A trip back down the memory lane

"As I passed through the gates, the blistered hands of nostalgia gave my heart a good squeeze and I realized you miss shit times as well as good times, because at the end of the day what you're really missing is just time itself."
— Steve Toltz (A Fraction of the Whole)

About two years back, I left Gainesville after obtaining my Ph.D. That is how it was supposed to happen, and five and half years were indeed a long enough time spent in that little big college town. However, somewhere down the line, it just did not remain just another place where I spent a few years of my life, rather became my home, the place where I felt I belonged to. First time in my life, everything was mine. Not just that I started earning money for the first time (no matter how meager graduate student salary was), and spent as I wanted. I traveled all over the place, bought a car. All the successes were mine, and all the failures too. Then I moved to Germany. No matter how enriching a cultural experience this was, and how much work my career benefited, I could never bring myself to say I am from Dresden. I stuck with I work here.

I craved for a chance to go back. Finally everything worked out for a quick trip down there. As I drove in the town late night, I almost ended up heading to my old apartment. Apart from a few new parking lots, everything looked the same, just like how I last saw them. The physics building still felt like the second home it was, only my office did not have my name any more. It was not just me, others also had trouble realizing that they last said "hi" to me in the corridor two years back, not yesterday. The guy who bought my car was kind enough to let me drive it again, and except for the fact that the interior looked much less messy now, I felt just as familiar sitting there. Many people left, but those I did meet, helped me to feel at home. I dined at Satchel's Pizza, the unique Gainesville landmark. I stepped inside the "Swamp", knowing little that the Urban Meyer era, which in a lot of ways defined the identity of "our" Gator nation, is about to end. I drove down to Cedar Key, the nearest seafront, which holds so many memories from those days gone by.

And then I was gone again.

Aftermath

Disclaimer: this post is about the world cup, but not really.

Its a story of before and after, and the dramatic fortnight in between.

I realized I am in a unique position before the world cup began. I grew up watching football in India, which became soccer once I moved to US, and fußball when I came to Germany. But in spite of the excitement it generated in India, and the metamorphosis of people to Brazilians or Argentinians during that particular month, we never really had any stake in the championship. It was exactly opposite in US, where few people cared about the tournament, although I get a feeling that has changed this year.

But in Germany, the involvement was real. Although before it all begun, the expectation was not very high from this very young team. The first dramatic victory over Australia was treated almost as a pleasant surprise, and the subsequent defeat against Serbia made people cynical again. Then they sneaked by Ghana, and all people wanted was to win the "war" against England.

As they say, one game changes everything. That emphatic win, albeit with the English "no-goal", made people believers, and the systematic destruction of Argentina started the discussion about winning it all. The often dull, workman like German style was gone, and the fluent attacking game, complemented by the usual accurate finishing became a delight to watch. Even I found myself subconsciously rooting for "Die Mannschaft".

Rooting for a sports team (and getting disappointing) is nothing new for me. That Javed Miandad six off Chetan Sharma shaped our psyche, and every meek Indian capitualtion in cricket brought about national mourning. It turned more personal after I became a "Gator", and we were royally pampered with a pair of national championships each in football and basketball during my stay there. For all my non-American friends out there, that is a big deal. Wild celebration after all those championships at university avenue till wee hours of morning remain one of my fondest memories from my Gainesville days

So I was secretly hoping for an encore. Too bad, it did not happen. But what really surprised me was the sheer classiness of the people here. In Florida, we hated losing. We were fiercely partisan. Opposition players and coaches were ridiculed, called by profanity-ridden-names. Even when we were thoroughly outplayed, the crowd honestly believed we are one big play away from turning it around. People were not merely upset after the loss, but they were intensely angry. We would never acknowledge that the other team can play better. The Monday after, campus would be in mourning.

I was expecting something similar when it looked inevitable that Spain would score. I was watching the game with an enthusiastic, flag waving, vuvezela playing, obviously patriotic crowd by the river in a giant screen. Everything that moved was decked in German colors. Spain scored, and the crowd just went quiet. And they remained quiet, with occasional desperate "Go Deutschland" cries. And then it was all over. The crowd dispersed methodically, strangely emotionless. To all fairness, if before the start of the tournament, they were told Germany will reach the semi-final after crushing England and Argentina, most would have gladly taken it. But still, it felt eerily calm, considering the magnitude of the occasion.

Hell, when LeBron James ditched Cleveland three days later, more people seemed more upset.

Just when you start to think you have seen it all, you realize you have not.

Random Events

Reiterating for the hundredth time, I am lazy. There were a hundred things I wanted to write about, and may be I'll end up talking about a few of them. In totally random order.

Those stupid do-not-put-your-photo-in-orkut emails. I know people are dumb, but I tend to give them benefit of doubt. This, however is beyond that. The story is, some frustrated guy made a fake profile of a girl he was slightly more than interested in, putting her real photo and phone number and some not so innocent details. Naturally she ended up getting some obscene phone calls and emails. While I fully sympathize with the poor girl, I simply do not understand whats wrong with Orkut per se. Ohh well, there are actually, the major ones being its too addictive and a also a major source of spam, but certainly not this. Its impossibly easy to get a photo of you nowadays, specially if I know you directly or indirectly, and if I do not know you at all, I wont really care about making all the effort of maligning you. Its incredibly easy to harass someone online, but its almost never a complete stranger stalking you, and vague acquaintances have a hundred other ways to harass you if they are that determined apart from a few social networking websites. We always have this habit of blaming a higher being for our perils (like blaming the central government for all of our states troubles or castrating America for all the troubles in the world) and this is just a small example of that mentality.

Sharad Pawar getting the nudge. Ahh, how I loved it.


Democrats winning it all. It sure was an exciting night. It was just six years back when Al Gore came tantalisingly close and they still make fun of Florida for that. It was just two years back that Kerry lost Ohio and consequently the presidency. And the red-blue divide could not have been deeper. Now seeing big shot republicans from almost every corner of the country going down, do give hopes for the future. And few people noticed this, but a big reason for Republican Sen.Allen's downfall in the decisive Virginia Senate race was him calling a campaign volunteer of Indian descent from his opponents camp by a racsict slur.


Our fall color viewing trip. Last year I went to New England. Sometime i want to go to Colorado. But the usual suspects, lack of time and money restricted me to a road trip in Northern Georgia and Tennessee-North Carolina border in Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests. I know people up north are proud of their colors and understandably so, but we did get to see pretty good colors here, and fortunately we went right at the time of peak colors. It was fun to drive at those mountainous, sometimes incredibly curvy roads and surrounded by blooming colors and at times dense fog.
Here are the photos.

And finally, some football. After that heartbreaking, potentially season ending loss to Auburn, we are again knocking on the door. First SEC Championship game after 2000, and with some luck, onward to Glendale, AZ. But the saddest part is, after following the whole season so passionately and intensely, I'll be flying out at the exact same time of the championship game in Atlanta. Damn.

P.S - Did anyone notice that the protagonist from the "The Devil's Advocate", the bright young lawyer Kevin is from our Gainesville!?

Birthday wishes for Suchismita (5th october), Arpita (31st october), Satabdi (2nd november), Ranjani (2nd november).

Eight and counting !

Just randomly searching for Gainesville in weather.com , I came up with eight Gainesvilles in continental United States. In case you dont believe it, here is the screenshot -


But note - we are the only one having an airport. Although I would prefer not going into that in details!

Next : Try searching for Springfield!