Reflections from the Boston conference

(L: Kendall/MIT Station on the Red Line and R: Kendall Square as seen from the Marriott Hotel, the venue of the conference)

I got back from Boston 2 days ago where I attended the Water Environment Federation's Urban River Restoration Conference, and wanted to write this down before my memories fade away. I will write a few things about Boston in my next blog entry, hopefully with some pictures, but for now, some observations and incidents from the conference:

1. Elected officials can be sensible: The plenary session at the conference was followed by a panel discussion involving the co-chairs of the conference and some invited guests. Prominent among them was Ms. Henrietta Davis, Vice-Mayor of Cambridge, MA - a city in the Greater Boston area that borders Boston along the Charles River. I found her quite knowledgeable in the area of city planning and waterfront development, topics that were the theme of the conference. The interesting thing is that she is not appointed by someone to this post, based on any expertise in this area. Instead, she is an elected official who has to give campaign speeches and participate in public forums/debates to retain her job. The fact that her constituency includes two of the finest internationally-recognized institutions - Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is only a small consolation. The city is economically and racially diverse, just like any metro city (if you think getting elected to the city council is easy, think Harvey Milk). I found her making sensible arguments and providing cogent responses, and not giving cliched talking points and campaign statements. She seemed to have traveled to other cities and attended other conferences in the 'Green Development' area. If she stands for re-election anytime, consider this an endorsement from me.

2. Not Indian anymore: I met a professor from Canada, who teaches at Queen's University and works on onsite wastewater treatment, the same topic that I work on broadly. We got talking about our mutual works, and I explained to him the state of onsite systems in Ohio and my proposed project, where I happened to mention the term 'health impacts', as it connected to my study. He then replied, "....and you know, healthcare is a big issue in *your* country." Hmmm... so he meant the U.S. by 'your' country. Interesting..!

3. You don't have a card?: I also met the North American director of the International Water Association and got into a conversation. She said her office likes to maintain contacts with universities and wanted to have my card. I replied that I am a student, assuming that she will understand what I meant (that I didn't have a card). Just when she was handing me her card, she noticed that I was not making any effort to take out a card (that didn't exist) and remarked, "..so you really don't have a card". I was definitely surprised, since I didn't expect that people would expect a visiting card from me, in spite of being a student. So, a lesson for those going to conferences - create your visiting card (hand-made/printed/whatever), so you can give your contact information to those who may want to contact you (in case they really want to!).

Consumer Surplus

More than 3 months ago, I had posted about the quirky way in which my paper got accepted at a conference. Click here to revisit history. At that time, it wasn't decided if I would go and present at the conference.

It's now decided and sealed. I am going to Boston in March to present at the Urban River Restoration Conference. I talked to my project guide in December, and he indicated that there were $500 left in the project account and I could use that amount to fund my travel. In effect, there was a willingness to pay upto $500 for the travel expense.

That's when I discovered Bing Travel. You may hate Microsoft for whatever reasons, but you've got to love Bing Travel. It is the only website to offer predictions on the best time to purchase tickets. Based on historical records, it gives you a simple indicator of whether fares will go up or down in the next few days and what is your best course of action (buy tickets now/wait). I tried it, waited for more than a week, but got what I wanted - cheap fares to Boston.

I bought my tickets today for $283. Assuming that I spend $50 for checking in a bag, I still spend $333 for travel from the project account. This means that Consumer Surplus for the project account is $500 - $333 = $167. This surplus can now be used for some other project-related expense in the future. Consumer surplus is an important concept in economics and I will let you read more about it on Wikipedia.

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.

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....

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.

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)