welcome to graduate life

"Welcome to graduate life "

Its a warm summer afternoon , flight 9w228 was about to land

i set foot on american soil..just as i had planned

the first thing i notice was the welcome board

the 5 dollar payment for the trolly got me floored

now what kind of stupid country charges 5 bucks

to just move your luggage..gosh i wondered..this sucks

on that stingy note i moved out knowing not where to go

Nostalgic thinking i was back home just not too long ago

I enter my temporary accomodation , greeted by an old friend

My first day in america was a very simple one till the end

I dont remember doing anything important or special that day

It was mixed feeling , not excited nor a feeling of dismay

the 1st few weeks here..went past in a daze

i went to nyc , pensilvania and it was the vacation phase

I met my roommates , quite a bunch i must say

one was a pshycopath , other a snob and last i thought looked a little gay :P

Ofcourse thats not what i thought about them

i am just trying to bring some fun into the poem

Although they are very different from me in so many ways

Staying with them i knew would change me in the coming days

a month later , it was time to move into my new home

it was a nice transition..like firefox to chrome

we all liked the place and like to call it our own

everything was perfect , the wood , clay and stone.

Soon things begin to break ,as the bathroom flush needed a replace

and later the curtains , the doors all began to get out of its place

whenever things go wrong ,shit happens is what id say

Ironically,we needed to dig into the flush tank to make it go away

a new place , brings new friends , some crazy some fun

like arjun , debo , aparna , sheldon etc ...the chapter has just begun

all unique in thier own right , like sheldon has set up his own groves

switch on shakira and he will show you his moves

say something remotely funny , and aparna will laugh out so loud

It will definetly make mr. siddhu proud

deboleena is one the sweetest girls i have met till now

talking of sweettalk , mr. arjun will melt yout heart and how !

flirting and charming was becoming the norm

with compliments and praises, the guys were in full form

like always , i was the odd one out..

chivalry is something i knew little about :P

we studied , we partied , we sang in the middle of the streets

singing old kishore kumar songs or buzzing to the hip hop beats

these little windows of madness..the few things keeps me going

important to recharge batteries..necessary to keep life flowing

then came the rude shock , of horrendous choices

i took up the stupidest of courses led in by the wrong voices

graduate life promised to be challenging , but this was shit tough

i thought it was overrated and decided to call the bluff

boy o boy !!, what a bad call it was..

Things were getting so hectic , i wanted to take a pause

fucked left right and ceter , i coudnt think straight

the pessimist that i am , can't even leave it to fate

assignments and work , took most of my time

parting sometimes , spending every nickel and dime

I guess i gotta stop whining and get on with my strife

a silent voice in my head says " welcome to grad life"

-

gokul menon

Mission AMreeka !!!

Well as one could have guessed , I will be flying of to New Jersy for my masters course in Computer Science.My jet airways flight is scheduled to take off from mumbai at 02:20 am on the wee hours of monday. Well as expected I am really nervous , freaked out , excited , sad as well as anxious to kick start this new phase of my life...

2 full years of probably the toughest acadamic challange awaits me beyond the gates of Rutgers , The state university of New Jersy. I have begun packing , and its really a task. Knowing what to take..what not to really begining to irritate me. Also how much each bag weighs etc is also another concern. As i sit to update this blog ..i realise I am staring at the last weekend in Mumbai for what could be 1 and half years. I know 1 and half years isnt a long time..but still beeing in the city for the last 20 years...staying away for more than a year sounds really scary. Away from family..loved ones..girlfriends..secret girlfriends..its just something easily comprehendible..let alone manageble.

In a weeks time i should have moved into my own apartment with my roommates and will be sitting inside the rutgers orientation hall..meeting my peers. Its just too sudden ..too abrupt for my liking. I have been probably preparing for this week for a long long time..but now that its staring right at me..I seem to be caught unaware of it.

so I guess il sit back..soak in the moment..enjoy my last weekend here before Rutgers ...

heres to a drunken friday (drink till you drop day as clearly marked by karan)

a glorious saturday and a final peacefull sunday

cheers

Okay I am back to bloggin !!

4 months is a long time..and yes i have come out of my exile from blogging..
not that I something specifically brought me here , just that now that I am preparing for my final exams in my Under Graduate Studies ...I have a lot of spare time :)

Well just to update my readers ( I guess the google bots and the odd guy who comes across this page currently reading this wondering if he is who i am referring to :P)

this is what has changed since january 2009...

I got admits from 3 universities for MS CS...

they are Arizona State University , University of Florida(with a 40% waiver) and Indiana University of Bloomington..I got rejects from Suny Buffalo , NCSU and TAMU and I am yet awaiting a response from Rutgers.

My final destination is going to be UFL and i am mostly planning to leave for florida on the 7th of august.

Meanwhile college came to an end (been 4 years at DJSCOE) and ofcourse along with college..the college football came to a very abysmall and sad end :(
went trophyless this season.... ( did win silver and bronze..but no gold :()

and finally... my project at IIT B came to an end..although could have complete more work..the final result was appreciated by our mentor and we are hoping to continue the work this summer.

Well thats that..hope to keep this blog updated...
cheers

OOTY 2009

well this is a summary of my trip commencing on the 7th january 2009 and concluding on the 14th.

DAY 1[Mumbai] - (drunk,caught,train)

this day we took the train from kurla terminas while completly drunk just in time. We got in and the train left , phew was close. Not much of an event ful day , as we had some tasty chicken biryani ricky's mom prepared for us. We slept like new born babies only to wake up late next morning.

DAY 2 [en route ]- ( Terror Terrance )

This is the day in the train when we met this guy nick named " Terror Terrance ". Well terrance if you are reading this , then i must tell you , it was great meeting you and hope everything works out for you. Well not too many eevnts in the day again , in the train only.

DAY 3 [Coimbotore/Ooty] - ( The bus & the Resort )

We reached coimbotore at 6 in the morning. We took a bus to ooty from the bus stand at 7:30 am. The bus fare was an unbeliveable 32 Rupees. We coudn't believe it. It might be the most satisfying bus journey ive had. We reached ooty at 11. Now comes the resort part , i was told by my cusin's mom ( my cousin who i am visiting in ooty ) that my cousin was staying in an apartment and not at his hostel. When i went to his so called apartment , i realised that my aunt was wrong , he wasn't staying in an apartment , the fricking ass was staying at a resort. The apartment was nothing short of a resort. Infact holiday inn ( a 4 start hotel/resort) was just above the place he was staying. Whole day we spent lazing around , went down for lunch , had one of the tastiest onion dosas. Night we made a small bon-fire and lazed around drinking. We rented a big room in a hotel just 5 mins walking distance from my cousin's apartment. We went to sleep at 2 in our rooms. The walk down to the room at 2 in the night was one of the most exciting ones. We saw a very very weird phenomena (i hope it was true). We saw a big concentric ring around the moon , when we looked up the sky. It was magnificent.

DAY 4 [Ooty]- (boating,pine forests}

There have been very few days in my life which was as event full as this one. 10th january 2009 will go down in my calender as one of the most amazing days of my life. memory is hazy since its been almost 5 days since that day. The only aspect i can remember is that we rented a sumo to visit the best places in ooty. We went boating at a very beautiful lake. Then moving on , we went to a very big forest. I wish i can remember all we did , as it was so much. Absolutely fantastic , i cannot describe the feeling , its simply too much to describe in plain words.
Another highlight of the day was , that liverpool drew with stoke giving manchester united the oppurtunity to gain points on liverpool when they play chelsea the next day.

DAY 5 [Ooty]- {madness,chelsea thrashed}

I forgot to mention one main part of the trip , the fricking food. If you can imagine how gods would sit on thier grand tables and eat food , well then thats what we ate. We ate like kings , infact the kind of food we were eating , i doubt even some of the past kings mite have eaten like that. I am not exxagerrating , the food was simply brilliant. Talk about meet , vegetable , fast food , junk food , juice , alcohol , milkshake , blah blah..u name it and we've had it. Thats why day 5 , our stomouchs were upset. Cannot remember most of the day , was really a crazy day , was sloshed nearly most of the day. The highlight of the day was united thrashing chelsea 3-0. It was the best icing on the already so delicious cake. Day 5 was a very tiring day.

DAY 6 [Ooty/Coimbotore] - {ghajini & empty theatre)

We bid farewell to a great trip at ooty and left for coimbotore in the afternoon. We reached coimbotore in the eveninng. Sid left for his flight at 6 while ricky went to sleep in the room we booked for nights stay at coimbotore. The rest of us went to watch ghajini at a local hindi cinema hall in coimbotore. It was a tough task finding the place , never before in a theatre have i seen so many different sections. Here in Mumbai one has balcony and stall. Out there , there is deluxe , balcony , upper stall , 1st class , 2nd class and 3rd class. We paid 60 bucks for a deluxe seat in an almost empty theatre to watch what is probably a very very poor aamir khan movie. We had a great time in the room afterwards playing cards till late in the night.

DAY 7 [en route]- (unexpected train buddy)

Only last night did we find out that karan was travelling with us in the same train to banglore. It was a big surprise. The day was quite okay , we slept in the train which left coimbotore at 8:30 am.

DAY 8 [Mumbai] - (home sweet home....NOT}

Generally after a trip , its not all that a bad feeling to go back to your own toilet , your own bed etc..but it was not the case. The trip was too short for me to miss my home. we reached mumbai at 2:45 pm.

well i guess this should serve as a good reminder of the trip.
Ps i wrote this blog so that i woudn't forget the memories ive had in this trip :)

2008 , the good the bad and the ugly !!!

2008...personally a great year , academically nothing untoward although could have fared better in 5th n 6th sems , career wise , not bad ..bagged a decent job. on the social front , didnt really upset anyone or make new enemies :P


let me review..il keep it short n simple..


the good :

Goa trip 2008 at the pepsi house was the perfect way to begin a new year.
IT has to be the highlight of my year.
Amby valley trip also was equally amazing !!!
GRE score and completing of applications for fall 09 were a relief :)
Got placed at accenture :)
Manchester united winning the Champions league and the premiere league..life just coudn't get better.

the bad :

Chances of spending the next couple of years away from family and friends set me back.
my uncle's deteriorating health was a big heartache.
my football form has really hit rock bottom , with just a few goals to show throughout the end of last season and the begining of this one.
hoping 2009 has something better in store.
my fitness and stamina levels have also gone down.

the ugly :

Terrorist attacks on my beloved city , dampening the spirit.
The whole reaction from the authorities and the government.
Liverpool ending the year on top of the table..now common..who would have predicted that ?

well here's to a better and bigger year..the year of the Ox
cheers

ps. happy new year to the handfull of you reading this shitty blog.