Showing posts with label Arch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arch. Show all posts

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Chalte Chalte... Ahem...!

June 6th 2009 will be one of those days which I will look back on with a smile on my face. It’s one of those days I will remember on a day I’m feeling sad, or just when I want to recall a good time I spent at Drexel. It wasn’t a very drastically different day from a normal one, just that it was eventful, and I spent it with the people I consider special.

It being a Saturday, we obviously did not get out of bed till late in the morning. We had a play/walk date with a dog named Sammy at 1. So out marched Rosh, Arch and I to Kelly drive, where an impatient and (pretend) annoyed Greeshma was waiting with perhaps, the world’s friendliest dog, Sammy. When we were 10 metres away from them, she rang us and said don’t get too excited, or Sammy will snap his leash. And then, there he was! The friendliest dog I’ve ever met. He sniffed around all of us, getting to know us better in his way. He took to Arch like a fish to water, and it was love at first sniff. They couldn’t get enough of each other, and Sammy gave Arch her first smooch, well, he slobbered her with a huge kiss which spanned most of her face! We spent around an hour, just giving in to Sammy’s whims and walking him around the river bank. Then we dropped in at Greeshma’s place for a drink of water, and then returned home to get ready for the Pragathi Board dinner in the evening.

After a lot of getting ready, and people calling us to ask why we were not there yet, we finally made it to the Pragathi event. The event was good, and the food was wonderful, judging by the amount we stuffed ourselves with. The fun part of the event was the incessant clicking of pictures, though. Taking pictures is perhaps one of my favourite activities. It’s like I woke up one fine day and decided, oh what the heck, I don’t look that bad, let me take pictures! And that was the beginning of the whole ‘click’ phase, which I haven’t gotten over since. We took pictures everywhere possible, including the restroom, and in every imaginable pose we could think of.

While walking back home, we stopped at another place and clicked away, so much so that we filled up Rosh’s memory card, and had to switch to Greesy’s camera now. After clicking a whole bunch of pictures in a whole bunch of poses and locations, we finally got tired and decided to come back home. We had changed and just settled down with the intent of studying for the final, when Anup called and said he was bored, so can we please go for a walk? Not towards campus, maybe to Upenn, just for a half hour or so, to digest all the food we ate. We decided, well, we are full, so let’s go anyway. So off we marched, Arch, Anup, Rosh and I, walking with no destination or route in mind. We wanted to take pictures in front of the LOVE symbol in the Upenn campus. But there was just one problem there: The sprinklers were running. We tried going through without getting wet, but failed miserably at that. We were all but ready to give up, when we noticed that the sprinklers were slowly dwindling. So we promptly returned, and clicked away again. Once satisfied with the number and quality of the pictures, we meandered on to 40th Street, and walked into Ben & Jerry’s to eat ice cream. Well, the store keepers would have never had a more confused bunch of people in that store. The four of us took an eon to decide that we want Chocolate Therapy, and whether we want it in a cone or a cup. Well, three of us decided on chocolate waffle cone, while Anup decided on a cup. Rosh found the cone more edible than the ice cream while I favored the ice cream over the cone, so I ate her share of the ice cream as well, and the cone served to be my Statue of Liberty picture’s torch. Only Arch ate both cone and ice cream, and Anup scooped away at his three scoops with heretofore unseen determination. High and drunk on chocolate, the four of us went a little loony in the Upenn walk. We decided to take pictures on Ben Franklin’s lap while he sat in the park and read, also pose with the receiver of a payphone.

It was all good, till I had to visit a restroom. Unfortunately for me, the Penn campus is on a break, and no buildings were open, and there was no restroom in sight. Or a bush for that matter. Just kidding, I wouldn’t go behind a bush. Well, Anup being the sweet and helpful person he is did point to a Port-o-Potty on a construction site, but that was just way too icky to go to. We decided to finally walk back to Rosh’s place, all the while making jokes about Nature’s call, and trying to make me laugh while I was desperately in need of a loo. The second we reached home, I made a beeline for the restroom to get some peace of mind.

At long, long last, we decided that it was time to call it a day, or night. We did of course, stand outside our house and chat for some more time, and then decide to call it quits and head our ways. Well, this isn’t the most interesting or the best thing I’ll ever write, it’s not the most articulate entry or one that showcases that I can write. But this is just a record, for me, to remind me some day later in the future, of the fun I had this day. It’s just to tell me someday that I had some good days in my life, and this was one of them. To look back on this day when the going is not so good, that there will be days when I will go to bed with a smile on my face, glad for the friends and well-wishers in my life.

PS: This post dedicated to Roshni, Archana, Greeshma and Anup! :)
PPS: As mentioned by Arch, I forgot to dedicate this to him. So, here goes: This post is dedicated to the world's friendliest and kissiest dog, Sammy.


Monday, January 5, 2009

2008: The Year That Was

Well, 2008 was actually a good year now that I look back on it. To keep a record for myself, a recap of the significant events:

January to March:

The first three months of Practice School II in NAL, Bangalore. This was a lot of fun. It was the first time I was sharing a room with someone. I made some new friends, the more important ones being Hari, Aparna, Naveen, Meenu ( My supervisor!) and Grips Sir. It was the first time I did anything close to research (and enjoyed it thoroughly). I think it was also the time that Dr. Jha screwed with my midterm grades.

The other important thing was waiting for the MS admit. I don’t think I heard from anyone till March anyway. The other thing that was significant was the Chennai trip I took in February to see Charanya. Boy, that was a LOT of fun!

Oh, February was the month that my grandparents moved to Mayapur for good. So that was a sad thing. I still miss them so much!

April to June:

Well, PS was getting a lot boring, especially because Meenu went out of town to get married, and I was bored to death for two weeks, since I could not do any experiment without her. I guess they thought I would blow up the lab. But thankfully, she was an angel to give me her room keys, so I spent most of my time chatting and surfing the net from her room.

April was another trip to Chennai to see Charan.

I got my admit to Drexel, and was jumping around in Garuda Mall when my parents called to tell me about it. I promptly treated Hari then and there and treated myself to a HUGE pastry. :D                                                   

May included the best time in PS: Charanya’s Bangalore visit! Man, that was 5 days of pure indulgence and undiluted FUN! And Kavitha just moved to Bangalore because she started work in GMR, so met her a few times and cooked egg dosa and omelette… :D

The first weekend in May included my big trip to Coimbatore, and I saw my cousins after a really long time. I was out nearly the entire weekend, eating, sleeping and eating some more.

May and June were a scramble to finish the PS report and get out of Bangalore. But I had a really wonderful time while I was there, and still miss it.

The middle and end of June went in The Kauby and Vrish Poonal - Family event of 2008 (for me) and the DREADED visa interview!!!! That was an awesome week of partying, fun, tension and happiness. Oh, and of course another visit to Charanya (which ended with me sulking and contributing to it being not so nice).

July to September:

Well, this was a lot of fun for me and a lot less fun for Amma: SHOPPING! I emptied my parents’ accounts with the amount of shopping I did to come to the US.

It also included Rohan going off to Manipal. I was so sad to see my lil brother going off to college and growing up so soon! But I was also happy that he had to suffer the misery of washing his own clothes… :D The Manipal trip included a stop at Coimbatore, which was just AWESOME! Lakshmi and co just rock! We went to Palakkad and visited old relatives and temples, and had a great time there, too.

Back in Hyderabad, it was a whole lot of lazy days, missing Rohan and trying to convince Charan to come home. The high was her getting a job, and I was so happy for her! I on the other hand, spent a lot of time in front of the television, eating and sleeping more than anything.

The months were also spent looking for roommates and housing in Philly, and I met Suganya and Archana.

After a lot of shopping, I shipped off to Chennai on September 5th, for my last round of family visits before I flew to the USA. My 22nd birthday was a quiet affair, with the rain putting a damper on my dinner plans, and ending up with a candle-light dinner prepared by Appa (power cut!).

7th September, 2008 was one of the best days of the year! It was Charan’s birthday and I got to spend the WHOLE day with her, which was just the best thing that could happen before I left India. It was truly one of the best days ever. We saw a movie, roamed around Spencer’s Plaza (one of my favourite places in the world!) and just had a good time in general. I met Kavi in Spencer’s and exchanged birthday presents with her.  And took some really nice and funny pictures. And oh, I got the best birthday present I could ever hope to get!

10th September was the BIG day. It came time finally to bid goodbye to my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and Charan and fly to the US for my Masters’. I met Sug at the airport, and we flew to Philly together.

The rest of September went in settling down in Philly and the beginning of classes and MS.

October to December:

The last three months of the year were spent in studies, cooking, assignments, losing sleep, midterms and finals, and of course a lot of fun, too.

December was mostly about the Christmas break, which I spent eating and sleeping most of the time because I was short of cash. We spent new year’s eve at Penns Landing, watching the most spectacular fireworks display.

That was a brief look into the 2008 that was for me.