A really beautiful song... a theme for my dream!

I was downloading some songs online to burn them onto a CD and listen in my car... :) lol... Anyway, I came across this song and loved it immediately... So, I went and looked for the video and here it is... I guess the song "Pal Pal.." from "Lage raho Munnabhai" has the same tune... but this song really rocks! so beauuuuutifullll.... "A Theme for my Dream"... so romantic...



Look at the lyrics!!!

You are my theme for a dream
Yes you are, a rare and lovely theme (youre a theme for a dream)
The dreams I dream day and night
That your arms are holding me so tight (youre a theme for a dream)

When I dream I kiss you (kiss you)
Music fills with starlight (starlight)
Every time I touch you ( when I touch you)
Each and every time a chime rings out I love you
Only you for ever more

cause youre my theme for a dream
Yes you are a rare and lovely theme (youre my theme for a dream)
So, angel please say that you love me too
And make my dreams come true dream (youre my theme for a dream)

When I dream I kiss you (kiss you)
Music fills with starlight (starlight)
Every time I touch you ( when I touch you)
Each and every time a chime rings out I love you
Only you for ever more

cause youre my theme for a dream
Yes you are a rare and lovely theme (youre my theme for a dream)
So, angel please say that you love me too
And make my dreams come true dream

And make my dreams come true
Please make my dreams come true.

Some random test I took online! Am I totally jobless.... not! I am bored actually! ;)

Your Love Life Secrets Are

Looking back on your life, you will have a few true loves. Although you may have been hurt before, you tend to bring very little scars into new relationships. It's important to you that your lover is very attractive. You like to have someone to show off. In fights, you love to debate and defend yourself. You logic prevails - or at least you'd like to think so. A break-up usually comes as a shock to you. You always think things are going well.

Your Love Life Secrets, Revealed

You Are From Neptune

You are dreamy and mystical, with a natural psychic ability. You love music, poetry, dance, and (most of all) the open sea. Your soul is filled with possibilities, and your heart overflows with compassion. You can be in a room full of friendly people and feel all alone. If you don't get carried away with one idea, your spiritual nature will see you through anything.

What Planet Are You From?

The Devil's Advocate

I saw this movie "The Devil's Advocate" last weekend. It was a long movie, but it was good. The movie was interesting and gave a lot of food for thought. Of course, the lead pair of Keanu and Charlize was awesome... ;) Al Pacino was his usual cool self. Anyway, the movie made me think about the "Devil" or "Satan" in each of us... And the dialogue that I recall from the movie the most is: "Behold I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves..."

Vanity, my favorite sin.... the devil proclaims! Interesting, since every one of us is vain to an extent... everyone of us thinks of self before others I guess... of course, you cannot avoid it. But I have been trying to practise one thing when I deal with others - I think of what I would have done in their situation and if what they are doing is really so unreasonable and stuff like that... It is tough, but helps in some situations. I also feel that we should be good to others and only then can we expect the same from them. And always I try to help someone if I am able to do it... but I think I used to have more opportunities t help people when I was back home... don't know why... maybe I changed... or there is a lack of opportunity... don't know! Even with all this, I have my own vices... as everyone has!

I think this blog is so full of unrelated and random thoughts... some time for introspection I guess...

I wonder... what if...

Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision in life... you know I have always wondered what is the right thing that decides a person's choice of his career! Is it the choice of your parents, your own interest/passion, your aptitude, your circumstances, practical issues, absence/presence of good opportunities, or is it just destiny... or a combination of all these? Hmmm..... I have pondered over this quite a lot...

Well, I do not know about others, but I guess there were a variety of reasons for me to take up the career I have chosen! Back home in India, the usual career path for anyone is either to become "an engineer" or "a doctor". My parents have never forced their decisions on me, though they have always been full of "suggestions". I am sure they wanted me to be either of these, but they would never have forced me to take up one of them, in case I really did not want to do that! I, being an "ideal" son you may say ;) took up one of them, of course!

Ever since I was a kid, I always dreamed of being a doctor. I imagined that I would some day be able to save someone's life; someone would think of me in respect... well, basically I always thought I would be a doctor; in fact, I had even gone to the extent of "choosing" my "specialisation" as cardiology or gynecology..... :) So my passion had always been to become a "medical doctor" (you see, I could still do my PhD and become a so called "doctor"! hahaha... I do not think I will be doing that now anyway)

As far as my aptitude goes, I guess I was quite a decent student in school. My family placed a lot of importance on education and I was interested in it as well... My favorite subjects as I grew up were Mathematics, Chemistry and Zoology (I guess medicine would be a better term)... a strange combination - don't you think? Most of my friends who took up medicine hated mathematics or they found it difficult. And most of my fellow engineers hated anything to do with biology! I was interested in both... I had a decent ability to solve problems in geometry/trigonometry/calculus and loved zoology though I was not that good at drawing the figures... I guess most of the doctors do not have a good handwriting or drawing abilities anyway ;) or is it just that they want to write illegibly? I do not know!

Circumstances/practical issues? Well... I guess I was thinking about my long term plans when I had to make a decision regarding my career. Till my tenth grade, I always dreamed of being a doctor... it was then that I realised that if I was to be a doctor, it would take me 5.5 years to complete the Bachelor's degree, followed by maybe 2-3 years of Master's and maybe more specialisation to follow. Also, I heard from people that just academic merit would not ensure a seat in the Master's program. Settling down as a doctor in India is much harder as compared to being a doctor in the US. If I were to be an engineer, I could finish my bachelor's in 4 years, Master's within 2 years in the US and have a decent job back home in India. These were the issues I had to think about! We were financially stable but I do not think we were so well off that I could just not worry about stuff... I know my parents would have loved me to take up medicine if I was interested in that! So, it was just left to me to decide!

The other factor I talked about is the presence/absence of opportunities. Well, I almost decided that I would be a software engineer by the time I was in my eleventh grade. But I never neglected biology - I don't know why but I just could not bring myself not to study biology! Maybe I had to prove to myself, or others, I do not know, that I had a choice of taking up the career of my choice. After my twelfth grade, I had a good score in both the engineering as well as the medical streams - the final moment of decision came! And I chose as I had decided - A Software Engineer in a good engineering college!

Well, I think it was a combination of all the different factors, and of course the most important factor - "DESTINY" that I ended up being a software engineer. Not that I do not love my profession, I like it and enjoy what I do, but I will always be in awe of a doctor... I always have these thoughts when I am alone and relaxing, when I do not have anything else to think I guess ;) ... "what if I had been a surgeon... what if... "

But the optimist that I am, I always believe that whatever has happened has happened for the best! And I am happy with what I am now... :) Yet, I wonder... what if.....

Relax.... and be contented!

Just got a mail from a friend, with a link to another blog... a really nice one I felt! The blog talks
about a song with some great lyrics.. about the importance of some stuff in life and the like.

"Baz Luhrmann:Everybody's Free (To Wear SUNSCREEN)"

is the song I think. Gotta listen to that song today!

It's so true that we get to know the value of a thing only when we lose it.... and even though we know it, we rarely realise it and make up for it... the human nature is that way I guess... and it's also absolutely true that you need to enjoy the small things in life, you need to take time to enjoy the beauty of nature - to hear the chirping of the birds, to watch a beautiful sunset, to smell the fresh earth when it has just begun to rain, to feel the drops of dew on grass early in the morning, to taste the first drops of rain... I do know that these are the small things that make you happy, in the monotonic melancholy of life. But I do not know if I really do that - of course, I try to do it when I get a chance... but it's been a long time since I got one... I did get to watch the sunset at the beach - that really made my day (though it was the end of the day ;))

It is such a great feeling to just relax in the sun with no worries, no thoughts - just enjoy the moment alone, or with a good friend! I think you need to do that periodically to get some sense of hope and "life" into your life! I do not know when I will get a chance to do that... hope it will be sometime soon... hope... "HOPE" is the only constant thing in life I guess... I, being such an eternal optimist (I tell my friend that I am enough "positive" for the both of us, and he is enough "negative" for the two of us...!), I do not know what will happen the day I give up hope... "Hope" that I never give up "HOPE"!

Life goes on....

Work seems to be going on fine; actually I'm getting to enjoy work more these days. I guess that's because I have lots to do now and I see people having an interest in what I am doing. I think people's interest in your work, concern for you and the general environment is a great motivating factor. And I think that's what keeps me going - of course, other than that life is so mechanical.

Meeting someone in an unconventional way and getting to be friends is really cool I think. Like meeting someone in the bus or a library or on the internet and talking, exchanging snippets and feelings about stuff - it all seems so different and relieving to talk to someone you don't even know, and you don't even care! Getting to be friends and making new friends is always an interesting thing.

Yesterday, I'd been out to the beach with friend. It was really cool. It was the first time I went to a beach. It seems to be so serene and peaceful, just the sound of the waves and the squawking of the sea gulls. The sunset was awesome. I promised myself to get some snaps of the beautiful sunset some time.

Romantic Comedies

You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, Notting Hill, Nine Months... well, the list goes on... I love this genre of movies. Being an avid movie buff, I watch almost all kinds of movies. My choices are romantic comedies, magic/fiction, science/fiction, action and horror in that order. I really hate the tragic movies - my personal opinion is that after watching a movie, you should feel refreshed, happy and light at heart! And that's exactly what a romantic comedy does for me.

I watched "You've Got Mail" on DVD yesterday! A great movie - moves really well... emotions shown so well... and Meg Ryan, of course. She's not all that cure and pretty, but she is attractive. I feel there is a slight difference between "being attractive" and "being pretty". A person who is really beautiful may not be attractive, and vice versa. The classical example of being attractive, but not all that pretty is my favorite heroine - Kajol!

Anyway, back to the topic of romantic comedies, the one thing about these movies is that they all have a happy ending! I believe that whatever happens in life, happens for the best.
Of course, it may not be the thing you want to happen right now, but I guess, in the long run, it is the best thing to happen for you. Romantic movies are usually centered around this idea. And I believe that "being happy" is the most important thing in life. So, if watching a movie makes you happy - go ahead, get yourself involved, identify yourself with the characters and be HAPPY! And that's why I love romantic comedies - they are the "feel good" type of movies... which make us forget our depressions and sadnesses in life at least for a brief period. And they make me love life more! I repeatedly realise that life is short and I have to enjoy it, let my loved ones know that I care and such things... Anyway, I guess I'm waiting to watch my next DVD - "Sleepless in Seattle"... I am a hopeless romantic I guess... :)

A long long time... updates!

I know it has been a long time since I blogged. I will surelay make it a point to blog at least once a week from now on! Well, a lot of stuff has happened over the past few weeks... The "freaking-out" days are over. Let me start over from the beginning of August. After the 2-day trip to the Yellowstone National Park with my uncle and aunt, I had my graduation ceremony on the 5th. Sumeet, my aunt and uncle, my bro Abhi, friends.... it was fun! The sad part was that I had to leave Dallas... Dallas has been really great for the two years I have lived there! Great place, great friends, everything within 15-30 minutes... it was real fun!

Everything has to change... as I've heard so many times, change is the only constant thing in life. I started my visits to Austin and LA before the trip to my final destination - "San Diego". Austin was cool - had fun with Abhi and Sumeet there, watched some movies, practised driving, did a bit of shopping for Abhi... That weekend I left to LA - my cousin's birthday there... that was good. The party was great - lots of people... and lots of fun. In LA, I just spent time reading some stuff online or chatting with my friends or just lazing around in the house...

And finally, moved to my new house in San Diego on 27th after a brief house hunting trip earlier that week. The trip was cool - I used the Amtrak train service - the view of the ocean on one side of the track was awesome... San Diego is really a great place to live in (of course, I still love Dallas), the place is expensive, but still it is worth it I guess... I started my work on Monday - work seems to be interesting too... hopefully, it remains so for a long time! In the last weekend (long one), I missed out on a trip to San Francisco with my friends... but did a fair bit of shopping for the house with my roomie... the house is almost completely furnished now; just got to arrange some stuff and everything should be almost done by this weekend!

I will sign off now and will write here soon! ' got some work to do you know! ;)

Freaking out!

I think I've been just putting off writing the blog! Here goes a long one!

It's been great fun for the last month! Other than working on my thesis, and of course, some TA work, I am just having fun. My friend Sumeet had come over for the long weekend at the end of May. We went out and watched a couple of movies...

"Fanaa" was a decent movie; the highlight of the movie was, of course, Kajol - no words to describe her in the movie... totally f***ing awesome! We watched a second movie at home - "Just like Heaven" - this one was just okay I guess. It was a story of a doctor's spirit who still thinks she is alive and haunts her house, where a new guy stays, the guy helps her find out that she is in coma - and finally they end up together! A feel good type of movie and you know I love them! Other than that, we went around the university, ate out and basically spent most of ur time talking and having fun!

Can you believe it - we also went to watch another movie - "She's the man" - a modern adaptation of the Shakespeare comedy - "The twelfth night" - it was good too. A "feel good" movie again - the story of twins - where the female dresses up as her brother and falls in love with his new roommate at school... and a comedy of errors ensues. A good comedy to watch!



The next week, we had a spate of treats - people treating for their jobs and stuff... had good food outside and enjoyed it. My treat was at "India Palace" - around 20 of us had gone for dinner and food was good; anyway, it was the bill that shocked me - can you imagine? it was $500! We can f***ing feed a hundred people back home with such money! Anyway, since we had fun, it was okay I guess!



That weekend, I think we'd been to "Arrowhead State Park" in Oklahoma... We did trekking and stuff there... was just okay!

At the Arrowhead State Park

The week after that, I'd been to watch Fanaa again - although the movie wasn't so good that I could sit through the movie twice, Kajol was the only reason I went for it.



I also watched "Da Vinci Code" - one of the few movies where most of the facts in the book have been maintained and shown as well... a good movie to watch! The book was great, the movie was fine... Tom Hanks has acted just fine I guess, but Audrey was superb. I can say the movie did justice to the book as much as possible.



We had been out on a short trip to "Six Flags" during that weekend - "SiX Flags" is an amusement park here in Dallas... we had great fun there, going on rides - scary ones but exciting! Six of us had gone, and we enjoyed every moment of it, were totally exhausted by the end of the day! One more ride and I'd have puked out everything in my stomach!

At 6 Flags

Finally, last weekend was the greatest - we had been to Austin and San Antonio. We had been to my uncle's place there in Austin. ' caught up with Sumeet, went around his university! I love spending time with him... one of my closest friends, you see! We went to the State Capital and Lake Travis on the first day. On the second day, we went to the Sea World at San Antonio... had lots of fun there! That's one place you should never miss to see I feel! The Shamu show and some other shows involving dolphins, sea lions were fun! The water rides were good too.

The State Capital at Austin

With Sumeet at Sea World

With my aunt and uncle at Sea World

Basically, I have been freaking out for the entire month! Hopefully, I will get all my work done for my thesis during this week! That out of the way, I will be completely free, and I can enjoy life the way I want to!

In the midst of all this, I do have these depressing thoughts about what I am doing, what do I want in life and the like! God help me with this!

The Tristan Betrayal

Robert Ludlum has always been one of those authors, whose books you cannot simply put down, once you have started reading one. I started reading the book "The Tristan Betrayal" yesterday night, and could not do anything else until I was done with the book. This is the effect some books have on me - so I really try to avoid reading novels... and I miserably fail at the attempt ;)

The story walks us through the extra-ordinary life of Stephen Matcalfe; the plots and subplots, the love and betrayal, history and international agencies - all woven into an intricate novel. Stephen's love for Lana, his betrayal to her, her knowledge of his betrayal, the depths to which he goes to save his love and redeem himself of the guilt, Lana's understanding of love and her sacrifice for saving the world and the final realisation of the true meaning of Lana's gift to him by Stephen - have all been really well written.

Of course, the actual plot of how history has been changed by the handiwork of a few brave and great individuals, the exact description of the Gestapo and the Russian intelligence - pull you into the novel deeper and deeper. At one point, you will be identifying yourself with Stephen, anticipating what will happen next...

The way the story ends is really astounding - it really came out of the blue for me; I was still thinking how will Stephen ever be able to avert the danger of a possible nuclear war... and I had already reached the last few pages of the novel. Well, the end really was good - I won't give it away here! The words "understand the special gift - the gift of love" mean a lot... and we all ought to do that...

Attended the graduation ceremony

Last weekend was fun... attended the graduation party - the first one I attended. The one in my undergrad was just a party - no ceremony and stuff...

After being lazy and thinking whether to go or not, we finally decided to go and attend the ceremony before our own official ceremony on Aug 5. We saw some of the speeches online and then went to the Activity center... it was almost full - we were surprised to see that so many people graduating in Summer. Anyway, the ceremony was great - really felt good about it. Especially when the doctoral students were awarded their degree by their professors - I can imagine the feeling - it will be one of the best in the world I guess!

Now waiting for mine :)

Done with exams!

It feels great to have completed all the exams... this week I am done with all the exams I will have to write for my Master's... Unofficially, I'm done with MS. Of course, I have my thesis to defend and I have to work on that - but I hope that should be okay! I have taken a short break now... just completed the grading of some reports - TA work!

Other than that, things are going pretty well. Yesterday, we went out and saw the movie - Basic Instinct II! Well, the plot line was good. Sharon Stone looks old; nothing like the first part. Anyway, it was a nice break to go out and watch a movie.

And finally, I have landed a job, in fact, 2 of them! It was really a tough decision to choose from the two. Finally, I went with my instinct and chose the one which I felt had better overall advantage. It was tough to reject the other job, but you have to do what you have to...

Now that I am almost settled, I want to have some fun... go out and see some places and stuff... let's see how this goes!

http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/challenge/index.htm

Well, I was just "browsing net" - the usual way to pass time, even when you are really busy; and I came across this site which has a quiz on all things about Harry Potter:
http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/challenge/index.htm
I, being a Harry Potter fan, just wanted to try out and test my knowledge.

Well, in the first few tries, I could hardly answer 4 to 5 questions, without going wrong thrice! What else would happen - imagine being asked "What time did Sirius ask Harry to meet him ...?" And the answers are :

• One thirty Saturday afternoon
• Two Saturday afternoon
• Two Sunday afternoon
• Six Sunday Afternoon

Well, you would hardly remember such details when you read a book... anyway, I got to know the answer after getting some of them wrong... And the maximum I could go upto was 11 questions! I was so happy, I decided to" challenge a friend" - an option that allows you to brag about your score to a friend, giving his e-mail ID.



I did that and the next day, in my mail box - I see that my fellow HP fan, Gururaj has beaten me by almost double my score! He scored a clean 25... I am thinking that either he had the HP books to refer and answer the questions (imagine how jobless anyone should be to do this!), or he should have made many many attempts to get to know some answers and he was damn lucky as well! Anyway, I will try to match him... maybe some day soon!

Out of depression... and life goes on

It has been quite a few days since I got out of the "depression phase". It got a good friend of mine to talk to me and get me out of it; and of course, my mom's pep talk always does the job! Anyway, I had to get out of it, I dunno how long I could live that way ;)

Anyway, now things are going on... classes, thesis and job hunting! Job hunting is such a boring task! Apply for a job; wait for an interview call; study for the phone interview; take it up; attend the on site interview if you get through and finally wait for the result. Well, I have just started applying and already this is my state! I guess I am not... Let's see what life has in store for me!

And also, I have come to one conclusion; a lot depends on your luck... everywhere in life! And the good will you earn also helps! Of course, how good you are also matters, but luck has a major role. Hoping 4 the best!

In bouts of depression

I don't know why, but these past few days I have been deep in depression! Life looks so depressing, so boring! Just the usual work to do, and nothing good happening. Actually, I tried to get out of it and went out last weekend to "StockYards", near Fort Worth. It was a good place; a much needed break for me - but when I came back, I fell back into the same abyss of depression. Got to get out of this mood soon!

Watched Rang De Basanti

"Rang De Basanti" (RDB) - I had some expectations from this movie ebfore I went to watch it! And I can only say that the movie was far beyond my expectations (actually, I can say that my expectations were quite low, thanks to the movie "Mangal Pandey")

The movie has good songs - actually, the good part is that you do not even realise that the movie has so many songs - the songs blend in well with the movie! The cinematography and editing is fantastic. The first half of the movie jus ttakes you along,the second half delivers a message! And, you get to watch another movie with the original one - "Bhagat Singh"!!! RDB has the story of Bhagat Singh completely told out... and it doesn't feel odd...

Coming to the acting skills in the movie, the chemistry among the actors is great. Each of the actors has acted his/her role to perfection. Comic timing is too good. Could you even think of a song coming out when the heroes in the movie are being killed??? And the song isn't a sad one - "Rubarooo..." is a happy song, with good beats... almost everything about the movie is different. Although I do not like movies that do not have a happy ending, I liked this movie! It is one of the few recent movies I have liked!

I saw "Zinda", the previous week - it is so gross and sick... I really hated that one! I'm waiting to watch a "feel good" movie... something like DDLJ, KKHH or K3G! Some things with people never change I guess - though I like "different" kinds of movies like RDB, Black..., I still would like to watch the "Feel Good" genre of movies! I am such a person!

Back from India, and finally back to blogging!

It's been a real long time since I last blogged - busy with exams, then the trip to India; finally, back from home, and filled with an immense feeling of nostalgia. It does take a lot of time to get out of that feeling!

Anyway, the trip to India was awesome - had great fun there! Been out almost every weekend with friends... Had been to Garuda mall, Forum, Wonderla (this was fun), Amoeba... Every weekend we were out and having fun! Met most of my friends!



Visited almost all of my family - time with my cousins was fun! Here are my favorite cousins, Vibha and Varsha!





I love sitting in front of my computer in my room! I really miss that!



I miss my family, especially my mother and my little bro!



It was quite tough to leave everything and come back here! Life is back to the same routine: lot of work to do - two tough courses, work on my thesis, TA work, applying for jobs... lots to do! Got to start off anew!!!