Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Today is 22nd November, the American "Thanksgiving Day" . This day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November to give thanks for the things that one has at the conclusion of the harvest season. There is another thing associated with it is that families get together to have dinners together, and the traditional dish is a Turkey. More of this turkey harassment issue you can find on "Antisense Strand" .
The reason we (students) like this is because of the week long holidays we get in the middle of the semester. And like all other people, we are also having our Thanksgiving dinner together, with a small family that we have formed here in State College, at home away from home!
So Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!

Writer's Block!!!

Oh... and it has stuck me too! I think got this 'writer's block' a few days back. May be because it is in the air now! ( as all the writers in US are on
"strike" I don't know exactly what it is, but somehow I cannot write anything..not even a report, or something random! I thought of trying one of the "Antisense "solution as well (guess which one!). So that has probably helped me a little bit, and I was able to write these few lines. Now that I can write again, I should write something useful!!!

[PS: sorry for wasting your time. But this is out of frustration from the writer]

A small drop of tear, a dream so vivid
A light blow of wind, a memory so fade
A dark long night, a silence so deep,
An emotion so strange, no word can describe...
These are some random thoughts that crossed my mind when I was sitting beside a lake...connecting myself with the nature around.

what kind of monster are you???

I took this quiz when saw it on The antisense strand. I believe we are all monsters in our own ways, and I wanted to find out how monstrous Iam! And hey...Iam a Werewolf !!!

You Are a Werewolf

You're unpredictable, moody, and downright freaky. You seem sweet and harmless, until you snap. Then you're a total monster. Very few people can predict if you're going to be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. But for you, all your transformations seem perfectly natural. Your greatest power: Your ability to tap into nature Your greatest weakness: Lack of self control You play well with: Vampires

What Kind of Monster Are You?

Oooh! You want to find out what kind of monster you are, then take the quiz!!

...and can fly without wings!

I always wanted to , and still want to fly! That one thing I have envied birds of- they can fly whenever and to wherever! Though they quite have difficulties in their lives and I would leave that out from this blog. So to fulfill my aspiration, I wanted to do something as near as flying(and not merely free falling). Parachuting is a good option but I found sky-diving even more exciting. Skydiving- this is the activity I currently have on top of my adventure to-do list. I was reading about it and it is an art! According to Wikipedia , if you can maneuver your body in the right way, you can fly like a bird! Except that you cannot go back up, because for that either you need an upward thrust or a light weight streamlined body (birdlike may be)!!

A typical jump involves traveling around 13000 feet, which would certainly be a great experience. And you don't always have the free fall feeling as after you attain a terminal velocity, it is a swift motion. So it looks like with a little training and maneuvering, my dream of fying can be nearly fulfilled!!
And I would like to end with a friend's comment which is like- Sky Diving is easier (probably)for acrophobics!!

Happiness

Happiness…..
It seems to me is a word that drives our lives,
Seldom is it bestowed upon, we yearn for it though,
The saints would try to find it in the mountains
A mother in her child’s smile with peace filling her heart
It lives in the heart and nowhere else
So why we always search outside….
It lives in the moments we spend with our friends
The triumphant feelings we get when we rise from low
In winning a game or passing a test
Falling in love or getting a yes
I believe all your happiness is in you, deep within
Just close your eyes and revive the times you were really happy,
and then u realize u were happy because –
you didn’t chose to be sad, rather u chose to smile at the woes and laugh at the jokes of life!

Dialigues I love to recite!!

These two dialogues from two very different movies are the ones i always want to learn! The one is from the Amitabh Bachchan's " My name is Anthony Gonzales" song...which makes no sense at all. And the other one is from the introduction of V in "V for Vendetta" , which is written in an extremely sensible manner.
So here they are!

Anthony Gonzalez

Wait Wait Wait……… You see the whole country of this system is just a position by the hemoglobin in the atmosphere because you are a sophistication retroration intoxicated by the exuberance of your own babocity……….

You see such extenuating circumstances co-ed me to preclude you of such extravaganza……

You see the coefficient of the linear….. Is just a position…..By the hemoglobin pressure in the country……

V for Vendetta

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

8 Random facts...

I was tagged by Amit for this ... nice to know random facts about people but to write your own is not that much fun!! Well here are the rules of the game ...

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
4. If you fail to do this within eight hours, you will not reach Third Series or
attain your most precious goals for at least two more lifetimes.

So here are mine...

1. I love to travel and meet new people..and im not that bad a conversationalist

2. I want to be in the middle of the ocean and see in all directions...what it feels like to be in the middle of nowhere (unless a whale attacks!!)

3. I am trying to learn many new pastimes and still a lot is left...guittaring is one of them.

4. I love and can sit for hours in vicinity all kinds of water bodies...and just want to be near a lake, river or a sea, and im learning swimming so that i dont get drowned!!

5. I keep fiddling with my writing abilities and sometimes i do scribble something that can make sense!

6. I wish I get time to dance and learn as much as i can..thats one of my stress busters.

7. I m inclined towards adventuresome sports and things like that...

8. I just took a little long to complete 8 random facts about myself...because i had to choose from plenty others!!

Whats wrong????

"India is perhaps the only nation where the race is for being backwards" -That was RK Narayanan' comment after the Gujjar's showdown for NOT casting them as a backward class. This is ceratinly someting going very wrong and I think the roots lie in the cast system. Why not the Govt declare either everyone as backward class, if it makes people happy....or make everyone no-class! Can there be a ground of discretion that follows the income level or somse kind of advantage to poor people so that those who really deserve can get soem help. In thi particular case of the Gujjar's protest, I donot blame the people, infact its teh mestake of the political parties involved or rather its the policies of our law makers that can be blamed. Giving, and even advocating special resravtions for these backlward class, without assuring them proper (or equal ground) essential education is not going to lead us towards any progress. I still remember the strong resentment from the students who were not clasified as a special cast against the decision to increase the reservation quota in graduation studies for the so called unprivelleged- the unprivelleged who have a quota in almost everything including jobs! If our very own leaders who are so concerned for these backward classes cannot provide these people with basic facilities so that they can atleast think for their good, what is a graduate studies going to help them? Many of these classified people are unable to cope up with the level of difficulty at that time and they get frustrated, or they get so used to these reservations that they donot even attempt to come out of this shadow of the class that is letting them have an upper hand above everything.
Iam not against the development of these people and I do understand that these privlages are meant to take them out of that backwardness. But what Iam against is that in the process they forget about the no-class people who are not given any special rights, and who form most of the Indian population.
Once, being called of a backward class was supposed to be a social stigma, but I dont think its the same case now..rather people can proudely go on roads if they are not considered as backward! Guess something is seriously wrong with my country...

Terminal take 2!!!

Our trip to Delhi involved a short stay at the airport, which I call an abridged version of the terminal- The Tom Hanks movie..where he had to spend a year at the airport...and I had to spend whole 14 HOURS!!!!! So here is a short description of the stay...
We (me and my Friend) reached the Newark airport at 8 am and our flight from here was scheduled at 8.45 PM. So we had like more than 12 hrs in the airport. People generally have a stop over of 6 hrs at the max,.. and we had ours for 12 hrs..and that too at the starting airport! Then we had to figure out ways to spend those 12 hrs. I was very sleepy but didnt feel like sleeping right away , so to kill my time I started writing.
We boarded the bus from State College at around 12.30 am and in about 2 hours felt like sleeping. My friend managed to sleep in the ChinaTown bus, in which I could catch up only 45 mins of sleep. We reached NY and tried to figure our way through the sub to the NJ transit Penn Station. At the Penn station we waited for like an hour to get through the NJT and then we finally landed up in the airport.
People were moving around, sitting and sleeping! I started reading "the prodigal daughter", the plot seemed interesting..so read a little more and then slept. That airport had so many Asians around that it didnt look like an American airport to me...or perhaps the Americans know better than the great Secular and demographic nations as to how absorb everyone in thier own lives... I should return from the philosophical world.
Then a guy approached Gaurav saying that he looked familiar to him. The guy had done his MS in Industrial Engineering from Texas Dallas, and he had the ability to start a conversation, and he started talking about mine, Gaurav's and his own graduate studies (how boring!) But I should admit that i do get very interested in any IE related talk [:)]
After he left us, We watched the "pirates of the carribean: dead man's chest" and that took away three hrs!! then somehow the clock showed 4.30 pm and we decided that we should go for the check in. Finally at 4.45 we started for check in. The queue was not so long and we got our turn soon and then again my great name again was causing problems to let the attendent enter my points in frequent flyer!
Then we happily progressed towards the security clearance where that great security system made us get our shoes, belt off! then we proceeded towards the main teminal. On the way we stopped at the Duty free where Gaurav bought a Chivas ragal and i wandered through the store trying to figure out whether I want to to something or not. Then we sat down at the waiting area where we took pictures of the aircraft and enjoyed a kids excitement. then we shifted, watched people, families and had some fries and float. We were eagerly waiting for the time to be 8...so that the boarding starts. there was a terminal shift for our plane and then there was no plane! Our flight got delayed too!! we were so bored....It finally departed at 11.15 pm from Newark where it was scheduled for 8.45 pm.
We comfortably adjusted in our seats and kept our luggage though our shelf was occupied by a family that carried I dont know how much baggage. We got happy to see the list of movies to be aired and the best one was music and Lyrics. Another good thing was the menu card...that displayed a lot of items, but when it came to us, there was no vegetarian food left. That dismayed us for a while but then we had some salad and stuff. Then another kind steward got us one veggie meal to be split. Then we started watching the TV..various things...and the best one was the flight monitoring system that kept us updated with our location as where we were and at what time, what was the temp outside and how far we were from home! So yes the flight journey can be summarized by a few good sights.....food....sleep.
Once we crossed the meridian, we entered light, blinding brightening light. So we were strongly advised not to open the window shutters. After I woke up I found out two snack packets lying on our tables. when we finished our snacks we were over Russia and about 4.30 hrs away from Delhi...Then the time just went by hour by hour eating and talking. Soon we were hovering over the Delhi airport. Then we got out at the base and were carried in the bus to the terminal. I was out of the terminal in about 30 minutes as we didnt had to undergo any kind of Customs check. And then I met my parents and the good time begun!

Melody Of Life

Melody of Life!
It may be the music of the birds, or the chanting in the church,
It might be sadness knocking on your door, or shuffling leaves,
But the melody of life never goes!
When u flow with the wind and remember the memories that swing through
The feelings that knock on your door ask some unanswered questions
What do you do when you question trust and faith
And everything you ever held as your strengths.
When you find yourself in a situation when your faith shackles from everything…
When you feel close to yourself, alone, missing home,
listening to the melody of life and then some memories take you aback!
Why is it always the other way around…
It should be going the way you wanted it to…then why the winds betrayed you
And left you in doubts and helpless and complaining about everything..
At that point do not forget that what has to happen will happen,
You cannot stop it, but you can stand against the winds and not fall.
And look at everything with a new perspective…
With more strength, courage and self confidence
And above all, should never forget that He who guides us
Will lead you through all these difficulties, to light and happiness.
And once again you will enjoy the melody of life!

Why??

WHY ?




Can you answer my questions?
Drive away my tensions?
Tell me why so high is sky? Why is the earth circular?
Why you & I speak lie? And why are we afraid of failure?
Why love is related to heart only?
Not with liver, lungs or kidney?
Why lemon is sour but sweet is sugar?
What’s the difference in babies or adults cry?
Why everything starts and ends with a Why?
Why you are you & I’m I.