ke liye,
Ya phir shayaad kah raha hai,
In aasoon ko peene ke liye...

Is samandar ke kinare bhi dikhne lage the,
Is zameen par bhi badal barasne lage the,
Kya pata tha ki aakh u hi khul jayegi,
Aur zindagi u hi sach dikha jayegi,
Ya phir shayaad.... khud "Zindagi" se hi ruth jayegi

-anoop

P.S.- I am still looking for a name... suggestions are welcome!

Loud Silence

Sometimes silence seem so loud, and it has such a great impact that loudest voice on earth in nothing compare to it. I experienced such a 'loud' silence this Saturday night. I think it's going to have a great impact on me and people around me. Sometimes you expect a loud and firm reaction for your deeds, but when you get noting but a very small voice comparable to silence then it become very hard to face that voice coming out of this silence.

Anyways, talking on the serious note today sometime you try too hard to avoid mistakes and then you see that you are more prone to mistakes. Things that you do unknowingly, becomes your mistake and also any step towards saving yourself take you one step closer to it. Some call it bad phase, some call it bad luck and lot of other words have been given to it. Person whom you think mentally strong and stable commits some of the errors that are least expected from him. I am trying to figure it out, why most of the things in life are like send... more you try to hold it in your hand, more it slip off it through fingers.

Icebox... the internal view

Davil's Icebox

So, finally I got time to write about one of my best experience in US... The Devil's Icebox!!!

Its a cave located near Columbia, about 10 miles long in its full length, no sign of outer atmosphere and light, no man made structures, no human being, about 6 species of bates, full of wet and very wet mud, lot of small hole to pass on, very low tempeture and flowing water springs (some places its as deep as 9-10 feet). So the total package makes it true adventure.

Pre-preparation-> I have been told to buy at least two waterproof headlamps with super bright light, a water proof torch, learn about Kayaking, but a pair of very good mud shoes and get ready to put life at risk...

And here it starts-> I reached at base office at about 8:00 AM in morning, after checking all equipments they told us to get to parking area close to the cave (about .5 miles away). They gave us Kayak there each wt. about 60 pounds and told us to lift them and carry to the entrance of cave. It was a group of 9, we took out Kayak to entrance passing through some wooden ladders and muddy pathways.

Just at the entrance of the caves, on top of my surprise it was a deep water spring and we have divided us in a group of two with one Kayak each, as soon as we got in I got to know that me any my partner, we both are novice in Kayak and we were the last one to follow the whole group, after passing half way on some shallow water area our group leader has changed our partners. Then after 45 min of peddling we have reached to the first point, there we left our kayaks and start walking down. It was smelling really bad there with lots of bats poo...

We were walking on muddy surface, through water spring up to 4-5 feet deep and through some natural holes with whole body in mud, but really after some time I started enjoying that mud too, putting myself down and crawling through those small pathways at about 12:00 PM we reached on some plane surface. We stayed there for lunch (that was with me in my backpack, in a waterproof container) and then at 12:30 PM we started walking towards waterfall... this was rather easy way to pass on and at about 2:00 PM we reached there. It was one of the most beautiful structure I have seen in my life... simply amazing, how water has made such a beautiful thing by sedimentation.

As return journey always took less time, so on the common consensus we decided t0 take a new way and also to look into most of the muddy holes to make journey more adventurous. I must say, it was hell of a difficult journey back... I slept couple to times and two time I was skidding like anything on muddy ground and towards water body (thank god it was shallow there!). After looking into a lot of holes and couple of bat colonies we reached to our kayaks and this time we were leading the whole group with my new partner and covered the whole 45 min journey in 30 min.

After reaching outside, it was a pleasant feeling to see sunlight after almost 9 hours. It was 5:30 in my watch and again after taking our kayaks to parking area I tore out some of the trash bags in my car and tied them to seat as the whole body and cloths were in mud.

We drove back to base camp and it was time to clean all the stuff, thanks to high pressure pipe most of the stuff was clean in one hour. Me and my partner were starving like anything so we decided to go to Cici's pizza (eat unlimited pizza, pasta and salad in $4.49 ;-))...

After that great lunch and dinner, its time to go back home to prepare for next day adventure at six flags!!! The whole body was in pain... but I was enjoying that and thus ends one of the exciting day of my life!!!

P.S.- It was hard to explain the whole adventure in words... I will upload pictures soon on this page...

A 'Wonderful' Wednesday....

What a movie!!!

Superb, fantastic, mind blowing....
Acting- 9/10
Direction- 9/10
Movie- 9/10
Dialogue- 9/10

This movie has proved again that India has got some talent, this movie has proved that we do have some original ideas, we do have good actors and we do have nice directors!!!

It was really good to see the true talents of actors like Anupam and Nasir, which we hidden behind the glamorous casting and crappy comic characters. Hates off to duo!!! I can frankly say that after a long time I have seen a bollywood movie that has fixed me on my couch.... I really didn't know when the whole time has passed watching this fast paced and well made movie.

Cheers,

Balloon Festival

Before talking about my caving experience, let me tell you about the balloon festival in Columbia. Its was simply rocking time and experience. Just on the next day to my birthday, I went to Columbia annual balloon festival, it was Saturday and we left at late afternoon, I was there with four of my friends. It was not a good condition for balloons to go high in sky and organizers have canceled the race but they announced that there illumination and other scheduled events will be there.

We reached there about 5:00 PM and for the first time in my life I have seen about 30 balloons together, while walking down the ground I was observing the whole process the set up the balloons and how they were filling hot air in it. I could see some balloons flying in sky in twilight conditions but most of them were standing on ground. I could see most of the balloons with some themes specially one with tiger theme (Go Mizzou Tigers!!!). It was more like a family fun fest and I have seen this many children together for the first time in US, also on the same note I could see most of the balloons were set up by families rather then a group of individuals.

Finally after some wait the illumination has started, telling you the truth it was a hack of experience... the whole show was gorgeous with the sound all lights are up in all balloons and also some rhythmic fire as well. I didn't even realized that how next one hour passed in watching show and taking photographs.