Outdoor Sculpture and more

I went to this outdoor sculpture museum yesterday. No, it's not as arty as it sounds. This one is called De Cordova Museum and is quite an enchanting place. I set off about 7pm yesterday and found my way easily to the sculpture park. It is mostly modern sculpture scattered around several acres of the park. I am a lawn person (you know, the kind that finds golf courses fascinating because they are grassy) and this place instantly appealed to me. I have been to a similar park in St.Louis with my sister, but this one's less crowded, and therefore, it follows, a lot better. Since the day was contemplating turning into night by the time I got there, there were only a few people ambling in the distance. I walked around a bit looking over the sculptures, and trying to understand them. Very soon, I settled on one of the benches there, hidden behind a huge clump of trees. Just me and my book. I felt I had found my place in the world. A content feeling, drinking in the silence. Even the squirrels seemed to dart with more joy and the sparrows hopped about me without a care in the world....(sigh) Well, about an hour later, reality strikes, the darkness was creeping up on me and I decided to leave. No way I was going to navigate that lonely road at night, especially since there was a deadly cemetery(pun intended) on the way. But I must admit, the drive back out of the park was amazing too. I had to cross a bridge and on either side was an absolutely still pond, reflecting the dark trees off its watery sheen. With the moon almost full yesterday...oh!

I had gone to a Sri Lakshmi temple on Wednesday, divine place! :-) Checked out the hotel fitness center (more like a fitness closet), not too bad.Off to Rhode Island tomorrow to my aunt's place. Looking forward to some good Tamil/Kerala home-cooked food! And some more interesting places to visit, I hope!

So long folks!

The Big Apple and Beantown

Bitten by the travel bug, I decided it was time for another road trip! We went to New York City this Saturday, and then looked around Boston on Sunday. And the last couple of days were just spent moping :-)

We left 7:30am on Saturday morning after breakfast, half an hour behind schedule. The weather was playing spoilsport, it was pouring big time as I started driving. Apparently, it's not safe for me to drive in the rain (grrr!), so my friend took over. Thankfully, it eased out as we left the New England area. Made it to New York in good time (after paying the innumerable tolls!). We had decided to park outside the Manhattan area and take the subway to the city. Turned out to be a pretty good idea. Took the subway, first stop: Times Square. I didn't quite know what I expected, but this was definitely more than what I didn't know I expected! It's all about edifices, people and more people. Huge video screens with ads and news, towering buildings and a feeling that you are small-town. It's exhilirating...the crowds, the pulse of the city. We then walked over to the Empire State Building, craned my neck looking up at it, got some cool pics too. It was a really long wait there, so we decided not to go up then, and instead headed over to where the WTC Towers once stood. Stupidly enough, the picture I had in mind was one of giant heaps of rubble. But what persists today looks like a construction site. You can see about 50 feet below ground level which used to be the concrete foundation of (arguably) the center of the world's economy. But now, there's just a few cranes and trucks languishing in its depths. I stood there long enough to try and imagine what it must have been on that fateful day. I don't think I can express it. After that rather sobering experience, we decided it was time for some lunch, grabbed a quick slice of pizza and walked over to take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Frankly, the statue is not as big as I had imagined. But she does inspire hope and command respect. Some more amazing photography later (no, not by me), as you can see from the last post, we headed back to mainland. Oh and of course, I met one of my Anna U seniors there! (no surprises, uh?). We walked by Wall Street, window-shopped in some rich-and-famous looking stores and found our way to Little Italy. The place is alive! There's live music is some restaurants, and cheer everywhere. Dining there was a great experience, decent food too! It was about 9pm by then. We targeted the Empire State by night. What a crowd! It was just so frustrating. Long queues, a few security checks and 2 elevators later, we were on top! And what a view....a city sparkling with life and vigor. Found our way back to where my dear old rental car was parked and drove back. Made it in great time of 3 and a half hours, reached the hotel at 4:30am! What I didn't get to do was Central Park, but then I did see a lot of New York in one day, maybe more than I could take in. The best part was just walking around and relishing the city. If you ask me, the best way to feel a city is to walk her roads.

Come Sunday, destination Boston! Took the T out to the Prudential center stop. Boston has some marvellous architecture too. We walked over to the Boston Commons, which is like a park, bike paths and all, by the Charles river. Very pretty. You can see sailboats on the river against the backdrop of the Boston skyline. Spent some leisurely moments there, and crossed the Charles River on the Longfellow bridge. We then walked over to the start of the Freedom Trail. We followed the trail until the Quincy Market area, which is abuzz with life. There were also some extra security and a loud band playing. Some of this can be attributed to the Democratic National Convention happening here Jul 26-29. Took the T to MIT. Some more reverend moments and trademark photographs. Also found our way through the Infinite Corridor at MIT. Finished up with a Thai dinner and headed back.

Summary: NYC is amazing. You may love it or hate it, but you definitely want to see it. Boston, I feel is a lot more historic. Both are great cities. Manhattan is about people, Boston is about culture. A great, fun-filled, action-packed two days, yet all too short.

Why is NYC called the "The Big Apple"?
Why is Boston called Beantown?

Now there's some wanderlust for you!

Liberated!

Travails of a Lone Traveller

On Tuesday I went on a scenic drive. And scenic it was! The state highways here are interesting...some of them are just one lane! But undeniably pretty. I started driving around 7ish, so it was dusk as I negotiated the winding roads. There's trees on both sides of the road. Some patches are so thickly wooded, no sunlight comes through, and you need to turn your headlights on! It gets a little mesmerizing after a while, your eyes start following the snaking roads and the patches the sun makes on them...Then further along, there are nice and big country houses with white fences that look like they belong in a storybook. I suppose people live there, although I wouldn't be surprised if Snow White walked out with the Seven Dwarfs in tow. Anyways, many fulfilling moments and a few U-turns later, I decided it was dark enough for me to head back.

Yesterday! Aha, I had what many of us long for and a few get, home food! And cooked by someone else too! Just when I began to feel that the sight of another sandwich/wrap would make me go on a hunger strike. I visited some relatives (my dad's uncle's brother's daughter to be exact) who live about 10 miles from the hotel. She and her husband graduated from MIT and have lived in the area for around 20 years! They have a son and a daughter, both very friendly. I got to play some badminton in their backyard, and then sat down to a sumptuous dinner. She also packed me some food to take back! And they asked me to visit again.....considering everything, I think I'll go, what say?! ;-)

That's it for now. Hopefully, will get to make a few trips and do some sight-seeing this weekend.

Later!

Gateway to other Universes

Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist and author of the bestseller "A Brief History of Time" has taken back his theory on black holes. For many years, he argued that the extreme gravitational fields of black holes overturned quantum laws. But now, he has dropped that theory. "I have been thinking about this problem for 30 years, but I now have an answer to it," he explained. He now admits that all information that enters a black hole is not lost forever. It can come out of the hole, but in a mangled form. His prophecy that black holes may serve as gateways to other universes does not hold water anymore.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3913145.stm

There are many things to learn:
1. The mind is above all else. What you believe you can do, you can do. You are only as good as you think you are.
2. It is possible to think about one problem for 30 years!
3. It is great to discover and invent new things. It is greater to admit one's mistakes honestly and be open to change.

Astronomy is a fascinating science. It is one of those things that fill me with a sense of mysticism and intrigue. But whether I will embark on research in astronomy, I don't know. But I will definitely enjoy a trip to the planetarium. Or just gaze at the sky on a starry night and wonder.....

The truth is out there.

New England Area, MIT and a Sandwich

First day in the Boston area was pretty nice. I got up to a rather gloomy day, it was cloudy and drizzling. I took off to work. The highways are nice and wide like in California, but the one thing that strikes you is both sides of the road are really GREEN! Well, I thought California was green when I went there, but this is oh definitely a lot greener, I realized that even when I was peering out of the flight window! Anyways, got to the office ok (I had done a dry run last evening just to make sure). Met a bunch of people and learnt quite a bit about how the sales force works. My manager actually asked me to leave early in the afternoon itself so that I could get acclimatized! :-)

I gladly drove back to the hotel. Left all the stuff, armed myself with a bunch of maps and took off. I followed his advice and decided not to drive into the city. I wanted to go look around MIT. So I parked the car at the station and took The T (underground train system) to MIT. Boston is called "The Walking City". You can apparently walk all over the city. It really is nice. MIT is a lot different from U of M in that it is very much IN the city. There's no small town feeling here. But you can still feel the student population around you...people in bikes, roller blades etc. And some of the buildings are great...there is a lot of history here (although I don't know much of it!). I walked down Massachusetts Ave to the Charles River. Crossed the river on the Harvard bridge gazing at the pretty view of the downtown buildings. Walked back to the T station. Oh and of course, I saw a tamil mama and mami taking a walk with their grandchild in a stroller, conversing in tamil!! :-) Hopped back onto the convenient and moderately priced T. You do get the feeling of being in an intellectual place. I was a little skeptical about getting that feeling when my friend was telling me about it but today I realized what that meant. For one thing, everyone on the train was reading something...everyone! I even saw one American girl with "A Suitable Boy" (Vikram Seth)! Well, I guess it's not uncommon to read on trains, but still...there's the feeling.

I picked the car up and drove the back. Bought what turned out to be an awesome sandwich from this bread place and also some general groceries and returned to the hotel. There's apparently lots of places to see around here. Let's see how much I can get done! :-) The dial-up connection is not too bad here, don't know how often I can keep updating this though....

So long folks!

The Complicated Life of a Simple Person

It's hard to be simple. Yeah, really. You go to a coffee shop. Can you go to the counter and say "I'd like to have a cup of coffee."? Of course you can't, you have to wade through several options before you can zero in on exactly how much sugar and cream you need in your coffee, uh sorry, in your cappucino or latte or whatever. Same story everywhere, mayo or mustard, 2% milk or 1% milk, coke or diet coke or caffeine-free coke....Actually, it's not too bad, and you kinda get used to it. But it's a lot different back home. You can effortlessly go to a mess* in Madras and demand a kaapi**. Steaming coffee in a steel davara-tumbler*** will be before you in minutes, sugar, milk et al.

On the other hand, there are many things that are simpler here than back home. Travelling for one. I can take my car and drive anywhere quite easily. It's not insane to consider a cross-country drive even. It would be unnerving to plan such a thing in India! I guess there's two sides to every coin.

So people, I am off to Boston tomorrow, should be exciting! The fun part is that the Boston Democratic Convention is on Jul 26-29 and parts of the city may be cordoned off in the period before and after the convention too! People here have had enough of me cribbing about it, but it shouldn't be too bad. Will miss the funjunkies group out here though (they have been trying to convince me of the same!). Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, Summer picnic (from work) and then dinner with India's parents (with whom I hardly get to spend time with again!). Should find time to pack somewhere in the middle of all this!

Sundry funny axiom I got from a friend's email: There are 2 kinds of people, those who are good with words, and others who are erm...thingy. :-)

So long, folks! Bay Area junta, don't forget me because I am on Eastern time! And folks on Eastern time, no excuse not to call me now!!

mess = informal inexpensive eating place
kaapi = coffee in Tamil
davara-tumbler = South Indian version of cup and saucer. Ideal for cooling the coffee by pouring it back and forth between the davara and the tumbler.

Gobbledegook

Comment allez-vous? Inspired by a French colleague of mine, with a delightful accent, I have decided to write a bit of French. Only a little, and only because you'd rather read it than hear me speak it. C'est tres chaud aujourd'hui. Je suis la reine de la monde!! Totally random statements :-)

But seriously languages are fascinating. Even if you don't understand many of them, they can thrill you and transport you to lands far away, where you are limited only by your imagination. One of my high school friends is pursuing French as a career, and wow, I admire her spirit. To me, considering the background I come from, it is an adventure or even a risk you might say to pursue an offbeat career like that. But definitely exciting....I wonder, what if we all did what we wanted to do? And not what seemed sensible to do? What if I had opted for an Arts degree? Or literature? Would I have liked it? Would I have been any good? Not that my job is not fun, I like working with silicon (or GaAs) and I know for many people, VLSI is offbeat. But you know, it's the whole Science vs. Arts thing. What's more relevant today? All the sci-fi type innovations or empathy and health and service and all that? Although a part of the tech industry now, I sometimes lean toward the arty side. I mean, how much more comfortable can we get? I could live without a 3.5G mobile phone, or a plasma TV, or the next-generation ultra high speed toothbrush! But I don't think I can live without world peace (awwright, Miss World contestants, no plagiarism!). All thoughts...for now, I go back to being plain old me toiling away in my good old job in Silicon Valley!

Now THIS is some of the random gobbledegook that blogs are about, or atleast my blog is about!

Rainy Days and Wednesdays

It's one of those days....I felt like falling asleep yesterday and never getting up. I had a nice chat with my sis last evening and that's always fun :) But I ended up going to sleep rather late (by my standards). Oh well, 7 am happened today and we all know what that meant, hurry up and get to work! To add to the fun, I left my house at 7:50 and looked at my watch, it showed 7:25. Awesome, my watch is malfunctioning! Well, it's the last standing watch amongst those that work AND that have valid straps. Seems to be ticking now, let's see if it resurrects.

Well, I have some decent stuff to do at work, and things to wrap up before I leave to Boston. So...later!

The Art of Bloggery

A blogpost is not a bunch of words strung together, or an extension of our thoughts. Or a diary (as my sister thinks it is...she was probably thinking dairy!). It is profound mumbo jumbo. Sophisticated babble. Unabashed ego boosting. Extreme mindfulness. It involves many a precious femtosecond of conscientious deliberation. It takes several quantum leaps to come up with a coherent, stimulating post. But inspite of all that, verily, most posts end up like this one!

Latest christening: Simulation Soundaravalli = Renuka :)

Smell the roses....

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

-Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet

Southern California

San Diego and Los Angeles - that's where I was this fourth of July weekend. I met up with 4 of my Anna U classmates, a couple of whom I was meeting after 2 years!After lots of delays (traffic and otherwise), we pretty much drove overnight to reach San Diego at 5:30am Saturday morning. Decided it was not worth going to sleep so just got ready and left for Seaworld. Nice fun place! Lots of exciting water rides and some great shows. First up was Journey to Atlantis, a coaster with some splashes, very cool! There was a really awesome dolphin and whale show and then also a sealion and otter show. Our last ride for the day was Shipwreck rapids. We waited in the line for 90 mins (!!) and then got **totally** drenched at the end of it. Soaked to the skin! I didn't relish that too much, especially since we had to head back soon after, and didn't get enough sun to dry us out. We had dinner at Madras Cafe ( Bay Area folks: yes, really!), a lot different from the Sunnyvale Madras Cafe though. This was more a restaurant than a fast food place. But the food was on similar lines, delicious! Oh and we ended up meeting 3 of our Anna U seniors there, that was a pleasant surprise!

Next day was destination Hollywood! Drove to LA and entered the park around 11:30. It was really crowded, but then what can you expect on July 4th?! Did most of the rides, Shrek 4D was great, and so were T2 and Back to the Future. But my favourite was The Revenge of the Mummy. There was a 65 min wait! It's a coaster again which crashes forward through the sinister world on Imhotep. The jerks and twists on the coaster are pure thrill! And then we come to a grinding halt, and suddenly you continue to jump and jolt but all moving backwards! Whoa...I hadn't ever been on a backward coaster before and it was amazing! Also got the usual kick out of eating panju mittai* :D We left Universal around 7pm and drove to LA downtown. We gaped at the beautiful towering buildings, but downtown was very deserted. Decided it was too much of a drive to go watch fireworks anywhere else, so we started driving back to San Diego (we wouldn't be able to make it in time for the San Diego fireworks). But we were in luck,we saw fireworks all the way back on I-5! Pretty! I had a blinding headache by then, so just went home and crashed.

Monday was spent saying goodbyes, dropping people off at airports, gathering all the Bay Area folks and the long drive back. Got home 10ish, ate and slept, relieved to be home. Back to work today. I went and returned the car in the afternoon (many thanks to Renuka!).A word of advice: If a rental agency ever offers you a 2-door Dodge Stratus, REFUSE! I was so relieved to be driving my dear old Civic after that monstrosity! It drives ok and all, just that the seat is highly uncomfortable, and so low that you can hardly see the road in front of you and it shudders when you break at high speeds!

Driving at 85mph and sometimes at 20mph, playing '20 questions' while waiting in queues, pulling everyone's leg, oohing and aahing at sights along the highway, trying to watch the fireworks display while keeping my eyes on the road, eating my first Burger King veggie...all part of a fun trip!

That's it for now! Have a good week!

* panju mittai = cotton candy

This, that and everything else

I ended up meeting a friend of mine from undergrad today. Really unexpected, she suddenly calls me up to say that she is here in San Jose! Was good to see her again, after 2 years!

Off to LA and San Diego for the weekend. We are driving down and I am meeting a group of friends from undergrad at SD. As always, I feel a little apprehensive about the long driving and actually making the trip, but then once into it, it will be fine...and fun! One friend of mine managed to get us corporate discount rates at Seaworld and at Universal, and I don't mind that!

That's it for now, I have to go and pack....but I am soooo sleepy!! Everyone, have a great weeekend!