musings.....

Homework Policy :

"Of course, students may discuss homework assignments with each other, may write solutions together, copy, or cheat in any way they can think of ."

Yes, Thats gradschool for you guys!!!!

The sky hasnt yet fallen,the earth hasnt yet stopped revolving.Not yet.

It was Chipotle time.Well, we just decided to go up there ourselves and find out what the buzz is all about.Believe me that place is real good.Maybe just the kind of Sharmas or Gramin replacement that one longs for.Home for another two years.(Oh thats right!!!! Only two more years of school, NOT DREADED FOUR!!!!! I made that transfer yesterday, thank God!!!)


But thats besides the point.It was about three years ago, and my sister landed with a brand new keyboard from Canada.Needless to say,visions of us being great artistes playing to an elite audience and thundering applause crowded our enthusiastic minds.As luck would have it,I ended up figuring out some keys and putting together some basic tunes of "Pardesi Pardesi" and so on.But Alas,our artistic ambitions did not proceed much further.


Yesterday I had another tryst with the keyboard.Being a trained classical singer thankfully means, that figuring out the notes is not a problem.But the fingering and coordination bit is still tricky. I had another friend who has learnt to play the veena for quite sometime.Putting together all our knowledge and playing classical tunes to a couple of sympathetic audience was fun.I also got to sing Pancharatna Krithis for a brief period.It makes a huge difference have someone appreciate classical music.Or music of any genre you love,and swear by.Carnatic music was something that ,maybe just grew on me.Having a family of music enthusiasts meant a steady diet of Bombay Jayshrees and Maharajapuram Santhanams and MLVs eversince I was born.I must have been learning music on and off since I was,well,maybe eight.But it wasnt until BITS,that I realised how big a deal it was.Thanks to Raagamalika(A club of classical performers),I started performing on stage on a regular basis.More than anything else,I enjoyed having a set of people I can talk to about "Swaraksharams" and "Vivaadi Raagams" or and the difference between "Abheri" and "Bhimplaas" or how Muthusawamy Diksithar is undoubtedly the best of the trinities, without them giving me a look that says "Stop it!!! Which planet are you from!!".


And of course, it took me down the Nostalgia alley in no time.Images of me trying to cram up stanzas of Varali in those TAP (Thats Tyagaraja Aradhana Practice for you)sessions,Jamming Thillanas for the Nrithya ranjani concert,Trying to revert back to a classical form of "Alaipayuthe"thanks to a more popular, albeit "light" film version,fun,frolic,"dappanguthu" cnot treats ,sitting mesmerized seeing Thadarina sing Maand or Vodka sing Karnaranjani or Apu play Kalyanavasantham flashed by.My non-raag,non-music friends,(who had the least interest in anything remotely related to music) would make sure I had nothing by hot water,a week before my concert.Sharmaji used to make a special variety of my favorite Apple Shake to make sure it didnt put my throat out of action.My friends would loyally come on time, sit in front rows,and try to behave(which is a huge deal,believe me!!!) when I was on stage.They would carefully preserve copies of my concert reviews published in EPC releases.(In some cases it would be written by one of them too!!!!).I couldnt ask for more.


I dont know if I ll ever go up on stage and perform again,but then,if I do,I ll sure have a bunch of people I am grateful to!!!!

My first Football match.I could give you a match review in my still tottering and almost non-existent "Football-ish" but I'd rather you guys read the review here.Oh, and just so you know,this football is not played with the foot.It is not even remotely related to our dear old Manchester United and Real Madrid(*smooches Raul Gonzales in dreams*).

Anyways, as I was saying,whatever it is called, this sport is religion here.For the first time since I reached the US, I was very excited to see throngs of people sporting red T shirts and caps and camping all day, waiting in long queues to get inside the Nippert stadium.It still is, nowhere comparable to our cricketing values,but this,folks,I guess, is as good as it gets.

Bearcats apart, the last week has been an extremely enjoyable one, with coffee hour,orientation,and the welcome party.Next weekend promises to be even greater fun,with camping and vacationing on the cards.

Work, has been good,and I have been getting to know a lot of people.Interacting with a half north Korean colleague(whose dad went to Vietnam war when he was 17,and of course met her mom there),a boss whose trip to India made a huge difference in her life, and a fellow GA American grad student who still lives with family and adores her siblings, and ... mm.. good stuff going on!!!!!

Will be back with more.These days, I am seriously contemplating adoption.Or something equally drastic.I am still sane.Thankfully so.

This post wasnt due until I got all my labor day fireworks snaps uploaded.But things can wait.

My life here is cool,and couldnt resemble my sloth-and-fun filled BITSian days more.Blogging these days has kinda taken a back seat, but things are expected to even out soon.More importantly,work means getting up early morning and being at the seat by 8 30.And getting to chat with India friends.And getting to see some live mush action. (Oh, I am talking about HIM and his HER).I would post some samples of mush talk, but then,my good senses plead otherwise.Besides what is new about "my chellam gf...appidi podu ma! namma rendu perum ava kuduthu naan eduthundu vandha chocolates sendhuadikalam..over a romantic candlelit dinner. ;)" or this "Nonsense...I got blessings from my gf herself...ava dhan en temple and deivam ;)"!!!!Good to see my friends have some action and fun. Now I am going to run helter- skelter to avoid getting beaten up by these two.Okay guys,between the three of us, you can secretly thank me for the much needed publicity to take this thing to new heights(??).

Anyways,this post was originally intended to welcome someone to the blogworld. I thought for a long while, struggled over many cups of coke and chips to come up with something of a befitting welcome for this guy.Of course, I couldnt come up with anything good enough.But,before I do that welcome, maybe I must come up with a good post on him, and have a more self-explanatory tag for my countdown.Since all these things take time, I'd rather do it now.Okay,now what? Simply, welcome dear.

"Have I ever told you how tongue-tied I become when it comes about writing things thar invloved pretty much anything else but crap? Yea , well, if you dont,then you can go an look at my posts,almost all of them. Well,if you still dont, then go ahead and picture this.You get some quality time to sit down and write a post.You go online and by sheer habit,go to some of your friends blog,one thing leads to another,and you bloghop.Only to find,anything you want to write about,already posted about.When I mean posted, I mean written,and written very very well.What was just a vague ,unrecognisable thought in my mind,penned down with such clarity and exquisite wordsmanship(Now,dont ask me if that is even a word!!!),that makes you wonder why you started blogging in the first place.

Needless to say,two three food and laccha stops later I have forgotten why I started posting.Will be back with more."

Thus began this post- dated August 20,2004.It is September 5th today.It is the labor day long weekend in here,and for the umpteenth time,I am gonna say this, "I am bored".(Cribbing mails,calls,scraps,and IMs from me would say the same thing, so pardon me for that!!!).Well, yesterday was another normal weekend day.Vetti lacchas, and making"Barbeque popcorn"(well,incase you are able to picture us using all our cooking expertise and racking our brains to come up with this major culinary feast, well, take a closer look..well, lets just say the popcorn was,well, in scientific terms,a little carborised!!!!)and discussing network marketing at UC.But then, on a serious note,yesterday infact included a major cooking session by me and Ashwin, for the inmates of "Nizamuddin".(Well,how better can you name a kind seniors two bedroom place,which currently houses not less that 15 people strewn all over the couches and beds!!!!).

Today has been lazy,quiet and solitary so far.Maybe we will go up the riverfront to see fireworks later today. Okay now I am in one of my "not-so-busy-weekend" moods. I better stop now.