Everybody Here Comes From Somewhere..

My R.E.M. experience has not yet ended. For some reason (thank you God) R.E.M. decided to add Dallas to their world tour. They finish touring Europe and come back to North America to perform in Dallas and New Orleans in October, before proceeding to South America. When I heard about Dallas I immediately bought the ticket. It wasn't cheap for sure - well, seats in the first few rows are never cheap, right?

The only dilemma I have now is whether to fly or drive to Dallas. It's pretty far - 800 miles. If I drive, I will be exhausted. If I fly, I might get stuck - again.

I just might drive.

TAPFS is coming to Des Moines in November. Have heard a lot about their shows, and I think the ticket is only 30 bucks. Should be fun.

Happy Birthday To Me..;-)!!

I am 28 years young now.

I have never really given much importance to my birthday. Every year my birthday came and went, but I never got excited - it was just another day.

But this year was different, more so because my own perception changed a bit. A couple of days before my birthday I sat down and tried to think about why I don't really celebrate my birthday, and why, on the other hand, just about everyone gets super excited on their's. By definition birthdays are supposed to be special, and I decided to make my own birthday (this year) worth something, if not special.

To start with, I bought myself two shirts. Giving gifts to myself was strange - I do buy stuff for myself all the time, but there's never a "special" reason. I usually buy stuff either when I really want something or when my brain goes for a holiday.

I must mention that I now share my birthday with a two year old girl who happens to be my colleague's daughter. Now that's really an amazing feeling - two people, from different generations (!), born on the same day. This is what excited me, and perhaps added a little bit of "specialness" to my birthday. I made sure I bought gifts for her too - a Webkinz pug, and a t-shirt and shorts. Now shopping for her clothes was amusing because I have never stepped into the kids' section of a store before, and this time when I did, I was totally lost. I did not know what to buy, and the ultra super compressed size of the clothes made me laugh. But I shopped for her the way I shop for myself - just picked something up, without bothering too much about style, color and all that jazz.

I took cookies(5 dozen!) for my colleagues at work. Some of them even sent me a personal Happy Birthday email, which was really nice. My colleagues from Vet Med took me out for lunch, and Dr. Roth insisted on paying for mine- he said it was tradition. Later in the afternoon, they had cookies too, and all of them sang the Happy Birthday song which was a totally awesome feeling. When they were singing I tried to remember the last time I had heard that song being sung for me - It was so many years ago.

I was generally happy. It was a very nice feeling. But the best was yet to come.

Andrew invited me over to his house in the evening. When I reached his house, I was really really surprized to find out that Andrew and Sarah had cooked for me - and it was not something ordinary, it was something that I really really like - Falafel and Hummus! And there was turkish salad too! I swear I could have finished everything on that table for two reasons - I was really hungry and everything was uber delicious. Also , the fact that both Andrew and Sarah "invested" so much energy and love into making stuff for an ass like me, actually added to the taste. I did not know that Andrew had invited more friends over! Travis and Lisa showed up very soon, and Travis's usual funny antics made me laugh non-stop.

Then the cheesecake came - that Sarah had made, and then they all sang the Happy Birthday song for me again! The cake was (and still is) just out of this world! Absolutely delicious to the power of n. Sarah was kind enough to let me take the rest of the cake home with me.

The grand finale to this truly great show was at Old Maine, where Andrew bought us a beer sampler - 8 different kinds of beer in small glasses.

And the birthday was a success, thanks to the so many wonderful people I met this year, especially Andrew.

Also, I must mention that I received this "beautiful" greeting card from Kedar, which was a really nice surprise. I was so not expecting it, and it just made my day so special. It really feels nice to know that people care and appreciate your presence in their lives.

If only all of us could do something to make others smile.

So that is that - and once again, thanks to all you lovely people out there, I am 28 years young.

I Love Her..I Love Her Not

Yesterday was perhaps the first saturday when I sat at home the entire day (well, I did go out to get myself a Subway sandwich). Since I had to kill time somehow, I decided to watch movies, and ended up watching four.

The movies I watched were Kamikaze Girls, Enemy At The Gates, National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, and Amelie.

And then I fell in love.

Some of you may not know but I have a thing for girls with short hair - I find them cute. I go absolutely crazy when I see a girl like that. My brain goes for a holiday, and my heart starts to smile. The damage is doubled if the girl has a very very cute smile...just like Amelie.

Watching Amelie was deja vu all over again. I was in a similar situation 10 years ago - when I had fallen in love with Meg Ryan. Internet in those days was a new and expensive concept, and every month I ran up my telephone bill high, downloading pictures of Meg Ryan. My dad always got mad, but then I was pretty sure that I would have gotten slapped if I had told my dad how much I loved Meg.

So well, the same thing happened last night. I totally fell in love with Amelie, and throughout the movie I could not help wondering how cute she was, and that what would I have to do to get a girl like her. I kind of swallowed my pride for a moment and decided to hunt for a girl like her. Life can be a blessing if spent with a girl like Amelie, I thought. Her presence would bring a smile to my face, I thought. Spending the rest of my life with such a pretty yet sensible girl would make my existence worthwhile, I thought.

The movie ended,...

..and I finished my third beer and slept.

I got up this morning at 11:30, and smiled. The effect of last night's beer had totally vanished from my body, and here I was wondering if I could have gotten up at 11:30 if I were married. The answer was clearly no. I thanked God for my singlehood, made myself a cup of tea, and spent of the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing.

R.E.M. - In Action!!!

I am a big big huge huge R.E.M. fan, in case you did not already know.

When I was a kid, my folks wouldn't get cable because I was still in school, and they thought that cable would corrupt me. My only companion was a radio that did not even have FM. Thanks to my mom and sister, I listened to a lot of Michael Jackson, Cliff Richards and the Beatles, and the occasional nice song on the radio.

Things changed for good when MTV, for some strange reason, collaborated with Doordarshan in 1994 to show "western" music videos on India's national channel. That is how I was introduced to Rock & Roll. That is how I came to know that the music world is not just about MJ, CR and the Beatles, that there is an entire array of bands making exceptional music, and that the greatest band in the world is R.E.M..

Every saturday morning I would get up at around 9:30 to watch the European Top 20, which had a lot of techno, and dance music unlike the US Top 20, which mostly had alternative songs. But on that lucky day, for some reason, they did not show the European Top 20 - instead they showed two concerts of R.E.M., one of them being the Unplugged. They showed the other concert first, and I was just amazed by Michael Stipe's (I didn't know his name back then) enormous levels of energy, his jumping around, and his interaction with the audience! I of course did not know any of the songs they played. Then I saw the Unplugged in which Michael Stipe kept smiling throughout the show. The one song I remembered from the show was "Half a World Away".

The very year R.E.M. released "Monster". I was at home one day, almost ready to go out and play soccer - was just tying my shoe laces when "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" came on TV. The super-psychedelic video caught my attention immediately. More than the orange/blue/green lights emitting from the TV tube, it was the sound, the music, the "wailing" solo and the amazing bass line that made me sit back and watch the entire video. I instantly knew that this was and would be my most favorite song for the rest of my life (trust me, it still is). There was an instant reaction in my head and heart.

I watched that video everyday.

I bought "Monster" very soon and listened to the entire cassette every day - for hours.And that was just the start. I soon bought "Automatic For The People" and "Green". And then "Out of Time". After about five years or so I asked my sister in the US to bring me the rest of the R.E.M. CDs. She did. After listening to the entire catalog, I sat down to think - about how a band can make such amazing music that touches the heart and makes you appreciate their music all the more. The energy, the joy, the sadness, the anger in the songs made me more curious, and thanks to the Internet, I started learning about the songs/ lyrics to know what really the songs and the band were about.

Cut to March 2008.

I am not in India anymore. I am in the US now. I graduated in December 2007 and have a job now. I don't live in New Delhi, India anymore. I live in Ames, IA now.

I was super excited to know that R.E.M. was releasing "Accelerate" this year. I was reading about it online, and most of the articles said that it would be a "rocking" album, unlike the last three. I was glad to hear that, but the reason for my heightened levels of excitement was not the fact that Accelerate would be "rockier" than the previous three, but the fact that an album launch means the band would go on tour soon(and thank God they did). As soon as they announced their tour, I bought a ticket to their concert in Chicago which was scheduled on June 6th. $100, which meant that I would be very very close to the stage. I was counting down days. I can't tell you how excited I was. You had to be me to really know it.

I told everyone at work that I would take 6th June off because I am going to see R.E.M. live in action. I told them that I had waited 14 years for this day. All my colleagues were excited for me.

On 6th June I was to fly from Des Moines to Minneapolis to Chicago. It is a weird route alright, but it would take me to Chicago, so no complaints whatsoever.

6th June comes. I reach Des Moines airport. My flight to Minneapolis was to take off at 12:10 PM. I check in and get to know that it has been delayed and that now it would take off at 1:05 PM. My connecting flight from Minneapolis to Chicago was at 2:40 PM. It was a 45 minutes flight from Des Moines to Minneapolis, which meant that I would still make it to Minneapolis in time to catch my connecting flight.

I board the flight at 12:30. everything's going really well, I say to myself. The plane starts to taxi towards the runaway. I say "wow", and "finally" to myself, and that is when the plane halts. Right before the runway. The pilot announces that we would have to wait there for around 15-20 minutes. Apparently, the weather in Minneapolis was really bad, and the pilot was to get another report from the air traffic conroller about when he can take off. I am still okay.

After 20 minutes, the pilot announces that we would have to wait there for another 50 minutes. He also said that we should call NWA and reschedule our connections. I said "f*ck" to myself and did just that. Now I was on the 4:30 flight from Minneapolis. After an hour or so, the pilot announced that we would have to wait for another hour or so at the very spot because the weather was really bad in Minneapolis and that no planes were allowed to enter the Minneapolis airport. I called NWA again, told them to put me on a different flight - perhaps on a direct Des Moines - Chicago flight. I lied to the rep and told her that it was a "life and death situation" and that I had to be in Chicago downtown by 6:30PM. She apologized and said that she realy could not do anything because "everybody is in the same boat". I said very well. She put me on the 5:30 flight from Minneapolis to Chicago.

At around 4:15 PM the pilot announced that he was going back to the gate because he has not been given permission to take off. After getting deplaned, we were given "our sincere apologies, get $25 off on your next reservation" coupons. The plane was now to take off at 5:00PM.

I could not believe that all this was happening to me. I called NWA again and put myself on the 7:00 PM flight. I was really desperate to see R.EM. As I mentioned before, I had waited 14 years for this day. That's a crazy amount of time. I figured that even if I reach Chicago downtown by 9:00 PM, I would be able to see R.E.M. , if not the opening bands.

The flight finally TOOK OFF at 5:45 PM. It was a good sign. At least, I was on my way to see R.E.M., and it looked like I would make it successfully to Chicago in time. I reached Minneapolis airport at around 6:35, and I ran towards my gate, which was at the other end of the airport. When I reached the gate I looked at one of the wall mounted monitors and realized that my flight was delayed. It was now scheduled to take off at 7:30. Excellent. Instead of taking off at 7:30, I boarded the flight at 7:30, and then I kept sitting inside the aircraft for another one hour and fifteem minutes before it took off.

I reached Chicago airport at 10:15PM. United Center was another hour away from the airport. There was no way I would have made it in time. I said screw it and went straight to my friend's house. I did not go the venue at all.

I met my friend, ate my dinner, and took control of his mac immediately. I was agitated. Frustrated. Annoyed. Sad. I could not believe that what I had gone through that day had actually happened to me. Me. A nice guy, who doesn't do any harm to anyone. Who always wishies well for others.

I went to remhq and looked at R.E.M.'s schedule. They were performing at Jones Beach on the next saturday, which was the 19th.

My next set of actions:

Ticketmaster->Buy ticket to Jones Beach concert.

Nwa.com-> Buy MSP to JFK and back for $284 (for some strange reason, DSM to JFK was $800!).

Spent saturday and sunday with Vinay and Shalva, which diverted my attention from the most ridiculuous friday of my life ever.

On my way back, same shit happened. My flight from Chicago to Minneapolis was delayed by 5 hours. I again missed my connection and ended up spending the entire night at the Minneapolis airport. The next morning, I was put on a flight to Des Moines at 10:20AM which was delayed by an hour because a "VIP" was flying over Minneapolis and our guy was not allowed to take off. Thanks to the VIP, I missed my bus from Des Moines to Ames.

I had to call Andrew who was more than willing to pick me up from Des Moines. I reached home at 3:30 PM on monday the 9th of June, year 2008.

Cut to 13th June, 2008.

I rent a car and go to Minneapolis to catch my flight the next morning at 7AM. Luckily (thank you God!), my friend who lives in NJ, decides to join me for the concert. Without him, I would have missed the concert again!

The next morning, as I am about to board my flight to JFK, I realize that I had forgotten to bring my concert ticket with me! I could not believe it again. It was deja vu all over again. My "jinxness", if you will, had started. I said "f*ck".

But it wasn't going to be as bad as last week after all. My friend would be with me this time. I forwarded him the ticketmaster email that had the link to the ticket and asked him to print it out for me (I emailed him from my phone, which made me realize how important technology is to mankind). Now, the email had a link that my friend was supposed to click to get the actual ticket that he was to print. The email clearly mentioned in bold that "THIS EMAIL CANNOT BE USED FOR ENTRY".

I meet my friend in Wantagh. He was hungry, so we went to the nearest McDonald's to grab a bite. After that we sit in his car and he gives me the ticket.

My friend had printed the email, not the ticket.

I told him that he had made a mistake.

We now drive to the nearest Kinko's, which was 6 miles away. We do get lost a couple of times but finally make it to Kinko's. At 45 cents for 15 seconds of Internet, I print my ticket. Not one, but three - just to be safe.

Before going to the venue, we go and spend some time at the Jones beach - but more about that some other time, or maybe never.

We enter the venue at around 6:30 PM, and sit at seats that did not belong to us. I am all charged up and excited. I MADE IT!!!!

The National opened at exactly 7:00PM. They are a good band, but I did not really pay much attention to their music, perhaps because I was eagerly waiting for R.E.M. to come on stage. they played for 45 minutes and then made way for Modest Mouse, which I should admit, were really good.

Modest Mouse played for around 40 minutes. They were still playing, and it started to rain. What?? Yes, It starts to rain, and I have not seen R.E.M. yet. People start moving here and there to seek shelter, but I convince my friend to keep sitting , telling him that it's an adventure and all that shit and crap. He sits for a few minutes but soon gets up to protect himself. I keep sitting, and I plan to keep sitting. It is raining like crazy.

And that is when it happened.

Lightening struck. Around 20 seats behind me, and I am not joking. It was perhaps one of the cruelest sounds I have heard in my life. The moment it struck, thousands of people got up and started moving towards the exits. I had to move too.

Chaos chaos everywhere, not a glimpse of R.E.M. to be seen.

Thank God nobody slipped on the stairs, otherwise it would have been a major stampede. It was almost a stampede as it is.

It was raining like crazy now. There were thousands of people not inside the arena, but outside, hiding under covered roofs. The organizers announced on the PA system that the show had been postponed by an hour, and that R.E.M. would come on stage at 10:00PM.

But it was raining so bad that I almost thought that the show would get cancelled. In my mind I was making plans of going to Atlanta next saturday, and the same time was wondering why I was being punished for being a loyal R.E.M. fan. I could not really find any logic behind whatever was happening to me. Then I thought that perhaps I was being punished for something that I might have done in my previous life.

But "Sweetness Followed" soon after. It was announced that R.E.M. would indeed come on stage. Luckily the merchandise store had started to sell ponchos (for $5. I have dedicated a pocket for it in my back pack) which my friend and I bought. We entered the arena with courage. The courage to stand in the rain.

R.E.M. came on stage at around 10:20. My reaction:

It was all good from then on. I finally got to see R.E.M. I saw them perform "It's the end of the ..." which they played only for us - the crowd at Long Beach...Micheal Stipe was very chatty..he talked with us a lot...he said we looked like garbage bags, which was true yet funny.

My dream had come true. My dream of 14 years, and I am proud to announce to the world that I did whatever it took to make it come true. From New Delhi to Ames to Chicago to Ames to Long Beach - who would have thought.

The one thing I want to do is meet them in person. I don't think it's possible. I don't think it ever will be. If I ever have children, I will tell them how adventurous their dad is, and what he did and had to go through to see the greatest band on this planet.

I can die peacefully now.

#remjones

Eat It!

Living alone can take a toll on your eating habits/routine at times. I was kind of tired of cooking everyday, so I really did not cook anything in the last 3 - 4 days. I survived on Maggi, ready-to-eat desi stuff, biscuits, pasta, and similar junk. But today I somehow decided to eat a royal dinner, and by royal I mean more than one item to eat. Usually I make one sabzi, but today I made not one, not two but three items! I don't know what got into me but I just had a very satisfying dinner a few minutes ago.

Menu:

- Aloo Bhindi.

- Matter Paneer.

- Daal.

- Roti.

- Chawal.

Awesome bawesome!!!

Learning To Fly

BEFORE YOU READ: This is perhaps the longest post i have ever written. Please be patient :).

I always think about blogging about my "flying" experiences - what I go through/observe/experience when I take a flight and go somewhere. But thanks to procrastrination and ennui, I never write anything about them because usually there is so much to write. Just the thought of writing a lot tires me, and eventually the idea of sharing my amazing experiences, if you will, is abandoned - shamelessly.

But this time is different. I am determined to write about my trip last week to Niagara Falls. I have already started this post, and hope to finish it. This post may look like a chapter from a fiction novel simply because it's going to be so long. So my dear readers, please read this with a soda and popcorn in your hands. I am not promising entertainment, but I have observed that munching something while reading usually makes the process a lot less painful and a lot more entertaining.

My mom's friend had come to Baltimore to visit my sister, and since she was on the east coast, she thought she could fulfill her lifelong dream of going to see the Niagara Falls. My sister volunteered to take here there. She asked me to join them too, which I did. I flew from Des Moines to Baltimore last thursday. From there, we were to drive all the way to the falls and back.

Andrew, like always, was nice and kind enough to give me a ride to the Des Moines airport.

I checked in my bag, and moved towards security to find out that within the next few minutes, I would experience the most fun security check in my life, ever. The TSA guards were joking with me and each other, and they all smiled, which of course, is very unusual. I must say that it was perhaps the most laidback security check I have ever witnessed in this country. I remember the security check at the Bloomington airport being stricter than this.

Anyway, there was still like an hour left to board, and I was hungry too, so I grabbed a southwest chicken sandwich. Now, whenever I travel, I tend to overstuff myself with food. This time was no exception either. The sandwich actually was pretty big. But something inside me made me think that just that would not be enough. So I bought fries. And soda. I sat down, eating my stuff and reading "Grab On To Me Tightly As If I Knew The Way" which I had borrowed from the library just the previous day. Within a few minutes, I knew that the fries was a big mistake. But I usually don't waste food, so I kept munching away to glory.

The aircraft that was to take us from Des Moines to Chicago was one of the smaller ones - narrow and pointed, which is good enough to be a private jet but bad enough to carry like 50-60 passengers. The flight took off on time. I was still reading my book, and by the 20th page I knew what to expect in the coming 200 or so pages - utter American teenage nonsense. I dozed off, without even bothering to get my free soda and pretzels.

I woke up just in time. The plane was to land in the next 20 minutes or so. I was glad I slept because usually I cannot. The plane landed and I made my way to the gate from where I was to catch my flight to Baltimore. When I got inside the aircraft, I opened my nonsensical book and started reading it again, just for the heck of it. Within a few minutes a desi guy came and sat next to me. I could tell that he was really nice - more so because he tried to start a conversation with me which went something like this:

Guy: Hi!

Me: Hello there!

Guy: How are you?

Me: Good, how are you?

Guy: Very good, thanks.

Then, like an ass, I continued to read my book. I knew the guy wanted to chit-chat, but I simply ignored him.

I had suddenly turned anti-social.

To be honest, I am usually nice to other people. Really nice. But this time around I don't know what happened. I totally snubbed him. I didn't like it, but I think I was tired, and I was reading that Godforsaken book. I guess I didn't want to be disturbed.

About 40 minutes before landing, the pilot announced that a tornado was following us from North Carolina, and that hopefully we would be able to beat it to avoid the excessive rain that a stupid tornado brings. That is when the guy started looking out of the window and said something about the weather. I replied back, but since I was in my anti-social mode, I said something that was perhaps not interesting enough to maintain the longevity of our conversation. The guy then started talking to the lady on his right, and I overheard him saying that he was coming from Oregon. That is when I did a 360 and turned totally friendly and nice. I told him how I always wanted to go see Oregon, and how the air tickets are always so expensive (the last time I checked, it was $600 for the memorial day weekend :(( ). The lady, who was coming from Wisconsin, told me that I should definitely go to Oregon, and that it is very very beautiful. She also told me that I should drive on highway 101 to enjoy my Oregon experience to the fullest. I said I will.

The three of us started talking non stop, and after a while I got to know that the guy was originally from Pakistan, now a Canadian citizen (based in Toronto), and currently living in Baltimore with his family.

I told them I was from India.

The flight landed on time, but we were a little late in beating the tornado. Well, the tornado did not come to the Baltimore area, but it was raining like crazy out there because of which our luggage were not taken out of the aircraft for like 45 minutes. When I finally got my bag I got out of the airport and got in my sister's car. Our aunt had also come. I said namaste to her. Our chit-chat started and we drove away.

I was to come back to Des Moines last sunday, and my flight was at 7:30 in the evening. Our aunt was also going to Kentucky that very day. Her flight was in the morning, though. We took her to the airport, and I went in with her to help her check in.

That is when I got to know about a crazy Southwest concept.

Apparently, the last 15 boarding passes are not given at the check in counter - they are given at the gate. So basically, if you are late, you have to run to the gate. If somebody else gets there before you do, then you can kiss your flight good bye - doesn't matter if you have a confirmed ticket or not.

We were in a similar situation. My aunt did not get her boaarding pass. The lady at the check in counter asked me to go with her, in case my aunt had communication problems. She gave me a pass that would let me go through security without a boarding pass. We both went through security and reached the gate. Apparently, there was no else to claim one of the last 15 passes, so we were safe. The guy gave my aunt her boarding pass that she deserved. We waited for a little while. When boarding started, I touched her feet, bid her goodbye, and came out of the airport.

Then my sister and I went shopping.

When we came back at around 5:00 PM, I decided to check the status of my flight. Usually, I don't do it. In fact, I have never checked my flight status the day I am suppposed to catch it. I just show up at the airport assuming that the flight would be on time.

But for some odd reason, I checked the status online. This time. And this is what I saw:

Flight 327: Baltimore to Chicago

Status: Cancelled

Reason: -

I have experienced many delayed flights in my life. But cancelled? What in the world is that?

I could not believe it. Who would have thought that it would ever happen to me? Bad things happen to other people, don't they?

But here I was - facing the bitter truth. I was victimized. I felt so molested. Suddenly the world seemed very unfair, and I was still in shock.

I called customer care. I spoke to Richard about my situation. Now obviously Richard was sitting in India, but I did not have the time and energy to chit-chat about that. He told me that there is a flight from Dulles airport in Virginia at 7:41, and that I should try to catch it.

Current time : 5:15.

Time it takes to reach there: 1:30 hours.

We immediately left. My sister decided to speed (she loves it) , but as luck would have it, it started to rain. And then there was a traffic jam. And then I called customer care again, and spoke to Archie. I told her that I am stuck and that I might not be able to make it. She was very nice and patient. She said no problem, and put me on the next flight from Dulles -at 6:00 AM next day, on standby that is. Since we were stuck already, I decided to chat with her informally. I asked her if she was in Delhi. She said she was. I told her that I was from Delhi too. I then asked her her real name. She said Aarti. I then asked her where she lived. She said South Ex. She then said that it is always a pleasure to talk to Indian customers. I said thank you. I also told her that she was very kind and helpful.

We reached Dulles at 7:20. I went to United's check in counter where I met another very very nice lady. I explained my situation to her, and she did whatever she could to help me out. Apparently, it was too late to board the aircraft, but she gave me a pass that would let me pass through security. I thanked her and told her that she was the best. Another lady standing next to her said, "Yes, she is". We all laughed.

Then I ran.

The guy at security looked at the time on my boarding pass, then looked at me, smiled, and said sarcastically, "You are a little too early for your flight". I said I know. I made it through security, ran towards the gate only to find out that boarding was over and that they had shut the gate. The aircraft was still there - it had not taken off. But I could not board it.

That was the perfect time to use my favorite quote coined by yours truly - "I know how good my bad luck is".

I was to take the 6AM flight now. I told my sister to go back home, and that I would spend the night at the airport.

I was hungry. I went to a store where they had chawal chole! It was frozen, but the Japanese lady behind the counter offered to heat it up for me. I then went to another store to buy chips where the desi owner was busy flirting with a desi customer girl. He looked at me and asked his sidekick/flunky to see what I wanted.

I bought the chips and found a spot where I could charge my phone. Thank God I had my phone charger in my back pack. I sat on the floor and ate my food.

After a "heavy" meal, i decided to sleep. I lay down on the floor, with my back pack doubling up as my pillow. I tried to sleep, but the floor was so dang cold, that I was almost shivering. I decided to get the security check done so that I could sleep on one of those longer seats at the gate. I went to security only to be told that I should come back after midnight. It was 10:20.

I then went to Arrivals. Walked around and looked around. There were many flights coming in - both domestic and international. I loitered around for some time, then went to Departures to try to sleep again.

I did.

Try, that is.

Around 1:00 I got my security check done. I was actually the only one, so there was no rush. I asked one of the TSA guys about a good place to take a nap. The guy was very nice (Peurto Rican). He told me that I should go to Terminal D instead of C because D is much more warmer :). I thanked him and started walking towards D. Luckily my flight was from D too, so that kind of made me smile.

I reached my gate, found a long seat, and slept. For around 3 hours. I am pretty sure I snored.

When I got up at around 4:30, I was surprised to see so many people for a 6 o' clock flight. There was another Indian guy. He told me that he was in a similar situation - missed his flight the previous night and all that jazz. We spoke for a while and then boarded the same flight.

Awesome flight. Slept throughout.

In the flight to Des Moines, read around 80 pages of that idiotic book again.

And of course, Andrew was at the airport to receive me. We took my luggage, went to eat breakfast at Perkins (hadn't had American breakfast in a while :)) which was awesome, and then reported to work.

I Did It!

Very proudly, and shamefully indeed, I admit that I finished reading an entire novel today. Reading has always interested me, but the last two and a half years of grad school kept me away from "non school" books. Not that I did not attempt to read a novel in this time period - I did, and there have been two books that I almost finished. One was "Live From Middle America - Rants From A Red State Comedian" by Brad Stine. It is basically his opinions on why Liberals suck big time and that being a conservative is the way to go. My favorite quote from the cover of the book - "Chemo is for cowards"..lol! (Apparently, people in Tennessee say that) I really wanted to finish that book but unfortunately I had started it during my toughest semester - so there!

The other book that I was close to finishing was "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham. I finished more than 150 pages of it's 250 odd pages, but deep down inside I felt that the story was baseless. It's actually about an inept NFL player who is shunned by NFL for messing it up big time in a certain Super Bowl and is then picked by a football team in Milan, Italy for their own Super Bowl.

The Namesake. This is the book I finished just a few minutes ago. I think the reason I liked it is because I understood most of the things Jhumpa Lahiri mentions in the book. It is about an Indian family that comes to the US and raises children here. Well, it's actually a lot more than that, but in a nutshell, it is about the lifestyles of parents who are immigrants and first generation American children, and the conflicts that result because of this difference.

So here I am, adding another feather to my cap, reviving my long lost hobby, and planning to pay a visit to the library not for music CDs and DVDs, but for something else :).

Just Perfect!

Today I biked to work. I was wanting to do it last week too but the intermittent rainfall three out of those gorgeous seven days made me defer my plan. Today was supposed to rain too, but my morning dose of the weather channel suggested otherwise. It was beautiful this morning. Although it was forty degrees F at 8AM, I still decided to bike considering the fact that the temperature would be somewhere in the mid seventees in the afternoon.

I did not dress up like I usually do for work. Instead I wore shorts, a dirty t-shirt and a windcheater. I did pack my jeans and another (not so dirty) t-shirt though, which I planned to change into at work (yes, I wear jeans and t-shirts to office). The reason I did not dress up was because of the fear of looking like Jim Halpert from "The Office", who as you may know, rides his bike to work all dressed up, and when he reaches "The Office", is all sweaty, especially under the arms.

I set out at around 8:07. At one intersection I was waiting to cross the road when I saw this huge Pontiac SUV swerving in style right in front of me. The swirve somehow undid the cap on its fuel tank, and I saw the cap fly in the air, ultimately landing just a few steps away from me. The driver perhaps witnessed the action in his rear view mirror too, so he stopped. I picked up the cap, biked up to the driver and handed it to him. I heard the usual "Thank you sir. I really appreciate it". I said "No problem", and moved on.

I knew there was a shortcut to reach work. But I did not know where. So I decided not to take any chances and pedaled away to glory on the shared path, which is intended both for pedestrians and bikers. After stopping at two more traffic lights, I finally reached work - in around 25 minutes.

Before leaving work for home, I checked the biker's map online and decided to take the shortcut. The route was unpaved and kind of looked like a trail path. I pedaled a little more, only to realize that the path ran through a beautiful golf course! While pushing them pedals back home I felt very good. I felt like by not driving a car or riding a bus I am actually showing some concern for our environment. Also, the bright sun on top of my head and the cool breeze slapping me in my face almost made me smile.

The day was just perfect for a bike ride.

20 - 20

820 miles.
16 hours of driving..
..In 2 Days.

Yes, I went on this awesome, spectacular, painless road trip all by myself to spend time with friends. It was kind of an eye opener for me. A lesson - for underestimating the midwest's beauty.

I always thought that there was no scenic beauty in the midwest. The only thing to see here were corn fields that perhaps outnumbered the population of India. Jay Leno recently joked about how the earth quake a couple of days ago wanted to flatten Iowa but really could not because it's already flat!

But before entering Illinois, I passed throught this beautiful city called Dubuque which immediately made me think that I may have been lost. The city is situated on the banks of the Mississippi, and there is a very narrow bridge that took me across the river, and while I was on that narrow bridge I risked my life by taking my eyes off the road, looking at the scenic beauty that the river offered, and concluding that the midwest is beautiful indeed.

When I hit highway 20 from 35 North, I saw the usual scene - cornfields, cornfields everywhere not a corn to eat. It was like that for nearly 170-180 miles. I did see a few bigger cities (according to Iowa standards, that is) and took a break in Waterloo where for the first time in roughly eight months I had a McChicken meal. I was thrilled. Totally. The very first bite brought back memories of my days in grad school, when I would not have enough time to go back home before class, and I would go to the only McDonald's in Normal and eat a McChicken meal almost everyday.

Anyway, around 30 - 40 miles from Waterloo, things started to change. The corn fields suddenly vanished and I saw myself surrounded by greenery, greenery everywhere. There were a few very beautiful colleges, and I realized that I was turning my steering wheel a lot more often. I was not on a straight road anymore, and it was time to stop singing (sang to myself for around 3 hours) and pay attention.

The journey was very fascinating from Dubuque onwards. I drove through (small) mountains, before reaching this amazingly beautiful city called Galena in Illinois. The narrow brick roads that went up and down, zig and zag immediately made me feel like I was somewhere in Europe. Not that I' ve been there, but the pictures of Europe that I have seen over the years made me think that I was really somewhere there.

Zigging and Zagging my way to glory, I passed another location that overlooked a huge green area of land with perhaps thousands of black and white cows roaming around - eating grass and making merry.

Then I passed through many small towns that were unique in their own ways. One town had a glass museum, another town had a "peculiar house" on sale, and in most of these towns, there was land in abundance, and people had built there houses in the middle of huge farmlands - just like in those beautiful postcards and posters that we have been admiring since childhood.

Well, the one way journey ended when I reached Freeport and saw Kedar's face. Seeing him after so many months was really very nice. He surprised me by feeding me a chicken dish that he had made, which was damn hot and very very delicious!

From Freeport we went to Normal, where we spent the night with Shalva, Vinay and Harsh. Drank the entire night and had amazing fun after such a long time. Next day around noon we left Normal. I dropped Kedar first and came back to Ames - once again admiring the beauty of Galena, IL and Dubuque, IA, thanking mapquest for making me take highway 20.

Highway 20 was really amazing. I was earlier kind of apprehensive about taking 20 just because it is not an interstate, and that there would be a lot of traffic and the speed limit would be not so great. Well I did find all that (in some towns the speed limit was 25 for fudge's sake), but thankfully I discovered some really beautiful places that totally changed my perception about the midwest.

I just wish I had someone sitting next to me taking pictures.

Yummy Yummy Yummy I Got Food In My Tummy

Living in a university town is fun.

I got up at 11:20 this morning and peeped out of the window to find snow everywhere. It was indeed a shock. Now come on, who expects snow in the middle of April.

So I was simply sulking and drinking my tea (too early to drink beer) when Andrew called. He told me about the International Food Festival in the university, and was calling to know if I would join him at all. I said yes, considering the fact that I would end up drinking endless number of cups of tea if I stayed at home.

The place was crowded, and I don't think I have seen so many International people in a big room before, not even at Illinois State. We started with Nepali food - Momos (two tickets), and what a good start it was. Then I tried some Puerto Rican rice and beans which was very delicious. We went to the Indian stall to see what they were selling. It was Tandoori Chicken. From my experience at Illinois State I knew that TC would be expensive. Andrew thought that the TC he makes looks better than what they were selling.

A slight digression - It was kind of weird to see Nepalis selling Mango lassi.

Anyway, we moved on to Sri Lanka, and they had daal vada. Since I had not finished my bean rice I told the lady at the counter that I would come back. Next stop - Pakistani. Looked extremely delicious - a chicken dish with naan. Six tickets. Backed out.

Then I tried a Sudanese potato dish which was very similar to the potato sabzi we make with gravy. But it had its own unique taste. The guy filled the entire bowl with that dish, and boy, was it heavy! I took a lot of time to finish it. I went to the Sri Lankan stall to get those vadas. One ticket, so I bought two. Very nice, they were. I also stopped at the Latin American stall where they were selling something that really caught my attention. I asked the lady what it was and she said it was made of corn flakes, condensed milk, and caramel. "Just like a cookie" she said. I decided to try it. It was actually for two tickets but the kind lady gave me a deal. She charged me just one ticket. I decided to buy two.

It was delicious. Not very sweet, just perfect. I really really liked it.

Soon I was out of tickets, so I bought four more. In the second round I bought Indonesian noodles with chicken and also their dessert, which was kind of different, and good. The grand finale was a stop at the Latin American stall to buy the corn flakes cookie again. Delicious!

R.E.M. Update

Good news, good news everywhere..

This week R.E.M. made it to the #2 spot on the Billboard Top 200 Album charts :). Of course, they debuted at #1 in many countries in Europe :).

I am totally excited. For the first time in 14 years I am tracking the progress of an R.E.M. album, and believe me, the great reviews that this album is getting from everywhere/everyone is making me really proud. I am proud to be an R.E.M. fan :).

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/04/09/on-the-charts-rem-accelerates-to-best-open-in-a-decade/

They also have an article in this month's Spin about their "resurrection" (I own that copy..so proud, so proud!! :)). Read R.E.M.: R.E.BORN here:

My R.E.M. experience has been very very good so far. I will R.E.M.ember. Every. Moment.

Living Well Is The Best Revenge!

Awesome.

I am so glad that the R.E.M. I have known is back, and they for sure have accelerated! I had preordered their new album Accelerate (which I received yesterday) - and I am happy. The album is really really good - so good that I want to listen to it again and again. Thank God for that!

I must admit that I did not really enjoy their last 3 albums. It all started with Up, and boy, was that a disappointment. After New Adventures in Hi-Fi, I was expecting something that would be one level "up", a more exciting, more rawking album (thanks Dani). But it made me cry. But I was not ready to accept that the album was zilch. I was so strongly attached to R.E.M. that I believed whatever they said about experimenting with their music and all that jazz.

When I heard Reveal, I totally lost focus. The album was a mish mash of nonsense, stupidity, and perhaps a little overconfidence on R.E.M.'s part for thinking that this record would do wonders. It does have a few good songs, but overall it's so not R.E.M.

Around the Sun was good. Not excellent, but good. It's slow overall, but atleast I could play the CD from start to finish without losing my mind. However, deep down inside I was a little sad, simply because I missed the R.E.M. that rocked. I missed the energy that Michael Stipe showed when he had longer hair. I missed the guitar riffs that Peter Buck played when he was leaner. I missed the bass lines Mike Mills played when he used to wear cowboy suits. I missed (and would still miss) the drum beats by Bill Berry without any emotions on his face.

After these albums, I was pretty sure that R.E.M. had mellowed down with age, and that I would have to get used to listening to their "piano riffs" and Stipe's voice filled with pain and sadness.

Well, thank God they accelerated!

Accelerate is old wine in a new bottle. The old R.E.M. is back - the mid 80s R.E.M. , and they rrrroocckk!!!! Since yesterday I have been listening only to Accelerate, and loving every bit of it! Songs worth mentioning are Hollow Man, Supernatural Superserious, Living Well Is The Best Revenge, Until The Day Is Done and Man Sized Wreath, and I'm Gonna DJ. Listening to this record is all the more fun when you are driving - Your head just goes up, down, up, down, up, down...

I must also mention that I bought their concert ticket! I am so looking forward to this concert in Chicago. My R.E.M. experience has started.

:)

Have We Met Before?

Have you ever wondered what your childhood friends are doing? Where they are, how they are? Are they married? Do they have kids already? Are they happy?

The reason I ask this is because many of us cherish the time well spent with all the wonderful friends we had when we were little kids, but somehow lost contact with them because they either changed their school, their family moved to a different place, or something else happened.

I have always appreciated the presence of my friends in my life, and like all of us, lost touch with them when I was growing up.

However, thanks to Web 2.0 and social networking, I found most of my long lost school friends after 18 fudging years!! How many? Let me count - seven! I am still on the lookout for a few more, but its okay, I atleast found some of them :).

I spoke to two of them over the phone recently. It was an amazing feeling! Of course, their voices have changed. They sound very very matured. They throw in a hint of sophistication when they talk, yet they are very down to earth. They have their own issues in life, but they walk unafraid and face whatever that bumps into them. Surprisingly, six of them are still unmarried - one would tie the knot this year though.

Two are sitting in Dublin, Ireland (student, nurse), one is in Baltimore, US (doctor [MD]), and the rest of them are in Bangalore (manager, maintenance engineer in the Indian Air Force) and New Delhi, India (service industry).

After talking to them, I want to meet all of them now. I want to see those lovely faces, share my experiences with them, and bring joy to them.

I hope I get to meet them, and if everything goes well, I will be able to meet them. Distance is an obstacle, but I think it would be easily tackled by my determination to see them.

It's a small world afterall, isn't it?

Self Control, eh?

I have been resisiting temptation - big time!

I have gotten into this habit of getting on to Amazon, Deals of America and other such websites and looking at all the wonderful materialistic things available on this planet. I instantly fall in love with them, and decide to buy them right away. I even click "check out", but the moment I am asked to enter my credit card information, I say to myself - "Hmmm..do I really need it?". My inner self gives me a big NO. Then I ask my inner self to justify the negative answer, and the answer that follows is "I REALLY don't need it". That is when some sense prevails and I realize how stupid I am. I just don't allow the devil inside me to control my thought process anymore. I close the browser window, and then say to myself - "Boy, I REALLY didn't need it".

Six days have passed (in this monh, that is!) and I have not bought even a single item that would make the devil inside me dance with pleasure. I am just thinking that that the angel inside me deserves better treatment. No more tears, my angel, no more tears.

Some of the things that I have avoided in the last so many days are:

- Laser Printer.
- Music System.
- Music System.
- Electric Accoustic Guitar.
- Wireless Speakers.
- Under Cabinet CD Player.
- Numerous HDTVs.
- Furniture at IKEA (!).
- Useless yet attractive stuff on Deals of America.

View From My Room

Happy New Year!

I am glad I started 2008 on a pleasant and positive note. Well, what I mean to say is that I paid a visit to a local temple (which was long overdue) and prayed to God to keep everyone happy and peaceful. You might not believe it but I always do that. I have a tendency of praying for people I care about, and also everyone else in general (not muc hfor myself). I don't think I should be writing all this, but if you think I am bragging about myself then you can go fuck yourself.

I have always believed in God. I do not curse him during depressing/stressful times and feel that everything, whether good or bad, happens for a reason. My favorite quote, as some of you might know is "I will go down fighting!". If I want something, I will do my best to get/achieve it. If I fail to get it, then probably it was not meant for me and God has something else in store for me.

On 1st January 2008 my sister and I went to the Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Lanham, a half hour drive from Baltimore, and since it was new year's day, it was crowded. We had to park our car around 500 feet away from the temple and walk to reach there. It was kind of cold and windy, and the weather that day somewhat reminded me of the midwest. Anyway, the temple is very beautiful, and I was surprized by the number of deities inside the temple. Actually the temple is not very big, but since there are so many deities, you end up spending a lot of time in there. We were lucky enough to observe "Venkateshwara Archana". There were a few families that were waiting near Lord Venkateshwara for some special pooja, and my sister and I noticed that the panditji gave prasada only to those families - not to everyone. I, however, shamelessly went to the panditji and asked him if we could get prasada too. He was kind of dumbfounded, probably was not expecting me to just walk up to him and ask for prasada so explicitly. He half stammered and said "yes, yes, let me get it for you" and gave me one banana (others got two! :D).

And just when we were waiting to exit the temple, I was pushed by a middle aged aunty who was perhaps in a hurry to go somewhere. It was typically something that used to happen on a frequent basis with me when I was in India. Auntyji made me feel at home. I did get pissed for a second, but then, I thought it's ok. I ignored.

I am glad I visited this temple on 1st January, now I am hoping to visit temples throughout the year.

Here's wishing all of you a very happy, healthy, and fun filled new year. I sincerely hope that all your wishes come true. To all the assholes around - stop bugging people and mind your own businesses. It's time to turn a new leaf. The rest of you can continue to be nice people.