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.

**********************************************************

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?