A trip to remember

This blog is about my various outings since last post...
I guess the best way to start is San Francisco... The most awesome of the cities one will ever find... Its called 'The CITY' by locals here... I took the much hyped CalTrain from Redwood City to San Franc. It was great, its just that I expected it to be better than Delhi Metro (But is wasn't... but then its runs from San Franc to San Jose... a long way which metro doesn't cover) It took almost an hour before I reached the City. As people say--- there is something in the air! This city has awesome architecture, skyscrapers and very very pretty girls--- one cant help but ogle! I didnt go to the 'must visit' places, because I know I'll have enough time for that... I just wanted to walk around the city see the shops and eat food. I went to The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SF MOMA), got bored in the frst section--- mostly oil painted canvas paintings...I'm not a big fan! The next secion got me interested... saw some super cool pics, which furthered my interest in photography. The I went to the legendary Market Street and Union Square... You can easily see people playing chess, shopping like crazy(to me atleast!) people in different funky outfits.. I saw some great attractive sunglasses,so thought of buying them... Ended up buying 4 sunglasses in 2 weeks!No wonder its the fashion Capital of the world... The important places covered included Nike Town, San Francisco Shopping Centre, Puma store,Apple store.. etc.. cant remember more! One thing i loved about the city was its climate... these chilly winds just bump into ur face... Its exhilarating! I was wearing a jacket over a shirt over a t-shirt... and still felt cold! Also one thing worth mentioning is the girls outside the pubs!!! It was as if all the beauty had just descended right here... I later learned that is was a high profile night cub.. Haven't been to one yet.. may be will go once before returning!Just when i was about to return.. I thought of sitting at the union square.. It was 8 pm and it was so super foggy out there...i couldn't see clearly what was 2 feet away from me! I still sat there fro about an hour... ate 'asian' veg pizza-- it was great too... and then finally returned back home
The next trip I'm writing about is the one to Half Moon Bay... Arguably my best trip ever...
It all started 2 weeks back... i had heard a ot about this from many people, but was trying to get some company for this visit to beach! But as I couldn't find any.. finally decided to go as if I didn't go now, it'll be too cold in October and onwards! So thanks to Google maps, I almost saw the route on may lappy, packed my things and drove all the way! The first thing--- the morning was surprisingly pleasant that day... I set off from my house at 10 am.. but couldn't see the sun. almost 5 miles later, when I was on the freeway.. the speed limit as 65 miles an hour, I tried to follow that, but then cars behind me started honking.. as if I was nuts trying to follow the rules! So then i tried to keep pace with the other cars, rather than looking at my speedometer.I lowered my windscreens and enjoyed the pleasant breeze as I cruised (literally) along the freeway. Once the highway ends, one enters a hilly terrain.. with lots of twists and turns... my first experience of driving in 'Ghat section' but was amazing as well.. the clouds were coming inside the car, so i had to pull up the windows... Lush green trees on both sides of the road... hills and clouds in front of your car.. a little drizzle... could my day have been better( I thought if I can be a driver who drives on this route... it would be great) Half moon bay seemed to me like a hill station with the pacific at one end...
I went to the Half moon bay state beach directly--- a very expensive place--- 10$ parking fee :) but then I was in great mod.. and at that time if he would have asked for 50$ also I might have given it! I really couldn't distinguish between the clouds and the sea... moreover because there was no sun.. and a slight drizzle i straight away went to the beach and felt the cold chilly water touch my feet! I walked around the seeing children playing with their parents, building sand reservoirs,people playing frisbee. I found a nice clean spot and lay there for a while.. Seeing people surfing in the ocean.. was very Californic... It was great... I helped some kids make a reservoir and then see the wave come and destroy it... It was fun!I went back up, cleaned my self of all the sand and decided to hike to the next beach---Venice. Half Moon Bay has lots of these pocket beaches...one after another.. and i love walking!
The way to the Venice beach really great..I saw large mansions facing the beach( And thought if I would one day own one of them!!!)It was greenery all around.. old thick trees covering the entire path made the walk so pleasant that i dunno when I arrived the beach... suddenly the trees and end and you look ahead-- its the ocean again! There was an European party going on around there... first i wondered if it was a private beach or something but then I decided to enter (a wanderer I am!)in a few minutes, i found my self playing beach volleyball with them..adults vs teenagers 9They thought I'm a teenager.. and I didn't correct them!) one thing--- girls really rock at beach volleyball! we played fr around 30 mins.. and after that all were exhausted.. they asked me to join them fr snacks... but I being a vegan, couldn't eat anything..In the meantime I was talking to other teenagers.. suddenly girls went up on a rock and started throwing mud stones at guys. it was silly.. but then we responded again.. with greater force.. it went on for about 15-20 mins.. while the adults had their snacks then we played beach football (I hurt my foot really bad, as the inherent problem of me hitting the ball with my toe hasn't gone yet...!). It was fun.. and i was all sweaty, so decided to go and take on a cool wave... As I stood there waiting for the wave to come..i saw a huge black colored thing coming my way.. My first reaction was some surfer lost control and is hurt pretty bad... but then i realised it was a SEAL, coming my way... I ran for life.. really my heart in my mouth... I evaded it.. but only to find out that it was already dead... and the waves had thrown it away for the birds to feed on(Nature is mysterious!)
I had successfully evaded the seal, but could not evade the smell... It was bad... and i mean Bad! and while running i had twisted my already hurt feet... but it wasn't that bad and given that I had to go back where I parked my car and the speed at which everything was getting dark, i decided i should head back.. Said bye to the people who had made my day so great and started my hike back, this time I took a different path..in the dense woods, rather than on the main road and stargely found a deserted beach on the way back.. I knew I was already late, but thought I should atleast go and have a look once, and when I entered it.. it was amazing... it seemed unused for a long time... only pure beach and a couple enjoying Nature!I didnt want to disturb them so enetered from the other side.. lay down my sheet and mesmerized by the beauty of this un named beach, ended up spending more than hour in complete peace, thinking about friends back home and thinking about life in general. I had to leave after an hour or so, because it was too dark.. and I was alone at the beach and had to head back as well...
Hence came to an end an exhausting trip... It was my first trip in which i wore only shorts(even when i went to the restaurant to eat!!) Slowly I guess I'm adopting the American culture quite well...
PS : pics to above mentioned trip can be found in my facebook profile
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=151337&id=660171210&ref=nf

L!v!n the Dream

Hey guys... So finally I take out time from my not so busy schedule to continue blogging!
Well where to start...

It all began from the Mumbai Airport... A 4 am international flight(22 hrs duration!) is usually a pain in ass... but surprisingly I loved it..May be it was because of "OVER" Excitement.. of my first foreign trip or because I wanted myself to be mentally prepared for the so called "JET LAG", which sadly I didn't experience.... Friends from Pilani wont be surprised.. as i have a record of not sleeping for 3 days straight... so I guess handling the 12 hr delay was no big deal... About the Journey--- It was AWESOME!!!... I doubt if I'll ever forget the magnificent DUBAI Airport. As soon as I set my foot on the American soil,it was something different. You can feel it in the air..! A fabulous CAR was awaiting us at the Airport and took us to our Hotel.
There are so many things to write-- its a bit difficult for me to arrange them....
For starters, I absolutely love this place...!This is like a home away from home... This city so reminds me of Udaipur... a small city,lots of things to do and very friendly and helpful people.
The climate outta here is super. The most vivid memory I have till now is of standing outside my office (which is on the banks of a large lake!) at around 8 PM..on 1 side the sun was shining so bright that I could not lift my eyes to see it, and on the other side moon was in its full glory--I can tell you tht was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, but unfortunately wasn't carrying my camera with me then...I could not help but hum the song--- this is the end of western Civilization...CAliForniCatioN!!!
The Office is great too---Sometimes I feel I'm living the dream I had never ever Dreamt! This company has provided me more than one could possibly ask. If you get to work in a place like this... I doubt you would ever think of leaving office! Many times I stay in office till 6.30-7.30 PM.. just because I don't feel like leaving my cubicle!
Everyone out here will be surprised that I haven't gone to any place yet (45 days in USA)... The only place i have been yet is STANFORD---Amazing place !!! I spent a day there, roamed the entire campus, thanks to a BITS senior, could enter the elite CS departmnt Building (U need a key to enter!!!)... Saw the place where Google and YouTube were developed! even saw the chamber of "Ullmann'(author of our DBSA books!) couldn't meet ne1 bcoz it was a sunday...
Well I guess tht's pretty much... I'm about to doze off! I can't write much about this place becoz I know I have to go back to Pilani for 6 months.. and dont want to get my ass kicked for all the fun I'm havin here!
PS: I plan to go SanFranscisco, Berkeley etc soon...

A fortnight in Delhi

Hey all.

This post is related to the Workshop for which I was selected at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. I met some amazing new friends and had a great time there, I thought a post about is must!

The first day I landed there-- it was all chaos!!! students were sitting with their baggage in the Bharti Building (CSE Department), while the organizers had no clue that we were even coming!!! Slowly and steadily the room filled up n i kept on seeing one geeky face after another. Then when finally the rooms were allotted, we had a sigh of relief in this terribly hot climate. But past the first hectic day, it has all been a nice journey!Some simple lectures in the mornings, some higly complex ones too---the whole class slept in one of those(OHT)!!! and all these coupled with fun filled evenings and awesome nights (Don't start imagining things!!!--hvnt been to any pub:( ).

But this post is not about the workshop... Its about the people who made it awesome!
The things I will never ever forget are
1.the 'paranthas', 'kulfis' and 'lassi' of the famous 'Paranthe wali Gali'@ 11 pm
2.the trip to 'Garden of five senses'---(can write a whole blog on that trip!!!)
3.the late night Pizza, which we all ate sitting on (almost)road---courtsey NIDHI
4.the truth and dare games @ 2 am
5.the 'taash' with sangeet,pulkit and abhishek bahiyya!!!

Whom to start with--?... Well I guess 'Ladies First'..!!!
Malvika--- The most talkative of the group, but sure kept the enthu levels of others up all the time, a bindaas girl with whom time will pass very fast!
Nidhi--- This one can kill you with her thoughtful comments coupled with that cute smile..!Always game for roaming around and her speciality---'Bando ki BAND bajana!!!'
Joyeeta--- Not very reserved, not very outgoing, always wants to be part of things, sadly didnt get to know much about her!
Didnt have much interaction with others!

Now about the Guys:
Pulkit--- my roomy,loves to sing songs(romantic), loves to play cards and a fan of the word 'CHOWKUS'
Sangeet---A guy who just knows one thing--- we need to have fun! great at keeping accounts and was our cashier for almost all outings
Vijeet--- The most serious character of our group, absolutely in love and committed (To Newspapers, i believe!!!), a die hard fan of the Legendary 'Byomkesh Bakshi'.
Dumesh--- this guy from chandigarh is always ready with solutions to your problems, truly optimistic and has a huge urge for practicals which even surpasses his urge for lunch many times!
Ankit--- Renamed as Ankita by the girls, the most sincere and 'achcha bachcha', a member of our enthu group
'Chotu'--- this second yearite always found himself n the wrong places among us, always silent and serious...!
Me--- welll u guys can write the comments of what u felt about me!

All this was just a humourous attempt to describe u ppl--- no hard feelings!

What we did during the workshop apart from classes were playing cards till 2-3am in morning, unless guard would come and ask us stupid questions, watch movies(which i always do neways!) and roam around in delhitill late in nights. The most memorable was the paranthas we ate @ 11pm in chandni chowk.
On the day I was about to leave, many things kept on happening and finally there I was at 3.45 pm all set to leave happily for my home, but I dunno why the thoughts of not going so early kept haunting my mind! Then when I was about to leave the main gate, Nidhi, Joyeeta and Sangeet showed me the video they had developed for me, that moved me too much!!!Just the thought of how strong bonds you can make in such less a time as 15 days kept boggling my mind as I was watching the video. As the video ended---I was speechless!!!The feeling cant be expressed in words--- but guys really I cant thank you enough for making my stay so wonderful. After seeing the video, it was the first time I ever wished that my internship in United States started 15-20 days after, and I so didnt want to go back..., but sadly had to...! Its all I can say to all of you:
"To meet and part is DESTINY, to part and meet is the HOPE", and I really hope to see you all soon!

First Interview of my life

After reading blogs of so many of my friends, at last I decided to start blogging... what a time to start --- compre begins in less than 48 hours..!!!
This is about my first interview of the professional career - DreamWorks. After thinking for a long time whether to be 4-1 on/ off i finally decided to give a shot, take risky chances and challenge my luck and took 4-1 off (not a preferred choice by many of 'high CG' Bitsians). Many things happened after that-- parents were worried whether their son had lost it all... peers were certain that i'm a fool... and even i was convinced that they were right...!!! cut the crap, i come directly to the interview stuff...

I was to have a telephonic interview from 8.30 -9.30 pm, 2 interviews one after the other of 30 mins each. 1st one was majorly H.R. and some what technical, but the fact that a Bits senior was takin it, i felt at ease... It went well, though had a few hiccups in between. Somehow i told her that i liked 'Shrek-2' very much (but remebered nothing about it!!) and she was excited as i guess it was her first work or smthin... n there I was 'BLANK'.. i have seen over 400 hollywood movies after comin to BITS... i dunno how on earth I left that out!!! It got extended for about 10 minutes.. and in the meantime the second interviewer called at my home-- as it was my second no. I called her back at her no in U.S. but, I can tell you one thing---American Accent is not my cup of tea... I had to literally say like this---- 'S' for Sunrise, 'U' for Umbrella et al. and the guy sitting at PBX just couldn't get it... I was thinkin that we were conversing in different languages!!! and even after 10 minutes of perseverance I could not get past him to the interviewer and then finally frustrated he put me on hold.... 13 mins gone, I finally hung up.Advice -- Never ever call your interviewer, as she'll be herself calling you during that time.
As soon as i hung up, i got an incoming call...and as i picked up, she was like--- 'I'm trying to get a hang of you for the last 20 minutes... where are you..!!!'. I was frustrated and speechless...I was like WTF!!! Then she asked me questions I had never thought about in life....one was -- 100 floors in a building and an elevator---what would you optimize and how..? and you dont get thinkin time...!!! I blabbed something or the other, totally confident that it wasnt the right answer..!!!! Then suddenly she asked a weird question--- i had no answer, though i tried anwering... she disconnected the phone right after my first statement.. It was 9.29 p.m. I was still in shock about what all had happened...and couldn't believe i screwed it all up so easily...
Dejected, frustrated I came back to my room.., downloaded 'Shrek-1,2,3' from dc++ and started doing what i do the best--- watch movies..!!!!

Suddenly at night 1 a.m. i had a new message from DreamWorks on gmail--- we would like to talk to you once more.I cant right my feelings at that point of time in words..! By that time I knew there was no use opening books and reading stuff.. as that doesnt help at all... so i just had a good night sleep.. watched roadies, splitsvilla, and all other sitcoms-- 2.5 men, himym, big bang theory et al... The next day when the call came-- she asked just one question...
U have a dinosaur, sheep and grass on an island. sheep eat grass, dinosaur eats sheep. estiamte the size of island so tht dino doesnt die of starvation..!!! Again clean Bowled.... I was like a tail ender facing Glenn McGrath at his very best form...!!! I knew it wasnt as simple as 1 sheep and dino will die anyway...!!!!(If u were thinkin of that as an obvious answer!!!!) I said something... and that was all...
I was pretty much sure I have to look for Indian Interns...I was so depressed at having lost it all.. I didnt attend classes for next 2 weeks/... but after around a week at night 10 p.m. i got a call and was offered an offer... Now I'm looking forward to an experience of a lifetime... (and in the mean time screwing Compres...!!!)