Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing - Jerome K. Jerome
The above quote precisely states what I want in my life right now. Except that I am not too keen on getting a cat or a pipe. A drink - Orange juice will do :)
Monday, November 9, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
I am back!
I am done with 390...yay! High five!!
So those of you who don't know what 390 is, it is the course code for the M.E.M project. Basically you need to do a project at a company and then present it later at school in front of a review board. And as soon as you land here for this program, you start looking for a 390 project. This year, getting an internship turned out to be a bit more tough than last year, thanks to the economic downturn! But all's well that ends well - all of us did end up getting one.
So once you find the internship, you have to obviously work at the company and finish your project. Typically, everybody does this over the summer term. And then we present it to the review board at school in the Fall term. So this whole cycle takes almost a year and now you know why I am so glad to be done with it. Everybody say yay! :)
Anyhoo, after my presentation, I finally made my first trip to the grocery store this term and got lots of veggies and fruits. All healthy food, but ended up burning a hole in my pocket too...*guilty face*
After that I ate, I cooked ... and that's pretty much it! Hopefully, I will continue to regularly update my blog. I will try my best, but I don't promise!
Please visit the blog regularly for more updates.
So those of you who don't know what 390 is, it is the course code for the M.E.M project. Basically you need to do a project at a company and then present it later at school in front of a review board. And as soon as you land here for this program, you start looking for a 390 project. This year, getting an internship turned out to be a bit more tough than last year, thanks to the economic downturn! But all's well that ends well - all of us did end up getting one.
So once you find the internship, you have to obviously work at the company and finish your project. Typically, everybody does this over the summer term. And then we present it to the review board at school in the Fall term. So this whole cycle takes almost a year and now you know why I am so glad to be done with it. Everybody say yay! :)
Anyhoo, after my presentation, I finally made my first trip to the grocery store this term and got lots of veggies and fruits. All healthy food, but ended up burning a hole in my pocket too...*guilty face*
After that I ate, I cooked ... and that's pretty much it! Hopefully, I will continue to regularly update my blog. I will try my best, but I don't promise!
Please visit the blog regularly for more updates.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Breaking the blogging fast on a happy note!
Hello guys!
Sorry about the brief (actually not so brief) pause! I am sure many of you would have decided that I am dead by now. Maybe I was, but anyhoo I have sprung back to life now - with renewed enthusiasm! And the reason behind this uber enthusiastic spirit you ask? It’s simple! I am going home in two days. TWO DAYS! yaaaayyy! :D
I have been doing a happy dance in the shower for a week now, smiling everywhere I go and generally sharing my happiness with everybody around! Ten weeks of loneliness has finally come to an end...
Every experience teaches you something and the last ten weeks has made me appreciate my family and friends all the more. Sniff sniff! I am getting very emotional now.
Anyhoo, here's a quick update of what’s been happening at my end:
* Roommate visited me one of the weekends. Had an awesome time with her. Went to Statue of Liberty and Empire State building, Central Park, Wall Street, Times Square. And this time I did go into Tiffany's! Clicked 216 pictures in 17 hours. So that translates to approximately 12 pictures/hour! :D Those interested in seeing the pictures, let me know - I will send you the link.
** The next weekend was spent entirely on shopping. Bought tons of stuff for myself. Wheee!
*** Wrapped up my internship projects. High five!
So those have been the highlights of the last few weeks. You didn't miss much, did you?
Alrighty guys, I am signing off now - next post will be from Kolkata! Woohoo!!
Sorry about the brief (actually not so brief) pause! I am sure many of you would have decided that I am dead by now. Maybe I was, but anyhoo I have sprung back to life now - with renewed enthusiasm! And the reason behind this uber enthusiastic spirit you ask? It’s simple! I am going home in two days. TWO DAYS! yaaaayyy! :D
I have been doing a happy dance in the shower for a week now, smiling everywhere I go and generally sharing my happiness with everybody around! Ten weeks of loneliness has finally come to an end...
Every experience teaches you something and the last ten weeks has made me appreciate my family and friends all the more. Sniff sniff! I am getting very emotional now.
Anyhoo, here's a quick update of what’s been happening at my end:
* Roommate visited me one of the weekends. Had an awesome time with her. Went to Statue of Liberty and Empire State building, Central Park, Wall Street, Times Square. And this time I did go into Tiffany's! Clicked 216 pictures in 17 hours. So that translates to approximately 12 pictures/hour! :D Those interested in seeing the pictures, let me know - I will send you the link.
** The next weekend was spent entirely on shopping. Bought tons of stuff for myself. Wheee!
*** Wrapped up my internship projects. High five!
So those have been the highlights of the last few weeks. You didn't miss much, did you?
Alrighty guys, I am signing off now - next post will be from Kolkata! Woohoo!!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
The one in which I blog for the sake of blogging
Have blog. Will post.
P.S This was posted on popular demand only!
P.S This was posted on popular demand only!
Monday, July 27, 2009
M's day out in the city
Finally! So finally I did some touristy stuff after being in NYC for 7 weeks. I could have done it earlier, but I thought it would be best to wait for my camera to arrive so that I could click pictures. Yes dear readers, yours truly is finally the proud owner of her very own digital camera! And this is after months of browsing for deals and talking to a zillion people for advice. Click here for the specs.
Anyhoo, so I took the downtown train straight to Wall Street. Now we imagine things to be in a certain way before we see them, or we imagine people to be of a certain kind before we actually meet them. I often form a mental perception of things. So I had imagined Wall Street to be a crowded, busy place where I would find investment bankers dressed in Armani suits strutting around. Instead what I saw was a narrow street swarming with tourists. Obviously because I went on a Saturday! So I found myself in the middle of Wall Street, with the Trump building and Tiffany’s on either side.
And with the Trump building on my right and Tiffany’s on my left, I caught a glimpse of Trinity Church:
I walked towards it and at the intersection of Wall Street and Broad Street I saw a huge United States flag looming in front of me. And that my friends is NYSE:
And at the intersection, on the left was the JP Morgan building:
And on the right was the Federal hall with a statue of George Washington in front:
I walked further down Wall Street towards Trinity Church on Broadway and I found myself on the other side of NYSE:
I went across Broadway and inside the Church. At the entrance of Trinity Church:
Here are a few pictures that I clicked inside the church:
And this was the cemetery on the side of the Church:
Here's how Wall Street looks from the entrance of the Church:
Doesn't it look really narrow? Sort of reminds me of Burra bazaar in Kolkata. Ok don't laugh. I couldn't help but notice the similarity! After all, both are business districts! :D
And then I marched towards the charging bull - the moment that I had waited for ever since I set my foot on NYC soil was finally here:
I walked towards the WTC site on the other side of Broadway and I saw this cube outside Brown brothers Harriman:
So I had to do this :D
After demonstrating my strength at the cube, I proceeded to the WTC site. I cannot even begin to imagine the kind of panic that would have set in on 9/11 when the two towers came crashing down in the financial hub. Construction of the new towers is in progress:
For a $5.00 student pass, I browsed through the gallery started as an initiative by WTC survivors and families.
Inside the WTC memorial gallery - two guns, both 357 Magnum revolvers, encrusted in melted concrete, were recovered from Federal evidence lockers at the World Trade Center
Photos and puppet salvaged from the home of a Battery Park City resident
An actual elevator sign board from one of the WTC towers
Names of people who died in the 9/11 attacks
Pictures of people who died in 9/11 attacks
This quilt was prepared by young children and became a means of emotional recovery for them and the firemen who received it post 9/11. It expresses their appreciation of things that are important to them in their daily lives. Pretty moving huh?
Oh I also saw the American Stock Exchange:
and World Financial Center:
Waterfront at Battery Park:
The sphere behind me used to be in the plaza between the WTC towers. It's deformed now.
Eternal flame that was lit on September 11, 2002
Then I proceeded to take the Staten Island ferry. It takes you from Manhattan to Staten Island and back for free! On the way I saw this:
That's a real man! He had painted himself. And was standing in that pose for hours. At least I saw him twice in 2 hours and he was in the same pose. And that's how he earns his daily bread. And we think we have a tough job!
Finally saw the Statue of Liberty, albeit at a distance! Here's a view of Manhattan from the ferry:
And one of Brooklyn bridge (Again, it reminds me of Kolkata's second Howrah Bridge!)
and when I got off the ferry, this man was still there in the same pose!
And thus came an end to M's day out in NYC. Oh I forgot to mention that I snacked on a burrito bowl at Chipotle. So at the end of the day, even though my feet ached for a massage, I was one happy soul! :)
Anyhoo, so I took the downtown train straight to Wall Street. Now we imagine things to be in a certain way before we see them, or we imagine people to be of a certain kind before we actually meet them. I often form a mental perception of things. So I had imagined Wall Street to be a crowded, busy place where I would find investment bankers dressed in Armani suits strutting around. Instead what I saw was a narrow street swarming with tourists. Obviously because I went on a Saturday! So I found myself in the middle of Wall Street, with the Trump building and Tiffany’s on either side.
And with the Trump building on my right and Tiffany’s on my left, I caught a glimpse of Trinity Church:
I walked towards it and at the intersection of Wall Street and Broad Street I saw a huge United States flag looming in front of me. And that my friends is NYSE:
And at the intersection, on the left was the JP Morgan building:
And on the right was the Federal hall with a statue of George Washington in front:
I walked further down Wall Street towards Trinity Church on Broadway and I found myself on the other side of NYSE:
I went across Broadway and inside the Church. At the entrance of Trinity Church:
Here are a few pictures that I clicked inside the church:
And this was the cemetery on the side of the Church:
Here's how Wall Street looks from the entrance of the Church:
Doesn't it look really narrow? Sort of reminds me of Burra bazaar in Kolkata. Ok don't laugh. I couldn't help but notice the similarity! After all, both are business districts! :D
And then I marched towards the charging bull - the moment that I had waited for ever since I set my foot on NYC soil was finally here:
I walked towards the WTC site on the other side of Broadway and I saw this cube outside Brown brothers Harriman:
So I had to do this :D
After demonstrating my strength at the cube, I proceeded to the WTC site. I cannot even begin to imagine the kind of panic that would have set in on 9/11 when the two towers came crashing down in the financial hub. Construction of the new towers is in progress:
For a $5.00 student pass, I browsed through the gallery started as an initiative by WTC survivors and families.
Inside the WTC memorial gallery - two guns, both 357 Magnum revolvers, encrusted in melted concrete, were recovered from Federal evidence lockers at the World Trade Center
Photos and puppet salvaged from the home of a Battery Park City resident
An actual elevator sign board from one of the WTC towers
Names of people who died in the 9/11 attacks
Pictures of people who died in 9/11 attacks
This quilt was prepared by young children and became a means of emotional recovery for them and the firemen who received it post 9/11. It expresses their appreciation of things that are important to them in their daily lives. Pretty moving huh?
Oh I also saw the American Stock Exchange:
and World Financial Center:
Waterfront at Battery Park:
The sphere behind me used to be in the plaza between the WTC towers. It's deformed now.
Eternal flame that was lit on September 11, 2002
Then I proceeded to take the Staten Island ferry. It takes you from Manhattan to Staten Island and back for free! On the way I saw this:
That's a real man! He had painted himself. And was standing in that pose for hours. At least I saw him twice in 2 hours and he was in the same pose. And that's how he earns his daily bread. And we think we have a tough job!
Finally saw the Statue of Liberty, albeit at a distance! Here's a view of Manhattan from the ferry:
And one of Brooklyn bridge (Again, it reminds me of Kolkata's second Howrah Bridge!)
and when I got off the ferry, this man was still there in the same pose!
And thus came an end to M's day out in NYC. Oh I forgot to mention that I snacked on a burrito bowl at Chipotle. So at the end of the day, even though my feet ached for a massage, I was one happy soul! :)
Friday, July 24, 2009
The one in which I scold my readers
If you are one of the diligent readers of this blog who almost always leaves a comment, then you can safely ignore this post. Others read on…
I have observed something. The blog audience only likes funny posts. They do not enjoy anything that is remotely serious such as my post on divorce or even regular posts. So you are asking how I discovered this profound secret? And you think it’s from the number of comments on my posts? No way. It is obvious that most of you people who visit this blog do not bother to leave a comment despite all the subtle hints that I have dropped in my earlier posts. I wonder why. If you are taking the time out to read my posts in such detail, you might as well leave a comment to make me happy. You thought I would never know right? But I do. Thanks to my good old stat counter. The picture below shows my blog stats for the last week.
As you can clearly see I had 40 unique visitors on the day I published my post on IPR’s cats. On other days, number of visitors has ranged from 1 to 10. The only thing that was different about this post was that it scored highly on your humor scale. But when I had started writing it, I had no inclination to make it sound funny. In fact, when I set out to write something, I usually have no idea whether I am going to make it funny or ordinary or serious. I just go with the flow. And these blog stats will in no way affect my decision. If I choose to write about something serious today, then that’s what you will see and if I choose to put on my thinking cap, then you will have to put up with that as well, and on days when my humor quotient is running high, you will find posts such as the one on cats. It’s similar to how we, as kids, ate whatever our mommy put on our plates. At least I did! So dear readers, be good children and read whatever I post, okay? okay. And as stated in my very first post, this blog is going to be a mixed bag of my emotions. If humor is your only cup of tea, then you are welcome to not read my blog. Also, if you want to continue being rude and not leave comments on posts and be a silent stalker of my blog, then so be it. I have nothing to teach you, you ill-mannered readers! Hmph.
I have observed something. The blog audience only likes funny posts. They do not enjoy anything that is remotely serious such as my post on divorce or even regular posts. So you are asking how I discovered this profound secret? And you think it’s from the number of comments on my posts? No way. It is obvious that most of you people who visit this blog do not bother to leave a comment despite all the subtle hints that I have dropped in my earlier posts. I wonder why. If you are taking the time out to read my posts in such detail, you might as well leave a comment to make me happy. You thought I would never know right? But I do. Thanks to my good old stat counter. The picture below shows my blog stats for the last week.
As you can clearly see I had 40 unique visitors on the day I published my post on IPR’s cats. On other days, number of visitors has ranged from 1 to 10. The only thing that was different about this post was that it scored highly on your humor scale. But when I had started writing it, I had no inclination to make it sound funny. In fact, when I set out to write something, I usually have no idea whether I am going to make it funny or ordinary or serious. I just go with the flow. And these blog stats will in no way affect my decision. If I choose to write about something serious today, then that’s what you will see and if I choose to put on my thinking cap, then you will have to put up with that as well, and on days when my humor quotient is running high, you will find posts such as the one on cats. It’s similar to how we, as kids, ate whatever our mommy put on our plates. At least I did! So dear readers, be good children and read whatever I post, okay? okay. And as stated in my very first post, this blog is going to be a mixed bag of my emotions. If humor is your only cup of tea, then you are welcome to not read my blog. Also, if you want to continue being rude and not leave comments on posts and be a silent stalker of my blog, then so be it. I have nothing to teach you, you ill-mannered readers! Hmph.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Divorce
On my way to work, I see a particular hoarding every day. I haven't been able to click a picture because I pass by it when I am on the bus and my awesome phone isn't sophisticated and advanced enough to be able to click pictures at such far distances. So I googled for a similar picture and here it is:
I find it mildly amusing as well as a bit appalling. Amusing because – just imagine one fine day you find out that you are no longer married because your spouse filed for a divorce and you had no inkling about it! Appalling because it makes me ponder – should divorce really be that easy that you don’t even need your spouse’s signature, let alone a court appearance? In some cases, yes! I strongly feel that one must be able to break free from an abusive marriage, legally and otherwise, without any hassles. There is no point in being stuck in one. It’s not worth another day of your life. So I leave out this category. But I am talking more about everyday divorces where normal couples break up just because they don’t get along with each other anymore, they don’t understand each other anymore or just because they are bored of the monotone that their marriage has become. I really wonder how minor tiffs and peeves such as ‘He always leaves a wet towel on the bed’ or ‘She always has the last word when it comes to TV’ can lead up to a divorce. Don’t these couples remember their wedding vows of being together till death do them apart? And I find it even harder to believe when love marriages end in a divorce because of such reasons. Here they don’t even have the excuse that their families had set them up against their wishes. They, as mature (I hope) adults (I really hope!) had chosen to come together. Nobody had forced them to. In fact, they were madly in love. Those were days when everything seemed right as long as they were together. Nothing else mattered. How can the memory of those days be wiped out by wet towels and TV remotes? At least for the sake of these memories, couples should make an honest effort to sort out differences and make it work. If despite that, things don’t seem to work out, please go ahead and go separate ways. But allow yourselves some time to figure things out instead of letting these small, every day issues overcome your life and make your decisions. Otherwise there’s always divorce for $399!
P.S Even divorce is expensive. That should give couples enough reason during recession to stay together.
I find it mildly amusing as well as a bit appalling. Amusing because – just imagine one fine day you find out that you are no longer married because your spouse filed for a divorce and you had no inkling about it! Appalling because it makes me ponder – should divorce really be that easy that you don’t even need your spouse’s signature, let alone a court appearance? In some cases, yes! I strongly feel that one must be able to break free from an abusive marriage, legally and otherwise, without any hassles. There is no point in being stuck in one. It’s not worth another day of your life. So I leave out this category. But I am talking more about everyday divorces where normal couples break up just because they don’t get along with each other anymore, they don’t understand each other anymore or just because they are bored of the monotone that their marriage has become. I really wonder how minor tiffs and peeves such as ‘He always leaves a wet towel on the bed’ or ‘She always has the last word when it comes to TV’ can lead up to a divorce. Don’t these couples remember their wedding vows of being together till death do them apart? And I find it even harder to believe when love marriages end in a divorce because of such reasons. Here they don’t even have the excuse that their families had set them up against their wishes. They, as mature (I hope) adults (I really hope!) had chosen to come together. Nobody had forced them to. In fact, they were madly in love. Those were days when everything seemed right as long as they were together. Nothing else mattered. How can the memory of those days be wiped out by wet towels and TV remotes? At least for the sake of these memories, couples should make an honest effort to sort out differences and make it work. If despite that, things don’t seem to work out, please go ahead and go separate ways. But allow yourselves some time to figure things out instead of letting these small, every day issues overcome your life and make your decisions. Otherwise there’s always divorce for $399!
P.S Even divorce is expensive. That should give couples enough reason during recession to stay together.
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