married...

Amidst the bright lights... beautiful flowers... pleasant fragrances... pandits' chantings... smiling guests... and blessing friends... I have got married to Umakalyani, the love of my life!!! I thank one and all who have wished me good luck, personally and electronically!!!

Invitation...

Dear all,

after 27 years of bachelor (err... unmarried) life, I am finally getting married to Umakalyani, on 15th August, at Visakhapatnam. I would be glad if you can make it to my wedding.

yours truly,
Gopal

happenings...

it's almost an year after i started earning... huh, what did i achieve... just adding another year to my lost years?? or in other words, is it just deletion of one more year from those that i still have?? whatever!!! another year has passed... and this corporate life really sucks! so what? life never stops for our convenience... keep moving... keep getting sucked... or keep feeling you are great!!! or keep cribbing... life still goes on!!!

i got shifted to new house recently... decent locality, fresh air, and modern interiors... though the rent is almost 30% of my in-hand salary, i love this flat, which is almost near to the one i use to dream about!!! unlike last time, i managed to avoid yet another sucker class... brokers!!! thanks to house owner for designing the interiors so well and handing over the house to me in a clean shape...

PS: I am eagerly waiting for my love of life to accompany me in the new flat ;-)

engaged!!!

I heard the statement "Marriages are made in heaven" so many times... Over the years, I was more and more reluctant to accept this and tried my level best to get somebody I knew... It seemed very odd and unrealistic to think about how people accept somebody through arranged marriages, having only one or two hours of discussion before making any decision... Practically, I have given my level best to win my loved one's heart and convince my parents... Though, I've partly succeeded in both, somehow, things didn't get materialized... At the end of the day, I have fallen deeply in love (that too at first sight) with this pretty girl, apparently chosen by my parents... Yes, I am engaged... I am literally on top of the world to see myself so happy and joyous... Wating for the day to tie the knot!!!

my FIRST KISS...

finally, i have got a bike of my own... honda shine featuring 125cc, 10.3 bhp, 65kmpl... I have named it as my FIRST KISS... boo hoo to Pune public transport ;-)

updates...

again, it is been long after updating the blog. now, i am able to see the real corporate life. every morning, i get up with a wish "today, i will write something". by the time i reach my office, the horrible bus journey and the gloomy office ambiance makes me sick and skip the act of writing! yes, that's how the past three weeks have gone out of my hands. few updates!

reading Fountain Head by Ayn Rand. i must say that i fell literally in love with this book. beautifully portrayed characters like Dominique, Roark, Wynand etc. are really wonderful. at first, i was wondering why a person needs eight complete years to finish a novel. but, when i am actually going through each page and each line, everything was so perfectly written. i was beaten... beaten many times on my opinions by many situations in this novel. but, at the end, it's a lovely experience.

visited Lonavala with my friends. This is a place, around 65km from the Pune city. filled with green lush and cloudy hills, this is must place to visit. monsoon is adding addtional beauty to it. it's a beautiful feeling when the clouds actually cross your body and drench you with the condensed rain drops. added to these beauties, the journey on the expresshighway connecting Pune and Mumbai is awsome.

it's my dream of buying the bike AVENGER since long. but, i guess i will not be able to afford it with my present financial status. still have couple of weeks to travel in these lousy Pune buses before enjoying the ride on my own bike.

slowly, life at Pune is getting OK... waiting for some more good moments from this Pune life!

new life...

it's almost more than three weeks after my last post... nothing new to think about but everything new to experience... finished my masters with flying colors... of course, that ended with painful process of giving send off to friends and leaving my good old institution with a heavy heart...

joined in the job, for the first time in my life... lost in understanding this corporate world... Pune life is exactly opposite to what i imagined it to be... i imagined it to be a cool, peaceful and pleasant city... on the other hand, people are really in a hurry here... costly room rents, poorly maintained traffic, loads of pollution, buses without name plates, dust always flying on the roads and so on...

a beginning to my new life, i guess!!!

Two more friends!!!

i've got two more friends... one is rubik's revenge and the other is professor's cube... while it took one month for me to solve rubik's cube (3X3), it is taking days just to do two colors on professor's cube...

important thing to note here is that i didn't buy any of these two... professor's cube is sent by Praphul after seeing my post on rubik's revenge... it's a nice feeling to know that there are people who are willing to spend money for somebody whom they don't even know personally... thanks a lot Mr.Praphul... i owe you a treat... not just for the professor's cube, but also for those long philosophical discussions through mails... and for proving that money doesn't matter but the intentions do matter!!!

rubik's revenge is sent by deepika, my friend and philosopher... thanks a lot buddy! you made my hours busy with this cute gift!!! let me see how many days i will take to solve these things :-)

life is beautiful...

many times, i used to ask myself "why am i born?"... of course, i have never ended up with an answer!!! what a silly question "why am i born?"!!! i don't know whether my line of thinking is too silly or abstract, but this question has really bothered me a lot... considering the whole world as a big system with different elements, i am nowhere considerable/important as an individual!!! it doesn't matter much to this world about whether i am born/alive/dead... all of us are visitors to this planet with different class of tickets!!! i am not responsible for why i am born... i don't have any control over when/how i will die... what really matters is how/why i am living!!! I am the supreme in my own world of thinking (it must be the same case with everybody i guess)... i have the whole responsibility for my deeds... i am the creator/administrator for 'my world'...

in those days of distress, i feel like in hell and curse myself... and life looks just like hell... but, how does it turns into hell just because i am not OK with myself? it all depends on how i perceive the world/life... if i look at it with a positive perspective, it is beautiful and enthusiastic, it really is!!! otherwise, it sucks... why to cry on very few things when life has given all the more reasons to smile and rejoice? i feel/believe "life is beautiful"... friends, nature, beauty, work, studies, coffee, sleep, music, books, puzzles, writings, ice-creams etc. are there to keep me happy... i agree that there will be moments where we can't help being dull... but, remember it is only a phase... let us not make it bigger and make things worse to get out of!!! little-bit of patience, little-bit of love, little-bit of take-it-easy attitude, and a little-bit of care is enough to make life simpler and happier...

believe me... life is really beautiful!!!

PS: i have started blogging one year back with similar lines in my first post... happy birthday to my blog :-)

i got a job... hurray!!!

after successfully screwing up three successive interviews, i am finally successful in getting a job... of course, i told a few lies to the interview panel this time, which i didnt do during previous interviews... incidentally, it worked... i told that i am not at all interested in further studies, and seriously want to go for a research job... partly, this is true as well as false... right now, i dont want to go for higher studies... as well, i dont want to stick to some company for my entire life... so, there ends my job search, fetching me an opening in Computational Research Labs, a Pune based company, started by a renowned scientist in association with some retired professors from IITs... I am more than happy that there is no uncertainty, at least for the coming year... anyone who is interested in working for High Performance Computing or interested in developing application software, you may contact Dr.Sateesh at email id: asateesh@c-r-labs.com

success and failure!!!

placement fever has caught everybody in the campus... everyone is dreaming about securing a good job... some people are optimistic, some are doubtful, and some are literally becoming maniacal thinking about all sorts of possibilities... here am i, one of those optimistic group... i was happy when i was told that i was shortlisted for the final interview of SHELL, one of the best companies we dream to get in, and offering a huge package of 12 lakh per annum... though my initial expectations out of placement cell is to get a decent job to spend an year in industrial environment before plunging into research, i was really allured (in fact, went deeper than that and started dreaming about it) and started building my expectations... that made me bear three sleepless nights... finally, the D-day has come and i went with myself fully prepared... the first round was really wonderful... we were given a real time problem, and asked to find out the best solution with support for the solution... i thought i have done decently well... in my batch, totally six candidates were interviewed... after the interview, all of us were sitting in the lobby waiting for the results... one of the company officials came and called three names... i was not in the three... i was curious... but, that list was of disqualified candidates... i made a sigh, and thought that i was shortlisted... those three went with a blank expression, without forgetting to wish us all the best... after some time, two others sitting with me were called for the second round... i wished them good luck with a smiling face (there is still hope on me)... after some more time of restless waiting, i have inquired whether i am shortlisted or not... that lady, with an unusually pleasant face, told me "sorry Mr.Venkat, you are not needed for the next round"... so, there ends the story... i have successfully screwed up my first interview... i was walking on the footpath, making my way to hostel mess... i wish i have somebody to accompany me... but still, i smiled... smiled openly... success and failure, both are two sides of a coin... both are equally important... a success is not complete until we know the pain/experience of tasting a failure... i am successful!!! successful in keeping my cool... yes, i am successful... failed successfully... and succeeded in accepting the failure with a smile!!!

my new friends...

for the good or bad, i've lost my mobile... and Mahesh, one of my good friends, has gifted me with a new handset... i am almost in love with it... nice look, display, radio, wonderful polyphonic ring tones, and GPRS... what to say? i am happy again with my own mobile in hand after a long time...

another good companion i've found is my 'worldspace' satellite... i am too attached to it that i cannot sleep in the night without switching it on... worldspace network is offering around 40 channels with varying interests... and it's completely commercial free... particularly, i love the channel 'jhankaar' which broadcasts all brand new hindi songs... nonstop... in fact, there is so much to hear on worldspace as its caption says... though the setup costed me an awsome 2500 bucks, i feel it's worth spending on it to enjoy a healthy companionship...

so, finally... i have two new good friends to offer some companionship to get rid of my bloody loneliness...

so far so good...

GRE preparation is going good... i am meddling with wordlists in my own way... no matter how many times word lists are revised some words always confuse me... like fictititious, fictious, factious, factitious, filch, flilch, etc... still, GRE preparation has its own charm and beauty in it... trying to bring back the good old habbit of mugging, mugging and mugging...

having fun with my nephew... it is always fun to play with him who makes all sorts of sounds to convey others what he wanted... his smile is soooooo cute... even i learnt how to manage him... pretty good lesson for me it seems... so far everything is going good... will be back soon with some good stuff than just boring routine things of life!!!

hurray... i got leave!!!

hurray... i got leave for almost a full month... no work till 8th november...
hulalla lalalla laallaalley...

silver jubilee!!!

birthday is a special occasion which reminds us that our life span is decreasing and responsibilities are increasing... a time to recollect the past, evaluate the present, and head towards the future with fresh energy!!!

I have successfully completed my 25th year and celebrating the silver jubilee of my life... last night, i had good fun with my friends... cake cutting, some snaps, decoration of my face with cake cream, some stuff to fill the stomach, and not to forget... the bumpppsss!!! on the whole, it's a beautiful day!!!

it's beautiful day!!!

after so many weeks of frustration, things got clear today... it is like a clear blue sky after long lasted clouds are cleared... i dont know whether the way they are cleared are right or not... but, they are cleared... a kind of euphoria has been filled in my heart... now, i am back to the normal state, in fact to an elated state, and enjoying the beauty of life all again...

the breeze of wind is so smooth...
moon in the sky is so bright and romantic...
the lingering thoughts in my mind are so beautiful...
and the hopes for the future are so optimistic...

a few updates...

spent 4 continuous days in sleep on a basis of 16hrs/day...
worked three consecutive sleepless nights to finish project report in time...
gained 4 kilos in last three weeks and successfully enjoying "dumbu" status...
still struggling to maintain regular timings to prepare for GRE...
watched few golden movies like 'life is beautiful', 'american beauty', and 'someone like you'...
having good time with blogspot since 3 months and exploring a lot...
learning hindi, to relish the taste of beautiful lyrics of good old songs...
tried cigarette... i couldnt understand why people smoke... it tastes so bad!!!
tried a glass of wine too... wow, it's really so nice!!!
started reading 'life of Pi'... it is soooooo good!!!

what was i doing all these days?

it's almost 20 days after i have returned from home. what was i doing all these days? well.. i must confess that i have become very lazy these days... almost i did nothing progressive about my project. since my guide is away for around two weeks, i have safely neglected my duties and was relaxing myself... planning to do this and that everyday and failing to execute them has become my daily routine... of course, this is the case with many i suppose ;-)

but, in this drowsy and lethargic period, i have succeeded in completing one of the books on vocabulary building... it's always a good feeling when i finish doing something...

one more good and colourful thing i have done is that i have actively participated in the cultural night conducted in our department... imititated one of my professor as a part of the skit we performed on that day... sang a song too... "huzoor is kadar bhee na itaraake chaliye"... what a romantic song it is!!
my senior batch students have completed their degree and going out soon... our life at iisc would have been tougher if they didnt support us... so sad that they are not going to stay here anymore to guide us...

all of a sudden, my guide appeared in the department yesterday and was asking about my progress in project... i was dumb... of course, got some relaxations from him too... now, it's time for me to work seriously... one paradoxial thing is that i am still not clear about what i am going to do with my research work and whether it will be useful to somebody after sometime etc.. still, it is quite interesting to involve in some area of scientific research and scratching head to find solution for the problem defined...

"nucleation of silver nanoparticles in reverse micelles".. this is the title of my project... sounding quite fancy... and proving to be equally complex... i must wait for one more year to see how far i would achieve in this field!!!