TERROR strikes back....

Well I just want to plain express my feeling after seeing what happened 5 days back...terrorists raided Mumbai and killed around 200 people....randomly without sense, purpose or motive.

The first thing that came to my mind is how come 10 people could do all this when Indian elite terrorist task force, Commandos, police were present there in hundred's right after the incident. My simple Understanding is we are unprepared and we should be more prepared in the future. I remember Moscow theater siege and school siege carried out by Chechen terrorists and If you correctly remember Moscow siege, they were holding more hostages and had bigger ammunition. But still Russians used sophisticated techniques to sweep them and reduced the fatalities. That is what I think is lacking in Indians, we are not prepared, I heard of commandos getting killed in Taj hotel cos evrything was dark and terrorists were firing randomly....it sucks that we dont have night vision goggles, smoke grenades, other equipment etc..

Ofcourse nothing is gonna change now, at most they will cancel some bus routes, rail services, Cricket matches etc.. and tension will rise, bush will come cool down India ( he needs pakistan help in Afganistan and doesnt want them to leave it). India being a great patient peaceful side will take this and will do nothing.

I am not pessimistic, but I want to start from my side, I will try to learn some self defensive techniques and will try to learn some courses so that I can help in such situations rather than just waiting for the army to save us. Because I know they cant save me if I am in that situations. Lets not keep the blame on anyone and lets try to change system & I wish our governament be more stronger towards pakistan( I know this is impossible).

Utes crush Cougars!!

Well I just returned from one of the most passionate games your can ever watch-BYU vs UTAH football. Few rivalries can match the intensity of these games. Nick named as Holy war, it draws huge crowds and passions run high.

Me along with Kannan reached the ground around 3.35 PM and the game kicked off at 4.....we were right in the middle of a whole group of MUSS(Mighty Utah Student Section) fans. And the fun thing was there were some BYU fans right infront of us...they were a small group in the middle of the big crimson tide(Utah's color is crimson). Poor guys they were the target of all different kind of projectiles(popcorn, papers, ice cubes, even burritos) and the fun part was a BYU guy started eating one of the burrito thrown on to him, and Utah fans were shouting saying "hey that burrito has shit man"...it was really funny, but I felt sorry for that BYU guy...but yeah he should expect animosity if he comes inside the Reds area!



the BYU fans(dressed in Blue & having Y written of T-shirts)...






Utah players emerging from the tunnel.........

The stadium was set in the middle of mountains and its a beautiful view as the sun set in the stadium

Red Red everywhere....


An enthusiastic Ute supporter


James & his brother were a great company all throughout the game, particularly in explaining rules & ofcourse the whole MUSS group was awesome...After the game, supporters just ran into the stadium to revel in the glory of winning the Moutain west conference, Entering the bowl & most importantly beating BYUThe board says it all....poor BYU fans, they were whacked badly...well I heard they behave decently in their home ground when BYU-Utah game happens...but we are not so good :D

Goo UTES!!!

Youtube it......

Google it....this is a old saying...the new phrase is Youtube it......it sound strange huh...but face it, here are some stats from wikipedia:

"Few statistics are publicly available regarding the number of videos on YouTube. However, in July 2006, the company revealed that more than 100 million videos were being watched every day, and 2.5 billion videos were watched in June 2006. 50,000 videos were being added per day

It is estimated that in 2007, YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000, and that over 13 hours of video are uploaded every minute. In March 2008, its bandwidth costs were estimated at approximately $1 million a day"

Do I need to tell more...just like what google helps in finding about stuff, I just use youtube to see how to do it. Gone are the days when people used to read, its time to listen and see. Its not that people became lazy, its just that technology is making life simpler for us and making us lazy.

The other day I remember, I was googling for how to change my vista login wallpaper and inadvertantly searched it in youtube, since that tab was open and to my amazement, there was a good tutorial on how to do that.God that was so nice! And yes I am like using google from the time I wake up to the time I sleep. Google owns internet now, the only major point it needs to acquire is facebook and I am pretty sure they're gonna bid for that soon.

Like in Harry potter's Muggle world, we are living in a Google world!

Quantum of solace review...

Well being a hardcore James bond fan, I feel obliged to share my thoughts on the latest Installment - QOS. We grabbed tickets for the night show on friday 14th, the day it released in US, although there were good prints of the movie available online, I kept telling myself I will watch this only in theater atleast for its $230 million budget. And yes the movie is more than worth the ticket.

Well the movie has lots of action and little story, but it has all the familiar spy style moves. Ofcourse the main thing to talk about is jaw dropping action sequences & locales. Daniel craig is awesome...seriously he mastered the role. I was little disappointed that the main theme song sucked & familiar bond tune doesnt come till the end.

Murali spilled a bucket of popcorn inside the theater while watching the movie and popcorn was everywhere near my legs. One more thing I love in watching a movie in theater are the trailers in the beginning, I am a big fan of trailers even though I dont watch all of them. The way people market a movie depends on how good the trailer is. And boy I love them. I frequently watch trailers on apple & yahoo sites whenever I get bored... We saw the trailers of i think 2012 & star trek in the beginning and both looked awesome!

How ya doin?

I get these questions more often than anything else here in U.S...

How u doing? Watsup? Howz it going?..............and so on..

Being from India, its been really really different there...whenever you meet anyone..you generally greet each one saying kaisa hai bhai(how are you?), but these are the Q's you ask some one whom you know very well or so....but after landing in U.S for my grad studies its been 'Hellos' & 'How you doings' raining from everywhere. God I felt so ackward when ever you go somewhere and people ask howz it going .....I dont mean its bad but it took me sometime to adjust.

Also the answer to these questions would be standard - 'Doing Great - What about you','Nothing great, you tell me!' etc..but people dont care for your answer...i used to think people who work in departmental stores etc...dont they get bored by asking these Q's, but ofcourse that the American way - to keep the customer happy ( or other person whomever u r talking to happy). It doesnt really come with respect, its just a standard blatant expression, lost its meaning long time ago.

So there was a phase when I loved to answer this question, and to greet other colleagues with these kind of Q's , but now I start to hate and get bored to greet anyone with these expressions....well that the way it is!!

Hurray....got the BYU game tickets!

Well boy, the rivalry between Utes(University of Utah's college Football team) & Cougars(BYU's team) is one of the greatest you can ever witness. For people of Utah its called Saints Vs. Sinners game..(you can make who are they referring to as saints and who is sinners).

Well this years game is being held in our own Rice eccles Stadium, hence we had a chance to grab the tickets. The tickets for this match are one of the most sought after...i can see them being traded in craig's list at around $1000.(This is a $60 normal price one).

Anyways our whole group planned to get the tickets at any cost this year...so here is how we got them --> The ticket counter opens at 8.00 AM on saturday, and you can have around 3000 free student tickets. People started setting up tents on friday evening outside the ticket counter just so that they grab them as the counter opens on saturday. We guys also got 2 camp tents..one from Merugu and we rented other one...and we were some where like 130th tent in the order..amazing na..

So shortly after 10.30 PM I went to our camp for the night where we made elaborate arrangements...Lappies loaded with movies, chips, coke etc...( not to forget booze & ciggies for some). Ours was a 12 strong group and we started by making fun of each one standing in a circle. Of course I became quite the center of these jokes for some time because of my night time bickering which I do regularly when I am in deep sleep.

After that we set on to play cards....A game called as Bluff...I was really bad at bluffing..so I sucked at the game. Anyways it was fun...but the night was mercyless. The temp outside was around 2 degrees celcius...shit we were freezing. Around 1.00 AM I set out to sleep in the tent grabbing my comforter and I swear it was one of the best sleep in the recent times.

Time ticked and we got up and packed the tents around 6.15 AM. People started forming queues and we joined them...then there was the painful standing for 1.5 hrs till we got them....and finally we have them...the tickets to BYU vs UTES.................HELL YEAH!!

Nov 22.....................the Holy war starts

The name is Obama, Barack Obama..

Yes we can.......Yes we did

So finally after months of constant campaiging,debating,bitter words between the two camps finally Obama won the Presidential campaign. His story of rise to power is definitely a source of inspiration to anyone. I am still not able to beleive that a person who is of African descent, Who spent 4 years in Indonesia as a child & whose middle name is Hussein has been elected as the president of U.S. As everyone pointed out this definitely is a sign of change in America & the world.

Well...on the other side it started snowing pretty badly in salt lake...and I had the chance to capture some fall colors last weekend...

I walk a lonely road the only one that I've ever known, Dont know where it goes But it's home to me and I walk alone.....Boulevard of broken dreams still..

With Kalyan at University's north campus..

This is just outside our apartment........a really beautiful tree....the light was little bad or else I could have captured a more beautiful picture...

I like this kind of more light green color....Nature at its best!

Follow up to the previous post...

Sorry guys I mentioned in my previous post Into the wild that the 1993 movie based on the survival of group of people in Andes after a Plane crash is Crash...but the actual movie name is Alive(1993 - Ethan hawke starrer).

The entire movie is available in youtube. The way people started uploading movies to youtube both makes me happy and sorry. Happy that you can watch your favourite movie anytime, feel sorry for the makers of the film who dont get anything out of it and for google who are sucked into innumerable law suits because of these kind of illegal videos( i heard google is loosing $1 million each day to cater to the increasing data storage, law suits etc. cos of youtube.)

Anyways I love youtube and I suggest poeple of keep uploading :)

Into the wild!

I know its really an old review..considering it released last year...and when I watched this movie in the theater last winter, I was alone in the house(all my roomies went on to visit their friends, relatives etc..) I completely lost myself in the movie..

It's a film adaptation of a real life story of a bright college graduate Christopher McCandless, who leaves all the riches of modern life to explore and live in the wild and dies in the wilderness because of unpreparedness to survive in the wild. I was so deeply in love with the movie that I watched it over and over again. That was when I decided I would one day for sure visit Alaska. It is such a beautiful place untouched and pristine - a true heaven.

I started watching similar themed movies and stumbled upon The Edge, a similar kind of movie placed in wild with Anthony hopkins and Alec Baldwin..

Anyways i was really moved by Into the wild and I suggest you to watch it if you havent already...


And there is one all time great movie based on real life survival of group of airplane crash victims called Alive(1993). This was also one of the most touching stories, I have ever seen. The sheer belief of people facing all odds and coming successful is really great. I suggest you watch that too...

And yes let me know if you find any other movies like these :)

Indiyeah!!

Hi...its been really long time since i posted my last blog...it seems like I blog only once in a semester....actually the reason for coming back is after I found this blog of pictures about India by Claude Renault.. http://mesimagesdinde.blogspot.com/

The blog is simply amazing, being a foreigner Claude seemed to have explored India more than me....I feel really bad that I used to feel little low about India before and I have realized now how blessed I am to be born in such a great place....such a great diverse, culturally rich, deeply spiritual country. A simple thought of people who speak 100's of different languages which are completely different from each other staying together harmoniously is simply amazing.

I could appreciate the beauty of India only after seeing the other side of the world. It might not be the most efficient industrious nation in the world, but I should say it is the center of the Human civilization. The world will acknowledge this very soon....

Well all said I want to post some of the best images I took from Mr. Claude Renault's blog with his consent.. This picture really spell bound me......a boy jumping into Ganges, while a boat loaded with pilgrims pass by.....Renault you are a genius!!

A sadhu relaxing at the banks of Ganges in Haridwar...simply amazing..

Well I just ordered a digital camera to get started on photography...hoping to get better. During our recent trip to Vegas, Kalyan bore the brunt of my bad camera skills when all the images I took got shaken!!

Summer roundup

Well thinking of summer, this summer has been lot better than the previous two semesters-Spring & Fall. Didnt take any courses, tried my hand at a variety of games from Raquet ball, cricket, basketball,Swimming to Skate boarding!!( Ofcourse I am good at none).

One more highlight of the summer was enjoying stuff American Style!! Yes I am talking of hiking....although we started off decently with a small trek in the mountains by the Huntsman Center, It provided a decent start to the variety of activities all through the summer.

Will keep posting more stuff....but gotta go back to work for now!!

United vs Chelsea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yo yo

So finally the finalists of the UEFA champions league have been decided. Predicting MANU to reach the finals was no big deal, but what suprised me is chelsea reaching there & I am sure the match on May 21 will be a edge of the seat thriller.

Well anyways I am done with the spring semester today. The dreaded projects went ok I should say mainly the state space project today. I had no idea of what the paper was talking of & although I screwed there in the presentation, Dr. Skliar understood the toughness of paper that I was analyzing and let me go away easily. Thank God!!

So I got some plans for the weekend..to visit Red Butte garden in the upper campus of Univ of Utah. Spring beauty is awesome & although strangely it is still snowing in utah occasionally. Talked to my mom today & she was saying that the weather there was unbearably hot in India!! Huh!!

Bhajji Blues..

Poor Bhajji, temper got better of him & the whole drama ensues. After the slap-ban drama, the press is rife with comparisons with the previous episodes of symonds-monkey drama which was highly publicized. But this comparison seems to be ridiculous. I just think that being a more emotional player, he might have got pissed off at sreesanth's comment and let loose his hand.

This gives me a previous thoughts of punjabis, what I observed during my stay in Punjab for 4 years. The teenagers especially are very adamant, bold & even sometimes rude. They say that people cool down as they grow old, I find that case to be true in Punjab. And also people are not afraid to question something if it is wrong. I had an expereince in jalandhar railway station where one of the mineral water sellers was selling a bottle for 13 rupees while the original price was only 10 rs. Once elder sikh janaab who came to grab a bottle was astonished at the price and started arguing. Ultimately the vendor had to concede & give it for 10Rs. Huh!!

EPL & IPL....

Its the weekend & time for sports......ManUtd lost to chelsea at stamford bridge & gets the title race more & more interesting....& indian IPL teams fighting to gain points....harbhajhan hitting sreesanth created more furore than Deccan chargers losing all 3 games...interesting!!

I always thought that creating a game format in the lines of english premeir league would benefit game of cricket...although it gets boring in the end. When it comes to deccan chargers, keeping laxman in the team was just because he is a Hyderabadi, although he is not fit for this form of cricket. The match they lost againast Royals was just his bullshit captaincy. Lets see where they go to....

Well here is my project demonstration for advanced mechatronics: Video

Thanks for watching!

Weekend roundup

hey let me wind up this weekend with the news of the current week..i should say it went on ok....for the first time in my life I stayed awake for straight 38 hours and yes the one made that possible is none other than Advanced MECHATRONICS!!!

So for the project submission on thursday, we toiled through the whole of night to get some demonstration done & yes finally we were successful. Although we couldnt please Dr. P., he looks like satisfied with some results. For those of you who want to see what we have done - please go through http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73EVYb4y93c for the video of that.

Now got one more week of work & then I will be done for the semester. Hurray!!!!

Just came across this site called: Phd - http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php

Its an acronym for piled higher and deeper...true!!

Really enjoyed the site.

Killer week

Actually this is not a time to write a blog.....let me tell you what all I have got the following two weeks -

• First and foremost Advanced mechatronics Project(worth 30% of grade) - going at snails pace
  
• Robotics control Assignment+project+Final(Final is on tuesday, Assignment is due on monday & project on next tuesday).
• State space Assignment+final+project: All due in the next two weeks....

Well all this said, i dont know why i am finding time now to write about all this stuff....anyways I wish I could see whats gonna happen in these two weeks...anyways will find out & will tell you how did it go.

And one more thing.....to releive this tension and before beginning the journey of these final two weeks of this semester...watched a beautiful movie: Notting hill....really a sweet movie...awesome one...

Well well will get back to you after a week or two with how these all went.....