I went to NY...

Its just like yu see in the movies...ek dum same.. but the thing is when yu are there for real... and for the first time yu realize how tall skyscrapers really are, how the definition of a "crowd" is relative and that "life in the fast lane" is not just an eagles song...
I slept at 3 the night before the trip and there wee still doubts how many would turn up but our event organiser was pretty enthusiastic.So finally 8 guys showed up and 1 went back at the last min citing tiredness from getting ragged too much the previous night!!!k. since i don have too much time i am gonna write in points...
1)The girls are all very pretty..
2)we took the NJ transit train to Ny and then got ourselves a all day subway card, that meant unlimited rides for 7$.
3)yu actually need to tilt yur head upwards 120 degrees to actually see the top of skyscrapers...
4)we saw the statue of liberty from afar, since we we took a free ferry ride that takes yu to a diff island and along the way yu get to see the statue..i donno it seemed small.. but hope to see it from near next time..
5)central park is a beautiful place.Its a huge park that has a zoo inside it,very green and full of ppl just lazing around.i had my first taste of a pretzel.I dont understand how they eat that thing..its VERY salty..There are ppl sitting around who will draw your protraits and caricatures for 10$..Plus there are horse rides..Huge horses..and ppl playing guitars and singing.there was this one guy who was sitting with an open guitar case,and he playing a really great tune..his own composition.He even had a CD out..I couldnt catch his name but he played real well.I guess NY is full of anonymous artists...
6)Times square is huge..That place is so busy...huge buildings,huge crowds..and lights..form the signs and billboards..huge boards..Rt nearby is Broadway,where there are all the theatres.there is also the Ripleys Believe It or Not museum and Madame Tussauds,and even a restaurant called Bubba and Gump Shrimp Company..from that film tom hanks starred in...
7)A lot of colourful ppl,gr8 sites,its worth a visit...definitely..just bring some money to enter the exhibits, yu cant enter anywhere with a students budget...there was an offer for a bus ride through the city for 35$..but we decided otherwise.. I can certainly see in my mind how it must be living in such a city..it makes you part of a diff culture..i guess it defines cosmopolitan...
8)Almost everyone you stop for directions is "new to the place myself"..."no speaka english..".."habla espanol??"...."hum bhi naye hai,yaara"...and "incomprehensible chinese"..that says someting of the city doesnt it??..well anyway abt the part i visited..
9)Did i mention the girls are pretty...??..very pretty

PS:I have been thrice to NY now...I saw RENT on broadway...ok..., and I roamed around Times Square.. I would like to live in this place for sometime..its expensive but it would be a great experience..The city is divided into 4 parts:Manhattan,Queens,Brooklyn and Bronx...and i would like to get a taste of all...

My temp Acco rocks...

I have been put up at 68 A,cedar lane.I am staying now with a group of 5 guys whos are from south india.3 from tamil nadu ,1 mallu and 1 from Andhra.Theres vathsa the cool guy,Shyam the chatter, Venkat the lol guy,Shiva,the compulsive movie watcher and Raghuveer,the resident comedian.Theres a big guy called B who keeps dropping in. . This is place is real fun.Its almost like a sitcom ,every other minute a guy makes a grand entrance into the apartment, and everyone’s a comedian.So many things are happening at the same time in their lives.The conversation is never dry.though they speak in tamil I can follow a lot.Even my fellow temps are gr8 guys.Teja,the lover boy and Mahesh,aka prince.It is indeed a pleasure nay an honour to be allowed into their homes and have a peek into their lives.Its humbling how well they treat you."Family ke members!!" is what venkat announces when he comes home every night.They sit around having the most animated conversatioons, while one guy cooks the food.Later I came to know that theres another guy hari, who is actually the RIGSA vice president and that Vathsa is actually from Syracuse here for internship.Hari is someone you look at once and realize that he's the studious type,but hes cool.And he is very active with the RIGSA stuff...
its all good.. this RIGSA deal...they pick you up from the airport, put you up in their homes,take you out walks to dunkin donuts, i doubt any other university has such a good system in place.I really enjoyed those midnight walks, we have to take a detour through johnson park,so as to avoid the cars that come through a tunnel, and rt when we reach under the bridge, everyone starts shouting,because it echos.
Man, I am going to miss these guys when I finally get my own apartment.

In transition...like peregrina..

Hey ppl.i certainly like to post more but since i am just starting grad college and adjusting to life here in NJ, i just get tired at times.i was hoping to write 3 posts today, lets see.so apologies to my loyal readers thats Rajesh,Rochyne and Gaurav.And the stray advertiser who walks by.Stay good guys.

PS:the pic is of the Brussels Airport.

Sweet Life in Windy NJ

I am here in NJ.I am staying with seniors for the time being.The place is called cedar lane and is more or less filled with indians.NJ itself has an excellent desi population.You step out into the city and you always spot ppl who look definitely indian.Almost everyone here is in ECE.Civil,machanical and metematical finance are definitely a rarity.Almost everyone has booked apartments here in cedar lane and will be moving in september.the apartments come with fridge,heating,dishwasher,hot/cold water and a balcony.You should see the place it looks like a hotel or something.the whole city seems to be landscaped.There are trees everywhere and a humongous park/reserve next door to cedar lane.you often spot deer and dozens of geese/swans are frolic in the football ground.
Life certainly is different here.So many things are differnet.You see a car turn and almost expect it to turn into a different lane, but it doesnt coz of the right sided traffic.You cannot just cross the road.that called jaywalking and is an offence and can be fined 100$.You have to go to the traffic signal and press a button and wait for it to change before crossing.In other places cross only at the zebra crossings.The drivers here are very afraid of accidents and will stop like 100 m away when they see that you want to cross.The people here are very polite too and ready to help.i am still to see the rowdy,swearing americans who you see on TV.There are such a lot of different cars here that you couldnt possibly recognise the models.You have to read at the back.There are even car companies you havent heard of, or at least i hadn't.The use of toilet paper is certainly an uncomfortable change and the water seal here is also very high.I used to wonder how they would dunk a guys head inside a toilet in hollywood movies and they would come out wet to the neck.The climate in NJ is very cold. i was told to expect slight rains.there was that and lots more.The whole sky was covered with dark clouds for a week.It was the the same from morn to evening so yu couldnt tell what time of the day it was by just loking at the sky.Friday was the first day i saw the wsky after coming here.
th evegetation and animals here are really different.The trees are coniferous type.And there huge ferns everywhere.The squirrels are called chipmunks coz they are not squirells.they are larger and less afraid and have a grey body.the campus has beautiful buldings and lawns.we have free bus service in low ride buses.There are three main campuses-Busch,Livingston,and cook/Douglous.We have classes at Busch only.There is also the place called College Avenue which houses all the administration buildings.The place actually looks like a village with houses housing(?) various offices.Its like the Rutgers ppl came and drove out the village folk, like the Others drove out the Dharma initiative in LOST.
these are like all the differences i could observe.there were man y thing s i was silently jotting down in my mind but now i cant pull them up.so i am gonna end my post here.

PS:you can drink water directly from the tap coz its treated.And that pic up there is my future apmnt.the one on the top left.

The day of two mornings....

I have finally reached New Jersey.I am sitting alone in a vacant new jersey apartment with drizzle peltering the window and the constant hum of the AC in the back ground.It paints a solitary picture but as i write this I am brimming with the excitement of a person who has reached a truly pivotal point on his life.But before that some details from th journey.

1)I didnt sleep much in the 22 hour trip just around 2 hours.I am not feeling sleepy, hope i have conquered Jetlag.
2)There were loads of movies ob a personal Tv screen available to you.i saw The Naesake,TMNT,Eklavya and parts of blades of glory and Wild Hogs
3)Since there were free drinks on the flight the guy siting nest to me drank 4 glases of smirnoff with coke.he puked into his blanket in the middle of the night while i was busy with TMNT.
4)Food was good,but from Mumbai to brussells I had to sit alone, there were 8 of us going to Rutgers.I was at 52C others near 39-38.
5)Brussell was beautiful.Smal cottages, with lots of trees a diff shade of green.And probably the cleanest airport ever.It was so huge and nce looking though a bit empty.
6)I did start getting some feelings of regrets when the plane was aqbout to land.Surprisingly i was Stolid all the way from Delhi.

The US of A is absolutely amazing.You see so much of it on TV but its actually a unique feeling to see unscrupulous roads,neat streets houses and buildings and since NJ is called the gardenSate there ae landscaped green stretches everywhere.The seniors are amazing.They came to pick us up and ave given us a temp acco in their apmnt.MAde me very comfortable rt from the start.I am rt nw sitting at Kapil and Karan's Apmnt and using their lappy .They have taken the other juniors to get some shopping done.Everyone is cool about everthning, be at home and all that.Its really raining now.Thi place called Cedar lane that has all the indian students has red brick houses with slopng roofs.At first when i hrd APMNT i though it would be some huge building with rooms like in Friends.But this is very nice.Almost like proper little homes.I definitely want to get a room somewhere here.GOnna do that and some other running around tomorrow.

And since we were flying towards the west. I had one morning in Brussels and when i reached NJ 8 hours later it was 11 am.

my VISA interview

I was dreading this thing for a month now and today was D-day..
I reached there on time, got through the security and X-ray..I was told to stand in a line, which a had a young guy oif around 19 manning the counter.. i thought , this wont create any probs.. but he was jus the fingerprint-er guy.. after getting fingerprinted, i was asked to stand in line 2.. ahead of me were 2 bhutanese girls, who were also going for F1... there were 4 counters in front of us.. one american guy, one guy and girl with mongolian features and one lady with indian features.. turned out they were all americans..(accents)...The indian lady rejected a girl .. who kept saying that she didnt even check her docs...all of us in the line knew this laduy was danger.. in fact 1 girl went to back of the line when her turn came coause she would have had to face the danger lady.. there werre 4 ppl in front of me , i thought i would land in front of the danger lady.. fortunately it was the american dude..

me:good morning
VO:good morning( doesn't even look at me
VO:so what course are you going for?
me:MS in Envi Engg
VO:how many unis did you apply to
me:5
VO:which all
me: answered
VO:where all did you get admitted??
me:just rutgers. am still to receive word from umn..
VO:pardon
me:still to receive word from umn..
VO:your GRE score?
me:told
VO:your TOEFl score?
me:told
VO:what does your father do??
me:told
VO:how much do you have in liquid savings??
me:told
VO:what kinda of a job are yu expecting after your course??
me:well ENvi engg is a budding field in India.. if i get a foothold now.. then..
VO:ok, i am issuing yur VISA
me:thank you oh, i could kiss yur feet
VO:security!!!

that was that.. he didnt even look at any of the documents
i ran out of the embassy , reached home and was all happy, but in the afternoon i realized i had committed a big blunder...I had given them a photocopy of my i20 instead of the original...what do i do now??.. that is a big problem.. since it has a bar code and they check it when you reach USA...