Mammoth Caves, KY

A sudden trip to the Mammoth Caves in the neighboring state of Kentucky was planned for the Saturday. It was just the three of us - Harsha, Rajesh and myself. We searched for more company, but couldnt manage any during this part of the year, when everybody leaves Columbus like school kids out of classrooms as the bell is rung. We started at 10.15 am, a full 75 minutes behind the original schedule. The brief stopover at an exit near Cincinnati helped us recharge - the vehicle with fuel and ourselves with some coffee. From then on, it was a race against time. Our cave tour was to start at 2.15 pm CST. Even occasional bursts of 90 mph, which was well above the speed limit of 70 mph, didn't give us the confidence of making it in time.

However, with sustained driving above the legal speed limits, we made it just on time. We reached the Ticketing Office at exactly 2.15 pm and saw a bunch of people coming out of the office and boarding a bus. Without any thought, I rushed into the office, and requested for my tickets. The lady at the counter promptly replied "The bus has already left, Sir". I informed her that the bus is still waiting, and that I have talked to the tour guide, without having any idea as to what was transpiring between Rajesh and the guide. She requested my confirmation numbers and printed 3 tickets. I ran out and as we boarded the bus, a sense of relief ran through our hearts. Yes, we had made it!

Now some background information on the Mammoth Caves. It is the most extensive cave system in the world and includes nearly 367 miles of passageway. The caves are nearly 360 ft deep and in its initial days was advertised as a "bottomless pit". Many of the rocks are made of limestone sedimentation, and stalactite and stalagmite formations are clearly visible. Though the cave was discovered much earlier, it remained under private ownership for a long time till 1930s when it came under the National Park umbrage. It was officially dedicated on July1, 1941, and has remained open to public since then.

The Forest Ranger who was our guide for the tour was an old, but highly energetic man named Joe. He recounted several tales of history, and followed it with his own take-home messages. This was one of the first statements he made before we entered the tour - "Most people, when their head accidentally hits a rock, give it their name. Since we have little kids around, please be creative and think of better names". In short, avoid the F-word. Apparently, one of the entrances of this cave was the first Tuberculosis (TB) Sanatorium in the world, because it was the belief of doctors at that time that fresh water and air surrounding the caves was good for health. It was however, never proved right, as 30 of the around 120 patients died, while others did not show much signs of improvement.

I took a few pictures with my low-resolution mobile phone camera in the dark surroundings. Though the quality of pictures is not something I can be proud of, but I would post them here nevertheless (They should be up in a few days).

We came out of the caves dead hungry. We took the first exit on I-65 and our eyes rolled when we saw a Pizza Hut outlet. Though we had to wait for about 15 minutes, but it was worth the wait as we treated ourselves with Garlic Bread and a Pan Pizza that tasted heavenly. From then on, I drove on the Interstate for about 80 miles, till Rajesh took over just before we entered Columbus. I reached home at 12.30 am, and thought if the 11 hour drive was worth the 2 hrs of stay inside the caves. Thinking back, it probably was.

Finals week getting over; reach out for the Gator-ade

The first week of December is fever time in Columbus. Didn't you tell me that the entire Fall season was kind-of feverish with that silly game of football? Oh, yeah! but having spent the whole quarter watching and cheering for the Buckeyes, students realize at the end of the quarter that they haven't done anything worthwhile, and now it's too late to go back and read the first lecture when final exams are just around the corner. For many courses, the final exam is the make-or-break session - those 2 hours decide where you are going to end up in class.

That still doesn't take away the attention from football. The season-ending BCS rankings were released on Sunday evening. The Florida Gators have been picked as No. 2, ahead of Michigan, to play the top-ranked Buckeyes in the BCS Championship at Glendale, AZ on Jan. 8. Though people have been crying foul over the unfair system that left Michigan high and dry, we at Columbus are focussed over our next No. 2 ranking opponent this season. The Buckeyes have already faced 2 No. 2 teams this season - Texas early season and then Michigan in the season-finale. No other team in College football history has defeated 3 No. 2 teams in a season, and if we are able to dump the Gators, pretty much like we did with all other teams this season, that will surely establish the Buckeyes 2006 team as the greatest in college football history.

BCS...here we come! Meanwhile, I'll get my flu shot.

Comfort Zone

We always feel at-home and comfortable in a tiny sphere surrounding us, called the comfort zone. It could be as simple as your home and a set of friends surrounding you. But if you look at it objectively, at every point of our life, we try look for a "comfort zone" and try to settle in there - sitting in the same bench every class, taking the same way back home, and eating the same type of food at a particular restaurant

Given a chance, we'd like to do the same job, stay in the same city and meet with the same set of people. The more you stay in your comfort zone, the tougher it is to get out of that. And, it requires not only conviction in oneself, but a deep urge to do something different and radical that can make a person get out of that territory, that he now thinks as his own.

Look around yourself and see the boundaries of your comfort zone. Move around, think radically and see if you can get out of your comfort zones into uncharted territories. Believe me, you'll feel the difference not only in yourself, but also in things around you.

Note: This blog posting was inspired by a phone conversation with a friend.

It's not just about football, stupid

Almost every school in the US has a football team. It is immaterial whether they win or lose, they always face a full audience. When I first heard that the Horse Shoe hosts more than 100,000 spectators every game, I was surprised. But then this is Buckeye Nation, I was told. A place that knows only 2 colors - Scarlet and Gray, with everything else being so Michigan-like. Its no surprise that everyone in this nation cheers for their school team when it comes to competitive sports, more so when it is football.

So while watching the game, you are as likely to bump into a recent alum, as you are into an 70-year old lady who graduated with a degree from the campus more than 40 years ago. So it matters as to which school you graduated from - you get tagged for your entire life as a Buckeye, Spartan or a Wolverine.

Last Friday, our Dept celebrated the dedication ceremony of our new building, the Scott Lab. There was a small outdoor function, followed by a self guided tour into the labs and classrooms. Expected guests were likely to be alumni and donors. I volunteered to be in my teaching lab during this period, so that I could show the lab set-ups to these guests. I was really surprised to see a lot of people turn up for this program, many of them well past an age, the govt calls the retirement threshold. A lot of alumni walked into my Lab, curious to see how the labs have changed 20 or 30 odd years after they graduated. One notable instance was that of an old, well-built man who told me he graduated from this Dept more than 50 years ago. When I showed a sense of surprise and disbelief on my face, he quickly responded, "I know, you won't believe it". It left me thinking - What binds them to this institution, that they feel like coming back after 50 years to the very place they left, knowing well that time changes not only people, but their thinking and outlook as well

I have hardly seen this happen in India and very rarely heard anything like this. Though we pride ourselves as a nation built on 5000 years of culture and tradition, a bond of this kind with our educational institutions never seem be part of that great tradition. Does that reflect poorly on our ethos or simply speaks of the quality of institutions we have. A point everyone needs to ponder on.

Travelogue - Return trip

Chennai International Airport 0700 hrs IST

I am not sure if I will be able to compile the travelogue for the return journey as well, partly because its like going through the same set of things one more time, and more importantly, I am severely tired and totally out of shape after the 2-day function got over yesterday afternoon.

I am currenly at Chennai airport waiting area, having finished my security clearance, and baggage check. There was total chaos at the entry point, followed by another round at the baggage check-in area. There was no message board at the Gulf Air counter, and I had a hard time figuring this out. Some time later, a Gulf Air official apologized for the delay. I wanted to rip him apart immediately. I asked him if they couldnt put on a board indicating thier check in counter. He quickly ran away, and resurfaced with an excuse that the message board wasnt working. I then reprimanded him for not having any signboards or directions for the passengers to smoothly move from one spot to the next. Within 10 minutes the message boards at the Gulf Air counter were functioning, and the official promptly came upto me and informed the same. He then thanked me for the raising the issue and apologized again.

I then checked-in my baggage,and I was informed that the flight is getting delayed by an hour, and that light refreshments will be served after the security check-in. Check-in was smooth, and the baggages were well below the allowable limits. I was giving the boarding pass till Muscat and asked to collect further boarding passes at Muscat. During the immigration, the lady at the counter looked at the apssport for along time, and asked several questions about my location, occupation, etc in a suspicious tone. With security check over in no time, it was time to wait for the boarding. I, meanwhile, had a good sleep for close to an hour, and got up to stand in queue for the refreshments being served at a nearby counter. Immediately aftwerwards, the boarding started. By the time the plane started, it was full 2 hours late.

Seeb International Airport, Muscat, Oman 1230 hrs local time (1400 hrs IST)

With the schedule departure of my next flight to Bahrain being 1130 hrs, there was just more than an hour to get my boarding pass and check un the next flight. The counters serving the boarding passes were in complete mayhem. There was a huge crowd of people waiting to get their passes. Total chaos prevailed and passengers were getting restless. I stood in one of the lines and only later found out that the particular queue was serving a delayed flight to Jeddah, and there were 97 passengers stranded. (I got to know the exact number through an official who made an SOS call to a higher offical requesting for immediate help). I was getting anxious and restless at this moment, not knowing whether I would be able to catch my connecting flight in time A lady at another counter called for Bahrain passengers, and I moved into the line in front of her. Few moments later, she called "Madras-Bahrain", and I promptly raised my hand, and handed over my tickets. She searched around for sometime and found out already printed boarding passes for me. The departure time for the flight had been re-scheduled as 1200 hrs, half an hour behind schedule. I made my way through the departure gate and piced up a Mango Pulp drink and a chocolate cake piece to satisfy my hunger. After getting seated in the aircraft, there was no sign of the plane getting started for long. They were waiting for some missing passengers, and after a long time, decided to disembark their baggage and proceed with the journey. The plane started at 1330 hrs local time, 2 hrs behind the original schedule

Dubai International Airport Local time 1400 hrs (IST 1630 hrs)

The flight to Bahrain has a brief stopover at Dubai. The Muscat-Dubai flight was just under 45 minutes, so it was just take-off, refreshments and then landing. In no time, we reached Dubai. Passengers heading to Bahrain were asked to remain seated in the aircraft and not allowed to disembark. The crew then made several checks of the boarding pass and made repeated efforts to take a head count. in some time, we would be taking off to the next destination, Bahrain. Dubai-Bahrain journey is also a short one, close to 45 minutes. I need to find out if I would be getting a hotel accomodation at Bahrain.

Al-Muharraq, Kingdom of Bahrain Local Time 1630 hrs (IST 1900 hrs)

After the short flight journey from Dubai to Bahrain, I was provided with the transit visa and and a hotel voucher immediately upon arrival at the airport. I was driven to Hotel Windsor Palace along with 3 other transit pasengers. At the hotel, they kept our passports, and assured that they will be returned at the time of check-out. At the hotel, I took a sufficient nap, had my dinner and then watched the first quarter of OSU-Penn State Football game. I am back at the Airport now, waiting for my next flight to Frankfurt.

Frankfurt International Airport, Germany Local Time 0900 hrs (IST 1230 hrs)

I think the 2 hr syndrome isnt leaving me at all. My next flight to frankfurt also left approximately 100 minutes late. Dinner was served late night (thankfully!), and I had a good sleep. The seat next to me was vacant, and hence I had no company for this leg of the journey, except for the last few minutes. I was taking a short nap in the morning, when this girl jumped over me to sit in the vacant seat, since she had to cross-0ver two other people and a tray full of breakfast, and felt I was a much smaller obstacle to jump over. That was just about half an hour before the landing. She introduced herself as Victoria (though I am sure she must be using the k instead of c in her name), and was a Architecture student, studying in Germany (didnt get the name of the place, except for the lake that's close to their campus and borders Germany, Austria and Switzerland). She was returning from a trip to Phillipines, and was looking forward to going home before joining school.

I got down at the airport, and took the skyline to reach terminal C6 to catch my next flight to Dallas. I bought a bagel-like bun (with no hidden meat!) for 2 euros. the lady at the counter wasnt accepting dollars or credit cards. Luckily, I had just more than 2 euros from the currency I gained during my earlier stopover at frankfurt last month. I paid the cash and took a seat. Just found that the buckeyes trumped the Nittany Lions 28-6. The Buckeyes look like they are in serious form to avenge their last year losses. I am waiting for the flight to get into the US...


Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, TX Sept 24 Local time 1500 hrs CDT (IST Sept 25 0130 hrs)

A very interesting thing happened before I boarded the flight at Frankfurt. Just half an hour before the boarding time, I showed my boarding pass to the official at the American Airlines counter. The lady directed me to the first counter on the right to go through some security check. when I showed my boarding pass, the dude at the counter went crazy. he said "Sir, you are too late for this flight. You were supposed to report here one hour before boarding for international flights. We will put you in the next flight". For a moment, i thought this guy was playing with me. How can he deny me a seat when I already have a boarding pass. I said I have been waiting here near the gate for a long time, and that no one ever directed me to such a check. There should have been some announcement or message asking me do so. At this, the two ladies at the nearby counters nodded, showing agreement with my point of argument.

I was asked to show documents like I-20, letter of support, and asked questions whether the checked-in bags were mine, and if I was carrying any banned item like liquids or gels. Immediately after finishing this check, I ran to board the flight. Without doubt, I was one of the last few guys to get into the flight, and for the first time in this long journey, my flight started on time. Food again became a proble, when the air hostess informed me that no reservation has been made agianst my name. I was made to wait for a long time,after which she asked me if I ate cheese. Immediately, I was provided with a large bowl of greens, and a couple of hard breads with cheese and some grapes. There was lot of food, and it took me close to 45 minutes to finish my lunch, and all this while I was made to feel like one animal, munching on cut vegetables.

I felt relieved on landing at Dallas. Finally, I entered the US - a known territory. I had to go through the Immigration and customs, where luckily no questions were asked, and I managed to bring in loads of podis (masalas) and some murukku. I checked in my baggage one final time, and waited for my next flight. Meanwhile, I grabbed a cup of coffee from Starbucks and made a few phone calls.

Port Columbus International airport, OH Sept 24 2100 EDT (IST sept 25 0630 hrs)

Our flight reached the airport 20 minutes before time, and was made to wait at the taxi in order for a gate to clear. Meanwhile the Captain apologized for the wait and remarked "All this for reaching early!". Harsha and Vathsa came to the airport to pick me up, and within no time, I was home. Yipeee!

Update: Went to school the next day and met my advisor, Lab coord and signed my Appointment paper for this Quarter.

Ponytail's Dead!

In a shocking incident today, the Ponytail was cut off at a local salon here in Chennai. The immediate cause of its demise was not known, but reports suggest that there was internal pressure as well demand from outside to take it off. The Ponytail came into existense around the month of June 06 and had its own set of followers and worshippers, back in Columbus, OH. Its end came around 11 O'clock in the morning. The news of its demise has not gone well with its fans, and there have been condolence calls since morning. Reports indicate that the salon shop took less than a dollar to execute the operation. An investigation is underway in this regard.

Zed's dead, baby! All fans and well-wishers are requested to pour in their memories and condolences on this blog.
-News from Our Special Correspondent reporting from Chennai

500

Yesterday, I had the 500th visitor to my blog. From?...take a guess - it was China. Sitemeter was unable to confirm the exact location of the visitor, but I have his IP address. He didn't spend much time on my blog, so he must be one of those casual browsers, who do blog-hopping.
In case, you are The 500th Visitor, I would want to reward you (like those radio shows). Let me know :-)

Travelogue

This document has been edited several times over the last 2 days, and is now complete

The moment of reckoning is finally here. This is one day I have been waiting for - I head home today. Excited, yes! Apprehensive, yes!

Being a long journey with numerous stopovers, I am going to make it interesting by giving a detailed account of the journey through this blog. Keep checking back for updates.

Aug 24 0725 hrs EDT Columbus, OH: Komudi comes home to help me get to the airport. In spite of the morning traffic, Komudi's deft driving help me get to the Columbus airport in no time. I am in line for bagagge check at the American Airlines (AA) counter and it seems to take a long time. The lady at the counter is apparently unable to locate my flight on the last leg from Muscat - Chennai. After making numerous attempts to locate the flight, she decides to call it quits and calls up Gulf Air, their code share partner. A small change in the flight timing was the cause of the confusion.

I go through the security check immediately afterwards. A brown guy with long hair, carrying a backpack and heading somewhere towards the Middle East - all the ingredients ensure I was checked more rigorously than other passengers.

0830 hrs EDT: I reach gate 33A, from where my flight is scheuled to take off. I pick up the TIME Magazine from a gift shop. Hillary Clinton is on the cover - not an interesting cover story to read, but all the other magazines are just trash, so I dont have much to ponder on. I decide to enter the Starbucks Coffee outlet and pick up a latte'. It smells good and tastes awesome. Finally, I get to have a coffee in a American cafe' which tastes good to me. Finally! Port Columbus International Airport allows free wireless internet connection, and I decide to make the best use of it. I am hoping that I might find such easy internet access at other aiports as well. My next stopover is Dallas, TX.

Contd. from Dubya's ranch.....

1430 hrs EDT (Local time: 1330 hrs CDT) Dallas Fort-Worth (DFW), TX

The flight from Columbus left 15 minutes late. It was a small plane, probably a 50-seater, with single-seats on one side and double seats on the other side. I got one of the single seats. As the plane took off, I was totally emotionless, with no expression or thought. Soon, the plane was flying at an altitude of 37000 ft above sea level.The descent was not pleasant, as I started experiencing a buzz in my ears.

Dallas Airport is a lot bigger than the one at Columbus. There is a skyline connecting different terminals. I get down at the terminal B26 and I need to reach D30 to board my flight to Frankfurt. I am supposed to take the skyline, but I am on the phone, and I just keep walking till I reach the D terminal. Its a long walk, but I notice some restaurants and I stop by a Pizza outlet. 'Sorry, we are outta Veggie Pizza', is the lady's response. 'If you want no meat, you can have a Cheese Pizza'. And, then she gives me the $5.49 offer of Pizza, Salad and a drink. I accept it immediately and pick up my food and head to the D30 terminal. My flight is scheduled next after the one heading to Ontario, Canada. The wireless here is not free, as in Columbus. T-mobile offers wireless at $6.00 an hour. I am contemplating whether to take it or not. I decide not to, since it has been just 3 hrs since I left Columbus. So this part of the journey will go online at frankfurt, Germany

2000 hrs EDT (Local time: Unknown) Somewhere in the mid-Atlantic

It has been 6 hrs into the journey, and I am begining to get fatigued. The flight took off at 1500 hrs (local time) from Dallas, TX and I slept immediately as the plane touched the skies. I get up in time for the second round of beverages - a glass of orange juice, having missed the first round. Within an hour, lunch is being served. 'Sorry Sir, we dont have any vegetarian food. You should have placed a request beforehand' informed the middle-aged steward. Why do I feel someone told me this before (Vathsa??). salad is again my food, only this time it's the lunch. The steward is gracious enough to offer me another plate of salad, which I politely refuse - how long can I eat only ghas-phus (raw greens). There are some cookies and ranch, both made of egg. I refuse them as well. I watch some part of a movie which is about a set of girls practicing to be future gymnasts. Decent movie - though I cant identify the stars. I take a short nap, and get up to have round of coffee. There are a few radio channels, but I cant listen to them for a long time. So at the cost of faster battery consumption, I listen to music from my laptop. It might be some time before dinner is served, but it hardly makes a difference to me. I cannot take the salad one more time. The cookies I bought at CVS may come in handy. waiting to get down at Frankfurt to have some real good breakfast.

Aug 25 0230 hrs EDT (0830 hrs Local Time) Frankfurt, Germany

I catch another 2 hrs sleep before we reach frankfurt at 0730 hrs in the morning. Its a different culture here, I guess. Things are not that fast. Even though, Frankfurt is abig airport, there seems to be very little activity at the airport and the some of the shops are not yet open. I try to have some breakfast, but end up burning 9 dollars for a small cup of Espresso Coffee and a patty with hidden beaf (which I throw away after one small bite). I need to wait for another 3 hrs till I catch my next flight to Muscat, with a 2-hr stopover at Bahrain.

Aug 25 1230 hrs EDT (Local time: 1900) Al-Muharraq, Bahrain

Before leaving frankfurt, I was able to grab a rather-hard sandwich at a restaurnat inside the terminal. The tab: Euro 4.80, but at least it was filling. The last leg of the journey was not too tiring, though, by this time, the long travel is taking a toll on me. I found a good company in an Afghan lady who was heading to Kabul. She kept up an interesting conversation on Indian movies, Shahrukh Khan and the present situation in Afghanistan. The airhostess arranged for a vegetarian meal, and for the first time in close to 36 hrs, I had a proper meal with rice and bhindi (ladyfinger/okra)subji. I slept quite sufficiently and was woken up by the airhostess asking me to straighten my seat since we were about to land. I am right now in Al-Muharraq International Airport. The airport s full of Indians and it resembles any Indian airport with ppl moving in random directions and utter chaos at certain checkpoints. The check-in has started and I will update the blog at Muscat, Oman

Aug 25 1500 hrs EDT (Local time: 23.00 hrs) Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

I slept for an nhour in the 1-1/2 hr. flight from Al-Muharraq to Seeb International Airport, Muscat. In the process, I missed my beverages and food. After getting down at Muscat, there wasn't much time. I had to rush immediately to the next gate to catch my last flight of the day (or night?). My name was already being announced on the PA system, asking me to report to Gulf Air terminal immediately. There was just enough time for me to grab a Nescafe. The guy at the counter didnt accept any credit cards, but was Ok with any currency. He repeated: any currency. The tab: $1. The airport is a lot better than the one at Bahrain. There were even announcements made in Hindi.

Aug 25 2100 hrs EDT(Local time: 0630 IST)

Gulf Traveller, a budget airline of Gulf Air is my airline for the Muscat-Chennai trip. There are mostly Indians in this flight. Its a Boeing 767 flight, half-empty. As soon the flight takes off, I ask one of the air-hostesses if dinner was being served, as I was getting really hungry at this time. I was assured food and drinks will be served soon. 'Sir, do you want Chickan or Veggi-thaarian' asked the air-hostess in Thai/Indonesian accent. I grabbed my dinner and asked for a glass of juice. Dinner had rice, bhindi-subji and South Indian-styled Barota. A tamil movie, Thambi, was being screened on-flight. The movie was genuinely below-average, and I wonder how such movies get screened on international flights. We touched Chennai airport at 5.00 am and the Captain apologised for the delay of 15 minutes. Big deal!, at least I am home.

The immigiration process takes less than 10 minutes and I walk through easily to the baggage counter. My fears of delayed baggage were set to rest, when my baggage arrived in less than 10 minutes. I was out of the aiport soon, and saw my parents waiting anxiously for me. I was given a rousing welcome at home, but that was not the case with my pony-tail. My mom is pestering me to get that silly-thing off. The pony-tail is counting its last few days, while I try to veer-off jet lag during the day.

And thus, ends my travelogue....

Happy Birthday, India

On the occasion of the 60th Independence Day of India, I have composed this short poem, which goes by the title:

I call her mine

For centuries, she has been in existence
with a chequered history, equally intense
From across Kabul the Mughals rode in,
to grab the land, everyone wanted to win.

A few generations down, before they could smell
the Union Jack had it under their spell.
With no shirt on, walked a frail man
called the 'great soul, he walked on.

Looking for riches, people crossed the seas
Many got wealthy, some just peas
I may be one from the 'wannabe' tribe
But I still love the country I call mine

To read more on Indian history, click here

Definitions:-
Mughal: Persian word for Mongol. Invaders from Central Asia, who ruled Indian sub-continent for 250 years
Great Soul: Refers to 'Mahatma' Gandhi, The Father of the Nation and apostle of peace world over.

41 hours inside Wal-Mart

Came across an interesting article on this young college student spending 2 days of his Spring break in a Wal-Mart center. It's an old article, but still a good read.
Spring break in Wal-Mart

Wooster update

Thought I would give a small update on that Wooster Trip. Last week, we had again been to Wooster, this time to get the confirmation letter for Rajesh. He got the job as a Design Engineer at TekFor Industries. This weekend, he packed all his belongings and left Columbus.

I havent been doing anything great over the last few days. Research work has been slow, with my advisor's presence being on-and-off. I wont be blogging, till I get something interesting to write or something dramatic happens in my life. RIP.

Knocked down, but not yet

Rajesh graduated last month with an MS in Industrial Engineering, and has been on a job hunt since then. Last Tuesday, he had an on-site interview with TekFor, a small forging company based in the rural hamlet of Wooster, OH. Since we all room mates were pretty much jobless, we decided to hop on the road trip.

While Rajesh was being interviewed, we tried driving around the town (the term 'town' is an exaggeration here). We found Christmas Run park to be the ideal spot to spend our afternoon. After walking around the park a litle bit, we took some time out to take a few photographs. We also climbed a small trek with a stream of water running parallel to it.

We ended up home by 6 pm. With a day spent like this, I would have had no reason to complain. However, the memories of the entire day were wiped out in a moment when I got to know about the ghastly terror strikes in Mumbai's local trains. The magnitude of the attacks has been so severe and its impact so pronounced that the news report made it to the front page on The Columbus Dispatch, a popular newspaper in Central Ohio.

Its very easy to blame the government and the Police for the intelligence failure. While talking to some of my friends, they did echo such feelings. However, it needs to be remembered that even major European cities, like Madrid and London underwent such serial blasts in their public transport systems in the recent past. Sitting here, far away in the US, I cannot blame anyone, but only feel sad. The immediate restoration of Mumbai's lifeline was a fitting response to the bombers. I salute the spirit of this vibrant city! Finally, a few lines from Chumbawumba's Tubthumping lyrics for the bombers:

Don't cry for me
Next door neighbour

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down

Happy Birthday, America!

On the eve of the Independence Day, we went to the Red, White and Boom show in Downtown, Columbus - supposed to be biggest in the US. Seemed like Diwali 4 months early :-)

Trekking ho!

A tryst with nature is up on the cards during the weekend, when a group of researchers (I am the only exclusion in a group having 4 PhD students, with the possibility of the Poet-Scientist joining us) undertake a trek to the George Washington National Forest, located on the Virginia-West Virginia border, about 6 hrs. drive from here.

Keep checking back. I would post details on the trek and some photographs in a week.

Gone with the Spring

The Spring Quarter came to an end today. However, summer has already begun, with day temperatures breaching the 30 degrees Celcius mark. I remember having promised to put up some more Spring photographs in one of my posts long back. At that time, I had hoped that I would buy a new Digital camera. However, in view of the looming expenses and the fact that I am not funded for the Summer term, I decided to forgo the luxury of high-quality digital pics and instead offer you some low-resolution pictures taken from my mobile.

So here you go:


Standing at crossroads: Which way to go?



Renaissance Festival at the South Oval. Notice the clothes worn by people in the background - reminscent of the 1400s.



Dreese Labs at twilight



Bright colors welcome pedestrians before the Oval captures the mind



Home



Storm brewing up the sky - just before thundershowers shook the city a week back

West Campus

I never realised that the most beautiful part of the campus was the part I had hardly visited - West Campus. This happened quite a few weeks back - I was planning on attending a seminar organised by the Industrial Engineering Dept. on a bright and sunny Monday evening (4 p.m). I took the campus loop and got down at the west campus bus stop, but couldnt see any building nearby. I walked on what seemed like an empty and deserted street, only to see two buildings far away. Already late for the seminar by 10 minutes, I figured out that it could take me 15 more minutes to reach the nearest of the two buildings. Not engaging in that futile exercise of trying to reach the seminar venue, I chanced upon some of the most serene and picturesque spots on campus. The following photographs were taken on the same day, except for the last one, which was taken while we were having our usual cricket practice session.

The West Campus parking lot


The sun tearing through the clouds, enabling us to have an extended practice session.

Quest for journalism ends tamely

Two weeks back, I saw an ad in The Lantern, the student newspaper on campus requiring Opinion columnists for the Summer term. Having had a penchant for writing (not necessarily a flair for it, though) and being highly opinionist, I saw this as an opportunity to express myself on the big stage. To see your articles appear in the third-largest campus newspaper in the country is a feat every budding journalist would dream of, and the feeling that my views would influence the views of the whole campus seemed so accomplishing.

The selection was based on a sample article that one had to write, choosing from the two topics, due by Friday, May 26 5 p.m.:

1. If elected Ohio's governor, who would better serve Ohio's institutions of higher education - J Kenneth Blackwell or Ted Strickland?
2. Is the proposed 6 percent increase in tuition at Ohio State justified?

Having been in this school for almost a year, I thought I could easily write on the second topic. With a heavy schedule, that turned out to be just another wish. I was racing against time, and with Srivathsan helping me with ideas and editing, I was able to send in the article a few minutes before the deadline. During the next day, I checked my email every 5 minutes to see if the Editor had replied. She finally did, with a comment that my article had 'editorial errors' and that I need to edit and resend my article. With our best efforts, we (I and Vathsa) managed to send the edited article to the Editor by Monday.

After a days' time, I saw another email from her. She had thoroughly reviewed my article and pointed out my errors. I had made a lot of assumptions, and many of the facts were not backed by any research or data. I was taken to task for being superfluous. However, she was happy with my writing skills, and left the decision to me, whether I wanted to take up the job or not.

I thought over it for 2 days, and responded to her that I was ready to take up the job and would careful in future with regard to every word that goes in my articles. Two days later, she did a sudden volte-face and politely refused the offer, she had thrown open just a couple of days back. There I was, within touching distance of a job I had never imagined I would do one day. A classic case of just about there, but not being 'there'.

I am posting the article that I sent to The Lantern. I leave you the task of figuring out the factual errors and assumptions that I made in my quest for being a journalist.

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Is the proposed 6% increase in tuition at Ohio State justified?

Let’s face it! President Holbrook has proposed a 6% increase in tuition fee at OSU; that’s almost $500 more for each student this year. Some students might be relieved to see the hike this year at 6% as opposed to the average increase of 8.5% over the last 4 years. One would ask what justifies this hike. We obviously haven’t seen smarter classrooms, better faculty or even a nominal pay hike at on-campus jobs. And all this in spite of Ohio State having a budget surplus of $50 million and $1.6 billion dollars (huh!) in endowment and Jim Tressel taking home $961 per hour (based on a $2 million annual salary working 40 hrs. a week), while students get paid $7 an hour.

But hold on! Before drawing a premature conclusion, let’s look at the national scenario. Schools across the US have increased their fee this year, and Ohio State is no exception. If Virginia Tech increased their fee by 8.3%, Illinois State University by 14%, WVU by around 7%, UT-Austin increased their non-resident fee by 8%. And, if you think our neighbors in the Midwest suck at fiscal management, then other schools in Ohio are no better, with the University of Cincinnati, University of Akron and Wright State proposing an increase of nearly 6% in their tuition fees.

With national inflation at an all time high of 4.5% and the university facing federal cuts in research expenditure at a time when cutting edge research decides the best university, it is imperative that Ohio State take every measure to ensure not only its survival but also continuation and betterment of research facilities that it is well known for. The recent ranking that put OSU as the 9^th best public research university in the country only adds substance to my point. It is true that the state of Ohio has seen mismanagement of government funds and a subsequent increase in taxes but a jobless growth in Ohio and the Midwest can only be tackled with the excellent education and research provided by schools like Ohio State, which will act as an impetus for job creation.

Being the nation’s 3^rd largest university with 58,000 students spread across various campuses, our administrative and maintenance costs are definitely higher than some of the smaller schools. Being a university that is 140 years old, renovation of old buildings and construction of new ones is inevitable. These activities require a lot of money and tuition fee is one of the primary sources the school is looking up to make up for the shortfall faced.

With the increasing recurring expenditure of the university and state funding being at a historic low, I do find reason for the hike in the tuition fee. All said and done, I feel that an increase in tuition fee every year across all schools in the US is not a healthy trend. There are more ways an institute of higher learning should learn to sustain itself instead of putting the burden on the students. An affordable higher education is the key to generating more jobs and creating a growth-led economy. It is due to the world-class universities and the top-notch education they provide that the United States is the technology leader of the world, and to maintain this supreme position, we must ensure we truly aren’t “left behind”.

Competitive Cricket

A few days ago, I read an article where someone had posted the cardinal rules of blogging. The first rule was that one should blog daily. Even if there was nothing to write, sitting in front of the computer would cause easy flow of thoughts was the arguement given The author didn't account for the time involved and obviously, didn't think about Grad students while writing this. I struggle for words in my emails to my Mom, written alternate days. Talk about daily blogging- Nice try!

This part of the world is abuzz with cricket on the shores of Atlantic, with the India-WI series keeping us all gripped. If at all there was any award for the most sporting cricket team in the world, the Boys in Blue should be the rightful and only contenders for that award. Our team loves to play competitive cricket, which means, we would do anything to make a match out of any game. At one end, if we can give a run for their money to the Australians (though not always managing to win), we also make sure that audiences get their monies worth even in matches against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and as the current tour proves, against a depleted West Indian team, who are ranked 7th in the ICC list and haven't won a major game in the last 2 years.

If the first two matches showed that both teams were nearly equal in strengths and the team holding their nerves right till the end would end up winning, the next two matches proved without doubt, that all talk about this Indian team being a serious World Cup contender was all baloney. Though there is one match left in this series, it is not wrong to conclude that West Indies has clearly been the better side, in spite of having very few world-class players. The only bright side for the Indians has been the getting back of Kaif among runs and the continued consistency of Yuvraj. The top order, for the nth time, failed to click in any of the matches, and this over-dependence on the middle order and lower-middle order does not augur well for a team that is preparing itself for World Cup due next year.

On Sale

Another episode in the Great Indian Tamasha comes to an end. Lucky, this time, it was restricted to only 5 states, but the whole nation was kept on their toes, until the electoral results were declared on May 11.

The States that went to the polls included Left strongholds Kerala and West Bengal, the unpredictable Tamil Nadu, Assam, the insignificant Pondicherry, and the farcical bye-election in Rae Bareilly. The electoral campaigning was a heated one, with national leaders travelling the length and breadth of the 5 states, in order to leave no stone unturned. Tamil Nadu was a peculiar case in itself, simply unmatched in terms of the freebies offered. If Amma offered free cycles to students and cheaper rice, 82-years old Kalaignar offered everything from rice, gas stove and color TVs to free power and land. While this mega sale was going on Tamil Nadu, the neighboring state of Kerala presented a picture sharply in contrast. There were virtually nothing on sale, and it was an even battle, given that the state has one of the most informed electorate in the country. Given its history of shifting mandates everytime, the Left was confident it will make it this time. Karunakaran's break-up from Congress and his last-minute patch was not seen as a confident sign for the Congress. Another loss-in-face was awaiting Congress in West Bengal, where it once again failed to make its presence felt.

The results are not difficult to analyse. Sheer populism brought DMK to power in Tamil Nadu, though I wonder how they are going to manage all the money for the ambitious promises made to the electorate. When the IT Minster Dayanidhi Maran was asked how they are going to manage this, he confidently replied "Oh that is very easy!". Pondicherry was also swept by the Congress-DMK wave, and returned the Rangaswamy government for another term of 5 years. West Bengal saw no change even this time, with the Left romping home with a thumping majority. Mamta Banerjee was once again made to bite the dust at the hustings. The wily Buddhadeb declared his victory as the peoples mandate to continue the good work the Left has been doing for the past 27 years. Winds of change never seem to blow over West Bengal!

Left repeated its success story in Kerala, wresting power from Congress, after a 5-year stint in the opposition. The conservative 82-year old V S Achuthananthan is expected to take on the Chief Ministership, though the final decision is yet to be announced by the "high command". Assam threw up a hung assembly, though the Congress is likely to form the government, being the single largest party in the new assembly.

Meanwhile, Sonia Gandhi romped home with a thumping victory at Rae Bareilly with a margin of 4.8 lakhs over her nearest rival. Inspite of the low voter turnout, Sonia secured nearly 80% of the votes polled. Though there were demands by the Sonia-loyalists to take on the Prime Ministership as per the "mandate", I fail to see the point in getting elected, barely weeks after resigning the seat. If the whole idea was to cling onto the MP seat, why resign and make yourself a martyr. Another gimmick sold well to the gullible people. Kudos to Priyanka and Rahul!

These results mean greater bargaining power for the Left, now that they have one more state, Kerala under them. Meawhile, Congress is also hailing the results as its victory, inspite of losing in Bengal and Kerala, and winning in Tamil Nadu simply due to its coalition with the DMK. BJP, expected to open its tally in Kerala, once again failed to live upto its promise. The biggest loser in this election must be BJP, for failing miserably in all the states. Though the BJP's response has been that they are not a major player in any of these states and hence, the losses cannot be taken at their face value, I feel that if a party like BJP does not have a presence in 5 states of the country, then they are not fit to be a national party. I am not aware when the next set of state elections are due, but whenever they are, I am sure, we are guranteed of another round of drama, excitement, and a sale-mela!

Free TV.....free power....free car...free housing...free everything......Free India

Test Run

Last week, I put a sitemeter on my blog. While its obvious that it keeps a count of the visitors to my blog, it also helps me know the demographics of my visitors and how they got referred to my site. This set one of my roommates, Arun off into claiming that having a name like "Columbus Dispatch" is sure to attract netizens from differerent places to my blog. (For those who are unaware, The Columbus Dispatch is a popular newspaper in Columbus and central Ohio). He labelled it as a marketing technique to sell my blog online. The deal was set. I agreed to rename my blog for a brief period of around a week and watch the site traffic. A nonsensical name was given to the blog and the site activity watched.

Believe it or not, the site traffic remained steady over the last week, disapproving Arun's theory that I was indulging in cheap gimmicks and marketing strategy. I do, in part, agree that having a name that sounds like a popular newspaper is a sure way to attract visitors to my site, but thanks to you all, my blog does attract few genuine visitors. Promptly, the name was reverted back to its usual "Columbus Dispatch", though I prefer the softer, British-sounding Despatch. I also recognised that quite a few people have put my blog as a link on their blogs. I have, in part, tried to reciprocate their gesture and also added few new links on my blog.

Btw, Arun maintains a beautiful blog, which is hyperlinked through this site (See the Links section).

Thanks for stopping by my blog,
An idle brain, it helps unclog.

When ideas run dry, and all you see is fog,
this place is always choc-a-bloc.

Riot of Colors

The whole campus is looking green and colorful. Thought of putting up some of the pictures I have taken in the last few days while walking around the campus. The quality of the pictures may be excused since they were taken from my Mobile Phone.

Outside Hitchcock Hall


Close-up of the plant seen in the background of the first picture


This colorful plant decorates the Siebert Hall


This is part of the OSU Cricket Ground


The majestic South Oval



These trees are found adjoining the Chemistry Dept.

Here comes the sun...

After months of harrowing winter, which, incidentally was a mild winter by US standards, the Spring has finally arrived. The first indication was people begining to shed their clothes. Bright sunshine, longer days, colourful trees, blooming flowers and liveliness all around just confirmed the onset of the spring season. A walk across The Oval is almost necessary everyday (Equally compelling is a game of Frisby there). The other day, walking across The Oval, I found two girls sitting in front of hundreds of paper windmills. They had erected 3500 of them in support of the over 7000 victims of child abuse cases in Ohio alone. The following picture, apart from being a photo shoot, also expresses solidarity with their cause.



Round-up of the events around the world:

Before the spring could arrive, the heat was already being turned on by the controversial, national debates, both in the US and in India. Bush tried to appease the Mexican population by introducing the Immigration Bill. The Bill sought to legalize the stay of nearly 12 million illegal Mexicans living in the US by asking them to first accept their illegal status and later imposing a token fine on them. The Bill, which generated heated debates and concerns, ultimately fell through and this was another loss of face for the already battered Bush administration.

Half-way across the globe, it was the turn of the Congress Government to propose the 49.5% Reservation Bill in India. It is election time in 5 of the key states and something of this sort was possible, though, not fully expected. Seen to be losing ground in these states, HRD Minister Arjun Singh marshalled his team and played the Mandal card, exactly 15 years after VP Singh had tried it rather unsuccessfully. Such a bill, if ever introduced, will be modern India's undoing after all the reputation it has built for itself as the technology manpower provider to the whole world. God save India!

Reaching for the skies, at Dayton!

It has been snowing for the past 2 days, but as the academic calendar wants me to believe, its the official Spring Break. Last weekend, I made a trip to Dayton, OH - about 75 minutes drive from Columbus. The city was the home of the Wright Brothers and is aptly named the "Birthplace of Aviation". Just outside the city is the The National Museum of the United States Air Force at the nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

7 people in 2 cars started the journey at 9.30 a.m on a bright, but cold Saturday morning. While there was nothing remarkable about the journey, but what followed was truly admirational. On entering the Museum, we were given the directions map and that set us on our tryst with modern history.

There were displays of various aircrafts, right from the age of Wright Brothers to the ones used in the Iraq War, neatly divided into 5 sections based on chronology. There were separate sections devoted to planes used in WWI, WWII, Cold War period and a Missile section. It was truly amazing to see the use of technology in the war planes that were used in WWII, which ensured the visotory of the Allies against the German and Japanese forces.

We took a lot of photographs, courtesy Benny, whose fingers clicked faster than your eyes could blink. While returning, we also stopped at the Buck Creek State Park near Springfield, OH and enjoyed the sunset with some shero-shayari. In all, a Saturday well spent.

The team is ready to enter the Museum. (L-R) Anisa, Neha, Benny, Arun, Me and Sagar (Sanchit behind the camera)

I survey the Museum map closely, while Arun poses for the camera


This is the famous Ford Model-T, being used as an Ambulance in World War I


The propeller of the P-26 Boeing "Pea Shooter"


The B-29 Superfortress

Welcome to Space

With Arun in front of the Boeing B-28 Bockscar, which was used to carry the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

And here comes the Bomb - Fat Man, the atomic bomb that ended World War II

This one looks straight out of Star Wars: B-2 Bomber used in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars

Everyone enjoys a light moment at the Buck Creek State Park (L-R) Sagar, Me, Arun, Anisa, Sanchit and Neha (Benny behind the camera)

Keeping you "mobile"

My room mate, "Playa " bought a digi cam a few days back and resulted in this photo. After resisting for long, I decided to buy a mobile phone, though I am not sure, why. At the very first mention, my mom rightly asked me "what for"? I couldn't decsribe. There is more to it than just being in contact. But when you are in a place, where everyone owns a mobile phone and at any given point, you can see more than 4 out of 5 people talking on their cell phones while waking, running, even jogging, even the best of the minds is made to think about this tiny little creation.

I owned a mobile phone even while in India (oh, come on! who didn't?), but it was just a basic model and did what it was meant for - sending and receiving calls and text messages. But I yearned for more. With the whole world shrinking onto your palm , there is a whole range of tasks done with your mobile phone than ever before and I wanted to be in the thick of the technology.

Alright...I am eagerly waiting for my Sony 600i camera phone with an in-built MP3 player. Now doesn't this sound cool?

Busy Quarter and world events

WOW, what a week that was! By far, this has been the longest and toughest week for me - 2 mid terms, a homework submission, a new Lab to TA and mid term grading for 2 lab sections + some additional responsibility being on the EC of AID-Columbus...huff..puff.. and at the end of it, I am forced to shout "Thank God It's Friday"...woohooo...

My update on the blog is thanks to two of my friends - Nano and Sujoy - who politely made me realize that probably they check my blog more often than even I visit it. Last few weeks have been full of activities. My new job as TA meant that I spent more time on the Lab than on my courses, and research obviously showing no signs of getting started. But I must admit that I enjoyed every day of being a TA. It helps to get to know so much people at the same time, being an instructor, and lots of thanks are due to my Lab coordinator, Kimberly, without whose support it would have been nearly impossible to pull it through the tough initial weeks.

I have had my share of fun this quarter as well. The Intra-mural sports started around mid-quarter and indoor cricket is one of the sports. There are 8 teams in the fray. We have had 2 matches so far, and we won both of them. In fact I have a match in another hour.

Lots of international events also caught my attention - the notable being the proposed Nuclear treaty signing with US and the wide spread protests in Muslim countries over the Prophet Muhammad cartoon. While I havent gathered enough detail on the N-treaty, but I have a strong feeling that India might even try to sell itself to the US, while trying to "secure" our nuclear interest. Over the 2 weeks, I have read about protests and clashes in every part of the Muslim world. Though its quite surprising that the protestors should damage properties and establishments in their own country, the more surprising aspect is the total apathy in the West over the issue, dismissing it as another incident of Muslim fundamentalism. I was having a talk with my roommate today, and he reminded me of John Lennon's statement in 1966, when he said "We're more popular than Jesus now." and that sparked off protests in the US, leading to burning of their albums and cancelling of their US tour. The cartoon controversy doesn't seem to be any different.

The parochial and insular view of the West vis-a vis the Muslim countries (yes, I am talking about Iran and Syria) and the Third World will not lead them anywhere, unless they understand that its time they learnt to live peacefully with other nations, instead of trying to pressurize and threaten them.

Back to campus after Happy Valley visit

Its been a while since I even visited my own blog! The Fall Quarter got over and it was vacation time! While I continued to work at the Chem. Lab, lot of things got sorted around that time. I chose Prof. Dan Mendelsohn as my advisor. Dan M works on Fracture Mechanics and Vibrations of Beams and crack propagation in them. And then, came the great news - I was offered a TA assignment by the ME Dept and with it came cheer and happiness. My vacation had truly started then. Within 2 days, I left for State College, PA to meet my cousin whom I had met way back in 1998 during his marriage. Remamkable things that I did during this trip:

1. Went out of Columbus for the first time after having set foot in the USA.

2. Took the Grey hound bus to reach State College, PA from Columbus, OH. That was one helluva journey and took me close to 11 hrs. I am gonna think twice before I board that next Grey Hound bus!
3. Went Bowling and won the first ever game I played. Wooohoooo!
4. Went for tubing and almost skiied, but for my cousin, who advised me against doing it without taking proper lessons.
5. Was my first visit to an Indian temple in the US - The Sri Venkateswara temple at Pittsburgh.
6. Had lunch at an American family's house for the first time: At my cousin's colleague Prof. Robert Newnham's house. For the uninitiated, Prof. Newnham was behind making the UltraSound scan, as we know it today.

7. Read two more of R K Narayan's books, thus inching closer to my aim of reading his entire collection.
8. Watched a movie almost every night, thus making sure that I watched more movies in the last 10 days than I have done in the last 1 1/2 years.

There ended the Dream vacation.....thuddddd! I am now back to reality. The Winter Quarter has started, but the vacation hangover made me watch all the 4 Bowl Games with all enthu and passion. The Buckeyes deserved to win the Fiesta Bowl, but the best game was the Rose Bowl game between the Longhorns and the Trojans.

Begining next week I will have to sweat it out in my new job as TA for the ME 570 Measurements Lab. My next blog will be on that! Till then, I have lot of cleaning to do at home before I begin the next week.....