Well, as promised in my previous blog, I will dedicate this blog to what have I been doing ever since I reached this place - Pittsburgh. Actually not.. I will just blog the one which is worth a blog :)
What is there in starting a new program/study in life without paying a visit to almighty. To top it all, am in pittsburgh known for the SV (Sree venkateshwara/ Sree vishnu/ Sree Balaji) temple. It was last sunday when me and my room mates along with a couple of buddies had decided to visit the temple. We couldnt make it on that day thanks to the infrequent bus service by PAT.
So we did our home work, figured how to reach the place and then set out on our voyage on Tuesday. Within the first hour we knew it wasnt easy reaching there. We were lost and have changed 3 buses. Fortunately or Unforunately hit upon 9 other class mates in the third bus. They were also heading towards the temple. Our hopes brimmed up. According to what we had planned we were supposed to get down in Morovellie mall and take another bus towards the temple. But a few who joined us were informed that we could actually go upto Lewis (further up in the wrong directon!) and take a cab from there. As all others were heading there, we also decided to join them. Once we were in Lewis, the worst thing stuck us. No cab company/driver offered to come there to pick us and drop in the temple. We almost waited 3 hrs and were all set to head back home without paying the visit. It was just then we saw a cab coming in. The cab driver had promised us to make 3-4 trips to drop us all. In the midst of 2nd trip came the confusion. The driver acted cranky and said he would not be able to transport all of us. It is when we got a bit too anxious and decided that we leave the place (we were 4 of us who joined the other 9). The journey back home was filled with sad faces. We had done all the home work to reach the place but ended up not visiting the place. Thoughts like, would we have made it if we hadnt met up with the other 9 crept up. But then, there can be always if and buts... U never would have known what would have happened if we were going as planned.
On the journey back we decided that we will plan it exceedingly well the next day and come. The next day we left home at 8:00am. We were to reach the campus to get the bus. The bus which we were to take to campus didnt stop. We feared that it is going to be a repeat of the prev day. We hurriedly walked to campus, got the bus at 8:40 got down at Morovellie mall (not lewis this time :) ) got a connecting bus towards temple. The place the connecting bus had dropped us was abt a quarter mile or so from the temple. We started walking towards the temple. We were gleefully watching which diversion to take. It so happened that there was a private property and we thought that was the road to the temple. We stood there for sometime and later confirmed that it isnt and started moving ahead. The worst thing wa the owner of that private property had informed the police and the police came in within few minutes before we reached the temple. We had to explain to him that we were heading towards the temple and were lost and hence we were looking at that place etc..
After so much of drama we reached the temple, had a nice dharshan, (it felt like I was in India), a couple of plates full of prashadam (which served as b/f). Then we got the tamarind rice and yogurt rice and headed our way back towards the stop where we got down from the bus. On the way, we were lucky to meet a gentlemen in car (he was from India and studied in coimbatore, the place i live) offered us to give a lift to downtown. We gleefully accepted the offer, reahced downtown and then from there headed back home. We were @ home by 12:30. It was amazing that we made the whole trip in less than 4 hrs (including a 1.5 hr stay in temple).
On the hindsight, there were innumerable hurdles before we reached the temple. But we were rewarded for all those by Sree Balaji by sending a gentleman to give us a lift to get back home :)
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
A Journey towards the west
Well this is my first blog and was urged to start one to record this eventful journey towards the west.
For the uninitialised, after my undergrad in BITS, I was bitten by the software bug and was in Bangalore (India) for 3 good years before I set on my journey towards the west for my graduate studies in Carnegie Mellon.
The preparation for this journey was indeed an eventful one and demands a seperate post. Anyhow, I will squeeze in the essentials here... With just 20 odd days after my last day at work to the day I had to fly, I realised that setting out on a journey for 2 years isnt that simple afterall.. I had to run around for my health checkup (and thanks to my root canal treatment to my tooth which ate up a good 2 weeks), collect international driver license, of all things learn cooking and what not... And add to all these the limit imposed by airlines not to carry more than 46 kgs. It is something like, I need to live for 2 years but I can carry just 40 odd kgs.. I spent most of the last hours in india weighing my bags and thinking whether to trust the weighing machine or not...
Well the D-day arrived and it was time for me to bid adieu to my parents in chennai (India) airport and enter for the much-talked about immigration checks. With long queues everywhere, I somehow thought is it that so many people really want to flee the country everyday? ridiculous. But I couldnt be complaining. Afterall even I was one among them. The immigrations happen, I meet a buddy from undergrad school, chat for a while, inform parents that I am about to take off, meet my to-be-roomie etc.. But still the clock didnt strike 1:45 - the departure of my lufthansa.
Finally, it did and I boarded the flight. When it was about to take off, I had all weird feelings about leaving the country etc.. But soon with those thoughts, I had slept. It was about 3:30 and worst of all things, the air hostess wakes me up and serves me dinner. I knew right then, my biological clock is going to go for a toss soon. But didnt bother much. Had the so called dinner and slept again. The sleep wasnt all that comfortable. The pricate travel buses in India had better push backs u know... And of all things i was in the middle seat.
After a 9.5 hrs long journey landed in Frankfurt, met a few of the buddies who were supposed to be travelling to my univ. My connection to philadelphia was 5.5 hrs after that. In that time we talked about everything on earth and at the back of my mind I was worried about just having 3 hrs for my immigration,customs and re-checkin in the connection from philadelphia to pittsburgh. But was just hoping for the best and was quite positive of making it.
It was when the worst thing had happened. The bomb scares in hiterto and other places had delayed my connection to philadelphia by 3 hours. I was wprried that I knew for sure I cannot make it to the next connecting flight - philadelphia to pittsburgh. Thankfully, I had a couple of buddies along with me in the same boat. Some solace u know... We were hungry and were served with a peice of bread and some meat. It yucked. One bite and the rest went directly to recycle bin.
After a 9 hour wait in frankfurt including a mini visa interview and every one around speaking in German, I was more than happy to leave the place. I had also changed the next connection from philadelphia to pittsburgh to a flight that would give me just 1.5 hrs for immigration and customs provided this flight reaches on time. For a change, there was a German (beautiful) lady (read babe) next to me. Thankfully she knew English and had a refreshing talk. It was nice to know about how they lived and how positive she takes a flight delay as. I had lots to learn from her. The chat with her made amends for the yucky flight food.
And by god's grace, the flight landed in philadelphia - the first smell of Uncle Sam's land - on time. With just 1.5 hrs left, I ran around to immigration. The person was sweet enough to complete it asap. And from there to baggage claim and surprisingly I identified my bags soon. Then to customs and then re-checkin. Then came the security check. The bomb scares were apparently tried out of some liquid. So they were very hard on liquids. I had to give away my deo and even my tooth paste. The best thing though was the security officer asking me the prescription for my tooth paste.
After running around all the places, I reached the next terminal to board my connection. The bad luck continued. The flight was again delayed - first by 40 min, then by another 40 and then by another 40 min. Then Finally when I boarded the flight, I thought it would all be fine and I will be in pittsburgh in an hour. It wasnt to be. The flight was stranded in runway for about 1 hr before it took off. All the waits and the long journey had tired me a lot and had a nice nap before I reached pittsburgh finally. The cool thing was it was still Aug 10. I started from India at 1:45 am Aug 10 (IST) and reached pittsburgh on Aug 10 at 11:15 pm (EST). Eventually, it turned out to be the longest August 10 I had.
Would blog the life out here in my next blog. Till then =;
For the uninitialised, after my undergrad in BITS, I was bitten by the software bug and was in Bangalore (India) for 3 good years before I set on my journey towards the west for my graduate studies in Carnegie Mellon.
The preparation for this journey was indeed an eventful one and demands a seperate post. Anyhow, I will squeeze in the essentials here... With just 20 odd days after my last day at work to the day I had to fly, I realised that setting out on a journey for 2 years isnt that simple afterall.. I had to run around for my health checkup (and thanks to my root canal treatment to my tooth which ate up a good 2 weeks), collect international driver license, of all things learn cooking and what not... And add to all these the limit imposed by airlines not to carry more than 46 kgs. It is something like, I need to live for 2 years but I can carry just 40 odd kgs.. I spent most of the last hours in india weighing my bags and thinking whether to trust the weighing machine or not...
Well the D-day arrived and it was time for me to bid adieu to my parents in chennai (India) airport and enter for the much-talked about immigration checks. With long queues everywhere, I somehow thought is it that so many people really want to flee the country everyday? ridiculous. But I couldnt be complaining. Afterall even I was one among them. The immigrations happen, I meet a buddy from undergrad school, chat for a while, inform parents that I am about to take off, meet my to-be-roomie etc.. But still the clock didnt strike 1:45 - the departure of my lufthansa.
Finally, it did and I boarded the flight. When it was about to take off, I had all weird feelings about leaving the country etc.. But soon with those thoughts, I had slept. It was about 3:30 and worst of all things, the air hostess wakes me up and serves me dinner. I knew right then, my biological clock is going to go for a toss soon. But didnt bother much. Had the so called dinner and slept again. The sleep wasnt all that comfortable. The pricate travel buses in India had better push backs u know... And of all things i was in the middle seat.
After a 9.5 hrs long journey landed in Frankfurt, met a few of the buddies who were supposed to be travelling to my univ. My connection to philadelphia was 5.5 hrs after that. In that time we talked about everything on earth and at the back of my mind I was worried about just having 3 hrs for my immigration,customs and re-checkin in the connection from philadelphia to pittsburgh. But was just hoping for the best and was quite positive of making it.
It was when the worst thing had happened. The bomb scares in hiterto and other places had delayed my connection to philadelphia by 3 hours. I was wprried that I knew for sure I cannot make it to the next connecting flight - philadelphia to pittsburgh. Thankfully, I had a couple of buddies along with me in the same boat. Some solace u know... We were hungry and were served with a peice of bread and some meat. It yucked. One bite and the rest went directly to recycle bin.
After a 9 hour wait in frankfurt including a mini visa interview and every one around speaking in German, I was more than happy to leave the place. I had also changed the next connection from philadelphia to pittsburgh to a flight that would give me just 1.5 hrs for immigration and customs provided this flight reaches on time. For a change, there was a German (beautiful) lady (read babe) next to me. Thankfully she knew English and had a refreshing talk. It was nice to know about how they lived and how positive she takes a flight delay as. I had lots to learn from her. The chat with her made amends for the yucky flight food.
And by god's grace, the flight landed in philadelphia - the first smell of Uncle Sam's land - on time. With just 1.5 hrs left, I ran around to immigration. The person was sweet enough to complete it asap. And from there to baggage claim and surprisingly I identified my bags soon. Then to customs and then re-checkin. Then came the security check. The bomb scares were apparently tried out of some liquid. So they were very hard on liquids. I had to give away my deo and even my tooth paste. The best thing though was the security officer asking me the prescription for my tooth paste.
After running around all the places, I reached the next terminal to board my connection. The bad luck continued. The flight was again delayed - first by 40 min, then by another 40 and then by another 40 min. Then Finally when I boarded the flight, I thought it would all be fine and I will be in pittsburgh in an hour. It wasnt to be. The flight was stranded in runway for about 1 hr before it took off. All the waits and the long journey had tired me a lot and had a nice nap before I reached pittsburgh finally. The cool thing was it was still Aug 10. I started from India at 1:45 am Aug 10 (IST) and reached pittsburgh on Aug 10 at 11:15 pm (EST). Eventually, it turned out to be the longest August 10 I had.
Would blog the life out here in my next blog. Till then =;
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