My Crazy Musings

Happy New Year

2011-01-04T07:18:00.001-08:00

I hope to return to blogging actively this year. Happy new year to all my readers and fans :)

The day that was May 13

2010-05-14T09:22:00.001-07:00

Oh what a day! what A day!!

All the craziness that was packed into it... phew!!

I was enjoying a quiet lunch with my brother in the Union, and my roommate called me... "A guy from the Anti-terrorist squad is here, and is inquiring about our previous roommate!!!" I shut my to-go box, ran home to meet the squad.

My old roommate graduated and got a swish new job in NYC, and needed to move her stuff. She employed movers, who charged her a whopping fee of $1000. The relocation bonus from the swish new job paid for it... But the movers, heavily-built tattooed guys in shorts, used to moving heavy pieces of furniture, perhaps felt insulted for being called to transport a few cartons of books, vessels and clothes... They saw Troy, in all its ramshackle glory, and moved the stuff to a swanky apt in Downtown NYC... and stopped to wonder how this was even possible?? And their racist conclusion.. brown people, landing into so much money, spending recklessly... must be terrorists!!! So they were the ones who tipped the Anti-terrorist squad guys, who came by to check on my roommate's credentials.

Cut to the chase... I and my roommate took turns and told the squad her entire life story, and about indian culture, and hinduism and basically convinced him that she was as likely to plant a bomb as him. He became quite friendly with us, closed the case, and gave us both his business card, and asked us to contact him if we needed a recommendation!!!

I definitely need a recommendation from the Anti-terrorist squad... where I would use it, is another question all together... :D

Yesterday was also the day when me and my brother were supposed to buy a car. We got a certified check at the bank, and went to the owner's place. The owner is a 82 yr old guy, and he bought a new car to drive to Florida on his annual vacations, and decided to sell his old car to us. His zest for life, gets us a really nice car :)

He got the title out, and started filling it out... Since his wife is a joint owner, she needed to fill it out too. AND.... they filled it... and handed it to us... And what do we discover?? He sold his car, to his wife!!!! Atleast on the title....

So he insisted on driving us to DMV, and getting it fixed right away, but DMV told him that he had to apply for a duplicate title, which will take 2 weeks....

Fantastic!!! We are stuck to the deal by the honor code, and we don't get the car for 2 more weeks...

The good part of the day was the fact we were all in such great moods that we joked and laughed through these crises and celebrated the end of an eventful day with ice cream. :)

A new muse... Lit Jewelry

2010-02-28T21:19:00.000-08:00

I work with LEDs... I love them, the little cute sources of light...

So today, I was browsing the web for the latest bright and fast LEDs in the market, for use in m experiments, and my dear friend chided me... " Looking at(and longing for) diamond jewellery again?? "

That is when the idea struck me... Why not LED jewellery???

They consume so little power that they can go all night on the tiniest of batteries. Imagine necklaces, pendants and earrings comprised of strings of LED backlit crystals... the jewels would gleam right, even in unflattering room lighting... No more feeling sorry that your jewels don't glimmer as well after you wear them as they do the the trick lighting of the jewelry stores...

The batteries can be recharged by placing the jewels back into the case, and plugging the case to mains. And the circuit is closed when the necklace is clasped on, and the glimmer of your jewels dazzles everyone!!!

So imagines an electrical engineer who happens to be a girl... :)

Forgetfulness and me

2009-11-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

I can go on and on about this... but crowning glory today...

I must never let anyone borrow my laptop.... it has all passwords saved in some or the other way...a person with the intention can easily defame me, rob me and even write in my blog, if he/she catches hold of my laptop....

My brother, is going to India.... needed to buy tickets... wanted to my credit card details... i don't remember the 16 digits even after 1 full yr of possessing the card and using for a no. of online transactions.

I try to forget my wallet at home so that I can successfully resist the vending machines, cafes, and disappoint muggers...

So, it so happened that I din't have my card on me, and my brother wanted the details immediately... I told him the CVV no... and distracted him by telling him my name, and address... tried to buy time before he would ask me for the magical 16 digits....

He did, and then I tried the next trick... told him the first 4, and the last 4, and asked him to guess the rest... while furiously writing out various permutations to see which looked right... and I did this writing in the square letters, like those on the card, hoping to trigger my visual memory...

He got quite irritated and impatient by now, and understandably so...So I pulled up my last alternative... My roomie, who opened her bank a/c around the same time as me, had the first 9 digits similar... and if she told me, I would be able to remember the remaining 3...

But my "always there for me usually" roomie had another deadline, and asked me to wait... :( :(

And my brother called me up 3 times in the meantime...

My final solution, shocked me, and convinced me why I should never leave my laptop unattended for even a minute...

I went on to greyhound website, selected a random purchase, and went on to the checkout section... I typed the first digit in the box, and... Lo and behold!.... the whole no. appeared in the drop down menu... I copy pasted the no. to my brother's chat window, and felt incredibly stupid... When I feel incredibly stupid, I Blog...

BTW,

I am trying to chronicle my incredible acts of forgetfulness, and I am hoping that most of my readers will have some contributions to make on that front.... :)

And I Goof up yet again!

2009-11-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

I am sure this is the most used title in my blog posts, and has lost all its charms... but to my few loyal readers who say.. "Sruthi stories?? bring'em on...", here goes the latest....

I am overloaded with work this semester, and I can go on cribbing about how many things I am handling at once, but I am sure no one is interested... :) Lets cut to the chase now...

As a research assistant, part of my duties is to procure equipment for the lab. Now this is a painful process, to say the least. Most equipment we need to buy, doesn't come with price tags.... The costs are a carefully and vigilantly guarded secret by the companies that sell them. I know why, but telling it here will spoil my plot...

So now, the websites have quote request forms, which ask you for you name, phone no. and 23 other details, and promise to email you the cost of the equipment "ASAP". This ASAP takes anywhere b/w 2 hrs to 2 weeks, depending on how long it takes for the sales executive of the company to give up trying to pronounce my name.

The email with the quote arrives, and within 5 minutes of it, my phone rings, "is it truthy/hrooty/roothy(and other variations) ?" , I am a veteran at this job by now, and mumble a tired "yes". The enthusiastic sales Exec now introduces himself/herself, and the company and says he/she are calling to follow up on the quote. I am getting tired of being gender unbiased, because it just means a whole lot of extra typing, which doesn't even make for good reading.

I am a graduate student, I can't make a decision on buying a $5k+ equipment, in less than 5 mins. I need to consult my advisor, and talk to my colleagues, I will get back to you soon. Thanks a lot for your call.....

And then there are more calls, and more... they come all day... right from the time the guys on the east coast reach their offices, to the time the west coast guys go back home...

And usually, when we decide to buy, we get 3 quotes on 3-4 different equipment, which unleashes the enthusiasm of atleast 12 ppl on me at a given time.... either they have fantastic memory, or they have notes on me to consult, and I have neither... I get jolted out of sleep by Carol, who asks me if I have decided yet, or do I need more info? Thankfully, I usually am awake enough to not say.. "What's the time? Am I late for class again?"

You get the drift.. they call me all day long, and I struggle to comprehend which company and which equipment they are talking about, and also pretend to understand all the jargon they throw at me regarding the equipment handling and usage.

Last week, I was trying to buy a ball mill. And I had 2 guys calling me about it. One from California, quoting ridiculously low prices, and lowering his voice and telling me how he would love to get my order, and asking me how his quote compared with the others.... The guy from New Jersey was saner though, and his quotes were almost double the price.

I have never had people begging me to buy such expensive stuff, my poverty is self-evident, so all this equipment buying process does give me a feeling of being rich and spoilt for choice.

The prcie differentials in the quotes confused me, also the unnatural levels of interest the california guy was showing, so I consulted my advisor. he got all excited, and asked me to tell both the guys that I was seriously considering the other quote, and if they wanted a chance, they should give us the equipment for trial and evaluation.

He was especially interested in the New Jersey company, saying he would go watch an indian movie, and collect the equipment personally one weekend, since we are just 3 hrs away from NJ.

So I dutifully emailed both the guys about the possibility of trial and testing. To the New jersey guy, I mentioned that we could come over, and test it in their facility itself, so that my advisor could catch his indian movie.

Now Bill called me, and said we could come over for testing whenever we wanted, and I gleefully decided on Wednesday, and started planning the trip to NJ, and googling new Hindi movie releases. Weekdays my advisor would be busy, so I could go on my own, and have some fun... paid trip on a weekday... oh, so exciting....

It is monday night now, and I received an email from Bill, confirming the visit plans for wednesday. And.... Bill.... is... from San Diego!

AND, thats the goof-up!

Story over... :)

Epilogue to Rain..

2009-07-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention one interesting aspect of rains and me...

All girls in Indis have probably faced this... The beautiful block prints and bright coloured kurtis that we so love, they bleed color when soaked in water, which makes washing them a special chore...

Well, what does that have to do with rains? Well, If you decide to get drenched in rain wearing a green full sleeve kurti, there are good chances, you would be walking around with slightly green tinged arms for the next 1-2 days...

Which reminds me of this school group dance... where we were supposed to wear plain salwar-kurti, and a bright dupatta as part of the costume... I used to be a little girl then, and my mother declined to buy me a new dress for a "stupid" dance competition... my friend came to my rescue, giving me her mother's pure white silk salwar kurti, but no dupatta... I actually went door-to-door asking if someone had a red dupatta to go with the outfit... no luck...

Finally we went to the costume rental store, and picked up a red dupatta with all shimmery gold lace.. I wouldn't be caught dead in such a costume today, but childhood isn't about fashion sense anyway..

The dance went off quite well, except that it began to rain when we were on the open-air stage.. we continued to dance and were applauded for our spirit. Our school chairman even announced a cash prize for the group... so far so good...

When I reached home, triumphant and happy, and peeled the wet dupatta off...I discovered that the pure white kurti was botched with red all over...the cash prize and much more money went into repeated dry cleans of the ensemble, and every trick in the detergent trade was tried...

The red refused to give up, and I went with a lot of trepidation and eyes brimming with tears to my friend's house, about a month later. I had the whole set of excuses and apologies ready, but one look at me, and the dress, my friend's mother said..." It could have been my daughter dancing on that stage, would I have scolded her? "

I don't even remember the girl's last name now, but her mother's kindness and affection stands out as an indelible memory.

Rain Rain, Come Again :)

2009-06-30T15:58:00.001-07:00

I totally love thunderstorms... have always loved them...

Right from the days when they struck while I was at school, gazing longingly out of the window, at the grey sky, that prompted the school authorities to switch on the lights in the middle of the day, the flashes of lightning, the rumbling of thunder, and the huge first drops of rain, landing on the window sill. Then arose the wonderous smell of earth, wetted by the rain. As the rain got faster and heavier, it bathed my dusty world, and painted the trees, the grass in a lovely green hue. By the time school ended, rain ended too, leaving behind fresh, crisp air to breathe in, and big muddy puddles to jump in, all the way back home... The days we got extra lucky, we got to use polythene covers to stuff our books and notebooks in to save them from the rain in the pre-expensive waterproof school bags era. We then got to jump in puddles, plus get wet in the rain an ecstasy unmatched by any other in those magical days of childhood. Mid-luck levels meant I had no polythene covers to protect my books, and I had to run all the way home, the thrill of which was not subdued by the fact that the next hour would be spent spreading out the books and notebooks to dry under the fan. Ofcourse, I should not forget to mention that these were the only rare times when I got all pampered after returning from school, being urged to change into dry clothes, dry my hair, and keep from falling sick.

The evenings when it rained, I took my diary/novel, and sat on the stairs next to the airy corridor outside my seventh floor apartment.. Thanks to the high rise building, this corridor had breeze going, through the year. I know about the physics behind it today, but it was nothing short of magic to me, the school kid. The rain with gusts of wind, splattered all over the corridor, and made me feel light, happy and splendid... These times are amongst my most cherished memories from that house...

College days were fun too in the rainy season..since I could give the excuse that my latest artsie jhola was too pretty and too small to have an umbrella sticking out of it, and I could get all dry before reaching home, and not cause all the flurry and concern... but rain Gods proved to as elusive as ever... no rain whenever we wanted it , and were ready to enjoy it... one fine day, I decided, I will tempt the rain into pouring down, dressed up in bad clothes which could handle being rained on, an old pair of sandals, which had not much to lose in way of getting spoilt further, and the artsie jhola... Here I was, in the dark room, with a spectrometer, and a yellow sodium lamp, distractedly focussing and defocussing it...waiting for the sky to turn grey, the oppressing humidity to be washed away by litres of water pouring out of the sky..

Rain Gods were listening in, apparently... as soon as it started raining, about 6 or 7 of us, slunk out of the back door of the dark room, and ran into the middle of the science lawns... It was raining so heavily that we were soaked from head to toe in like a minute...Just standing there.. with hands stretched out wide, facing the sky, feeling the pattering of the raindrops on my cheeks was an experience out of this world... as if each raindrop was infusing me with energy, peace and sheer joy...

Now that the rain drenching was all done with, and one more hour of lab remained to be done, to get attendance, we decided to get off the lawns, and walk in the corridors, drip drying and creating watery patterns all over. We were assuming that this would take about half an hour and we could sneak back in, without the teachers in the front room noticing..

Well, it turns out that there is only one prayer God listens per day... these old sandals I was wearing, had no grip whatsoever, they had sleek, shiny and smooth soles...the cemented corridors in science block din't help my cause, nor the drip-drying... I slipped and fell on my back.. once, twice, thrice.. actually about 12 times in total... after about 6 falls, I was quite shaken... and my friends kinda concerned...two of them held me firmly by one arm each... when one of them loosened her grip, I fell headlong again, causing my one supporter to fall with me, and into the muddy lawns..

We soon realised that the drip-dry idea was not as quick as we thought it would be, and we realised it was almost time for attendance.. and... the back door to the lab had been closed shut from the inside, for some strange reason...we ended up entering one by one,through the front door... where the teacher's desk was located too...the teacher was old, and a big sleepyhead...and everyone managed to sneak in, without him raising even an eyelid... in came I, with my amazingly slippery sandals, which had another interesting property, they squelched and squealed when wet... the octagenarian woke up.. and called out to me... I shamefacedly went and stood by his desk, waiting for the repriamand to come... It dint.. instead, he went like " Child... you are wet through and through, you will catch a cold.. why dont you take my umbrella and go to my house, my wife will give you some dry clothes?" I was dumbstruck at his kindness, and grandfatherliness. I blinked for a few moments, and then politely declined his offer, making some inarticulate excuses. He then said, "you better leave early today, and go home, I will take care of your attendance, dont worry". I was speechless at his magnanimity in forgiving my mischief, which he obviously saw through.

Anyway, I was left off early enough to catch the last USpl that headed out towards home, so off I ran to the bus stop, slippery sandals in one hand, jhola in the other...only to realise that my bus wasn't there, only the mehrauli bus came, and since they have a common route alteast half way, the students waiting for both buses squeezed into one..which wasn't really so pleasant, given that half the ppl had played in the rain prior to boarding the bus and the dry ones din't take kindly to be jostled around with us...DTC buses don't usually have leaky roofs, but they do have broken windows... I was in front of one of these windows, and the blasts of cold air chilled me to the bone... I was glad to get home, take a hot shower and change into dry clothes.. and chronicle this wonderful day in my diary, and toss the sandals into the trash can...

These are all old, treasured memories, that light up my face by their mere remembrance. And it is raining today, just as heavily, and I hold a warm cuppa green tea in my hand, station myself by the window, listen to the sounds of the rain, and finish typing out this entry..

Spring

2009-04-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

Spring is here....

The beauty of light green leaves and yellow-red flowers budding out of trees and bushes that were barren, sad and desolate all winter, the clear blue sky, the daylight that extends till 7.30 pm, the spring colors in clothes, the spring in the step, the resilient grass greening slowly and steadily, the smoke from the backyard barbeques, the loud chattering of students and summer smiles, the little brown rabbits venturing out of their burrows, the dogs at their watching and barking posts inside the yard fences, the bright hues birds, the happy squirrels, the little yellow flowers that peek out from the grass, the purple ones too, the leather jacketed people out on their Harley Davidsons, the beautiful hues of the horizon at the long drawn sunset, and the rose blooming on my windowsill, enchant me and fill me with wonder for the liveliness of spring...

The winter was cold, long and dreary, but the winter experience is what makes the spring so much more beautiful...

Similarities Contest

2009-03-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my roomie today. A slip of tongue, a wrong verb for beard sent me into enumerating similarities b/w a beard and a pet dog. I must say, I did rather well..

People take care of their beard and their dogs, both grow, both need attention, both are prized possesions, but ya.. beards don't bark...

I also realised that these were extremely general similarities, and you can find some similarities in any pair of objects. But, the very next pair of things I conjured, I could not find any similarities or relations. But, I am sure they exist, and I challenge all of my readers to think them up.

Moon and Fork

Book and Broom

Photograph and Beach

Snow and Mayawati

Get going!

Post as comments, don't ping me in Gtalk about it, please... :)

Pictualize!!!

2009-02-22T14:41:00.001-08:00

I think this is an awesome and cool concept... Try it out :)
WoW!

View more presentations from weboword. (tags: vocabulary visual)

Ironing Indeed!

2009-01-22T17:25:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine, ironed his T-shirt while wearing it!!!!

Only a person who has done that can enlighten us on the temperature profile at different spots on the Iron surface.

He says " The middle part of the iron was not hot, only the edges were. "

He burnt himself at his neck, and says, " This is the closest you get to cutting edge research."

What can I say to that except, "Lage Raho!!"

Delhi Buses versus CDTA

2009-01-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

I am from Delhi and have travelled by Delhi public buses extensively for the past 5 years. My college was about 22 kms or more from my house, and there were no direct buses. There were DTC buses, which were very few in number, but offered free and fast rides, and there were private Blueline buses.

Now, I am in a small historic town in New York State, which HAS public transport, which is amazing, given the population of the town. This service is called CDTA, Capital District Transport Authority (hopefully, the right expansion of the acronym).

Buses are interesting places, and offer a unique experience which people driving private vehicles are unlikely to understand or appreciate.

Getting free rides with college IDs in CDTA is quite convenient, except the time when we carry about 8 heavy grocery bags from PriceChopper. We need to keep the ID in hand, to show it as we enter the bus, which means all the 8 bags in the other hand… :(

The Bus Pass for DTC is quite an interesting story in itself, so here it goes…

The Bus Pass costs Rs. 75 for five months, or $1.5 (cheaper than a slice of cheese pizza). If you think Indian currency is way too depreciated considering this amount, let me tell you that this money is peanuts, even when compared to the normal bus fares in Delhi. Rs. 12.5 a month is an investment that starts paying for itself from the second ride onwards. For the records, this fare continues from the time my dad went to college, and attempts to increase the fare are scared off by student protests.

But getting the Bus Pass is quite a hassle or an adventure, depending on your perspective. DTC bus pass office is one office with the least working hours in the world, so if you are looking for a job that is more like a free lunch than a gurudwara langar, and if you are brainless, lazy and inefficient, in addition to being a bad photographer, DTC will hire you.

Now, for some random reason, whichever month or date you get your bus pass made, it expires on exactly the same date as everyone else, ensuring that there are long queues every 5 months at the Bus Pass office.

There is a form that needs your picture, and your college’s seal. The first queue is for the verification of the form, and other docs. The girls’ queue leads to a counter manned by a fellow who is a die-hard Ekta Kapoor fan. He flirts in an unusual way; he invokes the TV Soap which has a character named the same as the girl at the counter. I was asked… “Are you Shruti from Kahaani Ghar Ghar ki?”… My puzzled expression led the kind fellow to hum the title song of the soap for me, and give me a plot outline. Yes, it is THAT random...

Once the form is verified, you need to pay up, and sit on a high chair, to have your picture taken by a “Digital Camera” which probably dates back to the 1970’s, when the first DTC computerized bus pass was probably made… the pictures that camera takes are awesome, everyone looks like a ghost, and everyone looks the same in the blurred black and white pictures it spews.

Doors close in CDTA buses, and the bus is warm in winters. DTC conductors used to claim that it was against the law to close the bus doors, even if we froze to death on seats near the back door.

I was in a CDTA bus, one rainy day, and the roof leaked…Actually, leaked is an understatement, it poured at various spots, almost like a tap. I was unfortunate enough to have a seat right under one of the taps. I got my jacket hood on, and waited for the ordeal to get over. I actually toyed with the idea of opening my umbrella, but I decided against it, because I didn’t want to embarrass my friends, who are in favor of social niceties.

I have actually opened an umbrella in a Blueline bus in Delhi, and provided rain shelter to the crowd around. :)

Change of drivers in DTC involves a chai break, in CDTA it’s a long winded conversation. The chai break is quite vague, since the driver and conductor just walk off without any explanations. They sometimes actually return after chai in 10 minutes. At other times they just abandon the bus, in which case you got to get off, and jostle to get into the next bus on that route, since an entire bus of people have been stranded midway along with you.

CDTA guys usually take about 10 minutes for the changeover, in which the outgoing and incoming drivers exchange gossip, news and trivia, with the bus door open, and passengers freezing. The old driver bids a proper goodbye to passengers, and the new one extends a cheerful welcome, in a route, where the destination is a maximum of 20 minutes away. American Politeness!!!

Route 87 traverses a winded, wiggly route, making you wonder if you passed the same street about 5 minutes ago. Your doubt is well-founded, since the bus keeps going up and down on the same roads in circles, but does manage to help you carry groceries.

Have you heard that the shortest distance b/w two points is a straight line? The route designers at RPI have obviously not heard it. It was bitterly cold and windy one not-so-fine day. I was unhappily trudging along the 10-minute walk to my home from the school. I spotted a RPI shuttle, which has a bus-stop about 4 minutes away from my house. I wanted to be warm, if only for 6 minutes, so I flagged the bus and got on….

It started in the right direction, then took a random turn, and went into some loopy route. Every time I thought I was almost there, another random turn was taken, and I was finally dropped at my stop after 25 minutes.Analogous to the RPI shuttle is the outer mudrika, which does a five-and-a half hour loop around Delhi.

Bluelines race other buses on similar routes, in a fight to get most passengers. This race is more alive and exciting than formula 1, with the conductor hurling victorious abuses whenever his bus overtakes the other, with returning compliments from the other bus in its winning streak. The overtaking is done in centimeter gaps, is exhilarating, but scary too.

The balancing act while standing in a bus is an art that is learnt with practice. Exact position of feet, and best arm holds, can let you read a novel or even sleep while standing in a crowded and speeding bus. I have been there, done that... :)

Bus stop announcement is more alive and interesting in Blueline than any other bus I have ever been in. There is an additional employee called “cleaner” in Blueline buses, whose job description is to thump on the side of the bus and loudly announce the bus route in a sing song to attract passengers.

Only poor students and poor people seem to use the buses in both places, I am thankful to be still in the first category. And I like riding by buses so much, that I might continue doing it, and not fulfill my roomie’s wish by buying a car…

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing me and my readers( if any), a very happy new year 2009.

Hope this year gives us new reasons to smile, new opportunities to be happy and new interests to engage in.

Hmmm....

2008-12-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

We think we have it all figured out.
Have we actually figured out everything?
Are we living a perfect life?
If we are, why aren't we happy every minute of it?
If we aren't, what are we doing about it?

Is perfect life about doing everything perfectly, or is it about enjoying your errors and goof-ups as much as your successes?

We do everything with the ultimate goal of happiness and contentment.But how many of us realise that and tell ourselves that at the start of each day?

As we go along life, we keep focusing on end goals which will make us happy, and forget to enjoy the journey to the goal. We get aggressive, competitive and egoistic. We are all jealous of one another for some reason or the other. We can't even play a game of cards or scrabble without feeling bad about losing, and desperate about winning. We are high-strung 24 by 7. Where will it finally lead us to? A nervous breakdown for missing a goal in a football game? Or suicide for a lay-off?

Isn't there place for everyone in the world? Place enough for all of us to live peacefully, do what we enjoy doing the best? All of us don't want the same things out of life. Then why get into the "dog eat dog" mindset and mental attitude?

The day I finish my PhD, hear the magic words "Congratulations, Dr. Sruthi Muralidharan ", will certainly be one of the happiest days of my life. But that happiness will not be meaningful, if I feel tortured and unhappy for 4 long years of PhD.

Enjoy what you do. If you are not happy doing something, you are probably better off doing something else.

Leave polarization alone!

2008-11-27T13:00:00.001-08:00

About the last post, no queries on Polarization please!!!!

Its meant to be a story, not a lesson in science....

Ppl who want to know about polarization, refer to optics texts, not me!!

Polarizing out poor magnets

2008-11-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

I ve been out of the blog for sometime, because I have not done anything even remotely funny...

Except asking a guy whether I knew him, and why he was sending me a friend request on Orkut, just a month after spending an hour talking to him...Yes, I totally forgot.. I thought the name rang a bell, but that is all I could recall...

Why I suddenly came online to post a blog?
Not to bemoan my diminishing memory powers, but because something else rang a bell...

I was studying (Ahem.. yes, I do study at certain critical times, such as the week before exams) polarization.

I was reminded of my super duper dumb lab partner in MSc. She was asked, "What is Polarization?", to which she answered, " Polarized waves are those which have no magnetic fields."

HUH!! I mean how dumb can someone get??? An electromagnetic wave loses its magnetic field when it is polarized, and manages to be a electromagnetic wave after that???

She WAS dumb, but I kind of figure out why she said that. All her knowledge of physics came from the books she read... and she read inhuman numbers of them... Thinking, logic and analysis almost never entered the picture, just memory...

All books begin with talking about light being an electromagnetic wave, and when they start about polarization, they begin to talk about components of electric field, and what direction the electric field should be in, for various kinds of polarization.

This woman, dint see mentions of magnetic fields, so she thought, no magnetic field in the polarized waves!!!!

In case any of you are thinking that she is right, please realize that we can talk about components of magnetic field in polarized waves and mean exactly the same thing, without banishing the poor electric field into non-existence...

I know, most of my readers are utterly unsympathetic towards physics...

I have a post coming up for you ppl soon!!!

So, hang in there!!

Horizons Apple Picking

2008-11-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

Jane Havis, our self-proclaimed "overprotective nosy mother", a sweet but very voluble lady from the International Students Office at RPI, took us on a "Welcome Picnic", near the end of our Student orientation. This Picnic was at a Church nearby, the church members had all gathered to welcome us, and ensure we had a good time. The people from the church gave us a warm welcome, and chatted with us, and made us feel so at home.

Then we had some fun activities to get to know everyone better, and then... yummy food!!!

Taking into account the needs of vegetarians, many of the church members had made veggie food for the picnic. That was probably the only time when we got to see so many veggie options in America. We had great food, and delectable desserts. I love the emphasis on desserts in America... I would love to be a "Dessert-a-rian" like Calvin... :-)

Anyway, after the food and friendly talk, we were led into the main chapel, where a Group called "Horizons" introduced themselves. They work with international students, and introduce them to American Culture. Ahem... Lots of you are wondering what American culture is about, and lots of you have a notion that America has no culture...except parties, and hi-flying consumerism. This is no place for those debates and cynicism.

Anyway, they organize Hikes, Fruit-Picking, Hay-Rides, Thanksgiving Dinners, Skiing trips and so on. The events always have 50% Americans, and 50% assorted international students, which gives the international students chances to interact with Americans in fun and social settings.

I went apple picking with Horizons a few weeks ago... I can see your raised eyebrows at my increasing "Americanisms", so I will rush to explain. Apple orchards here invite people to walk around in the orchards, pick apples off trees, taste them, and have a fun picnic. Economics works out for them, since you can eat only so many apples before feeling sick, and you have to pay for the apples you want to take home. Their assumption is that people will buy some apples to take home, not just eat them off trees.. A very unsafe assumption that, but it seems to work here, no clue how.

Anyway, to get on with my trip...

The day was clear and sunny, but very chilly winds were blowing. They gave us a map of the orchards, detailing the varieties of apple trees... Golden Delicious, Macoun, Macintosh and so on... I obviously had no clue which apple would taste good, or for that matter whether two apples taste any different from each other... Well, time for some apple education..

Golden Delicious was superb-juicy, crispy and huge. You can eat one apple and your dinner is done, atleast mine is, given my huge appetite. Macintosh was small, red, shiny and crispy. These two were the reigning favorites of all "pickers"... When in doubt, Sajjanon ke peeche peeche chalo...

Apple trees are small, and you can pluck them off while standing... One tall gentleman told me: "The highest apples are the sweetest." This gave me a good excuse to jump and reach for the higher branches. They were sweeter probably, but anyway "Mehnat ka phal to meetha hi hota hai ".

One variety of trees had sturdy branches, so I climbed up a tree and began plucking the highest apples. I was showing off my talents inherited from arboreal ancestors, and asking for pics to be taken of me on the tree, but a old lady put my feat to shame.

She must be 60 yrs old, has had a shoulder surgery, and she climbed a higher tree, with many more apples. She works with kindergarden kids, so she knew lots of apple picking poems, which she sang along while picking apples. Her enthusiasm and zest for life was truly infectious.

Soon, we had bags full of apples, which were getting too heavy to carry around. So we wrapped up our trip, paid for the apples and proceeded for the picnic, which was in a family home. The venus was so beautiful... The backyard opened out into woods, and beyond the woods, there was a huge lake. I had befriended an american teenager at the orchard. She and I walked around in the woods, talked about her school and mine, and soaked in the beauty of the place. The backyard had swings too, which I thouroughly enjoyed....

You see, Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional. :-)

The tree climbing lady was also walking in the woods, collecting leaves, for some activities in the school. She educated me on American Flora, and also showed us how to whistle with an empty acorn... She whistled quite well, the american could whistle tunes, even without the acorn shell.... and my trials were a damp squib, as usual...

All in all, it was a fun day, and I look forward to more such events....

Manianic Goof Up

2008-11-03T20:39:00.000-08:00

This post is in apology to a certain individual, who is unlikely to read the blog, but it's here, anyway...

This is a Classic Manianism Goof up...

Once upon a time, we were new to Troy, still navigating around RPI with the Map, calling up prospective landlords who spoke in inscrutable accents, and din't start telephonic conversations with hello.

After a long search, we zeroed in on a nice apartment, which was wonderful in all ways but one.. it was a 3 bedroom, while we were just 2 of us. By that time, everyone else had found homes and roomies... So, our all hopes were on latecomers.

Just then, a mail came.... "I am an MBA student, looking for accomodation. Arriving soon."

Too bad that I cant tell you the name, but the name was quite ambiguous, though you might all disagree.
"
I applied the name to sentences in hindi, and figured out the usage was always "meri ......" and not "mera ....."

Even I realized that this test wasn't foolproof, given my questionable hindi proficiency.

But, we did need a roomie...

So I wrote back :
" Me and my friend here, are looking for a female roomie. I am sorry for not able to understand your gender from your name. Do reply if u are interested(and a female)."

And.... it turned out my guess, my hindi and my luck were all rotten...

For HE replied:

"I apologize for being a male."

And no prizes for guessing, I am too embarassed to face him, so I run away whenever I see him anywhere in Campus. He is an MBA student, so I have about 1.5 years of running and hiding to do...

Good luck to me, and good running shoes too...

RPI in Fall

2008-10-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

Fall colors are wonderful at RPI.

This is the ivy covered back-wall of the library.. ain't it pretty??

Now ofcourse, winter is setting in, and Fall is falling...

:-)

Life is so beautiful, I love living...

:-)

Photo Credits: Vasu [His pics are so beautiful, that they are going around the entire community's albums]

Analogies

2008-10-27T17:57:00.001-07:00

This is about a professor I TA for. He is Swiss, and teaches in a very interesting way. He jumps about the class, and explains everything with lots of actions, but that won't probably be effective in words, you have to see it...

His analogies are out of the world too. And I being the TA, can actually take notes on anything I want.. So here, I present his brilliant masterpieces almost verbatim.

Topic: Stress, Strain and Elastic Limit

Prof: "I am sitting on this table and the leg of the table is getting pushed down."(He swings his legs wildly, sitting on the table)"Now, if I eat a lot and weigh twice as much what happens?? "(This while making actions of stuffing food in his mouth with both hands)

A student says: " The table leg gets squishes more".

Prof: "Yes, this squishing is called Strain. "

"Now if I eat too much, and get too fat, I won't remain in the elastic limit. If I am still eating a lot, a lot of chips and cheese and icecream, and become an elephant, the table wobbles, and the leg breaks and the elephant is scared and runs around the room."( And he actually ran around the room with scared expressions!!!!) " This is called fracture, not of the elephant's leg because of the running, but of the leg of table."

:-)

Topic: Ferroelectric Domains and Curie Temperature

Prof: " We are all holding hands and looking at the sun, since it is a bright sunny day. As it gets warmer, we get restless, and our palms get sweaty. So we let go off hands and start moving about, talking to our friends in the chains. "

"This is exactly what domains in iron do, when they are heated up, they loose their orientation."

Topic: Bending of light, Refraction

"Suppose you want to shoot the sun, you pick up a rifle, and aim at it through the closed classroom window. Since the light bends due to refraction in the window glass, your aim would be off. But the sun is so big, that you might hit it anyway, so the sun is a fantastic shooting target."

This guy's awesome, if you get so entertained in a Physics class, you are unlikely to ever forget the concept.

Am I homesick yet?

2008-10-24T14:17:00.001-07:00

I have been here for 3 months. I like it here, the place, the school, the new life, new ppl, everything...

I have largely been happy, not really missed home or family. I guess I have still not accepted it in my mind that I have come away for ever, my heart still escapes the fact, and pretends as if this is just a holiday away from home, and I can return any time I choose.

What happened today?

Home-made sweets arrived from the aunt in Texas, and a card from my parents, for my birthday. Just the opposite of usual. Mother used to make sweets for me, buy me a new dress, and even get me flowers... but never a card... card was something ppl far away sent....

Now my mom's sent me a card, and written it exactly the way I used to write cards for her, complete with the "open with a smile" and smiley on the flap. I saw it, and my mom's feeble attempt at drawing a smiley, and tears filled in my eyes. I could not do as instructed...

I held the card in my hands, and silent tears kept falling. have never felt so alone in life, as I did when I held that card in my hand...

I just can't picture my mom looking for a card in Archies. I can't, since I have always bought all cards for everyone at home.

I used to buy cards, give them to everyone on their birthdays, have them admire it for sometime, and then leave it on a table, which I quietly picked up and preserved.These small mementos on birthdays were my introduction to our austere South Indian household, where payasam was the only celebration for birthday. Now, my family is BUYING cards, and sending them to me. And they are doing it, because they feel I value cards a lot... but today I wish, I was with them, instead of recieving cards in the mailer....nothing can occupy the void created by absence of dear ones... not phone calls, not emails, not cards...

Life is great, but not so easy sometimes...

Physics of deja vu !

2008-10-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

Lets begin from the beginning.

From Einstein's special relativity, we know that velocity of light is same in all inertial reference frames. An inertial frame is anything that moves at a constant speed, a car, a space ship in orbit etc. To find position, speed etc. of a system moving w.r.t. to another system, we use transformations, which are basically math equations. If a space ship moves at a definite velocity w.r.t. earth, a meter stick in the ship will look shorter than a meter when measured from earth. Time also changes, to keep the velocity of light constant. One second in the spaceship will appear to be greater than one second on earth, when measured from the earth. This concept is called time dilation.

Now, if a pin takes 1 sec to fall from your hand in a SPACE SHIP, it takes less than that on a video taken from earth. So, earthlings can predict where the pin will fall, before it does... Why? because time moves at different paces in different frames…

These different frames in metaphysics could be referred to as "dimensions". So, what has already happened on earth will happen 2 yrs later in another dimension. Closer to light velocity, the velocity of the frame, greater will be the difference in time. The same way some dimension can be 2 yrs earlier than us.

This concept can allow one to conclude that what will occur on earth tomorrow has already occurred in another dimension. It is also the basis of the fantasical time travel.

We are trapped in this dimension, so even though there is this possibility of knowing what will happen, we are no better off.

But this discovery, that in another dimension we have lived out our lives, and we can’t walk out to that dimension to change it, can lead to the conclusion, that everything about our life is "predetermined". So, all the conscious choice, "I make my own choices" goes poof, and in a scary way.

Whatever is happening, there is no way to change it, if you have to be at a certain place at a certain time, that’s where you will be, irrespective of whether you want it consciously..

I don’t want to believe that we are picked and placed, and that we have no free will... But the math points that way, and I have not been able to find faults with that logic yet, though I am trying hard, and that’s the point of writing this blog.

What does this imply?

You are not even thinking today where exactly you will celebrate your 63rd bday...But in some dimension, you might have already blown out 63 candles... and had a mast party...

At some instant, what happens to you, the dialogues you say, the setting of the room, reaction of people etc.; basically a short trivial scene, do they sometimes ring a bell? That you have played it in your mind before…That kind of a thing??

Doesn’t this give you a slight apprehension that things might be predetermined after all??

If not, then what does this cute little intuition mean to u??

Is it just random play of nature, or some inherent cerebral activity?

If it is some inherent mental process, what triggers it?

Because most of these scenes are totally trivial...you would never plan them or worry about them with your conscious mind.

Why should nature be so random in some aspects and so precise in others is what puzzles me, and makes me delve into whatever theories seem to explain something.

Keep wondering, and if you have any ideas, do let me know… would love to discuss it and clear my head.

DISCLAIMER: Kindly don’t scold me for obtuse thinking, I am not the founder of this theory, though it is an assimilation from various sources, including my cerebrum. I would be grateful for any lapses in the theory, which makes me revert to the “Free Will” system, that I would prefer to believe.

CREDITS: Anirudh Maitra, this blog post is mostly lifted from a conversation I had with him on this. He asked the questions, I developed my philo to answer them.

Postscript: I am not the only one thinking of physics of deja vu, ppl have written books on it.... sure gives my independent idea atleast an iota of credibility...

http://www.manyuniverses.com/WhatIsDejaVu.htm
http://dailymull.com/1229/The-Dead-Book-13-frag-2

Latest Goof-Up

2008-10-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Midterms underway, so time for only a quick story...

I was proctoring a Mid-Term exam yesterday, since the professor was out of town. Stood very seriously and stoically for 1 hr and 10 minutes, getting dreadfully bored.Just 10 more minutes to go.... I could have finished the day with dignity, but the Email-Obsessive Graduate Student inside me called to me, and I walked to the the computer in the room. Logged on, checked mail in RPI inbox, moved on to gmail. A friend had mailed, scolding me ( with nice expletives) for never calling her. I started typing the reply, but suddenly looked at my watch.... It was alomost time to finish. Then I heard smirks and giggles from the students... To my horror, I realised that the projector was on, and my mails were up there on the projecter screen for everyone to see...I panicked and switched off the monitor, but the mail was still on the screen.... I fumbled a little more, and finally found the button to switch off the Projector.

I was so embarassed...but I had to announce "Time up, Hand in your Sheets", and collect the sheets.

I hope most of them were busy writing their exam and din't even look up to the screen... This is optimism stretched toooo far, even by my standards....

Lol :)

2008-09-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

Ah, the crispiness of life....

Life's Great!!!

I am loving my insanity!!!

:-)

Yo Health Services!

2008-09-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Now that I have settled down into my daily schedule of life of a grad student in a US school, some things have begun coming naturally to me.

I cook in huge quantities, when I cook. I happily eat old food, and conveniently forget how old it is. I wash utensils, I fish for quarters every week to put in the washing machine. Yes, I shop for groceries, and lug inhuman masses of groceries back home, in a hope that I won't have to go again for a long time. But I seem to be eating a lot, because I need to buy more veggies, milk and yogurt every week..

Oh yes, I check weather forecasts, before I leave home everyday!! Back in Delhi, we used to check the temperature of the day before, to reinforce our judgment of how hot or cold the day had been.... Life's sure changed a lot.

As a grad student, I take courses (not go to classes), take weekly quizzes (not give tests), do homework ( and hope some arbit form of plagiarism ( there are many kinds defined) may not plague it), grade homework and quizzes for undergrads (not check them), hold recitation sessions and so on... The week passes by so fast, and packs in so many to-dos, that by Friday evening, I feel victorious that I survived the week.

Friday evening is BIG here, party time... Everyone parties, except Indian Grad Students, who shop for groceries... :-)

Weekends are times for movies( watched online by live streaming), lots of sleeping, mass cooking for the week, potlucks, calling up family and friends in India; and yes, catching up on the week's studies, and homework.

The lectures here can be compared to Helicopter rides over Delhi for a geography lesson, and the quizzes would then ask for exact directions from Connaught Place to Paranthey Wali Gali in Chandni Chowk. So, lots of catching up to do over the weekends.

You can imagine that I would often goof up, what with so much at hand, and so little RAM. ( I refer to my extremely fickle memory here, that most of you have had trouble with at different times)

Now, let me come to the Subject the title promises, US health services.

I was in a tearing hurry last tuesday, not unlike the other days of the week, prone as I am to postponing essential activities till the last minute. I was putting on contact lens, when the one in the left eye just disappeared. I searched all over, as well as I could with one good eye, and one eye full of tears... groped stupidly all over the carpet and all.. 7 mins to go for the class, and I suddenly realised, that the contact lens has disappeared into my eye... I blinked hard, stared hard too, in hopes of coaxing it out, but to no avail.. I had no option but to run for the class, with my eyes...

I sat through the class, half shutting my left eye to get a clear, non-blurred view of the whiteboard. I shot an sms to my roomie, telling her the issue at hand... Poor girl, she got all worried and panicky... and advised me to rush to the Student Health Center, whose personnel gave us long and tedious presentations in our Student Orientation, as to how anxious they were to be of use to us. She was right ofcourse, but after hearing all the stories about medical processes in US, I was apprehensive of how seriously they would take this. If they referred me to a specialist in New York, and delivered me there in an ambulance, I would be too embarassed to return to school afterwards.

I nervously scanned all the possibilities, and fervently prayed to the lens to emerge out of its hiding place and save me a whole lot of trouble. The lens was obviously having fun at my expense, and did not budge from its place under my eyelid.

I finally decided on the Health Center. But I had a class to attend directly afterwards. I shot a mail to the professor, saying I was feeling unwell, and if my presence in the class was not indispensable(I am a teaching assistant in that class), I would like to visit the health center. The sincere Swissman replied promptly, asking me to take care of my health, and that he would pray for my quick recovery.

I never felt more dishonest in my whole life. But what was done was done, that too in middle of another lecture, where I was taking notes and asking doubts aside of my sidey activities.

We have still not reached the Health Center, and I can see many of you shaking your head...
"Classic Sruthi Tales"

Fast forward to Health Center now...

The nurse at the Health Center took me into an examination room, and returned with my file.

N:"Do you have TB?"
Me: ( showing last week's TB test spot on my hand) " No TB !"
N:" Tell me about your Alcohol and Drugs Usage"
Me: :" I don't take either, and I have something in my eye that irks and hurts. Can you help me with it?"
N: ( undisturbed) " How active are you sexually? "
Me: (still more perturbed) " I am not sexually active ! "
N: " Honey, If you ever change your mind, do come back here for tips on safe sex"
Me: ( What are you trying to do here?? ) " Sure, I will."
N: " Do you wear a helmet to ride a bike?"
Me: "I have no vehicle, I walk to school, and take a bus to farther places."
N: " Excellent. Do you wear a seatbelt when you drive your car ?"
Me: ( Lets try a proactive answer now) " I dont have a car, but when I buy one, I will surely wear a seatbelt when I drive it. "( one big smile)
N: "Excellent, wearing a seatbelt is a very good habit."
Interogation ended, but the lens was still lodged inside.

Me: " Aren't you going to anything about my contact lens?"
N: " Lets check your BP and vision first."

BP is checked by a automatic machine, and cross-checked by a manual instrument, and I am praised for my excellent BP.

We proceed for the vision test. I read right with my right eye, but not left with my left eye. She says: " This means your lens is not placed right on your eye." ( Aunty, I told you this as I came in, You spent half an hour more rediscovering it??? ) I meekly nodded and followed her back into the examination room.

Nurse: " Honey, I realise these are tough times for you, please be brave. I guess you would be in much pain, let me see if there are any doctors who can help you out. Please sign this form where I filled all the info you gave me."

Interesting part ends, but story must end happily, so here goes.

A doc came in, they switched off all lights in the room, shined a light into my eye, opened it a little wider, and the lens came out. I removed it, thanked them profusely and ran away, vowing never to "fall ill" again!

Yo USA!

2008-09-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

I arrived in the US of A about a month ago, and I am loving it so far!

First 2 weeks were indeed tough, though I am now getting adjusted into the new lifestyle. This place isn't too different from India, except that they drive on the wrong side of the road. One month in here, and I still look on both sides of the road(sometimes even up into the sky, just for symmetry) before I cross,coz i cant remember which side to look. :)

Another big difference in my life is that I have to do a lot of shopping. Right from veggies to trash cans, everything has to be preplanned and bought. There are 2 big supermarkets which are 10 mins away by bus. One has food stuff and another has everything else. Bus has definite times, and is free for university students. We take a bus, and as soon as we reach, we decide which bus to return by and time our shopping accordingly. As soon as trolley is full, we take stock of how much we will be able to carry, which limits how much we can buy in one go. I have made endless trips to both the shops to buy just the essential stuff. I so loathe the fact that I will have to keep shopping every week, to keep the pantry stocked up, a thing I never worried about at home.

Univ is great, profs, staff and students are really friendly. The way treat students is amazing. If the professor interviews you, he also tells you all about what he can offer you, and also gives you the right to take the final decision of whether or not to join his research group. I like way these professors work with open doors to their offices.

Lots of chinese here, 8 in my class of 13. I am still struggling with chinese names and chinese english, both of which demand concentrated listening effort.

My roomie is really nice, and we gel well together. We are both crazy, and laugh a lot...

Troy is a really small place, uphill Troy has nothing except the university. The lone eatery is a Pizzeria, which has 3 veggie choices. But the pizzas are tasty. :)

A great place to live for 4 years.And attitude is everything, I realise... :)

Are We Living a Mediocre Life?

2008-07-01T22:47:00.001-07:00

I met some of my old friends sometime ago. My class topper was also there at the meet. I was always in awe of her intelligence and ambitions, and knew that she would go places. She finished her graduation from a good engineering school, and joined a KPO. She admitted not liking her Job Profile, and also said she used to like her subjects and would have liked to study further. Somehow, her lack of ambition disappointed me.

When I asked her why, she said she was comfortable here, and doesn't want to take the risk of leaving the job, getting admission into an educational institute, and facing job interviews all over again. Fair enough, you would say.... But, given her ability, none of the above is a daunting task, but she seems unsure of herself…

There are thousands of people like her, who choose the easier options, and escape the struggle of getting what they really want out of life. Why do brilliant people choose a mediocre life? When you have it in you to do better, I can’t see why you would choose not to put in your best effort and achieve what you deserve? Why is it a mediocre world?

A friend of mine answers: “Because the thing it takes to strike something out of the ordinary demands a lot from you. For starters, it means not following others in a queue, but starting one yourself. It also means you have to overcome the social issues, family pressure and most of all your inner fears.”

You have to step out of your comfort zone, and believe on yourself. You have to demand of the universe “I want it, and I WILL have it, whatever it takes.” The fierce desire to for something can work wonders, and that desire pushes you, goads you on and keeps you motivated in your struggle.

Satisfaction and contentment are good things, but if you choose to be satisfied with something lesser than what is your potential to own and enjoy, you slip into mediocrity. It’s all about going that extra mile….

At the end of the day, I want to be proud of my choices, and I want to feel contented about a life well lived.

This philosophical post is slightly out of the line in my humorous blog, and I promise to return to mainstream buffoonery soon. :-)

Mouse in the printer!

2008-06-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

Before you assume I am a Zany inventor of a mouse operated printer or a TC who managed to insert the mouse inside my precious laser printer, let me clarify..

A real mouse got into my printer!! A tiny mouse, which I would call cute if I wasn't Animal-phobic... My animal phobia encompasses all species of animals from rats to pigeons to dogs... I am just plain scared of them...

Anyway, back to the story of the printer....

I landed home yesterday.. and saw all things which used to lie about on the floor, propped up on stools. It wasn't a sudden cleaning spree, I was told, just a reaction to little mice, which were sharpening their teeth on our things.

There I digress again....

I woke up today, and switched on my computer and went off to brush my teeth... When I came back and logged on to Gtalk.. I heard thak-thak.. the sound that Yahoo Messenger makes when someone comes online... another thak-thak... and another one..
Subah Subah itne log online kyon hain.... its a Monday morning...

I know all of you have figured out that the mouse was knocking inside the printer, and all this build-up is wasteful...

So, I opened the printer cover.. and the tiny fellow peeped out... light brown, smaller in length than my little finger.I shut the cover again in horror, to collect all my courage to open it again and peep in.I had no option; it nibbled at something inside my mom's precious laser printer, my fear of the mouse won't count as a good enuff excuse...

The mouse had gone deep inside the printer, only its wagging tail was visible..

I made my next logical move... screamed at the top of my voice!!!! Our maid servan, Sarasa came to my rescue... You see, she knows my usual routine for animal emergencies, so her first question was.. "kahaan??"

By that time, I had pulled out the printer cords, and got as far away as I could from the printer and the mouse, and was standing up on my bed. Sarasa is usually very competent in such situations but she had never seen a printer before.

She lifted the printer and walked out, placing it on the floor outside the house entrance. As soon as someone takes charge, I get lots of courage. So I followed her.

Method 1: Cajole
We called to the Mouse in the printer, wishing all the while that it understands Hindi/Tamil, listens to us and gets out. Predictably, this method failed.

Method 2:Threaten
Sarasa decided to poke the mouse with a thin stick and coax it out. This only made the mouse search for and hide in unreachable depths inside the printer.

Method 3: Bait
I frantically searched the refrigerator for foods mouse would like. Only found a bowl of papaya. I reasoned, that I don't like papaya, so the mouse must love it. I placed a piece on the edge of the printer cover. I and Sarasa settled down, squatting on the floor near the printer, attracting weird looks from passersby. Unfortunately, mouse did not find the papaya too tempting, so it persisted in its hiding place.

Next food to be tried was Mysore Pak, which also met with the same result.

Method 4: Shake Out
One passerby now stopped and began to laugh at our futile exercises, and decided to help out. He took the printer and started shaking it vigorously, face down, so that the mouse would fall out. I was damn scared, for the mouse (my friend by now), and the printer.. because he was holding the printer outside the second floor lobby of my flat.

The mighty mouse clung to the printer and hung on, till this fellow gave up.

Lest more people stop by, and try crazy tricks, we carried the printer into the house.

Method 5:Let It Be

We kept the printer in the balcony, and placed the Mysore Pak there too. then we went about our work. About 10 minutes later, the mouse peeked out cautiously. And being satisfied, it ran out of the printer, and began to devour the Sweet. By the time we reached to pick up the printer, it ran into the printer again!!!

3 more trials of "let it be" were performed, and 3 more pieces of precious Mysore Pak were placed at increasing distances. Distance optimization had to be applied here. Too far away, the mouse would not be able to sniff it out. Too near, we would not have the time to decamp with the printer, on which the mouse had by now, laid an ownership claim.

Finally, 2 hours after the discovery of the mouse, it left its snug quarters and we restoed the printer to its rightful place, covering it with 3 layers of plastic.

Phew!

Baggage Trouble

2008-06-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

As i stood waiting for my baggage near the conveyor belt at Delhi, and saw a torn and dirty bag passing by.... to my horror i realized it was my bag, mutilated beyond recognition!!

I hastily retrieved it from the belt, and got my hands full of oil and mustard in the process.Yes, I admit I was carrying a weird medley of things in that bag, but I have done it umpteen number of times, and escaped without accidents. Don't most of us have one sturdy bag which holds all the things dropped in last?

I went numb looking at what had happened, since the bag contained most new vessels, supplies, and clothes i had bought in Chennai. I looked around for someone who would give me an answer.. and spotted a customer services counter. I dumbly stood in the queue there, until someone behind the counter saw my distress and beckoned me forward.

I showed them the bag, and they reacted as if people come there everyday with bags they have torn. I felt that moment like a naughty child, caught in my act... but suddenly i realised that it was their fault, not mine.. for God's sake, I was inside the aircraft,after handing over to them a locked, zipped bag. Ironically, the lock and zip was intact, and I had to hunt for the keys, to assess the damage.

By this time, I was getting angry about my own stupidity.. and this anger returned me to the world where behind a counter stood incredulous, indifferent but polite men, waiting for me to say something.

I finally found my tongue and launched a harangue about their mishandling of my baggage. As I opened the bag, millions of mustard seeds rolled out, all over their counter, in a pool of ridiculous smelling hair oil. The oil was a present for some relative in Delhi, from some relative in Chennai... but presently, it was causing a sticky-smelly mess at the airport.

After then, it was routine boring task, of making a list of all damaged items, and totaling the financial loss. The stocktaking was greatly helped by the fact that all items were brand new with price tags intact.

The funny thing was, Indian Airlines people took half an hour to find me a plastic bag to put these things. For me, the best thing about shopping is the glossy, colorful bags that stuff comes in. So I had lots of carefully folded empty bags in my luggage. All these bags were pressed into service, with things sorted as oily, not oily,broken and beyond redemption.

After all the mess up, these guys cleaned up their act admirably, settling the compensation claim immediately, and in cash. They filled out the forms themselves for finishing these formalities.

After everything was done, I began to cry, tears coming unbidden as usual...

All the shopping was for my US Trip in august. I am going to set up a new home there, and I had bought cute vessels, nice clothes, even some groceries with the enthusiasm of a child buying coveted toys. I started feeling bad about the inauspicious beginning to a new, ambitious project.

What was this incident but an "Apshagun"?? As soon as that word clicked, Came images of ridiculous K-Serials, where apshaguns happen all the time.. Photo frames falling, bangles breaking and the works...

I smiled instinctively at my my own crazy line of K-thought, and then the mist of worry and sadness cleared up, and I began to feel upbeat at the prospect of getting back home after 2 weeks, and giving everyone the gifts I had bought for them, and kept safe in the other suitcase...