Our journey
This day, last year, we got engaged. A big day of our lives. Commemortaing this occassion, i've just put together a collection of quotes that says our story
It all started with this realisation and experience....
Lots of people will want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.

When you realize
You want to spend
The rest of your life with somebody,
You want the rest of your life
To start as soon as possible. When Harry Met Sally (Movie) --Sally's wish, my wish--

Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a tear.
Love is hard work; and hard work sometimes hurts!

It hurt and i wanted to part but he taught me ...

Never say goodbye if you still want to try.
Never give up if you still feel you can go on.
Never say you do not love a person anymore if you cannot let go.

Love: a temporary insanity, curable by marriage... my insanity cured on June 21st ,2002

Love has its own time, its own season, and its own reasons from coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it or reason it into staying. You can only embrace it when it arrives and give it away when it comes to you.
--Kent Nerburn

Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it's source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.

I don't want mine to die. I want it to be a miracle.
Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.
--Sam Levenson

Art of making friends for a lifetime

Vivek once said to me "The only people you can choose in this lifetime are friends. So make as many as you can and cherish it. Relatives are given by HIM and you got to accept them whether you like it or not." How true. It takes time and effort to make and retain friends. I see it with the few people i know.

Am a highly sensitive person with a caution to everything in life. The red alert antenna in my brain starts blinking at the drop of a hat. Am opening up more now, have started talking freely to people. Its definitely going to take sometime. Unwinding 23 years of lifestyle is not all that easy. Have been brought up this way by my family and circumstances.

Pravin and I are stark opposites, he never had to go through what i had to as a kid. He never had to stay at a relative's place during schooling. I was barely 7 years old when i studied at my granny's. No doubt they are good people. But small incidents can leave a permanent scar in a kids mind. Abusing the kids parents, talking about their financial status and asking the helpless kid why didn't your dad tell me before he left that we got to pay for your tuition this month, makes one more reserved. Having grown in such environments i started being so careful about money, that i couldn't kick the habit when i started living with my own parents. Never asked them to buy me anything, never asked them for a help. Grew up with a feeling that it is obligation to ask parents for help. But i did get the courage to ask for something big in life, fought for it and got it.
Till this day, i don't ask them if they can help me out in anyway, if they understand my needs and offer i have learnt not to say a no.
Talking to strangers, especially boys, was considered a stigma. Branded a flirt because i said "hi" to one of my cousin's friendds at home :(

Its a commom perception that people from down south in India let money rule their lives. Maybe its true, maybe its not. In my case it didn't have anything to do with my origin, its just what i was subjected to. If one had to think twice before asking for a 100 page notebook that costed Rs.5 back in 1993, then its not all that easy to change it.
It definitely hurts a lot when my own call me a miser.

Am glad am opening up. I want to be a good friend and help my friends in whatever way i can. That will help me come out of the very small world i have lived all these years.

Interpreting Dreams

All of us get dreams when we sleep. Some of us remember when we wake up, some of us don't.
The reason i say "we get dreams" is because it is not a volunatry action initiated by us. Dreams are patterns of images that we see subconsicously in our sleep. Our brains continue to churn out images while the body is resting. I have been told that a sound sleep is devoid of dreams. Dreaming is a somatic process, nothing supernatural about it. I have observed a specific pattern in my dreams. I remember them only if they have been bad and disturbing. Over the past 2 weeks, dreams of murders, suicide, extra-marital affairs, divorces have haunted me. I wake up with heavy head on such mornings. Two years back, when i was going through a difficult phase of life, i used to get bad dreams. They communicate the state of mind, body and soul. Restlessless, anxiety, fear of change are expressed through dreams by different symbols.

Content of my dreams, as everyone else's, remain obscure, absurd and incomprehensible when I wake up. Wondering what such dreams meant and if i could interpret them i started looking for articles on the Internet. I realise that in reality, they are susbtitues of our own thought processes, with a hidden meaning. I have started viewing the hazy negative images in my dreams as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces put together gives
me a vivid picture of my subdued thought process or perhaps whats in store for future. Most dreams concern primarily with future. However interpreting them analogously will certainly lay to rest some of the fears of the inner mind. For example, i woke up this morning narrating my dream to Vivek. I had seen a 20-something committing suicide followed by 3 murders. "Dreams on Death" signify a major change in one's life. I interpret "suicide" characteristic of a change that is to be forced on me, for which i might have to be prepared.

Sigmund Freud, in his work "Interpretation of Dreams", encourages one not to suppress his ideas even if they are irrelevant.
In his words, "Undesired ideas are changed into desired ones".
I can correlate it with my experience. One afternoon, I suppressed some thoughts that i perceived as non-sensical. I dreamt that very night of images concerned with the same subject, not understanding the relevance the next morning when i woke up. Now i know why!

Lesson : Do not constraint your thoughts. They are bound to surface in dreams sooner than later.

uhhh....i better stop now..else i can go on for sometime on this topic.

Anger
Do u learn from the lessons that life teaches you, the events around you, movies that you watched on a Friday night or from what your friends have gone through? Or are you the kind who likes to get your fingers burnt and not learn from others mistakes? Or are you the kind who gets fingers burnt and still doesn't learn? I fall under the second category. Vivek tells me "Life is not a technology to be learnt and grapsed overnight from a book or a website" Observe, learn and improve.
In the movie "Anger Management", Jack Nicholson talks of two types of anger - explosive and implosive. Friday night, 2 hour movie, $9 spent yet learnt nothing. Two days later he gives me a suggestion for something and tears start rolling down my cheeks. ( I know i know girls are good at crying. And am the best of all at that. I still recollect dad making fun of me everytime i have cried. He used to say, "stop crying baby, i will get you a crying fruit" and i would wonder what fruit was that :) )
Worried if he had something wrong, Vivek asks me what happened. In my characteristic careless tone, I say " I don't know, Forget it". Five words that have no meaning and no solution. After a lot of effort from him, i tell him the reason - relating the suggestion to an incident that happened 3 months back. Though i claim that i have long forgotten it, feign indifference to the event as though it didn't matter to me anymore, IT DID. But i was not willing to accept. This is "implosive" anger. There's more to it than it appears. Had i shouted back at the person who hurt me, i wouldn't have been crying today. Implosive Anger takes different forms at different stages of life when you are least expecting it. So if you are one of those kinds then follwo this principle - "Shouting is a lot better than keeping quiet" It will make you a happy, cheerful, come-what-may attitude person.

Inner Fears
Separation. Uncertainty. Confusion. Frustration. Repeated Failures.
These states have not made me immune. They have not made me strong. They enhance the inner fears that i live with. Almost certainly they show in my face and voice without my realisation.
I am struggling to come out of it - low on confidence today.
Developing application don't make me happy anymore. Advance in IT doesn't intrigue me. Me, me, me - enough of it. I don't want to bother about myself so much that it causes me disappointment, unhappiness. Am i going into the Ayn Rand era - no doubt in a confused state of mind. i know for sure i don't enjoy what i do. I know "Passion pushes one forward. So do what you know and love."

Our system has to change. Why is it that Indian Parents want their kids to become a MBA, doctor, software engineer, engineer - in that order? Why not a civil service worker, a librarian or an administrator? Why is it that their dreams are forced upon kids? I fully agree that am an independent person and maybe succeessful for many because:
1. Am an employee of a "TATA" company - the stigma attaced to TATA BIRLA is still prevalent in India.
2. As a consequence of 1, I get a decent salary at the end of every month to sustain myself.
3. Its a job in the most successful and talked about industry - the money minting software industry.

After a 4 year stint, i am NOT happy. I exist and do the work, rather create work so that i ensure i have a job. "Insecure" feeling creeps in any software engineer's mind who has been out of work for more than 2 weeks. The devil's workshop churns out numerous questions like this :

Am i replaceable?
Am i a overhead to the company?
Will i get laidoff?
Have i lost my importance?

The constant need to prove oneself tires me in the long run. I grew up with a dream of becoming either joining the Indian Foreign Service. I wanted to become a diplomat because of my passion for traveling to different countries. U.S was one country that i never wanted to travel to. Canada was one that i always wanted to visit. The Indian civil service system scared my parents and they didn't want me to join.

I don't blame them because their dream is to see their kids settled in life. Not to struggle for a living. They have gone through the hardships in life, going to school with wet clothes because they had only one pair of clothes. Got beaten up for coming naked because there was nothing to wear but the passion to study draw them to school. Am very lucky for having everything. HUMANs can never be satisfied, you have it all, yet you want more.

Quiet Sunday
Spent a good portion of the day in darkness and silence. But it felt good for i was reading "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".
Yes very unusual for a 25 year old to read fairy tales.

Movie of the day - Pretty Woman
Julia Roberts looks stunning in some of the scenes. She looks gorgeous in the scarlet dress in the opera scene.
When someone speaks low of you, you think you are worth only that.
Bad things are easier to believe.
You've got a lot of ptential. Don't let anybody tell you anything different.
Did you know that "strawberry brings out the flavor in champagne? :)
Ends on a nice note. Welcome to Hollyowod - this is the land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some dont. But keep on dreaming.

An early satisfying weekend
This week, weekend started Friday and ended Saturday. He starts working long hours from today until Thursday.
Books books and more books
Authorities at Immigration while we head back to India are gonna go crazy. People shop for clothes, electronics, chocolates and all that jazz. But both of us are very happy for what we did - something that will always remain our passion - buying books. One hard luggage is filled with about 25 odd books.
We bought a whopping 13 books in 2 days. What i like most about him is that he always acts on his first instinct. Last afternoon, at "Discovery channel" (@Solomon Pond Mall, Marlborough), I was contemplating whether to buy the $15 book titled "The century" or not. The minute i showed him the book, he was impressed and decided to buy. The book is a rare compilation of photographs from every year of the last cnetury (1899-2001). The last photograph shows an officer informing George W. Bush at a primary school about the September 11th attacks. I cannot recollect a single book that i have half-finished the day i bought it. But this one is almost done.
While driving back from Malborough, i causally mentioned to him about the library sale at the Framngham Public Library today where books are sold for either $1 or $2. His immediate reaction was lets go! A small room packed with about thousand novels, management books, travel guides etc. We were impressed. We chose about 7 books. The thought of carrying it all back home made us drop 3 and finally settled for 4 books. He presents them at the counter. The lady says "How about a quarter?". He is perplexed and shoots an inquiring glance at me. I didn't understand either. So i ask her "Is a quarter all that you are asking for this?". She says "Yes". We were speechless.
All set to exit the library we look at an adjoining room, which was about 10 times as big as the one we just walked out of. Name a book and it was there. There was nothing stopping us. It just made our day. All hardcover books. Gives us a good reason to stay back in this country.
I could see the flash in his eyes as they raced up and down the kids section flooded with books. He had read all of them but i hadn't. So i picked up bools like Alice in wonderland, A compilation of Fairy tales and Frankenstein. The satisfaction of having made it today is something materialistic things will never give us. We are glad we did it.

X2
Saw X2 last Tuesday. I can't quite understand why we went for that movie. The box-office hit put me to sleep. The war between mutants and humans, their magical inborn skills reminded me morre of those video games Pravin played as a kid. Crazy movies are made because crazy people like us watch them!

Random thoughts
1. You are at someone's place for lunch. The hosts get a call, talk in native language presumin you can't understand the language. The hosts tell you, from whom the call was. You discover 30 minutes later from some X that the call was actually from someone else. Have you ever gone through what we did? Does it make you feel like a fool? I don't think it should, though it did to me. Why give it a damn?

2. Lessons of life - Don't go out of your way to help someone. My dad has suffered from this all his life but he still continues to help people unconditionally. Vivek does the same too. Yet another similarity but definitely not a Taurean trait. But when someone doesn't even have the courtesy to tell him, it hurts me. I got to keep away from his official affairs is what am learning.

Munching munching and more munching
My appetite has increased 2-fold. Thanks to vivek's nagging about my eating habits. I eat a lot of chocolates, brownies, juice and fruits. I know that it is not good food and keeeps my tummy filled. He too eats a lot of junk food - visible in his ever-increasing wasitline :). I can't seem to have enough of chocolates. I would love to taste all the icecreams here but there is no fridge!
Am feeling good today. Looking forward to a day's break for Vivek so that we can freak out before the 24-hour monster days start this sunday.

Jinxed Wednesdays
For years, Pravin and I have believed that Wednesdays are not meant for us. Thursday was what we have looked forward to. All the bad things await us on Wednesdays and good ones on Thursdays.
Today, yet another bad wednesday! Started with a phone call that went on for 1hr. The duration is of significance when you are talking to a spineless moron. Felt like swearing at him today. Criticising someone's work, maybe it happens in every profession. In software it goes a bit far, why is it that always what the developers develop ae proclaimed as the shittest pieces of code ever written. I wonder what everyone was doing when it was being designed, reviewed, approved and implemented. System that has been live for a year and won accolades is being criticised.
I could feel temperatures soaring and we being driven up the wall. People who i really admire for their patience, lost it today. So that is a reason unto itself. Gap is increasing. Technology wars don't have a solution. Neither do close-ended arguments. Almost every one i spoke to after the call was in my line of fire. I don't feel sorry about it because thats the only way i could get my frustration out. Else it would linger on for days.

Stuck at "stop and shop" with a pay phone that didn't work, i cursed myself. why did i have to go out on a bad day? Call it superstition or whatever but it happens. Stranded there with no one willing to help, no phone to call a taxi. Finally when i did call for a taxi it came after a sweet 40 mins.

Todays' timepass: Laundry. To top it all laundry machine hasn't been working for a week and it would take weeks to be up. So here i go washing by hand huge pile of clothes. There is no laundromat for miles nearby. Enuf of cribbing for the day.

Weekend Saga
This was the best weekend i have had since coming here.
Friday evening
Dinner followed by a movie - "Anger Management". Minitaure cinema halls, multitude movies, funny people.

Saturday
Drive to New Bedford The drive was glorious with breathtaking views of the New england landscape.
Trees wearing coats of crimson, scarlet red and greeen leaves was a feast to our eyes.
Beautiful houses surounded by neatly mowed green lawns is something you don't get to see in India.
For a minute, Vivek and I felt we should just stay back here.
Backyard sale along the villages bordering the Mass Pike was prevalent throughout.

Reached New Bedford at 11:00 a.m. New Bedford, a coastal town of Massachusetts is the No. ! commercial fishing town of the Uniteed States.
Jeff and Deb had invited Bill and the both of us. Jeff joined us at the flat. He stormed into the parking lot on his magnificent Harley Davidson.
I had never seen and touched a Harley..i understood why Vivek loved it so much. He went on a ride with Jeff that afternoon on Harley announcing to the entire enighbourhood that Harley was on a roll :). Deb just hates it.
Jeff and Deb were so hospitable that i really apprecitaed it.

BoatingFrom the flat we set out to the harbor to go on a boat ride like never before. It was my first ride. Jeff owns a 40 ft boat. He took out his boat for the first time this season. The sea was turbulent that morning and i rocked and rolled from one end to the other on the boat. John, Jeromy and Ashley - Jeff and Deb's kids along with their friends wnet on the ride with us.
Their parents felt helpless while they sweared, smoke and drank. My first up,close and personal encounter with a typical American family.
Slightly shocked initially, felt sorry for the parents.

Weddings Saw 3 weddings. Beautiful brides clad in crystal white flowing gowns with veins. I don't know what they call them perhaps the bride's party - all the girls dressed in lavender gowns.

Dinner at Davy's Locker - Famous for it sea food and the crowd that throng it. We waited for an hour and half before we got a table. After reserving the table we went to the fort nearby. No comparison to our Red fort or any of the smallest forts in India.
There was a woman wailing at the sea shore by fireside. I asked Jeff why she was crying. He told me "Lets go and fin out".
Jeff jokes a lot that i never took him seriously. But as he approached the lady i hada feeling he was going to ask her why she cried. And He DID.
She said she could feel the spirits. Her friend was dying. Jeff sat by her side for sometime and he was glad he wnet upto her.
We left the place after sometime to Davy's Locker - to find we had to wait another 30 mins before we got a table.
We had our first meal standing - candies candies and candies. They were good.
Vivek and I had leaves of all trees and plants for dinner, that we would never have touched in India. It had a fancy name - Caesar salad.
The others relished their sea food - salmons, shrimps, lobsters and voodoo special.

Rock n roll
Jeff coaxes Bill into sleeping on the boat. Deb jokes he would be rocking and rolling the next week.
We sleep at the flat.

Sunday
Breakfast at Mary's - mmmmmm. Experience was good. Ate something i haven't had for 20 years :) Will remember Jeff flagging the waitress for jelly and she ignoring him :)
Whaling museum - Has the largest ship model in the world. also houses the biggest blue whale's bones. Got gifts for Jeff and Deb.
Drive to Newport - Seeing the mansions - summer houses of the RICH from New York was worth the 45 minute drive.
Dinner at JOE's - Great.

Just another day!
Not feeling great about myself of late. Maybe it has to do something with my health.
I slept most of the day yesterday or lazed around seeing T.V. As he says, its just "me ,myself and I".
Liked these lyrics of "The wedding story" show on TLC. It goes like this:
and when the spark of youth someday surrenders
i'll have your hand to see me through
tears may come and go
but there's one thing i know
love is all there is when i'm with you

What a perfect song for the wedding..I just love it and i can still hear the sweet music playing in my ears.

Today's timepass:Sleep contd. Perhaps a small sketch for Bill uncle, sometime late afternoon.

How to convince a moron?
Covincing a moron drains my energy. This vacation has drawn me much more closer to one person i admire for his understanding about human nature. I am learning. I don't know how well i'm faring. But doesn't matter, i know i'm trying. He has taught me to be more receptive to "shades of grey". Not everything can be viewed in black and white. Makes sense.
Logical, factual arguments comes naturally to me. It might be a perfect legitimate case but they don't convince a moron.
Such people follow a simple policy: "No, you're either with us, and good, or against us, and evil... you're against us, so you must be evil!".
To get such people to look in the same dircetion as you are is going to be difficult. If i cannot do so, then i thought i must stop them from asking more questions. Question them in reverse and it shuts them for a while. It worked today, i don't know if it will in the future.

Today's timepass: Glass painting

May 6, 2003 - Dad turns 53 today.
Since the time i can recollect, this day has been of very high significance in my life. Partly because i have not lived 75% of my life with him. Childhood memories come back to me - We would be at granny's place every year for summer vacation (April-May) during dad's birthday. And dad at his work place. So i used to make hand-made greeting cards and post it across.

If i were to describe my dad in one line, i would say - "a smart engineer, a dedicated son, a loving husband and an affectionate father" - though not in the same order :). Well now that sounds like the definition for a perfect man. You are right. Thats what he is to me.

26 years of marriage, 11 years in an alien land, 1 year hiatus from everything, 5 years of separation from family and 53 years of dedication to his family - parents, wife and kids. He is a role model for me. I look upto him for everything and subconsciously look for the father-like image in Vivek. Thanks dad for everything - we are what because of yours and mom's sacrifices and dreams of seeing us make it good in life.

Gossips - who doesn't like it ?
Source : "Cubicle culture" section in "The Wall Street Journal"
Subject : A gossip eavesdropper
Quote: Yet like it or not, our ears seem to snatch certain tones and emotions from the air like an omnidirectional antenna: If the person speaks quietly, you'll tune in.

How does it feel when a 25 year old gets treated like a 10 month old? I feel good when he says drink water, look before you cross the road, don't hurt others, tuck in and sleep. I do make faces to pretend am angry for being scolded but i feel good internally for being pampered so much all the day.

Today's timepass: This section appears after a gap of 5 days in my blog. I had a great time in the morning in the downtown area of Framingham. Visit to the Danforth museum's spring sale and Framingham public library was good.

Sweet Weekend Memories
The Boston image is still fresh in my mind. Commonly known as the "Walking city", it did test our walking ability. It had its share of highs and lows and excitement and disappointment!
Here are a few snapshots:
Fun moments:
Location : South station.
A 20-something gal clad in a white t-shirt had these words "Today is my bday. Give me a hug." clipped to the back of her shoulder.

Tiring moments: The 2 mile walk along the "Freedom Trail" . Covering over 9 historic moments over a span of 3 hours, we were amazed at how much hype is cretaed about so little. Felt like a fool paying $10 to go inside the Old south Meeting house. This is where the Boston tea Party began. All that one can see inside is a couple of benches with torn covers and the history of what happenned when. We wondered at what a rich culture India has and what little is being done to preserve them.

Wild moments: Red Sox fans disembarking at Yawkey Way all geared up to cheer for the Saturday match.

Serene moment:
Location: Harvard Square
Vivek enjoying the street performers play some overwhleming numbers.
Speechless. I sat in silence gazing at him. We knew what we were thinking as memories of the past flashed back. His promise fulfilled of getting me to this place one day! 1 line- "Love means never having to say you're sorry" and 2 characters (Ollie and Jen) changed our lives 3 years back.

Silent places:
Location: MASSACHVSETTS INSTITVTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Intelligent look. Deserted. Kids skateblading or rollerskating all over. Beautiful trees lining the streets. Nice view of the Charles river along the Memorial drive. Breathtaking medieval architecture with buildings christened "Aristotle", "Darwin", "Newton". Boston and Cambridge - stark opposites.

The "T" moment:
Transportation made easy in Boston with the "T - the subway. I'm a big fan of the "T" now bccos of its frequency.
My favourite : RED line because it goes to the Harvard Square and MIT.

Day's worrk : Second round of Design review

Ideas
I dream, plan and have ideas. Today, yet again, i proposed something that i have been doing for the past 3 months.
But someone said "Dreams, ideas, and plans not only are an escape, they give me a purpose, a reason to hang on."
Everyone thinks his/her idea is an innovation. Feels dejected when it is not implemented. There is a resistance because every new idea is perceived to upset an established system. Many of my ideas have not taken shape. But am trying hard because i believe in them.


Spaces
Ever had an argument at home over silly things like "why did you leave the wet towel on the bed?" or "why didn't you switch off the heater" and got replies such as "even you didn't do it yesterday..so why are you pointing it out to me?". If you have not had one, then you are not leading a normal life. Unspoken accusations, blames pent up inside and blast one fine day doing permanent damage. I have come to understand its i better said than unsaid - they give you a reason to laugh later during the day. Don't you think so ?

Am i aging too fast?
I'm experiencing "Senior moments" very often these days - memory lapse at the most crucial times. My memory fails me just when i think i can win over someone! I tend to forget things like why was i so happy last night.