Blue Man Group

Sunday, December 16^th saw us at the Blue Man Group show in Chicago. It’s amazing how they have combined music, color, theatre and electronic multimedia to create a unique entertainment show. The show began with a rather long interaction with the audience through electronic message boards, where people were asked read out the displayed lines congratulating some people for their recent feats or suggesting someone how to kill his headache. It felt a bit stupid to me but the enthusiasm, with which a large part of the audience reacted, may be it was a good stunt to gear up the viewers. Through out the show, the music was awesome. The common act of beating the drums was elevated to a superior level with different colors and strategically placed lights.

The mime was good. The visual presentations through different forms served well as breaks between the main acts. Audience interaction was a very important part of the entire show. They often came out to the general sitting area, connected to the people and selected individuals to be parts of their acts. An old lady was invited to their dinner table while a young man was used to make an ultra-modern art, which involved painting him blue and smashing him against a canvas. The lady must have enjoyed it. I hope the guy enjoyed it too. The most hilarious part of audience interaction for me was when someone entered the show late. The on-going show was halted; electronic sign boards declared that someone came late; one of the blue-men focused a light on the late comers; cameras tracked them and there was a background song saying “You are late … you are late” in an opera style. You should have seen the expression of the late comers. At a later stage, rolls of white ribbons were put on the audience along with a great show of lights. The moves of rock n roll were fun and exciting too. However, the best part for me was playing the pipes. Below is a video from the youtube. It’s from a different show, but it’s similar.

Overall, the evening was a delight. Even more as we got tickets for $30 instead of the normal rate of $60 being students. So don’t forget to take your student ID if you are one.

(The pics in the post are courtesy http://www.billhartzer.com/pages/blue-man-group-puts-on-incredible-show-in-las-vegas/ You are not allowed to take pictures or videos inside the hall)

Going Home, Hating Mondays

In school, the holidays always started on the last day of the exam. We used to have the exam in the morning and by the time it was over, the campus was crowded with parents to take their boys home. If you were there in the hall till the end of the exam, you could hear the parents greeting their children or calling out loud a last minute instruction before they leave for home. It was tough seating there and revising your answers or even finishing the unanswered ones with the event of going home so close at hand. Naturally, the last exam was always a bit messed up. Things were a bit different in college since by then students went home on their own and no parents were to be seen (except for a few cases and those students inevitably were labeled as grown-up-looking kids). Still, you couldn’t miss the going-home-excitement in the air. Given the background, you can easily sense the thrill of going home after one and a half years, that too for the first time after coming to a place 7998 miles away from the home town. That’s something you feel just once in your life time. However, the sad part is that I booked my ticket quite late and all the people I know, have already left or will be leaving soon for India. Though it’s worth the wait, it’s kind of frustrating to watch people leave while you are stuck. Like the last exam in school, I don’t feel like working in these last two weeks before I fly home. Unfortunately, people in my research group aren’t going home. They got work for me. How sad :( It makes the Monday even more wearisome, even more unwelcome than a regular Monday. I will hate to wake up tomorrow morning.

Graduate Student after 3rd Semester

The third semester of my graduate studies is almost at its end. I am going back home in two weeks after one and a half years. I have been out of home since I was nine, studying always in boarding schools. But it was never for such a long stretch. Naturally, I am excited. However, right now it’s not only the excitement creeping in my mind; it’s also the uneasiness of a graduate student in one’s second year. To be honest, I have no idea where my research is heading. In the past one year I have learnt things, understood concepts and become more confident. But I doubt my abilities to conduct research on my own. So far, whatever I have achieved has largely been a favor from my senior in the lab. Unfortunately, he is graduating soon and soon it’s going to be a one-man-show, that one man being yours truly. It has got sort of an uncanny feeling when you know that you got no one for ready support. As far the advisor is concerned, I think other than some lucky graduate students, it’s hardly a factor save for the final stages when you need contacts for a job. From an optimistic perspective, hopefully it will help me grow as an independent researcher. Well, let’s put it in different words. It will be a test for me whether I can be independent and whether I can be a researcher, because so far I have been neither.

Saawariya

(Don't bother to watch)

Half an hour through the movie and we were out of the theatre. Well, that gives you the gist of what is coming. It was a massacre. Whatever story it was getting at, was punctuated with a song almost every seven minutes. The tunes were good but then you are at the movie for the story and not entirely for songs. How long can you stand that? The dialogues were rarely catchy and the build-up wasn’t good at all. I can’t vouch for the whole of the movie because, as you know, I had given up pretty soon. The movie was set in a picturesque background which looks like a fairytale. That was good; it was artistic and poetic in some sense. May be people who understand the nitty-gritty’s of photography or shooting might appreciate that but that wasn’t good enough for the common audience. I am not complaining about the acting, however. Rani Mukherjee, Salman Khan, and the newbies, both Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor looked great and did a good job. It could have been passed as a good attempt for a new setting in bollywood by a new director. But, Sanjay Leela Bansali; we definitely expected a lot lot better .

Natyoshala- Free Bengali Drama (Bangla Natok) Audio, Scripts, Reports and More

Natyoshala, a non-profit collective initiative, is an open source bengali drama portal that provides the unique setting to share your interest with other drama enthusiasts. Here Bengali Drama (Bangla Natok) enthusiasts will find bengali audio plays (bangla natok), bengali audio books, bengali drama scripts and bengali drama reports. However, the most unique part is the way you can contribute and participate as a passionate drama person. Present your recording of a bengali audio play or an audio book. Upload a bengali drama script that you composed or adapted from a story. Submit a report about a recent bangla natok, which you watched or performed, say at your parar pujo. Browse through different kinds of bangla natok contents, put your comments, rate the contents and discuss your thoughts about this website and bengali drama in general at the forum.

Durga Puja in Chicago

We organized Durga Puja 2007 in downtown Chicago (in the west campus of University of Illinois at Chicago) for the first time on 13th and 14th October. We were excited to have such a big event which is so very close to the heart every Bengali. It was organized by students living in and around Chicago and we were overwhelmed with the support and enthusiasm bestowed by the student community. However, along with the young hearts, we were fortunate to have the experience of senior members on our side too. With the support of all, we saw a turn up of over 300 people in the event making it a huge success.
Here are a few videos from the event -
Pujo




Pujo




Ya Chandi Shloka




Bangla Natok by Natyoshala




Snake Dance




Dance on Dola Re

The Bahá’í and the Ramakrishna Mission

Do you know of the Bahá’í faith? I guess most of you don’t. Well, do you know the famous Lotus Temple in Delhi? I guess you do. That temple is the worshipping place for the Bahá’í in Asia, one among the places they have, each in one continent. I visited the Bahá’í house of worship in Wilmette, Illinois very close to Chicago and was impressed by their thoughts. What was particularly interesting to me was the similarity with the Ramakrishna Mission movement, I am so familiar with.

Both of them started in the nineteenth century, the RK Mission with the teachings of Shri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) and the Bahá’í with those of Bahá’u’lláh (1819-1850). They flourished because of their liberal outlooks and their trend of accepting all sorts of people from varying background. They accept all religions to be true, all spiritual leaders as messengers of God and the humanity as one unique community. Both the religions were introduced to the western world at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 and have, since then, gathered large number of followers in all parts of the world. They have well-maintained hierarchical structures and have a democratic style of organization.

However there are differences nonetheless. I think the Bahá’í faith is more concentrated, as it seems, they have an official community with registered members. They accept donations only from registered members (which I consider to be justified enough to keep away political and other agendas out of the realm of religion) and as such that makes a very clear-cut definition of who is a Bahá’í and who is not. They are a more well-defined separate religion. On the other hand, Ramakrishna Mission is not a separate religion. Obviously there are monastic members who are like ‘registered’ members of the order, but you don’t have to be a RKMissionite or something like that to offer your financial help to the society. You can be a Hindu or a Christian or a Muslim and a member of the RKMission at the same time.

For more info check http://www.bahai.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramakrishna_Mission

(I am not an expert on either of the religious orders. My comments or opinions are my personal only and not targeted to particularly promote or defile any particular school of thought. I just found it interesting to note the similarities (and dissimilarities) of the two orders in a short span of time.)

Twenty-20 World Cup - A New Hope

India winning the final of a big tournament; well, that's reason enough for a celebration. We had grown so accustomed to India losing out in the final (in case they made it till there), that this was a very welcome change. India won the Twenty-20 World Cup. More importantly, they did it without the big names. The young Indian side quite ably lead by Dhoni pulled off a rather unimaginable feat. They beat South Africa, Australia and finally Pakistan under such tight conditions, it has been an infallible testimonial to their never-say-die attitude. India, if you remember, is not quite recognized for that. Even with a favorable situation at hand, I have heard hardcore Indian fans not trusting their team until they really reach their target. My parents still recall when Pakistan was all out for 60 runs and yet managed to beat India or when Javed Miandad hit a sixer of the last ball to clench a sensational win. This victory is not enough to get rid of all the insecurity we have gathered over the years. But I sincerely hope that, it be the beginning of a new phase, when we will believe that Indian players can hold on to their nerves till the last minute and can win tournaments even with all odds against them.

Blog Topics in Mind

Although I couldn't come up with a post in the recent time, it doesn't mean I wasn't thinking. Here is a list of topics I thought I would write about.

T20 World Cup - Now that India is in the final, any Indian would like to talk about it. However, what is really amazing is that in the final, India is going to face Pakistan; both of whom had a humiliating eviction from the regular world cup in the group level. What is even more interesting is that they both beat Australia on their way up. This tournament will redeem their reputation and boost their confidence a great deal, no matter what happens in the final.

Drupal - Anyone with a bit of web development experience is bound to know about Content Management Systems (CMS). These are basically web-based applications which help you present your content on the web without bothering yourself too much with the technology. They offer the backgroud coding; you need to worry about the content and its appearance. The Blogger itself is an example of a CMS. However, I was planning to write about Drupal. I have used other CMS like blogger, phpWebsite earlier, but the extent of features Drupal has, I think it is the best one.

The Bahai Faith - It is a relatively new order of faith originated with Bahaullah in Iran. It recognizes all religions of the world as one. What I found striking was its similarity in terms of ideology and otherwise with the Ramakrishna Mission movement. I have every intention to write about it in more detail.

Update

It took me more than two months to break the pause ... seemed like a dead end but hopefully, this post will mark its recovery, I mean, the blog's which is already half-dead

Well, so what's new? There was nothing important about June 12th and it's the same for August 19th. More than what have changed in my life is what have stayed the same. The Koushik which landed on 9th August last year on the US was hardly any different than the Koushik today. Yeah, it is slightly over an year now since I came to this country.
This whole year revolved mostly around two points. The adviser and the qualifier. In both cases, I got what I wanted and that's pretty much as far as it goes. As for the progress in PhD, it's null, or delta positive to be precise :) There were plans to promote this noble cause of research in summer but there was hardly any in reality. Hope things get better in Fall.

As usual I wasn't that enthusiastic about the text books but managed to go through a few fantasies. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was awesome. I enjoyed the "Ptolemy's Gate", 3rd one of the Bartemeaus series too. I watched the 5th Potter movie. This was the first movie which I had read the original book. Well, the movie is no match for the book, it's nowhere close to the original thrill of the story.

I got the driving permit. That was the easy part. Now I need to learn driving and I don't know how. I have never set my hand on the steering before and quite naturally people are hesitant to lend me their car. As for the formal driving schools, the rates are way to high. I am looking for a cheaper option. Let me know if you know of one.

Last weekend was a bit different. Got to meet a few friends from college. It was nice. Sagnik drove and in spite of some initial problems, drove quite well. Shivanand and Bhujo were the chief navigators. Arnab and I were there too. There could have been six of us unless Rajshekhar had ditched us at the last moment. Well, on second thoughts it was really nice of him to come down to Chicago for just one evening to meet us. Our one day trip to Marshall park was great. Check my orkut album for the pics.

As such things are okay. Problem is that things are not good, at least not good enough. Be optimistic, man! Things can only get better.

Face it

Life's a bitch !!!
so what ????


It was a comment made on my last post by Nakul. It appealed to me so much that I decided to give it a bit more importance. I promoted it to a post. The frustration in the beginning and the attitude that follows somehow resonate with my mental self. I like it.

Crap!

It's been a while since this blog saw its last post. And that comes as no surprise! Those few limited souls who bother to browse through this page are pretty much aware of my (ir)regularity. It's not that I am out of ideas, but whenever my enthusiastic self gets to jot them down, there is this lethargic self which hardly allows to do that.
So what brings me back to the task? The simulation! Yeah, that's it. It's quarter to ten in the night and I have to send the results of two simulations tonight. Programs are set and run! But it will take the sloppy server a good one hour to complete. Once done I will have to FTP the output files to my lab PC which unfortunately doesn't have microsoft office (because I just have reinstalled Windows on it. It was dead slow with virus and spyware.). So email them to myself, and use the university labs to format and plot the data. Hello! Are you still reading? Are you nuts or what? Who else would go through the ramblings of a grad student writing blogs to pass the simulation time?

NYC

Apratim and I reached Shatyaki's place at NYC on Friday evening. We went to the Empire State Building first to have dinner in a restaurant on the first floor of the building. The food wasn't good, not good enough for $35 each one of us had to pay. But the beer was awesome. Definitely something to try out if you are around. We went to the Times Square from there. It's was so lively. So many electronics sign boards with bright displays and so many people of so varying forms. It's one of its kind. The variety in people is something very prominent in NYC. When you are waiting to cross a road, just watch the crowd on the other side of the road and you will find Americans, African-Americans, south-Asian, Mexican, European, Chinese all mixed together. By the way, Indians and Chinese are everywhere, on all the streets, true for almost all cities in the US. However, NYC is more like our desi cities. It's dirty, not as much as Kolkata/Bombay but much more compared to Chicago. The rush in the trains, the crowd on the streets, the hawkers and stalls on the footpath, in a way it's closer to what we are used to. However, the buildings are much taller :). Once done with the Times Square, we went back to the subway station to receive Dipanjan. It will be unfair not to mention the subway of NYC. It is the lifeline of the city. The look of trains and stations are worse than that of Kolkata/Delhi. But it is massive. The number of lines and routes are just way way beyond what they have done in India.

On Saturday, since most of the people were asleep in the morning, Apratim, Shravan and I went for a walk. The office of the United Nations was the first stop. It wasn't that impressive and also we couldn't enter the campus due to security reasons. From there we went to the Grand Central to receive Shayak. Grand Central is like our terminal stations in Howrah or VT. It has a huge hall at the center. The stations are for both normal over-ground railways and also the subways. The platforms are distributed around the hall and along the passages towards the platforms or the exits stalls are located, mostly restaurants. It was also a very crowded and busy place, however remarkably clean. Shayak's train was a bit late (Yeah! Trains are often late in the US and not just NYC.) Once he was there we went back to Shatyaki's apartment. It really helped that his apartment was in the Manhattan (the rent is $3800/month cheap compared to Manhattan standards). Once all were up and ready, we went to a Pakistani restaurant to have lunch. The food was of of good amount and good taste. We went to the Central Park from there. It's another unique feature of the city. So much green in the midst of concrete jungle. The park is huge. I had already heard that it's difficult to walk around the entire park on foot. So never gave it a try. And anyway, we were full. So we just decided on a good place to sit and talk.

On Sunday, five of us went to see the Statue of Liberty. Since there was a problem in the subway, we had to use a detour to reach South Ferry station. We could see the statue from there but to get to the Liberty island, you need to take a ferry and there was a looooong line for that, majority of them were Indians I guess. There were so many saree-clad women. It was a bad decision to go there on Sunday morning. We would have to wait for 2-3 hours in the queue itself and then it would have taken around 2 hours for the visit. We concluded that it wasn't worth the hassle. We rather went to visit the famous Bull of the Wall street and then ground zero where the WTC stood before 9/11. It's now occupied by bulldozers and cranes and materials for the ongoing construction work. From there we headed for a Bangladeshi restaurant which had some amazing preparations. I sometimes wondered if we were more passionate about the places in NYC or the food. That night we had a very light dinner and went for a long walk by the river after we met two of our batch mates from IIT who are working there. It was a nice walk.

We got back at round 3am. By the time Apratim and I left at 7:30am to catch our flight, everybody else had already left the apartment. We made sure that Shtyaki was awake so that he didn't miss his office. He is doing an internship in Mckinsey and his office hours are 8am-11pm. We had asked him if regular employees also do the same. He said, “No! Regular employees work less number of hours. 11 hours a day, but 7 days a week.”

(will put the pics soon)

Quals over

I have spent so many posts writing about pre-quals, it would be unfair if I don't let you know that I finally passed it; both subjects. It's a relief. Well, it was a relief after the exam itself. I knew that I had done reasonably good, but still you can't be sure until you get the final verdict. Passing the qualifier was all the more important because, as I reflect on my stay in the US so far, that is probably the only thing I have achieved (got away with). I got my advisor decided, only one month past the second semester beginning and there hasn't been much (I would rather say 'any') progress in my PhD work. Now that I have passed the quals, the university can't throw me out of the PhD program but then I might end up with no funding to support myself. No reason to be happy too much! I hope and I fear that I really get started this summer. Ahoy matey! Lots of work ahead!

Lucid Dream

Have you ever had a conscious dream? A dream where you could take decisions, could influence the flow and most importantly, you knew that you were dreaming? If that sounds utterly impossible and confusing, you are not one of those kind, the people who experience 'lucid dreams'.

I found it quite perplexing when one of my roommates last year talked about it. I thought either he was exaggerating or just trying to trick us with an outright lie. There were occasions where I had realized that I was dreaming but those were experiences of split seconds before I actually woke up. I thought it would never be possible to go through a full-fledged dream like that. But I have to change my mind now. Last night I actually had a lucid dream. I remember quite a few details of it which I do not for a normal dream. We were a group of friends riding bikes on a road and I took decisions on what to talk about or which route to take. Similar things happen in a normal dream too but there we experience it as a helpless watcher just looking at what is happening and when it turns into a nightmare, we suddenly wake up and get relieved realizing it was just a dream. But this time I remember chanting to myself 'you are dreaming, wake up' and I woke up. It sounds like myth, like sci-fi movies and I wouldn't have believed it till today. But I do now. It's a bit funny and a bit scary at the same time. Tricky game of our mysterious mind.

Confidence

This is one of the best videos I have ever seen. This is pretty much the definition of absolute confidence, just watch yourself ...

A Few Random Musings

Qualifier is over. Yoyoyoyoyo … whatever the results; it’s good enough that it’s over and not gonna come back before another year. However, let’s still hope that we pass :D

It was Bengali New Year’s Day this weekend. Shuvo Nababarsho to all.

The quals had obscured all other pending problems and now that it is gone, all those aspects have popped up. Midsems, presentations, term papers, research all menace coming altogether, going to be a pretty hectic one this week.

I forgot to write about the trip to UIUC two weeks prior to the quals. It was a real treat. Got to watch the vast fields, and the green all-around, long time I was missing the peace in the city of Chicago. In the twelfth standard there was this poem on a city guy going to the country side and enjoying a sunny day in its serenity. I don’t remember the name, but I pretty much felt like that. A thank goes to Aranb. I was in half a mind to cancel the trip when he called and asked, “Will a trip to UIUC over the weekend have a significant effect on your chance of failing the quals?” I thought “Hell! No! If I am to fail, I am already doomed, two days aren’t too much.”

A Few Things to Enjoy

Less than a week to go before the quals. No wonder what I am up to these days. Study and more study and yet with so many things left to study. It's pretty boring sometimes. Well studying was never exciting but it is even worse to study things only to pass a particular exam passing which is not going to achieve anything but failing which is going to be a real pain. I won't bore you with the acads. Just wanted to let you know of a few things I enjoyed in my study breaks -

1> 'The Seven Samurai' – An old (1954) Japanese movie by director Kurosawa. It's a real good movie. If you have time, watch it. It's rather long.

2> A BBC documentary named 'Space Race' – It has been shot like a movie in four parts starting from the end of WW-II to the journey to the moon based on the race between USA and USSR to conquer the space. It revolves around the work of the two engineers in the two competing camps.

3> 'Gmail Paper' – It says that google will print and send you all your emails that you request to get on paper along with picture attachments with no postage required. Well, not really! It was an April Fools' Day prank google. I was amazed by the announcement was wondering about a few things –

a> how google will handle such incredible amount of paper
b> no postage! That's too costly for the number of emails they have
c> “Photo attachments are printed on high-quality, glossy photo paper, and secured to your Gmail Paper with a paper clip“ - too good to be true for a free service
d> “Gmail Paper is made out of 96% post-consumer organic soybean sputum” - 'soybean sputum' that sounds fishy
Nonetheless, I looked for the gmail paper button in my gmail account. After all, it's google; they can do anything. As I couldn't find it in the location shown by the demo, i googled 'gmail paper april fool' and found the truth -:)

Life before the Quals

I am going through what I would call a pre-qualifier phase. Last semester, I thought that I will study in December and then in December it was postponed for spring and now when there is less than a month remaining for the exam, I finally feel the heat. However, this is a strange phase. There is nothing actually dramatically unusual. It’s not that I am not getting enough sleep or not watching enough movies for that matter, but the difference is that there is always this little prick in the back of my mind that I might just fail in the quals on 13th. Yes, it is scheduled on Friday the 13th of April. Is that just a coincidence? Time will tell!

That date has occupied an eminent position in all pending plans. Where should I go for a holiday in summers … mmmm, well let’s decide after 13th; what are the things I need to for the research, to be decided after 13th …. My roomies are going for a trip to LA and LV, can I go with them …. nopes, not before 13th ….you should go to the gym everyday … yeah, I know but I have to study before 13th …. Hey, what’s up dude? How are things going? … It’s fine right now but I don’t know what’s gonna happen on 13th … It reminds me of the first few dialogues in ‘Y2K othoba sex krome asiteche” where the guy proposes a girl over the phone and the girl says that she can’t answer till the exams are over … silly crap!

It’s a post after quite some time on my blog and when will there be the next post? … Well, you know the answer!

Apple Cares

I had bought a 20GB refurbished ipod for $100 in December; a pretty good deal, the only glitch was that it was ‘refurbished‘. Some people advised me against it but anyway I went ahead and bought it because the warranty period was the same as that of a new one.
About a month back, I started having problems with it. Some songs won’t play or pause or stop in-between. Finally around two weeks back, it just stopped working. I tried resetting, restoring, reinstalling whatever I could but eventually I gave up. On start up, it was showing an icon suggesting hardware failure. I thought I should have listened to the people advising me against a refurbished ipod. My only faith was in the warranty. So I booked an appointment with the genius bar of an apple store in downtown. You can do it from apple.com/retail for an appointment on the same day. Advanced booking can be done only by procare members. I arrived for the appointment 2 minutes late. Luckily, the lady in front had taken more than the stipulated time and I didn’t have to miss my turn. I went to the ipod bar, told about my problem and the person immediately confirmed that it was a hardware failure. He checked whether I was within warranty period (from their database, no need to carry your proof unless there is a mistake in their database) and replaced my ipod with a functioning one. The whole process took less than 5 minutes. I am impressed with the customer care of apple.

Snow! We had enough!

It’s over. The craze for snow. I remember the first day it snowed and the excitement in people who had witnessed it for the first time. Yours truly was not that big an enthusiast to play with snowballs, dancing in the snow or taking a snap of the name written on snow and putting it up on the orkut profile, but it’s a fact that he was thrilled to see the snowed neighborhood nonetheless. However the zeal of the desi public has finally subsided and for good reason. Who likes to be out in a weather of -30C with the feet trapped in inches-deep show waiting for the bus which doesn’t show up in time! In addition, if you have ever slipped and fell on your back, while trying to move faster on the snow than you should, the snow-god had to bear the worst swearing ever invented by the people on earth. The welcome exclamations of “Wow! It’s snowing!” has been replaced with the cursing ones “WTF! It’s snowing again!”

Life as we know it

It’s going very normal. Bit of problems here and there but overall cruising through. I received an email from the graduate committee chairman today. Finally, the switching of advisors is officially accepted. Good way to start a Sunday morning. End of an episode in my life, I suppose; I hope. Have two exams next week, one on 14th Feb, one on the day after; what a coincidence. Getting along with a lovely relationship with the profs :D I hate that. Got some work in the lab too, the ‘fun’ days are over as they say it. I have actually heard that term quite a few times in my last job. Thankfully the fun days were never actually over until I, eventually, decided to end it. The qualifiers are in April. We have to take the exams in two areas, I have chosen controls and solid-state. I wish there was something with electrical circuits excluding computer architecture. Unfortunately that is not the case and I have to go by that. It’s a written exam and should not be TOO tough, only thing is that I need to study because I literally know nothing about them. But you know the typical engineering attitude!! No work till the deadline is due tomorrow. All the best to me …

Chilly Figures

This is what weather.com has to say about our area -
"-18°C

Feels Like
-28°C"

This is continuing for quite some time now and no hope of respite in near future.
The weather sucks.

I have heard that the lake has frozen. In summer, I had plans to visit the frozen lake. Now .... no way

Saraswati Puja

It all started with a few extra pounds of mutton. Sounds odd as an introduction to a puja, but that’s what it was. The extra meat led to an invitation for dinner to a few people, who incidentally were on the same shuttle bus. Discussion spurted and led to what was more like an accident than a planned event. Saraswati puja has always been a special event for the students(due to different reasons, priorities are personal), but I didn’t have the slightest idea that it might be at my place itself before mid last week. It took the enthusiastic involvement of quite some people to finally materialize an incredible event. It was really unthinkable how smoothly everything was carried out considering the short planning period and the overwhelming turn out of around 60 people. Not too huge a number for a normal puja in Bengal, but for one like this, it definitely was.

The venue was at my place. It was an occasion, good enough, to finally clean our living room after a long time (may be the first time, I am not sure!) :D A few decorative plants, dupattas, some quick fine arts and it was hard to believe that the same place could look so nice. The most daunting (probably the most important too!) task, cooking for so many people, was shouldered by a number of people and they did a wonderful job. The menu included kichuri, alu bhaja, begun bhaja, alu-fulkopir tarkari, chatni and rasmalai. I feel sorry for those who missed it. While all was set in motion, there was still a key problem, the purohit, whose role was finally played quite ably by arnab(yes, bhalo arnab for those who know him). He was splendid in his work, as close as it can get to being a pro. With pushpanjali and prasad, it was a complete package of satisfaction. I hope we get more events like this.

(Thanks to Prajna, Saugata, Debashis, Ishita, Katha, Nilotpal, Swarnava, Kaustav, Sibendu, Tirtha, Rima, Amlan, Kohinoor, Shubhasish, Arnab, Nakul, Bhushan, Vinayak, Krushna, Joyeeta in no particular order. I thought twice before putting the names because there is always a chance that I miss someone. I am sorry if that is you.)

Ma! bhaloi bhaloi graduation-ta korie dao

etai shera samay!

The Group

Recent Past, Present & Future

It has been some time since this blog saw a new post. Well, before anything else, a very happy new year to all those who are reading these lines (not a whole lot, I am sure). The winter holidays were fantastic. I enjoyed a lot in the one-month-long break. I didn’t go anywhere outside Chciago as most of my friends did but still made the most of it being in the city. I had decided to switch advisor and I was to start working with the new group only in January. So partying, eating out, going around the city, watching movies, visiting friends in near-by universities - it was all fun. This was the first time that I went to a church on Christmas eve. It was primarily because of three Italian guys insisting on going there, and also I must admit I didn’t like all about the long rituals, nonetheless it was a novel experience in the church. The New Year Eve at navy pier was also pretty nice. The festive mood was too hard to ignore. You can see a short video from you-tube here.

Now that the new semester has started, it looks like I got the time to write about all these. Things are again quite messed up, in fact it is messed up more than ever before. The details are just too complicated. It will be both difficult and stupid to put everything on this blog. I just hope that I finally end up getting a PhD.