The (Un) Forgettable Journey

Ok that (^^) is the official title. The unofficial title to this story is :

SHIT HAPPENS

The day of my departure to US dawned. It was finally time to bid goodbye to my sweet heart homeland. The pain could not have been aggravated by anything other than THE horrendous journey back to US. The flight from Mumbai to Kuwait was smooth sailing (except at the security point, some jackass "somehow" thought my laptop bag to be his and was ready to go until I stopped him). I had a change in flight at Kuwait which went smoothly too. And then, someone in the universe conspired to have a little sadistic pleasure by ruining my day.

After the takeoff, I plugged in the earphones into the system and - TADA! The audio system was not working. The world crashed before my eyes and on the screen in front of me, I tried to imagine myself sitting for 12 hours without entertainment ! Well, flight journey is already boring and this was unbearable! But anyway, I found some relief by talking to my co passengers (one of them had the audio working while the other, like me did not. Kudos Kuwait Airlines!). Still not that bad. I somehow counted the hours and finally landed at NYC after hovering in the air for some time.

The bad news was that flight was delayed by one hour! I had a domestic flight to catch from NYC to Buffalo in about two hours and I had to do immigration, customs and then check in, security for the next flight! Well one might think two hours would still be comfortable. But then the worst part of the journey begins! Long queues at immigration is not a new thing. But its bad when you have a big family standing in front of you right in front of the desk. Still not that bad, the officer took his sweet time doing the formalities, and then when I was just about to put a step forward, he says "I'll be back, please wait" and went away somewhere. I was like "whaaaat?". I looked at the watch and it was not at all a good sight. After five minutes or so the officer returned. I rushed to the desk and immediately told him that I have a flight to catch. He did not waste time and did the finger print and photo formalities quickly. Thanking him, I rushed to claim my baggage.

After failing to spot my bags for ten minutes (!!) I realized I was looking at bags which I had already seen go past before! Disaster! I was about to panic when I thought some jackass may have thought my bag to be his, taken it off and did not care to put it back on the rollers! I was right ! For some unknown reason there was a huge array of bags lined up in other corner and luckily I found my bags there. I had no time to waste. I literally ran with the heavy(what do you expect when returning from India?) bags. JFK is quite huge and I was running all around to find the Jet Blue check in desk. I was wearing a leather jacket because there was no space in the bags! I was sweating like anything and a couple of friendly Americans who saw me rushing asked me if I was okay. Somehow I reached the check in desk. After checking in, I proceeded to the security check.

**TIME FOR FLASHBACK**

It was my last week in Bangalore and some damn guy in our PG gifted me the conjunctivitis virus. And it was really really bad (I still have a scanty red area in my eyes). And till the time of departure I had a substantial redness in eyes.

**BACK TO SECURITY CHECK**

Imagine the condition I was in - totally tired and frustrated with the long journey, completely drenched in sweat, with a leather jacket on, on a rather hot day and with red eyes ! My turn at security comes up and GUESS WHAT? The alarm goes off detecting something in my handbag! I was checked too, with the metal detector and it beeped! It was because of the gold chain that I was wearing around my neck. So I held it in hand and took it a bit higher. The detector still beeped! The officer asks "Do you have a heart pacemaker?" I was like "Hell no !", though my heart was pacing a bit already because of the time all this was taking! All this was enough to take me for a personal security check. There it beeped again! I then decided to take off the chain completely, rather than just holding it high. It worked! After checking me thoroughly with detector 3-4 times, I thought it was over. NO! Because the baggage alarm went off, the officers searched my handbags completely. Then I was questioned about my red eyes and why I was wearing a leather jacket on a hot day."Are you trying to hide something that you are wearing that jacket?" I told them I got hurt while playing cricket (:D) and that I did not have space in my bags for the jacket. Well that wasn't enough. The male officer would not stop asking questions. I had to finally tell them I have a flight to catch in fifteen minutes. Then finally the female officer asked him to quit and finally they thanked me for "my patience". After packing the handbag in anyway I could, I ran like crazy to the boarding gate just in time. No wonder I was the last passenger to board the flight.

Finally I sat in my seat. Ready to take off. And guess what I had in front of me for my one and a half hour journey - a fully functional entertainment system with all TV channels. Taking a deep breath, I purchased a can of coke and tuned into Man vs Wild. And that my friends, is how I survived in the wild ! Phew.

Weekend at Amboli

Just had a great weekend at Amboli. For those who have not visited it.. DONT MISS IT!
Its said to be a heaven for amphibians. We went on a trail in the evening.
Darkness, forest, heavy rain, snakes, frogs and leeches! The perfect set up for an exciting trail.

We sighted two pit viper snakes, some frogs and tarantula spiders! Well the leeches feasted on our legs..and trust me, its not a good sight seeing them grow all fat after sucking our blood!

Completely drenched on the trail and hungry, we feasted on the fish and chicken curries. Exhausted, I slept instantly once back to our resort while others were experimenting with Charlie Chaplin and Shivaji Maharaj's spirits attempting planchette. Though it turned out that the answers given by them were wrong ;) , it sure must have been some entertainment! Missed it..duh!

Weekend trips always leave behind a hangover, especially when Monday awaits you !

Rockin' Bangalore !

Hey again! :D

I know, long time since I typed in a blog. Well I have settled in Bangalore finally (that is got a internet connection at my room). The room is not bad either.

The best thing about Bangalore is the weather. Roads are good. But traffic is HORRIBLE! Yeah, note the caps. I thought traffic in Pune is bad, but this is worst!
And if you think rikshaw wallas in Pune are bad, think again. They have far supreme competitors here!

HP Labs is a cool place to work at. I'm working on Video Summarization. Due to confidentiality statement and (now the real reason) because I dont want to bore you with it, I cant disclose about it more :P

Food is good. Especially the Biryanis and Dosas. Yum!

Lovely weather and Exam

Doesnt the title describe it already? Duhhh! Cant really concentrate in this lovely weather. Oh news! We actually played cricket on one of the remote streets :D Hows that? (Yes on full pitch!) We even managed to hit a window on one of the nearby house. Luckily the glass here is strong. LOL. Also baffled a few Americans and their dogs (who were probably wondering what form of Baseball is this).
For the time we played cricket, it felt I was back home!

So its no surprise I havent really studied for the exam on 19th..Hope it wont be a disaster! Enjoy!

Sunshine!

The sun is out! The weather is improving by day. Finally, there are signs that winter might end soon. Trees are eager to get some leaves. And my hands are itching to get hold of my camera which has been dormant because of the snow cover.

It has been gloomy for past 3-4 months and its time to get some cozy sunshine with a hint of breeze. Im fed up of wearing thermals and all that woollen stuffing. It sucks! Time for sunglasses,shorts and flip flops ;)

*Bows to the sun*

Thanks!

Thanks to all who have appreciated my rambling here. But, I'd like to see some comments on here too. Type it out you lazy bums! ;)

Cheers!

Spring Break!!!!!

Yay!! The spring break is here! And yes, today's exam was pretty decent. It was hell lengthy and the professor said "I dont expect you to finish it." The hell? Why did he have to keep it so long if he knew we cant finish it?

Anyway...so I have this week long break. How do I plan to spend it? Well, I will be working and then I have to complete some assignments. Not really a "break". Yeah, thats how it is. I never really had a break in long time, in its true sense. But hopefully that will pay off, dont know when. LOL.

I'm tired right now and probably will call it night. Tc :)

Objective updated : Exam, March 5 11:00 hours

Yeah, one exam is down. It went really well. The next is on 5th. Now you know why I have kept such a wierd title (apart from marketing issues =D).

My next exam is pattern recognition and yeah, the professor is well known to put some nasty problems. That is the 'prior knowledge' I have. Will let you know the details of the massacre on 5th :D

I hope you guys are planning something for summer. Its good to know most of my school friends are posted/learning/wasting time ;) in Pune. No wonder I am missing Pune so much. But not as much as Nagar ...my favourite place on earth!
Yeah yeah, dont smile. Its way better than those crowdy cities and polluted air. And more than all, its better than Buffalo, though we have many buffaloes in Nagar.Lol.

Time to work on my defense for the predicted massacre. Later.

Exam Time

Ok, I know it has been long time since I posted anything. "That period" of semester has started. But to be honest, this semester has been lot more relaxed than the last one. By relaxed, I only mean that I dont have three exams and two submissions in three days unlike last time. Dont ask, I dont want to tell how my last semester went. Ok you still want to know? Let me decribe you in three simple words -"I was screwed".

You always find time to do something "non academic" while preparing for exams. That is when you get sick of reading. Now you know why I am writing this ;) Well I have two days to prepare. Lets see how it goes. I am unsure of attending the Holi celebrations at university today, although I really want to go and chomp on some Indian food (not really interested in the dances and songs that would be performed).

Ok got to get back to study. Happy Holi ! Take care.

Monday Grrrrr!

The weekend has almost come to an end and the thought of reaching the university at 8am in this freaking cold is making me restless. Even if there is not as much load yet, most of us dont feel like sleeping early. We still have to cook and are pondering what to make. Chicken seems to be on the menu. It sure is going to be interesting how we will make it to university tomorrow ;)

Well today was a lazy Sunday (as always) but my roomie made it a bit interesting by letting out some secrets. Yeah, you can wonder what those are about :D Anyway I'll sign off for now. Later!

Hello to everyone back home!

Hiiiii! Miss you all a great deal. Especially all my friends, from Auxillium as well as from Sinhgad. Its six months here in US and now quite acquainted to the culture here, though far away from understanding it! The moment one lands in a new place, the hidden devil of comparison shoots up. You start comparing things to your own country. I feel its natural. But it certainly has given a lot of exposure to all of us here, and made us aware of many harsh realities about ourselves. Its excellent to realize things on own, without someone telling you that you are wrong. Because thats the best way to improve yourself. I am happy that is exactly whats happening to us.

I am in ocean of knowledge and enjoying every bit of it. But I feel many students are here just for the sake of the degree without any real interest. But everyone has own goals, so its not wrong. Nothings wrong in world. Everything is relative!

The weather here is terrible, -10 degree celcius as I write this. We all are just waiting for the winter to fade away. Waiting for the summer eagerly. Really bored of these clouds now. Snow is beautiful till you get sick of it. I guess its human nature to like things which are rare, and when you get them in plenty, you hate them.

A start

So I thought of maintaining this online diary, just to scribble my ideas and thoughts. The only purpose of this is to to vent out my wierd thoughts. If at all this seems interesting to anyone, they are free to read it. And if any of it seems utterly illogical and pathetic, I absolutely understand. You are free to comment anything you like. Anyway, so I will be scribbling anything that seems interesting. I hope this will make a good reading material for me, a few years later.