The snow, the bloodshed and the mourning me

Right now, I am sipping my morning cup of coffee waiting for my parents to come online, so that we can say hi hello virtually. To my left, out the window, I see tiny flakes of snow falling from the sky making its mark on the entire ground. Its all white out there. Next time you get a chance to be in a place where it snows, you should take your time to observe the snow flakes. Their symmetry simply surprises you, they have these intricate projections as in the pictures of twinking stars have. Science has an explanation for this as well. 

My heart mourns for all those who have lost their lives and are injured in the ghastly Mumbai terror strike. For the past four days, I was continuously on the news websites reading news updates and watching live tv, praying God to end the massacre as soon as possible. It wasn't something one would really expect to happen. I don't understand where the world is going. Is killing scores of innocent people the only way the terrorists want to show their anger; is all that they can do in the process of acheiving what they want ?  Do they know how it will be like to get trapped in a dark room for a couple of days with armed people around them trying to kill them? Do they know the pain in not hearing from a dear one who is trapped in a place full of people throwing grenades with the sole aim of killing as many as they come across? Anyone fit to be called as a human being must be aware of all this; have they lost their human self? Now its the same in Pakistan as well, there is violence in Karachi with vehicles being torched and people being killed. Is violence the only answer to everything? I'm disturbed!

Yet another change in Gmail

Looks like Google has loads of updates planned for Gmail. It all started as a simple email client. Slowly, the look and feel of the UI were changed a couple of times, and later Google Talk was integrated into Gmail. A few days back video chat was also introduced into the google talk integrated in the gmail. And now its the themes. 

While some changes made me comfortable, some others were very hard for me to take. I love gmail for its simplicity - plain colors with no jazzy effects, cool and simple interface. And this themes thingy is hard for me accept. Loved the very first version of gmail. I somehow feel its losing its charming effect with each of these new features. 

Is anyone else with me, feeling the same? 

P.S. : Apparently, Google Labs is coming up with a new feature for Gmail with which we will be able to send text messages from our IM to mobile phones. Guess, this will be a  bit hit among the youth!  

My Two plus years at Bangalore!

My experiences at Bangalore had always been my favorite topic to blog about!!!

It all kick started with lavish life at Microsoft Research as a Research Intern! Trips, food, parties, xboxing, games, sports, kick-boxing classes (Thanks to Kentaro for those early morning and/or evening classes) and work as well. I had been to Bheemeshwari Fishing Camp, Ooty and Masinagudi along with the folks out there. All this in just a period of five and half months. I was just overloaded with all that then!

After a short break I was back in Bangalore, as a software engineer! That was like almost no parties, no games, very little fun and more work (most of the weekends as well). According to Murphy "Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse". So had to get back into action - joined guitar classes, planned trips, gave all forms of impossible reasons to skip work on weekends and what not! In this process followed Aamir Khan by adopting the principle "Be A Rebel" and got into a cold war with my Project Lead which lasted for a couple of months - it did show its effect on me which I shouldn't talk about now. ;) Murphy into picture again, he is everywhere - "Everything takes longer than you think". So did my guitar classes, it took me four months to learn playing a few basic chords (I'm still bad at playing them) and yeah I quit taking classes sadly, which I want to continue now. 

I had been to various places in and around Bangalore. I had been to Wonder La twice - once with my glasses on and I missed out most of the fun as I had to remove my glasses on all the rides and I missed most of the fun. So, when I went there for the second time I made sure to have my contact lenses. As matter will be damaged in the right proportion of its value, with all the fun I had wearing my contact lenses and enjoying all the rides, I got a sort of irritation in my eyes as well at the end of the day. Big deal! And then, had been to a couple of resorts as part of corporate outings or events. Went on rides to Nandi Hills and Devarayanadurga on motor bikes. I still remember how narrowly we escaped (I was driving and my roomie then was pillion) tripping down from my bike after suddenly coming across a slippery pool of mud. Had also been to Mekedatu. Hmmm, where else did I go?  Had been to those unending gardens of Lalbagh and fascinating Vishweswarayya Science Mueseum. I still remember how happy my dad was while watching some of those little and giant wonders in that museum. I could have been to more but, you see, things don't turn out in the way you want to. Had also set my foot in the kingdom of Mahishasura, you guessed it right Mysore. Had been to that city thrice and also visited ruins of Tippu's palace in Sri Rangapatna apart from other tiny weeny places around that city.

How can I forget sharing my experience of roaming around police station? One fine day, at 5.00 PM my neighbor called me up after my finding the lock of my house broke open!  My roomie lost a brand new DSLR camera and some dollars which was his earning from a recent onsite trip. All in all he lost 90-plus-k INR. Funny that the considerate burglar left the memory card of the camera for us. In pursuit of happiness after that sad experience, we watched "The Pursuit of Happyness" that day and slept late in the night (rather early in the morning :P). Apart from all this, Bangalore gave me a few great friends (who are great guides too)! Miss all the fun and all my friends now! 

We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams. The word Dreams make me feel slumbery now! Had travelled enough back in time, now let me catch some sleep and go forward in my time machine

Addition#1 - Realized, very late, that Murphy is everywhere with his laws. Better late than never!

Addition#2 (25th Nov) - Good that I quit my job, I can live longer now. 

All is good with me!

Remember, remember the fifth of November.

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason why the gunpowder, treason

Should ever be forgot.

Ever after watching the movie V for Vendetta, I just remember this rhyme on every Nov 5th though I really don't know the very serious historical importance behind this. 

The Diwali event organized by the Indian students wasn't that happening despite the huge expectations. Nothing much is happening in life apart from the usual classes and homeworks. I was told more shouldn't be expected from the life of a grad student, and yeah now I feel thats true. And the other good thing is, I am happy with the way we are cooking and eating for dinners atleast. I happen to skip most of my breakfasts, eat some junk for lunch and that makes me crave for a good dinner. And wat else? 

• People say history is made with Obama winning the presidential elections. Congratulations to Barack Obama.
  
• Good bye Jumbo, you have contributed a lot to Indian cricket. We miss you. 
  
• And recently another Indian student studying in Seattle, USA was found dead. This makes me fear, the fear of how safe International students are in this country.

A quick question on the ending note: Are you feeling the effect of this economic recession on you?