Cute!

Here is one very funny poem i came across. Ogden Nash's poem -

The Ant - Ogden Nash

"The ant has made himself illustrious
Through constant industry industrious.
So what?
Would you be calm and placid
If you were full of formic acid?"

Come to think of it, this poem epitomises a very important phase of life. Presently, I can so well relate to this poem. Now that I am here for my masters life aint same. Gotta be "Industry Industrious" to endure the same. Perhaps, from now on its gonna be an ant's life forever. Restless as ever!

That is the Cathedral of learning. Thus it overlooks my living room, in all its majesty!

Matchbox 902!!

First home away from home. Thats my matchbox 902! Much as the name suggests, it is a cosy little humble abode of mine for the next 16 months or possibly more.

I must admit, although that the same little home of mine comes with a cost that raises eyebrows! Back inIndia when i was shortlisting apartments this was not part of my chosen list. But it so happened that when i got here and found out how convenient it was, there seemed to be no looking back on it. It is a 2 minute walk from my department, the second home away from home! Whats more! My department is seen from the windows of my room. That is just as close as it could get.

To me the best part of my cosy little abode is the view overlooking the living room. Cathedral of learning it is. When I got to Pitts i thought this monumental building was a historical one. No!! It was not! But yes, It did have some history associated to itself. This building belongs to University of Pittsburgh. To have a university center towering over the city is certainlny not ordinary! I wake up to this wonderful view from my living room, needless to say that i avoid looking at my department from my room for obvious reasons!

People (in) power

"The government took measures to counter the protesting doctors by serving them with suspension letters and asking them to vacate the hostels to make way for newly recruited doctors. Some states invoked the 'Essential Services Maintenance Act' (ESMA) and gave notices to the doctors to return to work, failing which legal action would be taken against them. The government also put on alert 6,000 men from Rapid Action Force to take care of any untoward incident. " - Wikipedia

You probably wondered what untowardly incident this was. This was the consequence of the anti-reservation protests. Yes! It happened in India, the largest democracy. 27% percent of reservation in educational institutions of high standing seemed to arouse Indians in all of a Rang de Basanti style. We were all so reminded of the protests in the movie!

I was a little taken back watching the movie. The end was, or atleast i thought, a little exaggerated for reasons known only to the director. A few months into the year I was totally shocked when some students lost their lives in the anti-reservation protests. 2 realistions: One, I knew then that yes i was part of an Era when people still fought for their reasons. Secondly, that the government being a democracy is just namesake!

It goes without saying that, people power no longer holds good in the democracy of people in power.

Now aint that cool?!!

That is the view from Mt. Washington for you!

Pic courtesy - Vishnu

Mount Washington!

We had to get there to earn some good points as part of the fun activities held by my department. But the closer we got there, the more we forgot the game for which we had to earn the points. The place got the better of us.

The way to get to the place was amusing as ever! We got down at station square from our bus. I was in for my first underground train experience at US of A! I was reminded of scenes from DCH-a popular movie and its scenes where the protagonists take the trains in Australia. Pittsburgh had its surprises for me. Here was one, as the train started its trail along the tracks twisting and winding off, I was amazed as i looked on as a child would when the train overlooked the river speeding off on the bridge. Do not remember the place where we got down. Now it was time for the winch experience. This was how we were going to get up to the mountain. As we alighted up the mountain, the Mellon building towered over the city. It was a wonderful sight to behold. The city which i undermined! The bridges, the river, the tunnels and the skry scrapers! It was all of that!

I was treated for a double treat when i set off agin with my friends to the place later in the evening. It was twilight and i loved it. Oh yes, I should not forget to mention about the confluence. Yes, Pittsburgh has that too. There is a huge fountain that splashes water all around and we had our fun!

It was certainly my day! It was tiring alright, eventful nonetheless!

Holocaust!

I was not surprised when i found out that the term "genocide" was coined during Holocaust. Holocaust or the Shoah - Nazi regime's ruthless oppression at its high point; and it turns out that this was poor Non-Aryan German's worst nightmare.
Vikram Seth's "Two Lives" makes for a wonderful reading. Having not been a great enthusiast of History, I had very little exposure to German history. The protagonist of the book being German, the author delves into her life in detail. This is where i gained an insight into the state of family lives during the Nazi Regime. Reading all about concentration camps and extreme hostile environment that the Jews faced during this tyrannical rule, it was not hard to understand the emotional trauma that they were subject to.
One of the most horrific things i read was about the Auschwitz concentration camp. People who were taken to this camp were initially checked for a certain amount of fitness. If they were qualified fit to work, they would be used up as slaves for menial work near the marshy camps or otherwise. The others who did not get past this test on the affirmative were directly taken to be killed. I could not help but imagine the plight of these helpless people and put myself in their shoes. Even the very thought of it scares me. Nobody was spared this torture. No reprieve, no matter what! What probably was the most shocking thing to discern was that the Nazi's considered disabled people as a burden. But then, there is a better explanation to this. Nazis believed that Aryans were a perfect race!
While terror was unleashed in the most inhumane forms on innocent lives, it is difficult to understand what mindset one would have to perform such barbaric acts!

Noble Nobel!! Just trivia!

I just made a startling discovery!! Rather disappointing one at that. In all there have been 758 Nobel Prize winners till date. No, thats not the trivia that caught my attention. It is this - http://nobelprize.org/search/women.html. Out of the 758 Nobel Laureates only a mere 33 are women, so far!! That is less than 5% of the total number of the winners.
My instincts asked me to google and discern if the "phenomenon" has been acknowledged for. All in vain! Except for this site - http://almaz.com/nobel/women.html. A little bit of research revealed that no woman has been awarded Nobel in Economics.
The first thing that i had noticed under the list of Women Noble prize winners, was that, though not majority, the highest number of Nobel went to Women under the category -"Peace". Incidentally, It was a lady- Bertha von Suttner who urged Alfred Noble to have this category. She herself, later, went on to be awarded the same!
I should not like to believe statistics. Yet, I went on to key in "Women Ingenuity" in Google and found this - http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0768070.html . Kind of pacified my rather disturbed mind!
I do not want to draw conclusions, for i do not believe in statistics!

Kitchen woes!!

Yes! i have finally taken to cooking, now that my mom is far far away. I cut my finger in the first week itself!

I was told cooking was thereupatic. Some sort of consolation that was. When i actually started to cook, i realised, it was not really so. Atleast for me. I was used to having my meals as and when i was hungry. Here, the scene completely changed! I had to cook first whrn i got hungry! Some are suppposed to be natural cooks! If that meant enjoying cooking, no i am not a natural cook!! I cook because it is inevitable! Cooking also means cleaning up. After tiring cooking sessions you have the cleaning sessions.

Its not just about cooking. There is more to it! All the grocery shopping! Phew! Its a pain.

I cook to fill my tummy. Thats about it. It is no more to sate my taste buds!

Blog

Back at home, I did not really think i would have to blog. It occurred to me after getting to the US of A, mighty far away from home that blogging could well be a nice way to vent out my feelings.

Yes, Its my first stay away from home(read parents). And yeah, If u ask me I coud fill you in on how much I am missing home. I would rather, talk about my journey to the west. I had a warm send off. Amidst tears and hugs, I was at a juncture wondering if at all the decision was worth it. I still wonder!

The course of the journey was via Mumbai, Germany,Charlotte and finally to Pittsburgh. Mumbai was not really a good experience. Shifting the luggages from the domestic to the International airport was a pain! Off to Germany! I was to be held there for a 4 hour break. I thought i yearned for something. Coffee it was. But the coffee was bitter as ever! It was the chocolate pastry that pepped up my spirits! But i was in for one of my worst flight journeys. The journey after this was awfully bad! The journey to Charlotte never seemed to end! I had no enthusiasm left in me to peep out into the world below me.

Down to Charlotte and there I was held at the customs! It was a horrifying experience. I think i rather spare myself the trouble of remembering that, although i got through it. I managed to catch the connecting flight, thanks to the flight delay!! Finally when i got to Pitts, IGSA was at its best lending its helping hand.

Pittsburgh was hot as ever. And boy! was i hungry!

Heat and hunger
I had more to discover
A mere stranger
On the soils of of a country,alien as ever!