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Showing posts from October, 2010

The Pitch!

I had a wonderful Thursday! A class in the morning, a pitch contest in the afternoon and a trip MIT in the evening! A pitch is a business pitch. This contest did not require a b-plan in place. I anyway participated, just for the fun of it. I didn't win anything. But I thought I did good and it was fun! I did get goodies for participating. A coffee and a book . The author was one of the judges! And then I went to MIT to get training for Splash (a weekend when anyone can teach anything :) ) So the training happened in a class room which had heat transfer equations all the black board that I had used for my BTech Project I so loved doing , and I felt bad the left my engineering track. It was sad, really sad!

Pittsburgh Header Again

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Here is another one from CMU and I should give credits to Athula for finally giving me the pics!

The Bostonian

The first weekend I was here, I cried. Because I was alone and I didn't know anyone but also because it was so strange that I didn't see many people on the street and I could sit on a bus with a bunch of people who never talk to you at all and your neighbors didn't care that you existed. A couple of months later, I know, Bostonians are chivalrous, smile and nod at strangers, wish a good morning and pat their neighbors dogs and strike up a sentence or two once in a while. Last weekend when I was walking home from Ivo's house to mine, I had a perplexed expression on my face trying to figure out my path (no, I am never lost, I always find my way), when a stranger said to me "Smile, Honey! It isn't that bad". And out of nowhere I burst into a smile. "See. That was easy. Keep it going" he quipped and walked away. A complete stranger he was. Bostonians huh?

Quickest Boston Tour

This weekend was fun as well. Started out on Friday when Ivo wanted to check out Halloween Costumes! We went to the biggest costume shop in Boston. Yet! We found nothing. OK not nothing! I got rainbow socks and she got a moose headband and fake eyelashes. But not costumes. We then went out to join a few girlfriends. And I ended up crashing over at ivo's place. We woke up to a lazy lazy Saturday and we went out for lunch. And when I say out I mena we walked out and kept walking and walking till we did not find any place to have a nice lunch and finally settled for Starbucks ! We then managed to buy out the entirity of Stop and Shop and carried a million bags back to her house. I walked back home and she went to school to study. I had to pick up a friend who was coming from NY. So I cooked and went to pick her up. I picked her up at South Station and showed her Downtown by night. On Sunday, I took her in an ad-hoc manner down the freedom trail. We had lunch at Quincy and sat down by

Weekend, A Class apart

I took a weekend course = the whole course in 2 compressed weekends = 15 hours per weekend. Last weekend was the first of those. I wondered how I would sit in the same class for 15 hours. But it was fun. It was ultra fun. We did lots of hands-on assignments and had a guest lecture and it was pretty cool! One more of those weekends coming up and then I'll be done! On Sunday, which was the 10th day after the Navratri or the Vijaya Dasami back home in India, I decided to go to temple. I looked up Google and realized that the closest temple was an ISKCON temple . The only devi temple was in Ashland and there is no way I could have gone after hours of classes. So I decided to go to ISKCON. I dragged a friend with me. She dragged a roommate with her. And three of us started out. I had been to ISKCON temples before. They are sort of different. But none like this. This had an American Swami give an american talk on how Rama killed Ravan and brought Sita home and people celebrated Navratri.

Harvard!

Finally, finally, finally! I got to go to Harvard University . My nica friend (ivo) and I made friends with this guy we met through our friend from college when we to the beach . He is doing his PhD in elec (will be done soon) at Harvard Faculty of Arts and Science ! So we asked him for a tour and he agreed. But we are all busy people. Busy. Busy. So we finally made it on Thursday (which also happens to be ivo's birthday!!!) We were late by an hour before we turned up at Harvard T stop. And then our tour began when we started walking through the Harvard Yard where all the dorms were. There was this old building ( massachuesettes hall ) that is out of use and then there was the first dorm to have flowing water (before which people had to use the handpump in the yard). And then were was a statue. The plaque says "John Harvard, founder, 1638". But actually it is not John Harvard and it some early grad and John Harvard was a benefactor and not a founder and it was founded i

Unknown Lands

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Have you ever heard of a country called Moldova ? I haven't! And all I can think of it to contact my 8th class friend who used to play hangman of countries names with me and tell him that I have a new country name. Well it is not a new country name. It is relatively new but not new. And I am ashamed at my ignorance. Because it is a country rich in history and culture. How did I suddenly know about it? I was checking out my blogger stats and I came to know that someone from Moldova visited my site a few times. I am surprised. Moldova is a landlocked democratic country in Eastern Europe between Romania and Ukraine, which became a country along with the others when USSR broke up in 1991. It has strong Russian influences in it culture but some of Latin as well. The script of Moldovian is Latin. It has good music and museums. It did have a cinema but that declined after it was declared independent. It also has a self declared country within its territory called " Transnistria "

Five Minute Poem

For one of my courses today, I had to do an assignment called the " Five Minute Poem " which is a idea by Beverly Tatum . It was an interesting exercise and I think you should try it for yourself. Here are the rules: Four Stanzas. Each Stanza Has Four Lines. Each Stanza Begins – “I am from…” First Stanza: Familiar sights, sounds, or smells of your neighborhood Second Stanza: Familiar Foods Third Stanza: Family Sayings Fourth Stanza: Friends And here is mine (since it's not really a poem, I did not put it in my poetry blog ): I am from the rainbows lair Of bright and bold sprinkled everywhere A billion throng loud with laughter Rain soaked earth with a mixed mutter I am from the land of spices Pickles and masala chai form our vices A spread of color on your plate A spread of tastes for your palate I am from a culture rich of hyperbole Praise less subtle in humor relay Of theatre and politics bearing the name For the games that they

Opening Our Doors on Columbus Day

Columbus discovered the New World on October 12th, 1942 and I got a holiday today because it is Columbus Day . It is I guess the closest Monday to Oct 12th. But then my Mondays are off anyway so it should not make much of a difference. But I attended a little bit of the Opening Our Doors by The Fenway Alliance (of which my school is a part). I wanted to do a lot of things, like listening to music concerts or look through art galleries or watch some short films or some plays. But I didn't do most of it. We (by we I mean my freshmen friend from China who watches Bollywood films and my good ol' Nica friend) met up a little later than we thought and spent a good 2 hours having a great lunch with a double helping of ice cream after tasting all the flavors at the Residential Campus cafe. We then decided to check out the cultural festival of sorts and managed to check out only Evan's Way Park that had hands on art work to do like painting of all sorts and pumpkin decoration and

10x10

Beatrice, a student in Kisumu, Kenya (and an aspiring "poetess") from The Documentary Group on Vimeo .

hairstyles and little girls!

Till a few hours ago, I had long hair mostly because I like reasonably long hair and I kind of didn't get around to get a hair cut. I thought I'll get a hair cut just before I left India. But on a random day when I randomly googling, I found the site of this non profit organization called " Locks of Love ". Here is their mission statement: Our mission is to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children. The children receive hair prostheses free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on financial need. I decided to keep the length till I reach US and figure out when and where to donate my hair. I finally found this place called Dekwa which cuts off pony tails and they do it so often. Also as an encouragement, they give you a hair cut for $25 by a senior stylist or for $0 by a junior stylist. I tried their phone a

Carnegie Mellon University

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Apart from the fact that CMU is one of the best for CS and of the most sought after univs by most of my IIT friends who decide to go ahead with an MS and/or PhD, I did not know much about it nor about graduate scools in general in the United States. I visited the campus the other day and as my facebook friends already know, I am in love with Carnegie Mellon University . Gates Hillman Complex: It was opened last fall, built by grants from the Gates foundation and Henry J Hillman, hosts the department of computer science (which is where my friend works). It is beautifully built with contemporary architecture. Connecting a 3rd to the 5th floor a helix or a helical staircase with space in between for a couple of classrooms. It has technical art displayed at a few points like the one in my header, art the kind I have never seen. Most of the walls of public seating areas can be used as white boards, so can a few tables. They have vague staircases in between which are called the Hogwarts stai

B-schools and Tech schools

B-schools After moving on to b-schools and having experienced Indian and US b-schools, I feel it is pretty much the same everywhere. Everywhere I feel b-schools are designed to kill you. But that is 'stress' training for the corporate world. Everywhere b-schools seem to focus on entrepreneurship and social ventures (whether or not things happen, they do try). Everywhere b-schools don't need too many facilities and the provided facilities are in good shape (at least most b-schools). Everywhere b-schools are very costly. Everywhere people who pass out of b-schools earn a lot. There are differences. I do feel that people in US feel strongly about their choice of graduation and are motivated to work for it. I do feel that we Indians are not that passionate about education and are not as motivated since it is only looked upon a means to achieve an end which is more attractive than the means itself. Indian b-schools party a lot more than in US since the Indian b-schools have a yo

My Blog My Echo

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My new header those things emit information from the blogs across the world about new technology in computers and are stuck on a hall way in CMU. If you stand between them you can hear what they say because they will be in resonance.

Sunday in Pittsburgh!

Sunday we woke up early morning and left my 2.30pm!!! We went to the popular Pittsburgh Sri Venkateswara Temple. It was beautiful. We had traditional South Indian food and filter coffee as well. We then went to a Catholic Church. And then to a Catholic Cathedral where I paid respects to a good friend who passed away a few weeks ago. We then went to a Scare House and got really really scared! Then we made our way to Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh modelled after the legendary Hofbrauhaus in Munchen (and not Munich). There was also a man dressed in Bavarian clothes who played nice Bavarian music who looked to me like a German version of Santa Claus. A lot for a single day!

Niagara Falls!

Niagara literally means "split in the land" according to native americans (though I have not been able to find a link saying so on the internet; I read it Niagara) and is made of the American Falls and the Horse Shoe Falls (and even the Bridal Veil Falls I think). This is where we went on Saturday. We went to the Cave of the Winds tour where you walk past the gushing American Falls which can seem adventurous. It was fun. But sadly I wore leggings with sole and my wet were soaked in water that must be about 5deg C. We then went to the Maid of the Mist boat tour where we were taken on a boat to the center part of the Horse Shoe Falls . The cold wind and mist were in my face and I was surrounded on three sides by the falls. You cannot feel anything due to the cold and you cannot hear anything due to the gush of the wind. This moment was miraculous, almost divine! A moment that makes you feel so small in front of nature. The major part of the area was connected by trolley whos

Early Weekend!

My Weekend began on Thursday morning when I woke up at 5.30! I have a flight to Pittsburgh early to spend it with one of my closest friends ever from IIT. We spent Thursday having lunch at Cheescake Factory, shopping for a while and dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant whose name I forget. Friday was a fun trip around Pittsburgh. I didn't know that Pittsburgh was so beautiful. Down town Pittsburgh has two rivers on either side, Allegheny (fair waters or beautiful waters) and Monongahela (falling deep banks) and they meet up at the edge of downtown to form Ohio river. And all this can be seen if you go on the hillside through inclines. Beautiful pictures to take! There was this hangout place where old equipment from steel plants was put on display. Apparently, Pittsburgh was a steel city once and hence the name Steelers for their football team. And the night rested with a dinner cruise on the three rivers which celebrated a little girl's birthday party, a young lady's bachelore