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

This is winter baby!!!!!

Snow, snow and more snow. That's all you can see these days in Amherst, MA. Hell I was wrong when I thought it was winter already in November. Right now, all you can see is 4-5 feet piles of snow where it's not been cleared (basically everywhere apart from roads and sidewalks. And where there are no heaps, there lies a steady sea of shin to knee deep snow. And to top it all, it has to rain in the midst of a major snow session to give ice frosting on the trees. The silver lining is that the days are getting longer (from 4 pm darkness to 5 pm darkness :P).

From the sweltering sun in India to the oceans of snow in Amherst, it's all been happening for me over the last week.

It's all been happening!!!!!

Writing, taking a layoff, writing more, another layoff...........such is life!
But to say the least, it's all been happening over the last couple of months. I got through very nicely with my courses.....no mishaps there. I visited India over the winter break, where it was very very weird in the beginning.......can't imagine why it can be so awkward to go back home, well you just have to be there to know how it feels. I took to a headshave from my shoulder length hair, and stupefied a few people!!!!!! As part of the India trip, visited heaven on earth-GOA. That I have to say, was the high point of the trip. I finally saw a totally obedient dog-they really irritate me when they call the shots!!!!!
All said and done, I am really glad to be back here in Amherst, the vacation had gone to boring proportions; guess I'm tuned to keeping myself occupied with something or the other. Since I could barely sleep 20 mins. on the 15 hour flight to India, I would say that the 5 hours of sleep i got on the way back was a blessing. Then the busride from New York to Amherst......I'd rather stay out of the travel details!
One thing I noticed in India was the lack of tuning to the current hits on the Hindi music scene. And that was really weird not only for me, but for a lot of people around me- Guru not able to identify songs, I mean people went to such lengths as tell me that I'd lost the one talent I had-(:p I showed them in time of course, that it's not only hard but impossible to match my range of talents--------you know I'm talking about you!!!!!!!!!)
I got hold of some songs that had happened over the last 6 months and for sure, some really good music had happened over this period!!!!!! Kept some people happy, and now I'm, back to my classicrock and oldies!!!!!!!! And always will be!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, i think I'll crash now. The entire travel thing has left me feeling like trampled grass!!!!!! God bless people.