Good morning..........

I have to say that it feels great to be up almost 6 hours earlier than usual.....
And no greater pleasure than waking up to a great song.......

When people get drunk......

1:47 AM 1: 2 you online? you fat person.....
9 minutes

1:56 AM 2: oh u skinny lil thiong..
poor u ..underfed..
u asleep?
else its time to drink..

1:57 AM 1: huh
skinny
underfed?
what?

2: 2 is turning u on..

1: what?
hey
hi
its 1
remember
whats happening

2: %^&* that was defg n pqrs
im talli-ish
:P

1:58 AM 1: ok

2: i love you

1: me too
!!
lol

2: that wa pqrs
dont believ all tyhe cjhat lkk
]i= 8upogtfre6534213qetiy pu;oi

1: ok ok
stop destroying pcs

2: nmolp

1: anyways macs are taking over

2: ok..
1:59 AM do u wanna comeover to drink/
c'mon for 2..

1: lol
dude
spare the poor thing
when did you get back from boston?

2:00 AM 2: hey pqrs here come hereb man

1: and do what
%$^&*( 2 am dude

2:01 AM 2: 1 y 1
y yy y yy y

/
'/
?

2:02 AM 1: people have lost it i can see

2: yes i have
wow
its so cool
this should noty be cvhatvlogged
ill kill u
so dont

2:03 AM 1: WOW

2: coz u shyud be live over summer

1: you gave me a brilliant idea

2: fc um
1
ont do it
dont doit
bnooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
nioooooooooooooooooo
noooooooooooooooooooooooo

1: whats happening here

2: 'k byeeeeee
byeee byee

1: bye

2: pqrs wants u fo come wirth qlcohol

2:04 AM 1: and why have you forgotten how to type

2: o k hye
bye
bye bye 1
;)
:)\

Let her be......

I am in class, but all I want to do right now is listen to this......(it's ringing in my head!!!)

Reading multiple books in parallel......

I have made a pact that I am going to go through some real old books, books that have their own place in literature- in fiction for most part.This also means that I would have to go through some pretty deep stuff.

I have picked up Catch-22, an American literary classic. It has been described as funny and explosive. I am sorry to say that the first 50 pages that I have just zipped through are anything but that. Despite this, I have a feeling I am going to love this book once I finish it. That would mean going through 448 pages, and right now, that seems like a daunting task considering the fact that I am as distracted as I get while studying!

I have always read one book at a time- non-academic of course. My catch-22 situation (not in the literal sense- the term originated from this book FYI) made me think- I have to read something else  for my hour odd/day of casual reading alongside Catch-22 to avoid dropping it completely, at least till I find it riveting (which hopefully at some point I would). I just wanted to know if a lot of people do this. So I went to google, and to my surprise, a lot of people who love to read, read multiple novels at the same time, alongside their daily dose of academic/vocational/devotional reading, newspapers and what not. So I have decided to give it a shot! I do have 3-4 books lying around, that I really, really want to read. I am about to open one of them, which is not really completely unrelated to my field of education- Epidemiology. Given its genre of read, I doubt I would ever get through it in its 300 odd pages of totality in one go, on its own. This seems like a plan.

The blog post at 1:07 AM because I was sleepy at 11 PM; I did not turn the lights off and bury myself into my blanket; now can't sleep! It looks like this is going to be another long long night.......

Effective Reading can't be a habit....it's got to be an addiction!!!

People catch the bug from different places...I got it from my mother. Books.
I have been, what I would call, an avid reader most of my life, at least if I average it out! There have been phases where I have ripped on 300+pages of fiction day in and day out. There have been times when I have not read a page of casual literature for days together.
We all learn from really early on in life that reading is a good habit, probably the one to have. I would go on to say that it would be inappropriate to call, at least casual reading, a habit, per se. For if it is a good habit, and people know that already, you would see the whole world immersed in "non-academic" reading. But no. I would go on to call it more of an addiction, and one that really depends on what one reads early on in life (reading life, if you will).  I was lucky to have a mother who is closer to voracious in her reading, help me there. I started with the Archie comic series very very early in life. Even though it might have different connotations today, I did enjoy it a lot back then. Then came the Famous Five series and Enid Blyton overall. HARDY BOYS-rite of passage to more serious stuff. By the time I was there, standing at the end of my 150th odd Hardy Boys book (the whole series), I was so into it, that I really did not need much effort to get engrossed in books.
Medical School changed it all. Casual reading was replaced by no reading, because academic reading did not give me pleasure. I knew that it would be good for me, but unless it was a subject I loved, I would not read.  I COULD NOT DEVELOP THE HABIT.
During the same years, along came the Harry Potter series (not the only books I read all along medical school!!!). And once again, I was reading like a maniac, hitting a book/30 odds hours.
I feel sorry for the people who have not had people show them enjoyable reads early in the day. I know most of the people who read this blog....I know you guys are all fine......In case someone not as fortunate in this respect comes along at random, I would be more than happy to help with basic pleasant reads and suggestions. I may not be your "superhero print seeker", but I sure know who needs to read what to feel what!
Happy reading folks!!!!

The Google argument........Google is evil........I love Google

1: omg i love google

  :)

  2: im scared of google

5:55 PM  1: y r u scared of google?

  2: they have my emails

  my contacts

  my passwords

  some of my documents

  most of my pics

  dont you think i should be scared

5:56 PM the thing is

  think about it

  you cant switch to yahoo now even if you want to

  thats scary

  the thought that you cant switch

  we depend on them

9 minutes

6:06 PM 1: well i dont hav all my passwords n pics with google actually

  :P

  n i have a yahoo account too

  in fct, google was my last account

  i always had hotmail n yahoo

 2: ya well all do

6:07 PM  1: google happened only in my 3rd year of udergrad

  2: agreed

  1: so no, im not afraid

  ;)

  2: but think of the years when you are were active on the internet

  more dependent on the comp

  those were the google years

  and i dont have everything there

  but....they have enough

6:08 PM  1: well, think about it this way..google is such a mega giant, they've 'been there done that', they have the safest tech out there..so nur info is safest with them

  2: agreed

  thats y we are all with them

  im more with the comic book principle

6:09 PM with more power comes more responsibility

  and if turned bad, can screw way worse

  1: yeh well unless they decide to go terrorist..it cant be all that bad

  2: ya

  another

  bloggable conversation

When in Rome..............

its a judgment about all oldies back home

  where religion and customs controlled life

1: n really..they still do!

2: of course

  but im ok with it as long it does not affect my life

 1: true..wat we all hope for

   but alas..not happening once u step into the country

   haha

2: not at all

  when in rome....

1: rrrriiiiitttee

2: "do the romans"

1: hahah..that tho we 'do the romans' even if we'r ein australia :P

 2: hahahahah

  its a thing seen most with us "romans"

 1: yes..very rome-like behaviour

  sticky bunch

  these romans

 2: i know

 the best is when the romans see another roman within sight, they give him/her a big irritating stare from the corner of the eye, not direct enough to result in a "hey" and not unassuming enough to not notice

  its like

  have i seen this roman somewhere

  hmmm

  i have

  no

  maybe

 1: yes ..i have..wtf is he/she doing here?

 2: lol

  this is going to a blog

1: lollzz

  its like a new genre of blogging... chatblogs

Creaky old wooden chairs.....

I just visited Rao's Coffee House at Amherst Center, to pick up my favorite "Chai to go". I was shell shocked when I saw that the place had been given a makeover.

This is not the first instance that I have had to witness the change from something old, deep rooted, historical, lovable, familiar, memorable change into a high quality furniture store. Being from Bombay, I saw this change left, right and center over the last 5-7 years. We loved it as it happened for sure, but eventually- "Naah, I wish it were the same old messy place". When the old made way for the new, familiar staff changed, familiar routines changed, familiar ambiance changed, rates changed. So essentially, it was never really a change of furniture at all. It was the soul being ripped out and being replaced. No matter how ordinary home might be, it's still home. It sure was a great house to start with. But then, because you used it along the way to getting familiar with it, it got old. The house became the home. But when you're from Bombay, you've seen the change- We saw Bombay making way for Mumbai.........

The whole point behind heading to Rao's and not Starbucks, is the smell of coffee and the creaky old furniture! I would go to Starbucks if I wanted to! Why would someone change something when people already love what's being offered to them! I am getting sick of the everyday transformation of something we love into something that had the stench of a corporate boardroom. It's another institution dying on us-the good old coffee shop, the cafe. The first one opened in Damascus in the 1500s. And it started dying right here in the US in the 80s I think, when the first Starbucks store opened in Seattle.

All said and done, I would say that the new Rao's is not a second Starbucks on East Pleasant Street. It is still, in essence, very close to the one we know and have come to love. A year of use and we'll have the old one back. I just got the feeling that the lights were too bright. Maybe someone should suggest installing the old tube lights once again maybe.....kidding......

A tribute to the old Rao's. You rock.......

A tryst with a fountain pen.....

I have been a rebel most of my life, in fact I would say, for my entire life. Hence, I have never liked doing anything that I have been told to do, though at most times, I would eventually regret this contumacious attitude. 

Back in the day, when we started using fountain pens in school, I used to look at me seniors in seventh and eight grade with awe- their ball point pens, unlike the messy, compulsory fountain pens we were using! I waited so desperately for my time to come. It sure did come. And then Gemma happened!

I had this teacher who used to teach me Math and Sciences in tenth grade, Gemma Wasan, strict as ever, would select her students with great care, and would make them work the way she desired! I entered her first class with a ballpoint pen. She gave us a short exercise with some Math problems to see where we stood. At the end of it, she corrected them all right in front of us- rather tore them all up. Why? Well, there was no need to correct them. They were all written in ballpoint pen ink, and there were cancellations and corrections on pages.....so a rule was established on the first day of tuition classes- USE FOUNTAINPEN, CANCELLATIONS ARE AS GOOD AS NO SUBMISSIONS. Gemma and her class are worthy of their own entry. Today, lets talk about my journey with my fountain pen.

I hated it, only because Gemma wanted me to use it. I tried to use microtips and roller balls. Finally, I gave in. I want to go back and see her and thank her to this date. It was because of her, that I did not have a single cancellation on my 10th Grade University Exams. I fell in love with my fountain pens- one red and one blue Parker vector, which lie at home in Mumbai till date. I continued using them through junior college, medical school and even internship!

I now carry a Waterman Hemisphere, way more expensive than my Parkers, but nowhere as good! Not for me at least. This just goes to show that no matter how boring something might get, if you're used to it, you are going to miss it! And yes, distance does make the heart grow fonder.

Gemma would say- "Buy a fountain pen, buy a bottle of camlin ink, use it for years. Less pressure on the paper, on your wrists and on the reader's eyes".

I wish there were more people like Gemma. I used my fountain pen at my Nutritional Epidemiology exam. It was a horrid experience. Apparently, the whole recycled paper circulating in the US is of such low quality, it's not even funny! A fountain pen needs a marginally absorbent paper with a smooth surface. The better the quality of the nib, the more would you feel the dynamics of ink, nib and paper. And it hurt, it was torture! There were blank strokes on one side of the page, compared to great writing on the other. The blue books are used for most exams at UMass. So what I am going to do for my Advanced Epi exam day after, is use a ballpoint! I hate it! But using the classic fountain pen is an experience which is dying out. 

I am starting a new forum for fountain pen users. There are a couple out there already. All I can do is hope. AND BE A REBEL! 

Hope to see you there.

How to fold a T-shirt in 2 seconds.....

This works for me. Felt like I should contribute my two cents to any readers out there as a small fee (fine) for getting back to this blog once again after a year's lay-off......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An0mFZ3enhM