The VTech Tragedy

Its one of the saddest things that happened. On April 16th. If you haven't heard of it, read all about it here. What makes it the worst thing is that this could have been any of our schools. Its very shocking.. And it just shows how unpredictable everything in life is.. And how much of it is not even in your control. The whole world mourns this loss... Yes there have been far bigger tragedies.. This is just another one of them.. There was an Indian girl who was killed in all this. She has an Orkut account. I could understand people sending her - "Hope you are okay" messages when it was unconfirmed if she was dead. But to keep sending 21000+ messages of "May your soul rest in peace"? I am not so sure. Then again... maybe thats the way people make peace with themselves. But messaging the wrong girl with the same name? And that too the RIP messages? Inexcusable. And one message I read was - "May your sole rest in piece". Whats that? Black humour? May your broken shoe lie in a corner? Guys... good will is all understandable. When you send condolence messages, wouldnt you have the sensitivity to verify who you are messaging and what!? Open your eyes people!

May the victim's souls rest in peace.

My USA

Inspired by my bro's this post, I decided to mark my own territory around the US with Google's My Maps feature. 19/50 states. View it here. A small percentage.. just 38%. But in student life? Pretty good I must admit! And it looks like the midwest and a lot of the south has been covered. The Northern, Eastern and the central portions leave a lot to desire. With the current H-1B situation, its anyone's guess where else I'll get to go. Good luck to me!!

Meet the Robinsons

Warning: Spoilers ahead

I soo feel at home now... Another movie review!! And make way for the Robinsons! This was my first 3-D experience after I grew up (I dont remember Chotta Chetan or Kutti Satan) So I was really excited. Two versions of the movie released, a normal one and the 3-D one. Me and Sachin were really enthused to see the 3-D version.. I imagined the red and blue paper glasses and everything as we went to catch the 11:50 PM show. And we were in for a surprise.. the glasses had become suave.. They looked like sunglasses but unfortunately carried a warning that they had no UV filters and werent to be used as sunglasses. Hmph.

So back to the movie... It starts out with the awesome animation that Pixar has come to be known for... This baby, the hero of our story, Louis being left at the orphanage... a sort of Harry Potter feel to it. He grows up to be a boy genius and ends up scaring away most prospective parents with explosive science experiments. He has this jock roomie, Goob, who loses night after night of sleep over his nerdy roomie's experiments. At the center of the plot is a Science Fair where all the students are falling over one another to showcase their talent. And Louis has his memory machine... And ofcourse there is a villain - a man in a bowling hat, who foils the brilliant invention. Why? And how? I am not going to go into the details coz that will just plain give it away. And this "boy from the future" - Wilbur sees through the bowling hat guy and his plans! But to credit it, the movie had oooooodles of imagination... and a lotta fundu stuff, even if scientific - a time machine, singing frogs, an artificially-intelligent hat (which learns and grows against you!), a memory machine, and even a dinosaur! The plot was pretty cool and was woven together in an adorable manner. It almost felt like it was dragging a little in between when we actually Meet the Robinsons. But the movie quickly slides back on track with a brilliant twist.

With its awesome effects (I took my glasses off ever so often to compare the effects), sweet storyline, fabulous imagination and fantastic animation, you all have got to Meet the Robinsons atleast once. This may not be one of those animation movies people speak about for yeaars (Shrek), but its definitely worth your while.

World Cup Blues

Disclaimer: This is not so much as a World Cup discussion as it is a cribbing of the recent events with the game's biggest tournament.

Ok.. everyone who is anyone is talking about the Cricket World Cup hosted right here at the Windies. But the cup's been the most dismal one already. Both India and Pakistan knocked outta the cup by newer, thought to be easy-to-beat teams like Bangladesh and Ireland.. The Super 8s are just the Super 6s now for the other teams.. Or are they? To make matters worse, Bob Woolmer killed?! Whats that about? When did cricket stop being a game and start being a mob?

There was always an unhealthy obesession with the game in the subcontinent. It ceased being just a sport. It was a religion. And the demi-Gods had let us down. The team with the most runs on paper, the "Men in Blue" all gave the most abysmal performances of their career. Under the umbrella of one of cricket's greatest's career, under Sachin Tendulkar's career, India have not won a single World Cup. Its just the dumps.

So what went wrong? Was it the overconfidence? The complacence? The over-exposure making money and ads? The lack of commitment? Pressure? 1 billion hopes? Or was it just all of this?

The most optimistic-yet-cautious supporter in me was in denial when Bangladesh had us confounded. Hope against hope, I thought this would waken the lions that we would love to believe we are against the Lankan tigers. Not to be. Another sucky performance. And it was almost illegal to hope that Bermuda could beat Bangladesh. It was ridiculous letting our fate being decided by two other teams. And I would have personally recommended India forfeat if ever Bermuda beat Bangladesh. That wasn't to be. And the Men-In-Blue head back. TO make more ads... make more money.. irrespective of the career slump or anything else. As long as their purses kept jingling, it doesnt look like they are bothered for too much more.

Dad tells me that the cricket-based ads have been put on hold. Considering the majority of the 1-billion no longer wanna see them. This is normal. What scares me is some of the obsessive folk, some of the variety thats going to go around burning Dhoni's house or Sachin's restaurant. Dad also tells me that the players are expected to arrive in an undisclosed variety of flights. What next?

Personally, I think we should let all of these legends go. Their time's up. Its time for young blood. Newer players, newer ideas. We lose then... we lose with a learning new team. Not the biggest names in cricket. We need mew energy, new strategies, a whole new plan. So much for all those emails pointing out striking similarities between our 1983 victory and our horrendous start this world cup.

Revamp, India!

Once bitten.. twice lucky

Do you believe in luck? I do. And I completely believe that for something to happen favorably, you need the luck. So whats fashioned me to become Lady luck savvy? My whole life! I have realized that for me most things aren't as straightforward as it is for many others. Most things that matter in my life require that second stab at it.

College admissions? - HCE was the second college I saw and stuck to... (Thankfully I didnt have to repeat my Boards or my entrance exams!!)

GRE - I had to give it twice to get my dream score

Admissions - I had to apply TWICE. One year I didnt get great results - I applied too high. The second year, I had to send in the packets TWICE (coz SpeedPost lost my package) - that means two sets of recos, two sets of application forms, two of everything and TWICE the freaking headache as well!

I could also relate a whole bunch of other stuff that fit right into my 'twice is nice' label, including some very important life decisions, but I am not going into that. :)

I have done a looot to be here.. And now jobhunting sometimes drives me to WHY do I want to be here? I sure hope I get that one job that will validate everything I have been through. Twice has been lucky... Fingers crossed.

Why me?

Many of you must be familar with this scenario.. You've just completed your degree (in the US) and you are looking for jobs. Ofcourse you have uploaded your resume on Monster, Careerbuilder and the many other job portals in the hope of flagging the one dream job you want. No matter what your degree, I bet you have a million consultants call you everyday the first few days. I have no problems with the genuine guys who are just out there doing their job and trying to offer you one.. Many don't get that you are an Electrical Engineer simply not willing to settle for a "software consultancy job". Thats also fine.

But what about some genuine freaks? I got this one call for example, about a month ago and I still can't believe it happened. And that was it for my patience. This dude called himself Vijay and started out by saying hi.. hello. When I asked him for what company he worked for, believe me when I say it took him 4 whole minutes to concoct a 'John Grunther Solutions' which doesnt exist ofcourse. He claimed the reason for his delay in answering to be his debating between the 3 groups that owned different companies. All that was okay. This was the part I couldn't take. I had just finished narrating my rehearsed speech of how I wasn't interested in software job.

Him: So what kind of jobs are you looking for, Jayalakshmi? (I hate the fact that every consultant seems to be Desi. I hate it even more that every sentence each one uses on me ends with Jayalakshmi. How are you Jayalakshmi? We have a job to offer, Jayalakshmi... I mean.. I understand you can pronounce it.. but give it a rest, will you?!!?)

Me: I am interested in MEMS.

Him: Oh you are interested in MEN (I capitalize it to emphasize it) And his tone, believe me wasnt confused, wasnt embarrassed or any of that. It was as casual as 'Oh you are interested in Visual Basic'. Who the ^@%*$!&$P)!*{$!($# canvasses candidates like that?

Me (in pure rage now): NOT MEN!!! MEMS - Its an expansion of Microelectro Mechanical Systems!

Him: Oh ok. So where are you from in India?

I hang up.

And I have all rights to be saddened.

Some color in my life..

I was just glancing through my past few entries and realized that it was plain and colorless though very very beautiful.. With the onset of spring and many things all over again, I realize that its time to bring some color into my life.. (well into the blog at the very least... hehe). But then whats not colorful in my life? So far so good.. All I lack is a job which I am hunting at the moment.

I had a party at my professor's house and after having a full three-course meal, theres this buzz in my head. And suddenly I was struck by how much I am going to miss Cincinnati once I leave it. I know alllllllllll we grad students spoke about in the last few weeks leading up to the defense is how we "can't wait to be done" or how "I am sick of this place". And then suddenly just like that you realize what you're saying is not true. It was never any of those things. In fact, my whole existence in the United States has revolved around the 1 mile radius that UC occupies. About 2.5 years of my whole life spent in a 2.5 km radius. With little laments, little regrets, little urge to do anything else. Unbelievable. I guess thats the feeling that envelopes every single one of us as we unknowingly get attached to places, people, buildings, offices, even that morning coffee at the campus Starbucks. And when you graduate, suddenly you are an alumnus. Thats not good enough. It never is.

Ok.. this entry was supposed to be colorful. Instead it turned into a reflection of my thoughts at this exact instant. But the grass is greener on the other side. Every single time. For now... California beckons.

The light at the end of the tunnel

The thesis finally saw daylight. I defended. :)

A White Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This winter has been weird. We had a dry and brown and warm Christmas and now we're having a frosty, white and chilly Valentine's Day. Here is a postcard of how it looks outside just about now..

And up close...

For more snowy pics, go here

Of snowy whites and wandering thoughts..

Its freezing cold here (not inside my house) and its been snowing incessantly since 11:30am and we have about 4 inches of accumulation outside. UC's been shut down, people have been directed indoors and asked to stay warm. At times like this, unceremoniously my mind wanders into meloncholy. The snow like the rain enchants me when I am out with them (I love getting caught in them) but puts me on a reflective note when I am all warm and indoors, like today. On that note, here's something thought-provoking..

For Spring to come, one must endure snow

Falling is but a step to help one grow.

Ok that was crappy... but shows how the continuous snow has affected me :) Time to make some hot chai and enjoy it instead.

Stay warm.

Technogeek must-watch

One of my professors forwarded this article to me: http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jan/31bspec.htm and you have to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKh1Rv0PlOQ

And you are sentenced to 2 months of cabbage cutting...

And sooo last night was my cooking turn and I innocently turned to my wily roommate and ask her, "So what shall I make for dinner?" After a pretense of loads of thought she came up with the masterplan.. "Cabbage... Make it our South-Indian Style.. and we can have it with rasam." I looked at her in disbelief... Cabbage? Is that the worst thing she could come up with? For those of you who think I am exaggerating, I suggest you try and cut one yourself.

I have this habit of either standing at the kitchen counter and cutting the veggies or sitting on the sofa and watching TV and doing the chore. This time the choice was obviously the latter considering I was going to be taking forever.. and spot on I was... 35 minutes later, I was still left with 1/8th the stupid cabbage and 2 overflowing bowls of already cut ones, not to mention the circle of mess at my feet from the strewn pieces. I shot daggers at my roommate. She was responsible for all of this. And then I knew it was her revenge to my requesting her to make rasam the other day! Hmph.

And then I realized that our government back in India or anywhere else dont realize that they have a gold mine sitting on them. Imagine sentencing someone like this - "You are sentenced to 2 months of cutting 600 cabbages with a blunt knife." I know what you are thinking. Why blunt knife. Come on.. you are 'sentencing' someone.. you might as well make it hard. I promise you.. once you enforce such a sentence on someone, in a week you will see remorse, in a month even suicidal tendencies (they do have a knife!!) and if they last the 2 months, they are never ever gonna commit any crime remotely big enough to land them a sentence! I am yet to meet someone who "likes" cutting cabbage. And someday, when people are hatching plans to rob a bank, they will discuss - "Pakde jayenge to muhjse gobhi katvayenge.. nahi baba!!" roughly translated as "Should I be caught, they'll have me cut cabbage.. Oh no!" Think about it.. the crime rate dips, the cabbages from the cutting can go into making good food for the jail inmates themselves (or to the neighboring village or something), the frozen cabbage industry can flourish, the economy improves and on and on and on... Ok ok... I know somethings are best left as fantasy. Stew the cabbage!

Sidney Sheldon no more

Read about it here

Guru

Spoiler: Plot details maybe revealed.

So finally I saw Guru. After all the hype surrounding it and everything. Ofcourse most of you know that most parts of the movie are loosely based on Dhirubhai Ambani's life. For you Manirathnam fans (like me!), this wasn't a typical Mani movie. It had an unexpected 'alls well that ends well' theme for one.

It has a fully loaded star cast and the show stealer ofcourse is Abhishek Bachchan as Gurukant Desai. He has delivered a wonderfully genuine performance though in the end, in a couple of scenes when he is supposed to be paralyzed, he seems to have forgotten how he needed to have portrayed that and ends up more than just twitching the eye of that side. A few slips but overall a laudable performance. Ash doesn't have sooo much of a role but to her credit has done pretty well and is very believable as the 'gawar' wife. The 'romance' between the two is surreal and very typical of olden married couples (I suppose!). Ofcourse the start of it was that he married her purely for the dowry he would get which would complete the intial amount he required to setup his business. Mithun da... was a well-kept secret I must say. Till a couple of days back, I didnt even know he was in the movie, let alone that he gave a pretty decent, not-overactive performance and looked very good rather than the ugly 'looks' that he has been given in some of his preceding movies. Vidya Balan as usual is a show-stealer and is making a mark in the Industry. She is not just beautiful but immensely talented as well and I look forward to seeing her in 'Eklavya' also. Madhavan is subtle and bearable in the movie. However his Hindi diction leaves a lot to be desired.

The story is probably pretty well-known by now - the rise of a BIG businessman to state it short. But the rise from chotu bijinessman to the baap of all companies bore likeness to many Rajnikant movies where everything happens within the timeframe of a song. So, about 40% of the movie covers Guru's life from a high school dropout to this big man. The rest of the movie is how with money comes power comes corruption comes trouble. Somehow, Mani has actually left some lose ends hanging. For example, it was never clarified as to what happened later between Guru and his brother-in-law when a huge feud crops up between them. The ending is surprisingly good and everything ends well for Guru.

The songs are alright... a couple are really catchy but the cinematography and the choreography left a lot to be desired. And Mallika Sherwat fades into oblivion.

All in all, definitely worth a watch for some powerful performances.

I'm not kidding

I'm really not kidding when I say I got this email from one of the gazillion orkut (mis)users: Verbatim..

hello jaya
hawar u
u very smart deyar
i like to photo
'u like friend shipe
i friend u
i am a mazherfrom jabal puri
wiat uur massege

Whats with all these losers anyways? I usually ignore all this but this one was a classic I had to post... If they paid me a buck for every random request I got, my name's be up there with Bill Gates on the Forbes Fortune List. These guys honestly need to get a life! Gosh!

KBC 3 with SRK

I had the (mis) fortune of catching the show online. And as usual, my sharp tongue represented by my quick fingers have some smart comments to make. The show was overall not really entertaining. SRK clearly lacks the presence that the Big B commanded. And it seems that he is totally following on his footsteps which sort of makes you think that SRK is Big B's shell without the brain... the latter takes the decisions and paths that they both will follow at different times.

SRK is also lesser intimidating than the Big B. It wouldnt be too comical if the Big B made the kind of seedy, "I'm-not-so-big-a-star" jokes a la SRK. And the "Computerji lock kiya jaye" has also undergone a facedrop. Its now localized to the origin of the participant and ranges from "Computer Da freeze kiya jaye" or "Compaq Da freeze kiya jaye" (label-wise advertisement harvest) for a Bengali to "Computer Garu" - "Compaq Garu" for a Telugu-ite. It was hilarious to hear SRK speak Telmil (the new fashioned Telugu-Tamil hybrid) - "Ye mandi jaragandi...Saapadriya.. Rendu plate idli".

The show seems to have been cut in size and increased in frequency with as many ad breaks as ever. It also drove me nuts that SRK was trying too hard to be pally-pally with the contestants and gave them everything from high-fives to hugs. He also egged them on to the right decisions helping them win the questions and in one case quit with enough money to ward any guilt off. All said and done, it is not entirely fair for me to surmise about SRK in just one episode. It is to be seen if he retains any charisma that was once associated with the show at all.. We'll wait n watch!

A Farewell...

Farewell is a word,
So simple, so dour
Saying what started
but did not endure.

Farewell is a feeling
of something that’s gone
Farewell is a memory
that stays for too long

Farewell is everything
that’s been left unsaid
Farewell is the last message
Of someone who's left to surge ahead.

By Peter Rhodes

Good Luck Vaish...

Entrapment

Its a long weekend. And this is the third long weekend (after X'Mas n New Year) that I am not going anywhere. And slowly but surely the feeling of being trapped in this timeless place has crept in. And its getting claustrophobic! With my OPT starting soon, the feeling that I am bonded to this country is also closing in on me. And yes, I have been here for exactly a year at a stretch since my last India trip.. but the fact that you are on OPT and not in the liberty of leaving is shutting out the air around me.

My thesis would've been long done if my lab wasn't a paper-churning factory, reducing my advisor to an English Professor, correcting formats and sentences, rather than do what he is supposed to -- help his students graduate! Thats just ONE example. Suddenly, everything important in my life seems to have reached a complete stand still. I know when actually the ball sets rolling, everything's going to cascade one over the other and wrap me into a turmoil of activity.

But when the weekend comes, when the house sets into a lull, when there's nothing to do... when all the walks lead you on paths that have held interest in the past and have nothing to offer now... thats when I can't help hoping that my whirlwind isnt far away! For now, the monotony is killing!!

The Prestige

Warning: There are some spoilers ahead

Ah, I am back to my movie reviews and I feel at home again... The Prestige is one of those movies that comes once in many many years and when it does, it shouldnt be missed. I was very late to catch the movie after all the rave reviews from peers but finally I did and am I glad or what...

I have always been fascinated by magic. As kids, my bro and I unknowingly stumbled across a tape of The Magic of David Copperfield and that began a love story with magic and it surpassed everything I ever imagined. We saw all these amazing tricks including the "Statue of Liberty" caper. But I am not talking about David here. I am going to talk about The Prestige and the base holding the movie together was magic. And Christian Bale (Batman Begins) and Hugh Jackman, the 2 magicians are out of this world. But the real winner in this movie is the plot itself. It did open the door to disclosing the trick behind some of the illusions, some shocking, nevertheless. But the way the 2 magicians try to foil one another's tricks is amazing and keeps the audience guessing at every juncture.

And on it goes as each tries to better the other in the ultimate magical game, building one unbelievable trick after another before finally both of them stand to lose everything that they have. Over the movies that I have seen, I have realized that I have a special soft-corner for Scarlett Johansson, who shines in this movie as well, as the mistress of both magicians. In a highly fast-paced and strongly gripping plot, one magician finally gets the better of another.

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who needs some food for his intellect after having seen a whole bunch of particularly brainless movies in multiple languages. Bale and Jackman have done commendable jobs with the role and I cant imagine a better person for looking the part of magician than Jackman (except my David maybe :)) This is honestly one of the better movies I ave ever scene and I highly recommend it! If u havent already seen it, you should be seeing it RIGHT AWAY!

J'apprends le français

How long is it since you learned a language? For most of us, the languages we know were the ones we learned way back in primary school. So if you're like me, you won't even remember how it felt to learn a language. The grammar, the prose, the verbs, the sentence constructions etc are sooo trivial that we don't even notice the way we use it. If you know Hindi, you'd realize like many foreign languages, even our good own Hindi has "gender" for things. Aam ka ped, neend ki goli - ok you get it. Its sooo imbibed in us, we dont realize that its monumental for someone who doesn't know the language.

So, I started learning French out of pure boredom by myself a couple of weeks ago before the brainwave that I could actually "sit through" a French 101 course at school struck me. However I kept at the self-learning and built a cute little vocabulary. Ofcourse anyone who knows French knows that NOTHING is pronounced the way its written or vice versa. The only saving grace is that the sentence construction is pretty similar to English and once you build your vocab collection of verbs, you will be failr good with practice. Ofcourse learning the language and practicing in front of your computer is one thing and speaking it with a native is a whole another thing.

Today was the first French 101 class. The instructor was a Frenchman, a PhD student was a sweet guy who spoke English with the easiest-to-distinguish French accent (sorry to disappoint you - he was NOT cute looking!) And so after a couple of sentences from him, we were all to introduce ourselves in French (if we knew it) or atleast try. When my turn came, I took a deep breath and started out "Je m'apelle Jaya" and so on. And to my own surprise I did fairly well. Except that though I knew my age in French, I was shy to pronounce it! Overall it was a good first class. It gave me that flutter which I hadn't felt in sooo long.. The feeling of knowing absolutely NOTHING while you sit in the first class. That too its a romance language... how bad can it be? With no crediting to worry about, this one should be a breeze. In all my excitement, I bought my first textbook in the US for this class!

On the "downside", I donno how long I expect to stick around here to do justice to this class.. But for what its worth, from the "Je ne comprends pas", its slowly becoming "Je comprends" :-)

Until later, Au revoir!