Konjam Jabber, Konjam Sense!

While it has been eternity without a significant post on this blog, I wonder if I have been so pre-occupied to be active on the blogosphere. Well not really, but quite a few other things have kept me busy.

While the ever-cribbing part of me, still complains about the Tempe weather as usual, today has been such a different day. Not so long ago, I wanted to see a day in Tempe which would remind me of my good old Bangalore. My wishes were granted, and here it is, a day with constant drizzle, and all gloomy (not a good day for photographs).

Bangalore weather has always been like that, never have we seen a rainy season when it would rain heavily at once and stop. The drizzle would go on and on and on, day in and day out. The dampness in the air could be felt for days together, and not to forget the dampness in the clothes :) . Thoranams of ever-wet clothes (to hang clothes to dry) would be tied all over the house, with the housewife always saying ‘it’s been ages since the sun came out.’ Especially in a house with kids, the white canvas shoe will always be stained with wet mud and the like, and to wash it, the kid or its mother would never dream of, for it would take forever to dry.

I have forever loved to get wet in the rain, but my ‘very healthy’ immune system doesn’t permit me, though I have done it almost every season. While getting back from school, sitting as a pillion rider on my mother’s vehicle, I have had a zillion rain coat covering me, and more importantly my book, but not my face :) . The splash of the rain drops is something out of the world.

While here in the US (specially Tempe), it practically doesn’t make a difference when it rains, since it is just once in like 3-4 months that you have a short drizzle. And I get to know of that only if I step out of the house/lab. A couple of moments relief from the HIGH temperature is something that the rain brings along, and this week it surely did. A raging 110 F to soothing 65 F. Wow! That’s a huge drop!

At this time, the best song to listen to is Chinna Chinna Mazhai Thuzhigal from En Swaasa Katrey, and obviously Barso Re from Guru.

Another Fool's Day with Google

After Google had the TiSP and the paper Gmail last year, this year they came up with Gmail Custom Time (http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html), where you'd set the time of the email you send. This sounds ridiculous, however pretty interesting too. Specially in the grad life, when our lives totally run on deadlines, if only there was a way to turn the clock back :) . I felt it was a hoax, and it indeed is.

(Not so...) Good work, Google!

Spring Break!

Having been in school for almost two and half year now, the Spring break seems to be a real 'BREAK' from the otherwise long and hectic Spring semester. The three long weekends in the Fall semester make it so well-spread out, however the same cannot be said about the Spring semester for it's week-long break. However, it is better than nothing at all! It would ultimately end with a mid-sem crisis, especially for those flooded with assignments and exams right after the break.

For me, it was a trip to Detroit and Chicago during my first one in 2006. Last year (2007), it was a mere relaxing one at home, with a few visits to school and lab. It was more of shopping too! This year, as of now there haven't been any plans yet, other than reviving my research, apart from working on the projects in my two courses. However, my plan of sleeping 8 hrs a day during the break is working fine! Plus, atleast half a movie a day! (I enjoy watching movies by spreading them over 3-4 days. My record has been a movie watched over 18 days, Thiruda Thiruda! I so forgot the story that I had to start from the same point almost 3 days in a row. But I watched it again in Dec 2006, this time non-stop).

Spring is a that time of the year, when Tempe becomes unassumingly pleasant, with the temperatures in the 60-70's. This reminds me of the Bangalore weather around the same time, which would be filled with some miscellaneous showers (especially in April). Hence, spending the Spring break at home, without the noise from the AC/Heater is a good thing to do too! And to top it all, listening to music from my music system.

Spring break is also the time, I try to cook something good at least once. However, it hasn't happened this time yet, partly due to my loss of interest of cooking (or should I call it lack of interest). But, I am sure, I will cook once for the newly wedded folks who are just back from India.

This time round, I also did some shopping in Target, Walmart, and Sunflower market (I love the place) for some good junk food! And also at Lee Lee's and Little India. I got my ever-favorite Murukku's, Banana chips and Marie biscuits :)

Clothes shopping (for myself) in the US has never interested me, though I buy things for people back home. Is it due to the plethora of clothes that I brought from India, this time around, or just the Made in India, Honduras, Vietnam labels that hinder a otherwise-relentless shopper to shop clothes? It happened this time too, when I saw good stuff in Target and Walmart, but also saw a Made in India/Vietnam label on them.

For those fortunate ones having a nice time out of Tempe (or your respective university town), Have a nice time, wherever you are!

Shauk Hai

Kaash ye zindagi Khel hi khel mein kho gayi hoti... - How true? If only life were a child's play....

This has been one of my Google talk status messages in the past few day. It's from a track from the movie Guru called Shauk Hai. I made a mention of this in one of my earlier posts. But I felt the need to put down an entire blog in dedication of the song itself....

A subtle one, featured on Vidya Balan mainly in the movie, did not make it to the audio CD's or Cassettes, but did come out in a A.R. Rahman Special MP3 cd by Sony. A heavenly voice, Soumya Raoh, breezes through this song and the picturization of the song fits in well in the movie.

It's one of ARR's simplest songs ever, mainly accompanied by keyboard notes. The interlude 2:36 - 2:57 is ARR at his best. The song never fails to grow on me, and I am tempted to repeat the track several times, each time I hear it. The 'subah ki roshni' has a nice outburst, proving that ARR is a musical genius once again.

I could go with a lot of adjectives for this one - soft, gentle, subtle, tender and so on.... but nothing could capture the entire essence of the song.

At times, I feel that the song did not get enough attention as the other songs in the movie. But, I am sure there is a silent majority that loves this song. There is no full video on this one, as in any Maniratnam movie, it appears in parts. However Youtube does have a remix video, which doesn't have the same feel though (makers of the video, kindly excuse me).

And some kind souls put up their versions of the English translation of the song up on the web. Though, I read them, 'kavidhai variyin suvai, artham puriyum varai' doesn't hold hold in this case, since I come up with a new thought everytime I listen to this song....

Cute!

Got it in one of the many forwards I get:

Today is the 29th of Feb....the '366th' day or leap day in the year.

Your yearly salary is based on 365 days in the year therefore we are all working for nothing today.

So please.....slow down, relax, and take it easy.


Cute! :)

BACK!

BACK!!!

I am back to blogging after a considerable amount of time. I finally gave my PhD qualifier exam in November and am now qualified to do PhD research. Though, it was smooth sailing all way during the presentation and question session (was there one?), it was indeed a testing time for me!
Done with the qualifier, I proceeded to make a trip to India. I got my tickets on December 1st, when my trip was on the December 5th. I did some hurried but good shopping and left for a vacation of 6 weeks. Surprised my parents by landing a day earlier :)

Was on travel most of December, apart from working on a couple of workshop papers. Places that I traveled to were:

Dec 9-11th: Mettupalayam, Coimbatore, Namakkal, Nagayanallur (family deity), Pillayarpatti, Kunrakudi and Pudhukottai

Dec 16th Chandravana (near Srirangapatna, Mysore) - Dec 16th (after working on a workshop paper due 15th)

Another workshop paper was due Dec 22nd but got shifted to Jan 5th, thus paving way for a long-awaited trip to South Canara

Dec 21 - 25 - Horanadu, Kudremukh, Shringeri, Agumbe, Kollur, Murudeshwar, Gokarna, Katilu, Idugunji, Udupi, Ujire, Subramanya, Coorg, Virajpet, Kushalnagar, Mysore... phew long list :)

Dec 28- 30 - Vellore Golden temple, Chennai, Pondicherry, Melmaruvattur

And ended 2007 with style with dinner in Roti Ghar.

I was home all January till Jan 20th, except on Jan 9-10 when I made a trip to Coimbatore and Mettupalayam again to enjoy a ride on the Inter-City express (now Ernakulam express). A blog on that coming up soon.

Got back to Tempe on Jan 21st, MLK day, and back on schedule :)

I traveled by Singapore Air, and by far I feel its services are the best any airline could offer. It was a nice trip both ways with me watching Kireedam, Partner, Sivaji, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom apart from a few French and Italian movies. Amazing food too!

I couldn't have asked for a better reward than a vacation of 6 weeks :)

With my pocket lighter by several thousands (of $$$$'s , of course), a prospective trip during Spring break seems to be on cards. Let's see how things shape up.

Lots of food during the India trip and got back a lot here too..... Plus a lot of exta pounds on me (really?)....

Taking two courses this semester, apart from a seminar and the usual teaching :)

Need to go a long long way into the semester.......... Just 4 weeks of class over!

Got a DVD player :), to watch the zillion movies I got on VCD/DVD's in India, Thanks to Moserbaer for making the VCD/DVD prices hit rock bottom. However, piracy is still so rampant.

Tempe has been very cold, but the sun has begun to surface out.... Stay there sun, atleast until Spring break... or till May (like last year!).....

Should, I retitle the blog as "Back to the grind!" ????

Nostalgia

Or should I call it Memoria :)

Digging back to the tunes in the 1990's in Hindi film music, I must say it was indeed a golden period (ARR apart). With evergreen songs from 1942: A Love Story, Khamoshi and many more movies, we had Madhuri, Manisha, Kajol, Juhi Chawla ruling the scenes then.

Bahon Ke Dharmiyan, Aaj Mein Upar, and Mausam Ke Sargam make Khamoshi such a special album. Same with Ghoonghat Ki Aad Se from Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke, Saajan(most songs), a couple of entertaining ones from Ishq, Chup Gaya from a Kajol-movie, and the long list goes on. I recently enjoyed watching a lot of these songs, thanks to Youtube and was reminiscent of those school days. :)

Though my music interests have changed a lot in the past 3-4 years, I am still able enjoy these songs, most times. They had the E-value (not the E-value from the BLAST), the Entertaining value. Most songs these days lack that and project skin and more skin. And another factor adds to it too, the NOSTALGIA factor! Probably in 2017 I might enjoy the songs from 2007, the way I am enjoying the songs from 1997 now :)

Misc

Phew! No blog for an entire month! Probably shows the vettiness no longer exists and mid-sem crisis has taken it's toll on me.... kidding.

Of late, I've been too busy and haven't found time to write something here. However, I've been writing other stuff for long. It's a report for my qualifying exam scheduled later on in the month. That's a different experience totally and I have begun to like it too. After all, writing is an art by itself. Also, I have been writing codes for my algorithm, which is interesting too.

Haven't watched too many movies to comment on them either, but watched Johnny Gaddar which was a good and different approach. I attend grihapraveshas of the houses of a two friends, which indeed was so relaxing from this hectic schedule.

Not a great Diwali/Deepavali either, since the report-writing will take a lot longer than expected.

However,it's been a nice week without the usual teaching, so have lots of time to sleep in the mornings (something that I love to do).

Winter has not begun here yet and the pleasant weather continues.

Will probably write something soon! Got quite a few ideas to write on!