Room-mate woes

Disclaimer 1: All of this may seem to be greek and latin to most boys.

Disclaimer 2: This is not for those who have found their perfect, dream room-mate and can’t imagine living without them.

Perhaps one of the most common topics of discussion between any two graduate students over a cup of coffee or lunch is the always-hated, never-forgiven, repeatedly-cursed entity – the room-mate. I am one of the unfortunate ones who didnt quite hit it off with her, right from the word go. The issues seem endless and the irritability is always on the rise. For someone who claimed to have no issues living in with anybody, this experience definitely changed all that.

Maybe it is because I was spoilt rotten with a single room all through college life or maybe now that I’m a little more grown up and responsible, the idea of finding half of your room in a complete mess doesnt go down well at all. Right from finding half cut lemons in your coffee mug when you have less than 3 minutes to leave or finding all your spoons stuck up vertically down the sink drain when you want to eat something, irritating room-mates can give you an experience of a lifetime and test your patience no end and I’ve had my share of trouble for a lifetime. Seriously.

I can say with confidence that I had the ill-luck of living with the dirtiest possible girl you could find on planet earth. This statement again might contradict the assumption that all girls are clean. Though my hostel experience did teach me that, the fact that this dirt now existed in my room became unbearable. Clothes strewn all over, earrings lying all over the carpet, hair covering the sink, all dirty pots and pans lying on the kitchen table, masala stains everywhere! EWW!! Everyday after happily tripping over her collection of shoes all over the living room floor, I was always welcomed by this beautiful sight. More I told her to clean up, the more mom-like I began to feel. Maybe she even thinks that I’m a nag of the highest order but that’s besides the point. We barely tolerate each other’s presence, forget cooking or eating together. So you might ask, why am I still with her? The answer my friend, lies in one single document – the lease.

So as my parallel hunt for subleasing continues and I battle with the woes of living in inhospitable conditions, I secretly long for my CH-3 369 which was my second home away from home for 3 best years of my life. Though I’m confident that I will find my dream apartment in the coming months and settle down to blissful and clean evenings, this one experience is enough to tarnish my confidence about sharing my living space with anybody.

All those who’ve found happiness and a great friend in your room-mate, consider yourself to be in the league of the extraordinarily lucky and I’m very envious of all of you.

PS: I did finally pass those exams I wrote about earlier. Praise God!

When rains lost their charm

For a person who loved and longed for rains all the time, this post must be a shocker. No, I am not bored of it yet but a lot of factors have made it lose its initial charm. The best part for me always was – unpredictability.

I loved spotting grey clouds all of a sudden, having those surprising unseasonal showers every now and then, but here all that is gone. The weather works like a keyed toy, rains are predicted even weeks in advance and it rains promptly when it is predicted. It becomes cloudy as per the clock, rains as it is supposed to and then stops. You can take umbrellas to work even when it is sunny outside and be confident that at 4 pm, it will start to pour.

I hate the fact that it is freezing when it rains. Now devoid of the comforts of a car or even the pleasure of not attending classes as and when I want to, it is horrible to walk in frozen water. Your sweaters get moist, your feet freeze in sneakers and you cant even wear your new uggs to office. It is impossible to even hold your umbrellas with your gloves on since they get soaked. Bah.

I never thought I would ever have the slightest resentment towards rains but now everytime I see the clouds on my weatherbug desktop, I go like, “Argh! Not again!”.

M Back !!

Okay..herez a quick recap of my life in the time from diwali to 14 days post new-year.

Umm..where was I..oh yeah..Diwali. Life was pretty much non-existent after that. I had a math test..then another midterm…n then another. Every thursday called for two-three submissions and so did a monday and friday. Had another midterm…studied like mad for it in November…the paper was graded out of ten marks…got assigned a project..hunted for a paper to model…found one…did the MATLAB coding..ran the codes…got stuck..spent sleepless nights trying to make it work…did some jugaad made it work…made the poster..printed it…celebrated that day…ogled at it as if it was Monalisa…gave the poster presentation…got good marks…had finals in three days…didnt sleep after that…gave the finals..almost slept in one exam…finished the finals…my birthday was the next day…had to pack my room for the pest control clean-up…got an amazing birthday surprise at 12 am..partied till 3…slept till lunch..went out to california pizza kitchen for lunch…ate awesome greek pizza…decided to watch 2012 last minute…turned out to be the worst movie ever…shifted out my stuff in pouring rain…slept…left to New Jersey…cut a surprise cake there…played with my baby boy…enjoyed with sister…went out last minute shopping…got an amazing gift…saw two movies…got my grades…was relieved…came back…started studying for qualifiers….just studied everyday…didnt step out of the house for 3 weeks…partied on New Year’s..ate cake…had some wine..watched the ball drop…continued studying…Jan 7th gave quals…got badly raped…mostly wont pass…mourned the exam…mourned my luck..was super pissed after screwing it up..it snowed in Atlanta..played in snow…had a fight..slipped and fell..walked in snow…started reading for oral qualifiers…read and read articles after articles on chocolate..critiqued the paper…made the presentation..did not sleep…was practicing…walked to the department with a shiver…gave the presentation..answered the questions…gained momentum and confidence as the questions kept coming…overall did a fair job…made pongal and now im writing the blog.

Whew!

This semester is as tight as the last one but hopefully (if i dont have to write my qualifiers in May) will be far more interesting than the last. I’m excited about starting research and finally having time to do all those things that were under hold all of last semester.

Fingers Crossed for results though.

PS: Writing the blog is high on my agenda this time. Keep reading! 😀

A very happy Diwali indeed…

Pleasant surprises are always welcome. After spending most of the gloomy, wet thursday studying for the Kinetics mid-term and then finally writing it in the evening, I wanted a break from the monotonous and tedious routine of preparing for exams and studying my ass off. Someone up there did hear my wishes and voila! what followed were two successive days of amazing parties culminating in Diwali celebrations.

After the mid-term, our research group headed to Uncle Julio’s, a mexican grill located quite some distance away. We were celebrating a birthday and two successful PhD thesis defenses. The group was multicultural and multi-ethnic with Turkish, Greek, Korean, American, Indian(me) and Puerto-rican representation. It was so much fun! We(myself and one other member only) started off by hunting for the only vegetarian dishes in a menu full of beef,pork,frog legs and baby octopuses. Photographs were taken, dares were given, new drinks were tried, tubs of nachos were emptied and the conversation just freely flowed. There was exchange of cuisine details ( Paneer Butter Masala, Naans and Butter Chicken are total favourites of everyone around the globe, I discovered). We tested the spice-tolerance of everyone thanks to an awfully spicy pepper included generously in all our dishes. I ate a vegetable Fajita and maybe close to a kilo of nachos. I am never able to do justice to any of the restaurant serving portions here so invariably I packed up half my dinner (which will be my dinner today) and we continued the photo-sessions, the leg pulling, the hand-symbol games and the teasing till the food kinda settled down inside. We then headed to the Italian pastry shop to celebrate a birthday. The pastry shop was one I had seen only in movies. Dimly lit, it had a very pretty and crowded bar and little cute tables with small candles on them. I guess our group of ten was the only non-couple party out there and we headed out to the covered patio which had a fire-grate and logs of wood burning and settled down cosily. There was turkish tea, cinnamon coffee, white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake, peanut butter and chocolate cake and so many other varieties ordered by the others. I was asked questions about the caste system of our country, the religion and the festivals and other things which are second nature to us but they look at it with so much curiosity. It was amusing trying to explain the origins of Diwali to everyone. Then there was the whole topic about turkish coffee and the tea-leaves reading which those people are so good at apparently. I tasted it, it was horrid to say the least. No sugar, no milk and the coffee powder is not drained off from the liquid. My facial expressions on drinking that, got everyone rolling in their seats. It was a memorable evening, given many of these people are graduating to take up different professions in different parts of the globe. It was fun,food and frolic at its peak.

The next evening (the day was so sleepy thanks to the sudden chill in all of US with temperatures well in single digits -thankfully positive here) got even better. A couple of guys organized a potluck party on Diwali eve. A friend of mine and I made pulao to contribute to it. The others got curd rice, homemade snacks, gulab jamuns, sabji and the hosts had the drinks, nachos and chips. We had a ball! (Literally all of us kept taking turns bouncing on their gym ball). Jokes apart, it was amazing fun. We played a plethora of games, ranging from a warped version of cricket with a tennis raquet and ball which had rules like if you hit the wall directly, it is out and strict under-shoulder bowling to card games which were so much fun ( all were new to me but I am now in love with them) like Bluff and 5 Carder. We played Uno, Clue and the hosts had a dart board in their living room which we enjoyed playing and distracting the members of the opposite team. I am no good at it since my aim is horribly pathetic. I was happy to even touch the board with my dart! 😛 Food was in plenty, so were the desserts and so was the teasing,leg pulling and laughing. A very very memorable diwali party. For once, we all forgot everything about academics or exams and just had fun.

(Long post I know, but this is for me to read later -when I’m old and jobless perhaps! :P). Sometimes, no-plans become amazing plans. We all woke up late (the other roomies were in other parties themselves) and there was an impromptu enthusiasm to cook in all of us. We split up the dishes ( I made pulao – Ok, I know I’m becoming some expert in making it or something; Ramya and Pallavi made the Shira barfi and raita ; Richa made chole and Priyanka made kheer) We did a small Lakshmi Puja after my elaborate oil bath and then dug into the food! Awesome it was! A sweet and warm, homely Diwali!

It is freezing outside, close to 4 degrees and the windchill making it 0 and cloudy and windy. I have a midterm on tuesday (sigh!) and one more the week after. Somehow, I’m recharged and raring to go. Festivals do recharge you emotionally!
On that note ( to all those to stuck with me and actually read the entire thing and to everyone else as well)

HAPPY DIWALI! 😀

PS: Some pics are here, more will be added later!

Team efforts of our apartment

Girl Talk: A girl’s computer and a boy’s computer

Faced with the dilemma of buying a new computer (its a tough decision for me given that 1. My old comp is working fine, though battery-less and wifi-less, its perennially on life support and keeps having these multiple organ failures everynow and then which it recovers from after giving some shocks and defragmenting. 2. Mac is actually within reach now.)
So I asked my friends for some help. Invariably I realized some startling cases of gender discrimination crept up even while buying a computer! So here goes:

Person 1: You are a girl, a pink Vaio should be your choice.
Me: Duh! ( I do love the colour :P). I am not impressed by the Vaio hardware. It has always conked off for all the people I know.
Person 1: You are a girl, basically any computer should do. Why are you worried about the hardware?
Me: What does that mean? I am a girl so any computer…
Person 1: I dont think girls need computers for anything other than checking mail and playing songs or updating facebook statuses. Anything else you’d invest is plain waste of money.
Me: Blah!

Person 2: Buy a Mac, buy a mac.
Me: The config of the 1000$ one isnt that fab, its just 2GB ram with a 160 GB harddrive and virtually no upgrades.Is it worth it?
Person 2: Oooh, so you know technical stuff eh? But for a girl, 2 GB ram is good enough for the solitaire games and the songs.
Also, I know my friend who is a girl and she is very happy with her 2 GB mac. Though my other guy-friends have a problem.
Me: **Very Sour Expression.**

I wondered what has gender got to do with a computer’s configuration. In many cases, it is true I think. The sexes use their respective computers for totally different things. It surprises me a great deal when I discover how technologically incompetent so many girls around me are, who are more than happy to give their “screwed” up computers to the guys who after a night-out of driver downloads, forum searches and formatting, fix the bugs. Why don’t they do it themselves? It is sad to think that in this era, girls are still not at ease with computers. When I complain of a low RAM or processor speed or how maybe Linux will help me solve issues, people go like “Whoa..so you actually use the computer for all this coding work.” My computer (being a girl’s) is expected to be all clean and devoid of anything except music, photographs and Microsoft Office. But not all girls have pink computers with frilly covers and desktop wallpapers of some bollywood hero.

I dont blame the perception entirely because I know at some level it is true. But hey there are girls who do live stream games on ESPN, watch football matches and tennis matches, use their comps for simulations and photoshop work and even play heavy duty games (apart from attaching external woofers and jamming loud metal music), who can maintain their computers and who can handle computers without “external” support.

And next time one such girl asks/tells you about some computer’s configuration or the lack of it, all you guys, dont let your eyebrows disappear into your hair.
😀

Deja Vu..

Its that time of the year again. Diwali, Dusshera..oh wait, midterms and more exams. A sneak peek into the next few months of my life looks like a long string of exams and exams and classes and more exams. For the first ever time, I’m not in India for the festivities of Navratra or Diwali. I’m not missing it here, simply because, they just don’t let me. I’ve been sitting in my room the whole day trying to get something done but no avail. I feel useless, kinda stupid and unproductive. Every night, I go to bed thinking tomorrow will be THE day of maximum studying, but as usual, that tomorrow never comes.

I’ve not been blogging for a while I know. Its been busy here. Busy as hell. Midterm weeks approach and bring a sense of gloom into everyone’s mind. Then come the qualifiers. Honestly, I’ve been scared to death from whatever I’ve heard so far and the only way to beat it would be to actually start studying for it. I miss the hostel. I miss knowing that everyone is (hopefully) in the same shit as I am and that everyone’s brains are being squeezed to unhealthy levels. At some level, I enjoy the strain but the prospect of “passing” or “failing” adds an additional 1000KPa to the pressure already. (Sad joke :P)

Loads of things have happened in the last few weeks. I’ve made a great friend at last. So my days are no longer boring. I can go and spend time and talk and do girly stuff and enjoy myself whenever I want to. Secondly, my cooking has improved by leaps and bounds. I can fix a decent meal in less than 15 minutes and it comes rather well! Of course there has been the added academic joy of finally finding your advisor who’ll fund you for the next 4-5 years. The project excites me. Its just these hurdles called exams I’ve to cross to finally start working on it. Aaaah..January..when will it come?!

I miss reading books. Its like the carrot and donkey story. I’ve an absolutely delightful collection of books in the biggest library I’ve been to, sitting 10 minutes away from me and I can’t read any of it. I cant even think of any non-chemical engineering book right now. Even thinking feels like a crime. Bah.

The last few weeks saw a lot of changes: I got my iphone at laast. Got my second pay-check. Decided on the camera and laptop I want to buy. Got an office assigned to myself! Splurged in Bath and Body Works, watched a hindi movie, fell in love with Tamil songs, made Frappucino all by myself at home, spent a night out watching an English movie with popcorn, went to the Coca-cola museum, ate Indian food and found myself amusingly in the same state of mind as I had in BITS just before an exam. Well here, the odds are only higher. Its getting colder here, with the night temperatures well within the 20 degree mark. It rains occasionally. That manages to cheer me up somehow.

Random post. Thats all my brain saddled with tons of saddle points and optimization functions and kinetics can think of right now. I’ll write about something more interesting soon. Till then, godspeed!

And finally, the fun sinks in…

Contrary to most people’s experiences about having fun (i.e its all fun and free time in the beginning and then come the exams which vaporize the tiniest bits of fun that could ever exist), the fun is now beginning to show up in the most unexpected places. No, my course work hasn’t reduced nor have my assignments and mid-terms vanished. We are beginning to have fun in the middle of it all, that is the fascinating part!

There are jokes in the middle of a matlab code, sarcastic comments in the middle of partial differential equations, simultaneous hunt for articles on the net which is immediately mailed to everyone else, detailed explanations of solved homework questions to those who dont understand, plenty of cross-talk, discussion about the running back and the quarterbacks in the middle of a transport theorem, inboxes full of current homework files and most importantly, collaboration. The class diligently troops into the computer lab after every class and after the flurry of printouts to be taken of papers, assignments and lectures, starts their homework. There is doubt asking, clarification, help and lots of laughter and fun. Interspersed between course work is probably the tactics of the last football game or the last match that federer lost or tid-bits of interesting gossip and news about the faculty that goes around. You have discussions about how Indians nod their heads in the exact opposite fashion of Americans or how our vector symbols are so different from their squiggles. There is imitation of teachers, whiffs of free food being detected by someone and the rest zooming in that direction to make the most of it and so much more! Gosh! I’ve never had such fun in my life. It is globally diverse education at its best. Amazing fun, (though might be very geeky superficially, trust me, its the best amalgamation of fun+knowledge that anyone can aspire to have!)

Speaking of different things, (thanks to end of thermodynamics mid-term and final submissions getting over), I decided to swim in the Olympic pool of our recreation center. Of course, facilities are world class with heated showers, sparkling locker rooms, shower gels, absolutely clean pools, plenty of lifeguards and fresh warm towels. The feeling was a class apart. It felt absolutely great to use the same pool that the best in the world once swam in. Though, the temperature of the water,as I discovered the moment I dived into it, is kept such that your body does not sweat once you have warmed up. In short, it is cold as soon as you enter. It takes around 10 laps to warm up. There are 3 pools, diving, competition and family pool and it was packed with people. Awesome experience. I am so making it a habit. Georgia Tech Aquatics – simply godlike!

I’ve had my dinner (rice and peas curry) and am now contemplating if I should open my box of Haagen Das Dule De Leche. Maybe not. I’ll save it for when I’m blue. Ah, that reminds me, Chiggy wiggy seems to be pretty hot in Indian airwaves, though I didnt appreciate it all that much. Let me continue listening to the remaining of the blue songs and yeah, I didnt like Porcupine Tree’s latest at once but I hope it grows on me.

Man, I love weekends 😀 :D.

Sometimes…

There are the good days and there are those you wish you never lived through. Sometimes there comes those days which leave you wanting some more and certain others when despite having everything you crave for something else. Today was the latter.

Things were normal. Submissions, a pop-quiz that went rather normally, assignment, fairing and then a college football game to which I had tickets. Sounds good na? Only thing, I didnt have company to go see the match. Surprising, that in a crowd of so many thousands you still never find that good friend you can drag along, bully, to drop every other commitment and accompany you to some place. Mostly, there is never time to think of such things, (even now the marquee in my head is beeping about the Thermodynamics assignment in queue), but those rare instances that you are forced to think of this, it gets sad. Today as I walked past the Bobby Dodd stadium and the carnival-like atmosphere surrounding it, I felt really alone. For the first time in my existence of twenty odd years, I dont have someone in person to run to, to walk to the store with, to take my mind off homework for a while or to giggle and laugh at silly nothings. Sometimes, I just wish I had someone here.

I’m waiting.

Its time to start my next assignment. All the best Yellow Jackets, hope I get to see the next match at least.

Vacation

Vacation is

…getting first off a plane only to get lost in the luggage concourses, followed by a relieving hug from G-Joo at 1 am!

…cuddling up and sleeping next to mom after 3 whole months.

…giving sis a bear hug after half a year.

…introducing yourself first time to your 2 month nephew and being called a-gooo. 😀

…playing with all his toys and rattles.

…watching the Manhattan skyline from the bed.

…looking at the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island bridge and Hudson from the living room window.

…eating steaming hot idlis and mum-made coconut chutney for breakfast.

…driving in a BMW to the biggest mall and entering every shop possible.

…trying out shoes at Nine West.

…getting locked out of a GAP trial room in the store.

…digging a Mama Sbarro’s pizza and planning the next store to attack.

…not being able to decide between a Donatella or a DKNY jacket for half an hour.

…tasting divinity with Dule De Leche from Haagen Dazs.

…hunting for swimwear in Macy’s and buying something totally unplanned for.

…getting irritated with the full-of-attitude AT&T store people.

… introducing G-joo to twitter \m/

…enjoying the morning breeze on a walk with mom.

…giving nephew first ride on shoulders and making him sleep.

…eating homemade godlike pulao and beans sabji followed by Ben&Jerry’s Imagine Whirled Peace. (yummm)

…finishing the shopping list with visit to the all-familiar Target.

…eating california burgers with coriander chutney and sauce.

…more ice cream.

…showing mom around facebook and all my friends.

…hot mom made dosa with garlic powder from Grand Sweets.

…debating which phone to buy for ages and finally deciding on the iphone.

…thinking of a twitter nick for sister.

…watch nephew sleep and smile in his sleep.

Ladies and gentlemen,now that’s what I call a PERFECT VACATION!
😀
{Thank God for the awesome break, Im all set to hit my books again! \m/ }

When Amnesia strikes..

…and it always strikes at a very wrong time! After nearly a year of my doing core chemical engineering (as I have mentioned umpteen times before), amnesia hits you the hardest when you are subjected to blasts of core thermodynamics, mass transfer , transport and kinetics at an advanced stage wherein your undergrad was a prerequisite.

My classes include the very frequent (almost habitual) narrowing of eyes, brain conjuring up flashes of similar terms and words from the distant past and me going “Aah…I think I’ve heard of it, yes yes…” and by then the professors have already uttered the words “..and all this you should be expert at..”, to the horrified muttering in class with everyone recounting the years it has been since they did all this or some very blatantly sighing with hands pasted on their foreheads. I personally believe the professors just love this reaction and must be smiling victoriously as they turn to the boards and write the next long-forgotten equation. I always wonder how it is that my brain spotlessly wipes out everything about engineering I learnt a year ago but keeps stuff like song lyrics, movie stories and other shit intact!

Fresh graduate students are here to get screwed. It is like putting them through the toughest first so that the years after that seem like a cake-walk. Papers are heaped upon us with material appearing on the course websites faster than you can say the word next. Amidst endless assignments, hurried submissions, red puffy eyes and stifled yawns through classes, there is an amazing bonhomie developing amongst all of us. Its like facing the fire together. You get to know and see a plethora of methods, ideas and there is no dearth of help around. Most importantly, the bonding factor is the feeling of stupidity. It might seem funny but everyone is just amazed as to how they’ve forgotten everything and/or are making stupid mistakes. Then there are always the few who somehow manage to read everything beforehand or are blessed with brilliant memories to aggravate this feeling of stupidity. Almost like telepathy, a professor distributed a paper on “Importance of stupidity in research” to read before class. Believe it or not, it was the most motivating paper I’ve read in recent times.

Yaaaawwwnnn! Its 12 45 in the morning and I still have a paper to finish reading and an early morning class at 8. I guess I should ask myself to shut down wordpress and finish the paper before crashing for the day.

But why am I not doing that ? I think I’ve forgotten the answer…