Higher Power

Dont you always wonder if there is any higher power that controls everything? I often think that its not just evolution and other scientific jargon that can explain things that happen in our life. I do believe that there is this Higher Power that is guiding us and makes/breaks the rules!!

Many times when I am in a really tough spot, I have found that praying helps. It works just great. I have been reading 'Sai Baba', and its helping me as well. Similarly just when I think that there is no way out from an impossible problem, simple prayer to Him just does the wonder!! I do grow sceptic sometimes, but events like I mentioned just reinforce my belief that He is there.

I can jot down hundreds of events that science cannot explain. So why should the inability of science to prove His existence mean that He is not there? Anyway as I said its just a matter of belief, and I can say that its hard to give them up. Thats why there can be endless arguments and counter arguments on this topic. (What I have written here is purely my way of thinking)

What IF?

What if you were no more,
What if?
The sun would still shine,
the stars would still twinkle.
One life would end, and would it make a difference?
This whole crap race, where you are sucked in,
this endless trudging on the path you keep cribbing.
The destination which you dont even like,
the reward you dont even want.
Still the pursuit???
What if you just stop for a while,
what if?

But miles to go before I sleep,
you think, and there is no time.
Dream is not what you are taught to do,
and work is all you do in your prime.
What if you just dream for a while,
What if?

Things that matter to you, are in your reach,
Still you wont reach out.
People you love are near you,
Still you chicken out.
What if you express just once in a while,
What if?

Time is money, they say
And time and money is all you care,
What if I say love is money,
would you still care to stop and share?

My first Car!!

Yes it has finally happened!! I bought a Honda Civic 2000. Its in pretty decent shape, and best of all it has only clocked 43k miles.
Drove it all by myself a couple of times now. Its a nice experience :)

Talked with Kutty today. I was relieved to know that he is fine now. Man, is he having a bad time :(. Praying that a new phase will now begin for him.

Listened to 'O dilbar jaaniye' song just yesterday. Its a Mohammad Rafi song. I first listened to in school competetion. I guess it was 5th or 6th standard!! Anyway this boy just sang it so well, that it became one of my fav songs. But then after that I didnt get to listen to the song anywhere. Worse I didnt know the movie or the singer name!! Even when I was in college, I used to search net for the song. But it was all fruitless. Until yesterday! Yes, thats some 12 years!! Finally, found it on Raaga. And it was so great to listen to it again :-)

And now just relaxing. Just finished watching 'Life is beautiful'. Its a decent movie. Ok chao for now, will go have my lunch now (btw in lunch we have chane, that I made yesterday night!!)

Hun Hor Ki Kahan?

Lai chal mainu sajna othhe
Jithe koi na mainu vekhe
Kalla baith ke socha main, ki likhaya kismat mere lekhe

Koi na mainu dekhan aave, koi na mainu chedde,
Dooor hove eh duniya, naale isde bakhede
Waqt othhe khada hove, te main waqt de naal
Dukhan to aapne ronda rahan, dooor karan da na kara paryaas

Kismat te main dosh lagawaan, mehnat di na maithon rakho aas,
Jad ro ro ke hanjhoo muk jaan, tan nawan jeevan sanjon de main kara upraale
Waqt phir uthh ke chal pawe, te main waqt de naal
Saare mainu vekhan, te mainu hove nawin uchhaian di bhaal

Eh sab ne par khyaali pulaao, mehnat te mera saath na paao,
Uchhaian aa ke meri jholi pain jaan, mainu hai bas is di aas

(Yes this is one of my poems, that I wrote in college on 18th Feb,98!!)

Flashback (16-March-2003)

We (mostly ICE including Anuj, Balajee, Inti, Mallu, Madhan, Kannan, Prakash, Mukund, Sridhar) went to OOTY. Came back yesterday morning. It was a nice place to visit. We enjoyed a lot, but food problem was there. Overall this outing was required as it refreshed me. We took lot of pics. The weather there was very nice too.

Also we travelled in Chaiyan-Chaiyan train from Ooty to Matyapallayam! There was a comical incident in which Anuj, Mallu and Sridhar had to pay Rs100 to a constable. Actually they were taking a pic of the Railway engine. At this point a constable came to them and said its illegal to photograph the engine (crap obviously!). He wanted to detain them at the station itself (the train was about to leave). Mallu didnt want to pay, but Anuj paid him Rs100 to get on the train. All three were furious afterwards, but it was fun for us!!

Smth serious

Hey guys, now I plan to write some poems in my space. Nah, I am not planning to pick them up from some site. I plan to jot down the poems that I or my friends have written.
To start with, the following poem was written by Mandeep Singh. He was with me in MC hostel in +2 in DAV college Jalandhar. No contact with him since then :(. If you are wondering how I have his poem, then the credit goes to my dear diary :)
Cutting, all the crap, here you go!

Assigning Questions to Answers I know

Thinking who you are,
what we share, and why are we so.
Often I am unable to arrive at some conclusion

Thinking if you are a fairy
I know and I have seen your words come true
It is like a dream to think of you
But I wonder if any fairy can be so much near to my heart
...as much as you are

Thinking if you are sunshine
The warmth of your presence near is there
Secure we feel when night is not there or is there
The source may be God,
who I dont know is paying me for what good things I have done
But sunshine is not pleasant always,
...and you are always

Thinking if you are a flower,
I know my life without you,
if not all thorns is no more than leaves
But no flower can be as much colorful
...as much as you are

Thinking if you are a surprise,
the happiness when I see you is there
The excitement is there
But surprises are shortlived,
and I know,
you'll be always with me.

The thing is 'who you are??'
A question that I assign to answers,
answers that I know...

Memories

I was thinking about my friends from college yesterday. I was thinking of the nice time we used to have in hostel. It used to be so carefree and relaxed. I wont say its bad now, but just different! Called up penny, anuj and vinod after that. Tried calling up kapahi too, but seems that reliance numbers have changed. Anyway slept after that and dreamt of my schoolfriends!! Felt very happy and at home when I woke up :-)

I have been watching movies as usual! Saw 'As good as it gets'(Jack Nicholsan and Helen Hunt) and 'harry met sally'(Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan). Oh! these both are just wonderful movies. The first one is tearing apart comedy, the second is romantic comedy. And both are must watch.

Got a chance to eat Methi Parontha at Dilip's house. They make real delicacies. Just lucky to be invited at such times :-)

Bits and pieces

It can get pretty dull here sometimes. So its necessary to keep breaking the routine. Like I started going to gym, so that there would be something to come back home for. They gym here is not as hifi as it was in Infosys, but still its good. We have basic treadmills, cycling, and exercising machine. So its a good timepass, and that too a healthy one :-)
Apart from this started watching serials instead of movies on TV. For movies, I rely more on library now. I mean, where else can you get 'Schindler's List' and 'Les Miserables'. If anyone of you has seen these movies, I know what you would think of. Thats right, Liam Neeson. My God!! He is such a terrific actor, and its the first time I am hearing his name, leave alone watch his movie. Both the movies are MUST watch. There cannot be any better usage of time!! Its like they say, time well spent!
Now Sam is asking me to his other movie 'Love Actually'.Comments please!
Yeah, got my Canadian visa too. Have been there 2 times already. My friend Neeraj lives there. He is also an Infoscion. He left for India today for vacation. That forces me to consider my own vacation for home. Thinking pretty hard for December, but nothings sure. Yes December is still an year away!!

Priority shift!!

Well, I thought I would remain hooked to all the wonderful movies HBO was showing. But no, they forced me to shift my priorities. I mean how many times can you see the same movie? Each they on 12 channels they repeat the movies shown on the previous day. It was getting so frustrating!
The relief came in the form of serials. Yes, good old 'Everybody loves Raymond' and 'Friends'. It would be an understatement if I say they are hilarious.. We literally laugh our guts out while watching them. Friends is still ok, but Raymond is THE limit!! Never saw anything so hilarious. Its even more gripping than 'Dekh bhaai Dekh' :-)
Well I am enjoying it at the moment, and hope it continues this way :)

La shish

Yesterday me, Neeraj,Santhosh, Diwakar and Sam decided that we would eat outside. So we went for Rangoli, an Indian cuisine restaurant. But as it turned out, it was closed. Anyway no one was in mood to go back and cook. So we decided that we would search for some other place to eat. We drove for some 20 mins to reach Ashoka (Indian), it was closed too. The reason was that it was 10 in the night. Anyway we tried our luck in Dawat (Indian again), but it was closed too!! Bad day you would say!
Anyway Sam knew of this place 'La shish'.. Its an arabian cuisine! We decided that why not try it! So we made up our mind, and went to this place. The choice for veggies (me and Neeraj) was limited, but we made the most of it. We ordered 'Potato Kibbie' and 'Falafal Plate'. Potato kibbie is a dish in which potato and some other vegetables are sandwiched in bread. It was not bad. Then falafal plate had pakoda sort of dish. Anyway overall it was not bad. We also got bread and salsa as free accompaniment. After eating all this I concluded this - Indian food is the best :-). And in Indian food, Punjabi food rules !! Anyway we need to try some new things, to reinforce the belief ;-)

Showtime

I have been watching a lot of movies. What else are vacations for?! Mr Hollands Opus, I-Robot, Dumb and Dumber,Hellboy, French Kiss (original for Pyaar to hona hi thaa), Bull Durrham etc etc were some if them.. Also saw Swades in theatre. Swades is a nice movie. It touches some chord somewhere. And i am sure many others would feel the same. The theme talks about giving something back to the community.
This is one topic we often discuss about. Anyway good that we are getting some theme movies too. Liked Shahrukh after a long time. Infact first time after 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa'.

Leaving on a Jet plane!!

My roomie Sam introduced me to this amazing song. Ah, I dont seem like getting over it! I would have listened to it for some 100 times now, but it still touches me.
John Denver is too good in 'Leaving on a Jet Plane'. The music and lyrics both are awesome. And the main point is that you can identify with the song to varying extents :-). My friend Neeraj, is truly a fan of this song. This is the song he would play first of all!! I am not complaining ;-)
You can get lyrics of the songs at -> Lyrics

The Vacation!

Our holidays are going to start from this friday!! The good news is that there are lots of them! We have holidays from 24th Dec till 2nd Jan. I dont even know what I would be doing in the vacation!
Had never got holidays in bulk in Infy. So thats a plus point here in DCX :)
The only problem is that weather is chilled. I cant describe it enough. Dont know if it would suffice, if I say that its often -30 degree centigrade!! You read it right, the minus sign is not a typo error!! Freezing news right? Hopefully the temperature would be above zero on this Saturday as per forcasts. Keeping the fingers crossed :)

The Sugar Fiasco

Yes, even sugar can make life sour sometimes!!
I might be exaggerating here, but the event initiated by sigar was quite eventful indeed!! It so happened that i finally got up at 1pm today afternoon. After making myself tidy, I note that there is no sugar in our house. Me and my roommates wanted to have morning tea desperately. There was bit of a discussion as to who will bring sugar from neighbor's house. Finally it was decided that we will go and buy it.
So there we were (me, Diwakar and Santhosh) in our car. We started for India Gate. Its a desi general store, where we get Indian grocery. As soon as we started Aakash and pakya asked us to stop the car. They were coming in their car behind us. Now the problem was that Santhosh is a novice as of now in terms of driving. So he didnt stop the car, and so we reached India Gate. Pakya also was coming behind us, and when we stopped, he broke the News that our car's rear tire was FLAT!!
Now this would have had been ok on some normal day, but today was it damn cold. And then add the wind chill factor. We were freezing, and it was tough to stand outside for a moment also. Anyway cursing our luck and each other, we bought the goods and SUGAR!
Now came the tough part. How to get the car in shape?! Getting it repaired would have had been a costly affair as labor is vey costly here. So we sought the help of our more experiened friends. Diwakar didn't bring his cell, so we called up Suchit from a shop. Good guy he is Suchit said that he will come to help us out. He asked Diwakar to bring out the spare tire and jack etc. Our dear Diwakar said that he has opened the dikki many times, but he has never seen the spare tire!! Anyway I told him how to see the tire ;-). When we saw the tire it was more of a joke!! It was just half the size of normal car tire. We were really wondering if its really meant to be a replacement tire!!
Anyway after some time Suchit also came. We somehow managed to change the tire in freezing cold. I came with Suchit in his car. We were following Diwakar and Santosh. The sight for us was real good! The car with the small tire looked very funny! But as they say everythings well that ends well. So we finally reached home, and I made tea. I must take the credit for making a nice tea :-). It was a nice outing afterall ;-)

Movies in Auburn HIlls

One good thing about paying taxes in US is that you see them being utilized. The roads are good, cops do their duty (thats bad sometimes :(..), even government officials work with speed and without bribes!!
Anyway take for example the library in Auburn Hills. The membership is free, and the library is pretty good too. There is a good collection of books and movies. Yes, i said movies!! One can find even few hindi movies. Actually they have a section of movies in foreign langauages. So we can see good movies from other languages too! You see, language is no longer a bar :)
I have seen many movies already. And the good thing is that there are hundreds of good old english movies. New movies are avaliable all over the world, but the problem comes when you have to see a classic! These movies were not available in cd stores in India. So i am lucky to be here to see them.
To list a few of them, I have seen - Dead man walking, I am Sam, The green mile, Lost in translation, Wag the dog, etc etc.
Out of these I am sam, and dead man walking are real good. Sean Penn features in both, and Susan in the latter. My advice is 'do see them!!'. I owe thanks to abhilash for initiating me into movies, and giving me the right direction ;). He has even prepared a list of movies along with ranking!! Hmmm, I am going to use that list to the max for sure :) Do let know if you need the list!

Bday boys

I am in blue shirt!!

dilip's bday too 

my bday :) 

Searching Abhishek Jain

It all started (and ended) in my +1 at DAV college Jalandhar. Abhishek Jain used to live in a room adjacent to mine (165 if I still remember) in MC Hostel. Those were the days when i had started living on my own, and i had no idea about Abhishek too. As it happened, his reputation preceeded him!! The dude joined DAV for his commerce in +1. After that he topped DAV and university by setting records for maximum marks ever in each class!! If its amazing, then you are missing the point :)
He is three times world record holder in typewriting. After winning three times, I guess he got bored and didnt participate further (maybe wanted to give others some chance ;)..).. Not only this, he prepared hard for some 1 month for his CS exams. I used to have small chats with him. I used to get some tips from him. He was inspiring, but I was also like a chikna gharra.. All the talks used to run over me :)..
Anyway the dude said that he might pass the exam, and he was right. Only that in the process he got 3rd rank all over India!! To add to it, he wrote his IAS some years later, but was unable to beat the 3rd rank he got in CS. Anyway he matched it!!
Anyway I had chance to interact with him only in my +1. After that he did come once to college on prize distribution. We talked for a short while at that time. But that has been it since then.
I have bored many of my friends in my college (REC Trichy) about him. It all bore fruit in my final year, when one of my friend Pawan, came to me with paper in his hand, and said that Abhishek of Jalandhar has secured 3rd place in IAS. I knew that it could not be any one else!! But the papers got the facts wrong. Abhishek is not from Jalandhar, but from Gurraiyan. Anyway I have been searching about him on net from my 1st year in college, and am still continuing. I do get to read tid-bits about him in papers, but its difficult to catch hold of his email-id :(
Anyway will keep trying. Dont know how long will it take though!!
If anyone of you can help me out, obviously I will be more than happy!!
Anyway all the best (he doesnt need it ;)) to Abhishek, and congrats for your success so far :) :) :)

travelling via mails

reached detroit safe and sound on 31st :)..
the journey was quite nice... there was no problem.. and some of u
might be knowing that 31st was my bday.. wut u didnt know??? how bad
of u ppl ;)
anyway the route was bangalore - delhi (met parents) - paris (!!) -
atlanta - detroit..
all this made my bday the longest ever!! yes it lasted for 33.5
hours!! and on my bday i was roaming all over the world.. wut more cud
one ask for?!!

more about journey - i started my journey from blore in indian airlines (airbus A 320).. the flight was ok but for 5 mins before landing.. my eye started paining all of a sudden. the pain was just sever.. learnt that it might happen if the flight loses altitude suddenly..
anyway from delhi i caught air france flight (airbus A 340).. this was just great.. the seats were very comfortable.. each seat had a screen of its own.. so i had choice to watch one of the 14 channels available.. mostly all were movies..
the duration of flight was some 9 hours.. reached PAris at morning 5.. didnt do much there.. had talks with a fellow traveller Gunjan.. she is from patiala and works in delhi.. her flight was at 12, and mine was at 1... so just passed time by roaming around the airport (its very very big).. the architecture is like this - a central dome, and many satelliets around it.. it was nice experience..
from paris i got into delta airlines at 12.55.. the flight was boeing 767... it was just ok.. not that great, but not bad too.. i got special asian veg food (as my ticket requested).. that was nice :)
here the flight duration was again around 9 hours.. reached atlanta at around 5pm.. had to show my docs there.. got immigration clearance, custom clearance.. checked in my baggage again.. and then got into delta airlines for detroit.. the flight departed a bit late, so reached detroit at around 10.30...
got a cab, and reached my place at around 11.30.. the cab driver was a bangladeshi, so he started talking to me in hindi, and gave me some info abt the places we were crossing :)
that was my journey!! jet-lag is still there, but its quite mild now.. should be finished by the coming monday completely.. there has been forecast for snowfall for this friday.. lets see what happens.. but anyway there is no escaping..!!

its taking some time to settle down.. as of now i just have to do so
many things and learn too.. but once i settle down i can enjoy more
and more :)

the roads etc here are quite good.. one can easily touch 120 and never
even know!!
other things like gym, and swimming pool etc are also free... but i am
yet to avail the benefits :)

i must tell abt the crysler building too.. its just huge!! i am not
sure abt the veracity, but its said that it is the largest building
after Pentagon!! and believe me when i say that the length of the
building is abt .75 km!!!
and its beautiful too!!! has escalators at each level...