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).

New England Photos

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Not always - these pictures do not do full justice to the the amazingly scenic landscapes I travelled across.
http://community.webshots.com/album/475141210RXaSOI

Boston and Beyond ...

They say New England is awesome in fall. And they are so right. Although colors were slightly late this year and we ran into unusually bad weather during the weekend - the drives through scenic routes of Vermont and New Hampshsire were so pretty - and as always Boston has its own charm.

I landed in Boston on a sunny Thursday afternoon. Boston is a city meant for walking - all the travel guides warned me of aggressive drivers and bikers and even of aggressive pedestrians. What they forgot to add was often non existent and mostly confusing road signs. Driving in Boston, like any other big city is not fun.

But walking through the streets of the city sure is. I have been to Boston before - a quick Thanksgiving trip in 2003 was my first visit to any big American city. I have been to so many cities after that - but I must confess - Boston is an unique experience. Its not only about the feel of history associated with it - but the predominantly European architecture, enlightened population (After all which other city has two schools like MIT and Harvard down the same street?) - the overall ambiance is what makes Boston so special. They have red line going along the sidewalks connecting most of the major historical landmarks - it is named the freedom trail - and its difficult not to get lost in the past walking down the trail - starting from the golden dome of Old City Hall to Boston Commons to the the ever popular Faneuil Market Halls - passing through old cemeteries and churches. It leads you across the river Charles to the old shipyard and Bunker hill monument.

Did I mention the Faneuil Hall? To me - its the centre of Boston downtown. A throbbing shopping and eating place - with foods stalls from different parts of the world lined up inside the Quincy Market - spending an evening here is an integral part of the Boston experience.

I headed to Amherst, a quiet college town in the western Massachusetts at the end of the day. My friend there married his longtime sweetheart in the summer - and it feels kind of weird to see close buddies actually getting married!

Next day we went up via route 2 to the Green mountains region of Vermont - and travelled from Bennington to Brattleborough through scenic route 9. A little delay in the arrival of the peak color meant places in lower elevation just started turning yellow while the foliage up the elevation was a mixture of green, yellow and orange. Bad weather made it difficult to click too many photos though. We stopped at the little town of Brattleborough - its one of those small towns full with eateries and antique shops with a distinct old world charm.

The weather played spoilsport on Saturday. So we just just took the route 2 to Boston - which was although not brimming with colors - was nice anyway - specially for eyes used to Florida (An aside: there is a place called Florida in Massachusetts) greenery. The state routes in that part of the world are so much prettier than freeways - you cruise along winding roads and little picturesque towns.

We decided to head up north on Sunday. The sky was overcast - but it was better than last two days.We took the interstate 91 straight up - then turned into New Hampshire via route 25 and then onto route 112 - better known as Kancamagus Highway through the White Mountain region. And it was awesome.Once we were at a higher elevation - it was a riot of colors all around us - from bright yellow to sparking orange to ruby red and evolving crimson. Standing there -looking at the foliage - the pictures you get are so grossly inadequate to convey the wonderful settings. Now I know what brings so many people to these regions every year in fall - just to be a part of the spectacle is an experience I would saviour till next time. We came back via route 302 to interstate 93 to interstate 91 again - they actually take you to all the way to Canada if you continue going north.

After all these fun - came the bad part. My flight back on Monday night was cancelled - and to take the early morning flight out from Logan - I ended up spending the night at airport. And after a while - it was pretty "India-esque" - with people sleeping on the floors!

P.S - The state motto of New Hampshire ,which appears on state's automobile licence plates is "Live Free or Die"!