4 Books

Before starting this post, I must confess that I am not a big time reader. Specially past 2-3 years were my non-book-reading years. So these book may not be gems, but I like them very much... 

1. Its not about the bike: My journey back to life (Lance Armstrong)- Its autobiography of Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, one of the best book I read in my life. This book is not stop journey in a life of a guy who never gives up. This book amazes me sometimes about the spirit that Lance has, and also a big inspiration source for me. 

2. The motorcycle diaries (Che Guevara)- As wikipedia says "The Motorcycle Diaries is a memoir that traces the early travels of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara." I picked up this book after reading its synopsis on some website, being traveler I like to read travelogue and this one was much more than just another travelogue. It was a window in Che's life, his early days before he became famous. 

3. The Bhagwat Gita for daily living (Eknath Easwaran)- I am not a religious person, I saw this book first when I was in my final year of Engineering. I started reading first part of this book (it is a three book set) during breaks and free lectures from library, and after graduation I purchased all three parts. Though I have never finished these books but still they are in my favorite list. Whenever I am down or want to have some space for self, I spend some time with it. I think that is one of the reason that I have not completed it, as I want to keep it in my reading list as long as I can. I must say that I am impressed with the modern world illustrations and discussions given in this set of books. 

4. Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts)- Its about an incredible journey of a convict from Australia who escaped prison and went on to become entrepreneur in Australia, but this novel covers a part of his life when he come to India and joined underworld and also about hardships of life. A story inspired by life of author is one of the most addictive novel I have ever read (apart from Angles and Demons). I can't wait to read its sequel coming mid of 2012. 

 

5 Foods

For a foodie like me, I got to say picking five dishes ain't no fun. The easier way out was I mention the name of countries but that would be cheating. I am a vegetarian, but never compromised on my taste buds. I have tasted food from almost 20 countries and I think my interest in food makes be a good judge (though little biased one). So here are some of the dishes that I likes most among the once I have tested so far- 

1. Eggplant Ravioli (Italy) - Eggplant known as brinjal in some parts of the world. First time I have tasted it in Macaroni Grill (Columbia) and since then I have been a big fan of it. If you love cheese (as you will be all cheese after you eat it) and you are a fan of ravioli this is one dish that you should not miss. 

2. Burrito (Mexico)- The father of all rolls! This is one dish that I have tasted in many form, be it fresh burrito at Chipotle or some refined once of any local Mexican restaurant, they always something to offer. My personal favorite once are from Chipotle and Chevy's along with freshly prepared Guacamole. I liked the once with stuffing of black beans, rice, lettuce, and super spicy salsa along with regular ingredients. 

3. Dal (lentils) Bafla (wheat doughnut like food) laddoo (sweet dish) (Indian)- Indore in capital of Indian food, and the king of food in Malwa region is Dal Bafla. Sometimes simple is simply beautiful and testy as well. The best test comes when they are prepared with traditional method on 'kande'. This is a food with lot of fat content and equally awesome taste. 

4. Pat Thai (Thailand) - These are noodles prepared with fresh vegetables (if you have ordered the veg version of it). The real taste comes when it prepared with right amount of sauce(s) mixed at right temperature. I tasted it first at The Bangkok Garden and following it, I have tasted it at many outlets, and still I can't avoid its temptation. 

5. Pizza (Italy, America)- Be it traditional Italian pizza, Brooklyn style pizza, Chicago's famous pizza, or a pizza from that unknown shop in Utah between Moab and one of the canyon that I can't recall (that was by far the most delicious), I am a big pizza fan. There is a reason that my friends say that Domino's next door is running because of me ;). A fresh crust, good amount of fine quality cheese and some good toppings like jalapeno, green papers, and onion can make may day! 

Apart from these five dishes, there are lot more that I like. I would love to invite you all to my restaurant (once it is open) to come and lost in world of food.     

6 Places

Wow! Now I am loving this... This list includes both, the places that I have already visited and places that I want to visit. 

1. Siberia- I have never been there and may be I will never be... but I have some special place for Siberia in my heart, there is something special about this place that connects me to it. I don't know much about it, and I really don't want to know apart from watching some pics and I will be more interested in going there personally and explore more about it. 

2. Greenland- A beautiful country with very less population and lots of ice, except for some of the shore parts it is very less or almost unexplored. It as got that enigma, that touch and feel that will pull me from anywhere in the world. 

3. Yellowstone and Grand Canyon- Keeping these two places together is intentional, I just missed these two by few miles last time due to limited time. But I promised myself that in my next visit to North American continent I will visit definitely be there... both have got a distinct identity and distinct beauty. 

4. North East India- Beautiful land and beautiful people, be it evening in Darjeelin, a great day out at Changu lake, warmth of people of Sikkim, crazy drives on the roads of ‘seven sisters’ or local dances. This part of India is a whole new world to explore and visit. Once you are here, you will never want to leave this place. 

5. Leh Ladakh- A place in far north of India with sheer beauty and elegance. It has memorable landscapes, magnetic hill, Buddhist temples and monks. One of the best place for road trip on bike. 

6. Europe- I definitely can't pick a country, be it romantic place like Italy or fun filled streets of Spain, the grass fields of Scotland or beauty of Sweden and Denmark or fashion filled Paris... Its totally worth it to spend some time in Europe and enjoy the life!      

Though list needs only six places but there are other places as well that I would love to visit. 

7 Wants

Wants! Just opposite to my previous post, where I had to think a lot about fears, this one is more like selecting from a list. Some of the wants are listed in 10 Secrets, so I will try to exclude them in this post. As picture above says, I am a greedy guy and all I want is everything (Just in case anyone remember tag line of movie "Bas itna sa khawab hai"). 

1. I want to write a fantasy fiction that includes some Sci-fi and some mythological elements. 

2. I want to direct a movie, no matter it is 2 min short flick or a 3 hours movie. But it got to be a good quality work. 

3. I want to sky dive from at least 14,000 ft. 

4. I want to run a global multi-cuisine restaurant chain. 

5. I want to visit Siberia and Greenland, there is something over there that always attracts me. 

6. How about a dinner with Eva Mendes and Salma Hayek! 

7. Finally, a techno-house with at least a patio, hot tub, jacuzzi, mini theater, indoor games arena and a beautiful organic garden.

8 Fears

F.E.A.R.S. interesting word, it is. I don't know what fear me most, but just putting some random experiences that I might put under category of fear. I didn't know it is going to be so hard to find my fears...

1. Reptiles- I am not sure if it is hate or fear, but I just can't stand those animals near me specially small ones like lizards, and snakes. The big ones like crocks, alligators usually attracts me.

2. Chatter box- There are some people who just talk, talk and talk. Just can't stand them though there are few exceptions in this category.

3. Traffic/Pollution- Story of most of the Indian cities, but I try my best to avoid it. 

4. Crowd- May be this is effect of Columbia or my inherent nature, I just can't stay at crowded places. It makes me uncomfortable to the soul. 

5. Monotonicity- I can't live a predictable and same day in and day out kind of life. I love living on the edge, So slow, monotonous life is not for me and among my fears. 

6. Authority- I am a rebel, given a condition that I have to live under other's authoritative rules, may not be so pleasant experience for me.  

7. Kids- That is a damn big one! I am scared of lil ones, specially the dirty crying ones. They really scare a hell otta me. 

8. Fear of unknown... I don't know what it is but it is there!

9 Loves

Here comes the part-2 of series. I must say that this was easier one as I love life! so not very difficult to choose 9 loves among them. I think a major challenge will come when it will come down to songs, movies...

1. Nature: I love to loose myself in beauty of nature around, be it Badlands of South Dakota, or Rocky Mountains or Changu Lake close to India-Chaina border in North-East. 

2. Travel: I am a traveling soul, may be it is in my genes

3. Photography: The creative Anoop! I think that all I can say, as I am not among most creative people out there but this is something that keeps me going. 

4. Movies: A secret, I have a rough record of watching one movie a day for past few years!... and if that movie is Sci-fi, Adventure or fantasy then it is even better... 

5. Being alone: My outlook may be social, but I love being alone and being to self. 

6. Sufi Music: I just love it! 

7. Reading: News (political), mysteries of world, mysteries of Universe, supernatural phenomenon, aliens or anything that is 'interesting'. 

8. Challenges: There is no big fun than defying the odds and coming out... 

9. Life: From where I started, I love life... and everything/everyone involved in it, my be its not fair at times or frustrating as well... but this is what we have. So why not learn to love it that way it is! 

10 Secrets

Thanks to Priyanka for this idea, the "You" challenge... I must confess its not as easy as it look, being honest to self is not a very simple thing these days... so being honest to world will be a lot more difficult! So be it, this time I am in... (anyways secrets never means "Dark Secret") 

1. A poet exists in me, it a secret to most of the world except blog sphere. (Though last few attempts were not up to the mark, as some inspiration was missing behind them).

2. I just want to do something that people will remember my name for at least 100 years, not a big expectation! 

3. I have a secret ambition of having a business, and a NGO in field of education.

4. I am still waiting for a girl bindass enough to ask me out!

5. Once in a life, I want to give a motivational lecture to a big audience.  

6. Sometimes I think I can dance well, and choreograph as well.

7. I am very pseudo-extrovert type of person, people around me (who casually know me) think that I am very outgoing and open but the fact is it is just one of the mask that I wear. So many people around me for years don't know me well and on the other side there are people who know me well in minutes. 

8. I did fall in love once, it was actually a 'fall' (if you know what I mean). 

9. I never forget faces, even if I see that person after years but at the same time I am extremely poor with names and dates. (I did forget me birthday once!)

10. Bad manners are BIG turnoff for me, be it table, dressing, traffic or any other ones.

Inside Out

Inside Out 

I wanna fly, high up in the sky,

Leaving everything that makes me shy,

Looking far from the visible sight,

Just to go beyond illusion and might…

I wanna swim, deep down the sea,

Visit mysteries hidden inside me,

To fight and win the war within,

To see the strength that not yet been seen…

I wanna dance, till I’m down,

Go in, out, and around,

See the world with a new prospect,

Live a life with faith, love and respect…

I wanna walk, through unknown path,

Feel so lonely that I could talk,

Leave past behind myself,

And go beyond conscious self…

I wanna see, into eyes of sun,

Feel the heat and get little drunk,

So that I can forget all the pain,

And enjoy the life that I call a game…

I wanna feel, true meaning of joy,

No fun in being shy and coy,

Go out and shout it loud,

I don’t care who is around…

I wanna know, the reason of being,

Though it’s not a simple thing,

I wanna know, purpose of my life,

The very reason why I survive…

I wanna die, with no regrets,

It doesn’t matter what I get,

But, today I am alive,

And, I gonna live my life… 

-anoop

Shit Happens!

So finally I am back! and this time I will be more regular... some of you must be shocked to see the title of the post, well this post is one of the most random, thoughtless, and negative (in a way) post I have written... it is just a result of an angry, confused and complicated mind condition... so digest it with Hajmola!

Confused… 

Who am I? I know not when you are around,

They say love defines a person, but I am long lost,

I walk down the lonely road, hoping you would join,

But in the end, I left alone with your memories…

You are my best friend, and you are my worst foe,

You were the one I trusted, had faith in you,

But you have broken trust, and faith,

Now you lost the left respect…

I am losing myself, becoming what I am not,

Just running behind the shadows of unknown,

Living in the sweet reminiscence of past,

Just want to convince myself, that we are a world apart…

I know, you think I made some mistakes,

But those mistakes were being rather grace,

I know its hard to bury past and look to the future,

But all I want is my old friend back!

Sometimes silence is so loud,

That it heard thousand miles,

It hits the wall within, and breaks heart,

Break this silence and hold my hand,

I want you, I need you, and… I love you. 

P.S.-  This is unedited raw version, and I intend to keep it like this...

A letter to my students

Dear Students,

As many of you aware of that I am leaving VIT soon, so I thought that this would be a nice time to interact with you one last time and say my goodbye. Last year, I joined VIT in month of March, that time I was excited as well as little scared too. Excited, for that reason that I will be pursuing my dream career and scared because I didn't wanted to mess up my first assignment.

First few month were just regular as I didn't had any class or interaction with you, but from July onwards things changed. I still remember my very first class, I had a lot of plan that I will do this or that... but to be really frank teaching is just like any game where plans are in place until you are not in the field. Once you enter that game, all dynamics changes, and so happened with me, and I must confess that it happened for better. First, six month were full of learning for me as a teacher right from understanding mind sets of my students to work with class dynamics, it was a great experience.

Taking a subject like Embedded System was even more fun, as I was also a student of that subject and every day I had to appear in exam two times (which I did failed couple of times). I believe we shared out best and worst during this period in some of the most interesting as well as boring classes. Then came second semester, which was a totally different experience. Learning is part of life, and I was learning in this class as well. But one thing that was standing out from all was the 'fun' factor that was added to class. I always believe in enjoying my work assignment, and the first year students brought that 'IT' factor into class and it could never get better than that.

Anyways coming to the point, although my age and experience is very small but I thought that I should share some of things with you through this media. May be some of you find it useful-

1. Work hard, party hard: Life is a celebration, so why miss a chance to celebrate every moment that we live may be its a success or a defeat. This is your time, time to go out there and show the world that your presence matters. Work hard as you have never done before and taste the success in every walk of you life. But life full of work sometimes becomes monotonous, so whats the perfect balance?? Party!!!

2. Take challenges, accept defeats and be a winner: When I look at my classes, I see a lot of potential. Time-to-time I tried to challenge you and to my pleasant surprise you always achieved more than my expectations. I feel bad when such a talent seems standstill, it is your time take up the new challenges and explore new possibilities in you. I am very sure that you will be surprised to see your development once you start challenging your limits.

Winning and losing is part of life, some time you will face setbacks in your life. Accept them. Learn from them, re-discover yourself and come out as winner.

3. Search for your little moments of joy, fall in love: There are always little moments of joy around us, may be its a cup of coffee in rains, watching a child playing, your hobbies or anything under the sun that gives you 'that' moment. Once you find these moments around, life will be fun! Fall in love with these moments, cherish them and store them down the memory lane.

4. Life is crazy, it is mess so why not you!: You will meet lot of crazy moments and crazy people in your life. Believe me, sometimes it a good to be crazy or being a mess just of of fun quotient hidden in it. At least do something totally crazy once in your college life. This memory will always going to be with you.

5. Make your bucket list: We see, we feel a lot things around us. And some of these things we really wanted to do in our life, be it being next Bill Gates, or diving from open sky or giving most romantic proposal to person you love. Why not make a list of those desires, and don't forget to update it time to time. Do read it once in a week or paste it in front of your study desk, it will always keep you on the move.

6. Be good, be honest: In the end, I just want to say that be good to others and be honest to yourself. I don't see any sense in having a life full of baggage on our back, be simple and be open about your opinions you will see that life is not that complicated as it is projected by people. Be a good citizen, and active member or society, and an honest person that can take pride in what he does.

This world is very small, we will meet soon at some point in your life... till then good luck to all of you. Fly high and touch the sky...

Good Luck! 

Ciao...

Oops!

• Battle between heart and mind is an age old battle, and I believe every normal human being has this experience at some phase of time. I must say that first part is little strong at my side, heart rules most of the time. 
• I love adventure in life, slow-monotonous and boring life is the last thing that I want, and this thing make me do many things that I do not expect that I will ever able to do. 
• Most of the biggest decisions in my life were the decisions that I took in shortest time. Be it MS, or not appearing in visa interview at first time, or it is leaving TCS, joining VIT etc. 
• I have this huge 'khujali' (I did mentioned in one of my previous post) that never let me sit still and follow the life as it is. 
• I love taking risks at times, specially for achieving my dreams. 
• I like to be unpredictable, even to my close ones even to myself. 

Well, you must be wondering what I am talking about! The fact is, if you are getting some gist from the points that I mentioned above... I did something again... I don't really know if its a right decision at this point or not or even if it is just a reckless behavior. But one thing is for sure that something big is on the way that will be either "make it or break it" for me. Its time when I am keeping my fingers crossed, and preparing to bring my A-game when I start this new phase. 

Bharat Bhagya Vidhata

I have been coming home early every day since this Tuesday, the reason is one 72 year old young man who has been struggling against corruption for last 3 decades, and this Tuesday he silently started his strongest campaign ever. It was a great relief to see that for the first time whole India united for a cause, rich or poor, young or old, educated or uneducated... everyone is talking in the same tone.

Even after being in Vellore, at other end of country, I can feel the heat of movement that he started in Delhi. Probably this is the fastest awakening movement in the history of modern India, just in four days whole country is looking much more aware and much more mature. Everyone was self invited in this movement and I have surprised to see the momentum this movement has gained and rate with which word has been spread across the country and world is simply incredible. It simply shows the undercurrent against corruption and tainted ministers that was just waiting for a right time and right guidance to blow out.

It was a sweet relief that political parties are totally kept out of the activities, as it is a known truth in India that every political party in power behaves the same. I am not sure how successful this movement will be, but it will definitely send a very strong message to everyone sitting in parliament that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

I always had complaint to people working in their air conditioned offices that they never trouble themselves to come on streets for a good cause, but this time even that missing part of society also joined hand. Now I am expecting that this part of society will actively go and cast vote on election day to choose right people.

On the side note, this movement clearly shows that when experience of old and energy of youth joins hand, it can do wonder. It has been said that before fighting enemies of outside, we should fight enemies inside. For the country these enemies are poverty, unemployment, and lake of education and the root of all these problems are directly or indirectly corruption. So, lets join our hands together in fights against this evil and also pledge that we will not any form of corruption.

Today, I can say that I am a proud Indian and for Anna its all respect.

Jai Hind
 ...

ख़ामोशी

ख़ामोशी 

खामोश नज़रें कुछ कहती है, 

बातें फिर भी दिल में रहती है|

इन नज़रों में एक ख्वाब है, 

तमन्ना है कुछ करने की,

बहुत आगे बदने की, 

क्षितिज को छूने की,

आसमा से ऊंचा उड़ने की, 

दुनिया मुट्ठी में करने की, 

बस, यही एक ख्वाब है|

बातें भी कुछ ख़ास है, 

इस नासमझ दिल के पास है, 

बातें है मंजिलो की, 

मंजिलो को जाती राहों की, 

कहती है तू इन राहों पर चले जा, 

अपने मन की करे जा, 

बस, यूँ ही आगे बढ़े जा| 

इन नज़रों में छुपी जो बातें है, 

ख्वाबों से भरी जो आखें है, 

कहती है छु लो आसमान, 

अनंत हो तुम, अद्भुत है तुम्हारी क्षमता, 

अविरल अविचल बढते चलो, 

सब को अपना करते चलो...

- अनूप 

Beautiful Stranger

Beautiful Stranger

Day and night I think about you,

Who are you? A dream or reality,

I can see you, I can feel you,

You are my destiny, you are my fate,

You are a beautiful stranger…

I wanna meet you, I wanna touch you,

I wanna hold you, I wanna kiss you,

Waiting for that ‘perfect’ moment,

When you will be in front of my eyes,

Driving me crazy, dancing in the rain…

I am losing myself looking into your eyes,

I feel warmth of love deep down inside,

Then I hear your silky voice,

An unknown voice but still so known,

A voice of destination of this endless voyage… 

We started walking through wild countryside,

Holding hand in hand, taking leap of faith,

Thus come twilight time and we reach beach side,

We set there in deep silence,

Talking in our hearts, looking into eyes,

Then comes the moonlight,

To touch our heart and soul, to take us to our divine goal…  

-anoop

Down the memory lane...

I was searching something on internet yesterday night and I came across an interesting website on Hindi literature. I visited couple of sections, and started traveling down the memory lane.

So, when I was visiting some of the pages of the website I came across the page of "मुहावरे" (Idioms) in Hindi, and just like typical flashback in Hindi movie, I came from  family of 'mango people', had my schooling in Hindi medium and upbringing like a very normal Indian family of 90's. I was remembering my school days when we were very close to being "Bharatiya" rather than modern Indians. I realize we are missing a lot of things in our life, and I don't think that this neo-generation has any idea about being true "Desi" and they have been eating whatever "Desiness" is been provided by some stupid programs on stupid television channel. The time is not far when we have to find a true Indian in India and this mix bread will take over all. 

Anyways, serious talks aside, I am writing this post for those old memories so lets start a journey with me down the memory lane- 

Language: Ha, I love that language... so informal (with friends) and so respective and formal (with elders) but still a language that directly touches heart, mind and soul. Usage of local/regional words, idioms were the icing on the cake. I remember when just out of fun, me and mine friends in high school class started using those idioms in regular language!!! There is no comparison between that language and this "khichadi" hinglish. 

Games: I have played every possible roadside/indoor game in my childhood, be it late night cricket on road in high school days or paper boat racing during rainy season when I was 4-5 yrs old, it was true fun and enjoyment. The days were full of 'sakal-bandi', 'chupam-chupai', 'sitolia', 'gadha maar' or the best flying kites all day! A great social gathering and great physical activity, where are those days and where are those games... X-Box, PS, Nintendo are good but .... something is missing. 

People: I can still feel warmth of some people I met in my childhood, most of them were genuine and they used to meet because they liked it, not just because they have some secret agenda behind it. I have seen some fights, but at the same time I have seen that how same people make up during festive seasons. I rarely feel that connection with people now a days. 

Festivals: I love to see that time again, when people used to celebrate festival just for pure fun and enjoyment rather than showing off. Most of the festivities are losing their grace in all show off today, and I doubt when if we even enjoy any festival to the core of our heart. 

Life: I feel really bad sometimes when I write some blog about lifestyle or some place, because I am not doing anything out of the league. But to most of the readers that is new, the reason is simple that we have lost touch with reality. Most of the events/blog entries that I post used to be a part of out daily life which is lost in time... and now we see them as some big deal. I feel pity for the generation who have to visit some "Dhani" to see a village life or those engineers in Bangalore those eat at Grameen and feel good about it...

There is a reason why we watch those old Doordarshan Ad's on YouTube, there is a reason that why Mile Sur Mera Tumhara still the best and there is a reason why we miss Surabhi, Hum Log, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Vyomkesh Bakshi... the reason is that we are still the same from deep inside. So why not just move few kilometers out of your cities, and witness life and things that I described above still exists... it just we who don't want to see the reality around us. 

Far away in sunshine…

Life is a journey, a journey of some known and some unknown motives. Most interesting fact about life is that most of us claim to know our destination, but very few of us know what our real destination is. I am not in a position to comment anything about others with my little experience and experiment over the mystery called life. But, I would love to comment about my personal experiences.

I have been a firm believer of the fact that if journey is eventful then there is no reason to worry about the destination. Sometimes an endless path itself could be a destination. We are here to play a role, and if possible, to contribute in some way… so if the focus is just on our respective destinations then aren't we called selfish? And may be possible that we get satisfied enough that we hesitate to move forward. So, why not treat those destinations as little stopovers where we reach, take some rest and move forward. Probably it will be more fun to explore a brave new world, to meet new challenges, enjoy little moments and live every day on the edge as if there is no tomorrow.

As I mentioned earlier, it was totally my perception of life and it depends on one's perception about how he or she like to live life. For some it is all about destination and for some it is a fulfilling journey. But for most of us, neither we know the exact path and nor we have a destination, life is just about running around with total randomness and or being a part of some rat race. So, let's take a minute out of life and think about it!

Ciao…

Poem: A Face

It has been a while since I wrote my last poem. So here is the new entry in poem list... I know that I suck at English poetry, but Winston Churchill and wall paper of my desktop says- "Never Never Never Give Up"... so I will keep trying. Though, Hindi poems will continue to flow... 

This Poem is collection of some totally random thought, that I was having this evening and I penned them down... so structure of poem is weak.  

A Face

It was a summer evening,

I was going on with some musing,

Passing by woods and bright summer stream,

I saw a face…

A face so soothing, so beautiful,

A face so pure, so soulful,

A face of faith, a face of grace,

A face little unknown, a face little known…

A face with unknown charm,

A face with known warmth,

I knew that this face was the answer,

The answer of my all questions…

I felt that I reached the destination,

The destination of an unknown quest,

It was end of my voyage,

It was the ‘moment’ of my life…

 

With an end came a new beginning,

I began the journey to love and life,

A journey to the self, 

I call it, my return to innocence… 

-anoop

Ciao...

Randomization

Last few days were little busy, new semester has started and I was trying to bring some new stuff in my teaching methodology, so I was occupied in work related stuff. In the mean time I had some interesting conversations with one of my friend and few students, which left me thinking…

Few days back I was talking to a very close friend of mine, and our topic diverted towards careers and work related stuff. I asked her about my work and how she feel about it, she told me that may be you are doing good over there in field of education, but that is not the right place for you. I asked her, then where I am more suited? Her response was you better be in any research lab. On the same note, during my informal conversations with my students, I often find them wondering about my career choice. For, both the cases I have same answer, that’s what I am and that’s what I want to do. I love teaching, I love interacting with number of people and I enjoy what I am doing.

After having a degree from US and good on and off-curriculum track record work in some MNC seems to be and obvious choice. But, I don’t identify myself with that life or little rudely I can say that, that life is boring for me. I know that sometimes I am doing some silly things here, which I often find funny and immature. But if everyone is scared of it than who will take the lead?

My philosophy is very simple and very straight forward; I want to be the best in the world at what I do. Definitely I am not at this point of time, and may be I will never be. But all that matter is by every passing moment I am improving myself and I am right on 'it'. My to-do list is little long and little ambitious, so I have lot to do in next few decades so why worry about what others think… just live life king size, be good ,do good and enjoy the cup of life till its last drop!

P.S.- thanks to Priyanka for pointing out a blunder... late night blogging is not good ;)

Ciao...

From Dawn to 'Dust'- Chennai and Mahabalipuram

So here we go… it was New Year weekend and I really wanted to make it better than my previous ones (sleeping, or working in laboratory), so me and one of my colleague Santhosh decided to visit Mahabalipuram, Kanchipuram and Chennai and have a little outing at these two places. We have been planning this for over a couple of months, but every weekend there is some work from University that was killing our plans.

The original plan was to visit these places on my Access, but considering weather conditions we thought why not have even more fun by traveling into local state transportation buses, that too the worst ones. Later, it came out a bigger adventure. We changed a plan little bit, and rather than going to Mahabalipuram, we started for Chennai. The day started with nice three hour bus journey, after reaching Chennai both of us were feeling hungry so we decided to take food at Sarvana Bhavan (famous food chain here), which is famous for its ‘thali’ (assorted food). As soon as ‘thali’ arrived, my first reaction was OH MY GOD!!! The reason for that reaction is here-

Anyways, I decided to finish each and every bowl of that ‘thali’, and I DID IT! After grand lunch, we visited Chennai Central mall for some window shopping, and also major attraction was landmark as I as out of contact with the new releases in fiction and non-fiction for almost 2-3 months. It was a wonderful experience to back to world of literature. We spent almost three hours over there and then moved to Marina Beach. To be really frank, I was not expecting anything out of Chennai beaches, but it was better than my expectation with a harbor in the horizon and some kites flying in the sky (I am a BIG kites fan!). I decided to take out my camera and try to click some pictures there to clean the photography ‘rust’ that I had last weekend. 

After spending few hours there and enjoying some delicious beach side bhajji (bhajiya (India fried snacks)), sugarcane juice we decided to start our journey towards Mahabalipuram. I was excited as we were on time and about to reach Mahabalipuram about 7:00 PM, and it would have been a great site to visit shore Temple in evening, but there were some other plans in store for us… Chennai traffic! We spent almost 3 hours to reach main bus stand and then further 3.5 hours to reach Mahabalipuram. By the time we entered the city, it was 11:30 PM and I was in no mood to spend my New Year’s Eve on roads of deserted town. So, we booked a lodge and rush towards the sea shore which was luckily 5 minutes walking from lodge. By, the time we reached there, it was 11:55 PM and withing 5 minutes we welcomed 2011 with a great show of fireworks on the sea shore! At 12:30 AM we decided to get back to lodge with aim of getting early and welcome first day of year on sea shore.

Next morning, we reached beach at 5:15, and it was a great experience. A beautiful dark and silence all over with sound of waves coming from distance. That moment was the highlight of our trip! We could see people lighting the fire and sitting around it and enjoying the fresh atmosphere. Slowly, morning arrived to enrich us with a new energy and new hope for New Year…

After spending couple of hours at beach we came back and packed our bags with the plan that we will leave for Kanchipuram after visiting ancient scriptures in the town. We started with one hill top and visited many beautiful cave Temples there along with a light house. 

The next stop was ‘Five Rathas’, which is one of UNSECO site in India, after reaching there we changed our plan as we can clearly see that Mahabalipuram has much more to offer, and we canceled plan to visit Kanchipuram and decided to stay and enjoy Mahabalipuram. I got into my laid back traveler attitude near the place and lied down to enjoy the beauty of place. After two hours we visited the ancient Rathas and decided to go to visit the shore Temple. When we were walking down the road, we could see lot of rock sculpture work is going on and some of the great artists are busy in doing their work. We decided to pay visit to one of the artist and we have seen him making one clay model live in front of our eyes… kudos to those artists and their accuracy.

Finally, we visited one of the most beautiful temples on Indian coast lines and spent some time there. In return journey more surprises were waiting for us, as soon as we reached the bus stand, a sea of thousands of people was waiting for us and each bus was going jam packed. So, we decided to move a kilometer in opposite direction to catch a bus and get a comfortable seat. Luckily our trick worked and we got in but easily, and soon people started pouring into the bus and we could see people standing/sitting on top of the bus as well… anyways we reached Vellore via Kanchipuram late night with some of the great memorable experiences.  

And finally some flicks of waves striking the stones... 

Ciao

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