Lehrein...

Love this song from the movie 'Aisha'.


Lehrein | Musicians Available

Beautifully Imperfect!

I found the below video really beautiful. It convey's the message so clearly, that we are all imperfect in some or the other way. Yet, we are all beautiful people around and what adds to the beauty is the fact that people in our lives accept and love us even with those little imperfections.

That's the way even we need to treat them.

Happy Mother's Day Mom

I have always been my dad's daughter. Somehow I was never on the same plane as my mother. If she said east I would make it sure that I took the west. As a kid she wanted me to behave like a girl but I always wanted to be like a boy. Later she wanted me to become a doctor and I opted for engineering. She wanted me to get married and settled in India when I thought I wanted to study abroad.

And I left home far away to pursue my dream.

After being so far off from her I know now that comes as a challenge. Everything she said and did was with a purpose. She wanted me to do good eventually. Right from trying to settle myself, taking care not to fall ill due to sudden weather change, cooking tasty enough while managing studies simultaneously, I've learn't all after staying away from home and her .

It was so different when I was back at home. She would give me everything in hand. If she called me to cook, I would just run away from the kitchen. While leaving India when I tried cooking something, it would be so close to imperfect. She wondered how I would survive outside. Throughout my life the only place I must have helped her must have been to bring something from some shop, sometimes make chapatis or dal, grind puran for her during holi and help her in making some diwali snacks, mainly because I loved eating them and she threatened me that she wont make any if I didn't help her.

I don't remember any single thing for which I must not have taken her beatings. I have always troubled her. I was stubborn and she was headstronger than me. She had been strict with me. She always thought that girls ought to be demure and not too outspoken like I always had been. She knew I was going to face the music for my outspokenness someday. Thanks to her I have become more like a girl and less like a boy.

Despite all those differences my mother has been a fantastic lady. I still wonder how she managed the house, kids like me and my brother, juxtaposing with her job. She did a fantastic job. As a kid I thought that parents are born with this unusual talent of taking care of the household and handling their jobs. I thought it was their duty, but as I grew I learn't it's not the way it seemed to my naive mind. There goes in a lot of effort behind the edifice called house that we stay in. And she had been the most important pillar of my house.

I'm blessed to have so lovely parents and such a lovely mom. I think that the love covers for all the skirmishes that we may share in our mother daughter relationship.

Happy Mother's Day Mom. Thank you for bringing me into this wonderful world. I wouldn't have been here without you. And I know you will always love me even if I'm your 'nalayak mulgi' :D

पाऊस

सुरेख मराठी कविता ऐकून फार वेळ झाला आहे आणि काल भरल्या पावसाळ्या दिवशी ही छानशी कविता ऐकून मनाला अक्दी खुदकन हसु आले :)


Paus | Upload Music

Who Knew!

Those were real sweet times.

You were so callow, unfledged and innocent. You wanted to beat up people who said "this thing wont work out". You were so recalcitrant and rebellious. There was nothing for you to believe that it can't happen or it's all over. There were things you were frantically relentless about.

That was really a beautiful age when you were not matured and wanted things your way. When you thought everything happens your way. When you thought of things that you thought wont go wrong.

This song reminds me very much of that time. Some people. Some moments. Lost long ago. Who knew.

Who Knew - Pink | Music Upload

The Bean Burrito

I'll admit, I never liked this thing called "The Bean Burrito".

Well, for all those who don't understand what I'm talking about... Burritos look like bean vegetable stuffed in a thin tortilla (maida roti) and rolled for you to eat. To make it simple, they look like 'Frankie' and on the left side of this page you can view how they look like.

I first brought in a pack of "El Monterey- Bean Burritos" from Walmart thinking that this thing will taste like our very own Indian Samosas or atleast close to frankie. When I tried eating it after placing it in microwave for 2mins, as instructed in the pack, there I was, finding it absolutely unpalatable.

But after trying it for a couple of times I find myself in a position to digest it now. How? Well, I made my own Indian modifications for the stuff to taste as per my taste buds. Took the burrito and microwaved it for a minute overall and then placed it on tava, applied a lot of butter to it and there it was, ready to eat with Maggi Hot and Sweet Tomato Chilli sauce. Well, it cant replace the Indian Samosa's but tastes really good.

Being a vegetarian and that too in the US could be a pain in neck. You don't have many choices about eating. Going out to eat is very much an impractical thing, one because I don't have a car yet and places here are as far as they can be and two because there are very few places where you can get tasty food the way we have it in India.

I'm trying to make some modifications with a some of the things we get at walmart. The first began with the bean burrito. It has taught me something important. You need to adjust. Life doesn't always give you what you like but there are somethings like the burrito that you will always manage to find. All you need to know is how to modify it as per your needs.

Games People Play and What When There Are No People Around?

I tried to grab a review of this well known book - "Games People Play". Since I had some free time in the winter break, reading a book was perhaps one of the best things to do. But the problem was that by the end of 2009 I had no people around me. And what bothered me most was, 'would it really matter even if they played some games? At least some people would have been around.' Perhaps, it would.

2009 had been an eventful year for me. A quiet birthday with family, a broken leg, GRE, an uneventful horoscope reading, resignation from job, getting recos, applying to colleges, trip to North India, admit to Lamar, coming to US, building the home here, living without proper finances for two and a half months, back to college after 3 yrs, new education system, selecting wrong subjects, pressure for grades, weird schedule and a lonely Christmas and New Year.

This is the first time in life that I'm on my own. No parents to guide you, no one to take care of you, no one to feed you and worst no friends nearby. It's just you, you and you alone. Good part is that sometimes there are some acquaintances around who look like angels because sometimes they are there, present near you. The phone has become a lifeline and work slowly becoming worship.

I wonder if I continue being in this no man's land for long then what would I become.

Nevertheless, it's been an all together different experience. Spending time alone is difficult though not impossible. Slowly I'm learning to live with it that this is how things are going to be for the time that I would be here. So just trying to be at peace with things.

I wonder if I would mind the mind games people resort to but for sure I hope new year brings in more faith, happiness, peace, prosperity and well being for everyone and me too.

Imagine

Imagination. A world that has no restrictions, no boundaries. A world that is untrammeled and unbridled. A world that has no limits and is free to fly wherever it likes...

I enjoy spending time in this world of imagination. I enjoy dreaming. I enjoy imagining that everything looks beautiful and if it doesn't then it will.

I felt at peace when I just heard this song in the morning by John Lennon. It still brings the same freshness and smile that it brought when I first heard it. Every line of it has a true meaning. The song leaves you with an indubitable feeling that it comes right from the bottom of the heart of the writer.


Imagine - John Lennon (cover) | Upload Music

It's every worth imagining as long as it is constructive and leaves a lasting positive impression on peoples' hearts. Making peace with yourself and the world is so very important. If it's not happening at the moment then nothing should really stop your imagination in which the peace begins to get real. After all, there is always a blueprint that precedes the masterpiece edifice, which later goes to become a real structure. You may say that I am a dreamer and if you are not then I'm sure you will soon join me :)

Suddenly Someone

My eyes refused to close at night after the forty winks in the noon. It's been quite sometime since I'm in the USA and I'm feeling the heat of being here.

The place is relatively new and lonely. New because you don't find the Mumbai crowd jam packed with people that run healther skelther to catch the train bus or run to their workplaces and yet manage to reach late & lonely because you don't see a single soul walking on the roads arbitrarily the way you did back in India, all you see is just some vehicles zooming very fast.

It bites you every minute with the thought and want to occupy the somber looking drab but enormous space. The silence and loneliness could kill you if you were someone who loves being thronged by people. To add to it there are somethings that make me feel weird about being here. One such thing is being suddenly someone.

I never had an identity of being the most brilliant or a go getter or for that matter someone who wanted to achieve great heights hence a lot of people decided to quit being by my side simply for a reason that I was not upto their mark of being perfect. It broke my heart terribly and it would for anyone who felt that these were some important people in your life.

But it really makes me feel indignant that why I am suddenly someone now? What was wrong then? Perhaps I wasn't doing so good, but I didn't deserve to be thrown out of life for sure. Nevertheless, they have been important people as I have learnt what friends of good times are.

I thank God that atleast some people close to me had been there, are and will always be to stand by me in my thick or thin. For whom my being anything doesn't matter. They love and care for me the way that I'm. I'm someone for them no matter where I'm. And the best thing is that it is not suddenly...

The Unsolicited

A chill runs down my spine when someone I don't even know expects me to be his friend. There were times when I din't mind being friends with the unknown and some of those once unknown people are good friends today.

But I must admit that I haven't been that lucky always. Few people have left a very deep impact on my naive understanding about human beings. I have learnt through some costly mistakes that not everybody on earth is good and that many wear a mask of goodness about them which otherwise seldom exists on their real face.

Just being from a very good college or working with a very good company or belonging to my community don't make you an eligible friend. And no doubt after my mistakes of making false friends I prefer being scrupulous enough in terms of choosing people that I would want to share my thoughts or any piece of information with.

A man is known by the company he keeps, so as a kid I preferred having no company instead of bad ones. But as I grew I felt that I could have been wrong. Perhaps, it was more of my own conviction that was required. If I'm strong enough then no company can change my conviction. But that's not the case. Unfortunately, you automatically get linked with the company.

So when I get poured with requests of people wanting to make friends with me, I find it very surprising that when I don't wish to join the unknown company, when I don't know the unsolicited person, when I don't share any common interest with him or when I don't see any reasons of why we must be friends, yet such people wish to befriend me.

Over a period of time I have learnt not to trust people easily. I have learnt to have an air of defiance about me and I refuse to shed this shield, the absence of which would harm me. I feel solace in the fact that I eschew these unsolicited people. No doubt then, I would continue to abjure them. And I prefer it that way.

My F1 Visa Interview Experience

When I got my I-20 from my desired University it was all thrills at home which followed with the onset of procedure for Visa Interview. I bought the HDFC receipts and then registered for the visa date. I got a date that was almost two weeks away from the registration date. That gave me ample of time to prepare for the interview. I had checked out on google for "F1 Visa Interview Questions" and got sufficient enough questions to prepare.

In the mean time I had been to VFS office to submit the photocopies of documents that they had asked for. There was one I-901 fee payment which I missed out on and was not even aware of till I had been to VFS office for photocopies submission. This year I-901 fee was $200 which is supposed to be paid through http://www.ice.gov/sevis/i901/index.htm.

After weeks of preparation for the D-day, finally I arrived at the VFS office that took me to the US Visa Consulate.

Prior, I bought the lounge coupon given by VFS office for Rs 250/- which proved to be helpful as I didn't have to stand in the big queue to go inside the consulate. Plus they provided a locker to keep my bag and stuff which helped me since I din't have anyone accompanying me for the interview. It helps even more if your interview is in the afternoon. Not that I'm promoting it, but I had seen some people standing in a big queue that was hardly moving as the time went beyond 10 o'ck. So I felt it helped because I got to get inside the office and sit there a bit earlier. But I had also seen some people who hadn't brought this coupon and yet managed to get in and finish with their visa interview before me.

During my time it was drizzling and single ladies were given first preference for going into the office. So even when my time was scheduled to be 8.15am, we were in the bus outside VFS office by 7.45 am. By 8.15am the ladies queue was ready to go inside the consulate. Before going in, your plastic bag and you go through a thorough check. Unfortunately, I had left a glue stick in my plastic bag which became a problem. They asked me to go out and throw it and then again I had to stand in the queue. Though it was a small one but my number jumped behind from 105 to 127 straight and that caused me a delay for interview call by almost an hour.

So never carry any electronic items, pens, glue sticks etc for your visa interview. You won't require them inside. Just carry papers.

Once inside, first you stand in the queue for taking your electronic finger prints and then you are asked to take a seat till they call your assigned number. I sat on a chair and it was past one hour. I was a bit tensed by now because all numbers before and after my number had been announced. I was afraid if I missed out on hearing my number. But soon the lady on counter number 13 called out my number along with the others which were in the series of number 300 and I rushed in first. It was 10.15am. By now I was a bit tired and thirsty because I din't have water since morning and there was no facility to have a glass of water in the consulate.

But the moment I met the interviewer I simply forgot all tiresomeness and thirst :) I was very glad. I greeted her "Good morning". She first asked me "Which course are you going there for?" , when I told her she looked at my I20 and told me that I had partial funding. I was surprised because I had a full funding. But this question popped up because my college had also put in the amount which they asked me to show as family funds during application in the column 8 of I20.

She asked me how was I going to make an arrangement for the rest of the money. I told her through family funds and told her that I could show her the papers. She refused to see the papers and asked me only to answer her questions. Then she asked me "What does your father do?", "What does your mother do?", "How much does your dad earn per year?" When I answered these questions she said "Well, your Visa is granted. Wish you a pleasant stay in the United States."

I came out with a smile . You can see that on everyones face who gets a visa.

I had also seen some people since morning whose Visa was rejected. Reasons varied. One girl was refused because she wasn't funded by her college and she couldn't prove that she had sufficient funds to go to the US.

I felt that it was better to be very well prepared and then not been asked for the documents rather than not taking some documents and then been asked for them by the interviewer.

Overall my preparation for the interview paid off. It's a nice experience and as my dad says it, "No one troubles you for any unnecessary reasons. And when you have a valid reason to go there then the question of rejecting your visa just doesn't arise."