The new life

Friday, July 20, 2012

Hello world

This is what the newest member of the family said at 8 am in Melbourne, Australia. The world welcomes you, you little hairy ball of cuteness.

Enjoy your beautiful life. And thank your parents when you grow up.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Back

It has been long since I last visited this website. Very long. And a lot has happened since then.

The friendship turned to an infatuation, the infatuation turned bitter, the bitterness turned back to infatuation, and finally the second wave of infatuation turned to love. Yeah, lame I know, but hey that's what it is. That's how it turned out to be. That's how we turned out to be. Oh, just to complete the story, I am happily engaged now. Engaged to be married without dogs (for now). I think I was well into graduate school the last time I was here. So that hasn't changed. And probably won't for a while. Nope.

Today as I continued to stare at 21 inches of coded boredom, browsing through the postings on Pinterest to get myself motivated to do something, my better half sends me a text that gets me motivated to write this post. I think my laziness to write has been overwhelming. Usually I pull myself out of a pit, but turns out that this pit was deep and dirty. But, finally I am out. I hope. I think if I tell myself that I won't go running unless I write something, it might actually work.

Talking of running, I was fairly surprised at myself when I ran a 5.8 mile loop around Charles river last Sunday. It was a bright and surprisingly hot day and I couldn't have possibly picked a worse day to push myself from the regular 3.8 mile loop I got stuck in ever since I found a temporary solution for my recurring blisters (tiny cotton balls and a lot of bandage taped around the problem areas does the trick, works like magic!). The run was pretty good. I had to stop a few times, twice to cross over the road/river and get to the other side of the highway/river, respectively, and couple more times to dodge around a group of very enthusiastic photographers (I will not describe them for obvious purposes, but we made them our brothers and they attacked us). The view could not have been better, the river, the blue sky, the not-so-crystal-clear-Charles-river-water, ducks and ducklings, ducks' and ducklings' poop, happy families, and Rihanna screaming through my earphones. It was not breezy at all and the sun was burning my skin through the layer of dried sweat. For once I wanted to sweat more so that it won't burn as much. Usually its the other way around, I get into very very awkward situations because of my over active sweat glands. Luckily I remembered to wear my new shiny apple-green hat so at least my face/forehead was protected.

A really good reason to have a partner who is into sports - he knows sport clothing, and he knows it really well. Another really good reason to have a partner who is into sports - he is bound to be fit and super hot. Sigh. Okay, back to what I was talking about. Yes, running, running it was. So, the part-road part-grass run was nice. The shoes I wore have worn out padding and my knees were beginning to hurt by the time I was done. I made two decisions then: (a) I will buy new shoes - again the-partner-who-is-into-sports comes into play and (b) I will not buy 5-fingers and run with them, or with minimalist shoes for that matter. The shoes I have right now, I have been running with them since IIT days. So they are pretty old, but they are the most amazing pair I have. They fit well, they have(had) adequate cushioning, and they are still going strong. I am not ready to part with them yet. I think I will make them my sailing shoes. Yes, that's another thing I re-started doing. Sailing on a moderately windy day is probably the best thing to do after a long tiresome day, provided you know sailing because otherwise you'd end up freaking out if you get hit by a gust. Gah, I deviate too much. Back to running. So I ordered new shoes and I am now fully equipped to do equally long and maybe even longer runs. I am still not at all interested in doing a half-marathon/marathon. I don't know why, I am not sure if it is the fear of 13/26 miles or if I just don't want to do it. The whole reason why I got actively involved in aerobic activities was to get into a better shape every day. I don't doubt my mental strength, and I am not trying to be snobbish here, just realistic. I know I can do it if I want to. But I just don't. That's it. I like my sweet short runs, I love them in fact and I wouldn't change a thing. It is near perfect.

I got pretty wobbly by the end of my run. I slowed down so much that a 4-year old girl named Jen was able to overtake me in her pink Huffy (don't ask me how I know her name, trust me I am not a pervert, I just have excellent hearing) but I didn't want to give up when I had already made up my mind to do the whole thing before starting it. I kept telling myself that I can do it and I think I said it out too loud too often because I saw some heads turning from the corner of my eye. Anyway, I got back to where I had started from, stretched a bit, sighed at the most amazing view of Boston skyline, smiled at how amazing the view would look if a 6-footer blocked it, took a deep breath, turned around and started walking back towards my apartment.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Typical day (read, every day) - Part 1

Yeah, pretty much every day starts the same, except for the one odd Saturday, when my mind and body is way too exhausted for any sort of work, be it research or just studying for the very dreaded Qualifier exams. It all begins with the hope of getting tons of work done, the moment the dawn breaks. The beautiful Charles river, with tiny ripples, the glistening sunlight, the cackle of ducks (apparently you can hear them from the 13th floor, damn you acoustics!)...
Once reality hits, I check my email, hoping I haven't got an email from the one person who is the most important in my life right now, the one person around whom my life revolves, and I would do everything he says and wants, yep, my advisor. If I don't get an email, its a relief for the next couple of hours or so before he calls, else the day just got worse.
Well, sometimes its good, but mostly bad. It just means being ready with figures, plots, and basically trying to come up with ways to tell him that it isn't my fault that MATLAB is such a b****. So then the regular things we all humans do, poop, brush, shower (or in any other order), get ready, gobble some toast/cereal, and on days I'm feeling good about myself (that happens rarely), make scrambled egg. My office is 13 minutes by walk (yeah, there's nothing very creative you can do when you're walking in -7 C, if its warmer I speak to my mom. Infact its become so regular that when I don't call her, she calls back in a few hours asking if I went to office or not! Yeah mom I did, I just got an email from my baapuji this morning, and was preparing myself for the encounter.). So I walk, and I reach office, and make coffee, and surf Facebook, and finally get to work....

... to be continued (ps: gotta rush, this break from work is turning out to be too time consuming) :)

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Finally!

The first snowfall of my life is here. And it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I had always heard that snowfall always brought happiness and joy along with it. Today, I truly experienced it.

The blissful snowflakes make their way down to Earth,

Sprinkling the ground with a serene flavor,

So light, they fly around with the wind

This day is beautiful, this day I savor!

I wish to see more. And I hear its coming...

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Viewpoint

I think mental strength is much more important than physical strength.

You might get kicked once in a while, but you'll never get robbed of your life.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Apology

Strong coffee breath smells like a cig. Yes, I just realized it. So I send in an apology to all those people I called smokers when all they did was to just get high on caffeine.

:)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

:D

Sometimes it take a really long time to realize that something or someone makes you truly happy.

I've realized it.

And I'm happy.

Truly.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Reaching new heights of bad luck - Part 2

Clearly, my bad luck has a major crush on me. Its so freaking possessive, that I never get a chance to break up with it. Not that I don't love it or something, I do. But you know, it gets creepy at times. It follows me wherever I go. Stalking kinds. Poor thing has insecurity issues. Uh. I really think if I ever do break up with it, it will do something disastrous...

Nevertheless, continuing with my continuous crossroads with bad luck, this time its my Research work (whatever there is). So, there is this code that I need to run. And obviously, I was happy that there were over four computers available to get all knocked up with the code-running process. So I enthusiastically run the code for different conditions on all of them. And guess what, the bad luck steps in. Three of the four computers run out of memory! (apparently some mldivide problem in MATLAB). No worries, so now that one computer that didn't run out of memory (it has some kick ass memory, so I've heard), I was intent on running all my codes on that.

I run the code. It runs, runs, runs, keeps on running, keeps on running, keeps on running... And running. So I decide to head back home and come the next day to check on it. Obviously, that computer isn't that slow that it wouldn't stop running the next day. It did stop running. I jump to the upper orbital. I save the figure and clear. And run another code, wait for another day, process repeats. Then, then, I realise I needed some values from the first code I ran. Remember the clear, (it was on MATLAB). So all data gone. Nevertheless, I still stick on and run it again. Haah, but this time I'm smart. I save the necessary data. And process that data again for some other results. But I don't get the results I expected. I keep thinking where I made a mistake in the code, find a few, correct them, but again the results are strange. THEN, then I ask myself ,"You crazy ass, which all values did you save in the first place?". And guess what, by the end of this question, I'm slapping myself like crazy (It was looking crazy :P ). So in the end, I RAN that fuckin' code, waited for God knows how many hours, just to NOT save the data, AGAIN!!

:) This, my dear friends, is called being engaged to bad luck... But some call it Research.

(PS: I'm planning to do Post-doc too! I have this faith that my world will come crushing down then.)

Monday, October 20, 2008

Peanut Butter

It's the best thing that man has ever created.

The chunky, creamy, mildly salty taste.

The crisp peanuts crunching between your teeth,

Releasing that impeccable buttery peanut flavor.

It touches your soul to a level which is beyond any bliss ever felt!

Plain butter just got an upgrade. :)

PS: Yes, I am a foodie.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The first one, in a long time.

Yes, so the blog is active again. I'd been thinking of writing for a while now. But initially didn't have a laptop, and now I do, but no time. Actually I do have time. But never mind that!

Now that it has been a while since I practiced my typing skills, let me begin from the beginning. I graduated from IIT Madras and joined MIT for Graduate studies (Master's right now, and hopefully PhD in a couple of years!). Research field - Underwater Acoustics and Remote Sensing, very very different from what I though I wanted to join initially. But nevertheless, I'm here and everything is great. Perfect. In fact, perfect is an understatement.

Its 11.14 pm, and I just finished a PSet in 6.003. Its funny how lingos change. Back in insti, it would've corresponded to an Assignment in B slot! So essentially, its a problem set a.k.a homework a.k.a assignment in 6.003 a.k.a Signals and Systems, an undergrad course I've taken here. Too much pondering over a minor point, but thats what's a blog is all about! Moving on, I've super-graduated from a desktop to a Mac. Its different, its hot, its a beauty! And now that I'm introducing random topics, one more won't do any harm. Pens have become extinct in my life, and pencils have phoenix-ed. Most students I've seen around here write everything in pencil, from names to notes, PSets to post-its. Everything! Resulting in the leads taking a lead. It's actually pretty convenient, coz you can rub all you want! And re-do the crap you did 3.4 seconds back. And rub. And re-do.

So, the first set of Quizzes just got over, and for most of you, my mood is evident from my Facebook status. Yeah, facebook, that too, hmm. Another graduation from Orkut. Its better I'd say. And manages to take up a lot of time. But considering the fact that the machines in my lab have no memory for me to run codes, I think its a pretty good time-pass when I'm trying to run them again, knowing that they won't in the end. Oh oh, and the machines in my lab have funky names - Hydrophone, Dipole, Geoclutter. Very cool.

My head is empty. Literally. I've started comparing my life as depicted in PhD Comics. I think they are pretty true. Grad school does stuff to you. I've started cooking and doing laundry. I've become a psuedo-housewife. Although, thats not a bad thing. Now I know how difficult it is to make really awesome food, unless you have the blessing of serendipity in your kitchen.

The gyms are brilliant. The facilities rock. Free food is available a-hell-lot. Basically, I'm lovin' it. :D

Cheerio

Thursday, May 29, 2008

I wish I were...

This might seem the very old and familiar topic to write in a standard 5 English exam, nevertheless, dreams and aspirations never die out. Not even at the age of 3, nor at 21. So here is my I wish I were..., dedicated to the ones who've helped me travel this journey called life!

I wish I were a butterfly,
Soaring in the air, up and high,
Hopping free with each breeze,
These moments I'd long to seize.

I wish I were a turtle,
Could do without a pipe to snorkel,
Lethargy so intense to govern my life,
Where time is plenty and happiness, rife.

I wish I were a ladybird,
Colored red on yellow, unheard,
Beating the sunflower in glow,
Absorbing life, in sips, slow.

I wish I were...me,
But thats not happening to be,
'Coz I am me right now,
To all who made me me, I bow!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Reaching new heights of bad luck

For those observant fellas who are on my Gtalk list, this was one of my status messages sometime back, and very truly so. The previous post I wrote was about my bad luck in my BTP, I think my bad luck charm in relation to the same has been working ever since I came back from holidays back in December. Considering the fact that I need my computer to work properly for this last semester, anything going wrong with it was like a crumpled piece of irritation thrown down by God!
So, the hard drive stops working. Then the RAM, hence the monitor. Then the SMPS. Sigh!
Four months. Just four months.
Four problems, FOUR problems!!
BTP. BTP!!
Sigh.
So I drag along a friend of mine with my CPU to the most trusted computer shop for all IITians out here - Devraj Computers. The owner of this place literally swims in the money earned by selling computers and laptops to us. Rich bugger.
The CPU was heavy.
Problems don't end.
Nope.
First, we don't have the change for Rs. 500/- to pay the auto-wala 70 bucks. After 15 minutes of bouncing off other shops saying no for any change requests unless I buy something from them (Argh!) I realise that there was a crisp 100 rupee note relaxing in between my SBI ATM receipts.
Okay, nothing bad happened for a little while.
We start back for the campus when the repair work is done.
The CPU was heavy.
We get an auto and after a little bit of bargaining, we convince him to take us back in Rs. 90/-. Loss of 20 bucks, but whatever!
There is a straight route from Devraj back to our campus, but the auto guy tries to act like a smart ass. Actually he ended up being just an ass. A big one. Real big. His auto stops working right in the middle of nowhere. Not a main road, not even a gali. Some deserted place in Chennai where the two of us had never been. Two stranded ladies. Okay, it wasn't that bad, I'm over dramatizing it. :)
So we get off and ask the auto wala to look for an auto for us. Now, as previously mentioned that he was trying to act as a smart ass, he again tried. Again cupped.
So obviously we got off and started looking for an auto for ourselves, on foot. The CPU was heavy. We finally find another auto and the driver refuses to come down from 55 bucks to 50. He had dropped his price from 80 earlier to 55. Argh.
So giving him the benefit of shit, we mutually agree on 55.
Campus gates welcome us. Grin. Nothing can possibly go wrong now. We had taken the auto till the hostel and not till the gate, and although the bus waiting for passengers at the gate, the thought of the comfort of an auto came over us. So we carried on in the auto taking the route where the bus doesn't run. 'Coz nothing could go wrong. But it did. Again.
The auto ran out of petrol. :D
No auto, no bus, 1.5km, CPU was heavy.
It was a Saturday. :D
Saturday=Movie at OAT=People coming from outside insti to watch it=Cars=LIFT!
Elation. But no car for some 10 minutes.
So we start walking. Soon, we manage to convince an uncleji and auntiji to drop us off at GC.
We thank them. We get off the car.
Thud. We drop the CPU.
Silence. Hysterical laughter for 4 minutes.
End.

So thats basically it. My computer is in good health and has shown no side effects of the fall. No mental derangement, although I still suffer from some damages.

Touchwood!

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Tsk, Tsk..

Yeah its been long, very long since I've blogged. Actually I had given up on the fact that blogging can be used to utilize time between codes that take hours to run. Not the point, I was chatting with a friend of mine, KVM, about a really trippy incident that took place and he encouraged me to write about it. So here goes.

The past two weeks have been good and bad in such a wide variety of ways that trying to fit it in one post will cost me not only my patience, but a hell lot of patience! So, I'll just mention the top ones. Good in the sense that I've been getting a lot of time for myself and my sleep. Bad in the sense that my BTP got stuck at a point like a 3-DOF hinge (I kept rotating about the same point, unable to move forward in any direction). And so my days over the past weeks turned gloomier. And then suddenly I had Mentos - Dimaag ki batti jala! (Ok, I had Polo but I think it had the same effect). I realised that in the formula of

where p=pressure, I=impulse, t=time of impact, A=area; I had been reading 'I' as '1' ! And what added to the whole stupidity is that I was confused as to how the guy has given no dimensions to an impulse term. Oh come on, everyone knows Force times Time is Impuse and should be 'Ns'. But no! I kept on getting elastic response for my plate with this pressure pulse. And why wouldn't I, when I later realised that I=31Ns!

I guess all's well that ends well is partially true. I'm happy to have resolved the problem, but not happy to have wasted so much time on a silly reading error.

Oh well!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Paradise!

This may be a long time after I'm putting something up on this post. Unlike many bloggers, I usually wait for something to happen that is worth writing about. Though it completely contradicts the definition of blogging, it works for me just fine!

I love jogging, I truly do. And considering that fact that its my final year in this beautiful campus, I had decided long time back to spend more time around nature than elsewhere. So I've been jogging regularly for the past sometime I've been here, and as always, I get high after a 4 to 6 km run. The first time is a little painful, literally, because you suddenly get aware of the puny muscles you weren't cognizant of. Yes, awareness of form that restrains you from turning on you bed or getting up from the "poop" position (squatting, as many call it) is something I'd rather not have. Nevertheless, after a while, the pain alleviates, the muscles and tendons get back to their normal business, and life is good.

Today, as the title suggests, was a paradise for me. Or for most joggers so to say.
Cloudy sky, mild drizzle, fragrance of the wet soil, cool breeze giving those occasional goosebumps.....

A perfect milieu for joggers and nature lovers. And what added to the whole setting was the fact that one could spot a dozen of spotted deer and blackbucks, apart from the monkeys that looked kinda nice sitting with their babies and protecting them from the rain. I wonder why I detest them when they do the same outside my hostel room.

Its 7:40 AM right now, and I've been up for over an hour and a half.

I stink.

I need a bath.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

What's in a name?!

I was reviewing the pages of my little over 20 years of life and was suddenly struck by the fact that till now I've been given a lot of names. Contributors include parents and friends mostly. Yeah, thats about it I guess, still haven't got the names like "Jhappi" or "Sweety" 'coz thats one thing you don't get when you are single! :D
So here they are, just a reminder to all those who might have forgotten them. For me, these aren't merely names, but carry with themselves a soul which have gotten so attached to me that its difficult to pass a day without them!

Names in chronological order (in brackets are the people who coined them-time):-

1) Betu (Pa - before my birth)
2) Anku (Very common, Ma and Pa - post birth, till date)
3) Cikku/Chikki/Chikmangaloor/Chikda (Modified versions by Ma - till date)
4) Rani beti (Ma - when she has to get some work done!)
5) Chottu (First nick ever, Pushkar and then the whole class followed-school days around 3-4th standard)
6) Jerry mouse (Sumelika, a wonderful friend - 8-10th standard. I used to call her Tom)
7) DJ/ADJ/Deej (Whole class - 10th onwards and now its an official college nick)
8) Hanky/Monkeyta (Puchhu/Vij - 11-12th standard)
9) Shorty/ Syaaxy one (sexy pronounced in a very country fashion) (Kini bro - college)
10) Deeju (AJ - college)
11) Deeday (Aru - college)
12) Kita (Fufa - college)
13) Small wonder (GRV - college)
14) Smallie (Puchhu/CB - school/college)

Hmph, I guess thats all. Though I have this feeling that I'm missing out on a few. Well, well, if I remember I'll try and not get lazy to put them up in the next blog!

Cheers!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Perfect!

A mild coconut aroma fills up the room. Its the oil my father had applied to my hair tonight that gives my room a very refreshing South-Indian flavor.
With the evening rains, temperature has dropped resulting in soft, cool zephyr giving me those occasional goosebumps you often long for in a place like Delhi.
The pleasant rustling of the leaves outside the window and the cacophonous noise of the traffic seem to be playing a tug-of-war, with one growing as the other subsides.
The clouds have parted. The sky is unusually mauve, more towards purplish-black, with a few twinkling stars making the sky absolutely enthralling.
All this garnished with a mint flavored lemonade.

Perfect!

Sometimes, senses give more than merely an awareness.
Together, they create a milieu for sixth one!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Of horoscope and its interesting connotations!

I don't really know if I had bit myself that day or was hit hard on the head, but I had logged into some kinda horoscope service. Apparently, every time I read it, it tells me about the fortune I will have in the things/people that I really don't have and vice versa. For example:

Things I don't have:-
a) Boyfriend
b) Lover
c) Secret love affair (wtf!!!???)
d) Money and shares
e) Kids (hello!!!)
f) And for the finale: LUCK

Things I have:-
a) An excellent family excluding kids and, well, husband!
b) Friends
c) Future boyfriend (sigh!)
d) Brains!
e) Three very very crucial weeks
f) And for the finale: BADLUCK

Oh well! Lets see what fate and fortune and all that has in store for me in the future. For now, I'm doing good without it!

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Best gear shift!

Third to fourth!

:)

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

It has hit me!

I always wondered why people driving cars go zooming past when there is no need for any kind of hurry, I mean sharp turns, sudden brakes etc. One of my friends had once told me that when you start driving you are way too cautions. As time passes, you become more reckless and rash! I didn't believe it untill this very moment!
My worst driving ever!
My worst decisions ever!
Had my father been beside me, he would have kicked me so hard that I would've remembered it all my life!
But nothing to worry, nothing bad happened, just a few sharp turns and sudden brakes.
I wish I was a little more careful, 'coz introspection is something that annoys me, more so 'coz I always do it!

Monday, June 11, 2007

Dum dum dum...

And the God kicked my Bum!
:D