Rythum of Life

Ideal State...

2011-08-15T12:13:00.004-05:00

I have to yet research and read about what great people, and great religions say about this topic. But still I would like to note down my own thoughts as they come to me based on my day to day, very normal and usual experiences.

Here I will write about the ideal state in a personal relationship. What nurtures a relationship is love, an unconditional love. And what causes frustration in a relationship, is dependence, or expectations. As when we love some one, we start to have some expectations from our loved ones, may be just to reciprocate what we do unto them. But may be they do reciprocate, but may be their way is different from ours. But since we are expecting a certain pattern of behavior from them, we become frustrated, and that propagates the frustrations in the relationship.

So if I were to define an ideal state of relationship with my loved ones, I would say "If I am able to shower my unconditional love, do as much care as I can, without having my loved ones lose their freedom to live as they like and do what they want to do, do not expect anything from them in return, and still feel satisfied with that relationship, then that relationship will be ideal."

Now, if I were to advance to that ideal state in the practical world. Then an important characteristic that can be added to the relationship is "interdependence". Because the above definition of ideal state would lead the loved ones to become dependents, causing huge levels of expectations specially if they are adults and hence lead to frustrations in the relationship. Hence for a strong adult relationship, it is important that they are independent and the relationship can thrive on interdependence.

But interdependence is a "mutual" term. It occurs when two individuals share and depend on each other. When they share, they have a sense of responsibility towards the other, and when they depend, they have expectations from each other. Hmm....that means practical relationships have expectations inherent in them. But are expectations bad? May be not, as long as they do not lead to frustrations, the relationship can still survive and stay beautiful. So its better to thrive not towards the ideal relationship, which is practically not possible, but to thrive towards making it beautiful. Keep the expectations, work towards them, but try to avoid frustrations that might crop up.

Milestones of Life...

2011-08-15T11:53:00.005-05:00

Arvin just celebrated his first B'day. I, perhaps like most mom, am beginning to realize how fast my baby is growing. Everyday he does new fun activities which are all so much a pleasure to our eyes. I want to capture them all. Although for all these months, I had been writing about him in his memory book, I will try to write them more regularly in this blog now. That way all the family and friends can also enjoy reading it, and will be easier for me to log as well.

Aug 11th 2011 : Arvin is enjoying his nana-nani's visit to US and playing a lot with them these days. He has recently learned to walk (about 20 days back). He likes to take morning walks to the garden with nanu these days. When nanu puts on his shoes, he walks upto the door and is not ready to turn back towards home, just wants nanu to take him to the Garden.

August 15th 2011 : This morning, when we were on the breakfast table, Avi showed an altogether different yet very cute expression. First he picked up a big cookie from mom's plate and started eating it by himself. When I realized that, I asked him to give it back (he doesn't have a single tooth yet! ), he started hiding his cookie behind his back...loved it, and couldn't take it back from my little one. Avu... soon you will have your teeth, and I will bring a lot of delecious cookies for you my darling..

August 15th 2011 : Also this morning on breakfast table, when his dad gave Avi a small spoon ful of cereals dipped in milk from his mug, Avi just loved it. And then what he did was the cutest! He made such a cute smiling face, half closed his eyes and moved his mouth towards dad, asking him to give one more spoon...and it was such an undeniable request, that dad had to give him. And then it was repeated over and over until dad finished all his cereals. My little cutiepie is such a smarty...I can't believe it!!

August 18th 2011 : Avi has started making little demands. He asks nana to take him to garden, mom to pick him and take to bedroom when he wants to sleep/dink milk! Even when he wants his bottle of milk, or a balloon :)

August 23rd 2011: Avi and all of us are missing his nana-nani. They left for India this morning, and in evening when I returned home from work, Avi's nanny told me that he was showing that he is sad, he was looking here and there as if searching them, and then he cried. My heart sank hearing those words, and I cried with my little one. I promise I will spend a lot more time with my baby, and promise Avi, we will have fun time!

August 29th 2011: Avi started clapping. Its surprising, how he has started picking the language we speak. When I say "tali bajao", he claps with his little hands, when I say "mama ko pa kardo", he gives me a baby kiss that I can die for, and when I say "bye karo", he waves his hands. He keeps walking all around the house and keeps falling a lot too. But that never stops him from getting up and waking again. Gaurav has just installed the stairway door, as we found Avi on the 4th stair all by himself the other day :)

Arvin.cpp

2010-08-10T22:58:00.001-05:00

* Declares and defines Arvin / Avi as of Aug 8 2010. DOB: 08/04/2010.

* Sorry for the delay.

* You can visit him at 6344 NE Meadowgate CT, Hillsboro Or 97124. GauraVinita would love it.

* Some rights reserved J

using system;

#include

namespace Nolkha

{

class Arvin : public GauraVinita

{

string name;

string nickname;

date dob;

inches dob_height;

pound dob_weight;

public:

Arvin() : nickname(“Avi”), name(“Arvin”), dob(“08/04/2010”), dob_height(19), dob_weight(6.75) {

cout << "Hello World" <<>

}

void sleep() {

cout << "Nice power management feature :)" <<>

}

void wakeup() {

cout << "Lets check it out (and also wake 'em up) :)" <<>

}

void cry() {

cout << "Something is wrong out there, go figure it out :)" <<>

}

void smile() {

cout << "You love it, dont you? :)" <<>

}

void eat() {

cout << "Not really eat, rather drink... special milk, thanks mom :)" <<>

}

void poop() {

cout << "Ah! its messy, but dad's decent :)" <<>

}

void pee() {

cout << "Well! not as messy, actually fun when diper is not on ;) and someone is there to meet :)" <<>

}

} // class Arvin

} // namespace Nolkha

// Cheers.

IPL Yes Me Too

2010-03-30T02:44:00.002-05:00

This is a considerably short ;) comment on Saurabh's blog. I did not want to pollute his comments section by writing a comment as long as an article.

Let me for the sake of fun and argument take the other side. Why does an artist have to be a ‘wonderful enough entertainer’? We don’t go to our offices to entertain people. We sometimes work out of necessity, sometimes for satisfaction and pleasure. Why can’t an artist do something which he or she likes? Does he wish that everyone in the world would understand and appreciate his contributions? Did Einstein think that his theory should be appreciated by Taliban? And why do we, as consumers, have to be able to pick the best? Are we rational? If we were, rather than talking about IPL, we would perhaps be talking about much more pertinent issues, or masses’ issues. Issues of a billion people, rather than a few million.

Coming specifically to IPL: Why is cricket not included in Olympics? What has IPL really done? Why is as popular as it is? I like to play Cricket, but honestly it is a painfully long and time taking game. Often times we would just watch India’s batting, isn’t it? Are Aussies or Pakis not good dancers (read players)? Yes they are, but given limited time, we would prefer seeing Sachin batting, rather than Zahir bowling. T20 worked on these and now the long match has been reduced to a short one. And to favor batsman, which we anyway prefer to see, IPL further reduced the boundary. People argue that this is the consumerism of cricket. But wasn’t it the same thing when One-day was introduced? I argue that it is just evolution. May be something even better or appropriate will evolve.

That was for the consumers, what about the Yosuf Pathans? Perhaps many of us wonder why India (a billion+ people country) can’t produce a team that is best in the world. After all, we roughly produce an Australia worth of people every year. Let’s not get started here, this is perhaps a whole new debate in itself. If you want to become a better player, play with people who are better than you. What IPL, I think, very crucially has done is that it brought these Yosufs and the Sachins together. Yes agreed, there are dropped catches, there are small boundaries (well Sachin and Kallis have just hit 1 six, I wonder why they can’t take a stock of the shorter boundaries). But I would like to believe that IPL, the platform will enable future Sachins.

Gaurav's Birthday Party 2009

2009-10-05T00:09:00.006-05:00

Birthday Party 2009

It was 00 hrs on 3rd Oct, I was reading the novel, Life of Pi, when Vinita came in the room and wished me Happy Birthday. I was pleasantly surprised to find a decorated yummy vegan chocolate double fudge ganache cake surrounded by candles. I was not yet out of the surprise when Vinita asked me to dress up properly because Aparna and her parents were about to come for the celebration.

This refreshed the memories from last year when she surprised me similarly by getting a tasty vegan cake in Austin. I clapped on my birthday song and carried out the rituals. You can find the happy surprise on my unshaved face in the pics as well. While we were talking, Aparna asked me a question about the party next day. Yet another surprise, but this time I realized it. Vinita had called about a 15 people for the birthday party at our home today evening.

Happily we slept and woke up pretty late the next morning, amid the online freshly baked wishes from people on skype, gmail and gchat. This was the time to plan for the big party (calling 15 people at home at the same time is one of the largest parties that we have done till now).

We listed the works to be done. Vinita did have a rough menu planned but we needed to buy almost all the things and had to finalize the menu. In between she met with Aparna, who told her about an Indian restaurant which caters to such parties. Vinita talked to the lady, let’s call her Pinky aunty and really liked this option compared to the other option, Pizzas. I was relieved that we had now outsourced the work and that we just needed to buy a very few things on our own and the whole dinner would be ready. This was an addictive feeling, alas! destiny had some other plans for me. We decided the menu and placed the order for tonight. Atleast our Indian friends would probably won’t want to hear about the mouth watering menu. So I wouldn’t mention it here.

We cleaned the apartment and went with Aparna to get the sodas, juices, salads and a few other things. We got ready for the party and I went with Aparna to get the food at about 6:45. When I called Pinky Aunty from outside her house and told her that I was there to get the food, she informed me that she was away to a party. Shocked I asked her about the order for tonight and she told me that she thought it was for ninth. I remembered an episode from How I Met Your Mother which I saw a few days ago, showing the marriage of Lily and Marshall. Things can possibly go wrong, but you got to take it easy.

So here I’m, waiting to get the food for my birthday party that Vinita planned, just to know that there is no food. Rather than losing the mettle I just told Pinky Aunty to cancel our order for tonight. I hope she heard ninth again. And I believe she did. Sometimes you just hear what you want to, and it works.

It was time to move to Plan B, which as Aparna puts it, is always Pizzas. I called Vinita, and possibly stopped her short of freaking out, asked her to order Pizza and garlic breads from Domino’s. One would think that all that had to go wrong had already gone wrong, but wait, no, more was yet to come. We like the thin crust pizzas from Domino’s and Vinita forgot to tell them about the thin crust, atleast the toppings were right.

Nevertheless we got the pizzas and reached home at 8:15. I was exactly an hour late in my own birthday party.

Ofcourse, only 5 of them had arrived by then and Vinita was trying her best to entertain them and to keep them busy with the starters.

Did you think this is it? No. Majority of the people were yet to come and slowly they did come, but we did not realize that pizzas without the covers of the delivery boy’s pizza bags, were getting cold. I later felt that people have eaten very less and were not enjoying the food. But now some games began and people started enjoying and it got better as the night progressed. I still felt some people were left out, but not significantly. Later I did heat some pizzas, but people were probably too busy to play and did not notice the pizzas. But they did relish the popcorns, cake, ice-cream with coke, coke and sprite ofcourse, chips, garlic breads etc. Some people may have missed non-veg pizzas or hard drinks, but sorry guys!

In between, the dark force inside guys and some girls started clamoring about the birthday bumps. And then I had to suffer, but thanks to Vinita and some to my weight, I was spared after a few bumps.

Blunders apart, it was a great boisterous party. At one point, someone told me that police can come if you are too loud after 10 and got me scared. But hell ya, I thought, though we did not have alcohol but we did have pizza to offer.

Thanks to Vinita for planning and arranging most of it. Thanks to Aparna for helping execute most of it. Abhinav was at his self today but might have missed speaking Marathi. Vikas did forget the occasion, but later made it unforgettable for us. Harsh was a master story teller and thanks to Jimmy that we all realized it. Palak Shah ofcourse, Anu and have you met Devyani?, Anoos teammate, made awesome Pictionary artists team. Thanks to Ashlesha for the games, otherwise Khushboo would relentlessly have made us play either Country orOne-Up One-Down. Suhas seemed to be in good hands with Reshma, until the no-objection certificate for birthday bumps. Thanks to all, for the friendship, wishes, and gifts and for making it one of our best and noisiest birthday parties I had.

How about getting together for a party, say once every month?

By the way, link for pics is here.

Profit of Life

2009-06-10T06:03:00.004-05:00

Today I got a thought while returning from school and I feel that it is worth noting down for the benefit of all. So the thought is as under..

What is 'my' life? What is 'mine' in this life? Is this life really 'mine'? It is given to me by God and it can be taken from me anytime. So is 'my' important in 'my life'? I think no. But yes 'life' is important. Because after all that is it why I am here.

Now, that means, I am like an element, whom God has filled in with life, for a certain period on this earth as a human being.

So, what is so much important in this life to be concerned about? Should it be my work, my career, my every like and dislike, my dress, my food, my time, what? Does any of these matter after my life? I think then, all this won't matter a bit to me once this life is taken from me. That means nothing in this world can be more true than the fact that you have to live..till God wants you to.

Next question is, what should I do while I am living? Should I work? Why?

Yes, I should work for 2 reasons :-

To live in this world is not for free. So you have to work to live, and till you live.
Everything that this world gives you till you live, in return needs your participation to make it better by using your talent. So its a good idea to contribute whatever you can while you are in this world.

Okay, so that means you should feel good that you are working! Then, should you feel bad if you mood? Again I guess no. Because its not worth treating yourself that way.

After all, you will be working till you live, and while you should contribute your part as best as you can, it never can be more important than your life.

God sent you to live, not to spoil your minutes on unworthy things, rather to live. So why not live it happily every moment. We are here for a limited time. And this time is too short if you consider the y centuries for which life has existed on this Earth. So we should do what is worth our living time.

I guess the crux is as follows :

To live every moment the way it comes to you.
To try your best but never at the expense of the stress and spoiling your mood. Because it can never worth more than your life.
To speed your time gaining knowledge and working and loving and smiling and being happy.

Because at the end your profit is = ( % of happy life you spent) / (Total life God gave you) !

The Story of Stuff

2009-03-24T18:53:00.003-05:00

Ever wondered where all the stuff in your house comes from, and where it all goes after you are done with it? I just saw this amazing " Story of Stuff ". In words of my ex-teacher, Mrs. Lalita Aseri, "Its really impressive....it may sound funny but yeah..its very motivating for me."
Watch the story yourself and find out!

Now if you too find yourself motivated, Here is the link for 10 recommendations on what we can do to address the problems identified in the film on storyofstuff : http://www.storyofstuff.com/anotherway.html

Specifically, http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com tells about the toxic contents in various cosmetic products that we inadvertently buy.

Similarly, there are lots of carcinogenic products in most ready to eat foods and snacks that we do not even know about and buy. Like now I never buy a product that lists "Monosodium Glutamate" because I know its carcinogenic. And after remembering its name, I came across the products containing it several times in grocery stores! But I do not know about all such products, and will try to stay aware and note other such things. This link may also be worth giving a glance: http://www.drgrisanti.com/food_toxins.htm

I will keep adding more stuff on toxins as and when I learn about them, and also would be glad if any of my readers also share their valuable thoughts and knowledge on it.

cheers and stay informed!

Leadership in the eyes of Leadres

2009-03-18T16:53:00.003-05:00

I am following the Time's Lead India '09 initiative where they regularly publish a column called Vignettes of Leadership , that brings out the views on leadership directly by leaders in various fields. Here I will be summarizing some of those articles specially noting down the interesting things to take from each leader.
Lee Iacocca, the former CEO of Chrysler, has Nine C's that make a leader stand out from the crowd:
1. Curiosity : Listen to people outside the ‘Yes, sir’ crowd and read voraciously, because the world is a complicated place.
2. Creative : Go out on a limb, be willing to try something different.
3. Change : Manage change effectively, whether you’re leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get to adapt.
4. Communicate : Facing reality and telling the truth. Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it may be painful.
5. Character : knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing.
6. Courage : In the twenty-first century courage doesn’t mean posturing and bravado. It is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk. If you’re a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes.
7. Conviction : a fire in your belly, a passion to really want to get something done.
8. Charisma : the quality that makes people want to follow you. It’s the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him.
9. Competent : You’ve got to know what you’re doing. More importantly, you’ve got to surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing.
And above all this, he says that you can’t be a leader if you don’t have Common Sense!

Coincidentally, after Iacocca's Cs I found the four E's of great leader, by JACK WELCH, the former chairman and CEO of GE.
1. Energy : tons of positive energy to go-go-go; they love action and relish change.
2. Energize Others: to love people and inspire them to move mountains when they have to.
3. Edge : the courage to make tough yes-or-no decisions.
4. Execute
And finally he places a strong emotional component above anything else. A leader must be able to withstand the heat, handle setbacks and, enjoy success with equal parts of joy and humility.

People's Manifesto for the Government of India

2009-03-16T11:28:00.003-05:00

We, the citizens of India, want certain actions (not just promises but actions) from our leaders, once they reach up to form the government. The Times of India's Lead India '09 is asking the people of India to create a manifesto of what we need from whichever government comes next top power. You can choose 3 issues most important to you, to help evolve such a manifesto. Times will present this Peoples’ Manifesto to the new parliament.
These are my 3 most important manifestos for the elected leaders:
1.) Safe drinking water for all, clean rivers, and environment and make it livable.
2.) Zero tolerance to religious extremism, and terrorism.
3.) No corruption at any level in government offices, and full transparency and accountability of government officers.

Please feel free to comment and put forward your 3 issues at
http://www.lead.timesofindia.com/Wada_naa_todo.aspx

Lets create a safe and just India that we all want.

Roots of devastation

2009-03-08T19:45:00.001-05:00

Everybody is trying to curb terrorism, or atleast showing and talking like that.
The root cause of terrorism is poverty, illiteracy and social injustice. In India, rigid and cruel caste system, and corrupt government have made the situations worse. We have almost forgotten the rural face and now that keeps coming in front of us in forms of Naxalites in Bihar, Maoists in North Eastern states, separatists in J&K and other insurgents.
Over this, the selfish political leaders of different parties keep capitalizing on the emotions of each community. The governments keep coming and going with citizens watching them with wistful eyes. Its enough now, and we citizens will have to do something for the betterment of society. When everyone in society would sleep peacefully after the nights meal, no body would come out to commit the sins of killing.

Movies

2009-01-18T15:10:00.004-06:00

Out of the popular demand, here is a list of the good movies that I watched. Will keep updating the list as I watch more of the good movies. Enjoy!
1.Fifty First Dates
2.Cast Away (2000)
3.Life Is Beautiful (2000)
4.The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
5.Last Holiday (2006)
6.Little Manhattan (2005)
7.Amelie (2001) -French (English Title)
8.The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
9.The Godfather (1972)
10.The Godfather: Part II (1974)
11.Buono, il brutto, il cattivo., Il (1966)
12.Pulp Fiction (1994)
13.Schindler's List (1993)
14.Casablanca (1942)
15.The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
16.Goodfellas (1990)
17.The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
18.The Usual Suspects (1994)
19.Fight Club (1999)
20.Memento (2000)
21.The Matrix (1999)
22.The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
23.Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
24.American Beauty (1999)
25.Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
26.American History X (1998)
27.Forrest Gump (1994)
28.The Departed (2006)
29.The Pianist (2002)
30.L.A. Confidential (1997)
31.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
32.The Prestige (2006)
33.Sin City (2005)
34.No Country for Old Men (2007)
35.Batman Begins (2005)
36.Braveheart (1995)
37.The Green Mile (1999)
38.Die Hard (1988)
39.The Sixth Sense (1999)
40.Ratatouille (2007)
41.Ben-Hur (1959)
42.Finding Nemo (2003)
43.Snatch. (2000)
44.Million Dollar Baby (2004)
45.Gandhi (1982)
46.Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
47.Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
48.The beauty and the beast
49.Ice age
50.Pride and Prejudice
51.The Enchanted (1984)
52.Brokeback Mountain (2005)
53.Pan's Labyrinth
54.The Office: Season 1: "Diversity Day"
55.How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
56.Manhattan Murder Mystery
57.Jerry Maguire
58.Water
59.Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning
60.Monsoon Wedding
61.Bollywood / Hollywood
62.Cashback
63.American Pie (1999)
64.American Pie 2 (2001)
65.American Wedding (2003)
66.The Last Lear (2008)
67.Madagascar
68.American Gangster
69.Shrek Third
70.Narnia
71.The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
72.Stranger than Fiction (2006)
73.Ocean's Eleven (2001)
74.Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
75.Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
76.Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
77.The Holiday

78. Big lebowski

79. X-Files

80. Madagascar 2

81. The Dark Knight

82. Pineapple Express

83. Burn After Reading

Some Good Books

2009-01-11T22:34:00.007-06:00

Here are some of the books recommended by one of my friend Kalyan, who recently took exam for IAS. Some others are those which I / Vinita have read and liked. Finally, some are recommended by a couple of other friends. If possible read their reviews on the web and then figure out if the subject matter stimulate your interest. And yes, send me your recommendations. By the way, these are not in any particular order. It seems though, that I should try to get them in some order, so that the reading makes more sense. But as of now, I don't know when I'll do that. So till then, enjoy!

The Magic of Thinking Big - David Schwartz
How to Click with Everyone Every time
What I Talk About when I Talk About Running
India's Struggle for Freedom - Bipin Chandra
India After Independence
The Argumentative Indian
Holiday in Hell
My Experiments with Truth - mahatma Gandhi
Administrative Thinkers - Prasad and Prasad
Caste System in India - MN Srinivasan
Introduction to Consitution of India - DD Basu
Our Parliament - Subhash kashyap
Freakonomics
India Unbound
India Untouched : Forgotten face of rural poverty (reading as of now)
Jack: Straight from the Gut
Interpreter of Maladies
The Inheritance of Loss
The God of small things
The Kite Runner

Please find some more information (like: Author etc.) about these books here.

All the Best.

UT Employee discount

2008-11-05T13:22:00.004-06:00

I recently found that UT employees can also get some Employee discounts in various places ! In a way it feels, US universities are not less than a corporate house !

I dint know this earlier and it seems like a good list to look at it!
http://www.utexas.edu/hr/edp/employee/

Though similar settings worked in my previous school in India (MNIT) as well ! There we could un-officially go to a shop keeper and claim the undocumented MREC (10%) discount!

But the university here seems to be taking it one step further and they have it officially setup! I guess they tie up with these local and big businesses (hopefully according to the need of the students and other people in the University), for example Wireless services, restaurnets etc. This is a win-win for both, because UT people get some good discounts and business get bulk exposure!

This could be certainly useful to many Universities and students in other places of the world !

Terrific Love

2008-09-25T11:12:00.003-05:00

Terrific Love

missing u missing u

makes me miss u,

longing to love u..

makes me lose the moments of loving u.

when i wanted to say u that I love u,

we ended up fighting till i left u.

But, when u were in deep sleep,

I found myself dreaming,

I was in your arms and dancing on your beats,

the world was so peaceful,

happiness was embracing me.

Is that exactly what I wanted?

I knew the answer of me.

and I saw the smile on ur face

and love in your eyes

and isshhhhh..........u kissed me!

every moment with u is precious,

and your love, my Darling, is terrific...

C++: const

2008-09-24T22:24:00.010-05:00

const is trick to begin with ...

this is what I found while working with it ...

1. References: They cannot be changed to point to some other object
2. Pointers: Can be changed to point to something else

1 class Foo {
2 int i;
3 public:
4
5 void doit (const Foo &that) {
6 that.i = i; //Error
7 }
8 void doit (Foo &that) {
9 that.i = i; //Okay
10 }
11 void doit (const Foo *that) {
12 that->i = i; //Error
13 that = this; //Okay
14 }
15 void doit (Foo * const that) {
16 that->i = i; //Okay
17 that = this; //Error
18 }
19 void doit (const Foo &that) {
20 i = that.i; //Okay
21 }
22 void doit (const Foo &that) const {
23 i = that.i; //Error
24 }
19 };

--Sorry about the alignment, I dont know a way as of now to correct this ... I guess it is readable though ! If someone already knows, let me know (how to preserve the formatting like we do in wiki)

test2.cpp: In member function `void Foo::doit(const Foo&)':
test2.cpp:6: error: assignment of data-member `Foo::i' in read-only structure
test2.cpp: In member function `void Foo::doit(const Foo*)':
test2.cpp:12: error: assignment of data-member `Foo::i' in read-only structure
test2.cpp: In member function `void Foo::doit(Foo*)':
test2.cpp:17: error: assignment of read-only parameter `that'
test2.cpp: In member function `void Foo::doit(const Foo&) const':
test2.cpp:23: error: assignment of data-member `Foo::i' in read-only structure

Observations:
1. There is no question of changing a reference ... But in the first and second doit definitions we can see that if its a reference to a const object, we cant change it

2. In third and fourth definitions we can note that in const Foo *, we could change the pointer itself, whereas in Foo * const we could change the values.... So the way to read it is anything before the * tells about the characteristics of object and anything after the * tells about the characteristics of the pointer

3. In fifth and sixth, const tells that you cannot change the object pointed to by this (the implicit parameter)

I hope it makes sense..

Lecture by Prof. Sanjay Patel, UIUC

2008-09-18T16:51:00.004-05:00

Today I attended a lecture by Prof. Sanjay Patel, famous Prof in Comp Arch from UIUC...

Crux: a 1000+ core architecture

Motivation:
Some real-time apps
Main processor can delegate some work to it !

Implementation:
As of now as a co-processor type thing, which has lots of threads, has a different program or thread model !

How did they come up with the design?

Choose the benchmark apps !
Interestingly, to figure out implementation, fed these apps and some hardware parameters, like

Issue Width:
L1 Cache Size:
L2 Cache Size:
CPU Frequency etc

To an optimizer, which then analyses these apps against these hardware choices :
Result: a plot on the AREA vs Performance curve for each of these configs
Final result choose the design that looks reasonable !

Then decision about the programming / thread model and SIMD vs MIMD model
Again benchmark apps, analyze the dependency graphs for these apps ... You can use any tool like PIN easily to figure out this dependency graphs and things like RAW, WAW kind of parameters!

Thus they decided that the Read after Write in one interval of the thread is not too many and they choose to make that case INCORRECT for their model ... ofcourse arguing that this is not the common case ! So optimize the common case is the principle..

Finally they had their thread model called as RTM (Rigel Thread Model, I guess).

Rigel Website:

I think the takeaway for the future architects here is the methodology, the way they came up with the micro-architecture design and how they validated it, clearly stating the benchmarks, even figuring out the power consumption of the final chip (in 45nm)..

One more thing: In the end I was stupidly thinking about asking why he choose to put different I-Cahce for each of the mickey-mouse processor... Then I realized Prof. Dahlin's lecture about picking up the important idea ... So I think even while asking questions, I could have used the idea of focusing on the real issue, rather than cribbing about some nitty-gritty detail!

Thats like real work !

For new students at UT, Austin

2008-09-17T13:09:00.003-05:00

New students who joined UT this fall, may have, by now, realized the amount of work in the classes and in general about the hectic life... Dont worry, you will get adjusted to it sooner than later ..

Good Luck with that !

But I wanted to point out one important thing in this post for new students: About ECAC or the recruitment drive in ECE...

Be sure to register for ECAC and submit your resumes to companies for Internships!

You should also know that CS people have different governing body (for Natural Sciences, like ECAC for Engineering).. So be sure to keep in touch with that and submit your resume if you are interested in purely CS type (software related jobs)..

You might wonder why dont you see yahoo, amazon and other purely software companies a lot in the ECAC fair ... They are more likely to be in the Natural Sciences fair than ECAC..

All the best for the internship search !
If you are in Austin, and want to learn driving and/or take driving lisence test, the best person for you is Mike. Mike works for Longhorn driving school, but feel free to ask me for his direct phone number if you like. He does a great job and is a very honest and nice person.

Useful Links for GRE exam

2008-08-11T23:46:00.008-05:00

Here, I have compiled the links to all the useful websites for GRE preparation and exam. One needs to refer many websites for GRE test preparation, registration and sample tests, etc., so this might help saving some of your precious time if all those links are at one place.

For GRE test registration

Free GRE practice tests :
Kaplan

Before starting preparation for Verbal section (ideally 6-8 months before your GRE test date), you might find it helpful to read my friend's article:

http://ranjit.puri.googlepages.com/The800VerbalWalkthrough.htm

For GRE test preparation :
Number2

For list of Analytical Writing Topics in GRE exam : click here

For sample Essays and Argument writings in GRE exam, click here or download from:
http://jainvinita.googlepages.com/sampleessaysandargumentwritings.zip

Sample formats for various Application process documents for MS admission.

Details on how you should take visa appointment

Sample documents and checklists for USA student visa application.

Q&A about MS Admissions

2008-08-07T13:48:00.007-05:00

Here I have compiled some general queries that I and many other students have regarding admission in MS. I will put my questions one by one in this post. Feel free to put up more questions and I will be pleased to answer you or direct you to the right source for it.

Q&A before GRE/TOEFL and till before the Admission

0. What is the right time to take GRE/TOEFL tests?
The best time to take the tests is 1 year before you plan to start your MS. This will give you sufficient time for the lengthy application process. Having 2 years of work experience before MS is not essential but can help you get good understanding of what you want to do in your MS.

First I will tell you my plans, please DO comment on it. I'm planning to write GRE/TOEFEL in August, want to apply for MS in OS or computer architecture in fall next year.
Comp Arch is usually misunderstood by lot of people , this is if you wish to design processor etc. And that needs VLSI too... So truly speaking you will have to work in verilog etc, while the OS/systems comes with computer engineering, here you might be working with hardware and software... We need to talk abt this if you are still not clear.

1. Apart from GRE, what else I need to concentrate now, especially if I need financial aid or a TA job,money is an issue for me?

Money is an issue with most of us ... you don't need to do anything special for getting a TA, don't worry about it at the time of applying at Universities. For later : approach the right profs (mainly those who take undergrad basic courses), and you have to meet them personally with your resume to ask for a TA or grader position which is usually available at the beginning of each semester.

2. Can you give me an estimate of money I will be needing right from applying to getting admission?
Application process is usually around $100 per university( which includes the fees for GRE and TOEFL scores). Fees for state universities will be lower, Fees in certain states is lower than the other , Like California is comparatively expensive.

3.Can you provide a break up of money required at different stages?

i. For applying $100 per school.... (three things are included: University application fee, fee to send GRE score and TOEFL score)
ii. How much money need to be shown for admission and in what format?
Generally if you get admit from a good school, consulates usually respect that, so don't worry much about this. But you can't leave the ends open from your side, so you need to have sufficient financial proofs. How much? Exact figures are available on the Univ's website, usually ranges between $30K to $50K. It also appears on your I20, You are required to show that much.
How to show: I think if you get admission from good univ. anyone (may be your friend or relative or parents) can give you affidavit which says that he or she supports you. I can send you certain imp fin docs formats which are good to have. )

iii. How to identify the fee structure of a university?
Its given on the school's website usually, and it appears on the I20 also, that's what you have to show.

iv. How much money is required and in what format for the VISA. (i guess i answered it)

4. Please tell me any consultant in Bangalore for GRE admission and all.
I had it done with IMS but didn't like them much. People say VISU international is good, but I think for a good student, you can do it all on your own. Please feel free to ask me for the formats for SOP, and other letters that are required for applications.

5. The need for a consultant is for the procedure of application. How does one choose the right course in the right university, given that there are too many options and too many permutations and applying to all is not possible.
Universities have some strongholds, some weak areas.... so it needs to be seen which Univ is good in your field. Good way to find out this can be by looking at the good international conferences in your field and seeing who publishes papers in those. Rankings in the respective field also gives you some idea.

6. What if I want to write some paper and get it published related to my subject will it help me? (definitely it will..)

7. I have figured out that the will to write a paper and writing a paper are two very different things. How to get started or well re-started?
Publishing in an International publication is a challenging and time taking task. You know it ... what is required, some solid work which you have done... and thats it ... will and writing are consequences, drive will be automatically there once you have something good done in your hands.

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Next Thread
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Q&A after the Admission

1. What is the good way of identifying which courses we are interested in? I mean if I am interested in OS or comp arch, how can I know the content of the course what is a good way to research this.
You might not be able to access the course contents of a particular course. If you can find it on the web, that's good, but otherwise, contact the students of that particular school to get the same. 'First hand info' from people can be very useful. Also most schools allow some initial "add and drop" period during which you can try to audit (sit in) all the classes of your interest and then add or drop some courses after meeting the prof in the class and knowing about the course content and efforts required for it.

2. Will my work ex, help me to get TA or any campus job?
Definitely it will, See if you can write some papers based on your work. So that helps company and you as well.

3. I 've reached the school. One thing I'm having some trouble right now is finding an assistantship...and tips from your experience?

Other than scholarships and fellowships, you can also apply for a research or teaching assistant's job or work as a grader. For this you also fill the application online, but mostly the chances are to get them by personally meeting the professors with your resume, once you land into one of your universities.
When we reached UT Austin, we had no funding or job in hand. We then, made list of all the undergrad classes that we thought we could TA or grade, and met with the professors of each of those subjects personally to ask if any positions are available with them. Also you can meet the Profs in your area of interests to find any RA position. But underline, that you need to meet them personally. Don't hesitate in that.
Once you get a job as a TA, RA all of your fees is paid by the department that employed you and also you are paid enough to bear your living expenses.

I thought this conversation might be useful for all !

All the best !

Some info about Comp Arch for new students at UT

2008-08-07T13:36:00.007-05:00

During in initial days at UT, I happened to talk to lots of people about the courses I should be taking etc. This post contains some excerpts from that :

I also talk about a few questions that have been asked by various new students joining UT, specially in computer engineering.

What courses to choose for the first sem?
People mostly end up choosing the courses which are either necessary prerequisites for other courses or if they are only offered say, once in two years or so. And definitely this sounds pretty reasonable. So for computer engineering the basic and interesting course I have heard of, in UT are

UG
Computer Architecture (360N),
Algorithms (360C),
Introduction to OS (CS372H),
Compilers,
Distributed Computing,

Grad
EPL (specially by Prof. Craig Chase),
VLSI-1
(these are not easy classes, but basic)

For the courses which are exotic / rarely offered, I think the best way is to sit in those classes for a couple of lectures, and carefully understand what the course offers and decide if it aligns with your schedule.

Most likely you are aware of the fact that basic and well known classes fill quickly. So, if you are thinking of registering for those classes, register asap. Later if you some how make your mind against taking it, cancel it. Rather than waiting to make up your mind, just register for such classes.

Some confusion regarding supporting work?
This is best resolved by your the Advisor of your track. Prof. Valvano has also compiled this useful FAQ on research and study in computer engineering:

http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valvano/ce/

How is the grading criteria of the professor, and the work load?
This can be best answered by people who took the class, from the same prof. But be cautioned, ask atleast two people before firmly making your mind.

Balance, Work load etc?
Balancing the course work in important and to get an idea of the workload and grading policy etc., definitely attend the first couple of lectures. Carefully listen to the grading criteria etc.

Some useful links:

Here is a list of recommended courses for computer architecture from one of the students in Comp Eng at UT:
http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~suleman/comp_arch_courses.txt

Also, Prof. Brian Evans maintains a very good/detailed page for guidance of grad students. have a look at this
http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~bevans/suggested_courses.html

Enjoy!

Conks and Welcome to UT!

On Friendship Day

2008-08-01T22:23:00.009-05:00

For my childhood friends

If you ask me what friendship day gift I want,
I wish for a magic stick that can take me to my past.

May be there were homeworks,
may be there were tests,
but with all of them, there were my friends!

Those fun-filled school days,
those afternoons of laughter,
the evenings in the streets,
where are those days?

Antaakshri in last period,
and radio-show in summers,
how can I ever forget those outings together?

We all lived in the Malviya Nagar, now I can't even envision,
when one of us is in Noida and one in London!

On this friendship day, although you are miles away,
but I am sure we all have new friends to celebrate the Day.
So stop being nostalgic with the memories you have,
of exchanging those friendship bands in Shreemaya that day!

I hope my funny poem makes you laugh,
and hey! .....did you just show your teeth???
than thats my gift on friendship day!

Love You All,
vinita

MS admission odyssey

2008-07-25T21:46:00.003-05:00

It all began with my husband, Gaurav taking his GRE test, although the seeds were sowed during our undergrad years in MNIT itself when we started reading word lists from Barrons book.

He got a score of 1350 and how can I forget mentioning here that I got 1390 after fifteen days in my GRE test. After that TOEFL came easy and we both got decent scores to proceed on to the next challenging task of deciding on which universities to apply to. It is indeed one of the most difficult part I must say, because each university application costs between $ 50- $80 (plus some additional cost of sending the official GRE and TOEFL tests scores to them, and mailing the official transcripts etc.)

How many universities should I apply to and which??

My advice to anyone who is at the same stage of the admission process is that make your budget the deciding factor on the number of schools you want to apply. Assuming 75$ to 100$, as the total spending per application, you can decide on whether you have to apply to 8 or 10 Universities or more. Believe it or not, it’s just the beginning of your expenses and the graph is going be very progressive, so you can’t afford to be less careful on managing your money. And also remember that being miser can also hurt your chances of getting acceptance badly.

So once you have decided on the number of applications to fill, the next step is to decide what universities to apply. Suppose the number you decided upon is somewhere between 8 and 10. Now you got to divide your list of 8 to 10 Universities (the number may vary for you) into subsets of very ambitious, good and the average or sure shot ones. Please be generous enough to keep at least 3 or 4 sure shot options in your list of schools. Gaurav compiled information and links to some universities which were into our consideration for applications at http://gnolkha.googlepages.com/infoforuniversities. The same info is also available below in his article. Also I would suggest you to look for annual rating of US Universities especially for your major. Another useful link for first round in selection process is http://www.scribd.com/doc/200545/Evaluate-yourself-for-Top-Universities. Along with ranking, you also need to look at the Universities last few years admission trend. Try to see the percentage of international students' intake in these Universities. This will give you an idea of how competitive the admission process for that particular university can be. And for God’s sake, US have around 100 universities and you don’t want to fight for a seat in that one particular university you always heard of. Broaden your choice, consider the financial aids possibility, the geography and weather conditions etc, as well. Go to each university’s website and see what their requirements and application deadlines are. You may visit the profiles of professors in that university online and write to those working in your field of interest. Tell them about your test scores (that proves your sincerity in the programmes), your academic and professional experience and your future aspirations.

Another important thing that I would like all the aspirants to know is that writing an email to Prof is not all that you have to do. After a limit, no copy paste will do. You need to make sure that you read the content on Prof's web pages. Try to look for something that he/she might have mentioned for prospective students. We had come across many such Profs who would mention a specific subject line to written, if you want him to read your mail. Although not all Profs will do such things, but all of them are smart enough to recognize how much effort you made to write to them.

How can I get Funding or scholarship??

While you are doing your application process, you should also keep an eye on the funding resources available with the Profs and departments of your interest. You should apply for all the international student scholarships and fellowships available with each university. Pay attention to the deadlines for these also.

When we reached Austin, we had no funding or job in hand. We then, made list of all the undergrad classes that we thought we could TA r grade, and met with the professors of each of those subjects personally to ask if any positions are available with him. Also you can meet the Profs in your area of interests to find any RA position. But underline, that you need to meet them personally. Don't hesitate in that.
Once you get a job as a TA, RA all of your fees is paid by the department that employed you and also you are paid enough to bear your living expenses.

How do I prepare for Visa Interview?

Make sure that you collect enough financial documents to show that you can support the expenses for all the years for your studies abroad। For this you can take the income and savings of your parents and yourself along with the affidavit of their willingness to support your studies. Also the papers of all your investments and properties can be helpful. You might go for a bank loan as well.
Book the Visa interview date well in time to keep a margin for getting another date before the school starts, just in case of a rejection. Take your admission letter, and other necessary documents like passport, report-cards, Sevis fee receipt, photographs etc., with you to Visa interview.
Most Universities refund the Sevis fee once you take admission, so save your Sevis fee receipt for future as well.

Getting ready to fly?

Once you booked your flight tickets, the anxiety begins. What to pack, whom to contact etc. Most Universities have some arrangements for arriving international students to pick –up and temporary accommodation. Try to find out about it with the International Office of your University. Keep some contact details of students who are volunteering for pick-ups, so that you can call them in case of flight delays. You can also apply for University accommodation initially. Well, one key point in deciding your arrival date is that along with attending the orientation, you should also try to keep some time before the session begins, for meeting the Profs, and searching TA, grader positions.

For packing, check the luggage limits with your airlines and accordingly pack your stuff. Keep everything you need for at least initial 10-15 days. Avoid putting and fresh fruits and other stuff that is prohibited. Keep enough clothes and undergarments. You can also check about the course books with your seniors and try to purchase those what might not be readily available in libraries, and are recommended to be bought personal. Get some basic utensils like a pressure cooker etc. No need to carry dishes and other stuff as u can get that here easily.

When you finally land!

Try to check-in to your Universities international office, as soon as you can. Attend all the orientation sessions. At other times, keep meeting the Profs., and try to find some funding for you. International office can also help you in that. But believe me, just try all you can and it is for sure that you will make it to something. Contact seniors as they might know which Profs have any vacancies. But the best is to go and knock their office doors with your resume and meet them personally.
Well, you are finally their, so enjoy। Hope this blog would help you in some sense, although there is no learning till you actually experience it. I have also tried to summarize our experiences after reaching America, in "Our Austin Stories" below, if you might want to check it out.

Wish you good luck!

Information for some good US Universities

2008-07-24T21:29:00.005-05:00

Long ago (about 500 days ago, isn't it long enough?) we had compiled some information about the admission to US Universities and here are some links to them. I said long ago, because we don't want you to trust the information in these links without verifying them at the actual website. Another caveat is that most of the information is useful to ECE and CS aspirants but at the least some names and web-links can be useful to others too.

I'll try to add more information about and update some of this, but I don't know when. So till then this is what it is :)

1. Info for univs1
Ohio
Jhon Hopkins
Michigan
UC, Irvine
UC, Santa Barbar

2. Info for univs2
MIT
UC, Berkley
Stanford Univ
UIUC
GTECH

3. Info for univs3
RPI
USC
Cornell
Rice
UT, A&M
UT, Austin
UC, SD

4. Info for univs4
Caltech
CMU
Michigan
Univ of Washington
Wisconsin Madison

5. Info for univs5
Princeton
Purdue
UC, LA
Penn State
Maryland

Happy Parenting

2008-07-24T11:41:00.011-05:00

Hi everybody

I attended a two day discourse taken up by CHINAMAYA MISSION here at IIT Roorkee. I want to share a few points which I learned and which could be of help to all of us.

DAY 1

The topic was “HAPPY PARENTING”

Few points discussed were:-

What is the job of a parent? Why do children these days feel bored so often? What should be given to a child and at what stage?

Well then I’ll make an attempt to explain the first question…

The job of a parent is similar to that of a potter. A potter uses both his hands to make a pot. The inner hand is expands the pot or makes it big, while the outer hand controls its shape and size. Similarly parents should raise their child with an inner hand of love and an outer hand of discipline. The inner hand widens the vision of the child while the outer prevents him from getting out of control and fall prey to perversions.

Furthermore, the job of a parent also resembles that of a gardener. The gardener does not grow plants. This is because growth is something natural. It occurs on its own, but his job is to facilitate the growth. Similarly, parents should create an atmosphere conducive for the all round growth and development of the child. He should have all joys of life. He should never feel bored.

Few examples

1) It’s very common that a child does not like a particular vegetable prepared for him. The common reactions of today’s parents….”no problem leave it”, “I’ll eat it, you don’t bother”, etc..

In this way we develop (even though unconsciously and unintentionally) a feeling in the child that he could throw away whatever he dislikes. Suppose some day he starts disliking his mom or dad then……………………..?

So it is we, the parents, who are responsible for any such kind of behavior of the child in the future. Therefore force him to eat whatever is prepared. This will teach him the lesson of accepting, with an open heart and mind, those aspects of life which are not to his liking.

2) Sometimes a child may want to play in mud, get dirty, or climb a tree. He may also feel like jumping from the stairs. There can be so many other such examples where the parents, fearing his safety, do not allow him to do the same. But in doing so, they not only hamper his physical growth, which is achieved only by struggling, falling and getting hurt, but they also prevent him from taking such simple joys of life which give immense pleasure and that too at no cost. An over protective behavior from the parents hinders growth and develops a fear of facing life in the child.

Now I would explain the answer for second question…

Our brain requires engagement with something or the other, and when we don’t get that we feel bored. Here an important and obvious question that must be coming to your mind is-- why it is that we feel bored so easily while our parents and grandparents never experienced this special 21st century concept? This could be understood by correlating the work of the brain with the vibration of some hypothetical material inside it. The more the material vibrates, more will be the work done by the brain and the more rapidly the person feels exhausted. Now if the pace at which the child entertains himself is greater than the pace of the nature, firstly he will get exhausted quickly and secondly the slower pace of nature will not be able to soothe his mind which has gotten used to the faster pace of the sense object he was engaged in. So neither can he continue with his entertainment for long, nor can his mind stay calm without it.

For example

These days children watch cartoon networks to entertain themselves. The activities in cartoon shows are much faster than reality. But the child starts enjoying with that pace which is much higher than the pace of the nature. Thus the hypothetical material inside his brain starts vibrating very rapidly which tires his mind. So he is not able to get the level of entertainment he wants and thus feels bored. In the olden days, people used to play games which were natural. Thus the pace of entertainment level was in accordance with the nature’s pace and hence they never felt bored.

Now the most important part of parenting that is “what should be given to a child and when?”

The whole life of a child can be categorized into three stages:

1) “LAALYET” which means to LOVE (till 2.5 yrs)

Since birth to 2 and half years of age the child should only be loved, pampered, indulged. The parents should love the child immensely no other language should be used other than that of love. Their job is just to love him as much as possible, to feel his soft skin, to play with his fists and to take all the pleasures and joys in holding him in their lap. This is the stage of love and affection. Show your love and all your emotions. Love him to the fullest.

2) “TAADYET” which means DISCIPLINE (2.5 - 17 yrs)

In this part of his life the child should be disciplined and should be made to behave properly. This is the time when outer hand plays its role. This is helpful in protecting the child from perversions and wrongdoings. But at the same time the inner hand of love has to be well efficient as well. This is because it would help the child blossom and would widen his horizon. This is the stage when a child has to be controlled and properly directed. Teach him, as much as possible, all the lessons of life.

3) “MITRAVAT AACHARET” which means friend (17-25 yrs)

After fulfilling the responsibilities in Taadyet, now it’s the time to act as a friend to your child. Share his problems and make him feel that he is cared and loved. In this part of life, some sort of a distance between you and your child is natural. But you needn’t worry if you have done your job in Tadyate properly. The child will come back to you because of the teachings you gave him during 2.5 – 17 yrs of his age.

After 25yrs of hard work by the parents, the child is mature enough to take his own decisions, to marry and to face the challenges of life. Now the role of parents is over and the role of grandparents begins…which I still need to learn.

For my papa - On Father's Day.

2008-06-16T13:09:00.006-05:00

Whenever I say the two words "My Papa", there comes a glitter in my eyes and my heart fills with great pride for the world's best papa that I have. Ever since I remember, I have always seen the immense love and faith you have for me. I cherish every one of the moments that I spend with you everyday telling you about my day and my activities, ever since my childhood when I used to tell you the new words I learnt in school "fan", "yellow", to the time I used to talk to you about my IIT preparation, and later about my relationship with Gaurav, and now about my work and happy married life :).
I thank God for such an understanding papa who has always been my best friend. I never had a moment when I had thought of hiding anything from you. I remember the secret confessions that I made to you for my childish mischiefs - remember the time when I got less marks in Maths, and modified the letters in marksheet for signature?? Now that is a laughable incident, but I am thankful to you to have saved me from falling in wrong direction at every step. Also another thing I want to tell you is that I always feel that you can do just anything and everything for me. I never felt that there is anything that you should have done and you didn't for me. Be it my living needs, or the decisions about my career, or the course advises, you always provided me with the best available. I was not even knowing about IIT at that time when I passed my 10th std., if you had not told me to think about it as my career option. And even before that, your special motivation about excelling in Maths gave me the sound foundation for engineering career. Beleive it or not, Papa, you are the reason for my doing well in my class. Otherwise I was not that intelligent at all :).
My dear loving papa, this space and all the vocabulary that I had learned for my GRE test preparation, will fall short to express relationship we share. I can in no way describe it in words, about what you mean for me. There can be only the many sweet memories of our moments together in my childhood, youth hood, and adult life that always float in front of my eyes whenever I think about you.
Papa, I know I am physically very far from you now, Gaurav says we have to stay away to do our "Karma". I do not understand why we have to stay far from our loved ones. You did your "Karma" but always used to come home on Saturdays even when you were in Delhi. I can now understand how tiring that weekly up-down used to be for you, although you never showed it to us. I do not know whether I would be able to always meet your expectations as far as my "farz" as a grown-up child towards my parents is concerned, but I want to say that your selfless love and affection for me can never be re-paid in any form, and I still want it always and forever.
Love you papa, Happy Fathers Day.
Please stay with me always...

Menu Options

2008-06-12T13:38:00.006-05:00

Here I plan to put down the list of all vegetarian options we can have at home. This list will not only help us in buying groceries efficiently but also it will be fun to decide what to prepare everyday by just looking at the Menu like we do in restaurants :). And the list is expendable !

So lets start with Breakfast options :
1. Milk, Yogurt
2. Cereals
3. Bread, Cheese Sandwich
4. Poha
5. moong
6. Almonds, Walnuts, Raisins
7. Khaman Dhokla
8. Idly/Dosa (Brunch on weekends)
9. Oatmeal, Daliya
10. Upma

Snack Options:
1. Yogurt, Juice
2. Fresh Fruits : Apple, Banana, Orange, Strawberries, Peach, Pears, grapes.
3. Nuts : Cashews, Raisins, Walnuts
4. Shakes: Papaya, Banana, melon, Pineapple
5. Cookies, namkeen
6. Granola Bars

Lunch Menu :
Curries
1. Dal Fry, Dal Makhani, Chana Masala, Kaale Chane, Pinto Beans, Chauwle
2. Zuccini, Ghiya, Turayi
3. Alu-gobhi (Cabbage), alu-broccoli
4. Capsicum-alu-tomato
5. Bhindi masala
6. Alu-palak
7. Palak Paneer, Kadhai Paneer, matar paneer (Paneer or Tofu)
8. Kerela (Bitterfruit)
9. Gobhi-gajar-tamatar
10. Alu-Pyaaz
11. Gatte ki sabji, ghiya ke kofte ki sabji
12. mooli-palak-tomato besan waale

Saath mei: Yogurt, Salad : Cucumber, Tomato, Onion, Lettuce, Avocado, red/orange bell pepper, Kiwi fruit

Main course:
1. Plain Rice, Jeera Rice, Brown Rice
2. Pulav
3. Roti, Tortilla
4. Parantha - mooli, alu, cabbage, paneer

Dinner Options:
1. Chowmin Noodles
2. Plain Pasta with Cheese
3. Chowmin Pasta
4. Anything from Lunch, Breakfast menu
5. Gheeya ke Gatte
6. Carrot chowder
7. Burrito
8. Vegetable Burger
9. moong dal-chawal ki Khichdi,
10. Kadhi-chawal, Dal-chawal
11. Vegetable Daliya

Kabhi-Kabhi
1. Pani-Poori
2. Pav-Bhaji
3. Bhel Puri
4. Halwa
5. Kheer
6. Ice cream
7. Any Mithai from Indian store.

With this Menu in front, making weekly grocery list will be so easy.

Love you Mom

2008-05-29T16:27:00.012-05:00

'Mom', the sweetest word in life. No one can ever forget her self-less love and care. Inspite of being in delicate body of a girl, she bravely bears the biggest pain for us. She is the strength of a family. She can quit the biggest of her dreams, for the welfare of her kids and family. And if she works, she still makes sure that her kids get every bit of her love and care. She is the one to balance the work-life schedule for entire family. We all tend to take her sacrifices for granted ever since our birth. While we are kids, we depend on her for just everything. She happily takes care of us. She cooks for us, takes us to play and chats with us never bringing a sign of her hectic schedule and tiring day on her face. She just sees the happy faces of her kids and that makes her day happy. Then we grow up, and start living our own lives. Slowly, every activity of her daily life, like cooking food for us, talking about our day, worrying about our healths, taking care of our things, all start appearing mundane. Her grown-up children go away from home for their own lives. She finds it hard to accept that her children don't need her for all these things anymore.
I, as a grown-up daughter, think that my mom's this phase of life, when we kids are all grown up and can take care of ourselves, its like achieving a goal of life and at that point realizing that the journey to this goal was better than destination. Its as if, during the period of our growth, she forgot to grow herself. And now being for too long in the same phase, she has developed a zone for herself and its not easy for her to leave it and start living her own life again.
She wants to still live the same way, taking care of her kids and if the kids are away and she can't do much, she starts to develop unnecessary worries just to keep herself virtually involved in her kids although it does not change anything in reality.
I want to say to my mom, that mom, I know its difficult for you, but I think you did really great. That is why we all kids are doing great in our lives. And also I want you to know, that we all love you a lot and we need you always with us. But now its time for you to change the role of a nursing mom, and now you have to be a mom of adults. Your kids are like your "hum-umra" (same age) friends now. We feel happy to share our thoughts and life activities with you, and would like to see you enjoying them rather then keep worrying about us. Love you mom.....please stay happy always.

Our Stories @ Austin

2007-12-14T23:27:00.000-06:00

Are we in the USA??

It was 11:30 on the Wednesday night of 8^th August 2007 when we (me and my husband Gaurav) found ourselves flying over Austin….a city we had never been to before …..thousands of miles away from home, it was the strange city that we intended to make ours for our future years to come.

The feelings were very mixed. We were landing into the totally strange city in a not so strange for Indians, country, USA. Like most Indians, we had also pictured a glamorous image of America in mind during our childhood and career making years of college. And I think most of you will agree that images made in childhood fantasies are so strongly preserved in our minds always that they refuse to fade away easily, no matter how much we know or have known in reality in our present. So, inspite of all the idea we gained about USA through reading blogs and more than that, the fact that I had been to northern states of US for 4 months before already, we both were experiencing same sense of excitement to see each and every strange part of this country.

We were mesmerized by the enormous and technically lot advanced air ports. We did not realize that we boarded the airport-train from the third floor, till I looked on the other side window across us! And the speed at which it was moving, felt like another plane ride to reach the domestic airport. America is business centre of the world and the fact was proved by just seeing the huge crowd on Chicago International Airport with the demography consisting of people from all continents of the world visiting for all sorts of varied businesses, educational fields and personal reasons. Looking around, we were slowly trying to digest the fact that we are out of India by seeing the different skin colors, the different accents people were talking in, in our very own and well known English language, and of course the eye-catching glamorous dresses worn by the girls and ladies around.

When Pay-phone paid Gaurav!

Well, well…..we are here…..we are really in USA! And now we had to call one student from University of Texas at Austin, to inform him of our arrival so that he can come and pick us up. And we could see some pay phone near the airport lobby. So Gaurav took phone no. and a quarter (25 cents) to call. As a smart chap he is, he tried to figure out how to use it and dialed the number, dropped the coin in the machine and here we go…our first earning …..the call didn’t go and he received two quarters back from the coin phone. So isn’t he smart enough to make the pay phone pay him the penalty for not connecting! Okay, so funs apart, don’t think that if your call didn’t go you will receive additional quarters always but ya, as he does, don’t miss the fortune if you are standing and a pay phone is close by, you might want to hit it gently once or twice by handJ.

Finally, he got the student through somebody’s mobile phone and the person came to take us. Our luggage did not come with us to Austin and was still at Chicago, so we just had two cabin bags and a laptop bag. As we could not make any accommodation arrangements before arriving Austin, the UT student dropped us at Rodeways Inn hotel (supposed to be comparatively not so expensive!) close to UT around midnight and we got a room.

Our first night at Austin

It was very cozy air-conditioned double bed-room with TV, phone, microwave and a nice bathroom. We were very happy and enjoyed watching TV and relaxing in the nice room after the 30 hours long journey from New Delhi to Austin. Next morning we got up and got ready for the breakfast which was complimentary at the hotel. There were juices, apple, orange and my favorite cranberries, other than milk and cornflakes for us vegetarians. Soon after breakfast it was 11 AM, time to pay for other day or check out and we realized that 70$ per night is a luxury for students like us and we must find a cheaper place to stay as soon as possible.

Hitting the Austin roads

Now we started our house search, and called a few property dealers. Soon, a lady Erica from Apartment Finders agreed to come and pick us up from hotel to show us some apartments. We were excited as it was going to be our first chance to see Austin in sun shine. Outside was bright and sunny, and a smart, young lady Erica, was waiting for us in her Chevy. We were soon on 12 lanes I-35 interstate highway and several limousines, BMWs, Hybrids and many personal trucks, and sports cars were running on the road in front and behind us. There were no wrong side overtakes, no abrupt lane changing, no traffic jams and overall it was a respite for someone who was used to cursing Bangalore’s traffic everyday.

Erica showed us three apartments that day but we were kind of lost with the locations and could not be sure of its proximity to University. So next, we decided to walk over on our own and look around. We did a part lunch of apple and bananas we got from breakfast, and dared to step out on foot in hot and sunny day. But walking on unknown roads in that harsh sun was not as easy as moving with Erica, and soon we were thirsty and hungry. We were not able to do anything more than noting phone numbers of a few properties on the road that we thought was close to UT and ended up at a convenient store for water. It was ran by a Pakistani person and he gave us water bottles for free (spending dollars initially was not that easyJ). He suggested us some more places to look for and our search continued till late evening with no substantial result.

No more luxury!!

Next morning (Friday) Gaurav announced that we are vacating the hotel room. We had no clues where we are going to end up but he was sure that we don’t want to pay any more 70 bucks per night in that hotel. Also he had to check-in for his arrival at the University International Office at around 3:30 that afternoon.

So we moved out with only our hand luggage. As I said earlier, our bags had not yet arrived from air lines and we were happy to not have them till we find a house. But still, walking all the way pulling the two cabin bags and carrying laptop bag on shoulder in harsh sun was a challenging phase of life as I remember now.

We decided to see around some of the addresses we have by bus before we reach university in afternoon. It was the first time we thought of taking a bus as better idea than walking and we bought two bus passes 1 $ each which was good for unlimited rides to all Austin city buses for 24 hours from the time we first use that pass. The bus we boarded was really nice, air-conditioned and relaxing. I could not have imagined such a comfortable bus ride before coming to America. While waiting for another bus at the bus stop we came across a lady who gave us her address and phone no., so that we can call her to stay at her home for night if we can’t find anything by the end of the day. We saw two apartments that day and talked to other occupants of the buildings. They said it being very north of Austin, is sometimes not very safe.

Then it was time for us to reach the University for Gaurav’s check-in. It went on till 6:00 in the evening followed by an ice-cream social. But we were more concerned about finding a place to stay. We tried calling every hotel possible, and they all had increased rates since Friday to Sunday they put weekend rates. Even returning to Rodeways Inn was not an option as it was more that 85 bucks per night now. We both were very tired and tensed as well as feeling sleepy due to jet lag ( time zone difference affects body initially).

Learned lesson - not a hard way.

After trying hard for every option, we resorted to call the lady who offered to let us stay at her home in the morning at bus stop. We called her and she asked us to reach a bus stop from where she can pick us up in her car.

We felt a sigh of relief and reached the bus stop. She was there to pick us up. We went to her home. She told us that we can stay in the room on first floor. Although she was nice to us, being strange we were a little wary. The place had many weird things. The pictures, statues, the decorative pieces, almost every corner of the house looked scary to me. We just crossed our fingers, prayed to God that this night goes safely and we will never try to stay with any stranger no matter how much ever we have to spend for a hotel.

With God's grace we were safe and early morning, we thanked her left her house, both thinking that whatever happens, we will finalize an apartment today. So we were again on road dragging our suitcases. It was a hot day even very early in morning, and we had no water. While crossing through a shop, I ran to buy some water but the shops were not open yet. A guy outside the shop had some water and grape juice cans in his car. He saw us poor kids walking on road, and offered us to pick two bottles from his car. We took them seeing that they were sealed and thanked him.

We somehow reached at a student's home in University and placed our suitcases there. Then we reached the property dealer's office and told her to show us some place close to university and still in our budget. Although she had already told us that none of the houses are in our budget in the area we wanted. But she again looked and got ready to show us one efficiency (a small house with only one room) apartment. We rode in her car and saw the apartment. The locality was close to UT and we were kind of okay with the place. After two hours of thought process, we finalized the house and paid the initial deposit of 300$ to the property dealer. But the move-in for the house was only after 14 days. So we had to look for some temporary arrangement to live till then.

We went to a university Co-op house which a place like a dorm where girls as well as boys live and everyone pays per bed not per room. The supervisor of the Co-op was kind enough to allow us to surf internet and use their phone to find about hotels. We were tired but determined. I looked over the places on Internet to find inexpensive hotels, and Gaurav started calling hotels one by one. Finally, at one place, an Indian, Mr. Jayesh picked up the phone. It is Gaurav's interpersonal skills I would say, that he got ready to give us all possible discounts. We took our luggage and went to the hotel. It was far away from the university and it took us almost 2 hours to reach the place. Finally very tired but much relieved having finalized the house, we slept peacefully.

Job hunt began

From next day, our target was to find some financial support. For that Gaurav had to get a job in University. The options were, getting a TA, RAship under any professor or some other 20 hours per week position in university. We talked to many seniors and mailed professors. Almost all said getting a support is tough in first year. But he got responses from some of the professors. We met them, but none of them was in the position to offer him a job right away. In the process we met Dr. Jacob Abraham, who saw my resume and being head of circuit design, he said I can join his group although he cannot pay me since I was on F2. I got a place in University and his group students suggested Gaurav some cools places like petroleum engineering department for assistantship.

Gaurav's hard work paid and he got a job with in-state tuition waiver. It was our happiest moment in Austin since we came. There was an Austin country dance party organized for new international students and we celebrated the moment with it.

Gone to Texas!!

The life was getting stabilized again. We moved into our apartment 3 days earlier than the apartments manager told us. After some initial efforts, we arranged everything needed in our sweet little home. Now we were ready for the semester. UT begins every fall semester with a cultural event called "Gone to Texas" on the eve before the fall classes begin. We went and saw the grand celebration. The enthusiasm with which everyone participated in the show raised our spirits too and we felt that we are loving the university……..and really……from the day the classes began……we never seemed to realize that when in the middle all this we were already, Gone to Texas!

Thanks to the Almighty

2007-10-04T23:21:00.001-05:00

Thankful to the Almighty …..

Oh! God, the father,
The creator of this world,
I am thankful to you for what I am today.

I am what you want me to be,
I am a tiny particle, in this vast creation of thee,
I grew and developed in the care of my parents,
Blessed by you, nourished by love,
Thanks for giving me everything I want.

Thanks for the beautiful life,
High blue sky to rise,
The Sun, the Moon, and all good weather,
Thanks for the great people around to live together.

Thanks to you for being in my heart,
Filling me with confidence and giving me strength
Coming with me wherever I go,
Thanks for being a great companion.

Thanks for guiding me in all those testing moments,
Thanks for giving me the virtues I have,
And for imparting those values that I stand,

I am still a student,
Thanks for giving me a purpose,
Thanks for the every moment, as I can smile,
As a tribute to you my lord! for the gift of wonderful life,