Reflections of Passion !!

Retired Tired !

2006-05-17T02:50:00.000-05:00

Guys I have taken a temporary retirement from blogging...will come back soon.

Kaamchor!!

2006-01-24T21:31:00.000-06:00

Yes thats what I fell like calling myself. Sometimes I become too lazy that I don't feel like shutting down the laptop. And for that only I didn't write a single blog all these days. Well now the job is difficult as so many things have happened. The new year..meeting with Debo at New Jersey, excellent trip that consisted of a thorough trip of NYC(specially Manhattan and Times Square),great treats in Chicago and so on so forth; its difficult to put it down at one place. But after all these I can say that I still miss my homeland, and the thought of visiting Kolkata this December still excites me a lot!!(come on...less than a year [:)]). For the timebeing its only work now...but wait..how can it be..one more trip ahead..to Austin. Yes, its hosting HPCA and me and my room mate have an option of visiting the conference free of cost (thanks to advisors). So east south and central..the west still remains unexplored.

My cooking has developed a lot more...(my recipe bag now consists of some videsi recipes too..like egg-drop soup, clam chowder soup, smoked Turkey vagaira vgaiara. Good for me and my roommate. But one thing I am getting really bad at is waking up early..now I should really change my habbit. But no classes in the morning ..whats my fault!!

Ohh..Fonta is here..at least in Canada..so all those jhandaoing has started on Gtalk..bad for me.

gala times

Lonely vacation

2005-12-25T18:13:00.000-06:00

At last..after 4 months I got my notebook today ! Now I know why I needed it deparately. And its worth it. Winter vacations have set in and no grad-students are there in the vicinity (quite unatural as the desi group bump against each other throughout the day in this small place). But winter is really boring; caged for the whole day inside the artificially heated apartment. Got a frost bite yesterday when I went out for shopping, its freaking cold man ! So no way of visiting Chicago. Hopefully NJ & NYC will be better in the New Years eve. My room mate has already left for Boston and I am finding it hard to spend my time watching ABC, TNT & AMC. I spent the last couple of days cooking and found that was the best way to pass time. Tried the 'Roasted Turkey Wings' and beleive me it was a grand success !!! It earned me a lot of bravado from the desi junta here; nevertheless I feel my best recipe after coming here is 'Piyaj Tomato diye Maacher Jhaal' (although it was nowhere near mom's recipe). Watched 'Munich' on friday..awesome movie, much better than King Kong which I saw last week. Spielberg rocks !!! what a wonderful topic. I was so thrilled with that I spent the night reading about the Palestinian history and Black September. Also my favorite actor list has one more addition after this: Eric Bana..such a handsome actor and what a performance! Bought some stuffs for Christmas, some DVDs, some chocolates. I hope our old wing reunion will be a success. Well, it has happened before back in India after passing out from KGP, but this time its special..its in New York !! Yo! looking forward to it.

when will the snow melt?

2005-12-13T17:03:00.000-06:00

At the beginning it was extreme fun to watch the scenic beauty..and exclaim "wow"..but it had snowed continuosly for a week in Evanston...and now its a pain to wade through the 11 inches tall pillars of snow on the sidewalks. Shopping and outings have been cut short to almost twice a month for that and even you can't enjoy the weekends(which is the only time to enjoy for these firangis). The best option now is to sit in front of this magic box and surf through the deal pages. But I am bored with that too. So here are a few links to remove your boredom if you are in a condition like me...

1. http://www.bwcinema.com (cool quality of movies)
2. http://bollygrounds.com (a little expensive but you get to see even matches and concerts)
3. http://www.smashits.com (cool collection of songs n vids)

Plans for Winter Vacation?...hoping to have a good time at DC, NJ and NYC on the NewYears Eve.

--Ab

Realizations !!!

2005-12-01T16:39:00.000-06:00

One thirds of my first year is complete with the end of the Fall2005 quarter..donno how many more to go...thought of it makes me tired..
In order to survive in US you have to have frequents trips and visits to places of interest...and thats why I am bored of Chicago and want to visit New York.
Washington DC is awesome in its beuty...great architectures, magnificent museums , pleasant weather (compared to Chicago)...so is the natural beauty of the surrounding states like Virginia, Maryland.
American recipes like Turkey roast, apple pie, celery stew and crab wanton wings are no where near mutton rezala, keema curry and chingri maacher paturi.
Rediscovered the magic of Matrix..watched the trilogy once again...but this time with a new meaning....however didn't like Star Wars.
Snowfall is so beautiful...at least the first sight of snow covered roads and cars is so beautiful !!!
Christmas time coming....dreaming of a White Christmas....one more trip...

Me & my cousin bro in front of the the Capitol Building

Thanksgiving !!!!!!

2005-11-26T12:41:00.000-06:00

Having a blast .....

Do you want to be HAPPY?

2005-11-14T17:09:00.000-06:00

******
Zoo Zoo Zoo Zoo Zoom Zoom Zoom
Zoo Zoo Zoo Zoo Zoom Zoom Zoom
Dine raate nei chokhe ghoom.....
Pran holo Arab Sagar.....
Prem jeno Oasis...Taklamakane...
Priyotoma door er door er i nagar...
Zoo Zoo Zoo Zoo Zoom Zoom Zoom

******

H=Homeworks;
A=Assignments;
P= Projects;
P=Presentations;
Y=Yearly 3 quarters?

I don't wanna be 'happy' in life? do you?

--Adas

quarter ends...fun begins

2005-11-08T16:51:00.000-06:00

Oh! the wait begins..3 more weeks..and the winters................
Now I realise the magic of the Quarter system...you never know when it started and when it ends...moreover you never lose interest in the middle of it (as in semester system); coz in US everything moves fast, you just have to be there and you'll be drifted along in at that pace (irrespective of you do anything or not :) )

Plans for Thanksgiving break: Trip to Washington DC and Virginia...just can't wait for that. My tempo is in such a high level that I ordered a digital camera worth 400 bucks without giving much a thought...afterall how can you make a trip without a personal cam...c'mon don't look for deals , just buy it.

So this is going to be my companion soon !!!

Indian Day away from India

2005-11-05T19:44:00.000-06:00

I never thought that I would ever get some good food in US, specially after all the vile meals at all the Italian Mexican and other bullshit retaurants. Only way to relish Indian food was to cook, and I try to do that as much as possible. But you know sometimes you are not in the mood..while at others you just can't
be perfect. Evanston has this Nepali cuisine restaurants which closely resembles the Indian cuisine (with chicken & lamb curry). But I didn't feel the urge to visit it. Instead I always prefer to goto Devon (the great Indian market place in North US). Today we decided just not to do away with the usual shopping of Indian stuffs but to have a buffet dinner(specially buffets come cheap here and you can grab as much as you can:)) at the Viceroy of India Restaurant and to tell the truth...the lunch was really cool. I stuffed my stomach with Chicaken Tandoori (gives and idea of the old treat days), saag paneer, lamb curry (US version of pathar mansho), chicken wings, punjab curry, pakora, samosa, kheer, gajar ka halwa, pantua, simai er payesh and also the mango flavored icecream. Also had the first american hair-cut in a desi salon. And the day ended with a shopping in Patel Bros. which is nothing but the best Indian grocery store. Overall I didn't miss Indian for half of a day.

History repeats itself...

2005-10-25T19:22:00.000-05:00

After a stay of 2 months at US...things are beginning to happen like the undergrad days. Same boring weekends packed with assignments...same morning class which is frustrating as always...(the chilling weather here adds to it), same load before the exams(alreday had one mid term here). The only air of refreshment was when me and my roomie went to Chicago last weekend. The huge malls were exciting places to be in. But you need cash to enjoy the pleasures of this country...which we the poor grad students don't have. Still we felt anough luxury to spend some money on some beatiful Donut at Dunkins. Last Saturday was a shopping day...we bought some stuffs from Devon Ave. the Indian Bazaar of Chicago. We cheered for the White Sox that day. Sunday was entirely for cooking...the most sucking part of the grad life which I was enjoying at first, but with time that hobby of mine is also fading. Once again Monday came with the nightmare of the quarter which is even harsh than the semester system which we used to have in KGP...but this is only the beginning...so c'mon....the entire innings is left. For now all that what I can say is that history repeats itself...

Back after a hiatus

2005-09-23T17:39:00.000-05:00

More than 3 weeks in US and not a single blog???...what is it? culture shock? homesickness? Not at all....simply "lack of tempo". Simply had a busy schedule over the last few weeks and now the classes have started that I am having ample time to write a blog. But hats off to the quality of service is US (my bank account was opened in less than 2 minutes).
About the place I am living in....Evanston is a beautiful place if not fabulous. Its a small town north of Chicago which according to many is the prettiest of all cities in the world. Its so clean, so organized and so green. But I must admit it lacks the spirit of KGP. The latter was much more happening. The place I am living is a quite and good neighbourhood, although the apartment which I am sharing with my good old Tamil friend is a vintage one. The campus has to be one of the most beautiful campusses in US, with the beautiful Lake Michigan along its border and a private beach. I have not explored much as its a moderately sized campus, but I have already paid a visit to the awesome Chicago.

Look for the pics --> here

Gotto go now...will be back with more details soon..

Aerial view of Evanston campus

well I got this one...really would love to see it !

2005-08-02T10:19:00.000-05:00

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Our final Get-together

2005-07-25T04:29:00.000-05:00

Event: A last get-together of RK-CGW before leaving for US/job/etc.
Venue: Hotel Hindustan International(****), Kolkata.
Type: Buffet Dinner
Participants: RK-CGW members..Debo, Basu, Soummya, Rupam n Me.
Special Guest: Arnab Banerjee

We met again...in style at HHI. We had a final group meeting(lets hope there r many more to come) at Kolkata before parting this country fro studies. It was a rather humid evening when we entered the beautiful Palm Court Coffe-Bar cum restaurant. HHI is a rally nice place with wonderful lodging and dining. We arranged for a buffet dinner and all the invitees were delighted. The starters included...soups, roasts(chicken,pork), salads, sauces. The main cuisines were broadly...gosht biriyani,chow,chcken curry, chicken in rosemary sauce, pasta, and lots of experimental stuffs with weird names. The grand items added to our inflated stomachs which we had build during our recent stay at home. Allover it was a great time...which will be remembered in the years to come.

Click here for the detailed pics

Playing with Monkeys to pass the time

2005-07-04T09:45:00.000-05:00

Its been a long time since I have written my previous blog. The reason is simple; there has been no such event which can be wrtten about in the blog, and I don't want my blogs to look like movie reviews. But I am afraid, this one will sound as a movie review as I am gonna write about a movie. The reason is, this flick has something to write about. I watched this thought provoking movie last week, and the feeling it aroused was an amazing one. It's called 12 Monekys ( a science fiction). I loathe sci-fis , but I watched this one as it was listed in the IMDB all time best 250 list. And now I should say I love these type of movies...even better than 'Die Hard' sort of stuffs. The movie starred Bruce Willis(one of the overrated actors according to me...and I hated him before seeing this movie), Madeleine Stowe(I watched her 'Last of the Mohicans' and she's pretty ok; not great) and Brad Pitt(I hate him too...coz he creates too much hype before every release and then pours water over the mountain high expectations just like 'Troy'). But all of them delivered their career best(according to most viewers) in this movie and I was delighted to watch Willis's and Pitt's performance (in the role of a lunatic)...Ohh what an amazing ending this film has!...simply great and awesome...the first time I was spellbound and tried to realize what had happened. I watched the last 10 mins once again and then made a wild guess what the story could be...and when I thought about it once again and came to another conclusion and it went on like this. Such was the impact of the movie and I think, I should watch it once in a while in near future to make some new interpretations.

BRUCE WILLIS at his best

Reliving the Magic of Television

2005-06-12T01:30:00.000-05:00

When u have no work to do, "the Idiot Box" is your best friend. I am no exception. From my boyhood days I have loved the TV, I still do so now. But with the advent of so mary rubbish channels...I have become selective in watching the programs. I hate watching the daily soaps and serials....but I still watch them...know why? Because they show beautiful women..:) and every man loves to watch a beautiful woman. However, the show which I enjoyed most and is now off the air(I suppose) is "The Guiness Book of World Records". I still watch "Ripley's Believe It or Not" and "Fear Factor" on AXN. In recent times the History Channel is a great addition to the Cable TV Network. I regularly watch "Biographies" ,"History's Mystery" etc. ect. I also love watching News on TV , thanks to channels like BBC World,NDTV, Aajtak and India TV (speciality in bringing Shakti Kapoor type news). But nothing is like watching the old "DC++ Movies" !!!

Sports is one thing which everyone enjoys.....Champions League was awesome, so was the English Premiere League.....recently watched the Roland Garros live on TenSports....eagerly waiting for "The Wimbledon" (starting from 20th June) and many more forthcoming sport events. Ohh I forgot to mention about ESPN school quiz...I love it so much!!

One more thing which I love to watch on TV is cooking...I see everything of cooking from Bengali dishes(on Tara Bangla) to Khana Khazana, Mirch Masala...but I know little how to cook...that's funny uh? Nowadays I am looking much more for cooking coz I know I have cook for myself in near future...:)...especially when my roommate is going to be a South Indian Veggie...and I am person who can't live without flesh, be it fish, meat or human...I must learn it fast !!

Sanjeev Kapoor the Master of Cooking

Knowing my true self

2005-06-08T04:38:00.000-05:00

Its fun to have broadband internet connection at home....surf the net at long stretches...at least ur parents don't bark at u for consuming phone bills for a long time. The "jhandaoing" which we used to do at KGP in our spare times has thus started at home. It was today that I encountered this fun thing...called blogthings(guys u can check that too from the link below)...where u get to know ur true self...ur (+) 's n (-) 's etc. etc.......it was good fun. I tried one with the names of friends in KGP. I found this...and know what?....amazingly most of it was true!!!!!!!....... maybe u shud try it out...

What You Really Think Of Your Friends

Rupam is your soulmate.

You truly love Debo.

You consider Basu your true friend.

You know that Saikat is always thinking of you.

You'll remember Fonta for the rest of your life.

You secretly think Sisoo is creative, charming, and a bit too dramatic at times.

You secretly think that Kar is colorful, impulsive, and a total risk taker.

You secretly think that Yash is loyal and trustworthy to you. And that Yash changes lovers faster than underwear.

You secretly think Sanket is shy and nonconfrontational. And that Sanket has a hidden internet romance.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoyouthinkofyourfriends

What Do You Think of Your Friends?

Bombay Road..take me home...to Kolkata

2005-06-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yeah, right I am back at 'Home'...through that beautiful highway..they call Bombay Road..which mingles with the Kona Expressway after Kolaghat. And u guessed it right I am having a funtime at my home. I hate those people saying "i m getting frust in home" or "will go back to KGP for DC++ / project/training". How come? Home is the sweetest place ever...i don't know, whether i am an exception or not.... but in this scorching heat nothing is like sitting in the sofa in an AC room at ur home !!! (specially when ur going to leave that place for a long time after the next 2 months).

Neway..this blog is an end to a long pause...since i wrote my last blog before my project evals..this was due to the unavailability of net on my home computer...but now things are ok...i have taken the BSNL broadband connection...things are just cruising fine...so the bottomline is:

"Have fun, enjoy home or have a tango....
But never forget the beautiful juicy summer Mango..."

My first one......about the last days

2005-04-30T02:42:00.000-05:00

Hi all, great to be a part of the e- blogger community. I am not among those who can keep you engrossed with fowery language and great illustrations. As far as I can remember in my entire school life I was the one to get the least marks in essay writing. So please don't expect some creative stuffs from me. To me blog is more of a medium of exchange of ideas with my friends...those whom I have left...and those who are yet to be made.

To begin with I am just like any other guy living the last few days of his IIT life...to be more specific his Kgp - life. Its needless to mention everyone is having a different blend of sentiments in their mind...some are nostalgic...some trying to live their best in these last days....some willing to go out as soon as possible....others waiting only for their advisors final signature!! So you see its a mixed bag.

Amidst all this, I also feel very emotional and nostalgic. The very idea of leaving my kgpian friends makes me sad. It is this life which I'll miss throughout my future.....specially those funda sessions, job-treats, chhedi-visits and many many more incidents. I wish to relive those events and incidents through my blog. This is just the beginning; I wish to continue as long as time permits and as long as I can. But for the timebeing the latest news is ...."Only ten days are left to go and then like that...... everyone's gone".