Mere life ke updates

Here's the deal:

Saturday: Tentative visit to Niagara falls.
Sunday: I plan to visit Cornell plantations. :)
Thursday: Complete project so as to send chip for fab
Friday: Start roadtrip to Texas.
Thursday: Leave Texas and go to Washington DC
Tuesday: Return to Ithaca.

But I am tired of all this tourist life. I want back my Mumbai :(

~Ta tas.

Bored already

I don't know why, but I have this habit or getting bored very easily. I am already tired of this place. It's no more charming to see all these people put up farce smiles and greet total strangers. I want the life where people do care for each other, but don't put up all such disgustingly sweet acts for total strangers. I want the life I love, with my family, not with friends in an apartment where each one is to himself. I want the life where I am not judged by my monetary wealth, but by the wealth in my heart. I want the life which I have loved to live, not this that I have to live to love. I want back my Mumbai.

Long time, no post...

Well, not actually; just a week or so I guess. I guess no one likes reading big posts (albeit I like writing ones :P ), so I'll try to keep this short.

Last week was pretty fun, nothing extraordinary though. The weekend was most fun on the other hand. It all started with Krishna, me and Vivek waking up on Saturday to realise that we have run out of groceries and that we should lunch out somewhere. Mexican was what we decided (and something that I strongly supported, as that's one cuisine I hadn't tried yet). And so we went to Garcia's downtown, which is a decent enough tiny Mexican restaurant, and serves good food. Enjoyed a Mexican lunch (don't recall the name of what I ate, but it was pretty good). Then we went to a place called Buttermilk falls, which was pretty closeby, and trekked there for about 2-3 hours. It was a wonderful experience, especially since it had been a long time since my last trek.

Sunday was even more fun, with Shashikant inviting us for a Biryani lunch to his house. I must say, considering all the things that I have heard about his cooking, either he didn't cook the biryani, or I was lucky he got it right :) Anyways it was a wonderful lunch after which we just chatted and listened to some good music while it was pouring heavily outside. It was the perfect time for some hot pakodas and a steaming cup of tea. Shashikant made some nice herbal tea for us all, while I made my trademark Kaanda Bhaji. After enjoying what we made, we set out for a walk in the woods here, which was again a delightful experience. While on our walk, we decided to party later at night, and called up Krishna to arrange for beer and order pizzas. Came home at about 8, and partied on till about 12, having fun all through. Later we set out for a walk through College town, and returned home at about 1. Cornell was alive yesternight, and it was a great thing we decided to hang around out there then. All almost on a high, we sat down to watch some horror flick whose name I don't remember, hoping that we get scared (coz we normally don't), but it wasn't to be. Even beer can't get us scared I guess. So that was a happy end to a happy weekend. Good thing I didn't waste my time visiting places instead :)

~Ta tas.

A quiet birthday...

I had decided yesternight before sleeping, that I shall not be celebrating my 21st birthday. I didn't have the interest for celebrating my birthday when people most dear to me aren't near. As such, I was expecting today to be just another day.

I woke up to the appetizing aroma of delicious upma today morning. Suresh's mummy had woken up at 7 today to prepare breakfast for all of us! Wow! A wholesome breakfast after such a long time- a welcome break from the cereals and the omelettes. So I went to my office early today, glad to start the day with a nice breakfast. Sylvia was already there (Man I can never beat her at coming early to work :P ), and since there was no one in yet, and since we had pretty much nothing to do, we discussed on which laptop she should buy, as she was quiet unsure of which config she should go for. Then I started reading up some book on the ARM architecture out of sheer curiosity and also I had nothing else to do anyways - We were to present our ideas in the group meet today, and were sure there was a bug in there somewhere, but weren't able to notice it.

Then Prof. Apsel came in and started her usual cheerful talk :) Later we all proceeded for the group meet, where we had ordered Chinese food today (quite good I must say). Xiao as usual had something fodu to talk about his work on his PLL. Most of that was pretty much a bouncer for me, and I concentrated on my chow mein and egg roll as Xiao went through his talk. Then it was our turn to talk. Prof. Apsel said I needn't talk yet (since I am still a noob here :).. ) and so Sylvia presented our idea. It seemed pretty convincing and Tony and Prof. Apsel also hinted at where the bug might be; then it was just a matter of attacking that in our MATLAB simulation. Sylvia, the stud that she is, managed to get around that pretty peacefully (but still gives me the credit too for this), and we were more than happy to note a 10 times improvement in the circuit as opposed to the value of 2.8 we were getting earlier. Sylvia rightly said that this is enough of a motivation to start working on the circuit, which we shall start tomorrow.

Came back home, and still wasn't in the mood to celebrate today. Vivek wasn't home yet, and all others had gone for shopping @ Wegman's; so I pretty much had the TV for myself. Watched it till the other junta returned. Then Sheetal Tai called up to ask about my Texas trip - it's high time I start planning and blogging about that :P. Later, Krishna came back from his lab, and noted that it was my birthday today! But it was too late for any celebrations (and bumps); so Suresh's mummy cooked a special dinner tonight - fluffy rotis with Chole and an Aloo sabji - yummmmm - tell you what, we make the same sabjis on our own, but that aroma is something that is always lacking in the food we cook. Also the taste is no where close to what Suresh's mummy had prepared today. Shashikanth had also come over, and was surprised at why there was no celebration in Duffield today. Well, he has promised me a belated celebration tomorrow at Phillips, and Krishna has promised me booze (which would be after Suresh's parents leave :P). Had a long chit chat session with the guys and Suresh's dad later; all while watching the Eastern Conference finals of NBA, which Detroit pistons won quite closely.

Well, I didn't intend to celebrate today, but I guess unknowingly I might have ended up doing so; well at least I have more to celebrate now :P.

~Ta tas.

Build up for 21st May

My 21st birthday is tomorrow - 21st May, and this happens to be my 21st post. I was feeling the blues yesterday, as this shall be my first birthday that I will be away from my family and my friends back home. I had invited Bhatnagar over to make myself feel a bit better; but he later said that the long journey from Boston to Ithaca might be tiresome, and that he wasn't in the mood for one.

I was ever more despondent, and decided to bury myself in my GRE preparation yesterday as such, as I wasn't in the mood for anything fun, even though it was a weekend. Good thing this though, as this made me finally start my GRE preparation :) So it was - I spent my entire afternoon studying and growing more and more bored. Then Krishna said we better go downtown, as even he and Vivek were feeling a bit miserable. So we went to the mall downtown and did some window shopping. Vivek also bought a TT bat and shoes. Krishna and I meanwhile went to other shops - and did what we like doing best - swearing loudly in hindi amongst all the whites :) with no consequences whatsoever :P It was Vivek's turn to cook yesterday, but we had already wasted much time in the mall and there wasn't a possibility of going home and then cooking dinner. So we dined in the mall yesterday, where I tried Japanese cuisine for the first time. It tasted quite good :)

Vivek and I then started discussing about the recent good hollywood movies that came out last semester. Krishna enjoyed criticising our views... Then Vivek suggested we may as well watch Shrek 3 before going home. But Krishna hates animated movies, and threatened to leave for home if Vivek and I went for the movie. Now the catch was that Krishna said he won't come back to pick us up later, so we had to sadly cancel our plans for the movie. To cheer us up, Krishna said we can hit it out in Duffield playing TT. So we went over to Duffield for playing TT; besides Vivek had to try out his new bat too. Rajeev was there too, and we enjoyed playing doubles. Played till 12 I think (we started at about 10), then came home and I wondered about my day - I was earlier quite sad at not being able to celebrate my b'day with my friends back home - but here I was in the company of some very good friends whom I have known just for about 20 days or so - but still they are quite good friends with me. Maybe my 21st birthday won't be so glum and gloomy after all!

Chatted with my family back home today on gtalk - they wanted to wish me at 0000 hours IST on my b'day! Borrowed a mike from Vivek; felt quite good to hear their voices for the first time since coming here :) So what if I am not with people who matter most to me on this special day? I can make this day special for myself no matter where I am!

P.S. Plans for b'day today: There is a burial ground near our home (on the other side of the barricade). There are no lights there, and there are also quite a few old dying trees which give it that haunted touch. I plan to take a walk in there at 12 tonight! What a way would that be to usher in your 21st b'day!

~Ta tas.

Buying a Cam - 03. Finally buying a cam

I had gone to my office earlier than usual today, since I woke up early today surprisingly. Had nothing much to do today, as Sylvia was busy with a project submission, and I am yet to get my ECE account, which I need to log into the ECE server to run my simulations. So I was reading Razavi and enjoying my groupmates arguing over their projects. Soon it was 12, and we moved to the Phillips lounge to attend a talk by Prof. Sandip Tiwari, who is a very respected prof out here, and is considered by many as the studmax prof in ECE here. It was a wonderful talk, where Prof. Tiwari focussed on the last 25 years of electronics, and the future of electronics. I was amazed at his insight into this topic, and was quite impressed at how he presented his views on the future. His talk had an amazing flow, and I shall devote a separate entry later, about my interpretation of his talk. So we returned refreshed from the talk (the refreshments served too had a hand to play in this :P), but again, were in no mood to work. So, as seems to be the routine now, Sylvia and I set out for a walk, today's discussion mainly about how useless orkut and facebook et al. actually are and why we feel they are a serious waste of time (Hmm... seems our thoughts match on most topics :P) We then went to put up the poster (which I described yesterday) for Tuesday's presentation, and later went to the Cornell IT centre, where I had to collect my NetID (finally got it after 10 long days :P)...

Returned to office where soon Shashikant walked in, and invited us all for a picnic to Stewart park (a great place as I hear, yet to actually see it for myself). So I came home with Shashikant to collect my jacket before going there. Krishna was at home, and suggested we better go to the mall instead. I felt that would be nice, as I finally get to buy my cam. So off we went to the mall, but to my hard luck, all good deals were sold out, and I wasn't in the mood to shell out $200 for a Canon powershot. So we returned home, where Krisha began searching for laptop deals online (Well, the trip to the mall aroused his interest in laptops you see :P), when I thought I should also look for deals for cams online. Finally got one, a Canon Powershot A460 - 5 megapixel, 4x optical zoom for $140... a good deal I would say, as I feel a resolution of 5 megapixel is quite good enough for me, what's more important is the zoom, and 4x is a wonderful spec for me). I believe I will receive that by 24th, good enough for me :)

Well, a weekend coming up... no specific plans as such. 20th might be big though ;)... and most probably, Bhatnagar may come over on the 21st... hope he brings me a nice birthday gift :P

~Ta tas.

Woke up early today...

The weather was fantastic yet again, with a drizzle yesterday and the temperature at a comfortable 2'C, and I wasn't in the mood to go to office and log on to gtalk yet again, or play TT with Zhongtao and Rajeev yet again, or think more about the project at hand yet again.... I wished for a change - I had reached this stage where I long to work - I have had enough of vacationing. And there I was, walking in at 11 am as always to the same old desk and to the same old PC...

Today was different though - lost all charm in gtalk very soon after Bhatni logged on and we had a fight (well, we have several of those - no big deal). So I was left with nothing much to do - gtalk is most of what I do anyways - and was thanking God for giving me more time to kill watching other people happily working. Then Sylvia walked in and said our idea may not be as good as we are expecting it to be (wow, thank you very much again God! Now that's called icing on top of a cake!) She said we have to see if there is any improvement in the spread in the frequency distribution by using our approach. Well, this was enough for me. I said why not write a MATLAB code or something and actually estimate some values and test out the spread for those. So we sat down and worked out approximations for our variables, and I began with a MATLAB code to test this out. Wow! I was actually doing something constructive after so many days - true there was all the analysis and all that we did - but getting to do something in practice is something that I was looking forward to. After many attempts at debugging and playing around with variables, we finally concluded that our approach is quite good - at least that's what the code suggested. Our approach gave us an almost 3 times improvement in reducing the frequency variation - which is good enough for us.

Happy at our achievement, we decided to call it a day (at 1pm => I worked for just 2 hours today :P) So we were left with pretty much nothing to do - gtalk too didn't look as charming as it used to be. So we set out for a walk in campus; we also had to go to the Clarke hall to get a printout of a poster that the group is to present as a part of an annual presentation on Monday. So there we were, discussing the education system back in India and China, moving on to the EDS meeting and free lunch tomorrow (:P), why ECE sucks and why we suck even more for choosing it and so on... finally went to the printer room, where we had a tough time printing out the 52"x38" poster - you see, the printer had a mind of its own - and it was quite a moody printer. It fell off to sleep in the middle of printing another chap's poster (who was there before us). Quite reluctantly it woke up when we started pushing all its buttons and sluggishly completed the remaining job. When it was our turn, the printer decided to play a little prank and started overlapping some sections of our poster onto others. When we gave the job for printing again, the printer decided it had had enough for the day and shut itself down. I pressed the power button to wake it up, and it took a good ten minutes to warm up - it was pushing out a sheet of paper and drawing it in several times (the screen on that thing told me that it was 'Initializing' - initializing for what on earth? by pushing a sheet in and out??) Anyways, it finally decided it had enough fun and completed our job - a simple job of printing a poster takes exactly an hour in this technologically advanced place (:P). So we took our poster and returned to the office at about 4. Back here, there was a heated discussion going on between Zhongtao and Tony on whom do you choose when it comes to choosing between your mom and wife. Mustansir and Eugene were active listeners and Rajeev and Xiao were, lets say, passive onlookers. We enjoyed their debate too for quite some time, and then Rajeev, Xiao, Sylvia and me started debating on whether its correct to sacrifice one's good for the betterment of many others or should one care for oneself first (Results shall not be disclosed :P) The other discussion now had moved on to religious beliefs and Tony was speaking on Christianity and how we often misinterpret it - was an eyeopener for me - I was amazed at how wrongly I had thought of Christianity till now. Mustansir was talking about the wrong interpretations that many people give to the teachings of Islam, and Eugene was commenting on Buddhism. Mustansir also spoke on Hinduism, but was unaware of why the Cow is respected a lot in Hinduism - I had to chip in with that part. After all this, we were totally uninterested in working any more. So I left office at 5 and came home.

Well, so that's how I spent my day today. It's Krishna's turn to cook tonight, and we might be in for his special Chole...... yummmmmmm.... :)

~Ta tas.

What does vacationing mean?

Does it mean roaming around in beaches, parks, tourist spots? Does it mean staying in a hotel, a posh lifestyle? Does it mean eating at others' expense, eating lavishly everyday? Does it mean feeling proud at being Indians in a foreign land? Does it mean trying out everything everywhere just for the sake of it? Does it mean relaxing 24x7 with nothing to do?

Well, this was my impression of a vacation before coming for this internship. I always wished to do good work in my project here, and vacationing never crossed my thoughts. But luckily for me I have a good project partner in Sylvia (unlike the horrible partners I had for my EDL last sem), and I don't have to take up the entire responsibility of the project on my shoulders. Besides, Prof. Apsel is also quite chill with my work and seems quite pleased... so again there is no concern about having something to prove to the prof. As such, here I am, finding myself with enough time for vacationing in the beautiful land of Ithaca.

Maybe it was because I wasn't prepared for such a vacation, or maybe that I had never been on such a type before, but I found most of my preconceptions about vacationing to be wrong. Vacations don't necessarily mean visiting famous tourist spots and claiming to have enjoyed the sights. In fact, the simplest of places like the big red barn, the clock tower, college town, Beebe lake, Cornell plantations offer such wonderful sights, I no longer desire to visit NYC, but rather stay here itself and absorb in the serenity of this paradise. Vacationing also doesn't mean traveling only with people you know or staying up in hotels or the like. There's more fun getting to know new people and living life their way, as I am enjoying here with Krishna, Suresh and Vivek. There is nothing special about being an Indian - rather spending time with people from other cultures teaches you to respect all cultures and reflect on your own in the light of such experiences. Also, it doesn't always mean keeping oneself aloof all responsibilities and indulging in laziness - blessed are you if you can experience true delight in your work.

A perfect day at Cornell

Note: This post is about my experiences today, and has no added charm. Rather, this is how a travelogue ought to be. Please do not feel disappointed after reading the post as you have already been forewarned :P

14th May - this shall be remembered as my most memorable day at Cornell University till now. Today I decided to hold a day long fast and break it only at night (to mark 12 years since my thread ceremony day). I guess this was my first day long fast, and I managed to handle it pretty well. Also I was quite elated that despite my 'lack of nutrition', I managed to beat Zhongtao in TT today, which I believe is an achievement for someone who plays TT like I do :P (I guess I ought to fast more :P)

Anyways, today was Einstein's turn for cooking dinner. As we went shopping today for groceries after 10 full days, Einstein was rather happy to see an overflowing refrigerator and packed cupboard shelves. To our delight, he announced that he would prepare mutter paneer and tandoori roti for dinner tonight. While he was preparing this kingly dinner (read: For bachelors like us here, such foods are delicacies, as the Indian restaurants in the area pretty much suck at cooking Indian dishes - so we have to make these with great efforts on our own :P), Shashikant came over, and we had a nice long chit chat session. Well, we were discussing about the supposed-to-be-today's-thunderstorm as predicted in the news yesterday which was nowhere round the corner. We were a few minutes into the talk, when all of a sudden it started raining briskly, and the temperatures as usual plummeted from a hot 28 C to a pleasant 4 C. Then we were treated to Vivek's special Roti and mutter paneer, which was quite awesome - the dude has a midas touch when it comes to cooking it seems. After a sumptuous dinner, we indulged ourselves in the chocolate fudge and the cherry vanilla ice creams we had bought tonight. Man what a dinner! And all this in the comfort of our home sweet home :P to the sound of the rains outside :)

Then Einstein suggested we go out for a walk - the weather being fantastic, and also the fact that he had suddenly got this urge to watch some 'fodu bandiyaan'. Well, even we felt 'Itne pyaare se mausam mein walk to banta hai' and we set off for College town at 11pm. We chose our usual path along the gorge - where you get to hear the constant roar of the water coming from the nearby falls. Then we bought strong Lattes for each of us and set off for the clock tower beside the slope, to catch the divine view of the clocktower standing out handsomely in the lovely backdrop of downtown Ithaca. Sat there for about an hour or so, chatting in typical IIT style - a conversation starting from 'Kitna mast mausam hai' that switched over to 'Aise sights India mein kahaan dekhne milte hai' to 'Konkan side mein mast scenic places hai yaar' to 'Vivek god artist hai bhai' to 'Kamal Hassan god movies banaata hai' to 'Tamil Nadu ko government ne barbaad kar rakha hai' to 'Bangalore is losing its charm' and finally ending in Krishna's theory on why this week we have the highest probability of getting laid :) The place was so serene and the atmosphere so soothing (I guess the Latte too had a role to play in this) - it was quite a comforting experience; I have now decided to walk over to the clock tower at night quite often (the Latte too :P).

Back home at 1, we were quite fortunate to catch the climax of the Utah-Warriors playoff match. Much to the dismay of my roomies, Utah won what was a do or die game for the Golden state warriors. Frankly speaking, it was quite evident that the better team won. Anyways, it was a perfect end to a perfect day - also got to learn Cadence today, and I have already started respecting it for its amazing utility. The icing on the cake was that Suresh gave me his fan today (read: he bought a new one today since his parents are coming over next week), so now I can sleep in much more peace than what I already have been doing (the joy you experience in sleeping with a fan at full speed in a chilly 4 C is rather amazing).

P.S. Totally forgot about the cam today. Hopefully I'll buy it tomorrow - and pray that I get it before my birthday, which is just a week away :) My roomies are also making some plans for my birthday - from whatever I have over heard, it involves bumps, booze and a pub :P Let's see how I end up celebrating my 21st birthday on the 21st of May :)

~Ta tas.

Buying a Cam - 02. Finalising a cam

Yes I have made up my mind. I shall buy the camera I mentioned earlier and a 2 Gb Sandisk memory stick to go alongwith it. I feel I have a rather good deal, getting the cam and the memory stick for less than 150 bucks. Hopefully I shall buy the cam tomorrow.

~Ta tas.

A sense of fulfilment

I came, I saw, I gave an idea.... and it just might work! Sylvia and I had worked out a theory to get around the cumbersome entanglement of parasitic capacitances in the frequency expression for our novel ring oscillator circuit, and Prof. Apsel felt that it is a promising approach, which may be possible to realise. Now it remains to simulate the circuit that we have thought of and see if the thing works as expected. Now I've to learn Cadence and then simulate and experiment with the circuit.

I hope the Geek talk made some sense. Truly, the joy you get when you see your idea blooming into a solution is unparalleled.

Why do I blog?

Well, some people feel a joy in blogging - in writing the blog that is. I do not belong to that category. I am the type who throws out a post and waits for comments - to realise the amount of sense my writing made to other people. If I am writing this blog just for my own sake, I may as well write a diary - no point in sharing my experiences when no one cares. I now wonder if it's worth creating a photo blog??

~Ta tas.

My groupmates - as I have known them in these last two weeks

I was unaware of this, but coming here I came to know that I am fortunate to be associated with the 'Apsel group' here in Cornell. As I had mentioned in my very first post, I am here working with Prof. Apsel and her group - the OEVLSI group. It has been just 2 weeks since I've known these people, but we are pretty good friends already. Here is something about each of them in the little time that I've known them for -

Zhongtao (left) is the seniormost among us students in the group. He is smart as hell, and always has that piece of advice ready for any one should they be stuck up with something - whatever it may be. Looking at Zhongtao, one would get the feel that he is a very serious chap and a busy researcher; but he is way more jolly than even what the pic might suggest. I enjoyed Cornell's slope fest - the biggest fest here - with Rajeev and Zhongtao, and that's when I saw his lighter side. Zhongtao is one person you ought to have as your friend.




Tony is another senior student in the group. When I first came here, Tony felt that I would be working with him on his project and was quite happy about that. But that was not to be, and I guess Tony might work on his project himself :( Tony is a brilliant chap too, and was a dominant figure in the group meeting we had last week. He is the cool guy in the group and has a nice smile always when he greets you. Seems to be a great person and it would be nice working with him.





A bihari babu in America - Rajeev is the most helpful guy (apart from Suresh) I would have ever known. He was the one who put me in touch with Suresh and has been very helpful ever since I had mailed him the first time in March seeking help for my accomodation. Known to all as the smartest chap in our group, Rajeev comes rich with a great work experience in Intel prior to his joining Cornell. He has never refused to help me whenever I have asked for it. Now-a-days we are TT partners, spending about 2 hours daily playing TT in our lab :P



Xiao is another cool and brilliant chap in the group. I have heard that he is a champ at Basketball. Xiao is into sports and quite sincere with his research. If you happen to be roaming aroun in Duffield in the middle of night, say at 2 or 3 am, you shouldn't be surprised to see Xiao working at his desk - he usually comes late and stays up the whole night. A very sincere guy, he is quite devoted to his research. Always smiling and ever cheerful - I doubt if he ever frowns. Went to the big red barn for a barbeque with him once - where he asked me -'So you plan to return to Cornell next year right?' - to which I said I am not sure as I have heard life gets quite dull and boring here in the winters, to which he said - 'That's not true; I am happy even during the winters!'



Paul has done his undergraduate and his masters at Cornell, before he went on to join Prof. Apsel's group for his PhD. He is quite helpful too and he was the one who helped me in setting up my desk and jugaading a comp on day1. Didn't get to interact much with him, as he left for the CLEO conference in Baltimore alongwith Prof. Apsel soon after I came here. He's also a friendly chap though.







Mustansir (Masti) is the dude in the group and also in ECE as a whole. He is the all-rounder dude every chap dreams of becoming ever so soon - a champ at sports, well informed, a stud at his acads and research and ever so cool in his life. He's also really helpful and is a great chap to hang out with. He showed me around campus on day1 and is also very helpful and quite lively. Man I do hope I become like Masti some day! :P







Sylvia is my project partner during this internship. She was a topper at Tshingua University (China's great Univ, which I believe has more respect here than our IITs) and is quite intelligent. She always has bright ideas popping up which never let our project stagnate. She is also quite helpful and has been very supportive in this project so far. The project that we are working on was something she has been working on for the past 6 months or so, and she had forewarned me that it is a bit tough. But so far, with each others' help, we have managed to handle it pretty well till now. Let's see how things go on from here.

Well, I do hope I have presented a good picture of my groupmates... all this in the 2 weeks that I have known them for. By the looks of how the last 13 days have been, I am pretty sure I am going to enjoy the rest of my stay at Cornell - research and otherwise :)

~Ta tas.

Buying a Cam - 01. Choosing a cam

Come 21st May and it shall be 21 years since I have lived on planet Earth. This shall be my first birthday away from home and family. As such, it's upto me to buy myself a special birthday gift here (apart from the other gifts that my friends here may give me (who knows?)). Since I am badly in need of a camera right now, I have decided to buy myself Sony's DSC-S650 Cyber-shot Digital Camera . Here's how it looks:
It comes with a 7.2 Megapixel Super HAD CCD and a 2.0" LCD Screen. The only catch I have learnt about till now is that there is no feature for playing sound for movie playback on camera.

Well, let's see if I actually buy this beauty. Hope we can be partners in crime here in the tempting city of Ithaca :P

~Ta tas.

P.S. My blog badly needs some pics to go alongwith it. The beauty of Ithaca and Cornell cannot be expressed in words; one should experience it for oneself. I hope the pics act as a good substitute though.

Pursuit of happyness

Had been to Cornell plantations here yesterday with Krishna... it's basically a meadow sort of land in the woods here maintained by Cornell. Had that sort of botanical garden touch to it - ponds, ducks, trees, beautiful sunset, grassland, horses, deer, hares, those little bridges and those nice benches - a place one ought to visit with one's girlfriend :P Sad that I have neither a gf nor a cam to share those beautiful sights with you all - plan to buy one next week and go there again to click pics for preserving those delightful memories. Was so happy yesterday.

Today Vivek returned from his Baltimore Optoelectronics conference (was there for a week) - and insisted we watch Pursuit of happyness on our home theatre system. So we did - a wonderful movie and worth watching many times; seems the happiness I got yesterday isn't as nice as the happyness one gets after struggling hard to achieve something. Wonder when shall I get to experience true happyness.

P.S. Also went to a barbeque at the big red barn here with my Chinki labmate - had a great time out there - also met and talked to some of her Chinki friends - man chinkis are so amazing!

Roomie ho to aisa ho...

Suresh - the dude has given me his laptop for using while I am here (he uses his desktop). Besides, the summer's getting hotter in Ithaca, so he's also giving me his fan, and he plans to buy a new one. I don't think I need to repeat the great time I have hanging out with him. Really, roomie ho to aisa ho :)

A try at cooking...

What would a normal person attempt to cook when he gives his first shot at cooking? Certainly not Biryani I would say. But the unusual type that I am, I attempted this courageous feat of trying to cook Biryani during my first day in the kitchen. Surprisingly, it came off pretty well, and I was rather surprised at how on earth was I able to do that. My roomies were praising the biryani like anything... but then that's their usual chore - praising whatever I do :). Oddly enough, took me just 10 minutes to make it - so I was really anxious regarding the outcome of my efforts. Well, all's well that ends well....

A divergence - something about my project

Shan't write much... don't want to fill this blog with tech details and all anyways... I shall be working on a circuit design for a ring oscillator. We are looking at a design where the oscillator frequency shall be process invariant - this is necessary as we move onto deep-sub-micron technologies. We shall try for a simple novel circuit; if that doesn't work out, we may have to use a different approach. I shall be working on this with Sylvia, a grad student working with Prof. Apsel. Let's see what all we can achieve in this project :)

~Ta tas.

A word on my roomies...

Roomies - what a nice word... conveys all that sense of friendship, brotherhood, the lukhaa time spent together and all the fun that we have in each other's company... coming to a new country, I was a bit tense on how I would adapt to this culture and how would I get along with people here; but with such roomies... it never was going to be a prolem at all. Well, I have already mentioned that I have found great pals as my lab-mates (a separate blog entry on that later, as I get to know them better) but my roomies do need special mention on my blog... here goes :)

As I had said, I have moved into Maple hill apartments, Maple Ave out here... there is this saying out here - if you stand in Maple Ave and throw a stone, chances are that it will land on an IITian. The place is full of Desis (that's the word we use here) and Chinkis (that's what we use everywhere :P). I moved into an apt that surprisingly had a vacancy (surprising indeed, coz Maple Ave is the cheapest on campus acco and the closest to Duffield (ECE dept) as well. Anyways, I guess I just got lucky :)

So here I am, staying with 3 great dudes - Krishna, Suresh and Vivek (their last names are quite confusing, so I shall avoid mentioning them for the time being :P) Krishna is probably the most happy-go-lucky guy ever among all those whom I know. He has this 'load nahi lene ka' attitude and the cheerful demeanour going... great hanging out with this guy (plus the fact that he has a car... and doesn't mind driving me around... so great hanging out indeed :P) Krishna though, may leave Cornell this summer, whereby he plans to move over to TAMU for further studies. Trust me, Krishna is one chap you want to have as your friend.

Then there's Suresh - the cool dude of the neighbourhood... He has this trademark way of addressing everyone as 'Bhai' out here... not in the mumbai way though... but his typical gulti way... but this sounds better. Suresh has been like my mentor ever since we were in touch thru emails... always helpful and ever cheerful... he even encourages me to play frisbee and cricket out here (something I've never done @ IITB) and says he'll take me for a jog this week onwards... let's see if that helps :P (btw... I've realised I like playing frisbee)

Then there's Einstein himself - Vivek. Vivek is the typical mummy-ka-good-boy (no booze, no pron, no gaalis, no cheating etc etc.) Vivek was an IITD topper and known for minting publications - I guess he had some 3-4 while in IIT itself. He then went on to MIT, where he was unhappy with his work and the RAship assigned to him - and hence moved over to Cornell. Vivek is possibly the most knowledgeable guy I've ever known... he knows virtually everything - right from which shop has the cheapest shoes to the cutting edge in Optoelectronics... Also appreciates art and cherishes the finer beauties that life has to offer.

So that's it.. a word on my roomies... from whatever I know about them in the one week that we have known each other.... more to follow...

P.S. Next post is for Shashikant, the most helpful dude out here... he is most responsible for me meeting and getting to know all people in my neighbourhood. A word on my lab mates in a future post... and a word on my prof too :P (I guess this is something that MM would be eagerly looking forward to...)

Heaven on Earth...

Ithaca... yes that's what it's called... I am not referring to the little island in the Ionian sea in Greece, but to Ithaca, home to Cornell... I googled around and found a site that has the following to say about the origin of the name Ithaca..

There are various interpretations as to the origin the name Ithaca, it is believed that it comes from:

• Ithacos, the hero from mythology

• the Greek word "ithy" which means cheerful

• the Greek adjective "ithys" which means abru

• the Phoenician word "utica" which means colony.

So why do I call Ithaca a beautiful place? Well, consider this: Cornell is located on a hill, flanked by two river-cut gorges and surrounded by waterfalls and beautiful hills. There's also the serene Cayuga lake that adds to its charm. Besides, the architectural majesty of its buildings is a treat for the eyes of the beholder. And it's a wonderful view that is on offer if you take the time out to roam around campus during the late evenings (you see, sunset is at about 9pm... so around this time) you can see the campus in all its glory... beautifully lit and excellently picturesque.

Happened to be roaming around with my pals the other night - Suresh and Shashikant. Both graduated from IITD last year and are in the ECE dept at Cornell. Suresh is also my roomie and has helped me a lot ever since I confirmed my internship with Prof. Apsel. We were actually out for a lebanese belly dance show last evening (no... don't raise your eyebrows... nothing of that sort :P) but we were unlucky enough to miss out as we reached late by 5 mins and the tickets were sold out :( Nevertheless, they decided to show me around campus and off we went to visit the lakeside. Bought few stuff to munch on from an undergraduate students run hot-truck and sat by the lake for about half an hour discussing tales of IIT, Cornell and the world in general. They then showed me one of the 2 gorges I mentioned earlier, and also showed me the beautiful view of the corresponding waterfall from the famed suspension bridge out here (Yes, we have a suspension bridge right here within Cornell :P) Then we went around campus admiring the beautiful sights on offer late in the evening. Sad I don't have a cam yet... but then Shashikant doesn't too :P so what the heck... Shall be receiving my first pay by May end... whereby I plan to buy one and share these beautiful sights on this blog. Keep checking :)

~Ta tas.

P.S. Might visit downtown Ithaca with Suresh and folks to watch Spidey 3 tonight.. or most probably this weekend. :) Man I love this life :P

Arrival in USA

Well well well... after all those nightmares about how horrible my journey to USA could be... I was in for quiet a pleasant surprise considering the way things went over the past 24 hours. I left home at about 8pm or so (even though my flight was at 0020, just to avoid traffic delays and subsequent nbd (nbd = nervous breakdown = IITianese for intense tension bursts one encounters when things don't go as expected)), and reached Mum airport by 8.30 (I guess someone spread the news that I was flying that night... people dared not venture out on the streets :P) Anyways, my driver had the highway to himself and didn't mind showing me some of his look-i-am-the-street-hawk styles. So there I was... way ahead of schedule... and at the insistence of my parents, I went inside early to check in my baggage. That I forgot they told me to come out again to meet them is another story. So there I was happily enjoying a John Grisham novel inside while my parents were getting worried outside. Then I suddenly realised this and immediately called my guys waiting outside... got an earful... but that's okay... am not going to see them for 3 months neways :P

So I was all set for my flight... and what a flight it was... a comp for each seat with plenty of movies, TV series, games and music, I never felt bereft of my PC :) And there were 2 cute little 4 year old girls on the adjacent seats, who strangely enough found me to be friendly and were chit-chatting and laughing all along (Wow I have a way with kids? Kab se?) Anyways... one of these 2 little girls slept on the seat beside mine... and was finding the seat to be smaller than her liking.. and didn't mind giving me one of her occasional kicks :) Anyways... a 4 yr old's kick on my massive body is of hardly any consequence... but her mom was embarrassed like hell.. kept apologising frequently... I told her I don't mind... and that it was okay.. I understand the little one is a bit uncomfy... but that was it... so I also had this extra kick-service delivered on flight.

Hmm... so much for seating and travelling... now comes fooding.. Take this from me... Delta serves excellent food... to good to be called airplane food... but just one drawback though... they don't bother heating it... but then I guess the taste kinda makes up for that... coz I cannot complain at all given all the good food that was offered. (Hey did I also mention 'great' airhostesses serving that food? Maybe that also made up in a way for the lack of warmth :P)

So my whole flight from Mumbai to NY could basically be summarised as Blood Diamond + Cold god food + laat maare beti aur haath jode ma + scramble (one of the several games on that flight-comp.. and the only one that I played.. competed with the 4 yr olds on this one :P) Upon arrival in JFK, I was a bit nervous as I was in the land of 'foreigners' now.. and was worried about customs, wondering if they may question me bringing in sweets and snacks.. but gosh... customs and immigration was done with so peacefully.. no pains at all. Now came one more pain... I had to fly over to Washington DC immediately (no.. not for meeting Bush... rather to come over to my cousin's place instead :) )... I asked airport authorities on where I should be taking the flight... and this is what they told me... (each word of what I shall say is true) They said: Go to the 4th floor... take the train to terminal 6... thereby go to the ground floor for check in and collecting your boarding pass... Hey wait! Wasn't this supposed to be in the same airport... then what's with this 4th floor and train thing? I said.. let me check out.. had 3 hrs to kill before the flight anyways.. and man was I in for a sight... JFK I guess is so big that it could be a city in itself... the train ride to my terminal 6 took me a good 5 mins.. and mind you... by trains I mean the hallowed NY-subway type trains... those that race along their tracks... and what a huge airport it was... a god sight.. sad I don't have a cam now... shall click some pics on my way back though definitely...

Now was another tricky part... checking in into a domestic US airliner... Jet Blue... Jet Blue had a whole terminal dedicated to themselves... with an extensive domestic flights network... so I had to check in here.. and was worried if my baggage cannot be checked in if it's found to be overweight... but things went peacefully here as well.. and I was happily through to boarding the flight...

It's just a 1.5 hours flight from JFK to Washington Dulles... but Jet Blue doesn't treat it like an ordinary flight just coz it's so... Complimentary snacks and drinks were regularly served... and this plane had a comp too!!! With Direct TV programming as well! Man wasn't this a gem of a flight... There was also this Firang ladki sitting beside me... time went well chatting with her about life out here etc etc. I am so stupid though not to have asked her name... but she was equally stupid not to have asked mine :P

Anyways... after over 24 hours of travelling I finally made it to USA :) My cousin came to pick me up here... whereby I bade goodbye to that firang ladki and got ready for an hour long drive home along Washington's roads... goes without saying that I shall praise the roads and blah blah... so I may as well skip that part for something more...

One thing stands out though in whatever encounters I had today with Americans though... they are possibly the most friendly and most hospitable and most courteous people in general I have ever seen... They always gave me the 'smiling faces' and the 'thank yous' and the 'I am sorrys' and the 'good days'... everyone... right from the airport authorities to my co-passengers in general and also that firang ladki... Man I guess I am going to enjoy this trip like I have never ever imagined!

Just one thing bugs me though... and I have formed an opinion on it - paper is good agreed... but a bad substitute for water :) (smart people can guess what I am saying immediately)

~Ta tas.

P.S. It's Cornell visit time tomorrow... a 6 hour drive from DC to Ithaca... more on that and on life in Cornell in subsequent posts...